This week marks the American celebration of Thanksgiving which originally started as a celebration of giving thanks to God for a good harvest or other blessings. In my childhood Thanksgiving meant eating turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and my grandma's rolls. It meant gathering with family and playing games with my cousins. I also remember some Thanksgiving weekends including a hunt through patches of cedar trees for a Christmas tree. Thanksgiving in Idaho was often accompanied by snow storms and singing "Over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go. The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh through the white and drifting snow." It all seems so picturesque in my memory!
As the years passed Thanksgiving still meant gathering family, and also long hours of brining and cooking a turkey, making numerous pies, and spending many hours in the kitchen. It would be a tiring day but always included some time playing games and enjoying the wonderful company of family and friends. I haven't been able to eat turkey for many years, but I still love the side dishes of mashed and sweet potatoes, homemade rolls (these days often made by our daughter Emily), and always the pies! This year in Singapore meant something different altogether and it makes a good excuse for going back to the original reason for Thanksgiving: giving thanks to God for many blessings. Just a few of ours are:
Sage: As we get to every few years, we get a dual celebration of our daughter Sage's birthday on Thanksgiving. She is a vibrant and wonderful part of our family and we are happy and thankful to celebrate another year of her life!
Friends: This past week in our Sunday Relief Society we studied the talk “Ye Are My Friends” from Elder David L. Buckner. In his talk he states that “the Savior uses the term friend to define a sacred and cherished relationship.” Over the years I have often called my clients friends and recently I have started to do the same with the missionaries I serve. When I read this definition it made all of the sense in the world to me! I feel so much love for the courageous people that come to me and I cherish the sacred opportunity to hear their struggles and be able to watch them overcome huge obstacles and keep growing. I have many wonderful friends that I call "friends" because I have had opportunities to serve them or with them. This service has been sacred and cherished for me and I am to thankful for these opportunities.
We are also grateful for friends we have made in our YSA ward. For Thanksgiving this year our Bishop and his wonderful wife invited us to lunch and we had a wonderful feast of Peking duck and all the side dishes we could eat (okay, actually more than we could eat).
Family Visits: We have been so grateful to have many family members make the trek to Singapore during our time of service here, with more to come. This past week we had a lovely visit with Sean's nephew Paul Duffin. He arrived on his birthday and we celebrated by treating him to a Hawker center meal and some ice cream. Over the next couple days we had a great time going to the Night Safari, downtown, Marina Bay Sands, church, the temple site, and other places. He also spent a great time going around solo while we worked. Look for a guest blog post coming up!
Grace: For many years I have spoken with clients about the principle of forgiveness and how it is vital for helping us to let go of past hurts and move forward. I have used the example of how grace and forgiveness are things that we do individually while trust and reconciliation require two people being willing. When I think of grace from the perspective of "What can I do for someone else?" it is really about giving people the benefit of the doubt that they are doing the best that they can. When I give others grace it frees me and then I do not have to treat others with unkindness because I am worried about their intentions. I am very grateful for the grace I receive from many others as they allow me the benefit of the doubt while I work on growing and learning new things.
Jesus Christ: The concept of grace is one that ties to the atonement of Jesus Christ for which I am most grateful. Grace enables us to overcome weakness and continue to grow. I am thankful for the blessing of Jesus Christ and how my faith in Him has changed my life and direction.
I am thankful for each of you that have been a part of our lives in some way that leads you to read our blog. Our lives have been richly blessed by family, friends and faith. So while Singapore doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving as a holiday (Sean jokes that the Pilgrims ran out of gas long before making it this far) we still felt the spirit of thanks in our lives!
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