Beneath the Wraps

             As a former sister missionary I remember introducing non members to strong members to be fellowshipped. Finding strong priesthood members who would remain in the ward long after the missionaries had gone.   Wouldn’t it be more meaningful to be baptized by a fellow member and still have that connection down the road.   I remember one of my brothers making it a goal NOT to physically baptize those he taught but to pass the reign onto another.   Not that it’s a choice for just anybody to baptize.   One must have authority and has to be interviewed the same at the individual to be baptized.           Missionary baptisms are handled by the missionaries while primary baptisms arrangements are made by primary leaders and/or parents depending on the size of the ward or stake and the amount of children being baptized.   I remember making the arrangements for Jaime’s baptism bef...

               I had to make a few trips downtown yesterday.   The first was to mail a package to Roland’s mother.   Saturdays provide a two hour window between 11:00 and 1:00.   I’ve been told Myrtle Creek’s is the only post office in the county that is open on Saturdays.           Jenna and her friend had wanted to go trick-0r-treating, but the event didn’t start until 2:00. It was crowded.   Each year the city has offered trick-or-treating to the businesses downtown – though they had changed things up last year and “spaced” apart those handing out candy in the park and kept things in the park and not the entire 8 streets that make up the downtown area.   It continued to just the park this year.   Jaime wore her homemade costume “Sam” from Trick or Treat and her friend had gone as “Red Riding Wolf”.   They spent their last day of school (Thursday the 28 th ) ...

          It is the first Sunday of the year and the year of change as we have dropped an hour.   There will now be two Sunday schools per month, two RS (YM/YW, Priesthood) per month.   Apparently all the organizations except for the primary will meet together on the 5th Sunday.   Primary is still its own separate thing.   Whereas, two hours of primary seemed way too long at times, this one hour deal is like blinking your eyes.   At least that is how it felt today.                     On the first Sunday last year there were 15 children the valiant class alone.   I don't know how many were in the others.   This year we have only two classes: CTRs and Valiants.   There are no Sunbeams this year, and only three Valiants.   Two instructors are definitely needed in CTRs this year - what a wide assortment o...

My initial post is costing more time than I am able to give for the moment anyway.  Guess this one will have to tie my readers over:             The meeting ended early today and so the bishop decided to call a few members from the congregation to come and bear their testimonies.   I smiled as I thought about how often meetings were based on impromptu due to short meetings or just lack of speakers.   In this post I mentioned the majority of youth had their favorite impromptu meeting which was sharing one's favorite hymn and a little bit about why it was/is our favorite (or one of our favorites) and then we would sing that hymn as a congregation.   I think that is something we could do in this ward with our regular pianist, but I know there several in the ward who would not be comfortable playing some hymns out of the blue that they hadn't practiced for a while.       ...

          The first location of Salt Lake's Equitable Life and Casualty was housed in the old Eagle's lodge building on 4th South and West Temple. According to this website Roderick Ross had established the company in said location in 1948.   The building itself did not seem the ideal for the insurance business - at least not with the Eagle's Lodge floor plan. Perhaps in the late 1940's it didn't matter that the building contained skinny stairs and a balcony, but it seemed quite inappropriate in the 1980s.           My dad had been hired as a computer programmer.   I think he used a different entrance to the building than the majority of workers.   On occasion I had opportunity to visit him at his place of work. As a child I remember seeing parts of what I believed to be the basement.   My dad worked with one those huge wall-to-wall computers   (or maybe several) th...

            Yesterday I started two new classes in addition to a grant class I'm taking for the library.   The two classes I'm taking currently delve into personality.   I have a feeling my head will fill faster than my fingers will be able to keep up. I've taken intelligence quizzes before - even before I started taking classes online.   I see the growth in my answers.   The instructor made the suggestion to look at where we were ten years ago and where we are now emotionally.   This is what I've written - but feel that it's too long for the discussion.   Even if I reference myself, I don't have anything to put in APA form as a reference.   So I'm posting it here - although you may have read it all before.             Ten years ago I walked with my three year old daughter to the school.   We took many walks around not only our neighborhood but my mom'...

So many times Jenna and I have gone to Millsite, I feel like I am seeing it for the first time.  The elements change and often causes a new feel.  But there has been reconstruction.  A new fence was added.  Trees were removed and new ones planted.  This is Millsite last year, this year in October and on Veteran's Day Dec 22, 2016 Dec 22, 2016 Perhaps you will recognize some of these pictures from this site     October 10, 2017 When we returned to the park on Veteran's Day, I took even more pictures

          I don't know how long it's been since Del Blanchard started his blueberry farm.   I don't know if it was his dream or how just how he got started.   The public hadn't been invited to pick until the year that we moved in.   Evelyn had made some flyers and posted them around town.   Roland saw the one that was hanging at the Pizza Palace - where we had gone to get something to eat.   We copied the address and went blueberry picking the next day.           That first year we dealt solely with Evelyn - who teaches school and I believe prefers it over the blueberry farm.   Del had been sick off and on and so we had to call first to make sure somebody would be there to let us onto the property as there were several days when Evelyn had to take Del to the doctor.           Summer seemed to get away from us last year.   We didn't go as of...

               This morning I started a search for pics to go with the next post I had mind – which has only been written in my head and outlined on paper, but still needs to be transferred which I had planned today but things don’t always go according to plan . . . like yesterday morning seeing Riddle before the town awakens and the streets have no traffic on them whatsoever.             I did not notice any traffic as I drove to the blueberry patch this morning.  The drive seems long each time I go out there, but somehow felt even longer this morning.  I had gone a different way than I had the other 12 – 20 times I’d gone there before.  The sun shining directly over the spotty windshield did not help matters.  I felt like I had been driving for half an hour at least.             I wish I had left the house s...

            Have you ever felt inconvenienced by a situation, but later on down the road, you realize that inconvenience was/is a blessing?   It’s even more awesome when you can recognize the blessings in the process of being inconvenienced.   I can see the blessings;   Jenna sees the inconveniences that become more inconvenient to her with each passing minute.             I noticed when I mopped the floor in the back room, there was a nasty splotch that wouldn't remove - a stain I hadn't noticed before (I'm actually not all that observant) nor had I noticed the floor had gotten softer.   I had just chalked that up my own aging and slowing down.   It seems like each time I did laundry, moisture would leak out between the walls and the floor.   Oh . . . . that is not good.              Roland contacted our insurance company to find...