Truly His Children

How do we really realize what great gifts we have been given? We, as children of God have been given so many different gifts and talents, and many different blessings. Our Heavenly Father has granted us so many different things because of our obedience to the commandments and the laws that we have been given in order to return to live our Heavenly Father after this life. This life is really a chance to prove ourselves and go through the trials that the Lord gives us in order to make us a stronger and better person. Are there friends that are watching our example and would like know more about the church, but are not sure how to ask us about the things that we believe? There are so many different nations that have been open to the gospel and we truly are children of the world. We know that without the gospel we wouldn't have all the great blessing that we have these days. We all have a great responsibility to help preach the gospel and an even greater responsibility to help out the full-time missionaries, and be great member missionaries. We can give the full-time missionaries referrals, and we can help them activate those that are less active, and are just needing some help coming back to the church. So many nations have opened their doors so that missionaries, and hopefully many will want to hear the message that the missionaries have. Our full time missionaries work very hard, and we need to do all that we can to help them out.

GOTTA LOVE THE MISSIONARIES

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As you can tell I love the missionaries, and certain ones just happen to be some of my favorites that I have met during my time in Tennessee. I know that the missionaries are working hard, and they are serving a mission for the right reasons. I have met an elder who gave up a scholarship at Northwestern to serve a mission. I met another who is serving a mission because his plans concerning body-building didn't work out. It is amazing to watch some of these wonderful elders and sisters work together with their companions to accomplish something great. I'm amazed at what a great work these wonderful missionaries do. I'm so glad that I have met these wonderful missionaries, they are great people and they know what the gospel means to those that are seeking the truth, and those that have so many questions that other religions can't answer them all. I'm constantly amazed at the way the missionaries can start a conversation with people that they have just met, but I guess that is part of being a missionary. Some of my favorite people have also been the missionary couple that has been over the "Home Storage Center," The Erbele's. My grandparents are the missionary couple that are over the "Bishop's Storehouse," and they do a great job. As somebody looking from the above pictures, the missionaries need to let their sense of humor out once in a while to play, and they do a great job of making some people just laugh really hard.
Good luck to these wonderful missionaries as they finish out their missions, and good luck to these wonderful missionaries in whatever else they may wish to do with their lives

The many different layers of family

I have always thought sometimes life can give things to worry about, but that it can also make us appreciate the things that we have and many blessings that we have because of the freedoms and choices we are able to have because of where we live. One of the things that I'm most grateful for is for great grandparents and great parents who have taught me the value of certain things. My grandpa and grandma Nef (LaMar & Faye Nef) celebrated 60 years of marriage, and I'm so grateful for the great example of what a marriage should be and the generations of us that they have blessed. July 2010 we finally got the whole family together, which meant all 10 children, as many cousins as could make it and most of the great grandchildren. It was also a great experience because we also got my grandpa, his sister, Lois Nef Cherry; his brother, Clyde Nef of Fresno, California; and the baby of the siblings, Floyd Nef of Rexburg, Idaho.
It was a great experience to have an Albert & Daphne Nef family reunion, in place, where it seemed that most people in the Nef family knows. We held a family reunion in Burton, Idaho, which is just outside of Rexburg, Idaho and seems to be growing every time I got there. I'm so grateful to be part of the LaMar & Faye Nef family. Those of us that are part of that family are so blessed. My grandparents attend the temple every week, except those weeks that it is closed. The temple is so important. I watch as we all try to do what is right and how we continue to work hard, because it seems that it is the only that might just us through part of this life. My grandparents have always told us the importance of hard work and the great joy that can come from working hard. I looking at my grandpa who is 86 years old(turning 87 years old this year!) and still goes and helps out my uncle on the farm each day of the week. I love looking through the pictures that I have of my great-grandparents, and their children and to think how proud they must be of all the things that their children have done. My great-grandmother Nef passed away from cancer many years ago and  I know that she will forever hold a special place in not only her children's hearts, but also mine because she raised some pretty awesome children. I barely knew my great-grandfather Nef, because he passed away 2 years after I was born. I love to hear of the different stories of my great-grandparents. They went through so much together, and I see where parts of them have been passed on to 5 wonderful children. One of their sons has already joined them on the other side, along with some grandchildren, and also some great-grandchildren. I always love hearing the different stories that each of their wonderful children have to share to pass on, or how seeing their parents do something really made a difference or touched their lives. I couldn't be more blessed to be a part of this family and all the great things that I have as a part of this family. I'm so grateful for the history that I have learned and that I'm a part of.
Thank you to LaMar & Faye Nef for raising 10 wonderful children, and for wanting each of us to learn about your family history and the history that each of us is a part of. Grandma and Grandpa are the best people in the world. Thank you for making me want to have a marriage that lasts 60 years and even beyond that.




Always an adventure

Darling, Little Sister Veronica

I have a wonderful little sister, who is smarter than she leads on. She will be 14 years old this coming July and I can't believe that she will also be a freshman in high school for the coming school year. Veronica and I have had some great moments, as I watch her grow and become the young woman that I know she can be. This young lady is very smart, and very hard working. I love to be around to hear her play the piano, as she works hard on the pieces that she is given, and practices them even harder. I'm aware that there will be certain situations that I won't be able to protect her from and that kind of scares me as an older sister, and her being the sister that I love to spend time with. I know that my sister knows what to do in most any situations that she finds herself in, I just hope she remembers to do what is right, even if others are not doing what they know they should be doing. Veronica is a very smart girl, she chooses her friends wisely, and she knows what she should be doing and that doing certain things will get her into trouble. This little continues to amaze me by the things that she does.
I remeber the day before Veronica was born, as her birthday is the day after our mother's birthday. Mom had a plan as to what we were going to do to celebrate her birthday, but it seemed that this wonderful little girl had a different plan for mom that day in July of 1997.
I'm glad for the time that I get to spend with this wonderful sister, and young lady. She can make a bad day always seem, just as our little brother can do the same.

Hope this little lady has a wonderful birthday,as I will not be able to be there to have fun with her. I can't believe she is turning 14 years old. She is very amture for her age.

Love you lots, 
with great faith
Always,
your older sister,
Lisa 

Fun Times with the BYU Young Ambassadors

It was a great pleasure to have the BYU Young Ambassadors in the Knoxville Area for 2 days at the beginning of May. They are a great group of people, they have so much talent to share. They are a great group to be around. I had the pleasure of putting dinner for them, and also being able to conduct the fireside that they were going to be putting on. They all are so willing to share their talents!! I was so grateful to be able to spend a little bit of time with them. I really enjoyed being able to feed them a wonderful dinner, and I was glad that they

were able to relax for a while before more adventures began for them. I was able to go their performance on Tuesday night (May 3,2011), their performance is called “Harmony: The music of life.” I was completely blown away by how much talent they all have. I can’t use words to describe how talented all theses great and wonderful people. This wonderful consists of people who can play instruments, who can dance, sing and those behind the scenes are just as talented. Brad Robins is one talented man, and he did a wonderful job singing the National Anthem on Tuesday night. From what I have seen and heard, this was not Brad’s first time singing the National Anthem, as he has sung it for the Utah Jazz. I have gained some new friends who have spent lots of time and effort to make a great show possible. I can’t thank this wonderful group enough for spending a few days in the Knoxville area and for spending part of their summer vacation on tour. BYU is a very lucky school to have such a group that has as much talent as this group does. I really can’t thank this group for all of the wonderful smiles that I got and the many thanks that they deserve for the wonderful fireside and totally wonderful performance they put on.


Always an adventure