Monday,
5/16/16, 10:50am, Hello Brandon, We are halfway through May, the best
shore fishing month of the year! I went for my first time last week
and will probably head out again today or tomorrow. Never seen
rainbow trout this big in my life so I just have to take advantage of
the opportunity. BradL is my fishing guru. He has been to Ottercreek
Reservoir 3 or 4 times already this year. Reading my text messages
last week got him all excited about going again Saturday! I have
always wanted to find out stuff from him but this time I had written
2 things that he was curious about! He texted me 4 or 5 times on
Friday night. I was so proud! Last week I left at 2pm on Tuesday and
got home about 11pm on Wednesday. I spent more than 24 hours out in
nature. That is therapy time for me. Brad is happy to catch his limit
and get home in half a day. I like sleeping over night and seeing all
24-36 hours of the wind the light the storms the temperature the
sunburn. I'm not half the fisherman that he is but I make up for it
in other ways. A 16-17 inch rainbow is a big trout. They are about 2
lbs. Yes! It gets me all excited just talking about them. I brought
home 3 of those last week. Brad showed me a picture of 3 -21 inchers
that are 4 and 5 lbs that he brought home last month. I caught one
of those last year and I called it my lifetime LUNKER! I brought it
home and weighed it on the Harmon's produce department scale. 5 lbs!
Awesome. So brad is not satisfied with those 2 pounders and caught
and released one of those and a bigger one last Saturday. I asked him
why? He said to let them grow larger, and that his freezer is full
of trout. So he was enjoying the thrill of catching them. I let one
little one 13 go last week and as I cleaned the rest in my sink I
wondered why I had done it. Mistake, mistake! An amazing thing to me
is to have gone to both Reservoirs last fall and caught the newly
planted little 7 and 8 inchers and now to go back and find they have
put on a half pound of additional flesh and instead of being white
meat from the hatchery pellets they are now pink fleshed from the
water shrimp etc. they eat. @ When I am fishing I am standing and
bending and climbing around for hours on end. It left my legs sore
with charlie horses or cramps Wednesday night. The only way I could
sleep was on my recliner which positioned my legs to avoid the
cramps. I walked Molly Saturday night and again this morning hoping
to maintain a little leg strength. @ I watered the whole yard well
last week and cut the lawn so I am caught up with those duties. @ We
had stake conference this weekend. I was in the stake choir which was
fun and challenging. We had two seventies visiting. Elder Dance and
Elder Lawrence from the 5th quorum of 70's. I sat on the
second row Saturday night and got to see and feel of their spirits up
close. I have always honored the Apostles and general authorities but
never been a groupie. I am surprised to say that I felt the purity of
their spirits, the solidity of their testimonies. To have men come
and visit and teach our stake like that lends us spiritual strength
and relights the vibrancy of our testimonies. They are right there!
Pure and clean and loving and caring in real life! @Last week I
discovered that Stephen who was stoned was one of the apostles
assistants called one of the seven! Sounds strange doesn't it. Sort
of like the assistants to the 12 that we had in the 60's and 70's.
BRMcConkie was an assistant to the 12 before becoming an apostle. The
guys that are chosen older to be apostles don't have to worry about
becoming the prophet. They will die before they gain that much
seniority. @ In October'72 Lee has just replaced JFS as the president
of the church. He is courageous and vibrant as well as humbled and in
awe during that conference. He spoke for 30 minutes in Priesthood
meeting having so many things he wanted to set straight. I will
include that portion of his talk in this post card. @ So Elder
Lawrence, the senior 70, conducted a 7 member panel discussion to
start the adult Saturday night meeting and his focus was rescuing.
Guess what was true about all those on the panel? They had been less
active and rescued. I was fascinated that Elder Lawrence would use
such an entertaining teaching tool. Panels can get out of hand. And
one panel brother did, in my opinion! He wanted the saints to stop
asking if the new people in the ward were mormons or not, just call
them neighbors, he said about 5 times! In my mind I rebelled at the
thought. I don't think he recognizes that if they are mormons then we
have all kinds of obligations towards them. Their names are on the
Lord's roll/ in his book and primary and everyone else needs to
prepare a place for each of the children etc.. It is our obligation
to nourish them with the good word of God!! and provide a calling and
a friend! @ I did get a kick out of how many tattoos I could see
among the 7 panelists! @ So when Elder Lawrence began the meeting my
critical-vern was thinking: who does he think he is? How presumptious
to come in here and think he can guide a panel discussion. He gave
the closing talk as well and he acted out an Ensign Story! Yes, he
was pretty creative wasn't he! He told us to listen closely to the
story and to make observations to ourselves that we would like to
share with the whole group afterwards. He gave us an assignment!!
How dare he!! That is what I do to you bps, all the time, isn't it?
And he had 2 roving microphones so just like the panel people could
be heard, so would the voluntary audience contributors. @ You would
not have believed his story Brandon! It was about this motorcycle
dude living in a trailer court and an overzealous hometeacher/
missionary/ activation brother! I was shocked as the story got
started. Joseph Goodman was the motorcycle dude and Brother Vance was
the home teacher. @ I have 3 less active brothers I have been
assigned as home teacher or companion to. You would not call VarloD
less active. But he seldom comes to church unless he is fulfilling an
assignment and In 9 months he has only let me come visit him once,
alone, no family as his home teacher. Plus I have subbed for him any
number of times in EQ when he hasn't showed up to teach his lesson on
the 4th Sunday. Bruce Randall has not been to church in 5
or 10 years. EricY just can't seem to pay his tithing, qualify for a
temple recommend or even attend sacrament meeting. He shows up to do
his library duty once or twice a month but spends most Sabbath's
hiking with his inactive kids or making a buck working on cars in his
driveway. My testimony was thriving and strong to end last year. How
I encouraged my 3las (3 less actives) to make goals and read
scriptures and attend church and become faithful dependable saints
this year! My efforts and stimulation and letters seemed to have no
effect. I was reaching out uncomfortably far to try to bring them in.
5 months have gone by. After 3 months I prayed a new idea in my talks
with HF. “HF it looks like my efforts were fruitless. I don't know
what else to do. I am going to leave it in thy hands. When they are
ready to become active I will be here for them.” @ When I drove
home last Saturday night I was reeling with excitement. “HF, I did
not have any clue of what else I could do. But I was blinded. I was
stymied. Look how much more is available for me to do! That talk fed
me personally and the meeting was an orchestrated masterpiece for an
old school teacher like me!” As it turns out Elder Lawrence is a
convert at 20yo, fatherless at 18, poor as his mother was, she still decided to be a
stay at home mom and raise her 3 sons (3-18) on her SS check, along
with EL's income. He got a medical school scholarship and ended up
being an eye surgeon. Maybe it was his bedside manner which made his
demeanor so Christlike. After acting out the story he took comments
and observations. When discussion takes place, applications begin in
our hearts. When I got home I searched and found the story and
because I did not want it to dead end with me, I wrote all over it
and sent it to my 3las. Then I started over and wrote a letter to
the Stake President G. Almquist and sent him a copy as well!
President Almquist found me after Stake Conference the next day and
expressed his personal appreciation for me. I was flattered. @ I
have one active family that I bonus home teach because their new ones
never come, The Carters. I sent them a copy of the 3las letter and
it came back with a “You are awesome!” comment. So Brandon Here
comes the true story that E. Lawrence acted out and then had us
comment on. What a great way to make something happen in our lives!
I am going to send you the copy I made for my 3las:The last talk at
Adults Stake Conference tonight.@to Varlo, Eric, Bruce, bcc:
QuinnBonnie @Hello my 3 brothers! We had a 7pm stake conference
meeting tonight. I usually don't go on Saturday night but I was
lonesome so I put on my white shirt and white tie and went. The 70
in charge had a ton of courage! He started the meeting with a panel
of 7 previous less actives and asked them questions. They had to sit
on stools at the front of the audience and they had 2 microphones to
pass around between them. Have you ever seen that before? Not me!
@Later this same 70 read us this story and asked us to listen and
then be ready to share what we discovered afterwards. Yep, you
guessed it. The roving microphones would be on the loose. So do you
think I had anything to share in front of the whole stake? @Frank
Haney, my new across the street neighbor did too. He made a feeble
joke about sitting in the nose-bleed section of stake conference and
then shared his two observations. @AUGUST 1996“I’M NOT ‘BROTHER’
ANYBODY!” By Joseph E. Goodman @My home teacher’s love and
persistence changed my life. @I was giving my motorcycle a tune-up
one Saturday afternoon on the patio when an old car pulled up in
front of our mobile home. The driver, a middle-aged man dressed in a
white shirt and tie, got out and started toward me. He had
“Latter-day Saint” written all over his face, and I knew
immediately that the Church had found me. @I hoped that after
noticing the beer can sitting beside me and the cigarette smoldering
between my fingers that the visitor would decide he had the wrong
house and drive on. No such luck. @“Are you Brother Goodman?” he
asked, smiling. @“No, I’m not ‘Brother’ anybody!” I replied
curtly. “I’m Joe.” @“Well, I’m glad to meet you, Joe,” he
said, extending his hand. @I didn’t bother getting up, but noticing
I had grease all over my right hand, I offered it to him. To my
surprise, he shook it. @“I’m Brother Orwell Vance, and I’m your
home teacher,” he said, still smiling. “I want to invite you to
come meet with us tomorrow at church.” He rattled off the meeting
schedule, then added, “I would like to come by and pick you up for
priesthood meeting in the morning.” @Apparently, my home teacher
hadn’t noticed that I wasn’t the church-going type. I decided to
end our conversation before I lost my temper. I dropped my cigarette,
ground it under my shoe, then walked to the end of our mobile home.
Pointing to the chapel spire in the distance, I said, “I can see
the chapel from here. If I ever decide to go back to church, I won’t
need anyone to show me the way.” @“I’m sure you won’t,” he
chuckled. “But it’s so much easier to go when you have someone to
show you around and introduce you.” @“Listen,” I said sternly,
“I’m not interested, and that’s all there is to it.” @“Okay,”
he replied. “But I’ll be over at 7:15 tomorrow morning just in
case you change your mind.” Still smiling, he got in his car and
drove off. @Change my mind? I was 33 years old and hadn’t been
active for many years. I wasn’t about to change my mind. @The next
morning at exactly 7:15 I was awakened by a solid knock on the door.
I stumbled out of bed and looked out the window. Apparently, Brother
Vance wasn’t getting the message. I decided I must have been too
nice to him. @“Who is it?” my wife, Carlene, asked. @“It’s
that crazy old man from the Church,” I said. “Watch this.”
@Wearing only a pair of shorts, I went to the door and threw it open.
@“Good morning, Brother Goodman,” he said, smiling broadly. “I
see you’re not ready, so I’ll just go on. See you later in the
week.” @Who was this guy? Any normal person would have taken the
hint by now. But sure enough, next Saturday afternoon here he came
again. Wearing that same big smile, he stepped from his car and
brought me a paper bag filled with “just a little something from my
garden.” @He made small talk for a few minutes, asked if my
motorcycle was running better, and inquired
about
my family. I wasn’t sure why I even bothered listening to him, but
he was comfortable to be around—as long as he didn’t bring up the
Church. After about 15 minutes, he said, “Brother Goodman, I’d
like to come by in the morning and take you to priesthood meeting. I
know you would enjoy it, and there are some great brethren who would
like to meet you.” @“No,” I said, angry at myself for letting
my guard down. “As I told you before, I know where the Church is if
I want to go.” @“Well, I’ll be by about 7:15 in case you change
your mind.” @He was wasting his time, of course, but at least he
was consistent. Sure enough, next morning at 7:15 I heard him
knocking. I put some pants on this time and opened the door. @“Oh,
I see you’re not ready,” Brother Vance said. “Sunday School
begins at 10:30. Maybe you and your family can join us then.”
@These same scenes played out each Saturday afternoon and each Sunday
morning for the next seven weeks. Brother Vance would drop off
vegetables, talk for a few minutes, and offer to pick me up the next
morning. I would refuse, but he would show up anyway just in case I
changed my mind. @After nearly two months, I began to enjoy his
visits and to feel bad about turning him down. But I was not ready to
go to church, and I was going to be stubborn about it. I began
leaving home on Saturday so that I wouldn’t be there when he came.
That turned out to be a mistake, because he began visiting with
Carlene. @After another month of visits had passed, I decided the
best way to get rid of Brother Vance was to accompany him to
priesthood meeting, tell him it did nothing for me, and ask him not
to return. The following Sunday morning when he knocked on the door
at 7:15, I was wearing a white shirt and tie. @“Good morning,
Brother Goodman,” he said, smiling and not looking at all
surprised. “I’m glad you’re ready. Shall we go?” @Hoping no
one would see me, I got in his old car and we rode to the chapel.
Brother Vance talked to me all the way as if we went to church
together every Sunday. He was happy that the chapel was paid for and
that ward members had played a big part in its construction. He spoke
highly of the bishop, telling me I would love him. I wanted to tell
Brother Vance to save his praise, as this would be my first and last
visit. I didn’t have the heart, though, because he enjoyed so much
telling me about the ward. @When we arrived, men seemed to be waiting
for Brother Vance. Most came up to him and shook his hand. As he
introduced me to each one, I felt that these brethren loved this man
and that the welcome they extended to me was sincere. Brother Vance
was right about the quality of the priesthood brethren. I was
especially touched by the bishop, who was warm and down-to-earth.
@When we separated for quorum activities, I discovered that Brother
Vance’s calling was to work with the ward’s prospective elders. I
quickly concluded that he had been so persistent with me because of
his calling, not because he was my home teacher. Immediately, I felt
ashamed of the thought. Here was someone who had given a lot of his
time doing what the Lord asks of his sons, and I was trying to
discredit him so I could feel better about not doing what the Lord
wanted. @Our class instructor invited me and the other two newcomers
to the class to talk about ourselves. I thought that I could probably
take the whole class time telling these people why I didn’t belong
with them, shock them a little in the process, then not be bothered
by them anymore. I couldn’t do it, though, not with kind Brother
Vance smiling at me as I talked. @I grudgingly admitted to myself
that the meeting was not as bad as I had anticipated—or hoped—it
would be. The other two men seemed to have many more problems than I
had, and I was by far the most comfortable participating in the class
discussion. @“Well, Brother Goodman,” Brother Vance said on the
way home, “I guess you’ll want to bring your family back for
Sunday School, won’t you? I know Sister Vance would love to have
you in her Gospel Essentials class.” This was some years before the
consolidated Sunday schedule we now have. @I wasn’t excited by the
prospect of having to go another hour and a half without a cigarette
or becoming a focus of attention for Sister Vance. I decided that I
had to keep him away from my family when he dropped me off, or I
would be doomed to another Church meeting. @“See you in about an
hour,” he called after me when I hopped out. @Not in your wildest
dreams, I thought. I sat down on the patio and lit a cigarette,
relieved that I had gone to a meeting and could now refuse other
invitations. I wasn’t ready to change my life, even if something
did feel right about the priesthood meeting. @Carlene came out a few
moments later and asked if we were going to Sunday School. The
children were already dressed and looked forward to going. She looked
disappointed when I told her no. @I realized that I had to put my
foot down before Brother and Sister Vance arrived at 10:15 to ask if
we were ready. To make sure that didn’t happen, I gathered up my
family and left at 10:10—driving them to Sunday School myself. @The
brethren I had met that morning were quick to greet us and introduce
their families. Brother and Sister Vance escorted us to opening
exercises and to Sister Vance’s Sunday School class. We enjoyed her
lesson on Church history, and I was surprised how much I remembered
and how many questions I could answer. @Brother Goodman, I know
you’ll want to bring your family back forsacrament meeting this
evening,” Brother Vance said afterwards. “We’ll look forward to
seeing you.” @We didn’t make it to sacrament meeting, and I made
sure we were not home the following Saturday. Early Sunday morning I
got everyone up for a trip to the desert—something we had always
enjoyed in Arizona. Carlene knew what I was doing, and she chastised
me. “You know you can’t avoid him for long,” she said. @he was
right. Before long, Brother Vance was back. But I was ready. I told
him that I really didn’t get much out of the meetings and saw no
reason to return. @“Well, Brother Goodman,” he said, “I can’t
help but think you felt a little better after those meetings. I’ll
be by tomorrow morning in case you change your mind.” @We were
ready for him the next morning. We attended all three meetings, and
Carlene and the children never seemed happier. The following
Saturday, Brother Vance was back with more vegetables. As he
approached me, I was overcome by his love. I had no doubt that what
he had been doing for me and my family resulted from his honest love
for his neighbor. At that moment, I knew that my life had been
changed. @As we sat and talked that day, he told me that I was going
to have new home teachers who were closer to my age. He would bring
them by to meet us, and he promised that we would become friends. I
didn’t say anything. I had just decided that this man was going to
love me back into the Church, but then I felt that he was abandoning
me. Brother Vance then said something I needed to hear. @“Brother
Goodman, if you don’t
mind,
I would still like to come by and have you ride to priesthood meeting
with me. I’ve really enjoyed that.” @Brother Vance was right. It
didn’t take long before we learned to love our new home teachers.
But he still stopped by most Saturdays and continued to pick me up
Sunday mornings at 7:15 until he had a new “special” brother who
needed him. @Brother and Sister Vance were there to support and love
us when Carlene and I were sealed in the Arizona Temple months later.
I will never forget his smile and the love that shone from his face
as we met in the temple’s celestial room. I could not hold back the
tears. @Eighteen months later, in 1971, Brother Vance was called
home. I often think of him still and the fruits of his love: the
stake mission I served, the full-time missions of five of our
children, and the more than 100 people who joined the Church as a
result of our labors—all because of one man’s love and faith. I
look forward to meeting him again, seeing his loving smile, and
thanking him for showing me the way. @Joseph E. Goodman, a member of
the Globe Second Ward, serves as a high councilor in the Globe
Arizona Stake. @~@
Hey, hey, look at you! You actually skimmed down to the bottom of the page to see if there was anything worthwhile down here. Do I expect you to read the above article? Nope. it is too long. But just remember you did not have to be there the full two hours and reading this would probably only take you 15 minutes!! Are you convinced yet? I hope so. @
Last Sunday HC Mitch Six was sitting right next to me in EQ! After participating about 5 times in the first 8 minutes of class I told him I was going to try to make my goal of being quiet and NOT participating for the next 15 minutes. I failed because Jason Chappell knows he can always call on me to contribute and he did. His fault. So yes, you have probably never known anyone who likes to participate as much as I do. But NO, I did not contribute to the stake discussion. Two different people said portions of what I wanted to say so I was not totally bereft. @
If you have not read the above article which the 70 acted out for us then please do not read my following comments. I am trusting you not to read what comes next until you have read the article for yourself and come up with a few observations of your own. @Number 1- was this article extreme? it sure was. Do you know anyone who would actually do something like this? What would it take for someone to dare to actually do this? Jesus taught with extreme parables and examples. To the rich young man he said, go and sell all that you have and give to the poor and come follow me. That would be the hardest thing in the world for one of you to do. Impossible. And it was impossible for the rich young man as well. So my first observation was that B. Vance had courage coming out his ears! Courage. There is only one person in our stake that I know that would have the courage to do this, our stake president. President Gil Almquist is just strange and unique enough and daring and courageous enough to do this! @Number 2- so when did Brother Vance spend most of his time
Hey, hey, look at you! You actually skimmed down to the bottom of the page to see if there was anything worthwhile down here. Do I expect you to read the above article? Nope. it is too long. But just remember you did not have to be there the full two hours and reading this would probably only take you 15 minutes!! Are you convinced yet? I hope so. @
Last Sunday HC Mitch Six was sitting right next to me in EQ! After participating about 5 times in the first 8 minutes of class I told him I was going to try to make my goal of being quiet and NOT participating for the next 15 minutes. I failed because Jason Chappell knows he can always call on me to contribute and he did. His fault. So yes, you have probably never known anyone who likes to participate as much as I do. But NO, I did not contribute to the stake discussion. Two different people said portions of what I wanted to say so I was not totally bereft. @
If you have not read the above article which the 70 acted out for us then please do not read my following comments. I am trusting you not to read what comes next until you have read the article for yourself and come up with a few observations of your own. @Number 1- was this article extreme? it sure was. Do you know anyone who would actually do something like this? What would it take for someone to dare to actually do this? Jesus taught with extreme parables and examples. To the rich young man he said, go and sell all that you have and give to the poor and come follow me. That would be the hardest thing in the world for one of you to do. Impossible. And it was impossible for the rich young man as well. So my first observation was that B. Vance had courage coming out his ears! Courage. There is only one person in our stake that I know that would have the courage to do this, our stake president. President Gil Almquist is just strange and unique enough and daring and courageous enough to do this! @Number 2- so when did Brother Vance spend most of his time
with
Joseph Goodman? When I was in Guatemala we had a zone conference on
preparing the soil. Can the seed grow if the soil is not prepared?
Today the missionaries report the number of hours they do s e r v
i c e ! We had a devastating earthquake in Guatemala in '76. Our
mission president decided we would descend on different indian towns
whose adobe houses had crumbled on our Prep day (Monday) and help
clean out the broken, dusty dried clay adobe's. We wore white shirts
so we could be recognized as the whole zone descended on a city/ town
to help clean up. We had dust masks and you should have seen our
shirts at the end of the day. Brown clay sticks to where it is wet.
Guess where on a shirt a working elder gets the wettest? Did I mind
spending my prep day that way? Nope, I thought it was fun. And you
should have seen the parties we had at the end of the day as the
mission provided water melons or something else to indulge in. But
we did not do service as a part of our regular missionary work. We did
not even consider helping people do work. As I read my nieces and
nephews missionary blogs they do it all the time! So how did Brother
Vance prepare the soil? In my opinion he did it on Saturday! Can you
imagine sacrificing your Saturday afternoon or evening week after
week to show your sincerity to a less active. And then showing up at
7:15 Sunday morning to take him to priesthood whether he said yes or
no? And he always said NO! @So those are the two things I really
wanted to say. Courage and sacrifice. [ Love overcometh fear. That
which we serve and sacrifice for, we love.] @Now how can I disguise
those two observations further? I picked the tiniest font to write
in. I know what. How about if I type the exact same thing except
move over one set of keys. Here goes. One set to the right. @Yjr msom
[tpn;r, od hpomh yp nr yjsy zo vsmmpy yr;; ejrm zo s, ,slomh s
,odydyslr/ @zmpe jpe vsm zo dohiodr yjpdr yep pndrtbsyopmd gityjrt?
zo [ovlrf yjr yomordy gpmy yp etoyr om/ zo lmpe ejsy/ zjpe snpiy og
zo yu[r yjr rcsvy ds,r yjomh rcvr[y ,pbr pbrt pmr dry gp lrud/ zjrtr
hprd/ pmrd dry yp yjr tohjy/ @I love you guys. Thanks for putting up
with me! @Quinn And Bonnie 8:55 PM (15 hours ago)to me Thank you.
You are awesome.
