Busy Week with a Temple visit in the middle

What a great week!  Some of the highlights - visiting with our oldest son Darin on his birthday last Sunday and with Darin's daughter Molly on her 8th birthday Friday!  Taking five missionaries to the temple.  A very successful ward indexing workshop Saturday morning and a ward lawn party yesterday afternoon.  It seems like each day was full and busy,  that's the way we like it - but we do need a little rest now and then.  We were going to take a Sunday afternoon nap, but Wayne got a phone call to go with the Elders to take the sacrament to a ward member who is in the hospital, so up he jumped...

Anyway,  just a few short stories and a lot of pictures.  Tuesday was district meeting in Romney again. We loaded up our van with the five Petersburg Elders and drove an hour up to Romney. A nice surprise when we got there - the Romney Elders had baked Wayne and I a giant snickerdoodle cookie, to thank us for our love, support, and help recently. Cute.  In the meeting Wayne and I had been assigned to do the instruction portion of the meeting and the topic given to us was from the Preach My Gospel book,  "Go About Doing Good".  We talked about planned and unplanned service opportunities and the blessings that come from helping others.  A couple of the significant phrases from this lesson:  "As you seek to do good, you will be led to people who are being prepared for the restored gospel" and  "Believe that people who are being prepared to receive the message of the Restoration will be placed in your path.  God will also

place you where your good acts and words will prepare people to receive missionaries and Church members." We had a good discussion and commitments were made to look for more opportunities to give service. Interestingly, on the way home, after dropping three Elders in Moorefield where they had left their car, as we were coming around a sharp curve close to Petersburg we passed a van by the side of the road with a flat tire. What a teaching moment as Wayne turned our van around, went back and found a safe place to park across the road, and he and the two Elders went to the rescue of an 87-year-old woman whose tire was shredded and flat.  She was so relieved and grateful. And it turned out that she is the grandmother of one of our ward members.  One other car stopped after ours to help out - an inactive member of our ward, who just happened to have the tool needed to accomplish the job.  It was so good for him to be of service and interact with our Elders.  What timing!  

Here are pictures we took after our session at the Washington DC Temple.  What a beautiful day.  And we thought missionary families might enjoy seeing their sons,  what great young men.

Yesterday (Saturday) our ward Family History Director and I put on an indexing workshop in the morning. We were pleased to have 15 people attend.  Some were brand new to indexing, Ashley helped them understand what indexing is, and get registered and started.  I took six who had computer experience and/or had done a little indexing into our computer room and they indexed with my help and supervision.  Very successful event. In the late afternoon we had a "lawn party" at the church.  So fun.  We grilled hot dogs and had games, music, and visiting.  Great turnout of about 70 people,  some visitors, some less active.  It was nice.

This is Elder Orton
In the June issue of the Ensign there was an article that taught us about the path to happiness.  One thing the author suggested was to "become who you are".  As I thought about it I was reminded of a story told by Elder Featherstone:

Many years ago I heard the story of the son of King Louis XVI of France. King Louis had been taken from his throne and imprisoned. His young son, the prince, was taken by those who dethroned the king. They thought that inasmuch as the king’s son was heir to the throne, if they could destroy him morally, he would never realize the great and grand destiny that life had bestowed upon him.

They took him to a community far away, and there they exposed the lad to every filthy and vile thing that life could offer. They exposed him to foods the richness of which would quickly make him a slave to appetite. They used vile language around him constantly. They exposed him to lewd and lusting women. They exposed him to dishonor and distrust. He was surrounded 24 hours a day by everything that could drag the soul of a man as low as one could slip. For over six months he had this treatment—but not once did the young lad buckle under pressure. Finally, after intensive temptation, they questioned him. Why had he not submitted himself to these things—why had he not partaken? These things would provide pleasure, satisfy his lusts, and were desirable; they were all his. The boy said, “I cannot do what you ask for I was born to be a king.”

This is just a story but it illustrates a point so well.  We are all born to be kings and queens.  We are all children of our Father in Heaven.  I hope that each of us is living such a life as to be who we are.

Our love to all of you from Petersburg

Elder and Sister Orton