Humanitarian Service –

I’ve already written a story on Community Service – as I have donated a half a billion hours to a number of organizations. These are great and might get you listed on a program or plaque. Humanitarian Service is different in my eyes; this is when you do something directly to help someone else in need or who is less fortunate. This doesn’t make you noble or better than others, but it sure makes you feel good if you do it for the right reason and with a pure heart. There are a number of ways to do this; sometimes it’s by giving financial assistance to curtain organization that span the world looking for disasters and those needing assistance. For many years we have given such donations almost on a monthly basis. But these can also be done in every location in the world and especially where you are. I also love it when I’m able to do it anonymously. This isn’t the view of all philanthropists, we live in a small University town and half of the buildings on campus have the same name on it. Now I’m glad that they are willing to give to higher education and if I had that much money maybe I would do the same thing. One billionaire also donated for a building and named it after his father-in-law that didn’t have much money. My first anonymous humanitarian service wasn’t even my idea. My father knew of a family whose circumstances were desperate, so he bought a couple of bags of groceries and asked me to go with him to deliver them. Because he didn’t want them to know who did it, he asked me to take them to the door and ring the doorbell and run away. He said I was much faster and he would get caught. Now I had doorbell ditched before and now my father was telling me it was OK. In one of the bags was a large ham – I loved ham and when we got home the dinner mom made didn’t look as nice as that ham did. It took me a number of years to understand that my father was fast enough to get away and I was there for more that just my speed. I wish I could say I do this kind of service on a daily basis, but I don’t. I think all of us could do it more often. When I do it, it’s usually a small event that is only known by myself and those with whom it serves. This past year I was involved in an event that wasn’t small and was known by thousand of people. I’m a member of our stake presidency - this is a group of people that oversee a number of congregations within our church. In this stake we have approximately four hundred young men and women from the age twelve to eighteen. Every other year we have a youth conference where they all get together to sing, dance, play and hear some motivational speakers. Normally we go to another location so we have their undivided attention. A couple of years ago we decided to do something different – lets give them a chance to work their tails off. Now how do you get four hundred kids to be excited about working hard for a few days? 1^st – you need to have tons of food. Young men will do just about anything if they think they’re going to get a lot of food. The girls will come if they think the boy’s will be there. These are secondary reasons the main one is to let them know we’re going to help people that can’t do it for them. If we can help others, have fun and have a lot to eat – what great lessons they would learn. Part of our stake is in an older part of town where there are a number of disabled, widows, and single parent homes that need fixing up, painting, and cleaning up - basically doing something for someone who couldn’t do it for themselves. We wanted it to be done right so we convinced thirty contractor, professionals and knowledgeable individuals to over see each project. Our greatest challenge was to finance the project. It was my assignment to figure that out, it ended up being easier than you might have thought. After a few phone calls and personal appointments we had secured money from our churches humanitarian division, from individual members of our stake and also from Logan City. Apparently there are federal funds to fix up low income housing, as long as we met curtain criteria these funds are available. Why wouldn’t they want to donate – we match their funds with more of our own and then we provide all the labor and expertise. In all we spend sixty thousand dollars and donated six thousand five hundred hours of service. We worked on more than thirty different projects. We served by providing new roofs, sprinkler systems, painted houses, landscaping, new driveways and much more. Each family we served received a new quilt. A couple of months after the project I had the opportunity to go to one of the houses to talk to the recipients, they were so excited for the service that was rendered. He talked about the kids and how excited they were to be there. He said; “here we’re the ones needing the assistance and they are thanking us for the opportunity to work on our house.” When things needed to be done that we were unable to do, professionals were hired to make sure it was done right. Many of the workers after they knew what we were doing refused to accept payment for their services and others gave us a discount. As projects were being finished the kids wanted to go to the other projects to help them rather that to go home. Yes we still had firesides, motivational speakers, a dance and lots of food. But the greatest reward came from the faces of both the recipients and the kids as they helped others, those that couldn’t do it for themselves.

Bald -

There are a number of sayings about those having baldheads: bald is beautiful, there are only a few perfect heads and the Lord covered the rest of them with hair. I wonder if the guys that came up with these had hair? Tons of people love being bald; it has even become a fad over the past few years – many people shave their heads just to be vogue. If I were to guess I think most of them are hiding the fact it's leaving all by it’s self. Others of us don’t have a choice. I could start shaving the sides of my head and act like I’m bald by design, but doing so would negate what I think is one of the greatest benefit of being bald in the first place. When your bald it takes no time to primp – as a matter of fact in the shower there’s no use changing the soap used to wash my face to the more expensive shampoos my wife uses, that would take effort. Not everybody think like I do! Apparently the hair replacement – cover-up – restoration business is a billion dollar industry. Rogaine, hair plugs, weaves, transplants, wigs and toupees all cost a lot of money, time and in most cases delusional thinking. I’m sure thousands of these procedures are so good that I can’t tell it’s not their original hair. I may be wrong on my conclusions but despite not being able to tell in some cases – I believe they’re in the minority. Maybe these guys really think if they leave work one day and come back the next day with a full head of hair on one will notice. If it helps them feel better about themselves - more power to them. The one I can’t understand is the comb over! Believe me no one thinks it looks good – no one! I sure it started over time to cover–up the slight receding hairline and then evolved as more hair started to leave. Sorry but if you have a comb over - people are lying to you. I’m sure most women would like their men with hair, in shape and rich at least at first. The good ones would be willing to sacrifice these traits for honesty, faithfulness and hard working in a second. The way I look at it if they aren’t I know I wouldn’t want to be with them – of course I’m bald what else would I say. I’ve never had a woman say “man you would be hot if you had hair.” But I guess I’ve never had anyone say “your hot without hair.” Yes you have to be physically attracted to whom ever you’re with, if not it won’t last very long. Thankfully most woman aren’t as shallow as men, and are willing to over look men’s physical faults more than men are willing to do. This must be true, Julia Roberts married Lyle Lovett – maybe he’s not the best example he has hair, but I would compare his other feature to mine! This gave everyman in America hope. I guess I could have used the fact my wife married me, that was defiantly an act of mercy. Honestly being bald has never effected me or what I feel about myself, of course my kids would say I don’t ever care to much what I look like or wear for that matter. Socks with sandals – sure! My baldness is hereditary, which is easy to see as all my brother have the same hairstyle. I remember once I heard it your mothers father that baldness comes through – that can’t be true as my dad had lots of hair and my sisters boys are starting to look like me. Then I heard it’s your mother’s brothers that show if you’re going bald or not. In my extended family this theory actually works, now whether it’s a coincidence or if that the way it works it doesn’t matter anymore. What I have is what I’m going to keep, I haven’t heard of many people all of the sudden growing their hair again – unless they start one of those procedures.

Harold Lester -

Good thing each of us have different qualities, looks and abilities. It would be boring if we all looked, acted and did the same things. I had a lot of great companions on my mission – each of them was completely different than the rest. One of them was by far the smartest of them all; I think he had a photographic memory of sorts. He knew just about every scripture and where it was found – this was great when someone tried to show us we were wrong in the scriptures, good luck, you better know them pretty good to keep up with this guy. Then after we were done tracking an apartment complex and he would never know where the car was parked. I got along with all of them most of the time. But every once in a while a couple of us just didn’t click. Most people would say I’m pretty easy to get alone with - at least I like myself. It’s easy to get alone with someone that you have everything in common with: family, sports, schools - I just had a hard time with those that didn’t want to work. One of my favorite companions came out the same day I did so we helped each other in the MTC and then we later server together as Zone Leaders in Santa Fe New Mexico. We clicked almost to well, not only did we work hard but we had a lot of fun and success. While we were together there was a new missionary, Elder Brown that was assigned to our zone. He was from the Bear Lake area, which is only an hour or so from home. If you were to pick a complete opposite person from myself this would be him. I loved sports – I don’t think he has played any kind of sport, he was short and stocky – I was tall and slender, I didn’t wear glasses and his were about an inch thick. Personality wise I was very out going and he was reserved and quite. We were his leaders so we tried to make him feel at home as much as possible. I learned later that his mother had just passed away a few months before he came on a mission and that those first few months were very hard for him. A few months later I was transferred south to El Paso, Texas. At that time I was given one of my hardest companions – we just didn’t click. We were teaching a lot of people but no one seemed to be committing to the challenges we were giving. A couple of months later there was another transfer my new companion was – that’s right Elder Brown. At this time he had been out almost a year and I was close to going home. He hadn’t had the opportunity to see anyone baptized and was having a difficult time. This may seem like a formula for disaster – but it was the complete opposite. He was excited to be with me and was willing to work as hard as I would go. Apparently I wasn’t the only one that had a problem with my previous companion, all the people we were teaching started to commit to baptism. It seemed everyone we taught wanted to join the church. Elder Brown was like a kid at Christmas, eight people from three different families set dates for their baptisms in our first week together. These were some of the greatest weeks of my mission – the odd couple per says was clicking and changing the world one person at a time. There were some motivational tapes that we would lessen too on occasion - on one tape there was a man named Paul and his friend Harold Lester Brown. My companions name was Bruce – but the rest of it worked so I started calling his Harold Lester since my name is Paul. He liked his new nickname – but with what was going on he would have liked being called anything. While we were together – Elder Browns father happened to be in the Logan Temple and came across my father with his nametag on. He stopped my dad and asked him if he had a son on a mission in New Mexico – when he said yes my dad said he almost knocked him over to give him a hug. Elder Browns father wrote and told him they had met, he also told him he had met someone he wanted to marry. That made Harold excited and they had permission to visit him on their honeymoon – which happen to be right after I was transferred out of the area. I loved Elder Brown and will cherish our time together.

Suffered way to long –

I don’t know why some people suffer more in life than others. I do know most people that others think have the easy life have problems as well. They just aren’t as public as some are. When your feeling sorry for yourself just take time to look around and you will be happy to go back to your own problems. We have been told that we will not be tested beyond our ability to bear. I agree this feels wrong much of the time. There are a lot of things your responsible for as a bishop, the worthiness and activity of your ward are some of them. Every fast Sunday my ward clerk would have three lists on my desk: 1^st – the youth interviews and birthday. 2^nd – the endowed members of the ward without a current temple recommend. 3^rd – the members that had never been endowed. The purpose of these lists is to discuss what opportunities we may have to help someone make additional covenants and come unto Christ. During one of these sessions we had been discussing an elderly single sister that didn’t have a current temple recommend. When she had been asked to come in, she refused not wanting to discuss the situation. This was a bit perplexing to me as she was at church every week and showed every sign of being worthy to hold a temple recommend. During our conversation I had a strong feeling to go see her right then and to take the recommend book with me. We ended our meeting with a prayer and I went to her house without a warning. When she answered the door she asked me in and we exchanged pleasantries. Then I stated the reason for my visit – “I came to give you a temple recommend or to find out why you don’t have one.” She hesitated as tear started to well up in her eyes. It took a few moments but then she began to tell me a story of something that had happened more that twenty years before. It was embarrassing to her, but I could see the weight as if it was being lifted from her soul. The circumstances of the situation began to unfold none of while was her fault. These events had made her feel guilty and unworthy to hold a recommend, over the years a number of bishops had given her a recommend but she had never used it because she felt guilty. Never during that time did she explain why she felt that way or what had happened. Not only was she worthy but she had also been a victim. I challenged her to go to the temple as soon as possible, which she did. She continued to have a current recommend as long as she was in our ward. During the short time I served as bishop I had five or six individuals that talked to me about events that they had kept inside for more than twenty years, some more than forty years. In every case the pain, suffering and lose of blessings were far greater than what the Lord would have required for the transgression that had taken place. In more than one case they had done nothing wrong and were embarrassed to be a victim of someone else’s choices. I’m thankful for the influence of the spirit that instructed me to go see this wonderful sister that day and the blessing that were returned to her life. The question that then comes to my mind is how many other individuals we have responsibility for have limited their ability to receive the cleansing power of the atonement, have suffered far greater than the Lord has required and intended for them to suffer. One of the greatest principles of truth is that we need to come unto Christ; we need to start the process of repentance in order to be forgiven for our sins. Some sins are difficult to repent of and often it takes a lot of time and embarrassment for those involved. I believe the Lord will ask the minimum required to rectify the problem, the least amount of suffering for the act. But if we try to deal with it without his help it’s impossible to do so. But with his help also come an endless supple of love and compassion.

Sacrament –

One of the duties of the deacon is to pass the sacrament. Back in the older day when I was made a deacon we went to church twice on a given Sunday. In the morning the priesthood went an hour before the women and small children – this must have been so they would have longer to get ready. Then the whole congregation would attend either Sunday School or Primary for the children under the age of twelve. Later that day we would come back as families for Sacrament Meeting. The sacrament was passed three times each day – It was passed during Sunday School or to the Primary and then later during Sacrament Meeting. Right after I was ordained to the priesthood and made a deacon my president asked where I would like to pass first. I chose the primary because there would be less people. When you think about it the passing of the sacrament is a sacred privilege and should be an honor for all involved. Here you were able to give the congregation the opportunity to renew their covenants with the Savior in remembrance of the blood and body he sacrificed in our behalf during the atonement. This is a time of cleansing, renewal and contemplation of the great blessings he has given us. I have passed the sacrament hundreds of times in my life, mainly because I lived in a area that had very few deacons most of the time making it necessary to continue to pass even after my mission. Not everyone in the church is allowed to partake of the sacrament, only those in good standing. When someone loses that right I think it causes many of them to appreciate what blessing they really have and they try harder to repent and come closer to the Saviors cleansing sacrifice. When they come full circle and are able to partake again they have a new appreciation for this opportunity. Along with this chance to pass the sacrament I have blessed it many times as well, one of those time was not only for the congregation, but visiting that day was the President of the Church or what we believe - a Prophet of God. I think as a young man I didn’t think of what we were doing and how important it was. Many times I believed I viewed it as nothing more than my duty or even a chore. After my mission the opportunities continued as the youth in our ward were scarce. One of the most spiritual experiences of my life was when someone passed the sacrament to me and gave me the opportunity to renew my covenants. While I was serving as a Bishop we were invited to attend a solemn assembly in the upper room of the Logan Temple. Everyone invited was either a Bishop or Stake President. There were more than three hundred individuals in attendance that Sunday morning. What a powerful experience as all those dedicated men sang together “The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning.” Also in attendance were the First Presidency and all but one member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The sermons and instruction were amazing, but the high light of the experience was as the Quorum of the Twelve blessed and passed the sacrament to those in attendance. This is generally a duty assigned to the deacons of the church, the youngest and least inexperienced holders of the priesthood. At this time the twelve apostles, special witnesses of the Savior Jesus Christ, were administering it. You could see the excitement and honor as they approached this opportunity to help us renew our covenants. The prayer and act of partaking of the sacrament was no different that I had the week before and every Sunday there after, but I had a new appreciation for its importance and the opportunity to participate. It’s not just the duty of a deacon but all holders of the holy priesthood if they are blessed enough to be asked.

When you got to go –

There are a number of things we usually just don’t talk about; normally these are things we’re trying to forget. Now in this case it’s something everyone has to do – they even have commercial on T.V. that advertise medication to help control it. When I was growing up I didn’t have the strongest bladder, but at times even the strongest bladder is stretched to the limits at least the individual involved thinks so. One night in New York City we were walking to the empire state building when the man in front of us must have reached his limit as he decided to relieve himself in a planter on the side of the street. It was late in the evening so there weren’t as many people as rush hour but there were plenty of witnesses. Physically this situation is easier for a guy – but at the beginning of a major bike race I ran onto a lady in the bushes by the church doing the same thing – I had a key to the church but didn’t know it was needed. My bladder problems usually were less public and normally happened at night. My brother heard that if you put someone’s hand in warm water while they were sleeping it would open the floodgates. I became his first test case, which was kind of crazy since we slept on bunk beds and he was on the bottom. All the experiment did was make it happen sooner than later. It didn’t happen every night and there were things I could do to improve the odds – but it was still a little like Russian roulette it was going to happen I just didn’t know when. My father tried to bribe me with money if I didn’t wet the bed, now if I had that much control I didn’t want to do it in the first place. All of these happened forty years ago. Another time I need to go is when I hear rain or running water. For years I had to walk a block to our church early every Sunday morning, now it wasn’t very far but two of the houses I passed had fountains with running water – so the first place I had to go after entering the church was the restroom. Both houses have since been sold and the new owners must have the same problem, thus no more fountains. The sound of rain or running water effect more than just me, we once drove from Boston to a small fishing town on the coast of Maine named Camden. There were a lot of old houses that have been turned into bed and breakfast inns. What a great place to visit. Everything was wonderful including the weather until we started our journey home. As we started to leave town we couldn’t resist the sign – a McLobster. Only in Maine! Our friend decided to make it a meal, since my wife didn’t like lobster or any seafood for that matter but the fries are another matter. The large soda was the part our friend wishes he hadn’t gotten, or maybe it was his savior. The return trip was uneventful until we hit what could be considered a storm of the century – southern Maine received fourteen inches of rain in approximately five hours. It washed out a number of roads and it took us four hours to travel less than five miles. Now picture this - four people in a small metal car with the sound of rain beating down for four straight hours and one of the four just drank a large soda. Now it’s my experience that these things comes in waves, you need to go then it goes away but returns latter strong than before. After a few hours of this situation and the side aches accompany it – he had reached his limit. There was no exit – no trees or bushes on the side of the road and more witnesses then were acceptable. Thank goodness for his empty cup! He couldn’t keep it much of a secret and we were laughing so hard I’m sure it didn’t make it easier. If I’m not mistaken he had to empty the cup twice – not that the rest didn’t need to go when we finally got to a gas station. To say the least we missed our plane and spent the night making unscheduled connections, but the car ride in southern Maine is the part we won’t easily forget.

November 5th –

Some dates are so important it’s hard to forget them. When you say that date people instantly think of someone or something that has happened in their life or history. December 25^th – this is the perfect example for most Christians, what wonderful experiences or memories come into most of our minds. September 11^th – as this date points out our memories or the importance of a certain date aren’t always positive. This date is probably remembered in history over the past fifteen years more than any other, it brings the same feeling that our grandparents had about December 7^th the date Pearl Harbor was bomb by Japan. There are also personal dates that mean something to each of us and perhaps those closest to us: birthdates, anniversaries and days of major events both positive and negative. The more traumatic or wonderful the circumstances the more it stands out from the other dates all of us experience. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we believe there are events that are essential to our progression and development and then there’s others situations that are opportunities to serve in areas that benefit our lives forever. I was baptized a member of the LDS Church on November 5^th 1967. I remember it quite well; it was in the basement of the tabernacle in Logan Utah. It took place in the same room that I was set apart as a member of the Mt. Logan Stake Presidency thirty-eight years later by Elder Bateman of the Presidency of the Seventies. I remember two events more than the rest: 1^st I was baptized by my brother Craig and 2^nd one of the other kids being baptized was wearing some white clothes that after they were wet we could see their underwear – it scared me that everyone would see mine as well. We are taught that baptism is a gate that is essential to get on the correct path to exaltation and return to live with God. There are other events and circumstances that are just as important to this process. There are also experiences planned and unplanned that change our perspective and direction in life. One of these opportunities for me was the chance to serve a full time mission, it changed the way I looked at life and gave me opportunities to learn that I never would have had without it. The reason I bring this event up is that I was set apart as a missionary on November 5^th 1978. I was later released on November 5^th 1980. These were dates assigned to me from the missionary department, I had no idea they were the same as my baptism date for many years. If I had realized it I may have tried to talk my wife into getting married on the same date – but then I would have had to wait two months and four days for the greatest event in my life. I don’t remember the exact date I figured it out but it was sometime after November 5^th 1995 the day I was ordained the first bishop of the Eastridge Ward. This experience was as spiritual for me as the time I served as a missionary seventeen years before. It was sometime during that service that I figured out the similarity of the date involved, because when the stake president was talking to me about my possible release, I told him if he’s going to do it, it may be nice to do it on November 5^th 2000. That wasn’t possible and I was released one week later. The date that these things took placer is far less important than the fact that they happened in the first place. The fact that they all happened on the same date is coincidence – a unique one at that. These are all special experiences for me in the opportunities of life. I’ve had many other opportunities to serve and events that have been life changing or essential to my progression that haven’t happened on this date. All of these together have made me who I am and have laid the cornerstone for which I will become in the future and throughout eternity. But it is a coincidence and the reason I’m posting this story on November 5^th 2009.