Lessons Learning With The Podcasts & Experiences Recording, etc.

 Dear Kids, 

It's time for another update on the podcasts and the work we've been doing. There have been so many miracles in our lives while we've been here and so many attacks from Satan as well.

I have to put in list form what we've been experiencing with it so I don't forget anything:

-Every night that we record a lesson we set up the boys room. Brent figured out a system in order to set up the "recording studio". He got hooks, and put them in the walls (which are made of concrete by the way so that was an interesting time), then he connects a rope all the way around the room. After that is done, then he will put up blankets and towels around the room so it's enclosed and finish with putting a blanket on the floor. When that is done, then we have to clear everything off the table and carefully move it into the boy room - it's an interesting process because it's a small apartment, we have to be careful to put the legs of the table into the bathroom first, then into the boys room. then we'll put a fitted sheet on the table and set up the TV monitor so I can see the lesson visuals and get the mics set up on the table. We kill the AC when we record and then by the time the recording is done we are just sweating! Then we take everything down, take the table out and get the room clean in order to move the boys back onto their beds. 

-When we record it's always late at night, so the younger boys will fall asleep on our bed, and we'll move them back into their room usually between 1am-2am in the morning when we finish. Our schedules in our bodies have been totally off with this! We're not getting to sleep until at least 1am or 2am on recording night and then I'm so tired I have just been sleeping in until my body wakes me up!

-The first month we were here we didn't do much podcast work - we were getting life set up. It took a couple weeks to get comfortable with how the bus systems worked, getting around, getting familiar with the area, and we had visitors in the first month's time as well. Which was awesome. But then in March we really started getting busy with the podcasts. Brent finished the visuals first in the powerpoint presentation, then after that was done I was able to get going on the scripts. we tried to record without scripts at first, and it just wasn't going to work. The first time we tried recording we were both SO DISCOURAGED because it just didn't go or sound anything like we wanted it to! It took a couple times recording in order to get a flow. We practiced several times. But then as we found a flow, it was much better. 

-I've been mainly working on scripts, then once scripts are finished, Brent and I will go through them together, tweek some things, add something we missed, he'll adjust the visuals according to final draft. Then we read it together as a practice, then we'll record. In order to finish a script and then finalize the script with lessons visuals and quotes from the brethren and practice takes a few days with each lesson when it's gone well. Sometimes it will be a week for each lesson depending on what we've need to do in order to get a final draft for everything. 

-We started recording in April and now we are almost to the middle of June and we are almost done with all 14 lessons! It truly has been a miracle how much the Lord has helped us. There have been so many times when I have felt like I didn't know what needed to be said, and then as soon as a pray and sit down to put together the script, then Lord will just PLACE things in my mind. 

-In my patriarchal blessing it tells me, "Open your mouth and the Lord will fill it with everything needful." I have seen that fulfilled with this process. The Lord has filled my mouth with everything needful for the podcasts. And I have DEFINITELY known when something was "not needful". The spirit has been very direct about what is needed and what isn't. I'm SO GRATEFUL for that help, because this is the LORD'S project all the way. 

-The first time we recorded we had a tender mercy given to us of no loud noises. I'm so grateful for that because it went smoothly enough, and we NEEDED the emotional boost that resulted. It was a miracle, because every other recording session after that, we have had major opposition. The Lord was getting our muscles ready to face the opposition with it. 

-We had major opposition to the lesson about the Celestial Kingdom being the EASIEST for us to attain when we live our covenants. That night was unbelievable. The noises from the road were abhorrent. The dogs wouldn't stop barking, the neighbors were horribly loud. We recorded once and we had to stop it was so bad. So we went back and recorded again VERY late at night and finally finished really early in the morning. That was the night that we decided from then on out that we would just record REALLY late at night so we wouldn't run into so much opposition. 

-We were getting tired and burnout when we recorded lesson 10, and Heavenly Father gave us a tender mercy. He gave us rain. That night we hardly had any issues at all with noise! It went so smoothly and we needed it because of how burnout we were getting. 

-Then in the Godly Sorrow lesson, about "going to the garden" there was MAJOR opposition. We had neighbors that were partying. It was SO LOUD. We had to stop recording and wait for an hour. We prayed and prayed for help and the Lord drove them away for us. We then went back to recording and encountered several more issues, but every time, the Lord kept helping us. We finally finished and it is a beautiful lesson. 

-Another interesting thing through this process is to find how much we have learned with our parenting. EACH lesson when we were working on it, the Lord designed it so that our kids behaviors MATCHED whatever lesson we were trying to teach in order to teach us MORE about the quality we were talking about. EVERY TIME. When we were talking about the Holy Ghost, our kids needed help with the Holy Ghost. When we were talking about separating worth from performance, that is what we needed to help our kids with. When we were talking about enticements, the enticements in our home SHOT through the roof (losing AC, losing power, having water issues, etc)! It was interesting to see all those patterns and HOW the Lord was refining us within the teaching and REALLY applying what it was that we were teaching at the time. I *thought* I knew these principles really well before teaching about it, but the more that I've learned about the Thought habits of Jesus Christ through this process, the more I realize how much I don't know and how much I have left to go. BUT as I apply everything that we have been teaching, the spirit is guiding us along the way. ALL THE TIME. 

This whole experience has been refining in so many ways. Beautiful ways and very hard ways. Our kids have really been refined by this whole experience as well. There are so many things that have been adventurous for them, and other things that have been very difficult as well. I'll write about that in another post. 

I love you kids, All of this is worth it, I promise. Please let this experience teach you for your lives. I love you, 

Your Mom