Passover for the year 2022 starts on the evening of Friday, April 15th and ends the 7 day festival at sunset on Friday, April 22nd for Reform and progressive Jews living inside Israel who follow the Biblical text.
Monday, 4/13/22 Happy Day 3 of Passover Brandon! You probably know that the day starts at sundown for the Jews. I was in the choir and we did 10 minutes of prelude before the Easter sacrament yesterday and there were 2 beautiful musical numbers as intermediate hymns. The choir sang right after the sacrament and then a duet from an awesome voiced soprano and alto performed between the speakers. As you know I make my weekly journal entry during church. It helps keep me awake plus I can take notes if anything touches me. The congregation sang #62, 190 & 200. 62 has 24 Alleluias in it. 200 has 12 Alleluias. Greg Brailsford teased me after the meeting, while stacking chairs, about being all Alleluiad out! And wondered how many other alleluia hymns might be in the hymnbook? :) @ Sunnie Adams so touched me with the opening address that all I did was take notes and I did the same though the duet and closing talk by Kurtis Larson who is still wiped out by his wife’s passing ~3 years ago. I shared Kurtis Larson’s situation with my Emotional Resilience class last week as we studied grief. One of our facilitators, Patricia Parker, was sitting next to me in the choir seats and she commented on how carefully she listened and felt behind his words as he spoke. I was shocked when he said that as a boy he went to his parents and asked if they would help him get religion into his life. He wanted it and didn’t understand it. He said they put him in primary so he could learn and he learned and loved the song: I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ:I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I know who I am.
I know God’s plan.
I’ll follow him in faith.
I believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ.
I’ll honor his name.
I’ll do what is right;
I’ll follow his light.
His truth I will proclaim. His 3 sons were adopted. He and Diana couldn’t have kids so he said they took the easy way out and adopted! @ He shared a miraculous story about their youngest being expected to die at birth but he fought through the walls barring him from touching the child and after giving him a name and a blessing the baby survived. When he got home Diana asked him which name he had given him. “Heber, he is definitely a Heber.” @ I had tears come to my eyes twice during the duet. The words were so personally meaningful as I copied phrases down. I have been fighting depression and felt like I have been in a spiritual desert. But my mind and spirit are clear today and I felt so entranced/ ensorcelled/ touched yesterday by that sacrament meeting and then by the way Josh Borgerson used the technique of “guided imagery” during SS that I couldn’t break the spell by speaking. And if you know me, then you know I contribute/participate regularly. I couldn’t even tell Sunnie Adams what a wonderful job she had done in sacrament meeting, and she was sitting right behind me with Quincy in SS. After putting chairs up for a while the spell dissipated enough to tell Josh B how I had no clue how he would follow that spiritual outpouring and celebration of sacrament meeting. He admitted that he didn’t know how he would do it either. But SS was over the top. @ I was exhausted when I got home. I ate a can of spinach and the cookies I had saved from EmoRes. I napped for an hour on the recliner and another hour in bed. I really wanted to listen to Exodus 18-20, our Come Follow Me lesson for this week but my cell phone wasn’t working. It turned out that my WiFi was down. But I didn’t give up. I read Hace and myself those chapters aloud. Then the naps came. @ I discovered that I had forgotten my Paxil that morning so that may have impacted my energy level. @ I had a conflict with Greg Brailsford in EmoRes. It was his first time attending. Amelia Brailsford, his wife, has attended from the beginning and she was my seat partner that first Thursday that Roger dragged me to. I apologized for cutting Roger off about 5 minutes after I had done it. I felt defensive about the concepts in lesson 5. Greg wanted to know why just fixing things didn’t work? He admitted to being a fixer. Roger has mentioned that he is to and that men to be fixers. It takes me a while to let things settle and see what I am really feeling. I regularly give myself 24 hours before I decide. Roger’s goal last week was to be more Christlike. He was able to tell me how when I quizzed him Monday night. This week his goal is to be more forgiving. My last week's goal was to recite the accepting phrases to use with those grieving. This week my goal is to play a physical game or copy the BoM for 30min. @ I may have discovered a way to help explain the difference to Greg. Lesson #6 is about Anger. #5 was about Depression and Grief. My action partner and I have gotten really good at sharing with each other. He has probably left me 10 vmails and 20 text messages. He is my ministering comp, Roger Eves. He thinks he does not suffer from depression and doesn’t have anger issues. I do on both. Personally I think he is just blocked. Consider these: -he won’t write in his manual which has tons of lines for responding and pondering and writing your conclusions and commitments, - he won’t write in pen (he can’t stand mistakes), -he is the focus of a barrage of verbal put downs and beratings from his wife for about 3hours, 3 times a week, - he cares for his diabetic family members and even gives them insulin shots, - he obsesses about his homemade soap, food recipes, smoking on his traeger grill, babysitting and caring for his wife’s dog and kids dogs,maintains and immaculate yard and fruit trees but can’t find a spot for a garden or lemon grass which he loves, women and girls he is obsequious with, and keeps everything very private. But as you probably know I was totally blocked as far as feelings are concerned when I started therapy with Mark Clayton in ‘99. I even told Kathy I was not angry as I proceeded to bounce my bedroom door off the wall, which finally punched a hole through the drywall for the doorknob. @ On the other hand, I have cheered the steps Roger has taken and outlined them in my journal. He has been attending both the Thursday night session and the Sunday morning session because he wants to absorb as much as possible from these lessons. I asked him as we studied God’s love one of the first weeks, on a scale of 1-10 how much he felt it? He said he was a 2/10 and would have said 1/10 but didn’t want to offend me. The week we studied perfectionism and the girl in the video realized she had an issue when her therapist asked her to look in the mirror and say 3 good things about herself and she couldn’t, Roger admitted he couldn’t either in front of the whole group. The next week he succeeded in writing some down. YES! [I took him a composition notebook the 2nd week so he would have a comfortable place to write. See how we can look out for each other and accept each other?] :) @ Yesterday Sister PP shared how they had done something hard the previous week, as committed in the previous lesson. I asked if anyone else was allowed to share? She said, of course! But as we waited for the next minute or 2 no one did! Here we are in lesson #6 and no one dares to share something they have done that was hard from their lesson commitment. That is the point Brandon! @ But 2 quiet people did take a turn later. Brooks followed me saying that seeing others the way that Christ sees them and fitting their behaviors into the plan of progress/happiness can help us understand. Jeff shared a story about Tauna being all out of sorts about one of their sons not being willing to clean their room. She would pay them an allowance for keeping their room clean. The son said he did not need any $ that week. Jeff laughed and they just kept his door closed that week. Amelia’s dad used to hide money under clothes and toys that were left on the floor. KentP knew a carpenter who threatened his kids with nailing their clothes to the floor. Once he even got his nail gun and stapled them all to the floor. 30 years later that is still a funny story they share. @ So, bit by bit Brandon. If I hadn’t been through 5 years of therapy would I have a clue? @ So why am I writing today? Because I did my first 100 morte records and since I didn’t journal yesterday I want to process my thoughts and design my goals. @
4/20/22 As you can see there are 3 phases of the 1950 census for each state. Families Reviewed is the longest and hardest. Just for fun I decided to try and do some from every state. :) I did some Arkansas today but it isn’t showing. It should be between AZ & CA
I went back and did some more Arkansas and it added it to my states. I am amazed at the efforts the designers and programers have gone to!
Wed. 5/4/22 These are my friends! :)
Final Newsletter from Director’s Desk Hello, all you good people! What a fabulous evening we had on Sunday, many of you ventured out to the “Hello & Good-bye Open House.” It was wonderful to welcome the Packers to the center and get to know them a little better. Elder Topham and I felt grateful for the opportunity to thank each one of you for making us feel appreciated and loved. It has been our pleasure! The above picture was taken just before the Open House began. These wonderful people have worked by our sides and supported us in every undertaking. We will miss meeting with them on a weekly basis, in fact, we will suffer withdrawal every Tuesday at 3:00 PM when we know the meeting has begun and we aren’t there. I commissioned Elder Topham to write a poem for my final newsletter, so here it is. Most of you heard him read it on Sunday evening, but not all. We hope you will enjoy and relate. TO THE MISSIONARIES AT THE ST. GEORGE FAMILYSEARCHCENTER Marshall & Nancy Topham (Directors: May 13, 2019 – May 13, 2022)[V-I skipped the open house Sunday night. Robert and Amber & Lydia & Oliver and Hitch and Hace all took me on the Owen’s loop hike. :) Brandon, I love writing poems/doggerel. Nancy Topham hoped Marshall would accept her request that he create one in farewell. She said he is clever and thinks so differently than she does. I have celebrated her weekly newsletter and complimented their humanness. We love people we can relate to. I told her my favorite part of one two weeks ago was when she said she hoped to post some pictures for the first time in years and he hoped to earn his technology badge here at the FSC.] [v- I love this poem!] [I quit writing them because Jessica said, “Not so much.”]
‘Bout’ three years ago, today They sent us on our merry way There’s a FamilySearch somewhere And you’ll be missionaries there Well, there’s one thing we can say At first, we just got in the way But no one ever raised a fuss You simply tolerated us Although we lack in charms You welcomed us with open arms In answer to our prayer We felt like family there Well, little did we know just how much we both would grow Every challenge we would meet You all help us to defeat We’ve had tabernacle meetings And Hawaiian Christmas feedings More than one parade we did enter “Day of the Dead” was at our center We’ve developed several menus To enhance our different venues Our training was inspired And our trainer never tired Covid came and Covid went And although it put a dent In the service we provide We refused to run and hide We went online instead We could help folks from our bed Since we couldn’t use our room We taught classes via Zoom Technology drives us crazy But it won’t let us get lazy The problems – never ending So were always out there mending Assisted living we onboarded Voice memories we recorded People came to tell their story And relive their days of glory We made sure their family got-um Before loved ones had forgot-um Made for sweet family relations That will last for generations You know our greatest expectation? Build a Mickey Mouse operation! And that is how it’s meant to be Cuz we were trained by Disney When guests come, we make-um happy With a service, far from crappy And when they leave the place We hope they punch. . . . the smiley face Helping families be united Is what makes us all excited Cuz the work that here commences Has eternal consequences In our journals we will enter That our time spent at “The Center” Helped us witness selfless love That’s directed from above So, our memories will recall Just how much we loved you all To speak ill of you – We’d Never Cuz you’ve blessed our lives forever We will miss you when we’re gone But we know you’ll carry on And accomplish all your goals As you save immortal souls Just one thought before we go It’s something you all know Relationships have no ends So, we’re now eternal friends So, remember when we meet Somewhere out there on the street Though apart for long or shorter High-fives and hugs will be in order [Wasn’t that delightful! :) -V] @@@ When I saw this next graphic I was captured and curious:
Keeping The Faith: With Missionary Work Banned, Mormons In Russia 'Just Making Friends'
December 30, 2018 By Matthew Luxmoore
TVER, Russia -- When American Ian Crookston was assigned to Russia as a Mormon missionary in 2009, the 19-year-old knew next to nothing about the country. Nevertheless, putting his undergraduate studies on hold, he set off for a year of asceticism in its gritty industrial heartland.
That meant forfeiting activities he'd taken for granted. He went offline, cut communication with friends and family, and relinquished his first name in favor of Elder, a title all male Mormon missionaries take.
From morning till late evening, between breaks for meals, scripture sessions, and Russian classes, he walked the streets of the Volga River town of Novokuybyshevsk with a fellow missionary constantly by his side. Sporting suits and smiles, the two scouted for men and boys who might be amenable to Mormonism, the religion of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"We had a territory that we sort of wandered around, and I really do mean wandered. Just trying to harangue people on the street," he says. "It felt like everybody in the town knew who we were."
Some of the practices his cohort engaged in -- sneaking into housing blocks to proselytize door-to-door, trailing people on the street till they agreed to talk -- provoked violence from local thugs and forced church superiors to rein the pair in.
Nevertheless, by the end of his mission, Crookston had converted 27 Russians to his faith, and estimates that he'd spoken to 20,000 people. Though most of them, he says in hindsight, "wanted nothing to do with me."
'Convenient Victims'
Mormons in Russia today can only marvel at such stories.
As part of a crackdown on foreign-based religious groups, the government has imposed significant obstacles to missionary work. A package of laws passed in July 2016, and billed as an effort to combat homegrown terrorism, has confined missionary work to places of worship, clearing Russia's streets and homes of proselytizing Mormons.
A young Mormon missionary from the United States speaks with an elderly Russian man in 1997.
A church that owes its presence in Russia to the efforts of missionaries is now effectively banned from publicly preaching the faith.
But it's not only Mormons, whose church Russia officially recognized in 1991, who have been affected by the so-called Yarovaya law, named after Irina Yarovaya, the State Duma deputy who authored it.
Some faiths have been banned outright. In April 2017, the Christian denomination Jehovah's Witnesses was branded extremist and equated in practice with supporters of the Islamic State extremist group. The Supreme Court announced the confiscation of all property in Russia belonging to the U.S.-based organization, and its estimated 170,000 members now risk jail time for congregating. According to Roman Lunkin, a religious expert at the Russian Academy of Sciences, around 100 Jehovah's Witnesses are currently under investigation on extremism charges. Many have emigrated.
In addition, over 500 charges have been brought against religious groups in connection with the Yarovaya law, Lunkin says. The majority are fines for proselytizing in public, incorrectly marked literature, and the absence of plaques designating places of worship -- most affected are the Hare Krishna movement and various Protestant denominations, which together total some 3 million members in Russia.
Some of the cases have provoked more amusement than opprobrium. In October 2017, a Russian Hindu was detained as he gave a lecture on yoga in St. Petersburg and was charged with illegal missionary work. The case was subsequently dropped, but it highlighted the precariousness of the situation. The law defines missionary work only as spreading information about one's faith to make nonmembers join, a vague formulation that critics like Lunkin believe can be misused.
Elder Schaub from Köln, Germany (left), and Elder Seegmiller from the U.S. state of Utah at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meeting house in Tver earlier this month. "Before, you could go up to someone and you could start a conversation about the gospel. And now, we just try and make friends," says Seegmiller.
Lunkin describes the religious groups targeted as "convenient victims" in a state-sponsored campaign against perceived malign foreign influence. "This is the government's reaction to the rebirth of certain stereotypes that are now being used for ideological reasons -- first and foremost, a phobia of sects and anti-Western hysteria," he says. "Ten years ago, no one paid attention to such things."
Just Making Friends
For the Mormon church, this poses a major obstacle. How do you attract new members to a faith when publicly talking about it is banned?
When the Soviet Union fell in 1991, the church seized an opportunity to establish itself in a region where atheism had been state policy for decades. Through the efforts of visiting missionaries, the Mormon presence in Russia grew rapidly: from 300 registered members in 1991 to over 14,000 a decade later. Today the Mormon church claims 23,000 adherents in Russia, but growth has since all but stalled.
After the Yarovaya law was introduced, the church leadership in Salt Lake City, Utah, issued a statement pledging to "honor, sustain, and obey" it, and announced that Mormon missionaries in Russia would alter their work in accordance with its requirements.
"For a long time the mission was closely associated with proselytizing, preaching the gospel," says Sergei Antamanov, a spokesman for the church in Russia. "But immediately after these changes took place, we realized it wouldn't be possible to operate in the same way here in Russia as the church operates in most of the world. So we had to adapt, and we had to adapt fast."
That meant downsizing the missionary force in Russia by some 100 people, Antamanov says. Missionaries were to be referred to only as "volunteers," and today focus on supporting existing members rather than expanding the flock. Gone are the black name tags linking them to the Mormon church, which together with white shirts, ties, and backpacks comprise a missionary's traditional garb.
In Tver, a provincial town 160 kilometers northwest of Moscow, Elders Schaub and Seegmiller spend their days visiting the homes of church members and roaming the streets engaging locals in small talk.
Yulia Baryayeva speaks to fellow church members at the meeting house of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tver. "Those who know us and those who travel abroad regularly are curious about the church," says Baryayeva.
"Before, you could go up to someone and you could start a conversation about the gospel. And now, we just try and make friends," says Seegmiller, an 18-year-old who hails from Utah, the church's spiritual home. "Approaching people in a way that is natural and just developing natural relationships is hard. And it is an odd thing to do."
They're also not allowed to publicly discuss the church.
"We can answer pretty much any question, but we can't tell them ourselves," says Schaub, 20. "But most people don't ask questions." He admits there's still confusion about what is and isn't allowed.
The Tver meetinghouse is a large apartment on the ground floor of a nondescript housing block tucked away on a side street near the railway station. A metal plaque outside the front door is the only indication that the venue belongs to the Mormon church.
Inside is a bright, sparsely furnished chapel with a keyboard and a wooden pulpit. Beside the altar is a TV screen on which members watch speeches delivered by American church leaders to vast congregations at the magnificent Mormon temple in Salt Lake City. These are translated into Russian and dozens of other languages. Many are also printed in the church's Russian-language monthly, Liakhona, which is replete with glossy images of wealthy, beaming Mormon families.
On a recent Sunday, the stocky blond-haired Seegmiller stands up before the small congregation. Two months into his mission, he delivers a speech in halting Russian about the strength of his faith.
Of 10 current missionaries interviewed by RFE/RL, all speak the language. Aside from constant interaction with locals and minimal contact with home -- they're limited to weekly e-mails and phone calls only on Christmas and Mother's Day -- they chalk it up to a God-given "gift of tongues." But these days, Russian practice happens less on the streets than in meetinghouses and members' homes.
A Dangerous Sect?
With fewer than 10 members, Tver is among the smallest meetinghouses of all in the Moscow mission, one of the Mormon church's six areas of coverage in Russia. Yulia Baryayeva, a giggly kindergarten teacher in her 30s who attended the service with her two young daughters, tells RFE/RL the congregation used to be double the size. "The pensioners have died, and the young people have left," she says.
There's also a wariness among some members to advertise their ties to Mormonism. A Tver parishioner who coordinated an RFE/RL reporter's visit asked to meet three blocks away because he was worried about attracting attention to the meetinghouse. Another asked subsequently for his name to be retracted from this article, since he and his wife were afraid that knowledge of their membership in the church could cause them problems at work.
The nondescript entrance to the meeting house of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tver. There is a wariness among some members to advertise their ties to Mormonism.
"Those who know us and those who travel abroad regularly are curious about the church," Baryayeva says. "But those who don't are suspicious, and watch all kinds of bad videos online."
Russian state media have long portrayed Mormonism as a dangerous cult, with the church's wealth and American origins held up as proof that it's used for espionage and sedition. And the Russian-language Internet is full of websites like Antimormon that list organizations claiming to "cure" former members of religious sects.
Many of them are tied to the resurgent Russian Orthodox Church, which is pressuring the authorities to stall the expansion of faiths considered alien to Russian identity.
To Georgy Belodurov, an Orthodox priest at Tver's Resurrection Cathedral, Russian Mormons are lured by the prospect of a better life in the West. "For some people America is a safe haven where paradise reigns and you live in a land of milk and honey," he says. "And the Mormon church is first and foremost the temptation of a better life."
In 2012, Belodurov published an article in the local press titled Beware, Mormons! But today he believes Russia is returning to its roots, and sees little chance that Mormons will gain traction in Tver.
"Ours is the historic, traditional church of Russia, its native faith," he says of Orthodoxy. "It matches the genetic make-up of our nation."
Keeping The Flock
In April, the Mormon leadership in Salt Lake City announced plans to build its first temple in Russia. There are now meetinghouses in over 50 Russian cities, but parishioners looking to tie the knot in Mormon tradition must travel to temples in Ukraine, Finland, or beyond. Where and when the Russian temple might arise remains unclear. Lunkin believes it's a pipe dream in the current political climate.
Matt Martinich, a U.S.-based Mormon researcher, sees the April announcement as an effort to stanch the flow of Mormons leaving Russia. The slowdown in growth has been compounded recently by high levels of emigration, he says, adding that the church's biggest challenge in Russia is keeping its members there.
That's because the Mormon church in Russia, traditionally reliant on a foreign missionary force, now depends on its existing members to expand the faith.
Antamanov, the church spokesman in Russia, is optimistic. The current obstacles, he believes, will encourage parishioners to take initiative and no longer rely on foreign missionaries to spread the word.
"It's a duty every Christian feels -- to share his beliefs with those around him," he says. "And this is an opportunity for us, for our members, to realize that's what they can do." @@@Friday, 5/6/22 hello Brandon, MY shift coordinator did his BIO today because it is the first full week of May. We usually have what is called a “training moment”. Ron C is 85years old and on his 3rd wife. He served a mission back in the 50’s to Tennessee and Kentucky. They only had branches and districts then. No wards and no stakes. He is proud of the temples there. 3 so far and one more announced. I believe the church is rich enough to want to try to fulfill the goal of preparing for the millennium and temple work. Ryan Neumann left to serve a mission in Russia back in the 90’s. I was amazed. But according to the above article it has not been clear sailing in Russia! It looks like all the old converts die and the young ones Emigrate!/Leave. Interesting to note.
