Crazy waves

"If you please man and never please God, you have nothing; If you please God and man forsakes you, you have everything." -Dorothy Patterson

The more we devote ourselves to the pursuit of holiness and happiness, the less likely we will be on a path to regrets. The more we rely on the Savior's grace, the more we will feel that we are on the track our Father in Heaven has intended for us."  Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Of Regrets and Resolutions", Ensign, November 2012

"“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”- Laura Ingalls Wilder 

I love the ocean beaches, I feel I can talk with my Loving Heavenly Father when in nature, but that is not the only place to talk to him.  I keep a prayer in my heart constantly, for each of you, for my family, my friends, my coworkers, those with heavy hearts, I love you all!  Whenever I see an accident on the road, I pray for them and their family.

I went for a bike ride to the beach on post.  It looks over at the Seal Beach Pier.  The waves were doing crazy things-so pretty. I was looking through a chain link fence.  There are surfers out all through the year.
 

Yaaa, my companion has returned.  He was in Texas all week.  On Monday the mission president called me(two days after Lonnie left).  I guess we were suppose to stay together as a companionship.  oops!  Elder McOmber needed this special time with his sister.  I reassured the president that I was safe, after all we live on a military base.

This is the sign by the beach for the ships that are coming in.

There are armed guards at all the  entrances to the base, the MPs(military police) cruise around the base and campground regularly.  We know most of them personally as we have had some over for dinner, given others treats and see them at PT(physical training) in the mornings.  Lonnie will occasionally play volleyball with them.  We see them at the front gate sometimes multiple times a day.  There is a boat that patrols the waters constantly.  There are ground sensors by the entire exterior perimeter of base.  We are personal friends with both camp hosts and have one of their phone numbers programed into our phones.  We have wonderful neighbors and Peter was very good to check up on me every day.(His wife, Nancy,  had a valve in her  heart replaced a week and a half ago at UCLA medical center and they don't go out) I felt much more at home than if I had a sleep over with the "younger" sisters as he suggested.   I hope I didn't get him into trouble.  I can be quite stubborn at times. (noooo, not me?) I was able to do my job as a missionary whether I stayed at my "home" or went into the office.  I went in three days to work.

This is in the bay where the ships come to be loaded with mines and other weapons that are stored on base.  I was watching this pelican and there was something strange in the water.  It was a seal-yes, we live in Seal Beach, but I have never seen a seal here.  At first I thought the bird and seal were playing, but they were after the same fish.  I kept trying to get a picture of it, but it was too fast and kept underwater most of the time.

Another attempt to get a picture of him.  This is looking out through the bay(cove) toward the beach with the pacific ocean on the other side of the bar.

Elder McOmber had a wonderful time (if going to a funeral is "wonderful") .  He saw many relative and friends, many he had not seen in over 20 years.  He spent quality time with his sister and Aunt and even helped a very dear friend, Mottsenbacher, paint a car he is fixing up)  He has pictures, but i am going to have to post them next week as he has not gotten them to me yet.

We had another broken arm this week from p day--Boy, those P days can be rough for our missionaries.  Many missionaries have had colds and stomach bugs.  I am (and I am sure they are) ready for "winter" to be over.  It was high in the 60-80 degrees this week, but rained 4 days. (At night it goes down to 37-50 degrees.  Sorry for you Idahoans that have negative degree weather.)

"If we had no Winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; If we did not sometimes taste adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."  ~Anne Bradstreet

Since I had a birthday this last week, I felt this appropriate.  Thank you for all the wishes and special gifts!

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf titled Of Regrets and Resolutions states:  “…the older we get, the more we tend to look back and marvel at how short that road [of life] really is. We wonder how the years could have passed so quickly. And we begin to think about the choices we made and the things we have done. In the process, we remember many sweet moments that give warmth to our souls and joy to our hearts. But we also remember the regrets—the things we wish we could go back and change.”  He lists three regrets or wishes of things that might have been done that are commonly expressed by people at end of life.

            1.      I Wish I Had Spent More Time with the People I Love

2.      I Wish I Had Lived Up to My Potential

3.      I Wish I Had Let Myself Be Happier

 Dr Doty of the missionary department sent this letter to all  mission medical personal:

I have been reminded of these three regrets and have given them some personal assessment.  I think these thoughts apply particularly to all of us serving as senior health care missionaries.  (1)  Those of you who are serving as married couples are with your husband or wife in a 24/7 assignment.  That is all good because this may be the first time in your married lives that you are together continuously.  All of you who are serving away from home have left your adult children and your grand-children behind.  I would suggest that you keep in touch by keeping a journal, adding some pictures as I have done in this newsletter, and sharing this information by email regularly with your loved ones.  You may also want to use email, VOIP, Skype, or other forms of technology to keep close to your families and friends.  (2)  I think that most of you would feel that you have lived up to your potential in a career of health care.  Now we are missionaries and we need to reach our potential of outstanding missionary service.  We all need to be great missionaries.  (3)  If you are not happy, do something about it.  I would not mean that you need to vent to your mission president or Area President.  I think for me it means a personal attitude adjustment because I know that the only person that I can control in this world is ME.  Do whatever you need to do to be happy and it often requires a big commitment to patience, long suffering, gentleness, kindness, and love.

Thank goodness for modern technology.  Quin had his birthday this week and I was able to skype the birthday party.  This is Stetson(almost 10 and Neli(17 months).  I also enjoyed talking to Daeden.  It is neat to stay in touch with  the family this way.