NEWS FLASH, NEWS FLASH!!!!

Sunday, November 03, 2013

News Flash!!!

Yesterday, we received notice that our daughter Amy is engaged to a great young man named Christian Lawrence. We are so excited and pleased. Amy is a wonderful woman and we are so proud that she waited for the right man. It took a long time and lots of prayer but we are confident that she made a great choice. They are planning to be married February 22, 2014 in the Salt Lake Temple. Below is the photo that they sent out yesterday.

 

Congratulations on your engagement Amy and Christian

Other than the great news above, it has been a relatively quiet week here in Sierra Vista. We met with the soldiers today for a fast and testimony meeting. This is really the highlight of our week. I realized that I have not included a picture of the couple that we work with in the service member group. Brother and Sister Kovacs are wonderful folks. Brother Kovacs is the Group Leader. We have gotten to know them in the few weeks we have been here and have already grown to love and appreciate what they do for the servicemen.

Tony and Genevieve Kovacs

It is hard to believe that it has been just over one month since we entered the Missionary Training Center. Reflecting on the last 34 days, it has truly been an incredible experience. We have met so many wonderful people and had many extremely spiritual experiences. It seems so much has happened in such a short time. We are really grateful for this calling and the experiences that we are having.

Occasionally in life, we get in a bit of a rut and start thinking why can’t my life be more rewarding or fulfilling? Sometimes we compare ourselves to the way we perceive others to be. We may think, why isn't my life as good as his? 

We are each born into a special set of circumstances and are given the counsel to “endure it well.” I was recently reading the history of one of my ancestors and came across a story that really inspired me. This is the story of my 6^th or 7^th great grandmother, as best as I can determine. It has taught me one more time a number of lessons that we all should learn. One lesson is the importance of enduring to the end. Another is to be grateful for my own life and experiences. Still another lesson is to take what I have been given and make the best of it. I am sure there are many other lessons that could be learned from her life. Below I would like to share a brief synopsis of her life:

“One ancestor of Benjamin’s reached mythical status. This was the mother of Sarah Pike, known to history as Penelope Van Princin. Penelope was born in Amsterdam about 1622…… She married a young man in Holland, perhaps after the death of her father. In 1640, Penelope and her husband sailed to New Amsterdam. The vessel was stranded off the New Jersey coast at Sandy Hook. Penelope’s husband was ill, either injured in the wreck of the ship or sick after weeks at sea. Penelope refused to leave him, and she and her husband were left behind as the other passengers, fearing attacks by Native Americans, fled to shore and then overland to the safety of the Dutch colony, a trek that would have taken several days at least. The young couple was indeed brutally attacked by the natives, being stripped of their clothing and left for dead. Penelope’s skull was fractured, likely as she was scalped, and her left shoulder was hacked by a knife which prevented full use of that arm for the rest of her life. She was cut across her abdomen, leaving her bowels protruding. Regaining consciousness in this condition, she realized her husband was dead. Penelope held her bowels in place with her right hand and crawled to nearby shelter she found in the hollow of a Buttonwood tree.

After several days, she saw a deer pass nearby with arrows sticking from it. Following were two natives, one much older than the other. The young man intended to kill Penelope, but the elderly native prevented this action. He wrapped Penelope in his match coat and carried her to his home where he dressed the numerous wounds, healing her. Once she was well, this man took her to New Amsterdam, expecting a reward and receiving one in the form of food and supplies. At this time, forty-year-old Richard Stout was a British settler on Long Island. He was born into an excellent Nottingham family. According to the marriage record which still exists, Richard married Penelope in 1644 when she was twenty-two. Several of their children were born in Gravesend, but they eventually settled across the bay near Sandy Hook, living among the early Dutch settlers in the new settlement of Middletown and maintaining friendly relations with the old Indian who saved Penelope. Richard Stout was highly respected and instrumental in the settling of Monmouth County. Penelope bore ten children, all of whom survived to adulthood. She always wore a knit cap to cover the tufts of hair on her head remaining from her injuries. She outlived her husband by twenty-five years, dying at the age of 110. Penelope had five hundred and two descendants at the time of her death in 1732. Within a few generations, thousands of New Jersey residents counted her as their ancestor, as do millions today.”

Is this not an incredible story of not just enduring, but of thriving? What a magnificent woman she was. I cannot read this story without feeling tender feelings of love and appreciation for all she went through and a sense of guilt for any complaining I might be inclined to do. We are such a blessed people and we live in a special time. How will history record how we lived our lives?

Have a great week.