Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith.

I was reminded of this today and thought I would share it here.

"Thomas S. Monson, “Be of Good Cheer,” Ensign, May 2009, 89–92"


"The global economy, which six months ago appeared to be sagging, seems to have taken a nosedive, and for many weeks now the financial outlook has been somewhat grim. In addition, the moral footings of society continue to slip, while those who attempt to safeguard those footings are often ridiculed and, at times, picketed and persecuted. Wars, natural disasters, and personal misfortunes continue to occur.

It would be easy to become discouraged and cynical about the future—or even fearful of what might come—if we allowed ourselves to dwell only on that which is wrong in the world and in our lives. Today, however, I’d like us to turn our thoughts and our attitudes away from the troubles around us and to focus instead on our blessings as members of the Church.


How might we have joy in our lives, despite all that we may face? Again from the scriptures: “Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you.”

I testify to you that our promised blessings are beyond measure. Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us.

My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith."

Wild Edibles

My husband and I attended a local Wild Edibles class. We went on a nature walk and were introduced to the different local plants are both edible and non-edible. As we went along we took a leave or flower or two and added them to our little zip-lock bag she had given us. Then, when we came back to the tables - which, by the way, we hadn't gone very far to collect all of these - we made a salad and egg rolls.


Here are the recipes she gave us in PDF.
Here are the plant photos that she gave us in pdf


Picture 1: Our salad. We took all our zip-lock bags, washed the contents and then spinned them dry in a salad spinner. Then, it was dumped into this bowl where we added a small bag of store-bought salad mixture, zucchini, cucumber and tomatoes. Instead of salad dressing we used a salad spritzer. The store-bought salad mixture was to help our contents to go farther and to help us understand that, although we could use just wild edibles as our salad, the point is to add to what we already eat.

Picture 2: This is the preparation for our egg rolls. There was Cabbage cole slaw mix, Lamb's quarters, some of the salad mixture that we picked, mushrooms, zucchini, celery and some pesto from garlic-mustard seeds that she had harvested last year.

Picture 3: This is the final version of the egg roll. I poured some of the garlic-mustard pesto over the top and her home-made peach sauce. I ate two egg rolls and could've eaten more. It was delicious. This is the ONLY egg roll that I've ever eaten that didn't have meat and I actually liked.