Nauvoo Redux

The Chicago temple endured severe water damage back around the holidays and has been closed to date in 2009. So, the Ward decided it was time for a quick road trip for youth baptisms. A relatively painless 4 hour drive brings one to Nauvoo. We convened at the Visitor center, shared our bag lunches, and enjoyed a presentation about the common saints of Nauvoo by our resident Nauvoo expert - Taylor Manning. After which it was off to the temple with the group of 16 boys and 11 girls and a dozen adults. A wonderful , peaceful, lovely divine place to be.

After the session we gathered at the local kid emporium for pizza and then a quick ride back home. A great day.

States United

"It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.”

-Barack Obama

Growth

Growth takes place whenever a challenge evokes a successful response that, in turn, evokes a further and different challenge.


Arnold J Toynbee
A Study of History

BYU Blue

I totally enjoyed my years at BYU educationally, spiritually, and socially. I am grateful that Blair, Brigham and Evan have all had and are having, BYU experiences. Even with all that I have never really consider myself a Cougar. I certainly am not a football fan of any measure . I watch the token game during the season, I even went to one and a quarter games while at BYU, and I am current on Superbowl commercials.

With such a preamble i must admit a token of surprise with the enjoyment, delight and uplift I experienced at a recent BYU alumni event where Bronco Mendenhall spoke. I left confirmed in a conviction of the truthfulness and importance of the gospel in all things,i of increased gratitude for BYU, of hoping my younger children will yet have a BYU experience, of thinking maybe my boys should have played football, and with a hope that all coaches and teachers at BYU - or elsewhere might be like Bronco.

The fireside is rebroadcast on KBYU at the following link.

And may I recommend as well the music from VocalPoint. (not from the fireside but enjoyable as is this)

The New Zero

I believe it was the Bloomberg Report that defined a negative 5 growth in the economy as the new zero; or the baseline from which to measure. With bad news on every side the downtown looks to defy the experts. Though the economist in the clip below seem to have a handle on it.

Favorite Visitor

and her parents dropped by for a Valentine surprise - what a delight.

We love having visitors drop in and the fun is multiplied when they live so close and have and take the opportunity to road trip down for a weekend. It was grand and we even learned a new German / Wisconsin card game - Sheepshead. Great to see Eden, her parents, and her dogs

1851 Utah's First Murder Trial

Proving once again that not only Oliver lives in an incredibly small world . . . so goes the following.

Today when our home teachers visited the discussion turned to the first murder trial in the Territory of Utah which involved a relative of our home teacher (Taylor Manning), of the name Howard Egan. As we discussed the story of times past we shared the incident of Rindy and I sitting at my parents home in Plymouth when we were still dating. We were in my parents' kitchen when my father came in, bursting with excitement to share the Egan story. He did so knowing that his ancestor George A Smith was the defending attorney in this juicy tidbit of history; little did he know as he regaled us, that the prosecuting attorney, whose name was also revealed in the story, was Seth Millington Blair an ancestor of Rindy's. And as time and research by Rindy's brother John would bear out Seth and George were close friends, shared correspondences frequently, and were involved together in more than one interesting church antidote. The underlying story - which sets legal precedent in Utah, might also be linked to the death of Parley P Pratt, is as follows:

"In the spring of 1848, Egan and part of his family were selected to go with a company organized by Brigham Young; they left on May 24 for Salt Lake Valley. Later in 1849 he returned east to get his wife Nancy and their daughter Helen, he was to pilot another company of saints cross-country to Salt Lake Valley. Upon his return in 1849, Brigham gave him the job of guiding a company of forty-niners across the desert to the gold fields of California and return in the spring of 1850 to the Salt Lake Valley to finish settling his family. It was upon his arrival back in Salt Lake that he met with the news that one of his wives had willingly been seduced by a James Monroe and had given birth to an illegitimate child. . .

... Sunday, September 30, Egan meeting the train ten miles west of Bear River Shot Monroe. . .

...On October 17, Egan was brought in to appear before the United States District Court (First District) for the Territory of Utah for an arraignment, with (Mormon) Judge Snow presiding. Seth M. Blair conducted the prosecution for the United States, but prior to the trial he was employed by and acted as counsel for the prisoner...

October 18, George A. Smith, on behalf of the prisoner, started his opening plea by stating basically that he did not know much about the law and technical terms to be used in court so he would use common mountain English to address the jury. Smith's strongest argument that seems to be most favored was, stating that the laws that are applicable in the United States are not applicable in Utah. Smith was trying to show that a new territory needs new laws. It was his opinion the only law in respect to adultery, which should govern in such an isolated place, was, "that the man who seduces his neighbor's wife must die." In continuing his case he also referred to two similar cases from the east, in which the defendants were found not guilty. These cases were "New Jersey vs. Mercer," and "Louisiana vs. Horton."

The jury only took the time to write out their findings, because they returned to the court in only fifteen minutes - not guilty."

another view on the history

from a history of Utah

also found in The Journal of Discourses, (See JD 1:95-103)

The first picture is of George A the second of Seth M - please note how Parker takes after both:

My Heart - Happy Valentines Day

My heart belongs to one - Rindy.

Two pivotal decisions that define a lifetime: one serving a mission and the next marrying LaRinda Elaine Bond in the Salt Lake Temple. I loved her deeply then, I love her more today, I'll love her more tomorrow, and eternally be grateful we are friends, companions, soul mates, and partners for eternity.

Church Basketball: The Brawl That Begins With Prayer

So, I only wish that I had creatively and so aptly named the activity. There are redeeming parts of the program: good to get the kids together, healthy activity for those who don't play AAU or high school ball, moments of basketball break out and a degree of fun. Typical of our Saturdays - Rindy coaches the girls, of which Mackey is one, to a team victory and then later in the morning the boys play, also victorious. For youth I still find it acceptable, for adults I say quit.

Bishop's Store House

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday find Evan working at the Bishop's Storehouse. He cleans, stacks, warehouses, shelves, and does misc chores. He loves working there and they love having him work there. Each week he becomes stronger and contributes more. What a blessing all around. Here he is with some fellow workers and friends.

The bishop's storehouse system is a network of Church-owned and -operated commodity resource centers that function much like retail stores, with the major difference that goods cannot be purchased but are given to needy individuals whom local LDS bishops judge to be worthy and deserving of Church assistance. Recipients are invited to work or render service in various ways in exchange for goods to avoid allowing the goods given to be a form of dole.
The storehouse stocks basic food and essential household items, produced largely from Church agricultural properties, canneries, and light manufacturing operations. The entire system, where practical, is vertically integrated, from farming and harvesting through processing and distributing. All work is performed by Church volunteers and recipients and is largely independent of the commercial economy. The contribution of time, talents, and resources of the membership of the Church in various areas sustains the storehouse.
The concept of the storehouse and the Church Welfare Services emerged from scriptural principles, elucidated by a series of revelations given to the Prophet Joseph Smith beginning in 1831, a year after the Church was organized. In one revelation, Church members were directed to "remember the poor, and consecrate [their] properties for [the poor's] support" (D&C 42:30). The goods and money thus contributed were to be "kept in [the Lord's] storehouse, to administer to the poor and the needy" under the direction of the local presiding leader, the bishop (verse 34). Bishops were charged to seek donations as well (D&C 104:15-16; Welfare Services Resource Handbook, p. 9).

New Beginnings

New Beginnings is an annual event teaching the purposes of the Young Women organization. It includes an orientation to the Personal Progress program and to the Young Women theme, logo, motto, and values. Tonight was New Beginnings for our Ward and Mackie, a couple of good talks, values presentations by the girls and a bit of recognition. Would that every young woman would live by the values taught:

We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will "stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places" (Mosiah 18:9) as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:

Faith

Divine Nature

Individual Worth

Knowledge

Choice and Accountability

Good Works

Integrity and

Virtue.

We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values, we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.

My God

is an interesting plaint, prayer, interjection, pejorative and entirely overused in daily parlance. Its most divine utterance was evoked by Christ when upon the cross he quoted Psalms 22:1: My God My God, why hast thou deserted me..." Matt 27:45-46. Christ was at a point where he was bearing the burden alone and cried unto His Father for comfort and strength. "MY" in this instance meaning a recipient of affection and standing in a special relationship; not the "my" which is equivalent to ownership.

Joseph Smith in section 121 finds himself in Liberty Jail, and in his plead for understanding, and in his day of feeling abandoned prays: " O God" followed by "O Lord" followed by "O Lord God"; no possessive found but depth and relationshiped embedded.

A teenage girl utters "o my god" reflexively without divine worship, without relationship. Her statement expresses shock, surprise, disdain, dismay; anything but an innvocation of prayer. In ScrewTape Letters by C.S. Lewis, Screwtape explains: "we have taught men to say 'My God' in a sense not really different from 'my boots', meaning the God on whom I have a claim for my distinguished services and whom I exploit ..." pg 114

My, mine one of the most polarizing, powerful, possessive, exclusionary, divisive terms of language. When used to trivialize the relationship God has with His creations, it demeans God and his created. Think of the power of "mine/my" when evoked by an enraged two-year old.

I find it interesting that as we trivialize sacred language we create a gap; we take something special and meaningful and render near useless for its intended purpose. The expression "My God" becomes taking the Lord's name in vain instead of an introduction to the most sincerest, and intimate of prayers. Ponder as you next hear it in used and how you and I should use this sacred term.

Interactivity

So the reading audience wasn't as stirred by Woot as I was, of such is the diversity in web expectations. Nonetheless, I proffer two tres cool sites well worth exploration. The one is best viewed full screen and the other with some music downloads accessible. Both worth exploring and investing a few minutes.

A couple of VERY cool websites .

http://thankyou.thisisgrow.com/TFWA

http://demo.fb.se/e/ikea/comeintothecloset2/

The Soul of a Musician

I am compelled to share

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAUnmoRXYDI

WOOT

Have you shopped the singular experience of WOOT. They do one deal a day and keep it fresh.

Product narratives are for entertainment purposes and frequently employ literary point of view, so they say. Surely someone in the reading audience has heard of them or perhaps shopped them, I have just discovered them and find the site a delight.

"Woot.com is an online store and community that focuses on selling cool stuff cheap. It started as an employee-store slash market-testing type of place for an electronics distributor, but it's taken on a life of its own. We anticipate profitability by 2043 – by then we should be retired; someone smarter might take over and jack up the prices. Until then, we're still the lovable scamps we've always been. But don't take our word for it: see what the online community has to say at this Wikipedia article. "

The Law of Undulation

In Ward Conference our Stake President challenged us to read the Book of Mormon by Easter and we, as a family accepted the challenge, and our attempting to do o through accelerated nightly family reading. This week we covered the start of 2 Nephi which includes Chapter 4: 16-35. In his 1947 monograph Our Book of Mormon, Sidney Sperry christened this passage "The Psalm of Nephi," and it has carried that epithet ever since. As we sat in the living room the words resonated once again with sweetness of the Spirit.


John S. Tanner wrote the hymn “I Love the Lord”, which until descrying the internet for writing this note I had forgotten, had moved me so at General Priesthood when it was performed by the BYU Men’s Chorus in April 2007. A powerful rendering of Nephi’s thoughts and testimony, which are so strengthening when put to music.

The following thoughts by John Tanner I also found interesting as they relate to the development of hymns based in the Book of Mormon.

Nephi's psalm (2 Nephi 4:16—35) constitutes one of the great lyric outbursts in the Book of Mormon. Like the psalms of David, it is replete with vivid figurative language, dramatically rising and falling emotions, and parallelism (the principal formal feature of Hebrew poetry). It also contains themes that figure prominently in the Psalter—praise, thanksgiving, love of scripture, anger with enemies, and the conviction of sin. Like biblical psalms, Nephi's psalm articulates universal feelings of self-reproach and rejoicing, of pleading and praising.

I Love the Lord"
I love the Lord. In him my soul delights.
Upon his word, I ponder day and night.
He's heard my cry, brought visions to my sleep,
And kept me safe o'er deserts and the deep.
He's filled my heart with his consuming love,
And borne me high on wings of his great dove.

Yet oft I groan,"O wretched man am I!"
My flesh is weak and I'm encompassed by
A world of sin, which holds me in its thrall,
If I give in and to temptations fall.
Then strength grows slack, I waste in sorrow's vale.
My peace destroyed, my enemies prevail.

Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin.
Rejoice, my heart! And let me praise again
The Lord my God, who is my rock and stay
To keep me strict upon his straight, plain way.
O let me shake at the first sight of sin
And thus escape my foes without and in.

Nephi's psalm speaks not only to his individual experience but to our common experience with anxiety, discouragement, and temptation. Such musical adaptations of scripture can greatly enrich our understanding of sacred texts as well as implant them more deeply in our souls. (Think of musical versions of The Lord's Prayer, Handel's Messiah) But we need more sacred songs drawn from the Book of Mormon. Too few hymns derive from our unique scriptural tradition. As a result, restoration scripture has not been borne by song into the sinews of our speech, the wells of our memory, and the affections of our hearts.

Those such as this that do.

C. S. Lewis sheds light on this same discussion through the advice of the senior devil to his nephew in The Screwtape Letters:
Humans are amphibians—half spirit and half animal. (The Enemy’s determination to
produce such a revolting hybrid was one of the things that determined Our Father to
withdraw his support from Him.) As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as
animals they inhabit time. This means that while their spirit can be directed to an
eternal object, their bodies, passions, and imaginations are in continual change, for to
be in time means to change. Their nearest approach to constancy, therefore, is undulation—
the repeated return to a level from which they repeatedly fall back, a series of
troughs and peaks. If you had watched your patient carefully you would have seen
this undulation in every department of his life—his interest in his work, his affection
for his friends, his physical appetites, all go up and down. As long as he lives on earth
periods of emotional and bodily richness and liveliness will alternate with periods of
numbness and poverty. The dryness and dullness through which your patient is now
going are not, as you fondly suppose, your workmanship; they are merely a natural
phenomenon which will do us no good unless you make a good use of it.

“The common experience of all human beings is that life on earth is filled with peaks and valleys.
Yet, there is something within all of us that longs, however inarticulately, for a life free from these undulations.” “ When the clouds of life cast a gray shadow over us, it is especially important to remind ourselves that what we are experiencing is a normal part of life in a fallen world and that in due course the sun will shine again.”

I have been unable to source the Conference Talk but remember the journey being described as a winding mountain train ride sitting in an open-window coach car behind the coal-driven locomotive. Many times the wind and direction of the train around the mountains would drive the soot-filled smoke to cloud the view but suddenly an incredible vista would break forth – and oh the view, what an incredible vista.



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