Christmas Present for the Ward

          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 announcement will be made tomorrow.  Changes we’re not supposed to talk about.  Speculations on my part.  I do know who the new ward clerk is going to be.  Many will be called and set apart tomorrow.  I know I’m not supposed to say anything – but I don’t think anybody from my ward reads my blog – especially on Saturday.  Why would they read the very day I post it.  And after tomorrow they will already know.

           Young Women and Relief Society will remain the same.

The Weather’s not the Same

           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 blossoms and growth.  But for the most part we’ve had cold rain and fog.  It has felt like Utah winter - except without snow. Weather is so weird.

Short and Sweet

         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 youth in which testimony meeting especially seemed to drag.  Either a person would make his/her way to the stand and drone on endlessly or else there was such a lull of space in between each testimony that the silence often seemed to account for a longer amount of time.

          There were several things on my mind.  Jaime had made a surprise visit.  I am so grateful to have her so close to home.  I have also grown a lot due to the “Come Follow Me” program in addition to my current living situation – becoming more tolerable I guess and feeling like I have become (and continue to become) a better person as I compare my own faults to the scriptures direction on how to improve.

          During the week I had asked for the Spirit to be with me that I might express my thoughts without detraining from the testimony’s purpose.  Bishop had announced that we keep our testimonies short and sweet – which this ward members seem to be really great at – and there are rarely lulls or distractions like some meetings of my past.

          I mentioned how the “Come Follow Me” program has assisted me with my current living situation and how grateful I have been for the examples each have given me.  I was then prompted to sit down. 

          “But I still have more to say,” I thought.

          I sat down without expressing my gratitude for Jaime and being at a close distance.  And so I am expressing it here.

It Felt Rushed

          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 of ages.  Perhaps only 20 minutes of lesson time has improved that?  I don't know.  I was with the three.  And there's one who does not attend every week, so mostly it will be just two and two.  That seems weird.  But whatever.

          We have a new chorister recently called to primary - though she had served in the presidency before.  She always has illustrations to go with each song and made a game for one today.  We learned the song and had time for only two more songs to sing after that.  I think she was over prepared - though it was fun.  It seemed that more time was needed.

          We then went to class.  Two of our children took turn being leaders and we each followed them down the hall around the primary doors and back to the classroom - which this year is one that we have never met in before.  Initially when we had gone to our room, we learned that we had been locked out and so that in itself took away time from a 20 minute lesson.

          Danny had prepared a match game after the children had guessed all the letters to "Ways to Follow Christ" - match games can go quickly or drag on.  This may have dragged at a normal level, but as we were running out of time, Danny started matching pairs with numbers the children had not picked - though I believe they still had fun.

          It's funny how different people can look at the same set of guidance and still be on two different paths.  For instance, I did not get the primary outline but had searched for it on the web but felt frustration in not finding a primary outline that seemed to work with our individual outline - which I believed was that entire point of this new program.  Danny said it confused her, too.   She said that is why she taught the lesson from the individual guide rather than the primary outline.  She did?  Wow.  Her understanding of the lesson had been so much different from my own.  The message I got from my individual and family study was on forgiveness and prayer.

          It's great that we are encouraged to share with one another our own perspectives as we do all have different ideas and are able to grow at we feed one another and stay in tune with what the Spirit needs each of us to learn - Roland said his instruction was on "Giving All that We Have"  Wow.  And all of these are valid and teach us values that we need to understand.  I'm grateful for member and family support.

Changing Boundaries

            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 out on my mission, mom wrote to tell me that another stake would be created and we would have our one and a half streets of members back in our ward.  I remember, sometime after returning home from my mission,  a brother giving a talk in sacrament meeting about a short-lived calling that he had accepted in the 7th ward.  He had been called as a counselor in the bishopric and served for one week before it was dissolved.  I remember him saying he had never been part of a ward that had been dissolved,  let alone had accepted and served such a short calling.  

            Even though the 7th ward had been "dissolved" - it was due to the growth of a new stake. It seemed to be an opposite problem when I lived in Kearns.

            We had a bishop who had compared our ward boundaries to a giant apartment building in which move-ins and moving out happened so constantly that it was sometimes difficult to keep track - especially as the church would continue mailing back church records as it was always the "last known address"  We would even get records of members with addresses that were not even a part of the ward boundaries.  

            The stake lost two wards during the time that we lived there.  I remember one member complaining that she had lived in eight different wards during her marriage and lived at the same address through all eight changes.  Thus when the stake announced that the boundaries would change again, I was prepared to live in another ward.  The change put my next-door neighbor in a different ward than I; she was not happy about the change after having lived in the same ward for over 30 years.

            Before we moved to Douglas County, Canyonville and Myrtle Creek had been two separate wards.  I don't know when the boundaries changed, but the wards were combined and the church building in Canyonville was sold. It takes 45 min to an hour for some of our ward members to get to the building in Myrtle Creek.

            When we moved to Douglas County there were six wards: Winston, South Umpqua, Sutherlin, Roseburg, Melrose and Newton Creek.  The last three all Roseburg wards but none go by those names anymore, but rather names of the dividing streets: Garden Valley, Harvard, North Umpqua, and Parkway.  Growth:  our stake now has seven wards.  South Umpqua, North Umpqua, and Sutherlin are the largest wards geographically. Each ward is geographically larger than the other four wards put together. May we continue to grow.

You Can't Go Home Again

            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 distance between us but the evolutions and economical rise and fall that have contributed to a sense of loss as well.  I think this should be a topic for my brother's blog, but as he has not posted to his blog for over two years, I guess I will attempt to write about it on my own.

            He has posted many pictures to facebook.  Mostly memorabilia from 1960's and 1970's.  Even those two decades seemed to have differences in neighborhood and community.  Our Midvale neighborhood was fairly new.  I don't know how many houses existed on the entire street, but I think at least 30 at the top half of the street where we lived.  I remember many pregnant mothers, and all stay-at-home at that.  I knew of only one mother who worked outside of the home.  Other than that each of us seemed to be raised by all of the mothers on our street as there were many children, activities and spending time with one another.

            We all went to the same neighboring newly built elementary school.  Doors were left unlocked on all sides of the school and not just the front door.  School shootings were unheard of.  We didn't have school lockdowns. I think more field trips had been offered in the '60's  than were offered in the 70's when Corey and Kayla attended. But I could be wrong. 

            The Salt Lake Tribune offered pages to announce births and weddings.  We had a black and white TV which offered three stations: NBC, abc, and CBS.  We would drive up to Grandma's house at least once a week.  At that time her house was located behind the capital building.  My brother and I would always have great adventures there with my cousins.  We would explore the house inside and out.  

            Many years after my grandpa had passed and my aunt moved out on her own, the family talked grandma into moving.  It really was a huge house for one person to take care of.  I think even more work was required for the upkeep of the yard.  She did not move until after Corey was born, but he will never have the same memories that I did of that house on Edgecomb Dr. It's really too bad.  I was told that Grandma had contributed to the design of the house.

            I think our visits to Grandma were made more frequently when she moved to Murray.  I was thrilled to learn I could ride my bike there - not that I did it often.  Usually, we went by car, but I can remember taking the bus a few times also.  It was the condominium in Murray that Corey and Kayla might think of as "Grandma's house".  After she passed the condominium was sold.  It's still a sensitive subject for a few family members.

            Spending time with all of my neighbors was part of my childhood.  I remember going to others' houses and they would come to ours.  Our neighbors, the Birds, would take us to American Fork with them in July for the Steel Days parade and activities.  Although it's been several decades since I have been, I am happy to see that this is still a community event - (here) 

            Jenna has grown up in a society of many working mothers and hasn't always had the option of spending time with neighbors the way that I did.  We don't just drop by on people the way we did then.  Play dates need to be scheduled.  Appointments need to be made. 

            The school she attends in Myrtle Creek is quite different from the ones she'd attend in Salt Lake.  Still, there are lock downs and precautions that didn't seem necessary when I was growing up.  Oh, I'm not saying that wicked things didn't take place during the 60's and 70's, but nothing like they are now.  Corey and I have had a hard time letting go of the house where we were raised.  I saw a picture on facebook recently of two police cars parked in front of a house in my old neighborhood.  The caption warned others that the resident had been recently burglarized.  I'm sorry to read about the intrusion, but it does make it easier for me to deal with losing the house.  There are many members of the neighborhood that I know and still have contact with, but even more that I do not.

            So while many things (both tangible and not) have been lost, others have been gained.  I, for one, am grateful that technology has made the vacuum easier to lift along with other appliances.  Retrieving some items from closet or cupboard seemed to be a chore in itself - but then having to use them to complete the chore . . . well, I am happy I don't have to do the same heavy lifting as my mom or her mom before her.  I am grateful for having so information at my fingertips - literally, but horrified about it at the same time.  Research seems to be so much easier with sites such as Google, but often it seems there is more personal information offered that it seems like an invasion of privacy.  For instance, I don't know the exact location of Roland's two oldest daughters, but perhaps enough that I could track them down if I had the finances or desire to do so.

            They have moved around so often I don't know that they even have a sense of home.  I wonder if they even have any memories of where they'd been and who they've met.  I don't suppose it's easy to "go home again" if you've never had one.

           For more idioms, you can click here for meaning.  Unfortunately, this site does not provide the origin.  Some are self-explanatory.  You are encouraged to look up origins on your own.

Historic Eagles Lodge: Eagles' to Equitable to Bay to Historic Landmark?

          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) that may have well taken up the majority of the basement.  It is the break room that I remember most.  I remember tables were set up and at least two different vending machines.  One was quite tiny and offered tiny bottled drinks that cost a dime.  Another machine offered cigarettes.  I don't remember seeing any other part of the building until I was employed there myself.

          Good grief! What a mess! I remember the file cabinets were located on the balcony.  The layout of the office space had not been planned.  File cabinets were added and continued to crowd the already closeted feeling workspace.  I remember looking out over the floor below the balcony thinking how everything seemed disarray and congested.   

The building itself may have been a prime location when it housed the Eagles or even when the Insurance Company took over. However, the neighborhood  itself had seemed to go downhill - even with the Sheraton Hotel owning property just beyond the building on the corner. 

          There was a building sandwiched between the Equitable building and the Sheraton parking lot.  I don't know if it had a name.  Most people unfondly called it "Bum Motel" as there were many residents that seemed to lack ethics and made a habit of getting drunk.  I recall dad coming home from work one time to report that a drunk had fallen out of the window and landed on somebody's car.  The drunk was so intoxicated, he was able to walk away.  The car was severely damaged. I was told that Ross' had tried to buy them out and had speculated that Sheraton had tried to buy out the owner as well, but the owner wouldn't budge.

          I had not worked at said location for long.  The company moved to a much nicer building, nicer location and much bigger parking lot.  The building that had once housed the Eagles and then Equitable was eventually purchased by a company that turned it into a dance hall of sorts.  It was called "The Bay".  I remember having gone there just one time.  It appeared that the structure must have been gutted out an rebuilt. As I recall the interior did not remotely resemble the building I had been familiar with several years before.

          The outside still looks the same.  I don't know if  it is currently occupied or not.  This site says it is a historical landmark. I found this picture on google map

From the outside, the building looks the same as it did in 1948.  The picture I had used in this post didn't appear to have ownership either but contains advertisement to put your name here.  I don't know if it was advertized on the building itself or just the photo that I used.  The Google picture doesn't have a name on the building.  I have noticed at least two other vacant buildings during my search.

          I also learned that 400 South is now called University Boulevard - which I guess could have been its name for the last twenty years.  I didn't realize it had been given that name until I started doing research for my assignment. It was probably named so after UTA started using the trains.  The building seems like it would be a good location as it is  next to TRAX (Utah's extended public transportation) but still may not be the greatest part of town.  I don't know this for sure. I'm not there anymore. 

Don't Recall Ever Having Used a Charter Before

            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 did come up with a situation that in which we had adapted the plan (or charter) of another but it really wasn't accurate to what I thought that I needed. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I think a lot of trial and error has to take part before one actually knows what to plan. It wasn't just me that lacked understanding.  This particular week seems to have the entire class at a loss.  The scenario I finally came up with is one we are currently trying to smooth over, and that is the library staff and functions of the facility.

            As of now, our library is not even considered a public library by definition, but rather a third party operation.  There are many who are willing to assist in order to keep the existence of the library, but not everybody knows quite "how" to assist. Not everyone has been trained.  Not everyone is qualified to handle every aspect of what needs to be done.  Our leaders have been spread too thin or else haven't quite gotten the gist of all things either.

            My instructor had asked permission to use my example in her lecture.  Wow.  I must have had a better handle on it than I thought.   Still there are several class members who are still in the "Huh?" stage.  I answered one class mate using the example of Roger Bushell the great escape found here and here.  I wasn't able to create a project charter for the library as my understanding of the entire aspect is still limited.  In order to assist my fellow classmates with something visual, I also created this mock charter according to my own understanding and shared it with the class.

            I realize I've written many thoughts in this post that my average reader may not understand.  Welcome to My World!  This is where I am Roger Bushell had served in the British military during World War II and was known for planning and assisting in great escapes from prison camps.  When he arrived in what the Germans believed was an escape-proof camp, Roger was asked to assist with the largest escape on record.  Roger accepted the challenge and met each prisoner of the camp in order to utilize each skill so that the entire camp would be able to work together to make this escape.

          Now a written charter would not have worked as they couldn't risk having the German soldiers know what they were planning.  Several teams had been created to help the plan to move along.  Some teams would dig tunnels, some teams would hide the underground dirt,  there was even a team of prisoners practicing Christmas carols as a means to cover up the noise of the digging.  It was actually quite a genius plan.

          Without the verbal charter or organization of the teams and specific jobs of communicating and working together, the prisoners would have not been able to dig the tunnels or make their escape (WWII). Each of these team members would also have a project charter.  Danny (and Danny was not actually the leader in the movie, but was the only name I could think of) would assign his team members to dig certain parts of the tunnel and send another team member to collect something to hold the tunnels in place.  Hector would select music and pretend to lead his choir in beat with the hammer (or other tool being used) and the scavenger has to work with all groups to learn what is needed and what to steal or trade.  Probably not the best example of a charter, but I think this is how it works.  I asked for the class or instructor to please correct me if I'm wrong - and perhaps add their own thoughts and fill in the blanks that I still don't understand.

            A proposal was made at the last library meeting I attended for four teams to work on finances, PR, training;  I forget the other.  I signed up for training.  We have a new check in/check out system (no longer on cards and pockets . . . yea!), public computer assistance and Dewey decimal filing that we need to take care of.  Those are the three big ones that I see. Each team should create a charter similar to that above and break each group down even further.

            We need to utilize the talents of our volunteers so that we can know how often to schedule, who specializes best in each area and how they will best work together.  I would really like the opportunity to assist in training and get to know each volunteer.  As of now, I really don't know many of the volunteers and so I don't know where their strengths are or where they feel most comfortable.

Reference:

Project Charter. (2017). Retrieved from GoLeanSixSigma.com: https://goleansixsigma.com/project-charter/

Sturges, J (Director). (1963). The Great Escape [Motion Picture].

Squadron Leader Roger Joyce Bushell. (n.d.). Retrieved from Pegasus Archive: http://www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/roger_bushell.htm

World War Two – The Great Escape. (2016). Retrieved from History on the Net: https://www.historyonthenet.com/world-war-two-the-great-escape/