Released...

Aug. 15, 2016

Dear Sister Kristina,

Well, I guess my release date came sooner than yours. Yesterday at Stake Conference I was released as Eagle Stake Relief Society President. It was much harder on my spirit than I thought it was going to be. I was feeling okay about everything until Thursday night when Pres. Stafford asked dad and I to come in and meet with him. I’ve known for some time that I was going to be released this weekend, but for some reason sitting in Pres. Stafford’s office for my last time, it all came crashing in. I have loved meeting with him every month, the conversations we had, the insight he always shared with me about everything. We would discuss every auxiliary, not just Relief Society and he would ask for my opinions. And I loved his wisdom. It was so easy for me to see why he was Stake President. He was very kind with his words about releasing me, very complimentary. In fact at one point he joked that I better watch out if he ever is made prophet because he would be calling to be the Relief Society general president. I had such anxiousness for a couple days, I would start crying just all of a sudden, etc and in fact I wanted to text him and tell him I didn’t accept my release (if that was possible). haha I was so uneasy that I finally knelt down and prayed for comfort. When I stood up I decided to write down my thoughts and testimony. I knew I was going to speak on Sunday and share my testimony so I thought I’d write it all down. I cried through all the writing, but right when I finished I had this great sense of calm come over me and all the anxiousness, the tearfulness left. I felt good about the work I had done and was looking forward to the future. It was a great answer to my prayer and I have felt that same calm ever since. I’ll send you what I wrote down in a separate email. When I got up in Stake Conference, I used it for reference but I truly said what was in my heart through the spirit. Later on yesterday my dad called me because he had gotten a call from his friend Stan Cameron who happened to be visiting the Camerons this week. He told grandpa that he had been at church and heard me speak and just had to tell him what a wonderful job I had done. I hadn’t even told grandpa that I was getting released, so he said it was a great surprise for him to hear from Stan and what he said. I guess you never know who’s in the audience.

This calling has been a wonderful experience and I enjoyed every minute of it even the hard parts. Then it made me think of you when you have to go through a release also and it will be in that same room with Pres. Stafford. I know that you too will have some of these feelings and many that I won’t even be able to relate to, but I also know that you will receive answers to your prayers to feel the peace and comfort and acceptance from the Lord about the mission you have served. It will be okay. :)

For now you have a lot of work to do in your new area and I’m excited to hear all about it. The girls told me that Sis. Ray showed them a picture of you with her sister. I haven’t seen it. I’m going to have to tell her to start sending me things. I’m glad you’re in a place that feels a little bit comfortable to you because you can hit the ground running. How’s your new companion? Tell us all about her and your new ward.

Last week when I was home all alone, there was a knock on the door and Jared Westerberg was standing there. It was like a son coming home! It was so fun to see him, his wife and two daughters. They were in town for a week. They seem like they’re doing really well, but they might be moving away from Colorado but just not sure where to go yet. He hasn’t really found his career path yet, so it’s been a bit of a struggle for them. 

So also last week we got the girls’ schedules for school. It starts in one week. They’re not really excited about it except Nikki says she wants to see her friends. I’m really hoping that Nikki will blossom this year with her friends and find some self-confidence to do things outside of the house and enjoy being with her friends. She’s excited about choir but for some reason it didn’t show up on her schedule so she’s very worried. I told her we’d get it fixed and to relax, but that’s hard for her to do. She’s still very determined to get into BYU Provo so she’s trying very hard to get straight A’s. Leah isn’t very excited for school, but it’s very difficult for her. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get all her accommodations straightened out so that she feels good in her classes this year. Her counselor that we go to see every week is furious about how the school has been handling her classes in the past and he’s going in with me to meet with a group at the school to get it straightened out. I’m excited to have him by my side to do the speaking. :)

Both Leah and Nikki are taking ASL this year and they are excited about that. Leah has a goal of playing rugby in February so she has been working out each day all on her own and I’m so proud of her determination. She has a long road ahead of her of getting back in shape, but she really wants this. Nikki also says she wants to play rugby, but she doesn’t want to work out. haha We’ll see how that goes. For now Nikki is continuing to do Taekwondo, which she is mad about, but I told her she has to do something physical. Leah’s counselor is also pushing her for more physical things and has asked her to go to Taekwondo for 6 more times before she tells him that she is going to quit. She is not happy about that, but we’ll see how it goes. I told her to just look at it as going to a workout with a personal trainer rather than Taekwondo.

We got to talk with all three of the boys yesterday. When I was talking with Sean and Blair, they wanted to know about how my release went and my speaking in Conference, etc and also wanted to know about my future callings. I told them that Pres. Stafford had actually asked if I would teach early morning seminary, but was concerned if the girls were able to get themselves to school in the morning without me, etc. We had a long talk about that and I told Pres. Stafford I would think about it. I really wanted to be able to teach because of all the great studying you get to do too, but in the end I realized that I wouldn’t be able to do a good job if I was worrying whether or not the girls were actually getting up and getting ready for school without me. They still are not able to wake themselves up and I it takes me at least 20 minutes to get them out of bed. So I won’t be teaching seminary this year, but it sounds like I will be sometime in the future. Then Blair told me that she had just received the calling the teach seminary in her ward!! She will be awesome and I told her I was totally jealous because we could have worked on things together. In Chicago they don’t have early morning seminary because the families live too far apart, so they all do it online. Then Blair calls each one every night and face times with them about the lesson. Every Wednesday night after mutual, they stay for an hour and Blair will also teach them there. I’ll be interested to hear how all that goes. She said it’s been a pilot program in the church up until now so she’s excited to learn more about it too. Sean is still financial clerk.

Alex and Savannah sounded good. She’s been gone a lot these past couple weeks as she’s been holding camps in Las Vegas and Denver. Today she’s flying out to Utah as a surprise to her family to be there when Cade gets home tomorrow. (So don’t say anything. haha) She flies into Salt Lake and aunt Kathy will pick her up and she will stay with her. Then on Tuesday she will just show up at the airport. I wish I could be there to see it all!! She’s staying there until Sunday. In the meantime, Alex is now done with his internship at the Ad agency. So he will spend the week interviewing for jobs within his same agency but with different groups who have different clients and with other agencies in New York. Can’t wait to hear what he gets.

Kirk and Sarah surprised us with the news that they will be coming here to visit this Thursday and staying until Monday!!! I can’t wait to have them all here and I’ll be getting the house ready for them this week. Kirk said that’s what he wanted for his birthday which is on Sunday.

Today I’m going to the Stake Center to help with the Stake Young Women’s project. Tracey got released yesterday too since she is now in the Star Stake, but she already had this planned and had asked for my help. We are teaching all the girls to sew by making easy quilts that will be donated to the refugees here and to homeless shelters. This morning we help all the Beehives, this afternoon will be the MiaMaids and tomorrow morning will be the Laurels. I told Tracey that it was only appropriate that we both got released on the same day, but I was sad that she wasn’t even there at our Stake Conference. The new Stk YW president is Danielle Bingham. She will be awesome. The new Stk RS president is Diane Bryson and she will also be great. Diane was so prepared to just get released so this came as a big shock to her and she kept telling me that she wanted to tell Pres. Stafford no. But she has great counselors and they will lift her and be there for her. I’m meeting with her this week to help her out and get her oriented. They also released Heather Pinder as Stk Music Chairman and called Val McCauley. 

When Pres. Stafford was asking me about doing seminary, he told me that my Bishop was very anxious for me to be back in his ward because he had a calling for me. Well, shortly after this, the Bishop called me in and told me he heard I was available. Oh no…He called me to be the Laurel advisor and wanted to make sure it would be okay with Leah being in there with me. He said there were 15-18 Laurels besides her and really felt strongly about me in this calling. They were changing the whole YW leadership. Michelle Tiegs is the Pres, Cheryl Goodman is 1st couns (she is new and from california and I just love her, so outgoing and funny), Christine Langford is 2nd counselor and Emily Mecham is secty. What a fun group! I’m excited to be in with them and hopefully Leah won’t be disappointed that I’m in there. They won’t be calling me until next Sunday (so another secret you have to keep :) I’m going to have to brush up on all my YW stuff. I haven’t been in there forever.

So as you can see, you can never just sit back in the church and start to feel comfortable. It all gets mixed up and changed and I’ve learned that it’s always good even though it may hurt for a bit. 

I talked with Melanie Cameron this week and got Claire’s cell number so I’ll be in touch with her about housing for BYU. Also I made the reservations for us to go to New York after you’re home!! I’m excited about that. Dad says he’s waiting to hear back from you about what you would like concerning us picking you up, how many days you’d like us to be there, etc. I know it’s a ways off, but we have to make these reservations now to get the good prices. Dad heard from Camilo yesterday and it’s always fun to read his broken English texts!! Can’t wait to meet him.

I hope you have a week of hope and tender mercies. We had a beautiful talk about tender mercies at Stake Conference and I see them in my life all the time. Thank you also for your prayers. I feel your love and support and it means so much to me. 

Love you,

Mom xxoo