Most Sweet

painting of Lehi's Dream by Steven Lloyd Neal
And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen. And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit.

1 Nephi 8:11-12

The missionaries serving in our area have asked the members of our branch to include a brief written message and family photograph in Books of Mormon that they can place with people they come in contact with. A few weeks ago I sat down and wrote out this message in an attempt to be productive.
But it didn’t make the cut. It’s not really brief. It’s more blog than brief, so here it is:

My husband will eat 'most anything I cook without complaint. When newlywed, I attempted to make from scratch macaroni and cheese in our crock pot. The result was a horrific cheesy-scrambled-egg-and-over-cooked-pasta mess. At dinner I watched Michael take bite after bite without grievance. Finally, I dared to taste the concoction… and concluded either my husband was a talented actor or I married a man born without taste buds. After five years of marriage I now know it is the latter (he is genuine to a fault, and will eat ANYTHING, really).


So, “What does this have to do with the Book of Mormon?” you ask.

First, let me share with you some thoughts about this book.
The introduction to the Book of Mormon explains that the book tells us the way “to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come”. That way is through Jesus Christ. From the beginning to the end of the Book of Mormon, “we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, … that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Nephi 25:26) The Book of Mormon, just like the Bible, is another scriptural witness of Jesus Christ.
And, just like the Bible, the Book of Mormon is family oriented. In the Old Testament, the first man and woman—Adam and Eve—were a family. The history of Israel begins with the family of Abraham. The New Testament commences with the birth of Christ and Him being received into the family of Joseph and Mary.
Just like the Bible, the Book of Mormon begins with a family.

Why all this emphasis on the family? Good question. To answer simply: because the family is central to the Creator's plan. God established families to bring us happiness, to help us learn in a loving atmosphere, and to prepare us for eternal life.
Through reading the Book of Mormon a family and its members can reinforce their relationship with Jesus Christ and as a result strengthen other meaningful relationships.

With that said, our family has tasted of this book and its teachings. It has made us very happy.
We invite you to “try the virtue of the word of God” (Alma 31:5). Only through sampling the Book of Mormon can one know with certainty whether its teachings- Christ’s teachings- is for them.
In the case of the macaroni, my husband devoured it while I couldn’t manage more than a bite. But I tried it and then I knew.

It is our hope you try and know for yourselves.

And I would have included this photograph to prove I’m not a total pasta screw up. ; )
SO, what do you think?
And what ways are your
church units,
organizations
and families
sharing the Gospel?

The Unsent Christmas Letter, 2009 edition

Dear Family and Friends,

It is suiting to start our letter this year as Charles Dickens began his novel The Tale of Two Cities. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

Earlier this year our family was expecting to welcome a fourth member; however, an ultrasound during the second trimester diagnosed the baby with Trisomy 18, a fatal genetic defect. At thirty weeks gestation, our daughter, Emma Lane, was delivered still. The dispensation of being Emma’s parents during this life was a brief opportunity but invaluable.

Any parent could tell you about the immense knowledge gained from what the world perceives an unlikely source: a child. Just as we have learned much from Caleb and from Emma this past year, our heavenly Father has learned a great deal from His children. He has witnessed compassion, good will and love unbeguiled as many have helped and comforted us during this experience. We offer each of you our gratitude for your condolences. Thank you.

Rest assured we are being kept busy. Michael has completed his first semester at Harvard, and is learning to juggle family, work, studies and callings. Michael is still serving as the branch’s Activities Chair as well as a youth Sunday school teacher. Angela has been serving as the sole member of Michael’s activity committee (besides Caleb, who has been given the title of Chaos Coordinator) as well as the Sunbeam and CTR5 Primary teacher. She will also be ringing in the new year with a calling as a counselor in the Primary presidency.

Our adventures this year include travel to New York City, and Sharon, Vermont. We are excited to visit the West this summer! Making stops in Mesa, Flagstaff and St. George. We look forward to decent Mexican food and seeing everyone, of course!

As a closing thought we would like to express our heartfelt love for our Savior, namely, Jesus Christ. Through the best of times and the worst of times his affection is unchanged, it is sure. The sentiments penned by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the hymn I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day “ring” true: “God is not dead nor doth he sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevails, With peace on earth, good will to men.” What comfort the Gospel brings!

Wishing you the special gifts of this holiday season- Peace, Joy, and lasting Happiness,

The Thomson Family

Michael, Angela and Caleb

DO NOT CLICK UNTIL...

The above link should only be clicked

if you begin to sing the 12 Pains of Christmas

or if you heart becomes two sizes too small!

Merry Christmas!

Tis the Season . . .

Today I am reading through my postpartum journal, the one I kept during those late night feedings, as I studied the topical guide.
“Tis the Season” is an eclipsed phrase hung around door knockers, shrouded over fireplaces, and shellacked on displays this time of year.
You can fill in the blank or insert the conventional “to be jolly” and the additional
“fa- lalalala...” if you are taken away in the holiday spirit.

But for me, I'm jotting in…

Now, before I get knee-deep in compassionate comments or empathetic e-mails, I am not referring to Emma’s New Year’s Eve due date, but to… well, just keep reading…
The following was scribbled in my journal on the scripture Matthew 12:49
“Verse 50 gives further explanation. It says, ‘whosoever shall do the will of my Father [. . .] the same is my brother, sister, and mother.’ It is interesting that a disciple could be considered Christ’s mother. If we consider what Mary’s mission was for this life and consider her characteristics – it is a very noble role to take on, respectively. One aspect of her role was to provide a temporal body for Christ. As a disciple we are providing ourselves as a body with which Christ can use us for good…”
As I pour over my journal of what I had written, I expect the thoughts I recorded (when I was so far from my recent experience and now as I seem so removed from that time of maternal naivety) to be shallow or amiss… but I don’t get an ounce of satisfaction.
I want to share the following quotes:
In reference to 1 Samuel 1:20:
“’the time was come’” is a perfect description of the requisite of motherhood.”
Inklings of Psalms 113:9:
“Verses 7-9 shows what God does with every man and women that comes unto Him. [ . . . ] a woman who was once barren can become a joyful mother and keeper of the house. God doesn’t make us become more, he helps us meet our potential –which remember is infinite. A beggar can become a prince of nations, so can a barren woman keep the House of Israel. These are not transformations but a progression.”
Tis the Season to be a mother. To provide able bodies, to take considerate and deliberate action, the time has come, and as you counsel with God your abilities will exceed any shortcoming you perceive. Several months ago I read I Am Scout a biography of Harper Lee, and a passage redefined love for me. Before Lee wrote To Kill A Mockingbird, she was living in NYC, dirtpoor, working hard and barely surviving- not even writing. She spent a lot of time with a family by the name of Brown. For Christmas the Browns gave Nelle (Harper Lee's first name) a simple white envelope, within it a note that read "Dear Nelle, You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." They would pay her a year’s worth of wages so she could devote her time to her craft, her calling. Later Nelle wrote, "A full chance for a new life. Not given me by an act of generosity, but by an act of love. ‘Our faith in you’ was really all I had heard them say."
I like the line this quote draws between generosity and an act of love, because they are different. Too many people think of the Atonement as a generous act rather than one of love.
Do you give to others because you are in better standing than them or is it out of genuine care?
Which caused the condescension of God?

This Christmas I do not wish for us to feel loved,
but rather I hope for us to love, genuinely, and in abundance

as only a mother could.

Stocking Stuffers:
First Presidency Christmas Devotional
Are We Not All Mothers?
How Shall This Be?
Good Mary

My "Currant" Disposition

Ever feel like the currant bush? I think it goes without saying I have.
An excerpt from one of my all-time favorite talks explains what-the-heck I'm talking about:
“I went out one morning and saw a currant bush. It had grown up over six feet high. It was going all to wood. There were no blossoms and no currants…So I got some pruning shears and went after it, and I cut it down, and pruned it, and clipped it back until there was nothing left but a little clump of stumps. […] You know, I thought I heard that currant bush talk. And I thought I heard it say this:

Read the Gardner’s reply here.
What a wonderful promise.
It fills me with peace and brims me to tears.

Together Forever

“In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.”
The Family:A Proclamation to the World

We invite you to watch Together Forever, a film that contains thoughts, pictures, and music centered on the eternal nature of the family. You can obtain a free copy by going to Mormon.org > Free Media, you may also purchase a copy here or borrow it from us anytime.

Primary

This past weekend was our Stake Conference.
During the Adult session Saturday night, a sister suggested that people should do a blog entry about how glad and grateful we are for our callings.
This reminded me, I had forgotten to post that I was called to the Primary board in the branch last week.
So, here is my post regarding my gratitude for not only my calling in it, but the Primary program itself.

I have popping in and out of Primary for the past three years. Shortly after being married, Mike and I were called to be Primary Workers to teach the Sunbeams (3 yr olds) in the Woodlands Ward. Most would find my reaction to the calling odd, others would find it hilarious- I cried.
I am a convert to the Church, I had never attended Primary, I did not know the songs or routines and the whole calling was very intimidating to me. It also did not help that every member I told gave a grimace at the word “Sunbeam.” Besides my husband only one other person was encouraging, an institute teacher who after listening to my concerns promptly said, “Angela, now you get to learn all them [songs]! And grow even more! I didn’t think it was possible!”
Well, I haven’t learned all the songs; I know a great deal of them though. I love having those words sung in our home and having the sweet spirit that they invite.
Other ways my various callings in Primary have blessed me include:
Strengthening My Marriage
Michael and I served in Primary side by side as we taught Sunbeams, CTR 5, as we served as Nursery Leaders and substitutes. We learned each others’ strengths and weaknesses and learned how to work together.
Furthered My Education and Increased My Talents:
Northern Arizona University is one of the better education colleges in the nation. In order to be accepted into the College of Education you must fill out an application, write an entry essay and have one letter of recommendation from a person or organization that observed you demonstrating recent instructive interactions with children. The last requirement is hard because when you are an undergraduate you have little time for sleep let alone teaching opportunities. The recommender could not be family and the experience could not be babysitting or nanny-like.
Luckily, I had already served as a Primary Worker and Nursery Leader and my Primary President was happy to write my letter of recommendation.
Preparing to teach and teaching in Primary also helped me understand the curriculum I faced in the education program, and helped me become a better teacher.
Comforted My Heart
After wanting a child for a long time and being continually told it wasn’t the right time for our family, Primary implemented, supplemented, and met my desire to be a mother.

This is why I am so glad and grateful to be called to serve in Primary again! The only calling and the best calling helps you to serve others and grow in the Gospel. If your calling is not doing this for you now, please consider and meditate on how your calling can serve others and can cause you to grow in the Gospel, and do it.

-Ang

PS Ha. We did not hear from Elder Jensen this weekend, we heard from Elder Dixon, by the way. I don’t know why I thought Jensen, but Stake Conference as a whole was really really good… and small.

PPS I won’t be posting for a few weeks unless something BIG or SPECIAL happens. :) I’ve got work enough to do.

September 15, The Creation of the Franklin Branch

So.
Let’s say you are currently living in an apartment in Franklin, Massachusetts.
While you are living in Franklin, you are in the process of buying a house in Millis, Massachusetts.
While you are buying a house in Millis, your Stake President informs your ward that the ward population is (practically) going to be divided asunder into a ward and a branch.
You are currently living in the ward boundaries in your apartment.
The house you are buying in Millis… is in the branch.
Now, I’m from Flagstaff, Arizona, a place well-known for changing-up boundaries every five to three years. I’ve never heard of a ward being divided this way.
Apart from the sacrament, the whole meeting was devoted to describing boundaries, reading off the names of the families attending the branch, releasing, and sustaining. Whew.
By the time everything was said and done a majority of the members of the various presidencies (Young Women, Young Men, and Relief Society) had been released. Half of the Sunbeams class I’ve been helping out with will be attending the branch- leaving four little Sunbeams in the ward.
Despite this being a unique experience for us, which kind of leaves us in-between places, and kinda leaves the ward in shambles and the new branch to start from scratch…
Mike and I feel really good about this.

Here’s why…

revelation.

Our Church believes in it, has it, and utilizes it.

Mike and I felt good when we decided to come to Massachusetts.
We felt good when we decided to rent an apartment in Franklin.
We felt wonderful when we viewed the house in Millis, and felt even better when we put an offer in on it.
We know where we are suppose to be because we seek the Lord early and ask Him whither we go.

So, for now, we are attending the Franklin Ward until we move into our new house (which will be in November), unless (as a member of our bishopric advised us) the branch needs us sooner, but, we have a feeling we’ll be busy over the next few months as the ward reorganizes.

It's all good.