Caribbean Regional Conference

The Caribbean was blessed to have President Henry B. Eyring, Elder David A. Bednar, Elder Neal Anderson of the Presidency of the Seventy and Sylvia Allred of the Relief Society Presidency here in person. They went to Kingston, Jamaica and held the conference in the Spanish Town building where it was broadcast to the 50 Stake/District centers in the 6 languages used here. There are 30 islands and three countries on the South American continent with over 160,000 members here.
We were able to see it in the home of the temple president in English and wives could come to the priesthood session as well. I love it when church is in English. I understood everything the brethern and Sister Allred said but I admit I didn't understand all that was said by the Jamaican brothers asking questions in the priesthood session.

I thought it was better than excellent so I am going to share a few of the notes I took. The Saturday night session was an hour and a half of questions that were answered by the leaders above. They took every question that was asked. What would you have asked a member of the first presidency or an apostle?

Here is my version of a few of the questions:

Q. Why doesn't the church tell our story more effectively through the media?
A. We are trying to do so but we will not be able to get everyone to understand the way we would like them to.

Q. When will all of the Christian churches teach the same doctrine?
A. Never

Q. What does the Lord want Jamaica to do?
A. Be a great example to the few people that you know. Increase your faith. Faith is a principle of action and power. You do not learn spiritual things from what someone says. We learn from the Holy Ghost as we act in accord with truth.

Q. How do we meet the demands of our responsibilities and keep things in balance?
A. Family comes first. Pray with your spouse. Keep out impure thoughts. Take time to ponder and pray. Seek revelation. Be kind.

Q. How do we avoid discouragement when we do not yet have the status of a stake?
A. Describe the dream differently. There is nothing magic about being a stake or having a temple. The object is not a program or an organization. The goal is one more individual, one more family living worthy of the blessings Heavenly Father wants for all of his children.

Q. What is the Priesthood?
A. It is service, it is exercised by serving others. The priesthood can never be used to benefit oneself. We are personally responsible to care for those we are called to serve. We are personally responsible for those we fail to care for that we are called to serve.

Q. Do you have counsel for the current financial crisis?
A. It is and will be the same counsel you have heard for years. Be very careful of debt. We also need to help each other. Be kind. Be generous. Don't become discouraged. God is very aware of each of us and our needs.

Q. How can we help others?
A. The Lord works one by one. Extend invitations. All answers come through the Holy Ghost. The reason the Lord wants us to be united is that it improves our ability to receive revelation and to work together to accomplish good things. Never infringe on someones agency. Be patient. The Lord is always patient with us. He never gives up.

This is the Spanish Town chapel in Jamaica where the conference was held. They put up a huge tent in the parking lot to hold more people as well. See Grandpa in the center of the photo?

Today in the Sunday session, President Johnson, our Area President told of an experience his family had thirty years ago. They had a big problem with contention in their home. Especially between a 12 year old son and an 8 year old daughter. They couldn't get along and the whole family would get involved in the conflicts. They tried everything they could think of to fix the problem and nothing seemed to work. Sister Johnson (her name is LeAnn) decided that they would begin reading the Book of Mormon every morning to at least have some positive to balance the negative. They persevered and it became an important part of the culture of their home. Five years later, when the oldest was 17, he gave a talk in church about their family's practice of reading the scriptures together. He read the quote by President Romney about how "contention will cease" and said that his family had experienced that. The parents looked at each other and realized that it was true. They had been blessed with everything listed in that quotation.

We learned that Sister Allred's husband had been the president of the MTC here in Santo Domingo. She related the story of the people of King Benjamin who made a covenant in response to his famous talk in Mosiah chapters 2-4. In chapter 26 we learn that those who had been small children during the talk were now rejecting the faith of their parents. In order to avoid that sad situation she recommended the principles taught in Proclamation on the Family and the practice of daily family prayers and scripture reading.

Elder Anderson said that when he left Utah on Friday and arrived in Jamaica he felt like he had reversed the journey of Adam and Eve. He said he felt like he landed in the Garden of Eden. He pointed out that no matter how different our life circumstances are we all have similar challenges. He said that he likes to choose a person he thinks is a great example of a particular quality he would like to develop in his own life. He told us about the qualities of faith, diligence and patience. My favorite statement in this talk was that "faith looks forward".

Elder Bednar gave a masterful discourse. I couldn't scribble fast enough to do justice but I learned that we often separate testimony and conversion. He said that testimony can and should lead to conversion and we are never finished with the process. Testimony is a personal knowledge of truth but until we have gone through the process of a change of heart, becoming a new creature, until we "offer our whole soul" we are still working on our own conversion. He reminded us that testimony is not enough to survive the storm coming in our direction. Many with testimonies, people with both spiritual witnesses and resolve did not measure up to their challenges in the past. We do not want to fall and must press forward along the path of conversion. A testimony is not enough.

President Eyring said he wanted to remind us of some important things that will give us confidence along our present journey. He reminded us that we lived with our Father before we came here. We knew his voice and his love. We have already made hard choices before we came here. We rejected the rebellious and followed Jesus Christ. We can do so here in this life as well. We need to remember to 1. be clean, 2. be diligent and 3. be prayerful. We need to be clean in order to hear the Holy Ghost. We need to be diligent and do it now. We must not delay. There is urgency. Do not run faster than you have strength but look to the Lord as our example. President Eyring reminded us that the scriptures teach that prayer is important so we will not faint or be overcome. Without God's help, we will be overcome. We need to ask for help, plead for help. It could be that a prayer at the moment of crisis will be too late. Prayer is more fervent when we pray for others. President Eyring asked us to act now as we will act when we are with our families in the presence of Heavenly Father.

I love that last image. I hope I can be happy and grateful and good for each of you and for all of our Father's children.

Love, Mom, Grandma, Jeri

Remember the Pioneers

Above you can see freshly laundered clothing drying on the rocks in the mountains above Jarabacoa. The plant that you can see in the foreground on the left was called a caster bean by my Dad. He found one in the wash near our home and dug it up and brought it home and planted it in front of the bedroom at the front of the house on Willard Street. I remember my mother looked it up and found out that the seeds and pods were poisonous. Dad didn't think any of us kids would eat them and so it stayed until Dad brought home a manzanita plant with shiny red branches from the desert. Last I remember a lemon tree planted there. (Siblings, do I have that right?)

In Sacrament Meeting today, a young man who just blessed his new baby girl (Sarah Lydia) last Fast Sunday spoke about service. He used the pioneers who crossed the plains in covered wagons as an example of those who never quit and devoted all they had to the cause they believed in. I was a little surprised that he identified with the pioneers more than 150 years ago in the United States.

But it is easy for me to identify with them because of my heritage. I wanted to share part of the story told about my ancestors by Elder M. Russell Ballard. We are not related to him but his great grandmother is my direct ancestor.

This is taken from what he said last May in a single adult conference. He read from the journals of his great-grandparents Henry and Margaret McNeil Ballard. He read how after joining the Church in England at age 17, Henry Ballard made his way to Utah. But upon arriving at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, he was ashamed to enter the Salt Lake Valley in his ragged clothes that didn't cover his body. So he waited until dark to approach a nearby house and beg for clothes. His plea was answered and he was able to enter the valley the next day, thankful to the Lord that he reached his future home in safety.

That's the beginning of the Ballard family in Utah. "No one, I think," said Elder Ballard, "came into this valley any humbler or in more challenging circumstances.

Margaret McNeil joined the Church with her family in Scotland. She wrote in her journal of a time when she was a 10 year old girl and her family was hungry and without food. In front of a small home across a field was a pile of squash, and her mother sent her to beg for some squash for the family to eat. She wrote that the woman who answered the door said, "I knew you were coming. I have been told to give you food." She gave Margaret a fresh loaf of bread and later delivered a cooked meal to the family.

A Dominican Republic pile of squash, the tayota. These must have fallen off of a truck a few days ago. Below is a photo of one squash on the huge vines grown on wires to keep them up off of the ground. They don't taste bad--they don't have much flavor at all.

Elder Ballard said, "So when we talk about hardship or we talk about challenges, or we talk about where we are in our individual lives as we are working our way through this process of mortality, I personally take a great deal of strength from thinking of those that have gone before us and the price that they were willing to pay to establish the Church."

He reminded us that whatever challenges we face "Do not forget who you are. You are sons and daughters of God, our Eternal Father, and He loves you. You can lay any burden that you feel like you are carrying on the shoulders of the Lord Jesus Christ as you internalize the Atonement and let that be real in your lives. Remember what He did in Gethsemane and what He did on Golgotha for you and for me. Then, somehow, some way, the power of heaven gives you the strength to carry on, do the best you can, to move forward, and not to be too concerned about your own personal worries."


We live in such a beautiful world. The pioneers didn't have an ocean to enjoy. Below is the beach at Las Terrenas on the Samaná peninsula.
They did have mountain streams like the one below but impatience (the pink flowers) do not grow wild in Utah.
We love you all,
Be good. We are all pioneers in our own lives. Make it one you will be proud of.
Love, Mom/Jeri/Grandma

Welcome to 2009

On New Year's Eve all of the senior missionaries were invited to the apartment of the Temple President for snacks and a movie. President Harris welcomed all of us and told the group how he had discovered that I was the daughter of his wife's beloved Golden Gleaner teacher. (Back in the olden days that was the name of the Laurel class.) He said one of the first things he learned about his new girlfriend was her appreciation for Alice Jean Morris. She grew up in a less active home and thought my Mom had it all together with her big family. I'm not sure what brought that subject up on the eve of 2009 but I am very proud to be the daughter of my wonderful parents and I do remember my mother talking about Diane. My personal favorite was Marti because she came over to babysit one time. I don't have a specific memory of Diane (don't tell Sister Harris) but she remembers Marti and has kept in contact over the years. You teachers, remember that you have powerful influence. I doubt that my mom realized that her student Diane often thought of her example over the years when raising her own six kids.

We enjoyed good snacks and watched "Father Goose" with Cary Grant and Leslie Caron. The Harris' love old movies and we enjoyed this one. We went home and were fast asleep by the time it was midnight. Old, boring people we are. I understand that in the "great and spacious building" where the East Mission President, the Area President, the DTA (Director of Temporal Affairs) and the CES director lives it was much more lively. The Mission President has three teenage daughters living with them and one visiting from BYU and the Area President had their youngest daughter visiting as well. They were partying long past midnight we were told. This decade seems to be rushing by rather quickly I think.

We had fun going to the Botanical Gardens with the Francoms who live in our building. We should have been going ever since we got here. There is an admission fee but it is a wonderful place to walk, very beautiful and right here in Santo Domingo.

Isn't that a beautiful flower! This is outside in January! It is hot in the summer but delightful in the winter here. The photos Susan sent me of the grandkids playing in the snow in Idaho are sorted chronologically right along with these shots. Quite a contrast.

These two turtles have red stripes along their heads like Edgar's turtles but they are larger and covered with pond scum. There were many turtles and they came over to the bridge to greet us. Next time I guess we should take something to feed them. I wonder what they like to eat?

I was interested in these leaves. This a tree and the leaves look corrugated!

This is Sister Francom in a tree we wish we had for grandchildren to climb. It is huge and perfect for swings and tree houses and climbing. The next photo shows Flat Beverly in this tree. Aunt Beverly is teaching a second grade class this year and they are doing a Flat Stanley project. Each of the children made a drawing of themselves that they mailed to family or friends in another location. They are supposed to take a photo with the drawing and mail it back. One of her students drew a picture of Beverly so she emailed it to me for some adventures. I have just been "photoshopping" her into some my photos but when Susan and Alyssa and Rachel and Lydia come and visit they will each have a Flat Beverly that we will take with us during our adventures. I didn't make one for Randy. Here is Beverly in this same tree and she is scaled much larger than life sized so you can see her:

Don't you wish you had a tree like this in your backyard? Look at this other big, big, big tree we found:

This one is in the Japanese garden and shades the path, part of the pond and a huge area. You can see Elder Francom at the right.

On another subject, I wanted to tell all of our sons-in-law how much we appreciate them. We were having a conversation with Sister Cairns who had 9 children and a husband who felt that all tasks related to children were her responsibility alone. He never helped. She said that she thought she might go "loco" (She always speaks in Spanish because it is more comfortable for her and I need the practice.) before they grew up. I am so grateful that for you, both the Dads and the Moms make children a priority and share both the work and the fun. Raising a family is hard work. While you are doing the tedious, everyday work of cleaning and serving you are also creating new people with unlimited potential. Changing diapers and sharing love, cleaning the kitchen and shaping attitudes, helping with homework and building character. It is hard to realize at the time that the process of doing all the daily work is the same process of teaching, providing an example and inspiring motivation in a new generation. You are doing it all. We are so proud of what you accomplish and proud of the grandchildren we are related to.

I wanted to report that Olgan's daughter is in the hospital here in Santo Domingo and doing much better. With the proper medication she is improving. Rosanna is getting radiation treatments again and is an amazing example of courage and continuing to work and make progress in the face of difficult problems. She has faith and feels that whatever happens will be the Lord's will. I am going to try and never feel sorry for myself. I have a cold and stayed home sneezing and coughing today. She goes to work feeling far worse. But then I am contagious and she is not.

On Sunday a new baby was blessed. Her name is Sarah Lydia ---- ----. I didn't catch the two last names. She has darker skin than any of our grandchildren but is almost as cute. Lewis and I taught the Sunday School lesson. I noticed when we were first married that Dad liked to read the Doctrine and Covenants. I would choose to read the Book of Mormon. I already knew the story, I loved the familiar prophets and was comfortable in that book. I asked him why he liked to read the D&C. He said that he liked reading the Lord's answers to people's real questions and that he found answers there to questions he had too. I thought at the time that perhaps I should look beyond just comfortable and read more for answers. We are blessed to have all of the scriptures as rich sources of answers for our questions. Questions are good. Keep looking for answers. Hope you enjoy learning about the Doctrine and Covenants in Sunday School this year.

Love you all,
Mom/Grandma