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December 29, 2011

The Year, 1994

1994 was a very good year.  

It was the year we bought this TV.

It was the first and only TV we ever bought

in our 34 years of marriage....

 ...until today.

The kids were shocked!  

We told Sam we weren't going to get a new TV 

until after Scott and I served our mission in a few years.  

I think we all got tired of watching the TV screen with all the "snow" on the picture.

The Best Christmas Gift....

 "It´s good to be on a mission and help people access the greatest gift anyone could ever receive--the blessings of the atonement."

Lisa Magnusson

A Song of Thanks

Today I helped serve a Christmas dinner to all the missionaries (about 250 of them) serving in the Arcadia, California Mission. When the meal was over, Pres. Becerra invited the servers into the cultural hall where we could be recognized and thanked for serving the missionaries their meal. After Pres. Becerra said a few words of thanks, he invited the missionaries to stand and sing, Called to Serve. As we listened to elders and sisters sing, we were deeply touched and moved to tears as we listened to all 250 of them sing to us. It will be a moment I'll never forget. Of course, I thought of my own Hermana Magnusson serving in Argentina.

You can also see the video by clicking here.

Christmas Music!

Thanks to my parents, I love Christmas music. I have discovered the Mormon Channel has a continuos stream of Christmas music on their web site. Click here to listen. ( you might have to click onto the music link) There is a good variety of musical artists from the Carpenters to the MoTab Choir. And the songs are more about the nativity, and less about Santa.

I have the music going during the day as I putter around the house. We don't have our decorations up yet, but the Christmas spirit is here with the music going on.

Enjoy!

Lisa with Elder Christofferson

You can also see the vide by clicking here

As you will see in the above video, Lisa was able to meet Elder Christofferson. Click on the arrow to watch the video.  Lisa appears at 2:33.  Don't blink or you might miss her.

Click here for the link to the Church's webpage were they did the news story about  Elder Christofferson's visit to Argentina.

Got Teenagers? Want'a Teach Them About Chastity? Check This Out.

Our church has lots of teaching resources on the subject of chastity.

This video is a good one: (you can also view the video by clicking here)

For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet has a good reference on the subject of sexual purity.
You can read it by clicking here.

True to the Faith is another good gospel reference resource on gospel topics.
Click here to read what the Church's view is on the subject of chastity.

Click here for another very good video on the topic.  In this video, I Choose to be Pure, six young adults from six different religions talk about why they have chosen to be sexually pure.

Lynn G. Robins gave a BYU Devotional on this topic.  
Elder Robins teaches, "The Lord teaches that it is easier to avoid temptation than to resist it."

You can also view the video on youtube by clicking here or on the BYU site by clicking here

Of course, Joseph is a good example of how to live the law of Chastity.

Read about how he "fled" and "got him out"

when he resisted the advances of Potiphar's wife.

(Genesis 39)

Super Kristine!

Life/Death: Families are Eternal

Today a student from Scott's school passed away.  

She and her twin sister were struck by a car 

while they were walking to school on Monday. 

How do you deal with a tragic loss?  

Below is a video of how a mother, Jenny Hess, 

dealt with the loss of her 5 year old son 

who died in a sledding accident.  

I am grateful to know that family relationships are eternal.

You can also view the video by clicking here.

This City - Duarte!

Patrick Stump did a: "This City" Video Contest.  

I think Nicolas Djeu and Robert Herrara 

did a great job capturing what

 "This City", Duarte, is all about.  

You can also see this video by clicking here

I did miss seeing a shot of the bike trail.  

 Maybe in the next video about Duarte.   

Financially Responsible People.....

I was cleaning up some paperwork and ran across this article that I cut out of the newspaper by Mary Hunt.   I was trying to figure out where to file this good advice.  I thought that the family blog would be a good place.  This is good advice for all to become more financially responsible.  I'm glad that our parents taught us these principles long before Mary Hunt wrote about it.  

Click onto the article to enlarge it so you can read it.

The Power of A Testimony

The lesson I learned from Lisa this week:

-last night i felt like a real missionary. i normally don´t contribute much to lessons. i can give part of the lesson we have prepared, but answering questions and elaborating on doctrine are way beyond my language abilities right now. so my comp does most of the speaking. but last night we contacted a lady that we found in our area book--the elders had tracted her out once. she was not very nice to us--her countenance was very hard and she basically just wanted to argue. she believes in God (everyone does--they´re all catholic or evangelical) but didn´t believe His or our message could help her with her life. my poor comp was going in circles with her. after some time, i interrupted and bore my testimony. she ended up breaking down and began sobbing--her mom died some time ago and her depression has led her to drinking. she basically has no purpose or hope. i shared a scripture with her from the book of mormon, and she began to soften....at first she was smirking at my sad attempts at spanish,but later asked about my family and my home and how long i had been here, etc.

Thanks, Lisa, for teaching me about the power of a testimony.

Remember Lot's Wife

One of the blessings that come from teaching seminary is that you, as the teacher, learn so much as you prepare to present each lesson.

This week I have been fascinated with learning about Abraham's life and all that we can learn from his experiences.  As I prepared to teach my lesson about Lot, I remembered a talk given by Elder Holland in a devotional speech given at BYU on January 13, 2009 titled, Remember Lot's Wife.   (You can get to his talk by clicking here . I personally like to download the free mp3 version and listen to Elder Holland deliver his talk.  His voice inflections are so great.  You can also download a free pdf written version of the talk.)

Below is a portion of his talk to get you interested in reading/listening to the whole thing:

"To all such of every generation, I call out, 'Remember Lot’s wife.' Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the 'high priest of good things to come'.”

This is a few highlights from his talk  

You can also see the above video by clicking here.  

Below is a portion of Elder Holland's talk that is in the above 6 minute video given on January 13, 2009.  

Remember Lot's Wife  

by Jeffery R. Holland

As a scriptural theme for this discussion, I have chosen the second-shortest verse in all of holy scripture. It is Luke 17:32, where the Savior cautions, “Remember Lot’s wife.”

The original story, of course, comes to us out of the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, when the Lord, having had as much as He could stand of the worst that men and women could do, told Lot and his family to flee because those cities were about to be destroyed. “Escape for thy life,” the Lord said, “look not behind thee . . . ; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed” (Genesis 19:17; emphasis added).

With less than immediate obedience and more than a little negotiation, Lot and his family ultimately did leave town, but just in the nick of time. The scriptures tell us what happened at daybreak the morning following their escape:

The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;  And he overthrew those cities. [Genesis 19:24–25]

With the Lord’s counsel “look not behind thee” ringing clearly in her ears, Lot’s wife, the record says, “looked back.”

It is possible that Lot’s wife looked back with resentment toward the Lord for what He was asking her to leave behind. It isn’t just that she looked back; she looked back longingly. In short, her attachment to the past outweighed her confidence in the future.

I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone, nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. We remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives. So a more theological way to talk about Lot’s wife is to say that she did not have faith. She doubted the Lord’s ability to give her something better than she already had. She thought that nothing that lay ahead could possibly be as good as those moments she was leaving behind.

There is something in us, at least in too many of us, that particularly fails to forgive and forget earlier mistakes in life—either mistakes we ourselves have made or the mistakes of others. That is not good. It is not Christian. It stands in terrible opposition to the grandeur and majesty of the Atonement of Christ. To be tied to earlier mistakes—our own or other people’s—is the worst kind of wallowing in the past from which we are called to cease and desist.

I can’t tell you the number of couples I have counseled who, when they are deeply hurt or even just deeply stressed, reach farther and farther into the past to find yet a bigger brick to throw through the window “pain” of their marriage. When something is over and done with, when it has been repented of as fully as it can be repented of, when life has moved on as it should and a lot of other wonderfully good things have happened since then, it is not right to go back and open up some ancient wound that the Son of God Himself died trying to heal.

Let people repent. Let people grow. Believe that people can change and improve. Is that faith? Yes! Is that hope? Yes! Is it charity? Yes! Above all, it is charity, the pure love of Christ. If something is buried in the past, leave it buried. Don’t keep going back with your little sand pail and beach shovel to dig it up, wave it around, and then throw it at someone, saying, “Hey! Do you remember this?” Splat!  And soon enough everyone comes out of that exchange dirty and muddy and unhappy and hurt, when what God, our Father in Heaven, pleads for is cleanliness and kindness and happiness and healing.

Such dwelling on past lives, including past mistakes, is just not right! It is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. I call out, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the “high priest of good things to come.”

The Binding

Today in Seminary we studied Genesis 22.  As you study what happened with  Abraham and  and Isaac, you'll find it's an amazing story.

I saw this video about 15 years ago.  It touched my life then and I'm happy that I can post it on our family blog today. It is a great portrayal of the faithfulness of Abraham.  I hope I can follow Abraham's faithful example.

You can also see the video by clicking here.  

From the Old Testament Seminary  Manual:  Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac is not only an impressive demonstrations of faithfulness, it also teachers about and testifies of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  

Update on Hermana Magnusson. Welcome to Argentina

Lisa with Pres. and Sis. Levering

I know we've left you hanging on Lisa's whereabouts from our last post.   The office elders from Lisa's mission sent pictures of her arrival to Salta a couple of days later,  but we didn't hear from Lisa herself until yesterday.  We were happy to hear of her travel adventures and safe arrival.


 we were delayed in getting here a day.  oh man, what a story.  we arrived in dallas ok, but then sat on the tarmac waiting to take off (for buenos aires) for TWO HOURS because of one problem after another- the pilot needed to change the flight plan due to the volcano.  then we were overweight, so they asked for volunteers to take a different flight.  then there were mechanical problems.  then a sudden attack of severe lightening storms, and finally, part of the plane was struck by lightening so that´s when we had to deboard.  we were waiting around for instructions and a man in a uniform (the pilot of the plane?) came up to me and my comp and said, "sisters, heavenly father didn´t want us on that plane.  there were too many problems.  you be sure to write that in your journals tonight."  interesting, eh?  not sure if he was a member, but he sure talked like one.

Lisa's companion is native Argentine which is a great way for Lisa to learn Spanish.  

 my new comp is hermana rojas.  she is from cordova, argentina, and also speaks just about zero english.  i´m glad, because it´s forcing me to speak spanish all the time.  she is a convert of about 5 years, and is the only member in her family.  she´s 23 and was studying to be a kindergarten teacher before the mish.  she is good and speaks slowly for me and i can understand her most of the time.  i´m so grateful for that.  but, i am discovering how much spanish i don´t know (ie: in the mtc they don´t teach you vocab necessary for cleaning your apartment).  i am able to communicate well enough, i guess, but there are still too many long chunks of silence.  i need to remember  that that will come with time.

Lisa with Herman Rojas

Lisa's first impressions of Argentina:

-the people here "sing" their spanish.  and they talk fast.  and sometimes the argentine "sh" (for double l´s and y´s) is so strong i can´t understand anything.  but i am able to contribute a little to lessons, so i´m grateful for that.

-we walk everywhere, or ride the colectivo (bus).  our chapel is about a 15-20 minute walk away.

-there are a lot of plants here that i recognize from home, like the trees with the purple flowers that line the driveway to northview.

-dogs are everywhere.  they lazily walk around or are just laying in the sidewalks.  

-the ward meets in a new chapel.  there is another ward that meets in the same building.  not sure how many people were at church on sunday, not enough to fill the chapel, but enough.  we arrived at gospel principles for sunday school, and when my comp stood at the front of the class, i realized it was our job to teach!  thank goodness my comp is a native and taught because i wouldn´t have been able to do it.

We love our Lisa and are happy that she can be bringing the gospel to our brothers and sisters in Argentina. 

If you want to write to her, I'm sure she'd appreciate an email.  Her email address is:

lisa.magnusson@myldsmail.net

Volcanic Ash Cloud

Lisa is scheduled to fly to Argentina today. We'll see if she makes it.

Volcanic ash cloud grounds flights in Argentina and Uruguay

17th October 2011

Click here for story source

Flights to major airports in Argentina and Uruguay were suspended yesterday as a dangerous ash cloud from the Puyehue volcano in neighbouring Chile began to drift into the countries' airspace.

Jorge Newbery Airport in Buenos Aires was shut down, and flights at Ezeiza airport south of the Argentinian capital were also grounded.

Both international and domestic flights have been affected in Argentina, including routes to Mendoza on the steps of the Andes mountains and Ushuaia in the far south. Bariloche airport is also currently closed.

American Airlines, Lufthansa, TAM and Gol have also cancelled a number of their flights to the Argentinian capital.

Argentina's transport secretary Juan Pablo told reporters that officials were waiting for the ash cloud to pass before the airlines operating out of the airport could resume their operations.

.....Later today

I just got a call from Lisa. She having a layover in the Dallas/Ft Worth, Texas airport. She is on her way to Argentina hoping that her carry-on luggage (that they took away from her because there wasn't enough room to carry it on her plane) makes it to Buenos Aires. She sounded great and ready for this new adventure!

Sanctify Yourselves

In Lisa's last letter she sent from the MTC (Missionary Training Center) she said:

sunday night our fireside speaker was chad lewis, the NFL ambassador to china and part of byu's athletics staff (but you already knew that--right, sam??) he shared a lot of interesting missionary experiences he had in the NFL--all because he served a mission. it was good, and all the elders were eating it up.

speaking of football, there's a video on the lds.org youth page. the title is "sanctify yourselves." it's really good--a true story about a little boy that was struck by lightening during football practice and he received a blessing. the coach is the dad of one of the elders in my district (elder johnson, from pocatello, ID). you should watch it! (especially sam)

I agree with Lisa, this is a good story and a good message.

I Love a Parade

The City of Duarte has been doing a Route 66 parade for the past 15 years.

Each year Duarte II Ward has participated. 

For the past several years we have carried an American flag that is 30 feet X 60 feet

This is our group walking down the street from the church getting ready to line up.

Thanks, Simmon's, for the great breakfast.  

 Only 3 Magnussons are left to march in the parade.

Getting instructions from Bro. Simmons

 Waiting for the parade to start...

The weather cooperated this year.  

In years past we've walked on the rain.

We've walked in the blazing heat.

I'll take today's weather - overcast and cool

 Craig Stogner was an official helper .

Click on on the arrow to watch the video of flag being unfolded.

The banner holders

Walking down the parade route

 Look at the cute flag holder in the visor bringing up the rear

Andres Duarte (the statue in the background) watching the parade

 Getting some help from Will

 Senior spectators cheering us on

Smile for the camera!

Almost done.

Here is another video of the group folding up the flag.

You can see it takes cooperation to complete the task.   

We'll see you next year!

News From Lisa.

You learn all kind of things while serving in the MTC as we found out from Lisa's email that she sent yesterday.  Click here to learn the new tidbit of information that she gleaned from the elders there in the MTC.

Monrovia/Duarte Seminary Class

What a great way to start each day!

9-11 Ten Years Later.

You can also see the video by clicking here

Click here for a Church News 10 year anniversary story of 9/11

“We live in a time of turmoil. Earthquakes and tsunamis wreak devastation, governments collapse, economic stresses are severe, the family is under attack, and divorce rates are rising. We have great cause for concern. But we do not need to let our fears displace our faith. We can combat those fears by strengthening our faith.”

Elder Russell M. Nelson April 2011 General Conference

Read Elder Nelson's talk here

Oh, What Do You Do In the Summertime?

I thought our Church History tour earlier this summer
was pretty exciting and adventurous.  

While 5 Magnussons were flying to the East Coast 

and then driving across the country by bus,......

....Kristine was traveling to far away exotic places on the other side of the world.

In Tahiti...

She was becoming one with nature.

She was catching...... 

.....gutting... 

...and eating raw fish.

She was also drinking coconut and rain water.  

 (because there was no running water)

A couple of weeks later in Saipan....

....she was diving...

 ....and visiting WWII remains... 

...in and out of the water.

She was working. 

Really, she was.

She was doing research 

 and collecting marine  invertebrates.
(sea creatures without backbones)

We're glad she got on the plane to come home  :)

Her adventures puts a whole new twist to the Primary song, Oh, What Do You Do In the Summertime?.

Click here to read the article that was written up on the BYU Hawaii's homepage about their trip to Saipan.