Growing Things

I have always loved growing things. When I was little my mom showed me how to take the leaves of this one particular plant, pin it to the curtain and watch it grow. Once the magical leaf had enough roots we would plant it in cool, dark, rich soil. Every year the two of us would plan out a garden, plotting "partner" plots where the plants actually nourished each other as well as pest deterrent planting. I still have one of the gorgeous pieces of graph paper with our annual plan all in color and it always makes me think fondly of all of those years of gardens. This year it is my turn to plan and grow a backyard garden. We have peppers, green beans, peas, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber and pumpkins! It is GORGEOUS! It is so thrilling to watch as the plants go from seeds to leaves to fruit! I've pictured one of my little watermelons that is growing bigger every day. The finished product will weigh 20-25 pounds and is supposed to have crimson red flesh inside of its mottled green skin. I love watching everything grow!

My garden is not the only thing growing in my life! I recently began an earnest search for spiritual guidance focusing mainly on the area of marriage or rather the lack thereof. I wanted to know what I needed to do to prepare myself for marriage and to be open to that kind of love. I started it with a monthly scripture study topic and a journal just for scripture study. The next thing I did was look at what kind of counsel I have received about it and was hit in the head by the fact that I had completely ignored counsel from my Bishop to go to the temple to look for a good man. Over the past month I have been going to the temple once a week and have found great blessings and guidance there. On Monday I received a letter from the temple Presidency letting me know that I had been recommended by my Bishop and Stake President to be an ordinance worker at the Oakland Temple. I was thrilled! Today I had my interview with a member of the temple Presidency that proved this calling to be divinely planned. Here's what happened:

President Harwood and his wife and I all introduced ourselves. As soon as we sat down Sister Harwood asked me what I did for work. I replied that I am a freelance American Sign Language interpreter. Her eyes immediately filled with tears. She explained that she had just been on the phone with Sister Hunter (the temple President's wife) talking about how much they need an ordinance worker who is fluent in ASL. My eyes immediately filled with tears. This was definitely not an accident!

I am thrilled to report that I will be serving as an ordinance worker every Friday from 6am-12pm starting on July 30! I will also be serving one Saturday a month when the Deaf branch from Fremont comes to the temple. I will be training other temple workers on the language of the temple in ASL as well as being the designated person to be with the brides that need ASL. Really? Me?! I am so excited I could burst!!!!

This latest experience, in a whole string of amazing spiritual growth, is one more burst of color in my personal growth garden. Sometimes the idea of growing is daunting but I am encouraged daily that this growth is leading me to my ultimate goal of a family sealed together through temple ordinances.

Growing is a wonderful thing!