Walk the path...
God is leading you to walk
We moved to Pocatello five years ago. I had never heard of Pocatello before and I admit to being surprised to think we might move to Idaho. Nevertheless, when dad and I visited here, dad came away knowing he wanted to give to this community through his career and I left knowing this was where we would raise each of you.
You have read in my previous letter how I questioned where we currently live. That question relates only to the portion of neighborhood we now live, and not to Pocatello as a whole. The other piece of information needed before reading the following, is that I knew our stake at church was going to be split and it seemed only likely that I would no longer be attending stake events with my closest friends.
This is a compilation of tender mercies that I want you each to know and that I want to remember. That’s what a lot of my letters of late seem to be… stories of God in my life. Oh how I pray for you to see God in your life as well.
In October 2024, at General Conference, my favorite talk was by a man named Elder Hirst. He caught my attention right away because his opening line was, “Before I begin, I should tell you that two of my children have passed out whilst speaking at pulpits, and I have never felt more connected to them than in this moment.” It was only made better by his English accent. This weekend, we have had Stake Conference and he has been our guest speaker. The excitement of hearing him speak was boiling inside of me. Not to mention that the guest speaker before him talked about College Football and then Elder Hirst showed one of my favorite short videos put out by our church called, “This is Church”. I felt held and seen from every side!
It was the best leadership meeting and adult session on Saturday. During the leadership meeting, I sat next to two of my bestest friends. I love them. I knew it was probably the last time I’d sit with them in a meeting like that and I am so grateful it worked out the way it did. At the adult session, dad and I sat next to other couples from our ward. One woman in particular talked about members of our ward and how we have the best ward ever! It was honestly almost comical how much the Lord was teaching and comforting me. Directly behind us was a couple named Amy and John Wilkes, a couple that I love from our time in the 1st ward. It was wonderful to catch up for a moment with them.
To prepare for conference, our stake was asked to sing the prelude all together. You guys, I LOVE SINGING HYMNS. I love it with a burning within my soul that I can’t explain. It feels holy and joyful and connecting and the only time I feel like I can almost shout a prayer. I am not naturally a loud singer, but I want to sing with other people as loud as I can in praise of our God; however, because people tend to naturally sing subdued, I try to hold back. WELL. NOT TODAY!! Everyone sang so proudly! I could sing my little heart out without standing out!! And oh how it filled me even before the meeting started!
Without delay or ceremony, the beginning of today’s stake conference announced that we are now a part of a brand. new. stake. How incredible is that?!!? The Highland South Stake. And when they announced our new stake president, I audibly gasped! It was none other than John Wilkes, the man who sat with his sweet wife, Amy, behind dad and I last night. The man who was our bishop in the 1st ward, who’s daughter I taught harp to, who is part of a family I absolutely love. Then they named his counselors. Jared Payne, who I have watched in ward council over the last several months be an advocate for our primary children in our ward and who’s wife I have been blessed to serve alongside. I love them and their family! And the second counselor?? A man who I know little of, but who Doug talks with everyday at work due to shared patients and who I know Doug loves and respects.
I don’t know how to adequately express other than through these facts how much I feel seen by God. I know we are where He wants us to be. Though perhaps, through my own selfish desires, I wish to be near my dear friends and rub shoulders with them at church, I cannot deny the witness I have received today that we were called to be HERE. In this new stake with these wonderful people. I am teeming with excitement and joy to serve with and be served by the beautiful community of our Highland South Stake. And here I openly thank God for opening my eyes.
My dear children, God has a plan for you. You don’t have to know what it is to be living it. Walk the path He is setting for you, when you can’t seem to see the beauty of it, ask God to open your eyes. Trust Him. You will not always understand, in fact, bank on not understanding!! I can’t say I understand or know the WHY of our place here, only the confirmation that God led us here, that He is aware of us, and that He loves us.
I hear you knocking on the door to play the games I promised to play, so I leave you with my testimony:
God lives and He loves you,
Mom