Beneath the Wraps

           Once a month, the church holds a sacrament meeting known as “fast and testimony meeting”.   This meeting is normally held at the first Sunday of the month.   The exceptions are just prior to or after General Conference.   Conferences take place the first weekend in April and October.   The ward I reside in has always done the testimony meeting the last Sunday in March and September.   This gives members of the congregation the opportunity of standing at the pulpit to express their understanding of the gospel and to share their testimonies.         Yesterday’s meeting was quite powerful and the Spirit was delivered in such reverent manner.   I had worn a clean mask which was no longer clean as it was filled with moist emotion. It had started before the bishop had invited the congregation to come and speak.  The sacrament hymn was "I Stand All Amazed" ( here ) which I have memo...

           I recently learned that Brigham Young had told Ephraim Hanks to shave his face.   I have probably heard the story ( here ) several times but did not resonate like it does at present.   “Wear a mask”. How hard is that?   Few people enjoy being told what to do.   We all have our free agency.   Not everybody will wear a mask – or if they do, they will wear pretend masks or fail to cover both mouth and nose. https://www.amazon.com/Mustache-Handmade- Washable-Copyright-Protected/dp/B08DK461YP          Ephraim Hanks had free agency.   He didn’t have to shave.   He chose to obey the council.   It’s not that he needed to prove anything to others or even God.   He had to prove to himself that he was willing to obey.   This act played a huge role with his ability to lead others.            This article reinforces that wearing a mask is showing Christ...

 Each year after the smoke leaves  the fog descends and the hills seem to disappear  as before but the air is clean and moist and breathable

            It has rained                      the last two mornings.   Sweet Beautiful Rain.     It has pounded over the skylight           and has woken me up.   I don't mind.   It's such a pleasant sound to my  ears. The rain has cleaned the air and swallowed up the hills – but in a positive way –           unlike the smoke.   I enjoy looking at the clouds.  The elements are awesome  

           Roland took a warehouse job with GREAT benefits – less than ten minutes away – but graveyards.   He had done that kind of work before.   He was doing that when I met him – graveyards. His body was younger and in better shape 20 years ago.   Just three days in seemed to take a toll on him and he quit.   Dang.   He is now training for a sales job at a jewelry store.   Jewelry.   Sales.   Blech!   I was much more excited about the warehouse.   NOT excited about sales or jewelry.   But it’s his comfort zone.   To sell.   He seems excited about it I guess.   He has felt the need for new clothes.   He has also wanted to purchase clothes for Jenna – who does enjoy shopping at the dollar store, discount stores and even second hand store.   But not for clothes.   A teenage girl who hates to go shopping. Roland has taken Jenna by himself a few times, but neither one ...

 One of the pigs got out of his/her yard and into ours.  Isn't the first time.  Could even be the same pig as last year.  I don't know.  It sounds as though they have been more trouble than what they're worth.  Neither one of these guys were particularly happy as it cost two hours of time they could have spent elsewhere.   When you view these (some not great quality due to a dirty window) pay attention to the pigs in the background.  They seem intrigued. not the most durable climbing shoes in my opinion appears to be a standoff LOL the details don't stand out so great in this photo but the pig in the background does

                 Every essay needs a thesis statement, at least three body paragraphs and a concluding paragraph.  Jenna is now taking an English based on writing letters to solicit scholarship funds.  Her first theme currently is “Beat the Odds Scholarship”.  I looked over her first rough draft and we changed some of it.  It’s still not perfect but we knew that going in.  One of the suggestions that her instructor has was that she should focus on overcoming disabilities or hardships that affected her life.   Jenna’s only comment was the pandemic which is definitely NOT a personal struggle.   It is still a struggle nonetheless – and the only one that either of us can think of.           The fact that Roland and I are college graduates has already kept Jenna from the summer program that at least one of her friends had gone to this year.   Our family way of life...

                 Yesterday marked the 20 th year of my marriage with Roland.   You think a couple might want to spend their 20 th anniversary with some kind of milestone celebration.   But both of us managed to forget – and yet I had just mentioned it to Jenna the day prior.   And thus our anniversary was celebrated in the same manner that many birthdays and anniversaries have gone during the pandemic.   We labored.                 We moved the freezer into the back room. We emptied the water barrel moved that as well.   Refilled with water. We unstocked and took apart shelves in the office and put a couple up in the backroom and one in the laundry hall and restocked them.   We finally did take a break between 10:30 and 11:00 to grab some food.   I had hoped for breakfast and NOT Mexican, but we ended up at a local Mexican that we had ...

            From the beginning of the pandemic, the horrific pictures in the media, the stay-at-home and lock down orders, mask mandates, verbal battles, etc. has been a reminder to some cheesy sci-fi that gets played on the Comet station.   Only we are really living it – though some are still in denial about it doesn’t change that it is and has been part of our lives for one to two years.                     Jenna is currently in the high school library with a bunch of other students who have not yet received their schedules.   At least she’s not alone.   She has always been enthusiastic and fired to return to school – even last year when I wouldn’t let her.   This year is worse than last year was – more deaths, more cases.   That is why she doesn’t have a schedule and is in the library waiting.   photo credit source here         ...

Jenna starts school tomorrow and had hoped to have less hair to deal with.   I had set up an appointment for each of us to get our hair thinned out – though I wondered if it we better just to recreate the pandemic hair from last year. Because we were already out and Jenna hadn’t gotten the schedule that would supposedly be sent out by August 27 (that was the original plan anyway. Tomorrow is the first day of school and no schedule has been identified. I told Jenna we could swing by the high school to see if we could figure out the source of the problem.   Walking to the school from the street made for an interesting challenge all by itself.   This is a view of the high school parking lot: I seriously have my doubts about this being finished tonight and ready for the students who drive to school tomorrow.   COVID is the source of vacant schedules. Only the freshmen who started today have the schedules.   Still working on grades 10 – 12) After I returne...

  I have seen one or two of the Harry Potter movies.   I can’t say that I enjoyed it nor would it have been of my choosing.   The times I had watched were with a number of other Swire employees who had been on their best behavior and were rewarded with our own private theater for viewing at Jordan Commons.   We were also fed hot dogs and drinks.   I remember the pickle relish being a brighter green than I have ever seen on a relish.   I don’t suppose I had paid much attention to the houses and house names nor cared which each represented.   But I notice Jenna will sometimes ask others “What group do you belong to?” as she refers to the four houses and considers herself to be a Hufflepuff which she defines as “I will automatically be your friend until you give me a reason not to be.”   Slytherins sound like the kind who will use others to get ahead.   Perhaps not all of them are toxic.   Unfortunately because of her overly friendly at...

         The smoke must have cleared out as I was able to see stars above the skylight.  I hope it may remain behind the hills or better yet disappear all together.  Bless the many fire fighters who are battling the flames.          A funeral was held yesterday at the church.  The second I've attended in person rather than virtually since the pandemic made its way to the US.  As with the last funeral, the service did not take place until after the body had been buried - or in yesterday's case, cremated.          Jenna had been asked to sing with her friend, Heather.  They performed two songs: "I am a Child of God" and "Where Love is".  I remember them learning the latter in primary after Jenna had already graduated to Young Women's.  It is one of my favorite primary songs and it makes me feel bad that I somehow missed out on teaching or singing it to Jenna.    ...

 Yesterday looked overcast in the morning.  I thought I saw mist.  Maybe not.  More probable not. I noticed that there was smoke behind the hills - to the north, to the west, to the east, to the south. The north and east don't seem so terrible compared to the west and the south.  The smoke has spilled over and into the valley.  I tried capturing the red sun last night, but the picture is not the same as what I saw with my naked eyes So this is what the photograph looks like But it looked more like this - or maybe something in between West and South hills have seemed to disappear.  Took most of these this afternoon while we were walking Bonnie We got a notification from Alexis about our air quality - as though our breathing wouldn't have been able to figure it out on its own.  We've seen worse.  Last year was worse.   I look at so many elements people are currently fighting across our nation.  The floods, the fires.  Each t...