Application of Principles

I began the application process of this project by prayerfully selecting one of the eight topics to apply at this time in my life. My choice was family. Next, I developed a plan of implementation. Below is a list of tasks I set the goal to complete over the last three weeks of the semester. 

ü  Be sure that family scripture study and prayer happens each night.

ü If there is contention, play uplifting music to bring the spirit back into the home

ü  Talk to your grandparents at least once a week

ü  Work on your family history once a week

ü  Do a batch of indexing once a week

ü  Hang out with your brothers a little each day

ü  Go visit Kezza at least once before you leave

ü  Take GG’s name to the temple and do baptisms for her and maybe some other ancestors

At the end of each week, I recorded how each of the tasks went, and noted any differences in the peacefulness and presence of the spirit in my family’s home.

This first week I made an effort to keep the peace at home and ensured that family scripture study and prayer happened every day. Later in the week I talked to Jaja, my grandmother, on the phone and made plans to meet with her and my grandfather on Tuesday. I did a batch of indexing on Sunday and spent a few hours that week doing genealogy. I drove my brother, Bryce, home from school a couple days, and spent time with my other brother, Sandy, and our dog at the river. I also began to notice a lack of contention that first week.  

By the second week, all our plans changed dramatically because of Hurricane Harvey. My mother and brothers had extra days off of school so we spent a lot more time together. On Monday, we found out our house would flood so we worked together as a family that morning lifting up furniture on cinderblocks to save all that we could. By noon, we had evacuated to my Grandparent’s house. That Saturday, my grandparents and I drove down to the University of Houston to visit with my cousin, Kezza one last time before I leave. I was happy to visit with her and have missed having her around. Although it was a stressful week, the disaster helped unite our family as we worked together, and I am grateful to have spent more time with my Jaja and Papa.

As I review my plan to implement this project, the only thing that I think I have not succeeded at was taking my great-grandmother’s name to the temple who passed away a little over a year ago. Perhaps we should have taken her name sooner, but because the Houston Temple flooded, we are currently unable to do any temple work. Hopefully, we will be able to do her work by the end of this year after the temple opens again. I have noticed a difference in our family’s peacefulness, and we have grown closer as we worked together to clean up after the storm. Although the home I grew up in is gone, I know that my family is eternal and closer than ever. I am going to miss my parents, brothers, and grandparents when I go back to Rexburg, but I am grateful to have spent this summer with them.