Mary Oliver is one of my favorite poets. I love this one and thought I would share it...Will probably share it and write some about it on my business blog in March for more...

"When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it is over, I don't want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument. I don't want to end up simply having visited this world."

-- Mary Oliver

Feb 26, 2009 - News from Elder Andrus

Hello Family,
Well this week has been a pretty good week. An incredible thing happened to us after I wrote you last Thursday. There was a lady named Jahaira that we were working with, she was doing incredible. She was about three days away from her baptism. She was on fire, she was receiving all kinds of anti from family and friends. But she did not care because she knew that the church was true, and that it was where true happiness came from. So like I said she was a couple of days away from her baptism and a certain subject came up and we realized that her husband could not be baptized for some time. Jahaira did not like that her husband would have to wait to be baptized so she fell out. It broke my heart to see the fire she had and to see it thrown out in a second. She stopped coming to church and we lost complete contact with her. After a couple of week I decided to write her a letter to remind of all the good things that was in her family’s life and the answer she received from god. I also included a talk from E. Bednar about choosing not to be offended. She still did not contact us of come to church. But last Thursday she called us crying. She could not say too much but asked if we could come over. We went over that night and she told us that she has never been so miserable in her life. After we left the door and she stopped going to church she felt the spirit completely leave her life. She was depressed and she started to drink again to try to dull the pain. She said she kept remembering our last time we were there pleading with her that she did not want to throw away true happiness and that she knew that the church was true. But she said that she did not want to listen because of her pride and her hard head. She told us that she needed to come back and that she needed the spirit back in her life and that she could not deny the answer that she received. She told us that she is not going to stop her kids salvation and her own because of her pride. We have been teaching her again and happiness and the spirit is starting to enter her life again. It has been a great faith building experience to see her return to what she knew. It was a trail of my faith to loose Jahaira. Of course we lose people to world every day, but seeing what she had and see her choose to reject all of it was hard for me. I truly had to trust god and know that it was in his hands. That was hard for me because I like to know I have at least a little control of how things turn out. So this has been an important event in my life to show me that even though I might lose track of someone god never will. I am learning over and over in my mission what "Letting go and letting God" truly means. Well family that is the story for the day. I love all of you. Time is flying.
Love,
Elder Andrus

Hi friends,

I just wanted to tell you a really fun story. Bill and I were finished exercising and we were walking along the path back to the Marriott when we ran into Wayne Dyer. He was on his way to swim when Bill decided we had run into him enough without introducing ourselves! (We run into him every year) We were talking and he said, "You know, I was going to swim but I want to give you my new DVD - come with me." So we went to his house here at the Alii and he had us walk in and visit and then gave us his new DVD. We watched it last night and it is totally amazing. It might be his best work. I am going to run into him again, I am sure and when I do it will be another great conversation! He is a warm, generous and kind man. He even said, "So why do all the ugly guys get the good looking women?" (Funny given I had just worked out and he still was kind) He then wanted to hug good bye and was just generous from beginning to end.
You just never know....

Thoughts Today

Here's one from Eckhart Tolle, author of "Oneness With All Life" which is a new-age sort of perspective integrating in Buddhist principles heavily. This particular quote, I coincidentally re-learned this year and the lesson was greatly appreciated!

"Whatever you cannot enjoy doing, you can at least accept that this is what you have to do. Acceptance means: For now, this is what this situation, this moment requires me to do, and so I do it willingly.

If you can neither enjoy nor bring acceptance to what you do - stop. Otherwise, you are not taking responsibility for, which also happens to be one thing that really matters: your state of consciousness. And if you are not taking responsibility for your state of consciousness, you are not taking responsibility for life."

Today's Email from our favorite Elder!

I cannot believe how fast time goes. It feels like I was at this computer just a day ago. I can’t believe that I am starting my 11th transfer already, when we only have 17 total. I have a new companion again. His name is Elder Chan, he is a great and funny guy. He is from Pocatello, Idaho. He has been out on his mission for about 3 months. We have already had some great talks about letting go of our old life and letting God mold us. He has a lot of potential, so hopefully I will help him reach his and he will help me reach mine as well. The area is doing great. We had a baptism last week, her name is Christa Augustine. She has been coming to church for about six weeks. She is just incredible, when we taught her the Plan of Salvation everything just clicked for her. She kept saying when we brought up something that was restored, "Man, I thought that was just my thought... I did not know that was actually true!" Especially when we taught her about the Pre-Earth life. Sorry I did not tell you about her baptism coming up but she had to quit smoking for at least a week before she could be baptized. So I did not want to jump the gun. We have been truly blessed by God (like always) and we are doing well here. District meeting was good, I gave some training on some teaching skills and also talked about knowing that "no effort is wasted" and to know that diligence is key, but also that we need to have patience as well. Not only with the work but with ourselves.

Love,
Elder Andrus

Wisdom Revisited

“People consistently underestimate their own wisdom and its power to navigate their lives. Most of us have forgotten how to utilize that wisdom, but it is there, within, and waiting for us to turn our attention inward once again and listen." Tamara Androsoff

I believe that this may be true of wisdom, that we forget "how to" or forget "to" tap into where wisdom can speak. It is always in the quite and still moments. It is why I love reading the scriptures so much - time to just be with words that enliven. It is also why I love running through quiet streets - just me and my thoughts that fall into rhythm and then without really noticing at first I drop deeper into quite meditation while my body moves filling my lungs with fresh air and deep breaths.

Yesterday was a great day to meditate and to regain perspective and wisdom - only because I was willing to open the space for it.

It reminded me of a great clip I saw a couple of years ago on CNN. Francis Collins is a primary discoverer of the human genome map. In a felt need to "get away" a couple of amazing things happen. See the link posted on the right side if you would like to view it under clips worth watching.

Hailey says "Hi" to Tyson

This morning I awakened feeling pretty absent of wisdom. Sometimes it is hard to know what is wise. I turned to Proverbs and read Proverbs 4:7, "Wisdom is the principle thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all they getting get understanding." This will be the meditation of my heart today.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Eleanor Roosevelt
I find this quote interesting. Beautiful and filled with the power of intention and yet, for today anyway, it seems perhaps too narrow: are not we all at some time or another up against what we can control and what we cannot control? Perhaps the future belongs to those who believe not only in the beauty of their dreams but who also trust the God of the universe enough to accept graciously, humbly, and consciously it's elegant unfolding.

Valentines Day 2009

Me blogging??? Get out!


I have resisted the Blogging wave for far too long now. Somehow I hoped it was a fad, knowing of course that it wasn't, but holding onto hope anyway that the wave would not surpass my stubbornness to get started....I lost. Clearly, blogging is now more than the thing to do, it is an THE WAY to do, go figure!

Today I took a 3 hour cycling class - my first time going that long. I was not quite sure how I would do, but I was quite happy to last the full time. I did better than I thought I would so that was a nice accomplishment! Tonight I am babysitting my grand-daughter, Hailey so her mommy and daddy can enjoy each other and some alone time. She is a beautiful and I adore her!!

Here are some pictures from our night together - what a cutie!