Last week was eventful. My sister-in-law Lori, whom I love, had her husband, Glenn, in the hospital with a terrible case of diverticulitis that looked like it would require surgery. After talking to our family it was suggested that we have a family fast. In our religion, we observe fasting as they did in the Old and New Testament in the Bible. We basically abstain from water and food for a period of time, in our case 24 hours, in order to show our need and will to the Lord as well as our our sincere desire in asking Him for a blessing.
We decided to fast Saturday after lunch until Sunday at lunchtime. On Friday afternoon my dad, who is serving a mission for our church with my mom in Colorado, lost his short-term memory. People that they knew, passwords that he had typed, friends that he had made in Colorado in the last 10 months, even the missionaries who were with them at the time, all of those things were affected. It was very frightening! My parents went to the hospital and had some test run to make sure he had not suffered a stroke, and we added him to the fast.
Miracles really happened! I know that fasting helped to make those miracles possible. Glenn is home from the hospital now and there's a possibility that he will not have to have surgery from what I understand. My dad is also home from the hospital. They determined that his memory loss was due to a transient ischemic attack, or in other words a small clots of blood blocking the artery for a short period of time to the brain. It resolved itself. We Skyped with him and my mom last night and they are doing so well. As a matter of fact, three hours after getting out of the hospital, my mom and dad were at a Stake Conference! Absolute miracles.
There were other miracles yesterday as well. One was that our Bishop talked in sacrament meeting and his entire talk was about fasting. Another miracle came when I was asked to teach my daughter Camilla's 12-year-old primary class yesterday and lesson was about Esther from the Old Testament and the purpose of the lesson was to teach the importance of fasting. Does it seem like the Lord has something he wants me to learn? I have always had a testimony of fasting. I've seen it work. But it is stronger today because of my fast yesterday.
Even Ella and Anna had a longer fast than usual yesterday. Ella had a hard time continuing in the fast because she got very weak. I thought about giving her some candy at church that I had in my bag and a drink of water to help her,but just as I was having that thought she said to me "it's hard but it's worth it."I knew then that even though it was hard for me to see her like that and for her to do it, I needed to let her finish her fast. She did! She lasted until after church, said her prayer, had her drink, had her lunch, and had the blessings of the fast inside of her forever!
As we were ending our fast last night I got a text from my best friend Emily. It told me that she had been thinking of me that day and had 
been fasting with me. I hadn't asked her to. I didn't expect it! But that also strengthen my testimony of fasting because I realized how strong her testimony of the power of fasting was.
I'll end this post by quoting scripture that our Bishop used yesterday and his talk. It is from Isaiah in the Old Testament:
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isaiah 58:6
I really do feel that the bands were loosed, heavy burdens lifted, and that we were able to break every yoke. I am grateful for fasting.
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