The Pleshek Parables

In March I had a remarkable experience in the temple.  I was helping a little Hmong sister at the veil.  She wanted to speak in her own language and the receiver would also speak in that language.  I had a card to help her but as I cannot understand or read Hmong it wasn't much help to me.  I had to watch the receiver's hands to know where she was and help her to read the correct thing.  When I finally got her through, I sat down and said to myself, "That was rough." Then I noticed Charlotte Kauffman doing the same thing I just finished doing.  Her receiver was speaking English so that helped her.  As I watched the difficulty this woman was having, the Spirit came to me so strongly and let me know that it is important that everyone have the opporutnity to speak to our Heavenly Father no matter the difficulty of language or any other factor. I pondered over this and decided that it isn't just in the temple that we have the opportunity to speak to our Fa...

Yesterday I had a thought different from the one I've always had and it makes so much sense.  Andy Thompson was talking about the parable of the sower from Matthew 13 in the New Testament. He said we have to decide what kind of soil we are so that when the sower comes with the seeds, we will be ready to make those seeds grow and blossom and become all that they can be.  I love that! Here's the rub.  I always that I was the seed not the soil.  I had to decide what kind of soil I wanted to be planted in.  How deep is my faith in Jesus Christ?  How solid is my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ?  Do I know that the Book of Mormon is a second witness?  Do I know that we have continuing revelation through modern day prophets?  Yes!  I want to be planted in the best soil so that I can become better, stronger and feel the spirit more in order to do more good and give more meaningful service.  After some consideration, I guess both way...

  A few weeks ago as the sacrament was being passed I was reading the scriptures that are at the bottom of the page on which the hymn is located.  This particular scripture was found in Luke 23:33,46.  It reads:  33 And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.  46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. I was sitting with Brock and I mentioned to him that the Savior could not have his life taken from him but that he had to give it up.  This intrigued me.  Why then, did He hang on the cross as long as He did?  Why did He suffer even more when He had already suffered for us in the Garden of Gethsemane? The next day I was reading an article online and it came very clearly why the Savior suffered on the cross when it seemed He didn't need ...

 We attended the Shawano Ward Primary Sacrament meeting recently.  Henry's part was, "Jesus makes us happy and Satan makes us sad."  He has been telling us this and so it became his part.  I pondered his words as I was driving to Shawano.   Choices we make influenced by Satan do ultimately make us sad.  We may find temporary excitement in a bad choice but it will not last.  Our Heavenly Father put in place a perfect plan that makes it possible for us to be forgiven over and over until we finally learn.   I think of the sins I added to my Savior's burden and how I've felt carrying them. I regret those choices but know that I have been forgiven as I have forsaken them.  As I watch and hear the news of the vast wickedness around the country and world, I cannot fathom what the Savior felt in Gethsemane!  My sins seem small next to the war crimes and human trafficking sins.  Yet, I am ever grateful for being so important to the...

 I have a pair of earrings which are tiny flip flops and I love them!  In July, we spent two weeks in Nauvoo working security detail for the pageants.  We stayed with Marty and Jamie Steen in their extra bedroom.  I placed my suitcase on a dresser and my shoes were against the wall.  Above the shoes was a little shelf with three wooden pegs.  I hung our security badges there as well as the car keys and my little velvet bag of jewelry.   Each time I took off some jewelry or wanted to choose some to wear, I dumped the bag on the bed and picked through what I wanted.  I never set my earrings anywhere on a flat surface but always put them immediately in that little bag.  One day during our second week, I wanted to wear those flip flop earrings.  After dumping the contents on the bed I noticed one was missing.  That was odd.  It was here before.  I checked the floor beneath the shelf and found nothing.  Perhaps I didn...

A few days before Christmas my sweetheart asked me to go to Green Bay to get parts for the Transit.  it was quite foggy but got in the truck and headed out.  I said a prayer while I was driving that if there was any danger ahead that I would have a clear thought or prompting.  I kept the radio off the entire time so I could feel or hear those things if needed.  It was hard to tell where I was on the road since the roadside views were unavailable due to the thickness of the fog.  Just as I was coming up to the on ramp by Bonduel, I saw red emergency lights.  I slowed down and followed the fire truck that entered highway 29.  The vehicles that were following me didn't know why I slowed down and they passed me.  Once they saw the flashing lights, they slowed too. Just passed Doc's there was an accident involving a U-haul, a van and a pickup truck.  There was also two different semis in the median.  Probably to avoid causing further damage....