Beneath the Wraps

             Who or what are ministering angels?   Angels are not necessarily heavenly beings.   Angels come in forms of next door neighbors, friends in the community, even strangers.   I may have related the experience that Roland shared with me about a time in his youth he had picked up a peer who had either been later for work, stuck in the rain, missed the bus . . . or whatever.   We don’t know her story only that she was grateful that Roland had “rescued her” and still thinks about how he saved even to this day.           I have been grateful for many occasions when others have served me – such as giving me a lift or changing a flat tire when I have been stranded or coming to my rescue when my family has been in need of food.   We have had many angels serve us and we in turn serve others – often those we had not even met before but feel prompted to pay it forward and will cont...

  I would like to be more humble as I have always had a problem with pride. Whenever I think that I have overcome so much of my pride – wham!   I find myself fighting all over again.  And here are just two examples:   1)    When I was in the young women ’ s presidency the YW president had asked me to write a skit for camp – which I did but it took some time to incorporate my ideas.   When I tried to present my idea the YW pres. said it was no longer needed.   The girls had decided that they wanted to do something else – which really didn ’ t even relate to the topic.  At least at the time I didn ’ t think it did.   I felt a bit put out that I had worked on this skit and they didn ’ t even want to listen to my ideas.   And I knew it was wrong to feel resentment.   After all it is the girls who should be involved and they were.   I should have expressed praise or some kind of encouragement.   I tried to shru...

            The church has a pear orchard in Medford, Oregon.   Each year the church donates the pears to the food bank and those on welfare (see here )   The Roseburg stake (church boundary that I belong to) has asked its members to pick pears at least once a year.   Our assigned day is usually the third Saturday in August.   This is the fifth year that we (our family) have gone to pick pears for a service project.             Each year we have tried to stay for more than a couple of hours.   Each year our health has prevented either Roland or I from wanting to continue.   The last two years were so filled with smoke, it was hard to breathe.   Last year I had filled my bag only half way before I’d make the long trek to the pear bin.    I used to be in better shape.   I vaguely remember telling a couple that ...

            There are definitely many values that our parents instilled in us, but the three I would pick to answer this question would be prayer, family and service. Prayer           From an early age, we learned that we could communicate to our Heavenly Father through prayer.   We were taught not only to ask for things but to thank God as well for the many blessings that we had.   And there truly were many.   Mom and dad were able to help us understand what the blessings were.   Especially dad.   He had tremendous faith and find the blessings where we could not such as in car failure or his swelled foot ( here )and in his final years could see the blessings with his deteriorating health.                     I remember on several occasions seeing my dad kneeling in front of the gre...

            Myrtle Creek has a summer festival at the end of July or the weekend closest to July 25th.   We learned that our first year here when Roland had asked one of the members about Pioneer Days - a holiday celebrating the movement of the pioneers to Salt Lake City, Utah.   Our ward here does a service project the Saturday prior to the Saturday of summer fest.   The first year we had moved in, we had gone to Riddle to clean up the cemetery here .   I took several pictures though I was not yet familiar with the majority of members who appeared in each photo.               The following year we had painted the shed and spruced up the track and bleacher area at the high school.   I must have forgotten my camera that day.   I don't recall having taken any photographs.   I was hoping that my sister's family would be in town that...

          On Sunday we drove to the Big City of Roseburg to attend a special conference for several regions in the northwest.  Most of the meeting was televised, but we did manage to get a seat in the chapel rather than what Roland calls the “nose bleed seats”.  I also saw at least six other people from our ward seated in the chapel.           Our stake president started off the meeting before the broadcast was aired.  I enjoy listening to our stake president.  He gave a comparison of feeding a campfire to fueling our own testimonies.  The choir sang a number and then the broadcast was shown after a long five-minute countdown.            It was announced that the broadcast was coming from the Conference Center – though I don’t know which part of the Conference Center – not what one normally thinks of when hearing “Conference Center” – ...

                I guess I could have gone into more detail about Danny's class.   As I mentioned, there were fourteen children in the Valiant class alone - four of them boys.   I have never seen more than two Valiant boys in class since I started attending the ward in Myrtle Creek.   After the opening prayer, Danny passed out scriptures to each child - part of a scripture anyway.   Seven children had the names of a book found in the scriptures.   Seven had a chapter (or section) and a verse.   Danny asked why none of the children had looked up the scriptures she had handed out, what may have been the problem - when it was decided that each of the children had only part of scripture, Danny asked that they check the paper and find a partner that had the other half.             I was impressed how each of them actuall...

                I don't know for certain how many children Raone had, but suspect there were at least eight.   Leisel was among the eldest.   Roane was a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was diligent in her callings and offering service.   Leisel did not recognize her mother's great efforts.   Instead, she grew up resenting her mother's choices with neglecting her own family and blamed the church.   When she was eighteen, Leisel moved out of the house, she never had her name removed from the records of the church, but had stopped attending meetings and I believe disconnected herself from the family that she had helped raise.             I remember meeting her only once.   She was nice enough and seemed to have her act together - perhaps not financially.   She remained positive so long as c...

                I had made contact with different family members about my plans of sending Jenna to Utah by herself to visit family and we would pick her up in August.   It had been a thought is all.   It's not that I was trying to get rid of her during the summer.   I just know that she's been homesick for her brothers and cousins and probably a week would not be enough for her.          She did want to march in the parade at the end of last month and this month - only this month didn't work out for anybody in the group except for Jenna.   We manned the booth instead.   Jenna and I had been assigned for the very first shift, and then she got recruited to stay (see here ).   Her actions certainly helped with funds but even better (in my opinion) was that it gave her   a confidence that she has somehow kept hidden for many years.   She enjoyed doing it, and she en...

            There was a magic show last night in Riddle but I missed it as I had told one of the girls that I would fill in for her at the library.   She hadn't been feeling well for a few days and my schooling is not as demanding when I have only one class.             Last night I worked my first shift at the library.   I felt bad for not having received proper training or retaining those few things which I had learned.   I really think we ought to have a training session and will mention at our next meeting.   As of now, we are using cards and pockets as was done before computers.   Everything is filed by date - which presents a challenge when the book is returned without a date - or a pocket for that matter.   I think some books just get put in the drop when users have finished looking at them in the library, but had never been checked ou...

After we arrived her over two years ago, we learned that Myrtle Creek has a celebration very close to the time when Salt Lake City celebrates Days of '47.   The ward in Myrtle Creek offers a service project the week prior to the community. The first year we had gone to Riddle Cemetery and used power washers to clean the stones.   There were several who brought weed whackers to   spruce up the grounds. Last year we went to the high school.   We brought weed whackers and power washers and paint brushes.   This year our service project was at the VWF.   We cleaned up the outside as well as the inside (at least some members did;   I was bothered by all the cleaning chemicals and chose to stay outside) This year we continued to build upon the equipment of weed whackers, power washers and paint brushes - carpentry was also added to the agenda.   So here are some pictures of what we did:     ...