Memorial Day activities

Memorial Day was a good family time for us, starting Sunday evening after church. Wendy fixed a belated birthday dinner for Emilie and we had the Blakes with us. At about 8 pm, the Soderquists arrived to stay over and we had home-made strawberry ice cream. The Blakes were still here. After eating the ice cream and the kids having a little time to play, we said to each other, “We ought to have a Family Home Evening time. Quin, did you plan a lesson?” Amazingly he said he had one, so we gathered all the kids together, some sitting on the floor, and we started, with no other preparation. We did an opening hymn, had prayer, recited the Lewis Family Creed , sang “We are the Lewis Family”, had several talent numbers, including Garrett touching his nose with his tongue, then Quin gave a good lesson on the Why of the Gospel and Keeping the Spirit, then we had closing prayer. We had lots of participation, all were orderly, the lesson was well-done, and I felt the Spirit present and a great sense of pride in our family for how good the families and grandchildren are.

The Soderquists stayed over to have a start the next day toward Fayette Utah where Quin’s mother has people buried in a little country cemetery and which the family needs to do maintain each year. Some of the boys slept at Blakes. In the morning Wendy had prepared cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then these families had a workday at our place. They helped weed flower beds and put in mulch, did some pruning, and mowed and edged the back lawn. The place sure looks better.

Quin and Alison, along with Amy and Eric, left for the Fayette cemetery mid-morning. In the meantime, at about 11:30 am, we and the Blakes met Kim and the Lewis kids and Nathan and Gloria at the Spanish Fork cemetery to finish decorating. (Wendy and I had cleaned it up last Wednesday.) Then we came back to our place for lunch (Hoagies) and spent some time visiting and more working in the yard. Most of the family left mid-afternoon, except for a bunch of the kids.

The four Soderquists got back from Fayette about 4 pm, eventually all the kids were collected and then were caravanned with them and met the Blakes at little Frederick’s grave-site at the Provo cemetery. We also visited my grandparents’ graves across the cemetery.

Fast trip to Idaho

We made a fast trip to Idaho this week. We had been hoping to go see Uncle Myron and a couple of temples sometime this year. We looked at our calendar with Dorothy for the next four months and could see no openings when we could go. Then we said, “but we are open this Friday and Saturday.” So we made the commitment and went.

We went to Dorothy’s when we finished the temple shift on Thursday and visited my parents’ graves in North Ogden that evening. Then we, including Dorothy, left for Idaho on Friday morning. We got to Myron’s and Pearl’s about noon and visited for more than two hours. He is 88 years old. They just had their 69th wedding anniversary and are still in love. Both of them get around using walkers. He does not hear at all well, but doesn’t/can’t/won’t wear hearing aids. When we began speak loud enough so he could hear us, he seem alert and lucid.

Myron was my favorite uncle. He stayed with us for the summer when he was 17 and I was 4, and played with me. I remember his lying on his back on the living room floor, with his knees up, having me sit on his knees then dropping me. I loved the wrestling and the game.

We attended an endowment session in the Idaho Falls temple at four and then went to dinner with Dorothy’s son Scott, his wife Karen, and children at a Texas Roadhouse restaurant near their home in Ammon ID. They live about 10 miles away from Myron and Pearl in Ammon which is a growing suburb just east of Idaho Falls. Dorothy stayed with them for the night, and Wendy and I found a room in a nearby motel.

On Saturday morning, we drove up to Rexburg, about 25 miles northeast, with Dorothy, Scott, and Karen, and attended a session at the new Rexburg temple. After dropping them off at their home, we stopped for a minute in Idaho Falls to say “Goodbye” to Myron and Pearl, and then drove home. We dropped Dorothy off at her place about 5 pm and were home by about 7 pm.

We were impressed with the life and home that Scott and Karen have created. There was a good spirit in their home, their family interactions seemed happy and respectful, they have a pretty home in a nice neighborhood, and are active in their ward and in the community. They have four nice children and are expecting their fifth on October 25th. Good job, Scott and Karen!

On the trip, Dorothy had brought along a CD, NASHVILLE TRIBUTE TO THE MISSIONARIES, by Jason Deere and others, which we played for much of the trip northward. Several of the pieces struck a chord with me and seemed to be a sensitive and powerful statement about our missionaries, their challenges, their joys, their families’ sacrifices and concerns, etc.. I recommend it.

Priest quorums: the good and the bad (there wasn't any ugly)

In my new assignment in the Stake YM presidency, over the past three weeks, I have now visited all seven ward Priest Quorums. Here are some things I have found:

1) The overall quality of the youth seem high. Although I found some difference in the groups depending on how affluent the wards were. There were three or four real sharp groups in newer areas and somewhat more diverse groups in the three “old Spanish Fork” wards.

2) I was impressed that nearly all of the adults working with these young men, were capable and caring men.

3) Three of the seven lessons were taught by the young men; three by adult advisors; and one was a discussion on various topics led by the bishop because the regular instructor was out of town.

4) All of the lessons were effectively done. One of the boy-led lessons, using the PREACH MY GOSPEL manual, was especially good. He had Priest’s read and interpret various well-chosen scriptures, bore his testimony at key times, etc.

5) I observed that none of the seven quorums allowed time to invite members to report on Duty to God project results or scriptural study insights, as encouraged by general authority and general YM Presidency instructions.

6) None of the quorum meetings was conducted using a written outline; rather they seemed to run these quorum meetings “by the seat of their pants.”

7) There was quite a lot of variation across the wards in how much responsibility for conducting the meeting was taken a youth leader as opposed to an adult adviser (give welcome, select persons for prayers, explain coming activities, etc.).

What should I do next?

Guilty verdict

Well, the jury today returned a verdict of guilty of the voyeurism charges against Stephen Powell, and it looks like he will get a long sentence. Here is a returned LDS missionary and temple-married man, who had a potential to do much good in his life. It is heart-wrenching to consider how far he has fallen. We may not know even a small part of the destruction he has wreaked in the lives of his family and others. We do know that with a family established in the everlasting covenant, he has wrapped himself in immoral behaviors and practices, has destroyed the potential for faith in almost all of his children, turning them against God and the Gospel and certainly contributed mightily to their leading warped and dysfunctional lives. He actions have driven deep wedges in his family. His own dysfunction may have contributed to the suicide of his son Josh and the murder of two grandchildren. He may even be complicit in the murder of his daughter-in-law, or at least have helped in the shielding of the murderer.

Somehow, we are reminded of an incident in the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith. According to Daniel Tyler, who recalled a conversation with Joseph and Isaac Behunin, in Nauvoo, after Joseph had arrived from his time in the Liberty jail. Brother Behumin remarked, “If I should leave this Church, I would not do as some others [who have left the the Church] have done [that is, fight against the Church]; I would go to some remote place where Mormonism had never been heard of, settle down and no one would ever learn that I knew anything about it.”

Joseph replied, Brother Behunin, you don’t know what you would do. No doubt these men thought as you do. Before you joined this Church you stood on neutral ground. When the gospel was preached, good and evil were set before you. You could choose either or neither. There were two opposite masters inviting you to serve them. When you joined this Church you enlisted to serve God. When you did that you left neutral ground, and you can never get back on it. Should you forsake the Master you enlisted to serve, it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his servant.” (Joseph Smith, TEACHINGS OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE CHURCH, 2007, p. 324)

Journaling, April 24, 2012

 There have been some wonderful family times in the last few weeks.  I have already reported on our week in Massachusetts with David, Rebecca, and family.  Some others:
1) When Ryan opened his mission call (Wednesday, April 11)  We got the word that the mission call envelop had come, and he was going to open it at Matthew’s in the evening.  Skype was set up so that the Chandler’s could view the happenings in Bentonville.  Alyssa had driven their big van over to Provo and picked up Ryan and a bunch of his friends.  Andrew and the Blakes also came.

When we learned that Greg had arrived home, Ryan sat in a chair in front of the TV and the webcam and opened the envelop.  He started to read the cover letter and when he got to the part about Salt Lake Central Mission he started to laugh and so did most everyone else.  I was a little puzzled at first by his reaction, but have concluded it might have been a laughter of relief, a release from the tension of waiting for the call to come and the uncertainty of when and where the mission would happen.

Anyhow, it was a joyful, exciting time, together.

2) When Katrina went through the temple for the first time (Saturday morning, April 21) It was a beautiful morning as we drove to Bountiful and the temple session was inspiring.  We really were appreciative to be able to share this happy time with Katrina, Troy, and our family members, Angela and Bruce, Alison, Emilie, Kimberly, Nathan and Gloria.  It was fun to meet Troy’s family–parents, grandfather, sister, brother and his spouse.  They seemed like nice, quality people and were easy to relate to.  We topped off the gathering in Bountiful by stopping at Nieldsen’s for hamburgers and frozen custard.

3) My family birthday celebration (Sunday evening, April 22). We had a sort of open house for family.  Wendy made angel food cake and with strawberry/Danish Dessert, along with whipped cream and ice cream for topping to serve our visitors.  Nathan and Gloria came, also Matthew and Emilie and their families, also Andrew and Britain, and Alison came with several of their kids.  Everyone said nice things and we ate up all of the dessert

Our week in Massachusetts

We spent last week in Massachusetts with David and Rebecca and their family, and was a beautiful trip in about every regard. We flew back their on Friday April 13th and returned home on Thursday April 19th. The flights on SWA were uneventfully good. Both ways we had one stop in Chicago but didn’t have to change planes.

On Saturday, we worked on installing a basketball standard, by cementing in the base. We were disappointed Monday when we tried to finish the job, however, and found that the wrong backboard had been included in the package. In the afternoon, we drove with the family to see Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury. We toured an old but working grist mill which was part of the display.

On Sunday, we went to church in their ward. We spied Danny Ainge (he’s bishop of the neighboring ward that shares this building) and also his son Austin. In the evening, Wendy and I made our Martha Ann Lufkin Townsend witness to the Mantle of Joseph miracle presentation to the family.

Monday was Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts (a State holiday comparable to our Pioneer Day), which features the running of the Boston Marathon. We drove to the marathon route at Welsley, MA, about half-way through the race, and watched the mass of runners going by for a few minutes. Then we found a park with an extensive children’s play area and had a picnic.

Tuesday we all drove to a beach on Cape Cod. We sat on the samd and watched the boys play.

Wednesday David dropped Wendy and me off at the Boston Temple while he worked for a while. His office is not very far from the temple. Then in the later afternoon, we stayed with the boys while David and Rebecca went to the temple and dinner.

We sure enjoyed this visit and appreciated how generous and thoughtful David and Rebecca were as they hosted us. We loved seeing their new home and especially admired the large back yard, which seemed to be wonderfully suited as a place to raise boys. We especially loved being able to get better acquainted with Ben and Henry who were much smaller the last time we spent time with them.

New Church callings

As I approach age 75, I now have two Aaronic Priesthood-Scouting callings, 11 year old Scout leader in the ward, and First Counselor in the Stake Young Mens Presidency. Is this extraordinary, or what?

The latter seems to be coming with a directive to lead out in strengthening Venturing in our stake.

The whole process of these calls has taken 2 ½ months and I don’t fully understand the goings on behind the scenes that finally resulted in extending both of these callings. It started with my being asked to lead the 11 year old scouts in our ward in late January. I was sustained in Sacrament Meeting and set apart. That evening, Wendy and I attended a rehearsal for a stake choir that was going to sing in Stake Conference the next week. Sitting in the choir seats, the row behind where I was sitting was empty and at the last minute President Blair, the youth counselor in the Stake Presidency, and his wife, came in to sing and took seats immediate behind me. When the practice ended, I turned to say “Hello” and he said something like, “I feel impressed that I need to talk something over with you.” We found an empty classroom, and he revealed that the Stake Young Mens presidency needed to change its counselors and that its President had requested that I serve in one of these positions. The motivation behind the request was that I could be give leadership to help our stake improve its ward Venturing programs. However, our ward Bishop had refused to let me go because they had just installed me in the 11 year old scout leader position. He asked me if I thought I could do both, to talk it over with Wendy, and get back to him.

So we talked and my sense of wanting to work with Venturing in this capacity was very strong, so I concluded that if working with both programs was necessary to be able to receive the Stake calling, I would try to do both. I felt like this proposal would go noplace without some softening of the position on the part of our bishopric, so I talked the whole matter over with my good friend Lynn Hunter, the youth counselor in our Bishopric, and then the two of us talked with Bishop West. In those discussions I emphasized my strong desire to be able to utilize my long Venturing experience in this way and my willingness to try to do both callings. I took over two months for it all to get sorted out, but Tuesday evening President Blair extended to me the YM Counselor call (with no release as 11 year old leader). He apologized for how long this took to work through, and told me that he had gotten in some trouble over what he did in January in informing me about the “turned down” call and that the Stake President had had him apologize to Bishop West for the irregularities. He didn’t seem too remorseful about his actions, however, and I am taking this whole business as indicating that the Hand of the Lord was involved in the process, and looking forward to making a difference in the training and preparation of the young men of our stake.

The Church--"the most progressive force for women in the world today"

Here is powerful instruction about the relationship between men and women in the Gospel, that feels good to me. It is by Valerie M. Hudson, writing in the book, WHY I AM A MORMON, (Joseph A. Cannon, Ed., Ensign Peak, 2012, pp. 168-176). Sister Hudson is the Latter-day Saint sociologist that has made a name for herself in her publications analyzing the dangers in societies that have imbalances where numbers of men cannot find women to marry (Polygamous Moslem countries, and India and China where a disproportionate number of girl babies are aborted).

In this book chapter, Sister Hudson affirms the eternal importance of marriage and families: “marriage is forever; we will have children forever; and the life of being a woman married to my sweetheart and having children forever is the life that will bring me the fullest joy in the eternities–as it has here on earth.” (p. 171)

She uses the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden and the two trees to explore the ideal status of men and women in marriage as co-equals with differing contributions to make to each other and their family. The first tree (Eve’s contribution) symbolizes the doorway leading from heaven to earth, while the second tree (Adam’s contribution) symbolizes the doorway back to heaven. The fruit of the first tree given by the daughters of God is birth and nurturance to the family. The Church is the gift given to the family by priesthood holders through the ordinances and covenants of the Gospel. “Priesthood is a man’s apprenticeship to become like his Heavenly Father, and women have their own apprenticeship to become like their Heavenly Mother.” (pp.174-175)

“[The Gospel] ...restores not only right relations between man and God but right relations between men and women, making it the strongest, most progressive force for women in the world today.” (p. 175)

Shh--beavers at work

A few weeks ago, while were walking along the River Trail from the Tree Road to the golf course, we noticed what appeared to be some beaver workings in the Spanish Fork River, about half a mile in from the Tree Road. There was a pile of limbs in the water and two or three downed trees with cuts by beavers and one log about half cut through. We have continued to watch for progress. It seems slow but we think we notice the pile is bigger and a little further out into the main stream of the river. We told Michael, Wendy's son, about the project and a few days ago while he was here with us, he rode by on his bike, and thought he actually saw one of the critters.

The pile looked like this earlier this afternoon. It now extends about 1/3 of the way across the stream.

I recall the work of some Beavers a few years ago in Salt Lake’s City Creek. I used to jog by the place of this construction project several times a week, which was about 2/10ths of a mile above the Upper Gate. By the time the beavers were discovered by City Water people, they had managed to get a full dam in the creek. The back-water totally filled the channel, probably to the depth of 4-5 feet and stopped the current. It would have been a lovely place to raise little beavers. However, the City Water department was not amused. They set out traps, caught the little critters, and moved them to some far-away place. They had to dynamite the dam to get rid of it.

Let’s not say anything to the authorities in Spanish Fork, and see if these beavers can get the dam clear across the River. It is pretty swift and wide in the spot they are working. I am not sure they can do it. We'll continue to check on their progress.

Blossoms in the snow

We had 6 inches of snow yesterday, a real good storm. Here are our peach trees and our Bradford pears this morning. Our low last night was 32 degrees and the temperature was at 60 this afternoon, with warmer weather coming, so we are hopeful that the fruit will be OK.

And look at the blue of the Utah sky!

A religion of miracles

Belonging to that weird Mormon religion that believes in the possibility of miracles and that God is able to and does communicate with persons on this earth, I was pondering our position in relation to other Christian churches. I thought about Jesus Christ, the object of all Christian faiths, of the extraordinary events surrounding his life on earth as described in the New Testament, and how absolutely central these miraculous happenings were to the message and meaning of Christianity. Should a person be counted Christian who does not accept and testify of these miracles detailed in the Bible?

--Old Testament prophets knew and prophesied accurately of Christ’s mission many years before his birth

--Angels appeared to mortals with messages about his birth:
Zacharias
Mary
Shepherds

--Miraculous conception of Jesus:
His mother, Mary, was a virgin when he was born
He was conceived through the Holy Ghost as the Son of God
He existed and was God before his birth in the flesh

--Mortals had revelations from God (dreams) to protect Jesus, when he was a baby:
Joseph (twice)
Wise Men

--There were numerous miracles during Christ’s ministry, including:
He brought 3 people back to life who had died
There were at least 22 instances in which he healed a sick person
He calmed a tempest on the Sea of Galilee
He walked on water
Draught of fish (twice)
He fed large multitudes (twice) without any preparation
He changed water to wine

--(And especially that) His suffering, death and resurrection were real and have divine benefits to mankind:
His suffering and death were substitutionary for the price of the sins of mankind and made divine forgiveness possible
Three day after his death, he came to life again (resurrected) and was seen by over 500 witnesses
His resurrection broke the bands of death and made the resurrection available to mankind

--He was seen ascending through the air into heaven by many witnesses

It seems to me that our Church is being singled out increasingly for opposition/mocking, etc. by secular non-believing critics. In doing so, these criticisms also attack the true foundations of all Christianity. I think that it is only right that other Christian churches step up to the plate in our defense. Or, are they in denial of the miraculous basics of their own faith?

Surely it cannot be true what Parley Pratt once concluded about the mainstream Christian churches, when speaking of their creedal definition of the nature of God: “Oh, pious name for atheism.” Could it be possible that we have non-believing enemies on both our left and our right?

Wendy's new flag stand and Ace is the Place

Jack and Olivia were here for 3 days on their Spring Break, and they are having their pictures taken showing off Wendy's new flag stand. She has wanted a way to display her decorative banners since the time we got married. But we couldn't determine a good way to attach a holder to the vinyl siding on our house. Finally we worked with a metal welding company in Springville to design a free-standing flag holder. It is made of iron and stands 6 feet tall (which is about the maximum height Wendy can reach without a stepladder). The vertical shaft has a decorative knob on top. Then it has a 32 inch horizontal bar (which we overlaid with a piece of PVC) with a screw-on decorative knob on the end. Right at the front SE corner of the house, I poured a concrete base and installed 4 bolts in the concrete and through a plate at the bottom of the vertical bar to hold it upright. I got it finished Tuesday just in time to display this Easter Bunny flag.

Happy flag displaying!

Then yesterday my plumbing prowess was on display. Ha-Ha. The toilet in the hall bathroom was keeping Wendy awake because the water intake would not completely shut off. So,
1) I went to our little Ace Hardware store down on Center street near Main and bought a shut-off replacement kit and installed it.
2) However the old riser pipe on the drain inside the tank cracked and broke off, so I went back to Ace Hardware and bought a new drain fixture. In order to do this installation I had to remove the tank from the bowl. I did this installation successfully and replaced the tank.
3) However, now there was a leak from the bottom of the tank whenever the toilet was flushed, which seemed to indicate that the old O-ring which is supposed to make a seal between the tank and bowl was now defective. Therefore, I went back a third time to Ace Hardware and bought an O-ring kit. I had to remove the tank again in order to install the O-ring but did this successfully.
4) However, when I hooked up the water line this time, I was not able to fully stop a leak where the inlet water line attaches to the shut-off valve below the tank. It is dripping at the rate of about a cup every eight hours. The fact that we can measure the amount indicates that we were smart enough to place a sizeable bowl below the drip. We are now waiting for Spanish Fork's hard water to gradually seal up this leak. Ha-Ha again. No, we're not. I am going to have to take step #5 tomorrow and hope that there isn't a #6, #7, or #8.

Conference gathering at Blakes

There was something satisfying about the family General Conference Sunday evening at Emilie and Scott’s. Even though the Soderquists and the Stanfords were mostly missing (Soderquist boys had come down with the fifth disease and Angela was not feeling well), not to mention David and Valerie and families, we had a happy level of support from the 3rd generation. Andrew and Britain came bringing Ryan, and also Troy and Trina brought from South Weber a carload that included Staci, Krysta, and Tricia. Attendance by this group gave me a lot of satisfaction because they seemed so happy to be together and to have internalized the value of our family attempts to underscore the importance of paying immediate attention to the messages of conference.

Here are some of the major themes I sensed, along with talks that I thought were especially worthy of more study:
STRENGTHENING OUR FAMILIES, TEACHING OUR CHILDREN
Pres Eyring (Priesthood)
Sister Esplin

HEALING OUR RELATIONSHIPS
Elder Holland
President Uchtdorf (Sunday am)

RECOGNIZING AND RESPONDING TO THE SPIRIT
Elder Scott

RESCUING THE LESS-ACTIVE AND OTHERS
Bishop Edgley

RESPONDING TO THE CALL OF DUTY
Pres Monson (Priesthood, closing)
Elder Bednar
Pres Uchtdorf (Priesthood)
Pres Eyring (Priesthood)
Elder Hallstrom

(Ryan was our photographer.)

Brandon and me

Great things and small things

Wendy and I have been presenting a Family Home Evening lesson to our various families, which demonstrates in our opinion the Book of Mormon truism that “by simple and small things are great things brought to pass” (Alma 37:6; I Nephi 16:29). I’ll write more about the details after we get clear around the family, but for now I will say that it relates to having direct ancestors who were witnesses of one of the special spiritual manifestations that formed a foundation for the restoration of the Gospel in this day–in this case the mantle of Joseph falling on Brigham in a meeting in August 1844 in Nauvoo IL. We are making biscuits with the grandchildren, recognizing that the testimony involved in this story was transmitted by its recipient, great-grandma Martha Ann Townsend, while making biscuits with one of her granddaughters. Thus, in this small, mundane activity a great legacy was transmitted to our family.

We started with our Utah County families. Here are some pictures from the evenings we spent with Matthew’s and Emilie’s families.

Here is our backyard orchard after having completed their spring trimming. And see our apricot tree with popcorn popping. I think the three trees in front (Nectarine, Early Elberta peach, Late Elberta Peach) look like new marine recruits after their first military haircut.

Thanks to Alison (and Rachel) for coming down and overseeing the pruning. I don't know how well this would work without the collegial, thoughtful, cooperative arrangement we had. We discussed each cut thoroughly and generally only made a cut by common consent (How many peaches can this spur carry? Which bud should we save that will best promote growth in the direction we want?) And it was fortunate that the ward Relief Society had scheduled a temple trip, which took Wendy away, so that she didn't have to suffer along with the trees that were getting so royally carved and whacked.

We have started eating last year's bottled peaches from these trees. I have never eaten home-canned peaches that I enjoyed so much--all sweet, flavorful, firm fruit. I can hardly wait for this year's crop.