Two lessons

Here are two experiences with Chandler guys that may suggest lessons for living.
1) Early in the afternoon on Friday September 7th, Wendy fielded a phone call from Jamison’s scout leader that reminded us that they had a camp scheduled for that evening and the next day. We had not heard of this before and weren’t sure whether the camp had been publicized very well even to the boys, and were a little apprehensive about what Jamison’s reaction would be. He gets home from school about 4 pm and they wanted the boys to be packed and at the church at 4:30. Having worked with scouts and teenage boys for a lot of years. I knew it to be fairly typical for their first reaction upon learning about an activity to be negative. Then if they finally consent to go it is also typical for them to have a great time and come home glad that they went.

So, Jamison walks in the door a moment after 4 pm and we inform him that there is a scout camp to get ready for. We were a little taken back by the vehemence of his response. It was like a little black cloud came over him. As I recall this, he curled up in a chair in a sort of fetal ball. With a scowl on his face, he told us in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t going to go. We mentioned that this was his Deacon’s Quorum and his Scout Troop that was doing this activity and suggested that he owed them his support, but seemingly without much of any change on his mood or motivation. Wendy told him that one of his friends in the troop had called wondering if he was going to go. (I think he was experiencing the same crisis as Jamison.) After that he made a similar call to a second scout. We got the intelligence from him that these two were probably going. By now 10 minutes had been lost. He was still scowling and stated that he still was not going to go.

So, we handed him the phone again and said, “OK, then you will need to call your scout leader and let him know.” He took the phone and was thoughtful for a moment and then said. “Well, maybe I will go. But you will need to call him and let him know I’ll be late.” Wendy and I said, “We’ll help you pack.”

There was a checklist for the camp. I found a backpack and sleeping bag and pad, and Wendy help him gather some clothes and supplies and we jumped in the car and reached the church at exactly 4:30–the first ones there.

The lesson here, or so it seemed to me, was in how Jamison’s mood changed. Immediately when he mumbled that he guessed he would go, the little black cloud disappeared and his was happy and spontaneous and enthusiastic. The contrast in the two moods was so great and the change happened very fast. I drew a conclusion from this that obedience and happiness go together, that we tend to be miserable when we resist doing what we should, and are also happiest when we do what is right.

2) Here is a little character study about Holden. We took the three littler guys to a swimming party for cub scouts on Wednesday (the 5th) at the home of a member of the bishopric. When the party started he welcomed the boys and went over rules for being in the pool. One thing he specified was that the pool had a plastic liner that could be ripped or torn if swimmers climbed out in places other than the ladder, and that would ruin the pool for use. Most of the boy complied with this but there were 3 or 4 older boys that didn’t and Sister Blake, one of the den leaders, saw this happening and reminded these boys one by one that they shouldn’t do it. They may have nodded “OK” but we noticed that they soon forgot their promise.

Holden was about the youngest boy there. As we were watching the pool with sister Blake, Holden climbed out over the side right in front of us. I don’t think he heard the instruction as was doing something in the water when it was given initially. Sister Blake said to him, “You are not supposed to climb out over the edge. You’ll need to use the ladder.” He was standing right in front of her and looked up in her face and said, “Why?” I was a little taken back by how direct he was in this interaction with an adult, and thought she could have been offended. But in a calm voice she explained the situation about protecting the plastic cover. He nodded and went back to the pool. And I noticed that he only used the ladder from then on and didn’t once climb out over the edge the rest of the evening.

I thought of Jesus’s Parable of the Two Sons, and how the one who initially rejected obedience bu then changed his mind was approved of God, but the one who promised he would obey but then didn’t was rejected of God. I was proud of Holden for being obedient when it counted.

Journaling, September 7, 2012

Our flight got us back to Utah at nearly 11 pm Monday. We had phoned and gotten tickets to tour the Brigham City temple at 11 the next morning. Wendy's sister Bonnie picked us up and we accepted her invitation from to stay at their home that night to save two hours of driving in the morning.

We took Wendy's son Michael with us to tour the temple, and had opportunity to answer a number of questions he had. We found the temple to be just as beautiful as others had reported, and look forward to the dedication service (to be broadcast to our building by Satellite a week from Sunday) and returning soon to do temple work there.

We got home mid-afternoon Tuesday. We found everything to be alright and also a big box sitting on the kitchen island containing about a bushel of peaches from our late Elberta tree that the Blakes had picked for us on Sunday evening. We (but mostly Wendy) spent most of the rest of the day in bottling 21 more quarts of peaches. That makes a total of 35 quarts we bottled from our two little trees. Add to that about 30 packages that the Blakes froze and some that Matthew and Kimberly got, and that makes lots of good eating from our peach crop this year. (Thanks to Alison for helping with pruning again.) Plus we had lots of fresh peaches to eat. I can't think of anything I like better than fresh, tree-ripened peaches from our own trees. We had 6 weeks of good eating, stating with nectarines, then our early Elberta, then finally the late Elberta. They ripened about two weeks apart, so we had fruit from the trees continuously starting in early August until now.

Journaling from Bentonville, Sept 2-3, 2012

Sunday, September 2nd
Testimony meeting--Jamison bore his testimony about the blessings of daily scripture reading. He said he has been trying to read the Book of Mormon daily and when he does this, things go better. We also heard a sweet testimony from a women whose family are real recent converts. In March they had reservations at a Utah ski resort. When they got here, there was no snow so they decided to tour Temple Square. They loved the Spirit they felt there, wanted more, contacted the missionaries, and now the whole family, Dad, Mom, and their 12 year old son are members and loving it.

At this meeting, there were people sitting in the overflow and back into the cultural hall. It looks to me like the ward is prime to be divided.

Valerie had asked me teach her Sunday School class of 13 year olds. The lesson was on the Sacrament. 11 kids were present. This is a very good class, with kids who like to explore the scriptures. Thanks, Valerie, for letting me have this experience.

In the evening Wendy and I gave our family presentation on great-grandmother Martha Ann Townsend Lufkin and her presence at the meeting in Nauvoo where she and many others experienced the "mantle of Joseph" falling on Brigham Young.


Monday, September 3rd Labor day--The post-Isaac weather has turned out to be southern summer at its most horrendous--Just like July-August in NC that we were happy to miss in our second year--99 degrees and 70% humidity. Step outside the AC'd door and you are enveloped with a blast of furnace-hot air.

Ward breakfast--We attended a ward pancake breakfast Monday morning with the kids. Big attendance. We are starting to get acquainted.

Chandlers were assigned to put up and take down scout flags for the Labor Day holiday. Our route was one of four, and was the Kensington neighborhood where their house is located. We had 29 flags. Jaron drove and McKay and Jamison put the flags out, with my helping to read the map for which homes got the flags. Monday evening I drove while McKay and Jamison took the flags down. The flag project is really lucrative here. They ask $50 a year from each subscriber family. On this route, 24 of the homes are non-members and 5 members. If that ratio holds, the program is grossing about $6000 each year with about 85% coming from outside the ward and Church. It enables a rich young men's program, like doing summer camps at Philmont last year. This coming summer, they are going to a Scouting sea base in the Florida Keys. This ward seems to have lots of young men right now, and appears to be operating effective Troop, Varsity, and Venturing programs. Our current Stake President in our Spanish Fork stake has decided not to allow flag projects, which is OK, but the ward leaders are constantly complaining that they don't have enough money to go to BSA camps or do district activities. I guess I have a preference for what the Bentonville 1st ward is doing.

Tie tieing school

Valerie suggested that sometime during the visit, I conduct a tie tieing school. So we brought that program into being Sunday afternoon. With a little help and coaching, both McKay and Jamison achieved a beginning competence with a Four-in-hand knot. See picture for proof. We may work on more advanced knots next Sunday, if they have maintained the Four-in-hand lesson.

Four-in-hand: (Our NC Raleigh missionaries called this a Twister.) This is the simplest knot and the one that businessmen such as Mitt Romney have been using for the last 30 years. It looks neat and professional. It makes a slim knot that is slightly off-center or with a small twist in it. It works with most all widths of ties from very skinny to very wide.

The other two knots I know are the Half-Windsor and the Windsor. (NC Raleigh elders knew them as Windsor and Double Windsor). They make increasingly fat knots. Many of our Utah missionaries and current Utah boys seems to a prefer a big, fat, loose, and bulky knot that the two Winsors achieve. Current tie styles include ties that not only are wide but also are thick having some inner material added to increase the bulkiness.

All three knots start with the tie laid over the shoulders (or threaded though the collar) with the narrow end on the left and the wide end on the right. The narrow end should extend only to a point somewhere between the sternum and the belly button, with the higher for more bulky knots. (When the knot is completed, you want the wide end to extend to barely cover the belt buckle, and the narrow end to be shorter.

You do all the work of tieing with the wide end.

The wide end overlaps the narrow end at about level of breast bone.

For the Four-in-hand, at about the level of the breast bone, wrap the wide end around the itself and the small end, about one and a half times to a point directly at the back side of the knot, then bring the wide side end up and over the knot to the front and poke it under the wrap at the front of the knot. Pull it loosely tight and straighten out the front if the knot if necessary, then tighten then knot up to the collar. And you are done.

The Half-Windsor starts the same way, except the wrap only goes a single time around the knot to a point at the front of the knot, then you put a single wrap around the narrow end of the tie just above where it enters the knot, starting at the inside and bringing the wide end around again from the outside. Then continue the wrap around to the backside of the knot and finish it in the same way as the Four-in-hand.

The Full-Windsor starts the same way, except that the wrap only goes a half way around to the neck side and then is brought through the top of the knot and makes a single wrap around the wide end just above where it enters the knot, then goes across the back side of the knot to where another single wrap is made around the narrow end just above where it enters the knot (this is the same as for the Half-Windsor) and then the wrap continues around the front to the backside to finish the knot the same way as for the other two knots.

OK, now the whole world knows.

Journal, Saturday, Sept 1, 2012

BENTONVILLE, AR. Its Saturday morning and the sun just started to shine again, with bright blue sky (its like Utah blue) between the remaining clouds. It rained most of the time since yesterday morning, perhaps for a total of couple of inches (I've not seen any official figures), sometimes pretty hard and sometimes only a drizzle or a mist. Isaac seems to have passed us (we ended up only on the outer fringe), without any flooding, but giving NWA some much need moisture.

Thursday night was exciting for those of us who are BYU fans. Our defense dominated Wazzu's much toured Air Raid and our offense sputtered at times but showed promise. We are staying with three great fans of BYU football, Jamison, Trenton, and Holden. (I'm not sure what went wrong in the education of Jaron and McKay--they could care less about BYU football.) The 9:15 pm starting time was a challenge on a school night. Jamision had an invite from The Blakes to celebrate the game with them, and the two little guys begged and pleaded to be able to watch. We finally passed the buck back to Valerie, when she called about 8 pm to let us know that she and Greg had arrived in Boston, and she suggested that Trenton and Holden be able to watch the first half. They got on their PJs and saw that much action and then dutifully retired. Blakes brought Jamison home as promised during halftime. He watched a little of the third quarter and put himself to bed.

In the meantime, Wendy and I concentrated mostly on watching the last evening of the Republican convention. Like much of the audience we teared-up with some of the stories about Mitt Romney's caring actions and others' stories of family progress.

In the morning we were pleasantly suprised that the little boys all were able to get up on schedule so that we were able to get them to their schools on-time ( a part of the bargain for seeing part of The Game).

By the way, the morning schedule for getting the guys to school is a killer--set the alarm for 5:15 am to help Jaron wake-up and get off to seminary by 5:55, 6:45 wake up Holden and Trenton and see that they get up, dressed, etc.; also wake McKay; at 6:55 drive McKay to seminary; at about 7:15 walk Trenton and Holden down the street to a neighbor's so that they can get a ride to school; 7:40 leave for the church to pick up McKay from Seminary and bring him back home; 7:55 wake Jamison; 8:20 drive Jamison to hs school; 8:35 drive McKay to school. I have done all the driving, while Wendy has been preparing breakfast, helping with dressing, etc., here at home. She rode along to take McKay to high school. When we got home at 9 am after nearly 4 hours of effort, I had the thought, "We are 33% done with our assignment to get the kids to school in the morning. Two days down and four to go, next week."

Six days of this routine is really not such a burden, especially as we don't have anything else to do, but we can see that Valerie deserves great credit for doing this day after day, month after month, year after year. We are grateful that we have had pretty good cooperation from the boys and that there has been a minimum of grumbling and resistence to getting going. We would feel a great sense of failure if the alternative occurred.

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.”

Musings

Is my LDS theology broad enough to credit spiritual experiences in other churches?
Is the theology of the other Christian churches broad enough to credit my spiritual experiences?
What are implications of the answers to these two questions?

First, LDS theology teaches of the central role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of individual members, and I, consistent with the reports of many other LDS church members, have experienced a multitude of spiritual things in connection with my faith. Many of these were subtle and mainly projected a spirit of peace and goodness. This same sense has been present regarding things strictly LDS and things more generally Christian. Occasionally, the spiritual influence has been more specific, giving particular directions for my life, insights about important truths, or even warnings about things to avoid. Altogether, these experiences accumulate into a large body of evidence to me that the Spirit of God is a significant presence in my religious life, consistent with the doctrines of the Church.

What about in the lives of persons not in our church? On our mission in NC, we had several long religious discussions with Teresa M., a very charitable and Christian lady who had some attraction to our church. At one point she told of her experience, when she was in her early 20s, on the day when she was baptized in a Pentacostal church. She had such a strong feeling of joy and of the love of Christ. Of the devil? Of the Spirit? Her Christian demeanor and life argued strongly for the latter. Might the Spirit of Truth be present to give its stamp of approval when a person makes a commitment to Christ even if the sponsoring church does not have the fulness of his Gospel? It seems possible.

We know from the scriptures that God reveals truth incrementally–“line upon line and precept upon precept” (Isa 28:10), the milk first and then the meat (1 Cor 3:2; Heb. 5:12), “He granteth unto men according to their desire...in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have” (Alma 29: 4, 8). People may receive of the Light of Christ until the Holy Ghost can work in them (D&C 20:37).

We recall the testimony of a Jewish man who was first converted to Christ and then several years later introduced to the Gospel and baptized by an LDS man he met in the military. Another example is a man who experienced a spiritual call to the Protestant ministry. Eventually, he converted to the LDS Church, and always understood his call as a minister to be a progressive step toward his LDS membership, and the receipt of the Priesthood and temple ordinances.

The promptings of the Spirit are often still and small and sometimes not fully understood. In the book of Mormon, Lamanite converts were baptized by the Spirit and “knew it not” (3 Ne 9:20 ). A recent BYU devotional talk pointed out the need to clarify whether spiritual promptings indicate a general approval or more specific direction.

All of these ideas from LDS sources suggest that the Spirit of Truth works in the lives of people everywhere, leading them to the truths that they are able and willing to receive and seems to encompass spiritual experiences by Latter-day Saints and others not in the Church.

It seems to me that a theology that is not broad enough to account for this range of spiritual experiences is not true.

Sami Evans wedding

We went to Sami Evans' reception this evening at Gary and Cheryl's place west of Payson toward West Mountain. It was the first time I had seen their place. It looks like it is on about 5 acres or so. It has a large, pretty house and a couple of huge outbuildings. It is nearly surrounded by pie cherry orchards. It looks like they put all of the money they got for their bench property back into this place.

The groom is from California, but they are staying here. They have purchased a home in Payson.

We saw Gary and Cheryl and also Blaine and Linda, along with Teresa and Chad and Andy and Chad.

The refreshments were different. They were serving cheese fries and chili, along with Coke and Beer.

Everything was outdoors, and the weather wasn't cooperating at all. It had been hot and windy until mid-afternoon, and then a dry, cold front went through that dropped the temperature to the 50s with a 20-30 mph north wind that was chilling. We were sorry to make only a short visit, but the weather was too miserable to stay around and visit.

Colorado trip

This past week, Wendy and I took a short trip to Boulder, CO, to see Wendy’s son John. He is going to school there, taking a course that will make him a doctor of oriental medicine. We started last Sunday evening by picking up Wendy’s son Michael in Salt Lake, then continued to the family cabin where we spent the night. This gave us an about 2-hour head start. We drove through Wyoming on I-80 and got into Boulder about 5 pm and checked into a motel. We spent the evening with John and his girlfriend Mia. On Tuesday we drove up to a little town west of Boulder in the mountains, called Nederland, where we had lunch at a Tibetan restaurant and hiked around a pretty lake. On Wednesday, leaving Michael to visit a few more days, we drove home on I-70, through Colorado’s mountains, Grand Junction, Green River, and Price, and got home about 6 pm.

We had a pleasant visit with John, got acquainted with Mia, and saw some beautiful and interesting country.

New Mission President

We were surprised and pleased to find in this morning's Church News that Cousin Jerry with his wife Kathy have been called to preside over a mission starting next month. Before our mission we had enjoyed contact with them at the Provo temple. They had retired and purchased a home in Payson and were temple workers on the same temple shift as we were then working. We had had no contact or word about them since and wondered if they were up to any good. I guess we have our answer.

Jerry told Wendy on one occasion that he gave credit to JoAnn and her example for some of the important things in his life. He was about 5 years younger than she. She was the first (and about the only one) in their family to go to college and then graduate. When she married, she married in the temple and stayed devoted to the Church. These were not the norms that either of them saw in their families. When he saw her doing these things, he was inspired that could follow her lead.

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!