My Day with Katherine Altringer

    I have mentioned once or twice before about The Plan of Salvation.  The Plan of Salvation is the Truth the drives me and all of my decisions and actions in my life.  It is the knowledge that we lived before we came to this Earth, we are here on for a purpose, to gain experiences and choose to follow Heavenly Father through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all of the restored Truths, and then we will live again AFTER this life.  We will all be resurrected and receive the glory that we want and have earned.  And we have this whoollleee life to make choices, live with the consequences, repent, and learn from it all.  That being said:

        I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   We believe in this Truth of the Plan of Salvation.  We believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  One has faith, which leads to repentance, and then one feels the desire to be baptized by immersion with someone who has the proper authority, and then you receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, the last part of the Gospel is the most important part: Endure to the End through continual repentance and participating in other important ordinances and covenants with Heavenly Father.
    So that's all great and good,  but what about those people that lived on this Earth that didn't have the chance to participate in those saving ordinances OR the ones that didn't even know that Christ existed OR the ones that weren't given the opportunity to learn and follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  If Heavenly Father is a fair and just God wouldn't He have to hold everyone to the same standard?  Part of Christ's mission when He came to the Earth, besides the Atonement was mentioned in 1 Peter 4:6  For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

1 Peter 3:19 talks about how Christ preached to the Spirits in Spirit Prison between His death and resurrection.  

So if Christ set up missionary work in the afterlife, how will those people that have passed on, that have decided to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ, receive those savings ordinances? Enter the concept of vicarious work for the dead.  This was something that the ancient church participated in (1 Corinthians 15:29) When the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in it's entirety the culminating part of it, was restoring the practice of vicarious work for the dead.

 That is part of the reason why family history is such a big deal to myself and other members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I want to give my ancestors and those who have been here before me, a chance and opportunity to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ and have those savings ordinances.  Just because I do the work for them does not mean that they are stuck there, THEY get to choose.  I'm just providing them that opportunity.

  Not only that, by participating in these ordinances for and in behalf of others, I am reminded constantly of the ordinances and covenants that I personally have taken part in.  It helps me endure to the end and in turn provides an opportunity for others to do so who may not otherwise have had that chance.

  Where does this all take place?

In the temple, the House of the Lord.  

  A few weeks ago I decided that I was going to look and look and look and find someone that needed her work done.  It didn't take long before I found her: My Grandpa's Great-great Grandma, Katherine Altringer.  She was born in 1826 in Germany.  That's really all we know about her,  She died sometime before 1900.
   BUT I did find a lot about her husband.  There were many different records about his name Mathias Vs Mathew Strehlan vs Strelen vs Strehlen.  It was quite the headache.  He was born in Germany and immigrated here so that brought a lot of the different changes.  As I was researching Ancestry.com popped up with hints and possibilities.  There was a copy of the Civil War Draft which was neat.  Another census record showed that they immigrated in 1952...and then...there it was!  His birth and christening records from Germany with his parents names and his exact birth date.  So I put that in and turns out his work has already been done, since 1983!
   It was time, time for Katherine to have a chance to receive these sacred ordinances.  And then my sister and brother-in-law can take her and Mathias to the temple and they can be sealed for time and all eternity, and we can seal my great-great grandma to her parents and we can continue to link our family together.

This weekend has been Fall Break.  On Friday I woke up early (early for a day off) and spent the morning in the temple with my great-great-great Grandma.

Her work is not completely done, we need to find her parents and make sure we get all of her children sealed to her.  BUT she has been baptized, confirmed, and other sacred ordinances.  It was the first time I had found someone myself and done their work.  It was special and a rush.  I'm excited to keep going and keep finding and connecting my family.  I think I've found Mathias' parents and if I'm right, his dad was born in 1797.  Also if that document was correct it also said that Katherine and Mathias lived in Idenheim, Rhineland, Prussia in 1850.  SO COOL.  The history geek in me is loving this stuff and finding the personal story of those individuals that lived so long ago.

Yeah for family and the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and the ability to have answers that make sense and feel right.  Yeah for the Plan of Salvation and the purpose that it gives my life and the answers that it provides me for what life throws at me.  And the best part is, it's not just for me, it is for everyone.

Embracing the Storm

      When I was younger storms scared me.  Literally. On the outside I always tried to make it seem like I was super calm and collected, but really I was super anxious and all I wanted to do was curl up, on the huge bunk bed my dad made for us girls, and hide.  I was that way for a long time...until 4th grade.  I remember being at school and the tornado sirens went off.  Being from the Midwest every 1st Tuesday of every month we had tornado drills.  The tornado sirens would go off and we would all have to get under our desks...well this occasion in 4th grade was a little different.  This time as I looked out the window I saw the sky turn green.  I knew what was coming and then...WWRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHH (That's the tornado siren, if you've ever experienced one then you can attest to the likeliness of it :) We all had to get under our desks and it wasn't the first Tuesday of the month.  I wasn't anywhere near my big awesome safe indestructible feeling bunk bed.  I couldn't just run home to our underground house that makes you feel safe from tornadoes.

See....who wouldn't feel safe from the storm here?

    So as I faced my fears...stuck under this desk with my 4th grade brain going a mile a minute about what happened if a tornado hit and where the rest of my family was and how I was going to get home, and, and, and, and....(I guess I've always be a little over-thinky)  The siren stopped, they let us go home and I survived.  That same weekend (I think) there was another storm and I was home.  There were 2 reported tornadoes close to my house.  Surviving the thing at school gave me a little more courage and since I was at home, my safe place, and I could run back inside if I got too scared.  And as I faced my fear, as I stood out trying to catch a glimpse of the 2 funnel clouds, which happened with the silhouette of them lit up by lightning, and feeling the wind rush past me, and listening to the rain on the roof of our patio, I came to appreciate the beauty of  the storm.  From then on, whenever a big storm would come up I would find excuses to run out in the downpour buckets and buckets of rain. I would sit out on the porch and watch the lightning.  To this day I love storms.

    I find it ironic that I named the last post "A Storm Brewing Inside" and it was full of so many unknowns and my anxiety.

   I am grateful for everyone who has reached out to me after that last post.  And since then, I have been trying hard to find the beauty in this storm.

  I don't live in Illinois anymore and I don't have my underground house as my safe place.  But as I've gone through the storms of my life I have come to have a relationship with my loving Heavenly Father and I have a new safe house...1 of many:

  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is my safe place.  The House of the Lord, The Temple.  I can go into any of them and feel of the spirit and recharge my batteries.  I can go into them and meditate and study and focus on Heavenly Father and His Plan of Salvation.

   A few weeks ago I went to the temple, it was raining. Inside I studied courage.  That's what I've been missing.  That's what I need to get through this next year and the choices that lay ahead of me.  All the scriptures I found didn't say anything about praying to have courage. It just said Be of good courage.  Have courage.  Do it (one literally said be of good courage "do it").

   

   I have been learning a lot about myself.  I am taking this time to work on me.  And not be overwhelmed.  I have been taking it slower than normal.  Trying to prioritize.  I had an "ah-ha" moment the other day.  Long story short, I was in a pretty serious relationship and it ended with no explanation whatsoever.  Now after more than a year I realized that because I have no real explanation, I am blaming myself.  I am blaming myself for losing that glimpse of happiness I had and it kills me that I feel like it's my fault I don't have...well life could be different.  And who knows if it was or wasn't my fault...and I doubt I will ever know.

   As I was realizing this I came to an even bigger realization...I take responsibility for things going wrong.  When I hear about something going wrong or bad and I feel like I had some control over it, I take personal responsibility for it.  I beat myself up about.  I feel guilty.  I take a personal shot at myself...right in the gut.  That's why I said yes to tennis...It would've eaten away at me if it had to be canceled because no one stepped up to coach. 

THAT'S NOT HEALTHY!!!!!

   That is just one example of things I've learned.  And I'm working on them.  Along with being myself and never letting anyone demean me. Or make me feel bad for being me.  

Life is still stormy.  I'm slowly making my way through it.  I have decided that I could wallow and stumble my way through this storm inside me...Or I can find the beauty in it.  I plan on taking down my umbrella and let it rain on me.