Dear Family and Loved Ones,
We had a very special week enjoying a visit with from our family here in Long Beach!
We didn’t have everyone together for long since Scott had to return back to Utah Sunday for work and school – the rest of us enjoyed a great day at Disneyland Monday. What a wonderful, magical place :) I’m always grateful to have little ones along at theme parks since I’m not a fan of the scary rides and they provide a good reason to stick with the kiddie rides. Pearl had a goal to ride It’s a Small World four times. We only made it three times but she seemed satisfied with that. It was actually one of the best and coolest rides in the park since there was record heat on Monday with temperatures over 100 degrees! The rest of the family were able to get on most of their favorite rides including Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones, Tower of Terror, Space Mountain (which fortunately reopened just in time for our visit), etc.
The rest of the week was spent at the beach, Signal Hill, eating out and spending precious time together – what a blessing!
Ted was able to join us on Monday but had a lot of heavy duty missionary related issues to take care of. He joined us whenever possible but was also able to take care of our missionaries throughout the week.
Mari had her dance show at the High School this week as well. The dance program and Los Al High is very well respected and the dancers performed to four sold out shows Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It was great to see Mari having so much fun on stage, she is a natural performer. It was especially gratifying for her to be able to participate this year since she was injured last year on the way to the dress rehearsal for the January dance show and had to withdraw from dance for the rest of the year while she recuperated.
We attended stake conference in the Cerritos Stake this weekend – we realized we only have five Sundays left and will be attending stake conference every week except one. The Cerritos Stake is so special. Ted likes to tell the missionaries that serve there that when they meet Heavenly Father someday they will find out that He is a lot like President Nunley (the Cerritos Stake President). He is such a kind, gentle and thoughtful man. He is also very spiritual and gives great instruction to his stake. President Nunley’s wife passed away a little over a year ago but he continues to serve faithfully. The conference today was great. The music and talks were all excellent but we especially loved a talk given by a sister from the stake on member missionary work. We asked her if she could get us a copy of it and she handed us hers, she said she had it saved to her computer.
Ted is now off to an area council meeting with our new Area Seventy, Elder Acosta and the seven Stake Presidents from our mission. He loves meeting with the local Church leaders and always expresses his admiration for them.
We didn’t have to suffer with the heat too long by Wednesday our perfect Long Beach weather returned. This is such a beautiful time of year in Southern California. I’ve been waiting for the Jacaranda trees to bloom since they are my favorites and they are finally in full bloom. The Jacaranda blossoms are the most beautiful periwinkle color and the trees are loaded with flowers. Jacaranda trees often line city streets and are planted heavily in the local parks – when there are many trees planted closely together, all in bloom it is breathtaking!
I often think of a Relief Society/Priesthood lesson that was given a few years ago. I always enjoy having the same topic for both the men and women because it is interesting to find out how different the lessons turn out in each organization. The lesson I was thinking about lately was on the topic of the creation. When I asked Ted how their lesson went he mentioned a comment from Brother Beattie who said that as he was reading through the lesson it struck him that one of the Lord’s purposes in creating our beautiful world was to simply delight us, His children. That makes a lot of sense to me, thinking of the creation as an expression of our Father’s love and desire to bring us joy makes me appreciate our beautiful world even more. In Genesis 2:9 we read that God “made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight” and in Psalms 19:1 we read, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.”
When we first arrived in Long Beach we all made a pledge that we would never become complacent about the beautiful place we would be spending the next three years. Hopefully we have fully appreciated the wonderful creations that we have been able to enjoy, they truly are an evidence that God lives and loves us enough to bless us with so much to delight us each day.
We love and appreciate each of you!
The Long Beach Buberts
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