Wendy finally gets her wish

While we were on our mission in NC, Wendy used to say to the natives, "I would like to go through one hurricane while we are here." They would just shake their heads and say, "You don't know what you are asking for."

Sadly (??), the hurricane season we went through while there didn't produce any major storms that came into NC. But now she is excited.

We are in Bentonville AR tending kids while Valerie and Greg celebrate 20 years of marriage with a big trip, and we are directly in the path of the remnant of Isaac. (Well, it has been downgraded to tropical storm status, but who is being technical?) In a couple of hours the clouds should start to arrive and then a little more windiness and some thunder and lightning and then the rain is supposed to begin and keep falling the rest of the night and all day tomorrow and into Friday night. Exciting, right? We will keep you updated.

Scouting Committees--a proposal I gave to our ward and stake

I was looking for some direction regarding how to organize scouting committees, when an experience of Harold B. Lee that happened many years ago came to mind. During the worst of the Great Depression, he was serving as Stake President in a less affluent part of Salt Lake City. His stake developed a successful program to relieve many of the financial difficulties being experienced by his stake members. He was then called by President Heber J. Grant to develop a comprehensive Welfare Program church-wide. Among other things, he sought for answers as to how to structure such a program, what kind of welfare organization the Church would need in the future. After much thought and prayer the answer came: “The Church doesn’t need a new welfare organization. Just use the existing church structure.”

Applying this inspiration to scouting committees, each year BSA asks us at rechartering time to specify a support organization for each of the scouting programs that we charter, with a chair and two or more members. Why do we not just use the committee organization that the chartering process requires? Let it work like this:
1) Have a committee for each program
2) View committee assignments as one-year callings
3) Make the committee organization that we create in our charter applications real (not paper) and have no other
4) A few weeks prior to the time when rechartering applications are due, the bishopric looks at each scouting program in consultation with the unit leaders of the individual program. They should identify, for each program:
• a person to be chair for the committee for that program for the next year, and also
• parents and others with interest in that age-group (i.e., Sunday School teacher, other specialists) to serve as committee members (at least two, but preferably more) during the coming year.
5) Call these persons, arrange for completion of applications, youth protection training, etc.
6) Arrange for training of these persons, as needed.
7) Complete and submit the chartering applications at the specified time
8) Each of the committees meets as needed and functions in support of their scouting program for the next 12 months

Three spiritual treats

I want to highlight three spiritual times with family this summer.

• Sacrament meeting in the copper top church.
  

I spent the July fast meeting with many members of the family in Matthew-and-Kimberly’s ward in Mapleton. Several family members bore their testimonies: Trenton, Adam, Brianna, and Matthew. All of these testimonies were impressive–personal expressions, no trite phrases. I thought, “We are missing so much not going to church together as a family. When we go to church in our own wards, we hear the testimonies of near strangers, persons with whom our relationships are temporary or even non-existent. What a pleasure to learn that in our own family, testimonies are being developed and expressed.

• Baptisms for the dead and an endowment session in the Draper temple.
  

We had most of our teens together to do family baptisms on July 17th. Wendy and I, Alison, Katrina, Heidi, and Valerie did an endowment session while the kids did baptisms. Is there anything greater than being in the temple with those you love most?

• Sealing session with family in the Provo temple.

On Saturday evening, August 11th, a group of us did family sealings. This carried on a tradition of going to the temple at a time near JoAnn’s birthday. More than anything else she loved being in the temple with her children, and what better way to honor her memory than to gather with family members in the temple to perform work for our kindred dead. Present were Emilie and Scott, Matthew and Kimberly, Alison and Quin, Heidi, Andrew and Britain, along with Wendy and myself. Hurray for the next generation of temple goers.
We had the blessing this time for the officiator to be an elderly Samoan man, brother Salanoa. Although a humble man, he just reeked of patriarchal power and authority.

Family camp July 2012

We had 50 people at our Lewis family camp, July 19-21. How great was that? Thanks again to Matthew for the family picture.

The theme this year was on the Family Proclamation, with decorations form the Stanford ladies. For skit presentations on Thursday evening, each family chose a topic from the list of things that help bring happiness in family life as listed in the Family Proclamation:

The skits were very clever and creative:
Faith-- David Lewis family
Forgiveness--Blake family
Love--Stanford family including Troy & Katrina
Compassion--Nathan & Gloria and also Soderquist family (according to Alison, there is no way that we can have too much compassion)
Work--Chandler family
Wholesome recreational activities--Matthew Lewis family

For the two morning devotionals, everyone 18 and over (who wanted to) were asked to present a challenge that faces families these days and some solutions to that problem. (Here are Alison’s notes:

Aunt Emilie—Using Christ as our example, use kindness and ‘suffering long’ with each other in our families.
Uncle Bruce—Problem: So many stresses in our lives that we tend to take it out on the people in our family. Solution: Exhibit ‘patience’ in the face of stress. We live in an instant-gratification world. We need to be patient. Realize that Heavenly Father is in charge and our problems are not that significant in the eternal scheme of things.
Heidi—What she saw in Spain is that an individual member of a family with an addiction (usually law of chastity or word of wisdom problems) was the biggest problem. It affected everybody in the family. Solution: Admit your addictions, even if they’re small. Anything you focus on that becomes more important than the people around you and your relationships with them is an addiction.
Katrina—Problem: Low self esteem. Solution: Remember we’re children of Heavenly Father. Also, put relationships ahead of technology. And as a young adult, you can call home once a week and build relationships even when you’re living away.
Dad—Problem: contention. Solution: Realize the difference between ‘tension’ and ‘contention.’ Tension is what you have when you don’t know the outcome. Contention is what you get when people let selfishness into the discussion. Be selfless and try to understand the other person’s point of view.
Troy—Problem: media. Solution: Keep computer out in open. They don’t have any tv or internet, so they have to do wholesome activities together like board games.
Rachel—Problem: Spouses falling in love with Facebook friends then divorcing. Solution: Joint Facebook accounts once you are married.
Aunt Angela—Problem: contention. Solution: Apologize quickly. “Agree with thine adversary quickly.” And like Nephi, “frankly forgive” somebody who rails against you—no railing or reviling back at them!
Uncle Matthew—Remember that we’re trying to get our spirits to control our bodies. We need to cultivate self discipline and selflessness. Evaluate ourselves every day.
Me—Problem: Teenagers pairing up too early is Satan’s way of weakening marriage decisions. Solution: Grandma Lewis’ social pyramid. A strong base of same gender friendships. Boy and girl activities beginning in a limited way around 14 years old. Group dating starting at 16 or later. Dating a variety of people. Exclusively dating one person waits until you are actually old enough to get married if you decide you like each other enough. We have to carve out a new LDS dating culture in opposition to Disney Dating.
Uncle Scott—Divorce is the problem. Solution: Small daily decisions of service and sacrifice. It’s the difference between being selfless and selfish.
Uncle Greg—Problem: getting ourselves in big problems and being frustrated and thinking we’re powerless to change. Solution: the Agency Ladder. Recognizing there are steps that lead you to the top of the slide (where you can’t stop the behavior). Each of those steps before you get to the top of the ladder is a choice—a place to exert your agency. You CAN stop climbing to the point where you are out of control.
Aunt Valerie—Problem: Kids thinking they know more than their parents. Solution: Experience Math. She brought Grandpa and Grandma up to the front and added their years of experience on earth—128. She then brought up Jonathan or somebody—12 years of experience. Would the counsel of people with a score of 128 be worth listening to? Who would know more—someone with 12 or someone with 128? J
Alyssa—Problem: Disorder in the home. Solution: Be in the moment and enjoy yourselves, but then take just a few minutes to clean as you go. Individuals need to be proactive and clean up after themselves or clean other messes they find. A clean home makes a more thriving environment for a family.
Nathan and Gloria—Problem: Individuality. Solution: Knowing that we’re happier married to someone who cares about us than we would be single.
Staci—Problem: people having a hard time getting along. Solution: Be patient and slow to be irritated with different ways of doing things. Put other person first—give 100% each.
Miguel—As a single adult, the small, simple things like prayer and scripture study don’t seem important. Just put them on a checklist and DO them every day. People in families change over time through experiences and challenges, so find points where your interests intersect and DO stuff together.
Camille—Problem: We feel busy. Solution: Take time to listen to each other—it’s important.
Grandpa—how to bind couples together better. We need to learn to communicate love in a language our spouse understands. He gave every couple a copy of the “Love Languages” book and told us to study it. I think everyone is taking him seriously. I know Dad and I are. We’ve read halfway through the book. I came away very serious about making a study and figuring out how to show Dad I love him in ways he’ll appreciate.

Blogging about family visits

Blogging has helped reduce my guilt for not keeping a journal. But, I have reached the conclusion that I have to be a bit lonely to create blog entries successfully. The last 6 weeks did not serve my blogging well. It was basically one big family party. I don’t know how many times I said to myself, “I hope Valerie got some good pictures.” I was just totally irresponsible as far as keeping a family record.

Another thing: When I have the feeling to blog, I have to discipline myself not to call some family member on the phone until I have an entry completed–make the call immediately and lose motivation. After the entry is posted, the call becomes a reward.

Here are family things that happened since mid-June:
1) We had Jack and Olivia for day or two, three times.
2) We had the 4 younger Soderquist boys with us at the cabin (June 18-20) while Alison and Amy were at girls camp.
3) We had Scott and Emilie’s 6 kids for about a week of the time (starting June 22) that their parents were traveling to Latvia for a 20th anniversary mission reunion.
4) While the Blake kids we with us, Valerie arrived with five of her boys (June 24th). They were getting Ryan ready for his mission and dropped him off at the MTC on June 27th.
5) Wendy’s mother passed away on July 1st, which had been expected for a long time. We spent a day in SL helping with plans and then the viewing was on July 5 and the funeral on the 6th.
6) We attending the Beach Boys concert at the Stadium of Fire on July 4th. Great performance, wonderful fireworks. Thanks, Soderquists for the gift.
7) Wendy also had eye surgery on July 5th (blepharoplasty–removal of excess eyelid tissue)
8) Baptisms for the dead for family names by family teens at the Draper temple on Jul 17th, and endowment session with some of the adults.
9) Family camp at Cherry campground, Hobble Creek, on July 19-21
10) Fishing with great success. At the pond at the Visitor’s Center at Wasatch Mt. State Park (Soderquist boys, 13 trout; Chandlers 14 trout; David Lewis boys, 2 trout.) At the Spanish Fork reservoir, me and McKay 7 trout (3 over the limit–the SF policement told us that we had had enough fun for one day).
11) 24th of July 5k at Mapleton (about 4k for Valerie and me), and
12) Lunch with the Evans family at Andy’s house, and
13) Good Mapleton city fireworks, with Matthew’s and Blake’s families.
14) All sorts of other family activities, such as visiting Cascade Springs, Extreme Sports, lunches, home-made ice cream, etc., etc.
15) Attending church with the Blake kids and then at Matthew/Kims ward with the Blake kids and Chandlers
16) Having David and Rebecca and kids at the cabin August 3-4.

BYU Studies article review #2

A BYU philosophy professor, David Grandy, considers implications from the way that Book of Mormon prophets appeared to view the solar system in an article (“Why Things Move”, BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 51 No. 2, 2012, pp. 99-128.). In Helaman 12:15, at first glance, Mormon appears to espouse a heliocentric (our earth circles the sun) view of our solar system. In Western civilization, the heliocentric view began to replace the geocentric view (our sun circles the earth) with Copernicus, who lived A.D. 1473-1543 and becoming more generally accepted after Newton (1642-1727). The timing of this change in understanding might suggest that either the Nephites were far ahead of their time in their understanding of the universe or else the Book of Mormon was written in modern times.

Grandy argues however, that a better reading of Helaman 12:15 suggests that Mormon had neither a heliocentric or a geocentric view. Rather, he understood the motion of the earth in an entirely different way that was a common perception in ancient times.

According to Grandy, both the geocentric and heliocentric views see the heavenly bodies as inert and passive. Once set in motion, they continue with mechanical reliabilty. An older worldview was that God, in addition to creating and initiating the movement of the universe, also was involved and necessary in sustaining its movement. The motion of heavenly bodies “signifies acquiencence to God’s will, which in turn implies a capacity on the part of these bodies to sense or know their place in the cosmos and to move in ways that bespeak God’s majesty and power.”

Grandy asserts that a more careful reading of Helaman 12:15 in its context demonstrates that Mormon held views of the cosmos consistent with the ancients. What appears on the surface to be an anachronism in the Book of Mormon, turns out to be more evidence of its ancient origins.

BYU Studies article review #1

In the latest BYU Studies, Warren Aston gives an update on scholarly research on connections between the name of the Book of Mormon burial place for Ishmael, Nahom (1 Ne. 16:34), and the name of a tribe and area in Yemen in the SW corner of the Arabian peninsula (NHM, Nihm, Nahm, Nehm, Nehem) and also meanings of the Arabic/Hebrew rootword (“A History of NaHoM”, BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 51 No. 2, 2012, pp.79-98). Understand that vowels were not present in the Arabian/Hebrew languages, so that all the words above were essentially the same (NHM). Evidence from archaeological findings and from historical records has now accumulated that this name for an important tribe and the area in which they lived or controlled (Nihm) is known today and has existed for up to 4000 years in this same location. Three altars unearthed at an archaeological excavation of the Ba’ran temple site in Yemem, dated to about 750 BC, contain the tribal name of NHM and constitute, in the words of Terryl Givens “the first actual archaeological evidence for the historicity of the Book of Mormon” and “the most impressive find to date corroborating Book of Mormon historicity.”

Adding to the significance of this area, adjacent to modern Nihm is the largest known burial site on the Arabian peninsula, with burials dating back 4000 years, and could well have been where Ishmael was buried. Due east is a narrow band of plateaus that constitute the only route of travel possible to reach the only fertile area on the 1000 miles of ocean coastline, a small region on the coast of Oman which is fed by monsoon rains. On both sides of this route eastward from Nihm are impassable deserts of shifting, waterless dunes. The fit of these geographic features with the route of travel of Lehi’s party described in the Book of Mormon is uncanny.

Finally, Semitic language roots for the word NHM seems consistent with the Nephite story and its connection with a place for burial, linking to such meanings as “to comfort, console, a soft
moan” and “to roar, complain, suffer from hunger.”