Melissa Brower wrote:

As the primary president I have the opportunity to visit many families in our ward.  However, a Spanish Branch was recently merged with our ward, so I now oversee the Spanish Branch Primary families as well.  One of the Spanish Branch families who had been faithful at coming every week suddenly stopped coming to church right before Christmas.  Their 2 boys have the most contagious smiles and I noticed them missing week after week.  I kept feeling the need to go to their home and visit with them.  However, I don't speak any Spanish.  I took a plate of cookies before Christmas hoping to catch them home, but I had no luck.  After Christmas they were still on my mind, so my counselor and I stopped by again.  They were home, but would not let us come in.  So I asked if we could come back in a few days.  When we returned later, we were able to meet with the mother of these two sweet boys.  She speaks very little English, but we were able to communicate with her.  I asked why they had not been coming to church and told her how much I missed her boys and their smiling faces.  When she said they just hadn't been feeling well, the spirit told me more was going on.  So, I bore my testimony to her about the importance of her boys attending primary.  The spirit was there and I knew she felt it.  I asked her if she would bring her boys to church the next week and would allow her oldest son to attend cub scouts if I could find a ride for him.  She hesitantly said, "yes".  I wasn't sure we would see her that next week.  However, about 1/2 way through church they came.  It made my heart happy to see them at church again and was grateful that the spirit prompted me to share my testimony with her about the importance of coming to church where the boys could learn more about the gospel and feel the love our Savior has for them.

Cindy Rowlett

As I came back to work after the holidays my colleague and I were exchanging stories about what we had done over the past week with our families.  I told her that the day after Christmas we blessed baby Will.  "What is that?" she asked.  I explained how in our church after the birth of a child we give a special prayer/blessing for that child.  The blessing includes the name the child will be known on the records of the church along with a blessing that includes the desires of the parents for their child as they grow.  I explained how we gathered with our entire family and the Bishop from my ward to hear the blessing.  Matt had asked Greg and Tyson along with our Bishop to stand in the circle with Matt as they held Will and bounced him as Matt gave him his blessing.  Matt had been very nervous about performing this blessing for the first time but did such an awesome job.  She then asked what kind of things did Matt say? I told her that Matt asked that Will would continue to be close to our Heavenly Father and that although he has gone through so much in his short life he wanted him to always have faith and pray to our Heavenly Father for strength throughout his life.  Matt also said how much Will was loved by his family and the hopes that him and Haley had for him in the future.  When I finished describing the blessing my colleague had tears in her eyes and said what a beautiful and special thing this was.  She knows Matt well and was proud of him for preparing and being thoughtful with what he would bless Will with.  She knows the miracles our family has been blessed with this past year and has been touched by seeing the tender mercies the Lord has bestowed upon our family.

David Nelson posted 
Recently there was a death in my family. My neighbor, who is not a member of the church, came to my door to express his sympathies and ask how I was doing. My first response was to just say “oh I’m fine”, but then I thought about the opportunity to express what I was really feeling. So I told him how kind the member of the church had been and how I was comforted by the knowledge that I am a part of an eternal family. He smiled and said “I can feel the love you have for your family and the comfort you find in the teachings of your church”. Thought the time my not be right for him to embrace the gospel, I think he will remember the feelings I expressed. We didn't take the conversation beyond this point but I feel that the seeds are planted for when he is seeking comfort in his life’s journey.  

My next door neighbor occasionally asks us about the Church.  Recently, I invited him and his wife to attend the Gilbert Temple open house.  They said they would like to come with us.  This will give us an opportunity to explain why temples are unique from regular LDS chapels and how the gospel give us hope to live as an eternal family.