30 April 2007 – Monday
Happy Birthday to me…and it was a great one. I heard from almost all of the children and grandchildren and got to see some of them. Too bad our connection is not better so we could see and hear better, but at least we have some opportunities to see them.
The winner of the best present award goes to Jim and Kristy – the announcement of the future arrival of our 13th grandchild. We are just sorry that we will not be able to hold him/her/them until we get home. The winner of the best birthday card and the best letter goes to Shane. His card was cool and his letter was really long and told us all about what was going on in his life. I think he should consider a career in journalism – he seems to have a talent for writing. Mary gave me a large apple sculpture-she says there is another present but I do not get it until we get back from couple’s conference.
We spent a very quiet day. The cleaning lady came while we were reading the Kitab Mormon. Hopefully she could understand some of our poor Indonesian as we read out loud. I do not think we can count this as giving a lesson but at least it exposes her to some of the doctrine of the church. We were in Alma where Alma the younger is preaching about repentance and the atonement. We ended up reading three times during the day for about an hour each. This caught up some of the time we did not do when we were sick.
The rest of the time we watched TV, slept, and ate. About the only ‘exciting’ thing we did – besides getting on Skype – was to go downstairs and eat at the little restaurant. Nothing wild but it did give Sam a full day off. Something he has not had for a while. He will also get Thursday off…but Friday it is back to work for him.
Musing a little about being 69. It is hard to think of myself as being old. If it was not for the glasses, the wrinkles, and age spots that I see when I look in a mirror, I do not seem to myself to be old at all. I still seem to like the same things I did 45-50 years ago. Well the music I prefer has changed quite a lot but I still like music. I still enjoy reading. The gospel is still exciting to me – I realize I do not know much more about it than when I first joined the church. I still have many imperfections – I have managed to get rid of some of them but I had a lot to start with. I still love Mary with all my heart. I find it hard to think that I have a son that will be 47 this year and a grand daughter that is driving and going to junior proms.
I have had some wonderful experiences in serving in the Church. From being a Scout Master and assistant Scout Master – to now serving on a mission with my eternal soul mate. The 8 years of being bishop are among the best of my life. However I was surprised to be just as sad – if not sadder – to be released as assistant Scout Master many years later. Being a bishop is like no other calling in the church – other than of course branch president – because you get to become part of all the members of the wards lives and they part of yours. Some day I need to sit down and write all that I can remember about that time. Maybe that is something I can do while on this mission – it would be a better use of my time than watching TV.
My three times as executive secretary – I actually was serving as Ward Home Teaching Supervisor when that calling was turned into the original Executive Secretary position. For over a year no one knew what we were supposed to do as ES so we kind of did whatever the bishop wanted done – well sometimes I did what I wanted to do and then asked the bishop if that was OK. I was blessed to have two bishops and a stake president who knew how to use an executive secretary and I think I did a good job there.
Our experience of working at the MTC is another wonderful part of my full life. How we came to be serving there, the way we were called to be full time missionaries, and the experience of helping to start a program for helping the young missionaries learn their languages that is still going on today was and is a great time of our lives. I hope that the Intensive English Class that we are going to have a chance to try next month will be as successful. There is nothing like working with missionaries – the spirit at the MTC is so special that it you can only really discuss it well with someone who has also served there.
I have had the opportunity to be a guide at the Los Angeles Temple Visitor’s Center for a number of years. The fact that I can not remember either the number of years or the actual dates frustrated me but I must remember that time is only measured by man and move on. To spend an afternoon explaining the gospel plan to visitors was an important part of my growth in the Kingdom. I also had the opportunity to serve for a number of years in the LA Temple baptismal fount – that period will take a few pages. The feeling of having a line of spirits waiting their turn to have this sacred ordinance done for them was amazing. I got to feel this again when I toomk at turn at the Provo Temple to confirm some proxies.
Of course being an ordinance worker in the Provo temple has been a great blessing. The work is wonderful and the spirit great. Again it is something a person has to experience to really understand. But as much as the spirit is there, for me working with the missionaries at the MTC is the most powerful. I think it is because the young missionaries are so full of enthusiasm and so vibrant that the spirit just crackles there. The best of both worlds is to be working in the temple when a session is filled with missionaries from the MTC. The temple is so new to them and it still holds their attention as they try to absorb all the new things that they learn each time they come.
The problem with trying to do this is that there are just too many memories to even start to write about them here. But unlike the brass and other plates, there is lots of room in this computer and so just maybe while we are on this mission I will start putting more of them down for my children and grandchildren and their children to read long after I have gone to see God.