Martha

I don't know much about Martha Champlin, I probably never will, at least not in this life. At this point it's unlikely anyone will ever know very much. She was four years old in 1870, at least according to the censes in southern Mississippi of that year. I've never found any other documentation that she ever existed. She was the oldest child of Zachary Taylor and Virginia White Champlin, who happens to be my great-grand parents. If I figured it out correctly that makes her my great-aunt. Normally to be a great aunt you would have to shower someone with a lot of love and treats, or be quit old, Martha didn't have the opportunity to do either one, not even my father knew she existed. In the 1880 censes, Zachary and Virginia were listed as the parents of four children - William, Margaret, Nellie and my grandfather Walter. Martha was no where to be found. She could have gone to live with relatives, but more likely she passed away. Being a Latter-day Saint the linking of my ancestors is a important responsibility, we believe that families can be together forever. The binding of the fathers to the children's and the children's to the fathers. This binding is possible by the power and authority of God through the priesthood. This power is what the Savior gave to Peter in Matthew chapter 16, - "whatsoever thou shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." When my father joined the LDS church, one of the first things he did was make sure that the temple work was done for his extended family. Making sure that the saving ordinances of salvation were preformed for his forefathers. He had the access to the 1880 censes, the records of the life of this family, except Martha. For 75 years this family seemed complete. In August of 2011, I was in a training meeting with Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve. He encouraged us to find our ancestors and take them to the temple. I sat there knowing that I had never found someone to take to the temple. I had a strong impression I needed to change that. Not knowing how to do that didn't slow down my resolve. Under the heading of Zachary T Champlin I found the 1880 censes that was available to my father so many years before. There was the family we all knew and have known for decades, but no Martha. About a third a page below the link to the 1880 censes, was listed a 1870 censes with the heading Zach Champlin. Computers now can make the decision to find similar possibilities, a event not possible to my father so many years before. That link was indeed to my great grandparents small families' information, but the oldest child was Martha, someone none of us had heard of before. At first I thought there was a mistake - that was quickly replaced by excitement. She was the first of what has turned out to be hundreds of names that we have been able to find. When I called the temple to set up an appointment to do Martha's baptism - they asked how many names I had, I told them just one. I guess I could imagine they may have laughed, but they treated us like royalty as I took my twelve year old daughter to do the work. I envision for all of those years Martha was prayed and anticipating the time someone would find her name and help her to receive the ordinances of salvation. Allowing this family to be complete.

Sponge Bob?

Perhaps I could be mistaken for someone that is famous. Now if I am, it's not going to be someone that's super cool, I would be more in the category of Curly from the three stooges. Honestly It would be more likely my actions were mistaken for their behavior than my looks are to theirs. Let it be said, no one has ever mistakenly asked me for my autograph. The other day someone for the first time called me Sponge Paul - playing off the Sponge Bob fame. He's pretty immature so I was glad my actions weren't the same as his were. Working in the service industry I'm aware sometimes things go wrong. I was required to go to a conference for a couple of days. Most of these conferences are a waste of time. They usually have plenty of high calories, high carb treats - water, coffee or soda intended to help you stay awake. Occasionally they are awesome and really help your peace of mind and productivity. This was a two day conference so I needed to stay over night. I didn't get to chose the location or hotel, but normally it's in a nice facility. This happen to be in the Downtown Salt Lake City Marriott. It's really is a nice hotel - the beds were wonderful. Since all of the meetings are in the same location, I knew exactly how long I could stay in bed and still make it down stairs in time to make my required appearance. When I dragged myself out of bed, I went into the bathroom to start the grooming and hygiene process. I was a little surprised and disappointed when I found out that the shower wouldn't turn on. Really, the shower handle was broken and wouldn't turn on. I thought how I didn't have time to call and get someone to fix it - there probably isn't a empty room to close, then there's the fact that I'm standing nude in the bathroom. Now I've been camping a lot over the years and would have loved having hot water for a quality sponge bath, maybe in the Wind Rivers - but thats not my idea of excitement at a "luxury hotel." Out of necessity I made due and did the best I could. It still wasn't that pleasant, nor was the way I wanted to wake up. When I went down stairs I went to the service desk to take care of my bill and inform them of my discomfort. Now I had no expectation of possible results - everyone that travels knows that if your discontented at a Hampton Inn they guarantee that your stay is free - well in this case my stay was free anyway since my company was giving the conference in the first place. I was a bit disappointed that my morning torment wasn't as big of concern to the man at the desk as it was to me. There really wasn't that great of an apology rendered, but he did ask me if they could make it a little better by buying me a Starbucks coffee that was located just off the lobby of the hotel. Really, a Starbucks Coffee! First of all I don't drink coffee, second I'm at a convention at their hotel that has fifty gallons of it at the back of the room all day. I could have showered with that earlier in the day. Now I wasn't excepting anything, I just wanted them to know that there was a problem - and hoped that they would be a little more concerned about my feelings or discomfort. Many years ago my wife and I had a problem that was even worse at a Ritz Carlton resort in Naples Florida. Through work I had won a trip to Florida, and this resort. This was the greatest thing ever. There were meetings and a lot of events and parties planned for both my wife and I. We had brought with us our new baby that was to young to leave at home. Upon arriving at the resort we found out that there were no more rooms available - like many locations they had over booked for the evening. To make things right they put us up in a different hotel a mile down the road and had told us if we needed to come to the Ritz they would send us a car. They told us we didn't need to pay for the room - well they didn't understand I wasn't paying the bill in the first place. Not only was it a dive compared to the Ritz - but I also had spent the past year qualifying for this experience. My wife couldn't just go back and forth with a new baby, she needed a private location to feed the child. To say it mildly, we weren't happy. The next morning we found out that our sponsors weren't to happy either. The hotel made the arrangements necessary to move us back to the resort. It was a wonderful experience. The Ritz was so concerned about our happiness that later we received a letter from the management of the Ritz inviting us back to their resort at a different time. The most amazing part of their invitation was that they would not only pay for our stay but our airfare as well. Hopefully I don't have to be taking a sponge bath again anytime soon, but things occasionally go wrong - but when they do it's so important that they are taken care of in a quality friendly manner. The gentleman at the Marriott just made me mad.