Author Archives: Joyce Anderson

About Joyce Anderson

Joyce is a mother, wife, sister, school teacher, Bulgarian speaker, conservative, lover of good music, social media junky and a two time culinary arts Grand Champion bread baker. She and the family reside in a remote mountain community where great discoveries have been made. When not changing the world, she enjoys the occasional bowl of chips and salsa. She can be found at: http://pinterest.com/TheAtomicMom

How is Ministering Going for You and In Your Ward?

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Last year Pres. Nelson introduced the ministering program to the church. At the same time the old programs of Home and Visiting Teaching were retired. There was an audible gasp as he made these announcements.  Online the prevailing sentiment I observed was, “Oh I’m so glad! Now I don’t have go visit anymore!”

Then there was me,  I was really, really discouraged at the thought of not having a monthly visit.  I liked to have my visiting teachers come to visit me.  We sometimes had a gospel discussion.  Most of the time we didn’t (moment of truth: I never liked the visiting teaching message in the Ensign, ever, and I would never share that).  We just talked to each other.  We listened to each other.  We got to know each other.  And to borrow a phrase from the old purple missionary guide, we “built relationships of trust” with each other, so that in times of trial or need, we could depend on each other.  This was not always the case with my visiting teachers, but it was the case for the last seven or eight years.   I have to be honest, I miss those monthly visits…. A LOT.  I kinda miss the relationships I had with my visiting teachers, because I feel like that has disappeared  with ministering.  Anyone else? Continue reading →

More Dads Please

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I’m not a British Royal watcher at all. But the fact that a new prince was born this week has dotted my social media feeds to the point of not being able to avoid this story. That said, I’m always happy when a new baby is born and I’m happy for the new parents as they start on the crazy road of parenting. Parenting is everything you never knew you wanted to know, and needed to feel — it refines you and tests you in ways you didn’t know existed.  But there is also indescribable joy and love that come with parenting too.

That all said, and this week being Mother’s Day, I don’t want it to seem like I’m trying to steal Mom’s thunder but time is of the essence today, and it relates to the new prince being born. Someone I follow on twitter, retweeted the following:

Continue reading →

Oakland Temple Open House

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The public open house for the newly renovated Oakland Temple will start this Saturday, May 11th and run through June 1st. The Church has put together a short video showcasing some of the renovations. I have never been inside the Oakland Temple, but after seeing this video, I’ve put it on my places to visit list. I did have the chance to stop and visit the grounds about 20 years ago. The view out across San Francisco Bay from the hill where the temple sits is stunning. The interior is also stunning and a testimony to the careful attention and detail that goes into each temple. The temple truly is a house of God.

A friend who lives in Northern California related an funny anecdote about this temple to me recently. In the late 1970s and early 80s, the United States was going through an energy crisis, private citizens were encouraged to conserve energy by turning off unneeded lights in their homes. Even public and government buildings, and churches were encouraged to turn off their outside lighting to help the cause. The temple lights on the Oakland Temple were not lit for a time. Then there was a call from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to the church. “Can you please turn the temple lights back on? Pilots are getting lost as they come into the bay area airports.” Turns out the FAA had the Oakland Temple listed as a visual marker for directions. It’s still that way today — the Temple shining as a physical marker for airplanes and ships and spiritual marker for us on the way home.

Music Monday: Name That Tune Edition

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Last year we cut the cord and dropped our satellite service. It was the best decision ever. No one needs 47 home shopping channels. With our Roku and smart TV we can watch whatever we want, when ever we want. We also watch a lot of Church produced media/shows/videos over our devices. The other day I noticed something when the Church is getting ready to live-stream something eg: devotionals, Music & the Spoken Word, General Conference. They will play about an hour of the Tabernacle Choir singing, but about 2 minutes before the broadcast begins, this particular organ piece always plays. Always. It’s somewhat of a Pavlovian response for me at this point, “Two minutes! Twwwoooo minutes!  Places everyone!  It’s going to start!”

What was this song called? It’s been on my mind and in my ears for a few weeks. I had to find out what it was. I took a video on my cell phone of the Church’s youtube page and posted that video on my Facebook page for a game of Name That Tune, and asked the hive to chime in. We had some good guesses.

Someone thought it was Chopin, others Bach, something French, from the Romantic period. In the end my friend Laura identified it as Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in B major, composed by Camille Saint-Saens, played by Clay Christiansen.  Brother Christiansen just recently retired from the Tabernacle Organists corps.

Every day is a good day for some organ music, in my book.  Enjoy!

3 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 99: Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in B major

2019 BYU Women’s Conference Programming Notes

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Today BYU Women’s Conference starts (YAY!  I wish I was there!). The Friday opening and closing general sessions will be live streamed on some of the Church’s media channels.  The Thursday general sessions are not being live streamed, however, they will be online for on-demand viewing a few weeks after Women’s Conference.  I will let everyone know when they are available.

This year’s theme is based on Ether 12:41, “And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.”  This is one of my favorite scriptures, and I am so glad that this is the theme of the Conference this year.

Here is the information for viewing:

Sister Jean B. Bingham, Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, Sister Joy D. Jones with Sheri Dew as moderator
May 3, 2019
9:00–10:15 a.m. – Mountain Daylight Time (MDT)

Elder D. Todd Christofferson and Sister Kathy Christofferson
May 3, 2019
3:45–5:00 pm – Mountain Daylight Time (MDT)

Both events will be streamed live in English, Spanish, and Portuguese on our home page, the home page of churchofjesuschrist.org and on the Church’s YouTube page, the Church’s Facebook page, and via the MormonChannel app.

In addition, the Sister-to-Sister Event will be available in the following languages and locations:

English: On the Facebook page of Sister Bingham, Sister Jones, and BYU Women’s Conference

Spanish: On the Facebook page for Sister Cristina B. Franco, Second Counselor of the Primary General Presidency, as well as the Facebook page for Sister Reyna I. Aburto, Second Counselor of the Relief Society General Presidency.

Portuguese: On the Facebook page of Sister Cordon.

Recordings of these events will later be archived in the Media Library.