Visiting Teaching/Missionary Work
As a missionary I had the privilege of working with many less active sisters & renewed my own commitment to be a lifelong committed visiting teacher. Lately one of the highlights of my week lately has been having the missionaries in our home each week to teach the discussions to my neighbor and her daughter who will be baptized in a few weeks. It has been such a blessing to review the basic principles of the gospel, to see her renewed excitement for the gospel and be inspired by her determination to improve and be positive despite challenges in her life. We've been exchanging treats for years, but our friendship really sparked after I followed a very strong prompting on one visit to be BOLD and invite her to come to church with me that Sunday.
Tithing
My parents
were always great examples to me of obeying the law of tithing. It is a principle of the gospel that I have
never really questioned. I remember that
even during times of financial strain my parents were always faithful
tithe-payers. During one particular
time, there was not enough money for the house payment, but my mom of course
paid the tithing and offered a prayer.
Not many days later, they received a check in the mail for a substantial
sum from my dad’s cousin George Brimhall, who was living in California and
wasn’t really that close to my dad. My
mom considered this a direct answer to her prayers and a result of obeying the
law of the tithe.
Generosity
One of the most memorable
Christmas’s for me growing up was the year when our family was financially
struggling and someone left a huge box on our doorstep around Christmas
Eve. Someone had thoughtfully picked out
gifts for each of the kids. I remember
getting a calligraphy set that I have to this day. My brother Jon received baseball cards, which
he collected at the time. I felt
grateful to this unknown giver and committed as a teenager that I wanted to do
the same for someone else when I could.
Scripture Study
I don’t clearly recall when I started reading the scriptures
on a daily basis, although I always knew this was an important habit for my mom
each morning when I was growing up. By
the time I was 13 I had established this habit as well. I clearly recall one night when I was
completing my daily scripture study in the Book of Mormon, I knelt down on my
blue carpet beside my bed to say my nightly prayers. I felt an extreme outpouring of peace and
love and knew that Heavenly Father knew me personally and I knew that the Book
of Mormon was true. I’ve had many
confirming experiences since then as I have received tidbits of revelation and
peace while reading the scriptures, but I consider this as one the important
beginning moments of gaining my own
personal testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and Heavenly Father’s plan
for us on earth.
Temple Marriage
One of the most memorable Young Women Activities for me was
visiting the Salt Lake Temple Grounds and then opening a letter on the lawn of
the temple grounds. The letter included
my mom’s testimony of the importance of temple marriage and the blessings it
had brought into her life. Back then it
was fun to dream about what my future “someone” would be like. I always planned
on being married in the temple, but I don’t think I fully appreciated the
blessing of growing up in a home where my parents were happily married in the
temple until I left home and became friends with many people who didn’t
experience this privilege. I think that
marrying my eternal companion Jared in the temple is the most important choice
I have ever made. Enjoying his companionship on this earth is one of the most
sublime things ever and I’m grateful I get to keep on creating memories
together with him through eternity.
Honesty
My dad is
one of the most honest people that I know.
I grew up seeing his example of integrity and I was honest in most cases
as well. I think seeing the example of my parent’s helped me to have a desire
to have integrity as well. It’s actually
the instances of dishonesty that stand out as the most poignant moment in my
youth of learning the lessons of honesty the hard way. In my 8th grade French class we
were required to read aloud some excerpts in French each week to our parents
and then have them sign a paper saying we did.
I was a very diligent student and took my homework (too) seriously. My mom asked me to just read the excerpts to
myself and she would sign the paper for me – since reading French to her didn’t
really help either of us. For one
assignment I had read the words aloud to myself, but realized when I got to
class that I had forgotten to have my mom sign my paper. I spotted a previous assignment with her
signature in my folder so I just changed the date on it and handed it in. That night I was tormented with feelings of
guilt for being dishonest with my teacher so the next day I mustered up the
courage talk to her and confess. I felt
like I was going to cry (which didn’t happen for me much as a child),
fortunately she smiled – thanked me for being honest and gave me the credit for
the assignment anyway.
Another unforgettable moment when my own dishonesty
“haunted” me was an experience I has while on vacation to at my Grandma
Knight’s house one year. She had an
amazingly tall swingset in her backyard that had a couple of swings and a fun
glider on it. One summer I played in the
backyard with one of the neighborhood girls.
While on her glider we carelessly grabbed handfuls of flowers that were
growing beside it as we swung high into the air. It wasn’t until a few hours later that it
occurred to me that I probably shouldn’t have picked all of those flowers and
the guilt started to set in. I was
always a little scared of “old” people and I didn’t dare mention it to my
grandma. The next day we headed to some
other relative’s house and I had missed my chance to confess. My “sin” weighed on me for the entire
vacation and I didn’t mention it to anyone until several months later. My sister Kara insisted that her and Grandma
had gone out the next day to pick those “weeds” – the same flowers I had been
grabbing at the day before. I thought
she was trying to make me feel better.
Family History
Although I haven’t yet done much as far as typical family
history research, I feel a closeness to my ancestors who have gone before me
and paved the way for my own happiness in the gospel. I love to read about their lives and hope to
emulate many of the good qualities they possess. I feel an especially close tie to my
ancestors whom I was named after – Dessie Kristine Swalberg and Kristina
Jonsson. I’m grateful that my parents
chose to pass on a part of my legacy to me in my name and hope that my children
will have their hearts turned to their fathers as well through the names we
have passed on to them. During my
challenging pregnancy with Alyssa I was feeling so nauseous and my mind started
flooding with depressing thoughts. It
was hard for me to just sit in bed and not get up and clean up my messy
house. But then I started reflecting on
my grandmother Dessie’s life and the many physical challenges she dealt with
throughout her life without complaint and I felt buoyed up by her example. I also feel immense gratitude to Kristina for
leaving her home and family in Sweden to come to unfamiliar surroundings so
that she could join the Saints in Utah and receive temple blessings for herself
and her ancestors.
Motherhood
When I think of motherhood, I think of the saying that my
mom had cross-stitched on the wall in our home growing up
“Cleaning and scrubbing can wait ‘til tomorrow
For babies grow up we’ve learned to our sorrow,
So quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.”
As a child I had no idea how many sacrifices my mom made to
take the time to nurture and teach us instead of pursuing her own
interests. But I knew that being a mom
was a top priority for her and am so grateful that she chose to be a mom
instead of a career woman so she could be there “at the crossroads” for me. I
love the saying “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the
world” and I am thankful for the choice opportunity I have to be the mother of
my children.
