Testimonies

"Testimony isn't something you have today, and you are going to have always. A testimony is fragile. It is as hard to hold as a moonbeam. It is something you have to recapture every day of your life."

-Harold B. Lee


You'll have to forgive me if the blog gets a bit personal sometimes. The blog is essentially my journal. I have never been a good journal keeper, so this is as good as it gets for me, I suppose. I imagine that one day I will print the whole thing off and save it.

Michelle and I attended a great Stake fireside last night. Our Stake President gave a great talk on marriage and communication. He talked about "agreeing to disagree agreeably". It was a great time and great counsel. We all went to Chili's afterwards for dinner. We drove over with the Stauffer's. On the way, Mike received a call from his boys at home saying that they smelled smoke in the house. After some quizzing, Mike decided to drop us off and run home to investigate. As he got out of the car at his house, he smelled smoke. It turns out that one of the neighbors was burning their swingset (don't ask) and that is what the boys smelled. I can't wait to see little Stauff at church and give him a hard time about that one.

Latest letter from Steve and Robin, serving in Cambodia:

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for the pictures. I especially like the one with your dad and the girls. Who is the third girl, one of Mike"s??

Anyway, about the missionary money. Thanks for wanting to help.

The $500 amount is to come from each missionary personally. After that the General Missionary fund kicks in.

If you donate money, we will make sure that the young men do some work for it. The problem they are having is

that the jobs do not pay enough here for them to save in a reasonable time (takes years to save). It is very discouraging and we have some wonderful

young men who really want to go, and need to get out on their missions while they are motivated. (you know how that is)

It is so interesting here (and a bit stupid) because the Khmer parents expect their children to take care of them

the rest of their lives financially. We have a young man who has a mother who was working and is very capable of working, yet because

she has children who are old enough to work, she quit work and is expecting them to pay for her living. She now spends

every day hanging out with the neighbors, going to the pagoda and spending money on the monks. Frustrating.

All the young men, except one, are the only members in their families. They are not only contending with the money

issue but are experiencing some verbal abuse from their families. They are proving to be particularly strong in still coming to

church because they "remember the feelings of the Holy Ghost". They amaze me.

Steve and I have been so blessed to know them. I have attached a picture of them that I took last Saturday at the church.

They spent all day at an Open House for our new church building. they sang in the Sacrament Meeting portion of the open

house which lasted from 9:00-5:00. They sang two songs each hour. They are so wonderful. I love them so much.

Okay, let me tell you about their " white" shirts.

I asked the "boys" (as I call them) to wear a white shirt for the Open House performance.Some of them had one and others did not.

I then asked them to wear their shirts to our last practice so I could see what they looked like and to give them a new tie that I had

made for them. When they came for the practice,some did not bring their shirts like I had asked.

I said, "Where are your shirts?" One young man pulled his out from behind his back and said "Sister, it's not very white."

It was the dirtiest "white" shirt I had ever seen. I said, "Well just put it on" Then for the others that didn't have

one I said, "Can you borrow a shirt?" One of the young men who was there, but not singing, said he would go home and

bring back the shirts he had. So he brought back three dingy white shirts and apologized about their color.

After looking the group over and realizing that they do their laundry by hand and with well water, I said, "Would you like

me to take your shirts home and wash and iron them for you?" Their faces lit up, "Oh yes!!" So after the practice, I had

them leave the shirts with me and I took them home. That night, when I was putting stain stick on their collars and on

their stains, I cried. I thought of each of them and how much I loved them. I hoped so much that I could get their shirts

clean. I added extra bleach in the water and said a silent prayer that by some miracle the shirts would turn white.

When I took the first batch out, I was so happy to see that the shirts were very clean (not exactly white, but closer than

they had been for a long time) and even the collars were clean. There were a couple of shirts that had to go back

in for a second wash, but after they dried and I ironed them they looked wonderful.

On Saturday, I met the boys early so they could put on their shirts and ties. They looked so handsome and felt so confident.

These "boys" are the best of the best. Words are inadequate for the love I have for each of them. I hope so much that they will all

be able to get out on a mission, they deserve it.

Their names are: Four up front (L to R) Darin, Sedeth, Dara, Rithy. Next row:

Monny, Chenna, Viriak. Top two: Kimyan, Seung

(Darin has his family in the church, the others are the only members). Dara is the branch

mission leader. Chenna is the Young Men's President, Kimyan teaches seminary. Monny

has a beautiful singing voice and would like to sing with the Tabernacle Choir. Rithy is the

newest member, being baptized two weeks ago. Viriak's family raises pigs and he struggles

the most with his parents. Seung is learning to be a tailor. Sedeth is a branch missionary.

Missing in the picture, because they were late are Rak Smey (the branch music leader) and

Sinah (the branch clerk).

Can you see why I love them?

Thanks for anything you can do.

Love,

Robyn

Justine's New PenPal

Justine received a letter from her penpal in Cambodia tonight; her great aunt/uncle are serving a mission there. This is the first letter she received; I thought it was pretty neat so here it is:

Dear Justine,



I'm sorry for replying late.I wish you forgive me.
I can give some answer. I'm 10 years old.
My favorite color is green and orange.
My favorite animal is cub.My favorite song is
'' when you say nothing at all''.I like to dance
and sing.I was born at the 25th of May1998.I
went to the temple at Hong Kong with my family.
I have me, my sis Emma who is 20, Max who
is 18.Sengthai who is 12, James who
is 5, Heng who is 3,Tong my dad who is 48,
Kim my mom who is 39.

I wish you will come to visit me at Cambodia.

                         Love Sina
                      To : my lovely penpal Justine

Justine is getting ready to do some fundraising for the missionary efforts over in Cambodia. There are several young men there that are worthy to serve missions, but lack funds. The mission president has asked each young man to contribute $500 to their mission in order for them to go, so Justine will raise as much as she can and send the money over. She is considering a bake sale to get started.

Adventures in Babysitting

Yesterday Michelle and I were over in South Jordan looking at houses, and had left Justine in charge of Em & Mads. As we were driving around, we received a call from a very frantic Emilie...she had to go to the bathroom, but the doors to all the bathrooms in the house were "locked". As I pressed Emilie (who was sounding very stressed at this point) for additional information as to why all the bathroom doors in our house would be locked, she proceeded to explain to me that several minutes earlier, Justine had been teasing Emilie, threatening to flush her blankie down the toilet. So Emilie, in the spirit of one-upmanship, decided she would thwart Justine's plan, and lock all the doors to rooms which had toilets in them. Now, in our house, blankies are, well....sacred. Whenever one goes missing, everything stops, a national emergency is declared, and everyone looks for the blankie until one is found. If it is not found, then mom heads to the Walmart, buys some material, and immediately makes a new one. We even had to stop scriptures the other night so that I could drive over to the Stauffer's and find Maddie's blankie that she had forgot. The alternative is to listen to a screaming, crying fit. Yes, we are weak. The crowning moment to this was we arrived home to a puddle of pee on the kitchen floor, compliments of Maddie. If I only had boys...I could have told them to just go out in the back yard and take care of business.

Emilie with the blankie...

Last night Michelle and I had a nice date at The Roof downtown. Great time!





This past week I went on my 1st Elk Archery hunt. It was a blast! We went up above Vernal, as well as deep into the Wasatch (above Strawberry). We were camped around 10,000 feet both times. Beautiful country! No elk though. Maybe next year.

This was the toughest terrrain that I have ever hiked in...straight
up a heavily wooded mountainside, with tons of deadfall.
Shortly after this, we called in an elk, and
he was within 100 yards. We could hear him crashing
through the deadfall until he caught our scent
(we were downwind of him) and took off. It was intense!

Ward Campout - Hobble Creek Canyon

This weekend was our annual trip to Hobble Creek Campground for the Ward campout. It was a blast!!! Dad caught a bunch of fish in the creek, mom and dad participated in an ABBA Tribute band, and the girls karaoked all night. See video's and photos below.

ABBA Cover Band
James and Michelle on right
The show almost didn't go on; Michelle barricaded herself in her trailer
due to her demands for two bowls of "red M&M's" before every show.
The roadies messed up and the M & M's for this show were blue...
Fame is getting to her!



Emilie Karaoke

Em & Allie Ott - Karaoke


Dad and Maddie by the fire

Em and Allie Ott


Em and Clara Moffat

Justine and Tiana

These are pictures of new cousin Kaislee Johnson!

The Gospel in Cambodia

This is a letter from Michelle's aunt & uncle who are serving a mission in Cambodia...

Hello to Everyone,



Well, we did it! On the 15th of July we reached our one year

anniversary since arriving in Cambodia. It's been an amazing year

filled with laughter and tears. The photo of the family attached

is just one of the reasons all of you are needed in the mission

field....yesterday!

The man right in front of Steve is Khem. He

and his family, along with his friend Raa and his family, are

investigating the gospel. We have been visiting them about twice

weekly during our temporary assignment in Kampong Cham, which is a

province city about 2 hours northeast of Phnom Penh. These two

families live side by side at a small brick factory where they earn

$2.00 per day making bricks 12 hours per day every day of the

week. We have been teaching them in Khem's house, where we all are

in this photo. Oh, and also in the house right behind Steve are 6

baby pigs that Khem is raising for food and extra income. They

have no electricity so we read by candle light, flash light and

occasionally, a small overhead light that they attach to a car

battery. But it doesn't work too often. You can see us well only

because of the camera flash. These families are so amazing!!!

They are positive, happy, friendly and grateful for what they

have. They welcome us into their home like royalty. When the

missionaries teach a lesson or when Robyn tells a Primary story,

the Spirit is so strong that it almost hurts. And to sit around

the candle light watching the children....AND the parents all

coloring a picture of Noah and the Ark, it's something we hope you

all get to experience as you will never think about the Gospel, or

your lives quite the same. When Khem and Raa came to church for

the first time, they couldn't believe how clean everything was and

how nicely they were treated. Of course they loved being in the AC

(air conditioned room) as that's a luxury only for the wealthy here

in Cambodia. They also took one of the hymnals home with them so

that they could sing together. So far they love....A Child of

God. We sing it every time we go. We also bring a big tin of

cookies for treats which is something they could never afford on

their own. These families, and others like them, have helped us

change our perspective on what's really important in life and what

we truly need to be happy. It can be found in a small, humble

bamboo and grass house that's about the size of a 12x12 bedroom

complete with pigs. It's the pure love of Christ that we read

about in the scriptures. It's charity, hope, faith and love.

It's being satisfied and thankful for what we've been given but also

willing to give it all away for someone else to enjoy. Thank you

so much for your prayers and support. We know the Gospel is true

and is alive and well in Cambodia.



Love,

Elder and Sister Wallwork aka Steve and Robyn

Steve and Robin are wonderful examples to our entire family as they have given up 18 months of their lives (and they are relatively young!) to serve the Lord. We really look forward to their reports from the mission field!

Yesterday Emilie cut her foot and James and Justine took her to the clinic to get stitched up. She was a real trooper, and really toughed it out during the Lidocaine shots; she actually fell asleep during the stitches. I wish I would have had the camera for that!

Photos from Phx Trip

Jeff & Kate Pugmire

James & Don Nation

Dan and Becky Wadsworth

James & Don

James & Don

Dan, James, & Don

Travel!

We have been on the road quite a bit this summer...a few of the trips that we've taken recently:

Phoenix. James had a two day meeting in Phx for work, and had the opportunity to see several friends. He stayed with Jeff and Kathryn Pugmire (Blewster) and was able to catch up with several friends...James, Kathryn, and Jeff got together with Kathryn's sister Becky and her husband Dan, as well as Don Nation, James' old roommate from the singles ward days. It was great to see Dan and Becky...I have always thought that they were the neatest couple, and James has always looked up to Dan...very cool guy! They have a GREAT family with lots of wonderful kids! It was also great to see Don...it had been around 14 years! We spent a few hours catching up. I will post photos soon.

James went straight from Phx to Vegas for a 4 day meeting with his sales team. Good food, good golf, but after 3 days of being bombarded by that place, came home a day early! It was about 150 degrees the whole time.

Had the Johnson (Michelle's dad) reunion down in Moroni as well. Great fun! Camped in the yard (forgot the air matresses...ouch!). It was great to see everybody!

Emilie, Emily Stauffer, and Maddie


Emilie riding with Grandpa


Justine reading to Em


Maddie riding with Grandpa


Todd's (Michelle's brother) wedding


Jason Kupiec (Tin Cup..he is about a 2 handicap)


Mike, Edie, Steve, and Dottie


Todd's Wedding Day (Lehi)