December 30, 2025
What have we done?
Those are the words that ran through my mind when our airplane was preparing to land in Kansas City yesterday morning. The flight attendant announced that the current weather was 19 degrees. I turned my head and shot Greg a look that said, “I believe we have lost our minds!” But he was sleeping soundly, head resting against the small, oval window beside him, blissfully oblivious to our frozen fate.
I should not have complained about our 80-degree Phoenix Christmas. I much prefer sweating in my Christmas sweater beneath a beautifully sunny sky to shivering despite layers of clothing that are insufficient against the biting wind.
I am sufficiently repentant and will hereafter revel in every moment of 80-degree winter sunshine.
This trip to the Arctic Tundra of Kansas City will be a quick one. We flew in just to buy a car, as Greg will need transportation when he starts working out here part-time in a couple of weeks. But he will also need a car in Arizona for the three days a week he will be there, and we did not have a spare.
So, we planned a quick after-Christmas car shopping trip and convinced Elise and Carson to come with us. Elise wanted to see our new house and told Carson he was coming, whether he wanted to or not. (He did not want to, but here we all are.)
A few hours after landing, we secured an All Wheel Drive vehicle because our Missouri sources tell us the roads often remain unplowed after a snow or ice storm. The nerve!
Rest assured that snowy roads will not stop us, even if we are Arizona natives. We can drive an All-Wheel-Drive on snowy country roads with the best of them, thank you very much. (Said with gritted teeth and white knuckles and genuine half-hearted confidence born of snow driving experience from 20 years ago.)
We’ve got this!
New car notwithstanding, what do you do with one young adult and one reluctant teen on the coldest day of the year in Kansas City? You go to the Giving Machine in Union Station!
There, Greg met KC icon and Chiefs coach Andy Reid, or at least his cardboard cutout. And it was fun to purchase a few things to help the people of Kansas City. With how cold it was, we could not resist buying warm clothing for a child. And it did my heart good to watch Carson buy milk and rice for a family in need with his own money. Man, I love that kid!
Whoever came up with the idea of a donation vending machine was a GENIUS! I salute them!
Now we are headed off to Liberty to visit the jail. I imagine this cold will make the experience even more meaningful and authentic, given that Joseph Smith and his friends were confined there during one very cold winter.
We will try not to freeze.
Later…
Liberty Jail was truly humbling, just as it is every time I visit. The cute old man who led our tour had been serving as a missionary there for a whole five weeks. As a newbie, he read the script like a champ with the disclaimer that his macular degeneration made it difficult to read. The Spirit has a way of transending our weaknesses, though, and his efforts to teach us about the events that happened in that jail were magnified in a way that put me right into that jail with Joseph.
I cannot think about overcoming adversity without thinking about Liberty Jail. And being there now, as we prepare to embark on a new adventure that will take us to the heart of Missouri, where it all happened, makes it extra meaningful.
The Lord is calling us to the center of the action, where history and prophecy collide. Whatever challenges we must face to get there will surely not even come close to the magnitude of suffering the saints faced during the bitter winter of 1838-1839.
We can do this!
Also, with the death of my BFF, Jeffrey R. Holland, his talk Lessons from Liberty Jail has been on my mind, especially these words:
Every one of us, in one way or another, great or small, dramatic or incidental, is going to spend a little time in Liberty Jail—spiritually speaking…But the lessons of the winter of 1838–39 teach us that every experience can become a redemptive experience if we remain bonded to our Father in Heaven through that difficulty. These difficult lessons teach us that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity, and if we will be humble and faithful, if we will be believing and not curse God for our problems, He can turn the unfair and inhumane and debilitating prisons of our lives into temples—or at least into a circumstance that can bring comfort and revelation, divine companionship and peace.
I cannot understate how much I will miss Elder Holland and his profound teachings. His passionate words have deeply inspired me on more than one occasion, and I will hold those experiences close to my heart. But I am so happy he gets to be with his beloved Pat. What a joyous reunion that must have been!
Side note: The online reaction to Elder Holland’s now-infamous address to the BYU faculty and staff in August of 2021 was the catalyst that led me to start sharing my faith online. The vast majority of the commentary I heard ranged from “He made a mistake” (I wonder how one can conclude that without hearing his fervent conversations with the Lord) to open hostility.
His words were taken out of context and used to figuratively crucify him online, leaving me wondering if there were any people left who stood with the prophets. (This happened shortly after President Nelson’s vaccine statement, so the iron was already hot.)
When I took that deep and pressing concern to the Lord, He said, “Why do you think I need you to help women stand?”
And “Stand with Lynnette” was born.
So, basically, Elder Holland is the reason I have a podcast and boldly share my faith on social media. He and Jesus, of course, which is why he’s my unofficial BFF. I cannot wait to tell him that one day, when we officially meet.
Until then, I know he will be busy sharing his talents and passion with other friends he meets in the spirit world. And I will try to do the same here on a much smaller scale.
Maybe that should be my New Year’s goal: testify like Elder Holland every chance I get. That would make for an exciting year!
**Read the rest of this journaling series here.
