Beneath the Wraps

          Our ward has seemed to dwindle in attendance since we first moved in.  Some have left our ward due to moving out of the area or moving on to the other side.  We’ve had some move in – but where is the activity?  It has always been an older ward; the daytime activities seem more well attended than night time.              The activities committee had set up and decorated Thursday morning to afternoon.   It was beautiful.   A lot of work went into it.   They had set up an overflow room.   But as it was not all the tables filled up.   I don’t know why.   Last year we seemed to have had people coming out of the woodwork.   I felt smooshed as though there was no elbow room.                This year they had planned for 125 people.   I think there may have been sixty people.   Maybe.   Lot of food.   An announcem...

             I remember so many cold winters when I was living in Utah.   Occasionally we would have surprises when no coat was required but for the most part we had to bundle up and trudge through snow.           Our first winter in Oregon was so different.   It had snowed once but didn’t last.   snow on the 10th of December 2015 It did not last Jai's snowman kept shrinking By February there were signs of spring.   I don’t remember having experienced blossoms and blooming growth so early in the year before. Today I was reminded of this post I had created 8 years ago “When I was living in Utah, it never occurred to me that one day I would believe that February would offer perfect weather for walking, riding bikes, hearing motorcycles and lawn mowers. I am really enjoying the outdoor temperature right now. ” We’ve had one really nice day in February this year.   We had seen ...

            In the Church of Jesus Christ there is a meeting in which members of the congregation are encouraged to make their way to the stand to bear their testimonies.   This meeting takes place once a month – usually the first Sunday of each month.   General Conference also falls on the first Sunday of the month and so testimony meeting gets moved to either the last week of the month prior or to the second week (depending on the ward or stake).   In the South Umpqua ward we have held testimony meeting the week prior – except this year. On March 26 we had stake conference – which is a geographical boundary made of up several wards April 1 and 2 was General Conference (which is when the meetings are broadcast world wide) April 9 Easter program Thus our testimony meeting was not until the 16 th of this month.            I recall sitting through a many of sacrament meetings as a you...

          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...

            When there are not enough active members attending church, wards may combine as others are done away with.   When there is growth in the church, new wards and stakes are created. I have lived in such areas that affected ward boundaries.             I am too young to remember when my mom and neighbors were a part of the third ward.   I had always known us as the forth.   Just after or right before I had graduated high school, it was announced that our ward boundaries would be changing as our stake would include members on the west side of state street.   One and a half streets were made a part of the seventh ward.   I remember there wasn't much support in the "sustaining vote" - nevertheless, it was carried out.                It wasn't too many years later when I was o...

            As a child I remember hearing idioms such as "a penny for your thoughts", "too big for your breeches", and "you can't go home again".   What????   I thought adults were such morons.   First of all, I was always certain that my thoughts were worth more than just a penny.   "breeches" was a term we hadn't used and so I had no idea what that was.   And "you can't go home again"?   Of course, you can.   In my childish mind, I took the phrase literally.   If I went to a neighbor's house, for instance, I was expected to come home.   Even as a college student I knew that I'd be going home again.   It wasn't until many decades later that I finally figured it out.             "Home" is not necessarily a residence and family.   The "home" referred to is the past.   It's not just time that has put the dista...

          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...

            Currently I am taking two classes through the University and one for the library.  All three are online.  Currently two have to do with project charters.             I hadn't made the connection of the Grants Magic class being related to any of my schooling courses until after I contributed my thoughts to the discussion of my other charter class.  We were supposed to come up with a scenario in a situation gone wrong and how more productive it would have been to use a charter.  I had read some material and looked at countless videos and was still at a loss.  I sent a few links over to my husband and asked him to please review and dummy it down for me.   How would I possibly be able to explain how a charter would work for me if I haven't ever remembered using one before.              Roland ...