Jorja's Blessing

Maysen and I worked on her new spring schedule yesterday and today. She is able to register Tuesday at 10:00. It's a little nerve wracking because a couple of classes she wants today only has one class offered and there are very few seats available. Here's hoping! I took Maysen back to Logan this morning. Mike had ward council he had to go to. I was planning on getting my primary lesson done this morning, but things changed. Mike said he would teach my lesson for me. Yay! The teachers in the class just older than us didn't show up, so they were put in our class as well. Mike did a great job and I was so thankful that he did this for me. While Mike and I were in opening exercises for primary he snapped a picture of Asher giving his first talk and sent the photos to Jaime. She loved them.

Burke & Asher

Here are some random chocolates we brought back from Australia. One for everybody. They looked pretty cool. I think Jorja picked the kangaroo, Preston the platypus and Stockton the crocodile. I can't remember the others.

Jorja received her patriarchal blessing today. She has had this appointment set up for awhile. She said that the only thing that helped her get through this last week was thinking about getting her blessing on Sunday. Several months ago Jorja was asked to speak on patriarchal blessings in sacrament meeting, which was a bit weird because she had not received hers yet. She studied a lot about them and did a great job. Maysen told Jorja that she came with a list of about five questions she had prayed over and each one of them was answered. One was answered in the very first sentence. That about blew Maysen away. It was the word choice that struck her most. The patriarch later told her that he had never said that before. We have a new patriarch in our stake, Maysen's patriarch died in June. It was so sad. Jorja had three questions she was hoping for help with. She has prayed hard these last few weeks about them. Especially since she felt like her heart was shattering, this is what she was clinging to. She fasted Wednesday, Thursday, and came fasting to her blessing. She went downstairs and said another prayer right before we went. She told Heavenly Father that if he didn't want to answer all three questions, it would be okay; but could he just answer the most important question she had. Here is a picture of Jorja as we were leaving.

Jorja

The patriarch and his wife spent a lot of time with us. They talked to Jorja, they asked her to read her favorite scripture, they had Mike and I both share our testimonies with her, they had Mike say a prayer and then had me say a prayer right before the actual blessing. It was really great. Then the blessing was given to her. Jorja was devastated. Not one of her questions was answered. Not even a little bit. Some of the wording was strange and she came home with more anxiety than she has ever had. I don't understand what happened. This sounds awful, but I feel slightly betrayed. I'm hoping when she gets the physical paper of the blessing, she will be able to read it and find the answers to some of her questions; but neither Jorja or I heard anything about what she desperately needed help with. The patriarch told us before the blessing that if something isn't in the blessing it doesn't mean it won't happen. I understand this. The thing is, Jorja has been an emotional wreck for the past few weeks. She needed to know Heavenly Father knew her. She needed to know how important she is and how loved she is. She needed to know that everything was going to be okay. She didn't get any of that from the blessing. Again, maybe it is there in words that we didn't realize, but still. I wanted her to have an experience like Maysen. Jorja was so sad afterwords. She was crying, saying things like, "Maybe I'm not faithful. Maybe I wasn't prepared. I really thought this was the right time for me to receive this blessing." Seriously, there has never been anyone more prepared going into their patriarchal blessing than Jorja. We were sitting next to each other on the couch and I had her head against my chest. She was sobbing. She didn't want to go to school tomorrow, she doesn't have hope anymore. I literally had no idea what to do. I know we aren't supposed to talk in detail about our blessings, I just need to write down experiences that are hard. This is hard. I feel this is a huge trial of her faith; and it is coming when she is already extremely emotionally battered. I really, really, really, really hope and pray that when she gets to hold her blessing and read it that she will be able to pull out things that she needs. There were some cool things in there too, it's just that the things that she felt were missing were overshadowing everything else. When the patriarch was walking us out, he gave Jorja a hug and said, "You are going to have a great life." Anyway, Jorja was so sad and I was at a loss as to what I could say that could help her when the doorbell rang. The missionaries were here! We had no idea they were coming. They randomly stop by a lot because Mike is the ward mission leader, but this was perfect timing. Sister Hutchinson came in, looked at Jorja and said, "Why are you crying?" We had a long talk with them and it was awesome. Sister Argo and Sister Hutchinson were both perfect at this moment. I told Jorja that Heavenly Father was still aware of her. Her patriarchal blessing was given to her the way it was because that is what will best help her become the person Heavenly Father wants her to be; this is a blessing of a lifetime, not a moment. Heavenly Father knew she was sad and she was hurting and that her parents weren't able to give her any comfort. So what does he do? He sent her Hutch and Argo. Probably the only two people on this planet that could have helped her in that moment. I am so thankful for these sweet missionaries. Transfers are coming next Monday. I hope, hope, hope, hope, hope these missionaries stay. They are so good to Jorja. They are so good for Jorja.