Beneath the Wraps

                I wish I had taken the time to record my thoughts and try to transcribe them instead of the pathetic attempt to post the following:            Jenna has an assignment due today.   She asked if I could bounce around some ideas in order to help her.   The topic is “ Defunding the Police – Why or Why Not? ” Her thoughts mirrored my own when the subject started making its way around facebook.           “ Why would we defund the police?   That is so wrong.   It ’ s their job to serve and protect us.   Why would we want to take that away? ”           I obviously had not understood why so many seemed to support it until I saw this political cartoon   this was shared on facebook.  Unfortunately I am  unable to cite its orginal source but would like to ...

                Krystal and Hank both attend our ward.   Neither one of them is a baptized member.   Krystal is ten and has been homeschooled up until now;   she loves primary.   She started attending with her grandma and cousin. She loves socialization.   She fits right in.   She loves to be there. Hard to believe that she is not a member.   She drinks the gospel up like it's water - which in a way . . . She LOVES primary.     Hank was a different story. He was a rebel and it showed.   I don't know the full story, but I get the impression that he's been passed off one relative to another for at least a couple of years.   When he came to stay with his Aunt Ronnie, she had only one rule: he had to attend church with her every Sunday.     Ronnie has been a member of the Church for less than two years.   She's a go-getter...

              I remember being in the congregation during a sacrament meeting in which a newly returned missionary was giving his homecoming talk . As he shared various experiences, he would explain why he felt the need to share.  I remember him saying that all missionaries have at least one dog story.          “We do?” I had thought.           I must admit that I had missed his dog story as I had been thinking of my own.    One that actually brings a smile to my face each time I think about it.          I was serving in an area where each door had been knocked on (weekly if not daily) by one religion or another.    It came to the point that people just didn’t want to open their doors as they felt they were being bullied by religious freaks.    We had actually been told...

fund raisers seem necessary for raising money for different causes charities   one may go from door to door seeking collections usually with product that no one wants or can afford   or doesn ’ t like       parties at both ends feel emotion     the recipient fells bad that he can ’ t contribute       or feels anger towards the very idea of having walked across the room to open the door to something he may not even believe in           or resentment because he has purchased the product when he knows it could have been used more wisely                the seller (or cause promoter) either gives up because she is discouraged that no one wants to buy   or else she continues but with an attitude full of regret and resentment and ...

My brother Corey has many talents.  One he started early on was with drawing comics.  He would entertain himself for hours on end drawing his comics and then reading them.            One year he received a giant drawing pad and a green ballpoint pen for Christmas.  He had filled the pad in less than two days.  By day three, the pen was out of ink.            One of his comic series I think was similar to “Spy Vs. Spy” - which eventually turned into a game between him and my brother Patrick, though it did not last long.           Patrick read one of Corey’s comic strips and imitated his style as he added to it and killed off the characters in different ways and Corey would always resurrect them.  Some of the deaths were challenging to overcome, but I think it was fun for both of them for a while.  ...

          Communication is SO important – whether it is the working place, or homes, our churches, our communities . . . and it’s important that we all stay on the same page.  We need consistency.            I recall one work place that made egg salad sandwiches.  Some of the workers would put pickles into the mixture, while others refused because they thought it was gross.  I don’t care if the egg salad has pickles or not.  When I am in a working environment I would expect to make the egg salad according to what the customer orders from the menu and expects – not to my own personal preference.  I think when a customer expects a certain product, he or she should receive the same product or courtesy or satisfaction that kept him or her coming back to begin with.           I know different cooks have their own ...

Once upon a time in the kingdom of     Natalafe , there lived a royal prince and his subjects.    Now the name of the prince was   Emmanuel Bishop   and the king had given him a list with the names of all of his subjects.    The problem was there were some names on the list that he wasn’t familiar with. Now all of these subjects lived far and wide all throughout the kingdom – yet they all lived within a day’s walk of the castle.    Many of the subjects would come to the castle at least once a week to pay their respects to the king.    Prince Bishop knew all of those subjects by name.    He would often meet each subject at the castle gate and would welcome them. But there were many subjects who never even entered the castle though the king strongly desired for each of his subjects to attend.    Prince Bishop knew some of those subjects but not all of them.    And yet the king ...

          Jenna always asks if we can sign up to feed the full time missionaries – which is something we did often when Roland and I had the Church calling of being the ward missionaries – but now that he is in the bishopric – and often with hours at work – we’re not as available to feed the missionaries as we were at one time.  And so it’s actually rare when we do sign up.  Jenna would prefer that we could do it once a month at least.           Our goal was to send our three boys on full time *proselyting* (defined at the end of this post) missions.  As Biff is our oldest, he went through the interviewing process and paperwork first.  We had taken him in for his physical. We did all we could do – and waited.           I wish our then bishop had been honest in his dealings to begin with – and perhaps he had really said s...