Why baptism?

Studying the work of John the Baptist, I pondered the meaning of his baptisms.  We know he preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Luke 3:3).  We know that this ordinance seemed to be that means by which person became his disciples and was a beginning for the preparation of a people who potentially would transfer their discipleship to one greater than he, namely Jesus the Christ.  When this transfer of allegiance occurred, these disciples would be eligible for a second and greater baptism, that of fire and the Holy Ghost.

I pondered my own baptism.  It occurred like this.  I had been praying since I was eight years old that I could be baptized into the Church.  On a Saturday, the day following my graduation from high school, the White Salmon Branch President, Moz Burles, showed up at our house with an invitation.  “Next Saturday at 5 p.m., our branch has scheduled a baptismal service at the Hood River wardhouse.  Why don’t you and Dorothy come and be baptized?”  My mother persuaded my Dad to bring us to that service, and we were baptized and confirmed members of the Church.  My own baptism fulfilled my long-dream to belong to the Church.  I think I also felt a sense that I had drawn closer to God and had more of His approval.

As I reflect back, I see some possible differences from the baptism of John.  As I read the New Testament I sense that, among other things, John was performing a baptism to establish or confirm discipleship.  I do not think that he really had a organized or operating church in the sense that we understand it for persons to join, but rather he was gathering and confirming followers.  I believe the word disciple is rooted the same as the word discipline, in its meaning as a field of study, including the values and life style that might go with that field.  It reflects an ancient schooling method, in which the learner was attached to an expert tutor or master to learn the particular field or craft.  Generally the master in such a situation was recognized as an expert in this field and the disciple or apprentice is seeking to fully emulate his instructor, and not only in acquiring knowledge but in developing the same life skills as his master.

Therefore, it seems to me that becoming a disciple of Christ means to fully accept Christ as our master teacher, and to try our best to emulate his entire way of living.  Might I be bold to say that becoming a true disciple of Christ as we are baptized is even more important than becoming a member of his Church.  The Church is one of the key places for us to practice our discipleship to be sure.  But still, ideally, our commitment to discipleship brings us to the Church, not the other way around.  Without the Church, in our day and time, we could not fully discharge our commitment to being disciples of Christ.  Yet, to the greatest extent possible, we come to the Church as a part of our commitment to serve and exercise our discipleship.  The Church is one of our major scenarios for practicing our Christian commitment, along with our families, within our school/profession/work, within the neighborhood and area in which we reside, etc.  Sometimes it could even be one of our major areas of challenge to this commitment.

The idea of this discipleship being one the major commitments and a driving force behind our actions and thoughts and feelings suggests that we live by a higher law even than just being “active in the Church.”  That higher standard is suggested in the temple, and is that we strive to be “consecrated disciples” of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Defining Spiritual Knowledge

     On a number of occasions, the prophet Joseph stressed the importance of knowledge, such as the following:
     “A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge...”  (HC 4:588)
     “...if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.” (D&C 130:19)
     “Knowledge saves a man; and in the world of spirits no man can be exalted but by knowledge.”  (HC 6:314)
     In the past, I have sometimes puzzled over the meaning of these instructions, wondering whether this emphasis on knowledge might not be entirely consistent with the importance that should be placed on obedience to God.  Therefore, I was delighted for an insight into this matter provided by Bruce Hafen. 
     “There are two very different kinds of knowledge.  One involves such rational processes as gathering information and memorizing.  The other kind of knowledge we might call skill development–like learning how to play the piano or swim or take a computer apart, learning to sing or dance or think.  The process of becoming Christlike is more about acquiring skills than it is about learning facts and figures...” (Hafen, Faith Is Not Blind, p. 74)
     “The Lord said that “whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection” (D&C 130:18).  “Principle of intelligence may refer to facts, information, and the laws of the universe.  But it especially refers to Christlike capacity and skills, like self-control, obedience, compassion, patience, and unselfishness.” (Hafen, p. 77)
     Brother Hafen then suggests that in order to learn more about how these kinds of spiritual knowledge or intelligence may be acquired, we might use as a model the example of how skills such, as those listed above, are developed, i.e., dance, singing, piano, swimming, etc.
     Here are some principles underlying such skill development:
1. Often the essence of a skill cannot be described, measured, or specified.  Therefore, the skill cannot be transmitted by written instructions to be memorized by later students.
2. The best skill learning process is to imitate the performance of another who has mastered the skill–learning by example from master teacher to apprentice.
3. The whole process requires learning by practice and repetition under the master’s supervision, and may involve a long developmental period and the correction of many errors and mistakes before full skill mastery is achieved.
4. The relationship of the pupil to the master is crucial.  The pupil is willing to follow the master because of trust in his way of doing things, even though the apprentice cannot fully analyze and account for its effectiveness.  By watching the master and emulating his efforts, the apprentice may unconsciously pick up the rules of the art, including some that may not be explicitly known to the master himself.
      Basically then, this kind of learning is a faith process.  Apprentices must lose themselves in the process in order for learning to be achieved.  They must first trust and try (or act).  Without total immersion, the skill will elude them.
     Brother Hafen summarizes this spiritual process:
     “Eternal life–knowing [God and Christ]–is a quality of life, the fruit of the long-term, difficult, gradual development of the capacity to become as Christ is.  When we begin to live as He does, we will begin to know Him.
     The idea that exaltation results from a process of skill development may help explain why there is a veil.  Faith and repentance and knowing God are processes and principles of action, understood not be only by defining them but by experiencing them.  God is a great teacher, and He knows the patterns and principles we must follow–and practice–in order to develop divine capacities.  He can teach us those skills, but only if we submit to His tutoring.” (Hafen, p. 77)

Christmas 2018

We had a wonderfully long and full Christmas, extending from Dec7th Christmas Kick-off at the cabin, though Jan 5th when Ryan and Rachel picked up the last presents and Jan 7th when our tree and decorations came down. and we were able to wrestle all the tree and decorations boxes back to the high shelves in the garage where they belong without any help or straining ourselves too badly, by ourselves.  Hooray!!

Here is a fun present from Valerie and the Chandlers, a framed picture which shows all of the temples in the U.S.  We have added little stickers showing in which temples we have done temple work.  Green is both of us (50).   Blue is Wendy only (1).  Yellow is me only (3, including Cardston AL).

This shows that we have done work in all the temples in the West, in the states of  UT, CA, NV, AZ, NM, CO, ID, and WY, plus Portland and Columbia River (43), plus 7 others in the East. We have some hope of getting to most of the others also.

Mission Companion Healing Experience

      Yesterday as I scanned through the Deseret News, on the obituary page I saw the name of one of my missionary companions, Ed Clark Jensen.  I lost track of him after I left the mission field, unfortunately, and this was the first time I had heard of him since we had been missionaries.  He was a new elder assigned to me as we served in Winnepeg, Manitoba in the Spring of 1959, as a I recall.  He was humble and motivated and I liked him a lot.  While together, we shared a very tender experience, one that taught me much and that I might call foundational to my spiritual life.
     Elder Clark was from Coalville, Utah, had been a football player in High School, a fullback, and had a football scholarship to play for Utah State, but with the strong disapproval of his coach, had determined to serve a mission.  As we worked together in a mission that emphasized tracting door to door, he had increasing pain in an ankle, and had difficulty walking.  We eventually consulted with President Child about this who had us visit a medical doctor, who took x-rays, and determined that Elder Clark was suffering from the results of a football injury, perhaps a series of an ankle sprains, and had calcium deposits in his ankle joint causing the pain when he walked.  The doctor recommended surgery to clean out the joint.  President Child consulted with Elder Clark’s family back in Utah and they made arrangements for the operation, to be performed by a Winnepeg surgeon. 
     On the morning of the surgery, we rode the city bus, as usual, to the hospital.  There was quite a lot of concern for Elder Clark on the part of all of the missionaries in our district, and there were four or five companionships that gathered at his bedside.  It had been determined that we would administer to him that morning, so when all of the elders had arrived, we proceeded with the ordinance.  One of the elders was selected to anoint, than I was to seal the anointing.  I do not recall the words, but as I spoke to him I had the sensation of a literal flowing of some element from my hands through my fingertips into his body.  I felt light-headed as if I would faint, and quickly closed the blessing and staggered backward into a chair.  It seemed to me that the other Elders did not even notice my absence and continued to crowd around him, offering encouragement and support.
     After a short time I recovered enough to excuse myself and I caught the bus back to our apartment.  I went to our room and still feeling exhausted, lay down on the bed and went to sleep.  I was awakened a couple of hours later by Elder Clark coming into the room.  He reported that the doctors had decided to take one more set of x-rays prior to operating and that the x-rays had not shown the presence of any deposits or problems in his ankle.  He was entirely without pain, and, to my knowledge, was not bothered with these problems the remainder of our time together and through the remainder of his mission.
     I thought about this experience a great deal and wondered at the flowing sensation and how it seemed to take my strength away.  This was new and unusual to me.  I found some commonality later as I read of the woman who touched the hem of the Savior’s garment and was healed, in Mark 5 and Luke 8.  Jesus asked who touched him and said, “Somebody hath touched me; for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me” (Luke 8:46).
     This was a once in a lifetime experience for me, and I have sometimes wished it could have been replicated as I have administered to others, particularly loved ones who were suffering.  But still, there was something tangible and substantial about this happening that I cannot interpret in any other way than that God had this one time made me instrument in His purposes, to enable a fine young elder to continue in his missionary service.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?n=ed-jensen&pid=191075653&fhid=26183

Change in Title for Home

At Lewis Family Camp, we held a meeting with the second generation to try to make sure that they were informed and supportive about terms of my estate, particularly regarding my will, the Lewis Family Trust, and some elements of the Nathan Lewis Disability Trust.  The last thing that I would want is for there to be squabbles and resentment over inheritance money.  The discussion was positve and supportive, but there was one area about which I felt a need for input.  This was about a feature of the will and the Lewis Family trust which our estate lawyer had recommended in 2008 regarding housing for Wendy if I should precede her in death, in which the trust would maintain ownership of the Spanish Fork house, but Wendy would be allowed to occupy the house as long as she desired by paying taxes and insurance.  I was troubled by this feature because it seemed to not account for maintenance costs and seemed odd that Wendy would be required to cover some other expenses for the house.  It might require the estate administrator and trustee to be involved with Wendy for many years and have potential for causing relationship strains and problems.  While trying to provide security for Wendy, it also did not take into account that in the future she might not want to stay in Spanish Fork or that she might need a different type of housing.

As we pondered these issues, as I recall, Angela spoke up and said, “Why don’t we just let Wendy have the house?  Everyone nodded and seemed in agreement with this simple solution.  I took the time after Family Camp to visit individually with each family member to make sure that someone had not developed reservations about this change, but everyone still gave their full support.

So recently Wendy and I completed this change of ownership of the house, into the standard husband- and-wife arrangement of “joint tenancy, with rights of survival.”

In the process, I was blessed with a profound sense of gratitude for the willingness of my children to make what might be a future sacrifice.  I felt a great pride in having raised children who had these types of values. Thank you all.

Amelia Mae Jacobson, born 17 Sep 2018

I was so relieved this morning, to get a report that Megan's baby, Amelia Mae, had arrived and that both mother and daughter were doing OK, born 7:31 am PDT in their Seattle hospital.  

Then came this picture, with Megan looking at her little daughter with such love.  So profoundly comforting and inspiring.

 

All about my eye surgeries

A few days before I made my regular 6-month visit to my dermatologist, Dr. Bradley, a small blip arose on the top edge at the middle of my lower right eyelid, brownish and the size of a small wart.   He excised it and it healed quickly without really leaving any trace.  However after a week or so he was calling, to let me know that it had tested positive as squamous cell skin carcinoma.  He referred my to a pair of surgeons, the first to remove the growth using a Mohs technique and the second, a plastic surgeon, to repair the damage caused by the former.  These surgeons were Dr. Tristani and Dr. McCann.  It took a while to get the surgeries coordinated and scheduled, and this finally happened on Tuesday and Wednesday of the past week.  On Tuesday, Dr. Tristani did the Mohs procedure at the Revere facility which is across 500 West from Utah Valley Hospital in Provo.

By the way, I learned I had to pronounce squamous as SKWAY-MUS with a long A.  The vowel sound is not the same as for about every other the English word with the UA combination vowel sound such as squab, squabble, squad, squall, squalor, squash, squat, squaw, squawk, nor the word square which we pronounce with a soft E.  And now I also know that Mohs is pronounced MOZ with a long O, and is named after the doctor who invented the process.

Mohs is an outpatient procedure, which is done in stages, while the patient waits between each stage.  After the surgeon removes a thin layer of tissue, it is frozen and then examined under a microscope in an on-site lab.  The testing process takes 45-60 minutes.  If any cancer cells remain, the surgeon make a second incision in the precise area where cancer cells remain, removing another small layer of tissue, which is again tested.  The process is repeated until no cancer cells remain.  The whole process may be completed in an hour or so, or go on all day.  The former turned out to be true for us, thankfully.

After the initial incision was made on my eyelid and I received some temporary bandaging, we were ushered into a waiting room, and there found two other couples with a member also undergoing this Mohs procedure from the Dr. Tristani’s team, which consisted of herself and 2 nurses.  Interestingly we has some things in common with these pairs, especially the Stokers, a couple from Sandy where the wife was being also served by both Tristani and McCann, where she also had a carcinoma being removed from her eyelid, and that they were both currently serving as temple workers in the Draper temple.  We also found this couple later in the day at Dr. McCanns office in Sandy and the following day at the IHC Hospital in Murray which was the site for our reparative surgery.  I would guess that following Wendy’s MO, we will soon be going out to lunch with them.

After the Mohs

We were blessed in the Mohs procedure that Dr. Tristani got all of the cancer the first incision, Good News #1. The incision was nearly square and approximately 1/4th or 5/16th of an inch in size as I recall it.  After being released by the Tristani team, we then jumped into the car and headed to Dr.McCann’s office in Sandy for him to look at it and decide what he needed to do the next day.  He talked to us about drawing the two sides of the cut together and filling some space that this would leave at the corner of the eye with some skin “he would steal” from just outside the corner of the eye.


The next morning, Wednesday, we awoke early and arrived before 8 am at the outpatient surgery center of the Murray IHC facility.  Differing from the office setting of the surgery the prior day, this was a full-fledged surgical facility.  I had to get dressed in a hospital gown complete with boxer shorts, and there was a surgical team, two doctors plus an anesthesiologist, along with a couple of nurses, and a real operating room.  During the operation I was “sedated” according to their description, in which I could vaguely hear voices and see shapes and feel something happening to my face, but was about 95% oblivious to the world and didn’t care.

At the end, Dr. McCann taped a huge patch or bandage on the whole right side of my face, and after an hour or so of recovery we headed home.  On Friday morning we were back in his office in Sandy, where the patch was entirely removed, and got instructions for what we need to do for the next month or so of healing–eye drops every two waking hours with a special nighttime lubricant at bedtime and twice a day application of an erythromycin ointment to the site.  And I could also return to all my normal other meds, for heart, prostate, etc.

Two days with this bandage

The good news was the report from Dr McCann that he was able to close the wound without having to “steal” some skin from the side of my face (his word).  So there is only the one little incision to tend.  I had the thought earlier that I have so much extra tissue around my eyes, he should be able to close about any size of incision without needing to borrow tissue from elsewhere.  In fact I wondered if while he was working in the vicinity, he might take a tuck or two in the 81 year old bags around my eyes and make me look a few years younger.  I didn’t say anything about this, of course.

Anyway, that was the second Good News, that in the repair they needed to do only the minimal repair work on my face.  All that was left of the Mohs surgery was a thin vertical line about a quarter of an inch long, extending downward from the edge of my eyebrow, with the distinct possibility that when it heals the whole surgery will hardly or fully be not noticeable.  There were no visible stitches–they used glue, they said.

After the repair

I am left with a feeling of relief and humble gratitude.  I was a little apprehensive about these surgeons messing around with their scalpels right by my eye, but they were very good at their work.  And the cancer is gone, with a minimum of damage.  I am very grateful to have been able to have a priesthood blessing by two good priesthood holders in our family, Matthew and Scott.  And I am grateful to a generous and loving Heavenly Father for His support and help.  All is well.

More Lewis family publications and a thanks.

The 12 Lewis Family books I have supplied to the Rockingham CC Library historical collection

In 2010, while Wendy and I were in North Carolina as senior missionaries, we also had some good family history research experiences.  Pres. Cotterell was generous in letting us slip over the line into the Charlotte mission to Rockingham County where we met Bob Carter who was then overseeing the Historical Room in the James Library of the Rockingham Community College in Wentworth, NC.  Among other things the historical collection included two file cabinets full of documents of Lewis family history donated by researcher Guy Lewis before he died in 1990.  I had been there before and used that collection in my family research.

When we arrived at the library in early 2010, we had the opportunity to get nicely acquainted with Bob Carter and he happened to mention that Guy Lewis had a brother, Fred, who was still alive and living in Greensboro, NC, which is about an hour south of Wentworth on the main freeway back to Raleigh.  We expressed an interest in making contact with Fred, so Bob simply looked up their phone number and dialed their phone and introduced us to Fred’s wife Dot who answered the call.  She was quite hospitable and invited us to come see them, so we did.  When we got there we discovered that not only were they very warm, friendly people, but also that they had inherited 9 3-inch 3-hole notebooks which contained Guy Lewis’s personal notes and summaries of his many years of research about our Lewis family, which I concluded was really something superior to the documents he had shared with the Rockingham CC library. 

We had a laptop and also a scanner with us at our apartment in Raleigh, so we asked for and received permission from Dot and Fred to return to their house and copy all of these records.  To accomplish this, we had to make three more trips to their home in Greensboro (about 80 miles one-way from our apartment in Raleigh), and worked three long days to do this copying. We set up our equipment on the dining room table and Wendy pulled out and replaced the pages and I worked the scanner.  We ended up with about 1800 pages of PDF files, which I have used extensively as a starting point for much of the Lewis early family history work I have done since.  I also got permission to share these PDF records with the Rockingham CC library, and forwarded a copy of these files with Bob Carter.  With this, I included a page-by-page index that I had created to navigate these records plus several pages of commentary.  Bob arranged to have these pages printed off and placed in binders that were located on top of the cabinets that contained the other Guy Lewis materials. 

Since returning home, as I have produced the successive volumes of The Lewis Family, I have made it a point to donate copies of each book to the Rockingham CC library historical collection.

Bob Carter retired some time after our 2010 visit but has continued his work regarding Rockingham County history as a volunteer with MARC, the county historical society.  I have continued to maintain communication and friendship with him.  He is wonderful resource about the history and people of his home county.

When Wendy and I were back east in May to attend Brian’s graduation in Richmond, VA, we scheduled a couple of days in Rockingham County, NC to pursue some family history things, including a visit to the Rockingham CC Library Historical Room with Bob.  When we got to the room, I was glad to see all of my volumes in their place in the Historical Room bookshelves, and the Guy Lewis files cabinets still there.  However, we were surprised to not see the binders that contained the 1800 pages of Guy Lewis records that I had given them.  The librarian seemed  a little chagrined, but explained that several years before they had moved the collection to a little bigger room on the main floor, and those binders were probably in boxes back in their storage.  She went to look and couldn’t find them, but assured us that they were somewhere and that they could find them if someone wanted to see them.

After thinking about what seemed to us to be the inaccessabilty or even loss of valuable research materials, I had this insight: you still have the PDF files, and you know how to readily publish printed books.  Why not make the PDF files into published books?  The library knows how to maintain printed volumes and make them easily available to be studied.  It is doubtful that they would mislay or lose printed volumes.

So, that is what I did.  I spent much of June and early July preparing the manuscript files, and ended up with three 600 page volumes containing the copies of the records Wendy and I copied in 2010, plus my indexes and commentary.  When finished, I called the Rockingham CC library director, Mary Gomez, and asked her if she wanted these books.  She said “Yes,” so I ordered a copy for her library, along with two other volumes from my The Lewis Family series that I had not yet provided.  I just got back this gratifying response:
August 13, 2018
Dear Mr. Lewis,
I wanted to let you know that we received the five additional volumes of Lewis family information which you donated to the Rockingham County Historical Collections.  We do appreciate your generosity very much and I’m sure researchers of the Lewis family will as well.  As you said when we spoke, RCC is the place to come if you need to do research on the Lewis Family of Rockingham county and your donations over the years are the reason why...
Sincerely,
Mary Gomez,
Director of Library Services and Archives
Rockingham County Historical Collections
Rockingham Community College

Our Family has another Eagle

On this evening, 16 August 2018, Trenton met with his Eagle board and passed.  Congratulations. I am so proud and pleased.

God, Heaven, and Families

Here is a doctrinal discussion continuing on from our Lewis Family Camp theme:   
God, Heaven, and Families
(compiled from Terryl and Fiona Givens, “The God Who Weeps” and “The Christ Who Heals”)
    ...[T]he apostle Peter recognized [that] the “precious and very great promises” given to us are that we “may become participants in the divine nature.”
    What is the nature many of us seek to emulate?  What do we mean by this imitation of Christ?  As we saw in Enoch’s encounter with God, the principle attribute of the Divine is love– costly love.  Witnessing God weeping over His children is only half the journey Enoch makes.  What transpires next to the prophet may be the only– it is surely the most vivid– example given in scripture of what the actual process of acquiring the divine nature requires...
    As Enoch plumbs the mystery of the weeping God, he learns just what it means to be like Him.  Seeking insight and understanding into external things, Enoch is raised to a perspective from which he sees the world through God’s eyes.  The experience is more shattering than reassuring.  “And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Enoch, and told Enoch all the doings of the children of men; wherefore Enoch knew, and looked upon their wickedness, and their misery, and wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook.”  (Moses 7:41)
    Taught of the highest things by the weeping God, Enoch becomes the weeping prophet.  His experience of the love that is indiscriminate in its reach and vulnerable in its consequences takes him to the heart of the divine nature.  This is the mystery of godliness that Enoch does not just see, but now lives for himself.
    Enoch’s encounter with God, his vicarious experience of infinite love, serves as a template for the path he– and all of us– hope to follow.  That this path has as its end a communal heaven, and not a solitary salvation, is clear by the vision’s end...
    At the last day, the ultimate consolation, and the shape of heaven, are revealed.  God’s righteousness will “sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out” those who will have Him to be their God.  Then, the Lord days to Enoch, “thou and all thy city [shall] meet them there, and we will receive them into our bosom, and they shall see us, and we will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our necks, and we will kiss each other; And there shall be mine abode, and it shall be Zion.”
    The beauty and power of this image is in its concreteness.  God and His people, the living and the departed, heaven and earth, embrace.  The immense distance between the spiritual and the mundane collapses, and we find holiness in the ordinary.  Luke’s tale of the prodigal son turns out to be not symbolic foreshadowing, but literal foretaste, of a great reunion. As the evangelist told the story, when the son “was a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”
    In Enoch’s version, heaven shocks by its familiarity.  God, is would appear, is first and foremost a relational Being, and the heaven toward which we aspire consists of loving relationships that are eternal.  God’s title as Father is universally acknowledged throughout the Judeo-Christian traditions, but how that title is understood varies widely.  We find an understanding that moves in the direction of a literal, familial relationship is more reasonable than one that emphasizes the metaphorical or figurative.  (Weeps, pp.105-106)
    ...Heaven is not a reward for merit or a repair of Adam’s catastrophe; it is an eternal sociality of celestial beings, existing, striving, and creatively engaging in loving relation. [The] Atonement is primarily about healing the pains and strains of injured relationships incurred en route to that destination, fractures among ourselves as humans and with those gentle Parents patiently working to improve and guide us.  The perfect harmony and synergy of a collaborative Godhead is not just a model for our own relationships, but a healing enterprise in which we are invited to participate, to collaborate.  (Heals, p.74)
    ...[Regarding the death of his brother Alvin, Joseph stated] “It has been hard for me to live on earth and see [him] taken from us...”  Joseph refused to believe that we could ever be comforted, in this world or the world to come, separate and apart from those we love.  When the principle of baptism for the dead was revealed to him, the great significance he found in the revelation was not the fact that our ancestors could be saved, but that they could be saved with us.  That was the whole point of Malachi’s prophecy, as Joseph taught a few months before his death: temples, priesthood, ordinances– they all existed in order that relatives “may Come forth in the first resurrection & be exalted to thrones of glory with us, & here is the chain that binds the hearts of the Fathers to the Children, and the Children to the Fathers which fulfills the mission of Elijah.”  The revealed practice of evangelizing and baptizing the dead and performing their temple ordinances erases the dominion of hell over all of the earth’s unbaptized dead.  It bridges a gulf that had separated millions of believing Christians from the their forbears as well as from the divine family.
    The promise made by the Savior is one of unimaginable joy–perfect, untainted, unqualified joy: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.”  But if God shall wipe away all tears, he can only do so by triumphing over the cause of those tears, which is death’s severing of our most intimate family ties and connections.  Any joy we savor in the absence of our loved ones is a partial joy, a fractured joy.  Heaven apart from those we love is just hell by another name.  Joseph said as much: “let me be resurrected with the saints, “ he said to his people in Nauvoo, “whether I ascend to heaven, or descend to hell, or go to any other place.”
    ...We believe in a real, literal heaven, and that families (and the whole web of kin and friends Joseph called “sociality”) can continue forever.  Heaven is not a place we enjoy with other people; heaven is eternal companionship with other people...”  (Heals, pp. 105-107)
    When God created man and woman, He brought them together. That a man should cling to his wife and she to him, on the way to becoming "one flesh," was a pattern and order He estab1ished while they were still in paradise.  It was not a compensating comfort for their passage through a fallen world, but a sacramental union established in paradise, and anticipating no end. Marriage is a heavenly order, modeled on a divine template– a relationship that may be sealed on earth,  in order to be "bound in heaven." "Divine families encircled by his fire and light  are the very essence of life and eternal life; without them this earth– indeed this cosmos– will have missed the measure of its creation."  (Weeps, p. 107, quoting Truman Madsen)
    What God envisions for us, what His Son prayed most earnestly for toward  the end of His life, was for us to achieve the harmony He shares with His Father. In essence, we are invited to participate in the heavenly family of God Himself. Not through metaphorical melding, but through the studied arduous practice of a holy life that prepares us to love as he does. [Orson] Pratt wrote that “our natural affections. . . are the main-springs of life and happiness– they are the cement of all virtues and heavenly society. . .From this union of affection, spring all the other relationships, social joys and affections, diffused through every branch of human existence.  Man was designed for a social being.” (Weeps, pp. 107-108)
    We pass through birth and death as individuals.  But the years in between are filled with the unceasing search for community, for companionship, for intimacy.  ...love is most essentially a term that address the complex forms of connection we make to other beings, and ... those connections are so various and layered that the Greeks needed at least four words to capture what we reduce to one amorphous catchall...  Affection, friendship, romance, and charity (storge, philia, eros, and agape) dominate our social existence, revealing our lives to be an ongoing, comprehensive effort to find and secure relationships and connections on every conceivable level.
    Relationships are the core of our existence because they are the core of God’s, and we are in his image.  God’s nature and life are the simple extension of that which is most elemental, and most worthwhile, about our life here on earth.  However rapturous or imperfect, fulsome or shattered, our knowledge of love has been, we sense it is the very basis and purpose for our existence.  It is a belonging that we crave because it is one that we have always known.
    Embracing the ancient connection that binds mortals to God restores to us a glorious beginning and portends a glorious future.  It affirms that we are of divine parentage, with a home in the heavens... This sense of identity makes our search for the divine nature an act of filial love and emulation... It means that “nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side that to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar His face is to us.” (Ezra Taft Benson paraphrasing Brigham Young in 1977 talk)
    ...[T]he emphasis on a heaven that recovers and extends relationships forged in this life and before, gives meaning and focus to our life in the here and now.... (Weeps, pp. 109-111)
    ...Enoch’s vision is particularly instructive.  It makes heaven and the process of building it, continuous with the best– but also most taxing– elements of the present...
    In the vision of Enoch, God gave the name of Zion to his abode.  And Zion, he told Enoch, was where the earthly and heavenly societies meet, where “we will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our necks.”  This vision of heaven as he convergence of two societies, an earthly and a heavenly, is a beautiful template for the work we face as humans: fitting ourselves, our families, our communities, to be participants in a celestial society.  What this means is that our present relationships are both the laboratory in which we labor to perfect ourselves and the source of that enjoyment that will constitute our true heaven.
    What we call the virtues are precisely those attributes of character that best suit us to live harmoniously, even joyfully, in society.  Kindness only exists when there is someone to whom we show forth kindness.  Patience is only manifest when another calls it forth.  So it is with mercy, generosity, and self-control.  What we may have thought was our private pathway to salvation, was intended all along as a collaborative enterprise, though we often miss the point.  The confusion if understandable, since our current generation’s preference of “spirituality” over “religion” is often a sleight of hand that confused true discipleship with self-absorption.
    Holiness is found in how we treat others, not in how we contemplate the cosmos.  As our experiences in marriage, families and friendship teach us, it takes relationships to provide the friction that wears down our rough edges and sanctifies us.  And then, and only then, those relationships become the environment in which those perfected virtues are best enjoyed.  We need those virtues not just here, but externally because “the same sociality that exists here, will exist there, only it will be coupled with celestial glory, which glory we do not now enjoy.” (Weeps, pp. 112-113)
    What we are most certain of, is that “Our natural affections... are the cement of all virtuous and heavenly society.”  Ultimately we understand God’s nature, and human salvation, to be the simple amplification of that which is most elemental, and most worthwhile, about our life here on earth.  The divine nature of man, and the divine nature of God, are shown to be the same– they are rooted in the will to love, at the price of pain, but in the certainty of joy.  Heaven holds out the promise of a belonging that is destined to extend and surpass any that we have ever known in this wounded world.
    So we learn, and we love.  What we have learned, and how we have loved, endure.  Those are the two constants in our continuing existence. Weeps, pp. 117-118)

Mountain pictures

Here are some pictures we took of Mt. Adams while on the Memorial Day reunion trip.

This is Wendy's favorite picture

These are pictures of Mt. Hood looking southward from the White Salmon Ward parking lot.

Memorial Day Trip: Attending temples on the way home

We did a session at the new Meridian first thing Tuesday morning

Then we drove to Twin Falls (one of our favorites) and did another temple session.  The pictures are form other visits

We got home late Tuesday night.

Memorial Day trip: Starting the trip home

On Monday we began the return trip.  We stayed Monday night in Meridian, ID.

On the way we passed this nice pastoral scene near Baker OR

Memorial Day trip: Visit to the Glenwood Cemetery on Sunday

 We attended church at the White Salmon ward, then drove back to Glenwood, first visiting the Mt. Adams Cemetery and then spending some more time with Kathleen.

The White Salmon ward still was displaying my missionary plaque listing

My Adams cemetery visit

Hank and Lorene graves in Lewis family plot

My brother Donald's grave

Whole family plot

 

My Grandma and Grandpa Lewis' graves

 Other graves nearby of relatives:

Mt. Adams from Lewis family plot

Memorial Day 2008 weekend trip and family reunion

Immediately after returning from Virginia and North Carolina, we did a quick trip to Washington State to attend a family reunion held at Aunt Lorene's farm in Glenwood, WA, on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.  The travel began going to Logan to be a part of Krysta's wedding on Thursday, May 24th.  On our way, we stopped at the Ogden cemetery where my parents are buried,then on to the wedding festivities.  After the reception, we traveled to stay at a motel in Tremonton.  On Friday, we drove through to The Dalles, OR, where we we had accommodations for three nights.   On Saturday, we drove to Glenwood to the reunion. As we returned to our motel in The Dalles, we connected with another cousin, Marylin, in the evening.  On Sunday, we went to church in the White Salmon ward, and then returned to Glenwood, spending some time at the cemetery and returning to visit further with cousin Kathleen.  On Monday, we began the trek home, attending a couple of temples on our way.  We stayed Meridian, ID, Monday night and went to that temple first thing Tuesday morning.  On Tuesday afternoon also did a temple session at Twin Falls, ID.

Flowers we placed on my parents' graves in Ogden

Logan temple.  Thursday was the wedding day for Krysta and her fiance Nathan G in the Logan temple.  We enjoyed that ceremony, and also their reception in the USU Alumni House.

Krysta and Nathan

The trip to Oregon

This was a really fun cafe just off the freeway in Meridian ID, where we ate lunch.  It reminded us of Andy's in NC

The decor was Marilyn Monroe, etc.

Here is our first sight of the mighty Columbia, just past Umatilla, OR

A little farther on, the John Day Dam

Across the river from Wishram, a sports opponent of GHS.  I hit a (near) home run on a field up on the flat beyond the river.

A few miles further along, the Wishram bridge

Water above The Dalles dam, and Dallesport, WA, across the river.

The Dalles dam.  Bridge at the very far left

The Dalles dam outlet.

Saturday at the reunion in Glenwood, WA.

Entering Glenwood valley, at Lakeside.

A mile of so north, the Snake Island ranch, where my grandparents first lived after coming from Virginia

People at the reunion

With my cousin Kathleen.  How could you ever find a more attractive background for a picture?

Kathleen with her husband, Manuel P.

Kathleen's oldest daughter, Lynette, with her daughter,Koleen

Kathleen's daughter, Joleen, with husband Clinton C. and their daughter,Isbella

Joleen, Isbella, and Clinton, again

My cousin, and Kathleen's brother, Warren Ladiges, wife Vickie to his right, and children, Michele, Genine, Matthew, Brody

Another cousin, Roger Woosley

Roger with his wife Lindamay

Glen and Mary Pierce, son of our old neighbors Jake and Wally Pierce

Cousin Marylin Hilton at her home in The Dalles Saturday evening

Marylin had some beautiful roses at her little place