Reaching Out -Thomas S Monson -Nov HT - Finding Joy in the Journey

Finding Joy in the Journey

Thomas S. Monson, October 2008 General Conference

"Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey, and share our love with friends and family. One day each of us will run out of tomorrows."

Sunday, 8:45pm, 11/29/15

Hello Home teaching families, (this letter is brought to you by, VJ and Eric Yunker.)

I love all three of you families and my partner. I traveled up to Ogden Wednesday evening and back on Friday evening. The evenings are long these days, have you noticed that?

I was quite concerned about the roads a number of times and my prayers were a regular part of my travels! It is so nice to have a HF that likes to hear from us even when we are in need. Thank Heavens.

Silly sidelight: I bragged to my sister last month in a daily vmail, that I could recite all 7 verses of A POOR WAYFARING MAN OF GRIEF in 7 breaths. At her Thursday morning family devotional she asked if I would demonstrate at some point during my stay. After the devotional I said, let's get this over with. Why not now? When I am trying to say something perfectly I close my eyes so I can concentrate and not be distracted. I took and deep breath and did the first verse. Another and did the second and a third. I opened my eyes and said is that good enough? I was the focus of everyone's rapt attention. She has 3 children 16, 13, 9. Of course they wanted me to finish. I did. I flubbed up a couple of times but still had breath to fix it and go on. Success!

I had told them I could recite it but not sing it. I was tiring on the drive home. WE all try stuff to bring back the alertness when we feel the blankets of sleepiness descending when we are driving. I dove into a quick paced rendition of YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE. Then I asked myself, why not try my 7 verses at the SUNSHINE pace? It took some getting used to but I succeeded eventually. Then I did WAYFARING from beginning to end 2 more times. I was out of breath when I finished and very awake! So now I have a new skill. Want to hear? Just Kidding.

I listen to General Conference one year after another all the time. I am not a very trusting person but I trust the apostles. Today I was listening to President Monson the Conference right after Pres Hinkley had passed away. His voice was vibrant, young and alive still. The tone was the same as always. I detected no more urgency than before he was President, and the love and encouragement was pervasive in his sentences. His voice has aged like crazy since becoming prophet. After being in for 50 years I thought he would last forever but even he is declining. He doesn't cry much in his addresses. But he almost sings to us in his loving encouraging voice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I begin by mentioning one of the most inevitable aspects of our lives here upon the earth, and that is change. At one time or another we’ve all heard some form of the familiar adage: “Nothing is as constant as change.”

Throughout our lives, we must deal with change. Some changes are welcome; some are not. There are changes in our lives which are sudden, such as the unexpected passing of a loved one, an unforeseen illness, the loss of a possession we treasure. But most of the changes take place subtly and slowly.

This conference marks 45 years since I was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. As the junior member of the Twelve then, I looked up to 14 exceptional men, who were senior to me in the Twelve and the First Presidency. One by one, each of these men has returned home. When President Hinkley passed away eight months ago, I realized that I had become the senior Apostle. The changes over a period of 45 years that were incremental now seem monumental.

This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now.

I am what my wife, Frances, calls a “show-a-holic.” I thoroughly enjoy many musicals, and one of my favorites was written by the American composer Meredith Willson and is entitled The Music Man. Professor Harold Hill, one of the principal characters in the show, voices a caution that I share with you. Says he, “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.”

Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, “They do not love that do not show their love.” 3 We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us.

Send that note to the friend you’ve been neglecting; give your child a hug; give your parents a hug; say “I love you” more; always express your thanks. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. Friends move away, children grow up, loved ones pass on. It’s so easy to take others for granted, until that day when they’re gone from our lives and we are left with feelings of “what if” and “if only.” Said author Harriet Beecher Stowe, “The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This last year I wanted to add some permanence to my words of love and encouragement to others. I have done that by blogging. You can read all of my letters to Brandon Perry Smith on adventurebill1 Blogs can almost be like the book of life. And if you record your testimony and efforts of living life by giving and serving it might serve to inspire someone in the present or future.

Whether you save it in a blog or not, kind words spoken or written to others can bless their lives and yours /ours. Many used to do Christmas Cards this time of year. My family of origin used to tape them all up and the reaching out from others was almost tangible.

Reach out as best you can. Spread light and hope and faith and testimony if you can. If this inspires you to reach out to one person you might not have, then this message will have been rewarded.

AS you know I am unexpectedly retired. Reaching out has become the major service of my life. I was not planning on that being this month's message but it seems to be where TSM was pointing.

Hugh Nibley believed there were only two virtues HF sent us down on earth to prove. The ability to repent and the ability to forgive. Reaching out can help us do both of those.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. I was blessed above any expectations. Yep, I got to reach out!

God bless you wonderful saints,

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Vern Jensen & Eric Yunker 9:32pm

Lachish letters endorsing Bible, Hugh Nibley awesome!

bps, I am going to send you two post cards today since I am up to 8k words. The last letter I sent included the talk from Sterling W Sill but missing the last bit. I listened to that one last night and it made me smile and laugh at a couple of points. I love techniques for remembering things. His was quite unique, and in my opinion, daring! I always wanted to use the hand as a way to remember something for my students in science. I never did. So watching how Sterling W Sill did it fascinated me. I could list all the fingers right now and tell you what they stood for because I practiced as I listened last night. Only problem: The concepts were not important enough to ever be repeated by another General Authority. Back in the 80's I created a way to remember all the prophets in order. I also created a way to remember all the then current apostles as well. I can still remember them. But the one for the prophets has been much more useful. “Say Your Testimonies With Simple Spirits. God Saved Man. Salvation Links Kindred Brethren. Hallelujah,Hallelujah, Monson! Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F Smith, Heber J Grant, George Albert Smith, David O McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B Lee, Spencer W Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Howard W Hunter, Gordon B Hinkley, Thomas S Monson. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Monson! Are the words I have had to add since then. I was lucky to have 2 H's in a row! @ I taught my home teaching families those Mnemonic devices. One of their kids, Paul Dunn had a photographic memory. When we sorted out the Apostle cards I made and played “go fish” on the living-room coffee table, he would always win in record time. @ Which reminds me. . . I bought some peanut butter on sale for a $1 a couple of months ago. I dropped two in their own sacks and put in the letter I wrote to my families and finally dropped them off at Yunkers, Carters, and Bruce Randall's house on Saturday. It took me all week to get up the motivation to make those deliveries. Bonnie and Quin Carter came to church yesterday and they were all smiles. I asked if they preferred creamy or extra crunchy? They said crunchy, so I had taken them the right one. Then the nicest thing: Bonnie texted me in gratitude. It was so nice to hear from a home teachee! I have so missed having a home teachee that was open and responsive! @ Since I am sending you 2 postcards this time I can include some emails I sent to my “friendly connections” list. @ I have been so desirous to share things I am learning from Hugh Nibley with my children. I was so pleased to discover the movie they made of him on Youtube! I was able to send the address and encourage them to at least listen to the first 2 minutes. He was such a wonderful explorer and defender of the church and I believe a dedicated, testimony filled, righteous man. As you know my trust doesn't come easily. But I trust him at least up to 90% and even more. So here come 2 items: Sterling W Sill's ending 1, Hugh Nibley bible evidence 2 ~@~ However, the big finger cannot say to the little finger, “I have no need of thee.” The little finger may come at the end of the line-up, but that is the quarterback position, and you don’t need a great big man to be the quarterback, providing the other members of the team are fully qualified and effectively functioning. That is, the thumb knows his business backwards and forwards and upside down and standing on his head. The pointing finger has some powerful, well-developed convictions about it; the big finger WANTS to do it, in capital letters; the ring finger gets great satisfaction from doing it; and all the little finger has to do is to do it. He is the worker. He is the one who takes care of the mechanics of production. He is the one that handles the checkup and does the follow-through. He is the one Jesus came calling for when he pleaded for “doers of the word” and not just hearers and talkers only. @Someone has said, “My, oh my, what miracles we could accomplish if our hands moved as fast as our tongues.” He said, “After all is said and done, there is usually a lot more said than done.” . . . [three more paragraphs-to be continued] gby- bltpjs- vjNext time. @As I sit here on this platform each conference and raise up my hand to make my personal covenant with the Lord, it is stimulating to me to remember that the President of the Church sits directly behind me and God is over my head, and I would not like to have either of them feel that my hand was not clean or that any of my necessary phylacteries were missing. And if I had the gift of speech and the power to plant a conviction that I would like to have, I would say to the millions of people in the world who are earnestly seeking to be disciples of the Master to hold up their hands to God and make a solemn covenant with him to keep all of his commandments. @And I would remind everyone of that thrilling occasion when Moses was leading the children of Israel in their battle against the Amalekites. Moses took the rod of God in his hands and went to the top of a sacred mount, where he held up his hands to God over the battle; and as long as Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed. But when he let his hands down, the Amalekites prevailed. And as Moses’ arms became heavy with weariness, Aaron and Hur stood on either side of Moses and helped him to hold up his hands until the battle was won. (See Ex. 17:8–12.) @If we all hold up clean, honest, industrious hands to God, then his work will prevail. And then it will not be long before the prayer of the Master is fulfilled wherein he said to his Father, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:10.) And may God bless you, my brothers and sisters, that all of us together may effectively hold up our hands to God and that our covenants may be acceptable to him. For this I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

These next two I sent to "friendly connections" I somehow wanted to share them with my family but I didn't want to buy them all the book (6x15=$90). I was super excited to find 14 of the 19 books on line! So they can read them for free and I can get excerpts easily! [I tried over and over to remove the formatting. I repeated work, which I really dislike! So I am out of patience for separating the double words.]vj

http://publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1112&index=20

~@~Chapter 18 The Lachish Letters* The Lachish Letters are the best evidence so far discovered for the authenticity of Bible history. @friendly connections @Chapter 18 @The Lachish Letters @About twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem in Lehi’s day lay the powerfullyfortified city of Lachish, the strongest place in Judah outside of Jerusalemitself. Founded more than three thousand years before Christ, it was underEgyptian rule in the fourteenth century B.C. when the Khabiri (Hebrews) hadjust arrived. At that time, its king was charged with conspiring with thenewcomers against his Egyptian master. A later king of Lachish fought againstJoshua when the Israelites took the city about 1220 B.C. In a third phase,either David or Solomon fortified it strongly.The city’s strategic importance down through the years is reflected in theBabylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian, and biblical records. These describe a successionof intrigues, betrayals, sieges, and disasters that make the city’s storya woefully typical Palestinian “idyll.” Its fall in the days ofJeremiah is dramatically recounted in a number of letters found there in 1935and 1938. These original letters, actually written at Jeremiah’s time, turnedup in the ruins of a guardhouse that stood at the main gate of the city—twoletters a foot beneath the street paving in front of the guardhouse, and theother sixteen piled together below a stone bench set against the east wall.The wall had collapsed when a great bonfire was set against it from the outside.The bonfire was probably set by the soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar because theywanted to bring down the wall, which enclosed the gate to the city. Nebuchadnezzarhad to take the city because it was the strongest fortress in Israel and layastride the road to Egypt, controlling all of western Judah. Jeremiah tellsus that it and another fortified place, Azekah, were the last to fall to theinvaders (see Jeremiah 34:7). An ominous passage from Lachish Letter 4:12–13reports that the writer could no longer see the signalfires of Azekah—thatmeans that Lachish itself was the last to go, beginning with the guardhousein flames.The letters survived the heat because they were written on potsherds.They were written on potsherds because the usual papyrus was unobtainable.It was unobtainable because the supply from Egypt was cut off.The supply was cut off because of the war.The letters were in the guardhouse because they were being kept as evidencein the pending trial of a military commander whose name was Hoshacyahu.He was being court-martialled because he was suspected of treason.He was suspected of treason because someone had been reading top-secret dispatchessent from the court at Jerusalem to the commander at Lachish, whose name wasYa’ush.Hoshacyahu was a likely suspect because all the mail had to pass throughhis hands.It had to pass through his hands because he was in command of a fortifiedtown on the road between Jerusalem and Lachish, probably Qiryat Ye’arim. Hisduty, among other things, was to forward the king’s mail—not to readit.That the confidential letters had been read was apparent because somebodyhad tipped off a certain prophet that he was in danger.He was in danger because the king’s soldiers had been put on his trail.They were on his trail because he was fleeing to Egypt.He was fleeing because he was wanted by the police in Jerusalem.He was wanted by the police because he and other prophets were consideredby the king’s supporters to be subversives.They were considered subversives because they were opposing the official policyand undermining morale by their preaching. As Jeremiah puts it: “The princes[the important people] said unto the king: We beseech thee, let this man beput to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remainin this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them”(Jeremiah 38:4). As Lachish Letter 6:5–6 puts it: “The words of the[prophet] are not good [and are liable] to loosen the hands.” The Bookof Mormon adds another reinforcement: “In that same year there came manyprophets, prophesying unto the people they they must repent, or the great cityJerusalem must be destroyed” (1 Nephi 1:4)—distressing news indeed.The prophet who was tipped off to escape “was surely Uriah of Qiryat Ye’arim.”1The Lachish Letters are the best evidence so far discovered for the authenticity ~@~of Bible history. [. . . 

http://publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1112&index=22

~@~Class distinction, rich and poor, educated and un, wealth and poverty is the warning message. @friendly connections @vern jensen <phonev6@gmail.com> @Chapter 20 @The Prophetic Book of Mormon @There are many prophecies in the Book of Mormon, far more than the casualreader would suspect. Some have been fulfilled; some have yet to be. I wantto talk about one dominant prophetic theme, which is for us here and now themost important of them all. The editors of the Book of Mormon, Mormon andMoroni, give this theme top priority and bring it to our attention as a matterof life and death. The whole Book of Mormon from beginning to end gives itmaximum emphasis. As we all know, that strange and powerful book is a voicefrom the dust, a message from a departed people, a step-by-step account ofhow all their deeds and accomplishments came to be expunged from the memoryof man while other far older civilizations in the Old World have survivedto this day.At the center of ancient American studies today lies the overriding question,“Why did the major civilizations collapse so suddenly, so completely, andso mysteriously?” The answer now given by the overwhelming majority ofthose scholars as contained, for example, in T. P. Culbert’s valuable collectionof studies on the subject, is that society as a whole suffered a process of polarization into two separate and opposing ways of life, an increased distancebetween peasant and noble, as W. T. Sanders puts it, that went along with growinghostility between cities and nations as resource margins declined.1 The polarizing syndrome is a habit of thought and action that operates at all levels, fromfamily feuds like Lehi’s to the battle of galaxies. It is the pervasive polarization described in the Book of Mormon and sources from other cultures which I wishnow to discuss briefly, ever bearing in mind that the Book of Mormon accountis addressed to future generations, not to “harrow up their souls,”but to tell them how to get out of the type of dire impasse which it describes. Moroni is explicit: “And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, . . . that ye may repent, . . . that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hithertodone” (Ether2:11). And again Moroni says: “Give thanks unto God that he hath made manifestunto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been”(Mormon 9:31).What we are to avoid in particular is that polarizing process that begins onthe first page of the Book of Mormon and continues to the last. In the openingscene it is Egypt versus Babylon, West versus East, with Lehi’s people caughtin the middle; and the book ends with the climactic confrontation at Cumorah,with Moroni caught between two wicked and warring peoples in a battle of annihilation.The Book of Mormon is the story of the fearful passage that led from the onesituation to the other. Every Latter-day Saint knows that it is a tale of Nephitesversus Lamanites, conveniently classified as the Good Guys versus the Bad Guys.In a book called Since Cumorah, I pointed out that a line drawn between thetwo peoples does not automatically separate the righteous from the wicked atall.2 Far from it—the Lamanites were often the good guys and the Nephitesthe bad guys; and they had a way of shifting back and forth from one categoryto the other with disturbing frequency. In the end, as Mormon sadly observesin letters to his son, it is a toss-up as to which of the two is the worse.

[ . . .bps, those were the beginnings of two chapters that I would love to intrigue my children into reading! I may be weird but I have asked myself over and over again through the years, is the bible really true? Couldn't it have been written just to control the masses? But it is true!!! Even the Lachish letters confirm it! 600bc. Wonderful!! Potshards. Gby-bps-vj

LeGrand Richards, fibromyalgia, City Council election, BLM land grab, apostle Paul, 3 cylinders

~@ ~Sunday, 12:17 midnight, Hello bps, Life is good. I am blessed. You are wonderful and loved. I just got up from bed where I have been studying for the last hour. We had a good, loud half hour thunderstorm earlier tonight. Maybe you remember it. @ I studied Lesson 20 in the priesthood manual and Jacob 5 lesson in my BoM manual. Today we sang, 260: Whose on the Lord’s side? in priesthood. We did Acts Ch. 7 to the end in SS and Jesse Bird showed my all his typed pages for the lesson and shared that it was the first time he has ever finished one of his typed outlines of the lesson.  He brings pages all printed out of the questions and scriptures he wants to read etc.. One of the best prepared and intelligent SS teachers I have ever had as an adult. He even handled Hal Demke with aplomb today. Hal asked how he felt when he read Paul saluting Agrippa? as the King of the World or something. Jesse responded, clever! Paul was extremely bright and knew how to play his cards and told his personal story of conversion two different ways depending on his audience. He knew his audiences! That almost makes me want to go read those chapters and see what they were talking about.-v I asked Jesse in a letter last year if he had autistic tendencies. He never answered. But I see it in him regularly. But some would say he is off the charts, because he is so high functioning. He programs computers and writes code and can recite from memory verse after verse from the BoM that he has used to guide his life. His wife sits on the front row and he has the whole adult ward there in his lessons. They have 5 little kids including a pair of twins. Plus he and his brother Nathan Bird are my HT and never visit me. :( But let me tell you the insight and approval I felt before I came in to write you. I write all over my lesson manuals and scriptures. It keeps me awake and crystallizes my thoughts and questions. Doug Lefler HP teacher, said he can’t read a lesson from beginning to end, so he listens. They can be downloaded. As he listens he has thoughts just like HBE said at the end of lesson 20. Well it is the same for me but I can read a lesson from beginning to end because I talk back to the lesson! So instead of lecture it becomes a dialog for me! That was a sidetrack. @ Jesse may have told his wife that for the first time this year he finished his lesson notes, but I don’t think anyone else in the ward will ever find out. He isn’t open. He doesn’t share. So what does it say if he volunteered his response to me? Well #1 it means he appreciated my compliment telling him it was the clearest lesson on the end of Paul’s life I have ever heard. And #2 it means he knows me and trusts me and that we are distant friends at least to some degree!  That flatters me. That is so wonderful I can get out of bed in the middle of the night and come and write you and tell you about it. How is it I came to that conclusion here in the middle of the night? Because I am pondering. I am pondering and reading and learning and applying. You have heard me say before that I believe pondering includes reliving my experiences of the day. And it is more than just recalling and remembering them. It is feeling them. It is analyzing them and seeing how they match up to gospel principles like fellows-hipping, shepherding, accepting and loving and valuing others. @ Chris Bradley moved into Amber Allgood’s house 2 years ago.  I teased him about looking like David Bednar at first.  He and his wife ran the Saint George marathon 2 weeks ago. He is an accountant and she is our primary president. He told me that his wife beat him by 45 minutes! The furthest I have ever run was 9 miles and I was sore for a week after wards. Can you imagine running 26? Man, I would be so proud if I ever did that! Jim,bom-class member has run 50 marathons. What does that tell you about him? And he is faithful and well based in the scriptures. So how did I find out about Chris and Maria Bradley’s marathon’s results? He was giving me a piece of mail for Amber and I asked if he knew anyone who ran the marathon. I thought I overheard someone say something 3 weeks ago. Much of my ability to reach out comes from my years of reaching out to Jr. High students. But can you see how interesting the world gets when we start to reach out and visit and question and encourage and accept? The news and the tabloids and the sports and the movies will be meaningless in the next life. Our relationships here will expand for eternity. These are HF’s children and this is our playground/ daycare/ laboratory and we can help each other learn the things we were short on in the premortal existence. And it is so much more fun when we don’t have to work alone!@ Well I was blessed and I just had to share it with you. Thanks for listening again. 12:58am Tuesday, 10/20/15, 11:46am I sent you a yellow postcard/postcard sized paper yesterday. KJ said you had  finished volume 3 so I ordered you volume 4 of the Work and the Glory series. This one will be purple. In my opinion you have had some wonderful things to read this year!!!! lol @ Empty Nesters are parents only households. All the chicks have matured and fledged and flown. Weekly appointments I am good at but monthly ones are too far apart to remember! I went to our EN FHE last week and then again last night. It was really only last night but I forced myself to stay up and awake last week so I could go, ineffectively! BS went with me last night. He is generous and supplied KFChicken for potluck. It was gone by the end and Patricia Carter showed me the empty container. Good job BS! @ I have always functioned on just 3 cylinders, fitness, spirituality, work. And I have always been so stressed that I have little additional energy for anything else. Of course reading each night and eating each night were purely for pleasure. So that is my excuse for never caring about the news nor politics nor community service. Kent Perkins has been in for 39 years as our Leisure services director. Gil Almquist my stake president has been on city council for 8 years. Michele Randall, ward member is just finishing 2 years AS city council woman and has two more for this term of office. All 3 have addressed us at our EN-FHE in the last 8 months and Michele Randall was last night. This is the text messaged I sent to all our EQ last night.> >_EQ, City counsel-woman, Michele Randall, spoke at our empty-nesters' FHE tonight. @ She was too sick to eat anything but she presented well. I learned lots. @Julie Moss kept her company. 3 things I can act on: 1early voting has opened. Bryan thiriot and the incumbents (2) Jimmie Hughes and Bette Thiriot are good choices. 2The BLM LAND grab can be protested. We will lose 10% of our water supply and all camping n off roading privileges. 3 she gets at least 100 whining, often foul emails a day as a counsel-woman. The city carousel pays for itself and some, every year. She n Kent Perkins can't wait for the All Abilities Train park to be completed, although most expensive in outlay. [Kent calls the train a cash cow because one you get one it pays for itself in 5 years and after wards generates income.]@ Only 10% have opted out of mandatory recycling beginning January. @ Kent Perkins (39years leisure services director), spoke to us last spring and Gil Almquist city councilman, (and our stake president) spoke to us last month, but I missed that one. V @ bps, how is that for a text message? Does it motivate you to vote, and write, and feel grateful for local politics? Man, it did me! @ I had finished my dog walk and was rocking on my moist hammock at 10:30pm when I sent it out. When I learn worthwhile new things I try to act on them. The first day of early voting is today and I am wearing my I VOTED sticker! They average about a 20% turn out for elections. In the prilim election there was only a 1.5% turn out. We are counseled to VOTE. It sounds so easy. But what if you want your vote to count? Then the words GO VOTE take on a whole  truckload of portent! That means I would have to read all the malarkey from the sides trying to persuade me the way they want. Yuck. I hate malarkey. I hate advertisements of any kind at any time. I even have a hard time with the church commercials on the Mormon Channel between conference sessions, and you know what I think of General Conference.  I love LOVE having a mute button on my remote!!! But I have voted today, the first day early voting is open! YES! Thanks to FHE I knew who to vote for. I used to tell Kathyx that if she decided who we should vote for I would! So I am broken, running on 3 cylinders, but Michele Randall is hurting and in pain much of the time but one of her new cylinders includes city council.   I am so proud of her and grateful to her. Hubby, Tony Randall is on my EQ list so he got my summary text last night. Michele is gifted with gab. She expresses things clearly and intelligently. She has had fibromyalgia since 30 and she is my age. [Fibromyalgia (FM) is a medical condition characterised by chronic widespread pain and a heightened and painful response to pressure. Symptoms other than pain may occur, leading to the use of the term fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). Other symptoms include feeling tired to a degree that normal activities are affected, sleep disturbance, and joint stiffness. Some people also report difficulty with swallowing, bowel and bladder abnormalities, numbness and tingling, and cognitive dysfunction. Fibromyalgia is frequently associated with psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety, and with stress-related disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder. Not all people with fibromyalgia experience all associated symptoms.Its exact cause is unknown but is believed to involve psychological, genetic, neurobiological and environmental factors. There is evidence that environmental factors and certain genes increase the risk of developing fibromyalgia; these same genes are also associated with other functional somatic syndromes and major depressive disorder.The central symptom of fibromyalgia, namely widespread pain, appears to stem from neurochemical imbalances and the activation of inflammatory pathways in the brain which results in abnormalities in pain-processing.The brains of people with fibromyalgia show functional and structural differences from those of people without fibromyalgia, but it is unclear whether the brain anomalies cause fibromyalgia symptoms, or are the product of an unknown underlying common cause. Some research suggests that these brain anomalies may be the result of childhood stress, or prolonged or severe stress] Our host Kent Carter asked her to explain how she got involved in city politics. M n T Randall owned our ambulance service in Saint George and spent $400K fighting to keep Gold Star Ambulance from taking over. But that was their max. They threw in the towel and told their attorneys, we’re done. ~3 years ago I asked how the fight was going and she responded, Vern, you wouldn’t believe the graft and  corruption in our local government! Crud. . . even in Saint George? v- I now realize that greed seeks power so who else wants to run for office!? @ Tony Randall was part of a trucking family but now he works for a mortuary. He has had a couple of heart attacks and bypasses and weighs more than I do. He works in our Ward Library with Eric Yunker. OK this next part may be boring but I am really sensitive so I want to record some of the feelings I had about the conversations last night. @ Doug Lefler n spouse were there and any time we mentioned cars or mechanics he was an expert witness. He taught lesson 20 in HP group Sunday. Someone expressed how they love the lack of bars and pubs and saloons on every corner in Saint George and not even knowing where any are! Very different Patricia Carter said, from SLC! Doug was able to fill us in on where the worst 2 in town can be found. He admitted to hanging around with the riff raff in his mechanics shop. I teased him about where he was? and he did not take the bait. He is the guy I gave a new white shirt to last month. And he has worn it each week since conference! You would not believe how happy that makes me inside! @ 12:40pm @ Thursday, 10/22,2:31pm. Here comes my all-time favorite talk #9 ~@~ OCTOBER 1971 LAYING A FOUNDATION FOR THE MILLENNIUM @LeGrand Richards @I am very grateful to my Father in heaven for the privilege of attending another general conference of the Church with all you faithful Latter-day Saints here present this afternoon. @The Savior said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4.) I am sure that those of us who have been privileged to attend the last three sessions of this conference have felt a realization that we have truly been fed the bread of life eternal. We have had some wonderful counsel and inspiration given to us by the servants of the Lord. @Bread will keep the body alive, but it takes more than that to keep the spirit alive. The music has been wonderful, and I would like to compliment these singers from Ricks College. I was there just a few weeks ago at their devotional, and we can’t help but thank the Lord for all the institutions of his church and what these institutions and educational opportunities are doing for our young people. @Today I thought I would like to say a few words about the kind of a foundation we have for our faith, and what we live for, and what our aims and our ambitions really are. I think of the time the beautiful temple here on this block was erected, over a hundred years ago. When the foundation was being laid, we are told that it was sixteen feet wide, and at one time President Brigham Young came and saw the workmen throwing in chipped granite. He made them take it out and put in those great granite blocks with this explanation: “We are building this temple to stand through the millennium.” Isn’t that a good thought? Each one of us ought to want to build our lives and help our families to build their lives so that we can stand through the millennium. @As we listened to Brother Romney in this morning’s session, outlining the promises of the prophets and the Savior himself regarding his coming, who is there among us who wouldn’t want to be walking in a way that would assure us that, when the trump of God shall sound and the dead shall come forth, we,

with our loved ones, can be numbered among them and share in his presence. @I think of the words of the apostle John, who was banished upon the Isle of Patmos and was shown by an angel everything from the war in heaven, when Satan was cast out, to the final winding-up scene. He saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works—not just their faith, not just what they say with their mouths, but by their works. And death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to his works. (See Rev. 20:12–14.) @“… and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. … Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” (Rev. 20:4–6.) @Who is there whose testimony has ever been touched by the divine Spirit who would be satisfied to remain a thousand years when the trump of God should sound and they might have prepared themselves? And if it takes a sixteen-foot foundation to hold that temple for the millennium, then it takes a lot of obedience on our part to prepare ourselves for that glorious event. @The Savior said, “… strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt. 7:14.) And so we want to be sure that we are on that straight and narrow way which leadeth to life. He said on another occasion: @“… whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: @“And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. @“And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: @“And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” (Matt. 7:24–27.) @The kind of foundation upon which we build our lives is just as important for our eternal happiness as is the kind of a foundation upon which they built that holy temple that it might stand through the millennium. @A few years ago while I was president of the Southern States Mission, I delivered a sermon one night in Quitman, Georgia, on the eternal duration of the marriage covenant and the family unit. I read from Brother Rulon S. Howells’ book Do Men Believe What Their Church Prescribes? (Deseret Book Co., 1932.) He has a chart there where he lists all the major churches and then their statement and attitude toward the major doctrinal principles, including this one about the eternal duration of the marriage covenant, and not one believes this. @I just cannot understand how they could read the Bible and yet not believe, and how marriages could be performed in the churches all over the world until death do you part. What a flimsy concept! Why don’t they go back to the time when God had finished the creation of this earth, and looked upon it and found it good, and placed Adam here, at which time he said: “It is not good that the man should be alone. …” (Gen. 2:18.) He made a helpmeet for him, saying, “… and they shall be one flesh.” (Gen. 2:24.) Now what God joins together and makes one flesh, you couldn’t separate without having two halves instead of two wholes. Jesus repeated that statement when he said: @“For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? @“… what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Matt. 19:5–6.) @At the close of that meeting, I stood at the door to shake hands with the people as they left, and a man came up and introduced himself to me as a Baptist minister. I said, “Did I misquote you here tonight?” “No, Mr. Richards,” he said; “it is just like you say. We don’t all believe all the things that our churches teach.” And I said, “And you don’t believe them either. Why don’t you go back and teach your people the truth? They will take it from you and they are not ready to take it from the Mormon elders yet.” He said, “I’ll see you again,” and that is all I could get from him that night. @The next time I went to that branch to hold a conference, about four months later, my coming was announced in the newspaper because I was the mission president. As I walked up to that little church, there stood that Baptist minister waiting for me. As we shook hands I said, “I would certainly be interested to know what you thought of my last sermon here.” He said, “Mr. Richards, I have been thinking about it ever since. I believe every word you said.” Then he said, “But I would like to hear the rest of it.” How could any man who has a true love for his wife and his children not want to believe that principle? @I like the little verse written by Anderson M. Baten, “To His Wife Beulah,” in which he said: @“I wed thee forever, not for now, @Not for the sham of earth’s brief years, @I wed thee for the life beyond the tears, Beyond the heart pain and clouded brow. @Love knows no grave and it shall guide us dear @When life’s spent candles flutter and burn low.” @There are people like that who believe that marriage ought to be eternal, but there is no other church in all this world, outside of our church, as far as I know, that believes in the eternal duration of the marriage covenant. @Just think what a difference it makes in our lives when we know that we are to live on and on forever and forever! I would just as soon believe that death is a complete annihilation of both body and spirit as to think that when death came it would separate me from my wife and from my children and that we would not know each other. I tell you, there wouldn’t be very much to look forward to. How could you want to live on and on forever without a continuation of the love ties that bind you together here? @We see cases of kidnapping, when children are taken away. I remember years ago, I think it was in 1932, when Colonel Lindbergh’s little boy was kidnapped and a note was left asking for $50,000. He would gladly have paid what they asked if he could have gotten his boy back again. And yet here we come along with the knowledge of life eternal. Brother Marion G. Romney quoted this morning the revelation of the Lord where he said that in the resurrection children would come forth and grow up without sin unto salvation. (See D&C 45:58.) @There are those of us who have laid away our little ones in the grave, and we had that responsibility. A little daughter was born to us over in Holland while I was president of the mission there, and we kept her until she was three and a half years old. My wife has said time and time again that she knew the angels brought that spirit to her because she felt their presence, and yet we laid her away in the grave. If we had to feel that that was the end, we would have given anything in this world to have her back again. And then we come to this great knowledge that we have in the restoration of the gospel, that she will be ours in the eternal world and we will have the joy of seeing her grow up without sin, unto salvation. Sometimes I have thought that probably some of these choice spirits did not need the experience here in mortality like other children, and that is why the Lord has seen fit to call them home. @We had four daughters before we had a son. We were sent to California to preside over a stake down there, and our boy went out with a member of the high council and his boys, and he lost his life in an accident. That is the greatest sorrow that ever came to us, but now we are getting up on the top of the ladder, so to speak, and we look forward, knowing that these love ties are intended by God, our Eternal Father, to endure throughout the eternities. It takes the sting away from death to know that we are going to meet those who are so dear and sacred to us. Thank God for this knowledge! I want to see our foundation here so laid that we will be worthy to stand with our loved ones and with the sanctified and the redeemed of our Father’s children. @Brothers and sisters, we are a blessed people. We are blessed in the privilege of living upon the earth when the gospel has been restored and having a knowledge of its truth. We are blessed to have a foundation upon which to build our faith, which makes every day a happy day as we associate with our loved ones. No wonder President McKay so often said that no success in life can

compensate for failure in the home. And the nearer men and women live unto God in keeping his commandments, the greater is the love in the home and the greater appreciation of the knowledge that that love can continue throughout the eternities that are to come. @While I was president of the Southern States Mission, a schoolteacher loaned a book to one of our Mormon children; and when the book came back, in it was an Articles of Faith card, and that schoolteacher read it. She went to her minister and said, “Why can’t our church have something like this?” The minister could not give her any satisfactory explanation, and so she wrote a letter to the Bureau of Information here in Salt Lake City. They sent her literature, they sent us her name, the missionaries called on her, and she joined the Church. @Then I think, as I read those Articles of Faith written by the Prophet Joseph Smith (and there are many other important doctrines that he didn’t list), how could anybody read those articles and then not believe that we have the truth? No other church in the world has such a foundation to build upon. In closing, I would like to recite some of them: @“We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.” [A of F 1:1] Two separate, distinct personages, the Prophet Joseph taught, with bodies of flesh and bone, and the Holy Ghost a personage of spirit. @“We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.” [A of F 1:2] There are not very many churches that believe this. @“We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.” [A of F 1:3] Most of the preaching today is that all you have to do is to confess him as your Savior, but our statement is that we have to do what he says. @“We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.” [A of F 1:4] I don’t believe there is any other church in the world built upon that foundation, and yet if we turn to the sixth chapter of Hebrews, Paul says: @“… leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God. @“Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.” (Heb. 6:1–2.) @That is exactly the same as we have it in our Articles of Faith. @“We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands, by those who are in authority to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.” [A of F 1:5] No other church believes that; they think they have authority by reading their Bibles. @“We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church,

viz., apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc.” [A of F 1:6] Paul tells us that his church is built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, with Christ himself being the chief cornerstone; and no other church has such a foundation. @“We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healings, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.” [A of F 1:7] @“We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.” [A of F 1:8] And no man can believe the Bible without knowing that there is another volume of scripture that God has promised to bring forth and put with it and make them one in his hands. @“We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.” [A of F 1:9] In other words, we believe in continuous revelation and that Christ’s true church is directed by revelation today. @And then, “We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion will be built upon this [the American] continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.” [A of F 1:10] We know these things, and Isaiah tells us that when that day shall come there shall be a new heaven and a new earth in which the lamb and the lion shall lie down together, and we shall build houses and inhabit them, and we shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof. We shall not build that another shall inhabit, but every man shall enjoy the works of his own hands, and they are the blessed of the Lord and their offspring with them. (See Isa. 65:17–23.) @No wonder we ought to want to lay a foundation comparable to that foundation upon which the holy temple stands, so we can be sure that we will stand with our loved ones through the millennium. May God help each one of us and our families so to do, I pray, and leave you my blessing, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.~@~bps, LeGrande is famous for being the longest winded and most enthusiastic of the apostles. And it lasted until he died. He went blind and so he spoke from his memory and heart. He was almost a cartoon character to us saints and everyone smiles who knew him when they hear his name. Even Brad Newby! (old SS teacher) The next post card I send will be shokcing to you. It will include a story about Shae Langston's girlfriend. Gby, bltperryjsmilth-vj

Apologize, Ronald A. Rasband

Friday, 9:23pm,10/2/15, Good evening Brandon.Experiments, experiments. Always experimenting. We have a Chic-fil-A here in town. Someone left some  single servings of their buffalo sauce in the FHC fridge. I brought one home to see how it tasted. Since I never go out to eat, I have never had buffalo wings or anything like them. Guess what the 2nd ingredient is after peppers? I wrote the answer between the double ??’s a few~30 rows down.  I had to let you have a thoughtful guess. No just tell me the answer without guessing here! Anyway, I wasn’t impressed. I bought a case of WF macaroni n chz for 28 cents a box. I cooked one up last night and found it bland. I told BS about it and he said add salt, then he said add MSG. When he looked at buying a case with me on Monday evening he said, it is probably full of salt. 500mg. Then he bought a case like me. So he isn’t supposed to add salt and I am allergic to msg. funny bunny. @ I give people nicknames at the FHC and I often tell them what their nick names are. I met Elder big, yesterday and today. I met Elder English today. Elder big loved his new nickname. He is a young new missionary who has a brother 3 years older who is serving at the st. george temple. I suspect they are handicapped but I couldn’t see it in EB yet. Elder English watched me type like crazy for an hour and then prepare to leave. He  complimented my typing and I offered to explain it. As it turns out he taught HS English for 15 years and then went into administration for the money and missed the kids. I showed him one of your post cards to me this year and explained they switched to pcards at the Jail in December. When I showed him your writing on the other side he gaffawed. Can you read that he asked? Of course I had to tell him I can fit 600 handwritten words on a post card like your writing and 400 more if I make little blocks and fill in the front too. He was duely impressed. I told him of some of my experiments and not wanting to hand-write a whole conference talk on post cards and that I can now fit 4K words on a post card. He was fit to be tied! He was amazed and loved it. I always print off two postcard copies. The first one on FHC flimsy paper to be sure it is going to turn out and the second on heavier weight paper I provide. As you know I would use card-stock but it doesn’t print as clearly on that thickness. I gave him the first run copy from today incase he wants to tell his wife the story. He guaranteed me that he did!and valued the visual aide. Then he couldn’t help but ask about the little blue circles and references on the one I had just stamped to you. That was when I showed him my big original with all the colors and circles which he thought was wild, and explained how we were comparing Isaiah 29 with 2N27. I told him how much fun I had had doing it and of course he said: maybe for you it is fun but for me it looks tedious. That was when I told him I was an ol’ science teacher and he told me he was an ol’ English teacher. Sister Clark Sullivan asked me earlier this week, so that was the second time this week I got to explain about my correspondence. @ How clear is your conscience today? I have learned some weird things about mine these last 2 weeks. Mark says that most people can fend off offenses and not take them serious in a healthy way. As a sibling in my home of origin we became tough. We could take them and we could dish them out. But what I didn’t realize was that when my world got too stressful, too mean and hurtful I would become disociated and work like a puppeteer from a distance, pulling the strings and controlling my body and going through the motions remotely. ??vinegar?? In a SF book I finished this week there were 3 alien races and one of them had mind-reading/ telepathy skills. The first human woman spacer to have that latent ability was captured and tortured for 6 months and survived just before the story opened. Little did she know 1- she had been infected with some  time delayed diseases to wipe out the human race and 2- she had survived the mind invasion and physical torture by receding into herself deep enough the torture monster couldn’t reach her. I suspect many of us have had to have a place like that to survive some things in our lives. Perhaps you have that too. I know my sisters believe there were times when they left their tortured bodies as children and saw them from the outside. I haven’t had that as far as I can remember. @ But I discovered a defensiveness inside of me this week that kept me from having to accept blame. Later, as I tried to work it out I decided apologizing would be the fastest way to healing the situation. I did and it did. One nice thing about cell phones and texting is that you can write a text/ apology and deliver it immediately. Without facing the person, face to face. It really worked out well for me this time. @ Janice bom-teacher#1 delivered a copy of MRBalard’s Region Conference address at the end of class last night. I did her the service of excerpting the portion of a post card to you that included all I had about it last week. At work she knew someone who had a SLC connection where it was stored and so she made us both a copy. Look at the benefits of trying to help her out. I got a nice fresh clean original, although I really never wanted one. lol I will have to read it and see if maybe it isn’t more valuable than I remembered. @ As you remember I have been attending HP’s group. Sam Hales came up to me last week and said, Nice to have you here elder! and shook my hand. We like each other. @ BKP and DAB gave two of the most wonderful addresses in the last session of Oct’06 GC. I am going to send you 10 quotes from those 2 talks and see if you don’t sit back in amazement at the truths they reveal/ endorse/ share. 

BKP:1-If a well-worn yellow bandana was good enough to be an ensign to the world, then ordinary men who hold the priesthood and ordinary women and ordinary children in ordinary families, living the gospel as best they can all over the world, can shine forth as a standard, a defense, a refuge against whatever is to be poured out upon the earth

2-If we are doing the best we can, we should not become discouraged. When we fall short, as we do, or stumble, which we might, there is always the remedy of repentance and forgiveness.

3-Those faithful Brethren were not free, and we are not free, to alter the standards or to ignore them. We must live by them.It is not a cure or a comfort to simply say they do not matter. We all know they do matter, for all mankind is“instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil” (2Nephi 2:5). 

4-They understood that the stakes were to be a defense and a refuge, but at that time there was not one stake on the earth. They knew their mission was to establish stakes of Zion in every nation of the earth

.5- Now the stakes of Zion number in the thousands and are all over the world. The members number in the millions and growing. Neither of these can be held back,for this is the work of the Lord. Now members live in 160 nations and speak over 200 languages.Some live with an unspoken fear of what awaits us and the Church in the world. It grows ever darker in morality and spirituality. If we will gather into the Church, live the simple principles of the gospel, live moral lives,keep the Word of Wisdom, tend to our priesthood and other duties, then we need not live in fear. The Word of Wisdom is a key to both physical health and revelation.Avoid tea, coffee, liquor, tobacco, and narcotics. 

6-There has been no end to opposition. There are misinterpretations and misrepresentations of us and of our history, some of it mean-spirited and certainly contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ and His gospel.Sometimes clergy, even ministerial organizations,oppose us. They do what we would never do. We do not attack or criticize or oppose others as they do us.

7-We face the challenge of raising families in the world in darkening clouds of wickedness. Some of our members are unsettled, and sometimes they wonder: Is there anyplace one can go to escape from it all? Is there another town or a state or a country where it is safe, where one can find refuge? The answer generally is no. The defense and the refuge is where our members now live.

8-a 70 Oaks:reminded us of an accord signed by 10 nations on board the battleship Missouri inTokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, which ended WorldWar II. Some of us were in Asia at the time. Said Elder(General) Oaks: “I can’t even imagine a circumstance today in which such a meeting could be held or such an accord could be signed to end the war against terrorism and wickedness in which we are engaged. It is not that kind of war.”

9-_DAB-When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed,believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.

10-And Nothing Shall Offend Them

David A. Bednar, October 2006 General Conference

"“Let me make sure I understand what has happened to you. Because someone at church offended you, you have not been blessed by the ordinance of the sacrament. You have withdrawn yourself from the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Because someone at church offended you, you have cut yourself off from priesthood ordinances and the holy temple. You have discontinued your opportunity to serve others and to learn and grow. And you are leaving barriers that will impede the spiritual progress of your children, your children’s children, and the generations that will follow.” Many times people would think for a moment and then respond: “I have never thought about it that way.”@ 

So what about my marriage? I just passed the 3rd year anniversary of my being divorced. I love relationships. You can probably tell that by my letters to you, YOU, IMPORTANT YOU! As if you could ever believe it. :) As you know I couldn’t help sending you Rachel n Leah, and now I am listening to Sarah. You are single so you probably can really relate to the loneliness. I think I just finished listening to chapter 13 and Kira, Lot’s wife has driven him crazy. She has had 5 daughters and they have lived in Sodom for all those births. She didn’t want any more children so she restricted Lot from her bed. Kira and Sarah are princesses of a kingdom called southern Ur. North Ur supports their dad as King but he has lost his city to desert thieves. Kira is spoiled and to use a phrase out of the book, she shakes off insults on all those around her like a dog shakes off water after a swim. Abram spent a year in Egypt and the Pharoah was so shocked at his patience and candor that he sends him away with flocks and herds galore. Abram returns to his land and divides the animals with Lot. Lot is so excited to leave Sodom where just the presence of a just man makes all the other men despise him, that he joins Abram in the tents and fields and they enjoy each other’s company. Even Sarah can’t stand the meanness and problems Kira causes when she leaves Sodom long after Lot and his 5 daughters and joins the sheepherders. (Shepherds) So everyone hates and can’t stand Kira. But her conniving ways promote anger and jealousy among the shepherds. Lot and Abram decide to split. Abram tells Sarah that Lot could just visit his home for a few days every month so his daughters have his support. Sarah tells Abram that Kira rips him apart if he is there or even if he is not. His daughters will be able to tell the difference says Abram. And that is where I begin to wonder? Can my children understand the difference between Kathyx who sued for divorce and Vern who never gave up trying to make the relationship work. Can they see the difference between Kathyx who was jealous of all the neighbors cars, yards, houses, incomes and Vern who was satisfied and grateful? And the worst new is. . . they have to learn how to get along with each of us. Whether we make sense to them or NOT! : ) gby-bltps-vj

Sunday, 10/4/15, ~6pm. I think I stayed awake and have listened to all 5 sessions of conference. One nice thing about it: I usually feel guilty if I don't get much done and just listen to conference sessions for a couple of days. So I tell myself, you were feeling sick and needed to recuperate, it is OK if all you did was listen to conference those 2 days.  But I don't have to make excuses on General Conference weekend! I still haven't walked the dog in a couple of days. I need to get her out and me! @ So did you commit to anything in conference? HBE did a fantastic job reminding us that we have felt the HG during conference and whatever he brought to our minds we should do. Someone else did a super job on that one Saturday as well. As Uchtdorf was talking today about desire, the first step is just to want to, I got an interesting idea. Sometimes I have a hard time believing all this is true.  I have been really impressed with my postcards to you the last couple of months because my faith and testimony have felt so strong. I mentioned that to you at our/ my visit. Well this is my idea: Just like I would love to have a crystal ball that worked or a seer stone, there are gospel miracles and teachings and stories that I wish with all my heart were true. So I thought I would make a list of things about the gospel that I would love to be true. I haven't begun it yet so at this point I am just hoping I will, but wouldn't it be fun to be able to look in your journal when you get to heaven and say, These are the things I wished for and really wanted to be true! For example: There is a young Mormon sitting in front of shelves of papyri and plates writing the BoM in an Arnold Friberg picture. Oh, how awesome it would be to me if that were true. I desire that to be true! Example #2 I would love to see JS looking in a hat with his seerstone in it reciting to Oliver Cowdery the sentences of the BoM without punctuation and not reading anything back after a break to be sure of where he left off. Now admittedly, neither of those is essential for my salvation, never the less. . . @ So I feasted and feasted during conference. I used to go work in the yard and blast GC out of the house so I could hear on Saturday. Not this year. I listened to every session just relaxing, laying back on my recliner. Usually I write in my journal during my 3 hour block of meetings on Sunday. I didn't even open my journal until the last 45 minutes of conference. @ I was a little bit indignant that a 70 would dare to create a new word and then teach us to do it. Ponderizing! But the longer I listened the more I liked it. In fact 3/4ths the way through I started clapping in excitement until my hands hurt! I was alone. @ My first scripture is Luke 4:18,19,and a portion of 21 and 23. What does the scripture say that JC quoted from Isaiah to announce his ministry? Woah, it is beautiful bps. It is sweet and gentle and loving. 19 says, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. I hunted 4 or 5 places to find out what that might mean. And now I like it even more. I want to tease you: lds.org is so cool! Bishop Salmon told me at scout camp last year it is the only website he visited, and encouraged me to do the same. I'm not quite there yet. @ When I read J Ruben Clark Jr's, our lord of the gospels I discovered that Jesus taught a full year before he chose his apostles. He began on the first passover and didn't choose them till after the second passover. After going up to the pulpit and reading the above scripture to his townsmen he reads their minds and anticipates their question: 23. Ye will surely say unto me. . .whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. @He already had lots of preaching and miracles behind him. He was late proclaiming his ministry in Nazareth, and with reason. They got ticked and tried to kill him! @New topic. Weirdness #1 I picked 22 long nice dandelion leaves and soaked them for lunch today. I hoped to improve my vegetable vitamins. I ate them a couple of hours later with ham, cheese, and a yellow hot pepper. Weirdness #2 I have one molar implant. It came out the week before last when I was chewing a sticky hard cinnamon drop. I still haven't gone in to get it reattached. @ One of the new apostles is someone I fell in like with 5-8 years ago: Ronald A Rasband. At 11pm last night I sent out a 5 page text to 30-40 family and friends, owning him! This is the story I told but 160 characters is a text page so I really super condensed it. I looked up the real story afterwards because I wanted to see if I got it right! ~@~  .

The Divine Call of a Missionary

Ronald A. Rasband, April 2010 General Conference

"Missionary work is a subject very close to my heart, as it is to every member of the eight Quorums of the Seventy, whom the Lord has appointed to go “before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.” 1Luke 10:1 Missionary work is the lifeblood of the Church and the lifesaving blessing to all who accept its message." @As Sister Rasband and I had the privilege of presiding over the New York New York North Mission several years ago, I marveled as the missionaries arrived in New York City. @ As I interviewed them on their first day in the mission, I had a profound sense of gratitude for each missionary. I felt that their call to our mission was divinely designed for them and for me as their mission president. @After finishing our mission assignment, I was called by President Gordon B. Hinckley to serve as a Seventy in the Church. Part of my early training as a new General Authority included an opportunity to sit with members of the Twelve as they assigned missionaries to serve in one of the 300-plus missions of this great Church. @With the encouragement and permission of President Henry B. Eyring, I would like to relate to you an experience, very special to me, which I had with him several years ago when he was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. Each Apostle holds the keys of the kingdom and exercises them at the direction and assignment of the President of the Church. Elder Eyring was assigning missionaries to their fields of labor, and as part of my training, I was invited to observe.

I joined Elder Eyring early one morning in a room where several large computer screens had been prepared for the session. There was also a staff member from the Missionary Department who had been assigned to assist us that day. @First, we knelt together in prayer. I remember Elder Eyring using very sincere words, asking the Lord to bless him to know “perfectly” where the missionaries should be assigned. The word “perfectly” said much about the faith that Elder Eyring exhibited that day. @As the process began, a picture of the missionary to be assigned would come up on one of the computer screens. As each picture appeared, to me it was as if the missionary were in the room with us. Elder Eyring would then greet the missionary with his kind and endearing voice: “Good morning, Elder Reier or Sister Yang. How are you today?” @He told me that in his own mind he liked to think of where the missionaries would conclude their mission. This would aid him to know where they were to be assigned. Elder Eyring would then study the comments from the bishops and stake presidents, medical notes, and other issues relating to each missionary. @He then referred to another screen which displayed areas and missions across the world. Finally, as he was prompted by the Spirit, he would assign the missionary to his or her field of labor. @From others of the Twelve, I have learned that this general method is typical each week as Apostles of the Lord assign scores of missionaries to serve throughout the world. @Having served as a missionary in my own country in the Eastern States Mission a number of years ago, I was deeply moved by this experience. Also, having served as a mission president, I was grateful for a further witness in my heart that the missionaries I had received in New York City were sent to me by revelation. @After assigning a few missionaries, Elder Eyring turned to me as he pondered one particular missionary and said, “So, Brother Rasband, where do you think this missionary should go?” I was startled! I quietly suggested to Elder Eyring that I did not know and that I did not know I could know! He looked at me directly and simply said, “Brother Rasband, pay closer attention and you too can know!” With that, I pulled my chair a little closer to Elder Eyring and the computer screen, and I did pay much closer attention! @A couple of other times as the process moved along, Elder Eyring would turn to me and say, “Well, Brother Rasband, where do you feel this missionary should go?” I would name a particular mission, and Elder Eyring would look at me thoughtfully and say, “No, that’s not it!” He would then continue to assign the missionaries where he had felt prompted. @As we were nearing the completion of that assignment meeting, a picture of a certain missionary appeared on the screen. I had the strongest prompting, the strongest of the morning, that the missionary we had before us was to be assigned to Japan. I did not know that Elder Eyring was going to ask me on this one, but amazingly he did. I rather tentatively and humbly said to him, “Japan?” Elder Eyring responded immediately, “Yes, let’s go there.” And up on the computer screen the missions of Japan appeared. I instantly knew that the missionary was to go to the Japan Sapporo Mission. @Elder Eyring did not ask me the exact name of the mission, but he did assign that missionary to the Japan Sapporo Mission. @Privately in my heart I was deeply touched and sincerely grateful to the Lord for allowing me to experience the prompting to know where that missionary should go. @At the end of the meeting Elder Eyring bore his witness to me of the love of the Savior, which He has for each missionary assigned to go out into the world and preach the restored gospel. He said that it is by the great love of the Savior that His servants know where these wonderful young men and women, senior missionaries, and senior couple missionaries are to serve. I had a further witness that morning that every missionary called in this Church, and assigned or reassigned to a particular mission, is called by revelation from the Lord God Almighty through one of these, His servants. @~@ Wasn't that totally awesome Brandon? If you need more time to process it and see what you feel and think, take it now. Don't read on because I am going to blab about what it meant to me. @ Halt, Stop, go back! Do not proceed. Single lane, one-way traffic! @ Was that a good enough warning? Blab: 1- I figured it was way too  sacred for the first presidency to share how missionaries were assigned. I served in Guatemala and have always wondered how that assignment was made. 2- Rasband is humble. He has no clue about how HBE is doing it! It is like Elder Eyring is magic as far as Rasband can tell. 3- HBE is gentle and inviting. He includes RAR. He lets RAR try over and over again with recuperation times in between and takes advantage of the opportunity to teach RAR.  Eyring could have just hauled along and done it all himself. 4- The power is real. These are good wholesome, pure apostle and future apostle and they can tap into the power of the HG and therefore the mind and will of God to make assignments to individual servants going into the mission field. 5- It can be learned. And when both of you are feeling the same thing it is a witness to your soul that it is the right spirit, the Holy Spirit you are tapping into. 6- That paper signed by the prophet that comes to the missionary is a revelation from God, through a member of the 12 to you! I keep mine with my patriarchal blessing. 7- God can do his own work. I think it was Elder DAB that bore witness that he has watched the Holy Ghost reveal things to the twelve that allowed them to manage HF Kingdom on this earth beyond a man's ability. Dear Elder Bednar, his closing address gave tribute to each of the 6 apostles who have passed since he became an apostle. He was so unintentionally funny when he said he has been waiting 10 years for there to be an apostle younger than he is! 8-With the encouragement and permission of President Henry B. Eyring, I would like to relate to you an experience, very special to me, RAR got permission and even encouragement to share this story. I first heard it in our Regional Conference & I was flabbergasted. 9- Evidence of the love of the Savior, which He has for each missionary assigned to go out into the world and preach the restored gospel. I cannot fathom how HF can know each one of us and what he wants us to become. I cannot fathom that there are no such things as coincidences. I am still stuck in my old science teaching mode of probabilities and possibilities. I just can't fathom a divine personal plan for me, individually. Now I will admit that I believe he has guided my life up to now. 6 decades of guidance and care. But that he can/  does understand my everyday, and every effort blows my mind. @ I will just sit back and keep talking to him like a friend and hope and trust, even if I can't believe.  This is one of those desire examples. @ I notice when I get thrills/ chills, tears, and confirmations during GC. But I was shocked when I googled Henry B Eyring after conference and saw my picture on the bottom entry! What in the world was I doing there! Last Jan 14, 2015 I used his name in the title of my blog. I had not put a B. but just a B for his middle initial. I was shocked and proud! I went and read the blog and it was a good one with a bunch of his best quotes all color coded from his talk. I am hoping that the testimony I bear and the truths  I share will be of value to others in the future. @ So many people are so shy or too untrusting to post anything. If this helps spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in any way I will be so pleased! 8:04pm