skip to main |
skip to sidebar
While we were in Bentonville:
On Sunday, June 12th, Greg ordained Ryan to the office of Elder.
On the 19th, a baptismal service was held for Trenton. I gave a talk on baptism at Trenton's request.
Wendy and I were at Chandlers in Bentonville AR from Friday June 10th until Tuesday Jun 21st. We flew by Southwest Air to Tulsa OK and rented a car one-way to Bentonville and the reverse to go home. We tended the house and kids, gave rides to swimming, etc. while Valerie was at Girl's Camp, visited, helped out. Wendy fixed a lot of meals, cleaned, straightened, etc.
We saw Andrew and Britain both Sunday evenings we were there.
When a big t-storm and wind came through last Monday night the 13th), it took out most of the Chandler's beautiful Bradford Pear tree. (See Valerie's blog.) Bro. Fife kindly sent up a crew to dispose of the tree. They cleaned up the fallen branches and proposed to leave what remained as a symbol of the family's sports allegiance (as a joke).
As Dorothy, Wendy, and I drove to Glenwood and back, we spent a lot of time reading and discussing two articles about the history of temple work and about the influence of Wilford Woodruff on the temple ceremonies as we know them today. We found this material quite informative and inspirational. Wendy said that it made her want to stop the car and find a temple and attend a session right now. And we were able to attend a session at the Boise temple on Friday traveling up and the Twin Falls temple on the following Tuesday as we returned home.
I have viewed Wilford Woodruff as our family’s special prophet since I learned of his association with our ancestor James Townsend and family, including the latter’s service as a missionary companion with Elder Woodruff on Maine’s Fox Islands. President Woodruff was the Renaissance Man of the early Church, spiritual giant, bold missionary and baptizer of thousands, fly fisherman, historian and diarist, founder of educational academies, pioneer in Utah horticulture and animal science, etc. And now we learn that he was second to none in the establishment and regulation of the work in the temple that we love so much.
1) Although most of the references by Joseph Smith to ordinances for the dead are focused upon baptisms, there is solid evidence that he taught the broader principle of “receiving all the ordinances, baptisms, confirmations, washings, anointings, ordinations, and sealing powers upon their heads, in behalf of all their progenitors who are dead...” But it was a number of years later when the basis for temple work became fully developed.
2) Because of persecutions, the challenges of the exodus from Nauvoo and pioneering the Inter-mountain West, the unavailability of temples, and perhaps an incomplete understanding of temple ordinances on the part of Church members, it appears that only the following kinds of temple work took place prior to the dedication of the St. George temple in 1877:
a) Baptisms for the dead (Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, etc.)
b) Endowments for the living (Nauvoo temple, Council House in Council Bluffs IO, Presidents Office, Ensign Peak, Council House and Endowment House in Salt Lake)
c) Sealings of living husbands and wives, plus a limited number of couple sealings of a living man or women to a deceased spouse (Salt Lake locations above)
3) The first endowments for the dead in this dispensation were performed in the newly dedicated St. George Temple on Jan 11, 1877 (10 days after its initial dedication) under the direction of Elder Woodruff. He enunciated the principle clearly, “It takes as much to save a dead man as a living man.” From that time forward, in addition to baptisms, the saints were able to perform vicarious washings and anointings, ordinations to the priesthood, endowments, couple sealings, and sealing of children to parents, in the temples.
4) President Brigham Young appointed Elder Woodruff as the first President of the St. George temple, with instructions to develop and regulate procedures and practices. Elder Woodruff served in this capacity for seven years until 1884. The process of performing the endowment for a company of patrons was perfected. Exact wording for the temple ordinances was written and agreed upon and procedures for performing the ordinances were standardized. Also significantly, in 1894, while serving as the prophet and president of the Church, President Woodruff received a revelation that directed that the performing of “adoptions” to non-relatives be discontinued and that all sealings should be done along ancestral lines. Thus, Wilford Woodruff had a major role in establishing the temple ordinances as we understand and experience them today.
5) Out of these developments, there quickly developed among the Latter-day Saints a new understanding and “heightened consciousness” regarding temple work. It gave reason and opportunity to return often to the temple to perform these ordinances for the dead. “There developed a whole new attitude toward temple worship, a sense of what was now expected and in what proportions, and a sense of urgency. Women as well as men had new opportunities for temple work not seen before. What happened in St. George soon spread to Manti, Logan, and Salt Lake. [In the words of John Taylor] it was ... a whole [new] epoch.” (Bennett, “The Rise of Temple Consciousness”, pp. 247-248). Our own ancestors, George and Martha Ann Townsend Lufkin, were participants in this new commitment. They were in the St. George area during the time of the temple dedication there, and then retired to Logan to be able to regularly do temple work when that edifice was completed in 1884.
(Richard E. Bennett, “Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept: Reflections on the 1877 Commencement of the Performance of Endowments and Sealings for the Dead”, BYU STUDIES, Vol 44, No. 2, 2003, pp. 38-77; Richard E. Bennett, “Wilford Woodruff and the Rise of Temple Consciousness among the Latter-day Saints, 1877-84" in Alexander L. Baugh and Susan Easton Black, Eds., BANNER OF THE GOSPEL: WILFORD WOODRUFF, Brigham Young University Church History Symposium, 2010, , pp. 233-250.)
Here it is, the 5th of June, and there is a heavy load of snow on all of our surrounding mountains. The temperature today is the highest of the year–88 degrees F, but we have had a terribly wet and cold Spring for us.
Our elevation in Spanish Fork is about 4500 feet. The snow line is at something like the 8,000 foot level.
Here are five mountain peaks that we can see from our very neighborhood, with their elevation:
1-Nebo 11, 877 feet
2-Timpanogos 11,749 feet
3-Provo Peak 11,068 feet
4-Santaquin/Loafer Peak 10,687 feet
5-Spanish Fork Peak 10,192 feet
I have heard that old-timers here in Utah county used to say that the time to plant tomatoes was when all the snow was gone from Timpanogos. If we followed that advice this year, we would never get then in the ground.
This cemetery was hard to find–a pox on Uncle Wallace for not using the Glenwood Cemetery. It is up in the trees on a side hill along the road from Glenwood, maybe 3-4 miles SE of Trout Lake town. We missed the turn off. We asked a man for directions. He couldn’t tell us how to get there, so kindly led us there in his car.
The stones were also a little hard to find and are in the south edge of the cemetery toward the west entrance. They are suffering from something dropping from the tall trees and need cleaning.
The Mt Adams Cemetery in Glenwood valley has been lovingly kept. Several of our family graves are in a site on the very east side under a huge Ponderosa Pine tree, plot 36. It appears that the whole plot was purchased by our Dad when Donald died and his name still appears as the owner, on a plot plan that is on the wall of the Glenwood Grange Hall. It has 8 grave sites, 4 each on the east and on the west, with three yet unused. We understand that our Mom gave her permission for Uncle Russell to be buried there, and assume that was also the case for the others who are buried there.
Grandpa and Grandma Lewis are buried in the two northern sites on the east side, and on the west side, Donald is in the north-most site, Uncle Hank Ladiges is next, then there is a empty site (for Lorene?), and finally Uncle Russell is buried in the southmost site. Our parents may well have assumed at one time that they would be buried in the two unused spots on the south of the east side. There is also a bench on the site carrying the names of Uncle Mickey and Aunt Virginia, although they were not buried here but in Carson, Skamania County, WA As heirs, Dorothy and I are probably the owners now. We have no need for these grave sites and talked about making sure the family in Washington knows that they are welcome to use these sites as needed.
The gravesite for Uncle Wig and Aunt Edna is a few yards south in the new section just beyond the utility building.
