Category: Thoughts on Life

Faith

Finding Service

YW Backpack 2013_131

Second to time spent with and for our own families, serving others is something we feel very strongly about. Service is a way to make the world a better place, to lift burdens, and to get to know our neighbors a bit better.

Living on the road has changed the way we serve as we have adapted to the difficulties and advantages of constantly changing location. In the LDS Church, there are no paid clergy. All positions in the church, including the Bishop (think Pastor), Sunday School Teachers, and even Missionaries are filled by volunteers from the local congregation. No position is paid, and we usually support our service with our own money in addition to our own time. Holding a position of service in the LDS Church is called holding a ‘calling.’ (Callings are not-permanent, and length of time served varies: a Bishop may serve as a Sunday School Teacher in his next calling.)

LDS Callings are a great way for Service to Find You.

When you hold a calling, opportunities to serve find you. Often they are obvious, such as a Sunday School teacher preparing a lesson. Jess served for a few years in the Young Women, with girls ages 12-18. She taught lessons, helped plan weekly activities, and we both helped plan the overnight backpacking trip last summer. (See above picture…) I have served with the primary (younger kids), with the adult men, and various other callings as well. Special opportunities to serve also show up as you are engaged in your calling. A teacher may notice a student having a tough time, and be able to reach out to support them.

Living on the road requires us to actively find our own service.

Callings are based on service within a local congregation, and as we tend to visit a new congregation for sunday services every week holding a calling in a particular ward is not practical. We are then responsible for finding our own service.

We have served in a variety of ways since traveling. We frequently engage in gospel conversations with other travelers and with friends we visit. We spend regular time with the Billion Graves project, indexing gravestones to aid in family history work. I’ve even participated in a roofing service project, where I shuttled half a pallet of roofing tiles up a ladder. We are always on the lookout for people that we can help, and we pray that the Lord will send us where he can use us.

Another way to serve in the LDS Church is through what is called Home or Visiting Teaching. You are assigned (usually with a partner) to visit monthly another member of the congregation. This allows members to look after the needs of each other, and even engage the help of others if some additional help is needed. We have requested both to have Home and Visiting teachers as well as to be one if possible. There are many member that prefer or request non face-to-face visits and are more comfortable with a phone call or an email to check up on them. We feel like we could help serve in that capacity as well.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons, LDS) recently posted an article on their website that mentioned 10 different ways for members to serve in an online capacity. The article is a great read, but a few of the activities mentioned that caught our eye were: Indexing, Organizing images, and sharing creative talents. Jess has often mentioned she would love to use her photography talents to contribute to the LDS Vineyard project as well.

Service is a measure of a true disciple of Christ. It is important to us, as parents, that our children learn to serve others as well. The Savior taught, “And whosever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:44-45). Eventually we will settle down and share and help in congregation somewhere, but for now, we joke at times that we are founding members of the Internet First Ward of the LDS Church. In any case, we are grateful for the congregations we visit, and for the opportunities we find along the way.

Tags Finding Service, online service, serving in the LDS church

Faith Musings of Sam

Seasons and Sacrifice

Post author By Sam
Post date March 9, 2014

We are often asked how long we plan to travel. The answer is both simple and complicated.

There are things we enjoy, and things we believe strongly in, that do not fit well with a traveling lifestyle. I love woodworking, home automation technologies, and technology meetup and hack fests. Jess loves regular photography shoots, regular gym access, a pantry, and neighborhood friends for the kids. We miss having more opportunities to teach our children the value of hard physical labor. Though we attend local church meetings every Sunday, we all miss other regular church activities.

We believe that life should be balanced, but not necessarily in each moment, or even in each season of life. Some seasons have more school and less money. Some have more work, more driving kids to activities, and housework. We are blessed to be able to spend this season of our life traveling. This season requires the sacrifice of some good things for the overall experience.

Sacrifice is the practice of giving up something good for something better.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…” – Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

We love traveling. We love how it directs the time we spend, the places we go, and the act of intentionally choosing each day the way we will love. We will travel as long as it supplies, for this season of our lives, what our family needs. This season could be a few short months, or may extend into years. I am confidant that we will know the end when we get there, and that this season will have been a success.

A new season will begin, and it will be time to spend time on other things, we will move our life in a different (and perhaps slightly more normal) direction. But today? Tomorrow? Onward, little Family, to new and exciting places!

Faith

Doubt Your Doubts Before You Doubt Your Faith

Post author By Jess
Post date February 23, 2014

faith

We had a moment during our Disneyland vacation. Okay, it was more like a handful of moments where Sam and I just looked at each other and thought, “What are we doing?” It would feel so natural after we were done to drive back to Utah and resume our previous life. Vacation over, back to normal. It was so strange, and real, and a bit scary actually.

Then we thought of all the good things that had happened since buying the Airstream, how much we love to travel, how well our kids were doing, all of the amazing places we’d been, and we tried to shake those feelings. We KNEW we just needed to get started again, and yet that seemed so difficult.

In the last General Conference, President Uchtdorf said something that has resonated with me ever since. He said, “Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.” How true is that? So often Satan tries to get us to forget the promptings, the assurance, and the comfort we have previously received from the Holy Ghost. When we started this journey we KNEW what we were doing is right – so we needed to doubt our doubts before we doubted our decision to travel. Could our path in life change? Of course. One of the things we are most aware of is the needs of our family. When traveling stops fulfilling our needs, we’ll stop. But I think that answer will come in response to thoughtful prayer and meditation, not fear and uncertainty.

Once we left Anaheim and started traveling again, our desire to return to Utah melted away. Of course, there are other fears and uncertainty, but for now that one has been put to rest. I’m so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that guides, directs, and leads us. But also that He allows us moments of indecision and insecurity so that we can grow and become stronger.

Tags Doubt Your Doubts, Faith during trials, LDS Church, President Uchtdorf

Faith

Always a Guest at Church

Post author By Sam
Post date February 16, 2014

Always a guest at church

We are church people (hopefully that’s obviously by now). Each Sunday we track down a local congregation to attend where we spend the day as visitors. Normal LDS culture involves attending church in an assigned time and place with the same people every week. However, being a visitor is actually really easy. The LDS congregations around the world are structured in similar ways, with consistent curriculum and Sunday School Lesson schedules. When visiting a different congregation (ward, in mormon-speak), it is common for visitors to introduce themselves, usually with your name and why you happen to be visiting. In most larger cities, there will be one or two visitors, while most smaller towns there will almost never be one.

We’ve explained ourselves enough times to have figured out that some people want the long explanation and some just want the short. We usually tell people that we are visiting, and are on a long-term road trip with our family. Those that are curious will often ask more and we share more with them, while those not very interested can then move along, happy with our answer. Occasionally we will show up WITH the Airstream and then that generates a whole new slew of questions all by itself.

Our kids have a similar situation each week. In the children’s Sunday school classes (or Primary), visitors are almost always greeted with a short song to make them feel welcome. Most children will experience this once a year or so while visiting family that lives further away. OUR kids get it every week, and they’ve gotten used to it. Even if it’s common for us, it’s a nice way to feel welcome and included. So welcome, in fact, that when I check in on them during class my kids are typically up front singing the loudest.

I really don’t mind talking about our travels, but having an easy answer has definitely helped us introduce ourselves and alleviate confusion. Explaining our situation week after week can get tedious, but we’ve learned to spot those that really would like to hear the whole story. Several times, we’ve been asked lots of questions by a curious family, often planning something similar. We do love to share what we’ve learned and hear about the dreams and plans of others.

Tags attending an LDS church, Visiting a Mormon church, Visiting in LDS Church, Visitor at an LDS church

Arizona Faith

Gilbert, Arizona LDS Temple Open House

Post author By Sam
Post date February 9, 2014

As we planned our travel from the east to the west, we realized that we would be passing near Gilbert, Arizona during the LDS Temple Open House.

LDS is an acronym for Latter-day Saints, short for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Also known as the Mormons. Why LDS? Probably because I’m lazy. LDS Temples are special buildings that are different from regular Sunday meetinghouses. When we go to church on a Sunday, we attend a meetinghouse. Temples are places where we learn of, covenant with, and worship Christ.

When a Temple is built, it is opened for public tours before it is dedicated and enters normal operation. After dedication, only devout members of the LDS church may enter, so an open house is the only time for anybody curious to walk through the inside and see what it’s like.

Temple Open Houses draw large numbers of people, and so there is a ticket system set up to help coordinate things. If you can plan in advance, get tickets to help things run smoothly. If you can’t plan that far ahead and get tickets before they run out, go anyway. Mid-day, mid-week is best for those without tickets. After finding some parking in an overflow lot, we entered the Guests Without Tickets line and shortly made it into a tour group. The tour is open to all ages, and is free.

The tour starts inside the adjacent LDS meetinghouse with a brief, introductory video about why the LDS church builds temples in general, and specifically about the history and building of the Gilbert Temple.

Each Temple is designed to complement the local area: The Mesa Temple has some design influence from southwestern buildings. The Gilbert Temple uses the Agave plant as a design motif, and the result is beautiful. Patterns in stained glass, etched glass, carpet, and woodwork drew from the shape of the Agave plant. During the tour, we learned that the Agave plant was chosen partially because of the impression that the leaves of the plant make on each other, symbolizing the impressions we have on each other through generations of people.

After the video we were escorted with our group outside. Don’t let the long line scare you. It moved quickly, and we enjoyed the beautiful, Arizona, sunny afternoon while we waited. The line basically snakes through different areas of the temple with signs that indicate what each room is used for. We talked to our kids in reverent whispers, expounding on the signs and explaining a bit more what mom and dad do when we visit the temple.

The inside is beautiful. They have some pictures online, but it doesn’t do it justice. It really is worth the visit to see it in person.

The temple grounds are almost as lovely as the inside. Beautiful gardens and waterfalls add to the amazing architecture and peaceful atmosphere that permeates the area. We enjoyed a few more minutes of sunshine outdoors walking around before heading back to the parking lot.

The temple will be open for the next few weeks for tours if you are in the area, or check out the LDS website for other possible temple open houses near you. It is definitely worth an afternoon to visit one!

Tags Gilbert Arizona Temple Open House, LDS temple