Kyle.adams@myldsmail.net
Hello
Elder Adams, Dear Brother Kyle,
This is
Vern Jensen, a retired Jr. High Science teacher and our ward chorister. I am
only 59 but my principal Barbara Garrett wanted me out of teaching. Times have
changed and I was giving her too much grief.
Watch out for mad scientists!
I served
a mission in Guatemala and was so proud to go to such a cool sounding country.
Peru is awesome too. I have written you once before and told you how when your
dad was teaching our EQ he asked Pete Neilsen what Peru was like for his son
and Pete said, fine.
Not very
helpful in giving information was he?
Perhaps he thought our lesson time should be used more efficiently than
talking about son’s country missions.
I have
been bugging your parents for your address for a month or two. Two weeks ago
when Mary, mom, came into the ward library where I was substituting I asked her
to write it down since your dad hadn’t remembered. She said, I don’t know it. I just press a button.
Makes
sense to me.
It is
Monday night and Sunday night I sent another email to your dad to remind him.
Ta Daaaaa. Here it is.
I love
missions and missionaries. Is there a more noble cause in the world? I tried to
live true to my HF on my mission and I knew how my family needed his blessings.
So that was part of my prayers. HF, if possible, please bless my family for any
worthy work I perform here.
I really
did not deserve it but I got to help 2 new missionaries start and served as a
zone leader and then one of two assistants to the president when he changed to
the next one. Arnold -> O’Donnal were the two presidents I served under. How
I loved President Arnold. I only worked with President O’Donnal for 3 months
and he was just settling in as the new president. He gave me a gold and green
pen/mechanical pencil set as a going home present. I don’t know if I would be
remembered by him or not. But it was such a privilege to serve and help. I was
blessed way more than I deserved.
Perhaps I
have always had a loud voice and when the assistants got to teach at the Zone
conferences and translate for the Spanish speaking native elders, I was some
help. At least I tried hard.
Sometimes
we feel like the man with 2 small fishes. We do not feel like we have much to
offer the Savior but we offer him our two small fishes anyway and he is able to
feed the multitudes. That was me. I did
take typing in High School and I had 3 years of Spanish as well as a semester
of Spanish at BYU, even if I did get a “C”.
I wasn’t
a very good typist but better than some. My job was to plan and arrange for all
the district conferences. I was the assistant in charge of member issues and
conferences. My companion was the assistant in charge of the elders. We both
had to read all the letters to the president each week and write comments on
them and point out things we did not want him to miss.
One of my
new missionaries turned out to be a reformed thief and drinker etc.. It broke
my heart to be in the office and a part of his excommunication when he was sent
home. I tried writing to him but never got a response. He was put with a weak
elder and they habituated a saloon and gave in to female temptations. Hard to
believe isn’t it?
In
Guatemala they have all kinds of catholic saint celebrations. One of my lesson
acceptors/investigators was a silver jeweler and we would visit him while he
worked. He had a special blow pipe he
would use in the burner to focus the heat on the jewelry to melt and shape it.
It was fascinating the first 5 times we visited him. One season his house was
chosen as the shrine place and he cleared out his living room with the dirt
floor for the mother Mary image to be placed. Many lit candles and worshiped
there in that little neighborhood. Eventually the day arrived for the
anticipated celebration and they hosted a party with special painted gourds to
eat and drink from. Of course we were invited. They had both red and black
tamales. The drink tasted of alcohol for my first time and I warned my
companion not to drink ours. He said, really? Cool! And drank them both. He
told me of these really cool speakers he had stolen before his mission and
before repentance and how he had figured out how he could get the radio to turn
off automatically by putting in a cassette tape. When the cassette ended the
system would turn off.
So even
though this elder cut his hair nice and short he had some dark temptations and
patterns inside. I was heartbroken at his excommunication and wished I had been
able to be his companion and kept him safe.
I love
General Conference talks. My parents were wackoes so distrust is strong in my
family. But thank heavens I can trust the prophet and apostles. I appreciate
the fact that when evil or wickedness is found it is removed in the leadership
of the church. I needed to center myself somehow last year when I retired. I
decided to try and listen to all 43 years of GCtalks. Soon I discovered lds
study tools and began highlighting my favorite passages and filing them on
line. I have 4500 at this point and they are wonderful parts/ truths /insights
that I love and value and teach me.
Your dad,
Tim and I get along fantastic. WE both love to joke and laugh. He has a much
broader vocabulary than I do. If I used a big word I had to explain what it
meant period after period all day long so I soon learned to explain things in
Jr. High vocabulary.
I took me
forever to carefully memorize all the discussions. It was hard, hard work for
me. We had flip charts and one of the pictures was of the then current prophet,
Spencer W Kimball. [I still have his signature on my mission call.] To help me concentrate I would place his
picture on the glass block window sill and give him my discussions over and
over again as I was learning them.
Kyle, I
found a comment from your dad so strange recently. He said becoming a
psychotherapist was easy as long as you could memorize and regurgitate the
material.
Evidently
he had a good memorization mind. Not me! It kept me humble I suppose. There was
one elder in my MTC group who could memorize without hardly trying. But he had
testimony and attitude issues, and red
hair. : )
Anyway, I
made a special file for humor from the general authorities. There must be a
couple of hundred entries. Don’t you love it when they crack a joke?
In my
last letter I include some riddles. Bishop Salmon taught me how to do riddles
in a fun way at scout summer camp last year. The riddler is only allowed to
answer yes /no questions. That way you can get hints along the way to discovering
the answer. I will include 10 silly
riddles just so you can practice with your companion if you want.
~~ ~~ ~~
21. How do we know that Noah was preceded from the ark by
at least three other people? (Because the Bible says that Noah came forth
[fourth].)
22. Why was the giant Goliath very much astonished when
David hit him with a stone? (Because such a thing had never before entered his
head.)
23. Why didn’t Noah catch more fish than he did during the
voyage of the ark? (Because he had only two worms.)
24. Where was Noah when the light went out? (In the d’ark).
25. Who was the strongest man in the Bible? (Jonah, because
the whale couldn’t hold him even after he got him down.)
26. What proof have we that there was sewing in the time of
David? (He was hemmed in on all sides.)
27. In what place did a rooster in the Bible crow where all
the people in the world could hear him? (In the ark.)
28. What reason is there to think that Moses wore a wig?
(Because he was sometimes seen with Aaron [hair on], and sometimes without.)
29. Which are the two smallest things mentioned in the
Bible? (The widow’s mite and the wicked flee [flea].)
30. Who was older, David or Goliath? (David must have been
because he rocked Goliath to sleep.)
~~ ~~ ~~
Here are
my 5 most recent humors from Conference:
“Follow
Me”
Joseph B.
Wirthlin, April 2002 General Conference
"There
was simply too much to do in the time available. Instead of sacrificing things
of significance, I decided I’d get up earlier, take care of my business, then
spend the time required to be a good father and husband and a faithful member
of the Church. It wasn’t easy. There were mornings when the alarm clock went
off that I cracked open an eyelid and glared at it, daring it to keep
ringing."
It Can’t
Happen to Me
James E.
Faust, April 2002 General Conference
"One
of the great myths in life is when men think they are invincible. Too many
think that they are men of steel, strong enough to withstand any temptation.
They delude themselves into thinking, “It cannot happen to me.” Borrowing a
thought from Bertrand Russell, “We are all like the turkey who wakes up
[Thanksgiving] morning expecting lunch as usual. Things can go wrong at any
time.” 1 Brethren, it can happen to any of us at any time. So much of our course
in life is influenced by forces we only partly perceive."
Dear Are
the Sheep That Have Wandered
James E.
Faust, April 2003 General Conference
"When
my wise mother-in-law saw other children misbehaving, she used to say, “I never
say my children would not do that because they might be out doing it right
while I am speaking!”"
Loyalty
Gordon B.
Hinckley, April 2003 General Conference
"Very
recently a certain moving picture was acclaimed the best of the year. I have
not seen it, nor do I anticipate doing so. But I am told that it is laden with
sex, that the use of profanity runs throughout."
Loyalty
Gordon B.
Hinckley, April 2003 General Conference
"You,
of course, have heard of the man who lived to a ripe old age and was asked by
reporters to what he attributed his longevity. He replied that when he and his
wife were married they determined that if they argued, one would leave the
house and go outside. He said, “Gentlemen, I attribute my longevity to the fact
that I have breathed so much fresh air during all these many years.”"
