Dear Friends,
Another month has come and gone and we hope this finds you anxiously engaged (if you are engaged to be married then we don't want you to be anxious but very happy and full of the Spirit) in many good endeavors. In all those good things just be sure to not neglect the essential things. Elder Scott gave a great conference talk on this topic several years ago.
As far as we are concerned life keeps moving right along. We decided our motto for the year was going to be "Onward and Upward". President Hansen is preparing for the Boston Marathon which he will run on April 20th. He ran St. George last October and reached his goal of qualifying for Boston. From what many runners have told us doing that with only one year running experience as a base is not typical and a real accomplishment. Can you tell I am proud of him? While he runs and runs and runs I do my best to be a good cheerleader. No marathons for me but I do make "almost" daily exercise part of my life as well. Sometimes something "essential" pre-empts the "good" thing of getting to the gym but not often.
One day last week, I spontaneously, grabbed my skiis and headed for the hills. The sun was shining and there was new snow. The great thing about living where we do is that I pulled out of our driveway at 11:08 AM. I was on the lift at 11:45, skiied 5 runs and headed down the Canyon at 1:30 to pick up my Mom at my sisters at 2 PM. It was great. I love to ski and I don't know why I don't go more often?
We had a special experience last Friday morning. We went to the Draper Temple Open House with our daughter Rachel, her husband Rob ( who is a bishop) and their five children and also our daughter Melissa. It was a wonderful experience being in the temple with our grandchildren. Emily is 12, Abby 10, Lizzie 7, Anna 3 and Davey 1.
Seeing the temple through their eyes was a beautiful experience. Davey loved the animals in the murals on the wall and our prime effort with him was to keep him on the "straight and narrow"(the designated, covered pathways). Anna walked into the Brides Dressing Room and exclaimed, "Oh, I LOVE that sofa!" She is all girl! But the best part was when little Anna turned the corner and walked into the Celestial Room. Her little face became absolutely joyful, radiant and she spontaneously put her hands up and began to clap! Not in a noisy or irreverent way but in an exclamation of pure joy. It was very sweet and tender to see and words do not adequately express the wonder of the moment. It was as if her little spirit knew immediately that she had reached the culmination of her temple experience and that she was in a very sacred, special place.
It is important that we all make the temple a central focus in our life and Anna's joy reminded us how important it is that we find joy in the temple and in the service we do for others within the walls of the temple. Remember your ancestors are waiting. When you take a half turn towards them they will take a full turn towards you.........some mission president we know used to say that!
Be sure and mark your calendars for April 3, 2009. We will have a mission reunion that evening and we are excited to see all of you! Details are being worked out and we will pass along all the pertinent information.
Take special care and remember the Lord loves you and so do we!
President and Sister Hansen
