Our Institute lesson

   This blog will focus on a lesson that I taught last week. The title was "Salvation Comes Through Jesus Christ". (Lesson 8, Teachings and Doctrines of the Book of Mormon. REL275)
   We can read that King Benjamin taught what we must do to receive salvation through the Atonement of Jesus Christ (Mosiah 4: 6-8). We must come to a knowledge of God and of the Atonement, put our trust in God, keep the commandments diligently. and continue faithfully to the end of our lives.
   Then in 2 Nephi 25:23, Nephi helps us understand our responsibility to labor diligently to persuade our children and also our brethren, to believe in Christ and to be reconciled to God, and we know that it is by the grace of God that we are saved, (and here comes the interesting part), after all we can do.  
   I have heard this phrase before, but it sure touched my heart more deeply this time. So I got to thinking what is 'all we can do', and am I doing it?
The lesson goes on to help us better understand this, "after all we can do", concept with a statement from President Ezra Taft Benson. He says, 'After all we can do' includes extending our best effort. It includes living his commandments. 'After all we can do' includes loving our fellow man and praying for those that regard us as their adversary. It means clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, and giving succor to those that stand in need of our succor. 'After all we can do' means leading chaste, clean, pure lives, being scrupulously honest in all dealings and treating others the way we would want to be treated"( President Ezra Taft Benson "Redemption Through Christ After All We Can Do" Liahona, Dec 1988)
  Wow, what a list, and after some self evaluation, I found that generally I might be doing OK, but  other times I come up short on a few of these.
  Then my mind turned to President Nelson and his message regarding loving and ministering to others. How do we minister? What do we do and how do we start?
   Bam! It's there in Pres. Benson's list.  I can love and serve others. I can 'succor' those that stand in need of succor, which means, something that furnishes relief.  I can feed others (and cinnamon rolls certainly would apply). I can clothe others. I can visit the sick, both physically as well as emotionally. I can pray for and uplift others. I can be an example of a clean, chaste life.
  The bottom line folks is that I as well as you are doing it. We are trying to love and serve as our Savior, as we try to become like Him. We may not be doing all, every day, but we are doing lots quite often.
I want to up my game and do better. I certainly want to extend my best efforts to others as Jesus Christ has given His all to us.
We sure love you and miss you.
"Almost Heaven",
 Traynors

Violet Jelly and gorgeous flowers and trees

I know that living in AZ all my life might make me a little sheltered as to what's out there in the world, but we are seeing flowers, shrubs and trees that we just don't see in AZ. While AZ has it's own beauty, the lush greenness of West Virginia is just stunning.  I may have said that at this time last year. It's still true.
First, there are little tiny violets, I'm talking smaller than your baby fingernail, all over. Everywhere you look it's like a purple carpet of violets. Thus the violet jelly from our friend.
The Red bud trees burst open this spring with their magenta flowers and just take your breath away. The dogwood trees have either a white or pink flower when they bloom.
 Unfortunately the color on most of the trees does not last very long before the green leaves take over. But for a while it's pretty spectacular.
Then you've got wonderful flowers, Hydrangeas, in pinks, blues and whites all over as well as Peonies in many colors just growing like crazy in peoples yards. When you get 60-ish inches rain a year you get some pretty great plants. I'll tell you, its Almost Heaven.

Now, lest you think all we do is look at flowers and trees, "au contra". We are still staying plenty busy.
Our Pathway /Institute classes are going well. Our virtual teaching continues to get a little easier in that we are getting better with this virtual conferencing thing. It isn't quite as scary as it first seemed. We are picking up a few extra students from as far as Michigan.  They can join us virtually for their Institute class when before they were to far to drive to a program.
  For Mother's Day we set up a Zoom room conference. All of us Traynors were able to be together virtually and had a great visit. It was so fun. There are some fun perks to learning new technology.
 Regarding our literacy learners, the Tri-State Literacy council had a yearly recognition dinner for all volunteers and their learners. Their weekly lessons are paying off. Pat and I knew that each of our students had achieved a course completion certificate. We encouraged our students to attend the awards dinner and we attended with them. It was a nice evening.
  We had a little challenge this past month. Pat had a crown on a tooth break off. The tooth underneath the crown broke. It happened on a Friday at 12:30 and how many dentists were in their offices, right, none. So he went through the weekend with a hole in his smile. It looked quite hillbilly-ish. Matt said, "Dad, you are going to great lengths to fit in". The quick fix was to have a flipper made that he will wear until he gets home and then our dentist will do an implant and a new crown.
  Now for a sweet ministering story. We have a fellow in our ward, Melvin is 63ish, and is in poor health. Last year the sisters tracked him out and he joined the church. This past Monday he was on his way to our monthly empty nesters FHE. As he drove the the church he saw a 90 year old woman sitting on her front porch. She was bent over fanning, trying to stay cool on our 93 degree day, with a hand fan. Melvin saw her as he drove by. He turned his car around and drove into her drive way. He got out and asked her if she had air conditioning. She said no. He told her he had an extra A/C window unit, would she like to have it? She told him it would be nice but that she could not afford to pay him for it. Melvin told her he wanted no payment and returned home, packed up the large window A/C unit, returned to the lady, installed it in her home, showed her how to run it and said, "maybe his will be a little more comfortable for you". She thanked him. He left and came on over to the church. He told us the story and we told him that this is exactly what President Nelson is talking about regarding ministering to each other whether they are members of the church or not. He did a fine thing for someone, and he did not even get her name. He said he just knew she needed help.
 We are so excited for the new mission calls. The people of Bentonville, Arkansas will just love Chet and Joy and what experiences await them.
We love you all. Almost Heaven,
Traynors.