On Sunday 22 February Eileen enjoyed playing with Liam in the morning as the Raleigh 2nd Ward wasn't until 12:20 pm.

We enjoyed attending that ward but it was confusing!  Lds.org showed this ward meeting from 12:20-3:20 pm yet when we arrived at 12:15 the Sunday School class was beginning.  As we learned after Sunday School the next meetings were priesthood and Relief Society! So the meeting schedule is very confusing due to three wards in the building!

Gospel Doctrine was lesson #8, “The Sermon on the Mount: 'A More Excellent Way'” using Matthew 5.

The purpose of the lesson is to encourage class members to come unto Christ by applying the principles he taught in the Sermon on the Mount. 

The teacher had a handout with quotes from several Church leaders.

1. Jesus teaches the Beatitudes to his disciples.

The first teachings in this sermon are known as the Beatitudes. The word beatitude comes from the Latin beatus, which means fortunate, happy, or blessed.

What does it mean to be “poor in spirit”? To be humble.

What does it mean to be meek? To be gentle, forgiving, or benevolent.

2. Jesus declares that his disciples are “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.”

3. Jesus teaches a higher law than the law of Moses.

The law of Moses had been “given to the children of Israel, … for they were a stiffnecked people, quick to do iniquity, and slow to remember the Lord their God.” It was “a law of performances and of ordinances, … which [the Israelites] were to observe strictly from day to day, to keep them in remembrance of God and their duty towards him” (Mosiah 13:29–30). Those who understood the law “[looked] forward with steadfastness unto Christ, until the law [was] fulfilled. For, for this end was the law given” (2 Nephi 25:24–25).

The Savior fulfilled the law of Moses when he atoned for our sins (Alma 34:13–16). After the Atonement, the people were no longer commanded to make animal sacrifices, which had been required as part of the law of Moses to point to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Instead, the people were commanded to “offer for a sacrifice … a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9:19-20).

Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “Under the Mosaic law the taking of oaths was so common and covered such a variety of circumstances that, in practice, little verity attended statements that were not made with an oath. … Under the perfect law of Christ every man’s word is his bond, and all spoken statements are as true as though an oath attended each spoken word”.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915-1985)

How are we to understand the Savior’s command that we become perfect? (See Matthew 5:48, footnote 48b, which says that an alternate Greek translation of the word perfect is “complete, finished, fully developed.”) 

President Joseph Fielding Smith said: 

“I believe the Lord meant just what he said: that we should be perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect. That will not come all at once, but line upon line, and precept upon precept, example upon example, and even then not as long as we live in this mortal life, for we will have to go even beyond the grave before we reach that perfection and shall be like God. 

“But here we lay the foundation. Here is where we are taught these simple truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in this probationary state, to prepare us for that perfection. It is our duty to be better today than we were yesterday, and better tomorrow than we are today. … If we are keeping the commandments of the Lord, we are on that road to perfection”.

President Joseph Fielding Smith (1876-1972)

The teachings in the Sermon on the Mount help us “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him” (Moroni 10:32).

The hymn in priesthood was #7 "Israel, Israel, God Is Calling" text by Richard Smyth (1838-1914) and music by Charles C. Converse (1832-1918).

The lesson was from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk "Lord, Is It I?" in the October 2014 priesthood session of general conference.  I was pleased to hear from Eileen that the lesson in Relief Society was the same!

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

We must put aside our pride, see beyond our vanity, and in humility ask, “Lord, is it I?"

Lastly was sacrament meeting.

Opening hymn was #298 "Home Can Be a Heaven on Earth" with text by Carolyn Hamilton Klopfer (1936- ) and W. Herbert Klopfer (1936- ).  We attended a fireside by the Klopfer's while on our mission.  

A brother who was baptized yesterday was confirmed a member of the Church and received the gift of the Holy Ghost.  A family of three was also baptized yesterday but could not be here today.

Sacrament hymn was #187 "God Loved Us, So He Sent His Son" text by Edward P. Kimball and music by Alexander Schreiner.  Brother Kimball was an American organist of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and a Latter-day Saint hymn writer.  Brother Schreiner was one of the most noted organists of the Salt Lake Tabernacle. He also wrote the music to several LDS hymns, several of which are in the current edition of the Church hymn book.  Wikipedia 

Alexander Schreiner (1901-1987)

Edward P. Kimball (1882-1937)

The youth speaker was Brother Nicholas Clements. He was difficult to understand.  He mentioned which of the Ten Commandments was broken the most, which is taking the name of the Lord in vain.

The next speaker was Sister Stephanie Fife. She spoke on marriage and family, on love.  Matthew 22:37 on the first and great commandment and the second like into it.  "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."  Luke 10.  She quoted Presidents Monson and Hinckley.  Elder Holland spoke on "how do I love thee?" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning at a BYU devotional on February 15, 2000.  The pure love of Christ.  Moroni 7:45.  Lucy in "I Love Lucy" violated many of the items in that verse.  We may easily rationalize our anger and judgment as righteous.  Elder Holland also spoke about Samuel Plimsoll and the Plimsoll marks on English ships.

There was a special musical number by Serenity and Bryan Chandler "Love is Spoken Here" accompanied by Paula Olson.

The concluding speaker was Brother Tom Gandolph.  He also on marriage and family relationships.  He also quoted Matthew 22:37.  In the pre-existence all of us were single, brothers and sisters, but no other relationships.  He has six children who have all been married in the temple with 22 grandchildren and one on the way. Rocky times in his marriage due to his not keeping the commandments with exactness. We must seek to become like Christ. It is a process that takes time.  We have celestial spirits and telestial bodies.  Divorce is devastating to children.  Alma 37.  Cry unto the Lord. Keep striving.

Closing hymn was #300 "Families Can Be Together Forever" text by Ruth M. Gardner (1927-1999) and music by Vanya Y. Watkins (1938- ).

We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon playing with Liam.  I finished my blog entry for the week of 18 January which was our cruise with Carnival.

On Monday 23 February we packed the car and left the Dowd's about 9:50 am.  We stopped as usual at New York Bagels & Deli for our bagel sandwiches and headed west.

Ben at the Deli

Inside the Deli

Not long after heading out our odometer reached 96569.  We went to Sam's Club in Hickory and filled up for $2.179.

We checked in at the Comfort Inn in Franklin, NC, about 3:40.

We went to supper at Fatz Cafe in Franklin with Sister Mathis. 

On Tuesday 24 February we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel.  I went outside and cleaned the three inches of snow off the car and we headed out about 10 am.  The clerk said "yes" to my two Book of Mormon questions!

It snowed continually and the wooded landscape was very pretty as we drove from Franklin to Hayesville along US64.  We stopped at Ingles in Hayesville and Blairsville.  We got lots of fruit-2-O as it was buy one get one free.  Gas was $1.999 with our 10 cent discount.  

In Ellijay we picked up two prescriptions at Rite-Aid that they had called us about on Sunday that we didn't even know about.  Dr. Raisig had called them in after Eileen's last visit.  Most of the town was closed down due to the weather so we couldn't vote but we picked up last week's Times-Courier.

Times-Courier Office

Inside Times-Courier Office

We got home about 1:15 pm.  All was well at home.  The water was still dripping okay in master bathroom.  We didn't lose power while we were gone! 

It always takes a long time to unpack the car.  Our mail on hold had been dropped off.  Eileen got another cute Hummel and we got a bunch of VHS tapes from Colleen that she would like copied onto CDs.

Later we started watching shows I had recorded.  They were America's Test Kitchen, Genealogy Roadshow, Cook's Country, and The Great British Baking Show.  With more bad weather coming we got an e-mail that the food pantry would be closed tomorrow.

On Wednesday 25 February we went into town to mail three birthday cards (we got a Walmart gift card for one of them), went by the bank to make a deposit, shopped at Ingles, and went by R&A Orchards en route home.  Lots of places are closing in anticipation of the snow later in the day.  I got out the snow shovel from the shed and cleaned off most of the snow and ice on our front porch from Monday night.

About four pm the snow began.  I worked on my first newsletter for Kids Ferst in Gilmer County.  Eileen made a wonderful supper!  I told her that I had taken out swai fillets for supper, so she made delicious fish tacos with homemade cole slaw and wonderful cheese sauce for our pita chips.

I finished reading the 7 September issue of the Church News.  I enjoyed the article about President Boyd K. Packer turning 90, the article from BYU Campus Education Week entitled "Science of improvement 'Intelligence doesn't determine destiny'", and the article "10-year-old reaches out raising $10,000 for another child in need."

President Boyd K. Packer and his wife, Donna Smith Packer. President Packer celebrates his 90th birthday September 10, 2014.  Photo by Clinton Melander.

On Thursday 26 February we enjoyed the 3 3/4 inches of snow (I measured it on the railing on our front porch) and I continued working on my first newsletter, sharing what I had collected for inclusion with Eileen.

Heather said they got about 5 inches of snow, not the 8-12 predicted.  They did lose power from about 11:30 last night until about 12:30 today.

Later I submitted the newsletter information to the gentleman at Ferst Foundation.  I await his response.

I called FamilySearch about Sue's temple ordinances showing on Family Tree and about her user names. I will check with her ward clerk to ensure that her death information was sent to Church HQ.

As part of our nightly reading I finished Elder Holland's talk "How Do I Love Thee?" at a BYU devotional on February 15, 2000, which had been referred to by the sister who spoke Sunday and I had found online.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

On Friday 27 February I finished chapter 12 on prayer in President Joseph F. Smith's Gospel Doctrine.

I have been wearing the UP bracelet by Jawbone just at night to see what it shows about my sleep.  Usually I get much more light sleep than deep sleep while Eileen gets mostly deep sleep.  Last night I finally got more deep sleep (3h58m) than light sleep (3h43m) for a total of 7h41m.

UP bracelet

We headed for town and Eileen went to Barbara's for her hair appointment while I got a haircut at the City Barber Shop.

Eileen and Barbara Rittenberry

We went to the courthouse for the early voting and voted for the extension of the 1% special education tax (E-SPLOST).

Then we found the Gilmer Arts office and gallery where Eileen signed up for Judy Harvey's painting class beginning 19 March for three Thursdays.

Eileen at Gilmer Arts building

Lastly Eileen was hungry, so we stopped at the Eastside Grill for a deluxe hot dog for her!

At the window of the Eastside Grill

In the afternoon we worked on our Church Service mission task for a little while. 

I tried the feature on Family Tree's temple ordinance list that allows you to share a name on the list with a friend.  I sent one female name to our friends Bud and Jan Farr in Mesa, Arizona.

I called the Plantation Ward clerk about Sue's records and they had been sent to Salt Lake City.

Eileen enjoyed lots of House Hunters on HGTV.

We enjoyed the tomato soup she made yesterday with carrots, corn, and andouille sausage and cheese sprinkled on top.

I finished reading the 14 September issue of the Church News.  I enjoyed reading the article about Elder Russell M. Nelson turning 90, and the articles "Northern South America continues to grow and mature," "The Strength of the youth in Africa," "Ogden Utah Temple," "Elder Paul K. Sybrowsky dies at age 70," "The Science of Happiness," "My work and my glory," and the "Education Moment Keep a journal." 

Ogden Utah Temple

Elder Paul K. Sybrowsky

On Saturday 28 February we drove to the Comfort Inn in Kennesaw to get Eileen's black shoes she had left there back on 15 February.  After missing three palindromes we saw 96969 on our odometer. Then we visited the Atlanta Temple to perform sealing ordinances.  

Atlanta Georgia Temple

Next was d'Lites Emporium for a treat.  We both had swirls of Milky Way and Snickers as the other flavors weren't ready yet.  They gave us free toppings!

We visited a Walmart a few miles north of d'Lites.  I was hunting for a 9V battery charger but no luck.  We chatted with an employee named Rollo in hardware. He admired my Bavarian tie and it came out that he had been stationed at Bad Toelz the same time we were circa 1969!  He was in Special Forces and later was also at Fort Bragg.  What a small world!

On the way home on I-575 we reached 97079.  We visited Bill and Kimberley Kazy and their daughter Jessica in Talking Rock and then took the car through the Squiggles car wash in Ellijay.

The Kazy's in Talking Rock

We finished Eileen's delicious tomato soup for supper and began our fast as tomorrow is Fast Sunday.