Nap time -

There’s nothing better than a good old fashion snooze. I really don’t get one that often but when I do it’s the greatest. I think we need to take a lesson from Mexico and have a siesta every afternoon. I believe the ultimate nap is about thirty minutes. I’ve had some that lasted a couple of hours and felt like I’ve been in a train wreck – not to mention I couldn’t go to sleep later that night. The only thing worse than a marathon nap is one that’s to short – your longing for more and just can’t get satisfied. Sundays are the most likely day for me to get a nap, maybe that’s because my wife doesn’t have a long list of chores I need to do. I’m not alone – if you go to an afternoon church service it’s not uncommon to see multiple individuals dousing off during some hell fire and damnation discourse. Occasionally it’s those sitting on the stand – I’ve never seen the speaker do it, but sadly I saw an elderly gentleman fall over during his talk. When they helped him up he kept going as if nothing happened. Many church leaders have early morning meetings and then an afternoon meeting and a soft chair is a lethal combination. Hopefully if someone does fall asleep it’s only one of them. A co-worker told me of a meeting he was at that all three of the people on the stand (except the speaker) fell asleep and when the speaker was done he sat down and no one got up to close the meeting. It didn’t last long but I’m sure it was an insult to the speaker – man this is boring, lets all take a nap. I wasn’t there so maybe its just folklore, but I’m sure it’s happened before. When I was a church leader I had a counselor that just couldn’t stay awake. He probably had a bruise on his right side from all the times I had to elbow him to wake him up. One Sunday it just wasn’t any use. After a couple of failed attempts to wake him up I decided it was just easier to let him go. He was shorter than I was and the congregation got a big kick when he laid his head on my shoulder – he must have needed that one because I couldn’t wake him up. Now I shouldn’t throw stones in a glass house – I’m fallen a sleep more than once on the stand. One time I was having a hard time staying awake so my good wife sent our two-year-old daughter up to keep me awake. She sat on my lap and everyone thought that was cute – but she found out it was pretty comfortable on daddys lap and it didn’t take long for both of us to fall a sleep. The bad part is that everyone was watching us and no one heard what the speaker was saying – I shouldn’t say no one, I’m sure their family was listening unless of course they were asleep in the audience.

Where you from -

The further we go away from home the more excited we are when we meet someone that comes from the same general area. If we're half the way around the world - we're just excited to see someone from the same country. Now when I make such a comment I don’t just mean our immediate family. I went to New York City on business for a couple of weeks, at a function I ran into a lady that nine years earlier we had graduated from high school together. During that time we hadn’t run in the same circles – as a matter of fact we wouldn’t even said hi unless we had accidentally run into each other in the hall. We never hung out, dated, of for that matter I had never called her or any of her close friends. Not that I wouldn’t have wanted to – she was very nice, it just didn’t happen. Unlike some of the people I graduated with, I at least knew her name and something about her. Despite this lack of history together you would have thought we were best buddies. She was so excited to see me. Her husband was doing his medical internship in New York City and in the midst of that rat race there was someone from home that knew her, her family and where she had become who and what she was. She asked me to sit by her and we talked about home, people and experiences we had in common. I’ve had a number of such experiences during my life – at Disneyland, in a bathroom in Las Vegas. That time it was a man and we didn’t sit by each other. Sometimes you didn’t have to know the other person very well to get excited. I went on a mission for the Mormon Church, one of the first things you do when you met another missionary is to ask them where they were from. Now if they were from a little town that didn’t appear on most maps they usually said the closest town or city that did, then they wouldn’t have to go into some massive discourse of where it was. After meeting one missionary I asked the usual question – he answered the same city I was from. Now being the same age I had no idea who he was, so I know instantly he was from some little farm community and that going to Logan was the highlight of the week. It was a small town a few miles south of town – which meant a different high school; group of friends and at that age a different world. No wonder I didn’t know this guy! Never-the-less when you’re away from home there is an instant bond and excitement. Next we had to play the do you know game – do you know this person or that person, this was to see what else we had in common. We weren’t having much luck – then we hit a the mother-load. He asked if I knew a certain young lady. Not only did I know her, I had been to her house and met her parents. I also knew something else about her. I asked how he knew her? Oh I dated her for a while – really? He quickly added that he had a picture of her in his wallet –Really!! He pulled out his wallet to show me the photo – that was definitely her. Do you have any other pictures in your wallet? No that’s the only one – why do you ask? Well normally missionaries don’t carry pictures of married woman in their wallet! Married - what do you mean she’s married? Are you sure? Well this was a question I knew the answer to. Yes I’m sure – she married my brother just a few months earlier. I guess that makes me pretty sure, I wasn't there but they sent me a bunch of pictures. I think he was more than embarrassed, more like humiliated. But he was still from the same area I was, so over the next few months we became great friends. Some time later, after we were home - and I was his best man at his wedding and after all these years I still consider him a great friend. But every once in a while I ask if he has any pictures of married women in his wallet.

Fire --

Maybe behavior has been instinctive from the beginning of time. I can just imagine a caveman’s excitement at the prospect of fire. Finally his wife could order meat well done; now they could have some late night entertainment – sitting around a fire telling scary stories and making shadow puppets. I don’t know if it’s instinctive or not but I love fire.

I think every kid loves to play with matches - probably because we know we aren’t suppose to. I don’t know how old I was when I found out I weren’t suppose to play with them, I was pretty young when I got hold of a pack and went to the middle of our block to play with them. There was an old barn there that had some hay or straw – but I don’t remember there ever being any animals. It was a great place to hide; I spent a lot of hours down there, as did a lot of kids in the neighborhood. I was hiding out that day because I didn’t want anyone to know I was playing with matches. Matches are pretty cool, you strike the side of the box, they smoke then a flame erupts. I just blew them out afterwards and throw the sticks away.

There were other times that I thought fire was cool – as a scout we use to go into the wilderness and we always had a campfire. Our scoutmaster was great, but he seemed to be mad at me all the time for burning all the firewood. I was constantly on wood detail – I guess it was only fair since I was the one always putting it on the fire, that he made me go find more. It was on one of these scouting trip that our scoutmasters made a huge mistake. One of the few givens of scout leadership is to never leave boy scouts unsupervised. We were camping on the foothills of the great Uinta Mountains about five miles for the nearest city. I guess we had left a few things home so our two scoutmasters decided to make a trip to town. Now if I were my scoutmaster I would have wanted to leave things home on purpose too, so i would have an excuse to get away for a while.

After they had gone we just were sitting around our small boring fire doing what twelve year old's do best – nothing. Well I wanted to make the fire bigger which was normal for me. We didn’t have a lot of wood so we spread out, now one scout had a great idea – sagebrush. There was tons of that stuff and man did it burn. As the fire got bigger and bigger the car on the highway a couple of miles down the road had a better view of what was going on. The fire had to be ten to fifteen feet high – and that was exactly what we wanted. This was way before everyone had cell phones, but I still think it didn’t take very long before the local fire department was called into action.

About this same time two scoutmasters had finished their shopping and started for camp – I can imagine their anxiety as two fire engines with sirens blaring passed them. I’m sure their anxiety increased the closer they came to camp and started to see what everyone else was concerned about. Thank goodness there wasn’t any wind, but we had no idea that we were stressing anyone else out – this was great. It wasn’t very great anymore when the fire trucks arrived with our scoutmasters right behind. There would be no entertainment and shadow puppets tonight – but the scary stories were still on.

After the fire was put out, the adults talked for quit a while. I don’t know what happened but I seemed to have a lot of duties for the next few days. This wasn’t the first time there were fire engines close to where I was. The same night I had been playing with matches in the barn in the middle of our block, we were all woken up by the sound of sirens. Man that great hiding place was going up in flame – good thing it didn’t happen earlier I could have been hurt. I wonder who was playing with matches so late?

Legal Pad –

Its hard to do something right if you don’t know what your doing. In October of 1995 I received a call for our stake presidency to be the Bishop of the Eastridge Ward. This ward was to be formed the same day that I was being sustained November 5^th of that same year. The forming of a new ward is a little more difficult than the normal changing of the guard – all of the members are coming from two other congregations and are officially released from their present calls. Because no one has a position it’s a daunting task to put all the pieces together. There are approximately fifteen major callings that need to be filled before the organizations can even start to be staffed. When my call came I was overwhelmed and humbled at the prospect of accomplishing what needed to be done. The next day I was sitting in my office at work contemplating who should be asked to fill each position. I took out a legal pad and listed all the major calls needing to be filled. I began to fill those spaces in with names of qualified individuals that I though would do a wonderful job. As I had finished the list a client walk into my office and I set the pad in one of the drawers of my desk. The stake presidency had given me permission to discuss who should be called as my counselors with my wife. As we discussed the matter and I began to pray, fast and attend the temple for inspiration. I received the answers that I needed. Lori was adament who should be my first counselor – the Lord confirmed that selection. One of the most difficult calls for me was who should be called as my second counselor; I couldn’t receive confirmation for the individuals I was considering. So I did what I feel most would have done, I skipped that call and started to look for the ward clerk and executive secretary. There was a new family that had just moved into the ward, I had know each of them almost twenty years before in high school. I asked my wife to bake some cookies so we could go welcome them to the neighborhood. Taking some type of food to a new move in is a Mormon tradition – it isn’t out of the ordinary to just show up unannounced if you being treats. They opened the door and asked us in, as soon as I entered their home the Lord told me I had found my second counselor. These two men were the greatest counselors in the history of the church. Together we received the inspiration necessary to staff the ward. After the next few weeks passed and the ward was fully organized I was going through my drawer at work and found the yellow pad that I filled out the day after my call. Out of the fifteen names I had written next to the respective calls – only one was in the correct location. This is the complete opposite of what most people think when I tell this story – but it is a great testimony to me. At first I was using my own feelings, knowledge and emotions. I hadn’t started to pray, fast or go to the temple to find out the Lords will in organizing this great ward. I didn’t have counselors to assist in receiving the required inspiration. The organization of this new ward was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life – as revelation was needed in large measure in a very short period of time. The Lord let us know what needed to be done to accomplish his will – which just happen to be different from my first impressions.

Callings –

The Lord sometimes gives us inspiration without asking for it and other times we have to work to receive it. I served on the High Council for a short period of time in our stake. One of the responsibilities of the High Council is to approve individuals being called to curtain positions. I didn’t know at the time I was called that the stake presidency talked with the high council about possible bishops in each ward as the present bishop is being released. At one of these occasions we talked about the changing of two different Bishoprics– the singles ward and my home ward. Technically I could have been on the list for both wards, but I wasn’t to worried. As a matter of fact it hadn’t even crossed my mind that it could have been a possibility. As we were discussing the individuals that could be considered –starting with the singles ward, we talked about an individual in the room that was sitting right next to me. I felt a wave of spiritual confirmation that covered my body from top to bottom that he should be the bishop of that ward. What a wonderful feeling, I started to wonder if everyone in the room had experienced the same sensation. We then began to talk about my home ward, we talked about another individual and the same experience took place – there was no doubt in my mind these two brethren were the individuals the Lord wanted called at this time. While still talking about the second ward the Stake President said “ we need to consider that in about six months this ward will be divided and a new one will be formed and a new bishop called.” Instantly the same feeling come over me with even greater force than the first two times, I knew I would be the bishop of the new ward. In hindsight it wasn’t a feeling that was being experienced by everyone in the room – but was a tender mercy given to me to help prepare for the upcoming call. As bishop I received inspiration as to whom should fill certain positions within the ward. At one point we needed a new relief society president. We had no idea who it should be and as we took a few days to think about it, it was at the same time Lori and I were going to a country western concert in Salt Lake City. There were close to fifteen thousand people in attendance. During the concern straight across the arena we saw some people waving in our direction. They were members of our ward that had noticed us in the crowd. We waved back and then I received this same wave of inspiration that I had received in the first part of this story telling me that one of these sisters was to be the new relief society president. This call came as a surprise to a number of people in the ward - she had been active only a short period of time. No one was more surprised than she was, I believe she thought I was kidding and looked at me with complete disbelief when I assured her I wasn’t and that it was coming from the Lord. Yes there were many sisters with more experience and knowledge of the gospel within our boundaries. During the next couple of years there were circumstances in the area that would have tried anyone – most of these challenges involved individuals that had special situations and many were within families that were less active. Not only was her personality perfect for those in need but her spiritual development grow almost on a daily basis. Which she needed more than any of us could have imagined as at the end of her service a tragic accident happen to her husband. He was in a coma for a number of weeks and we wondered if he would even be able to come home. Because of her dedicated service to so many and the love the ward had for their family, everyone was willing to do what ever was needed during this challenging time. But the greatest blessing came in the form of straight the Lord gave to this wonderful sister as she sat by her husband’s side and prayed for his recovery. There are a number of miracles associated with this event – and after these many years he still suffers from some of the effects of the accident. But she should know that Gods will has come to pass and she was one of the greatest Relief Society Presidents I have ever seen.

Miracle - 17 years in the making

Sometimes it's hard to explain the how’s, why’s and where’s in ours life’s. The next story took far longer to be completed than I would have ever imagined – for that matter I never even knew it was in the making until it was over. The first part of the story was an event that I didn’t completely understand at the time and tried to do the best I could to accomplish the challenges placed before me. I served as a missionary for the LDS Church from 1978 – 1980 in the New Mexico Albuquerque Mission. At the first of my mission I was stationed in the central New Mexico area of Belen and Los Lunas. I loved this area and had the opportunity to have a lot of success and personal growth. I thought I was doing a great job and was feeling that I could become a good missionary. But despite this, I was a little surprised to receive a phone call from my mission president in the middle of the month – transfers from one area to another normally only occurred at the beginning of each month. The President asked my to prepare to go to another area as soon as possible. The area I was being transferred too was more than 200 miles away. He wanted me to be there in two days if possible. When I reached the area - I needed to meet with the ward mission leader and to give the President a call for more details. He explained that there had been some problems and he had faith that I would be able to take care of the necessary clean-up and restore the confidence of those in the area and reputation of the church. That is all that he told me at the time. I remember thinking during my relocation why me? I hadn’t been in the mission field very long – nor had I had any experience in this kind of situation. There had to be dozens of missionaries more qualified than I was. Without going into much details I met with the mission leader and was informed of incidents that had happened over a twenty mile radius, most of which were of a financial nature and there had been some unique behavior from a couple of missionaries – one in particular was being sent home and others were sent to different parts of the mission because of some of their actions. It was a challenge, but one that I did the best that I could and felt confident I had done the job the way it should have been accomplished. Over the next few months I was able to have some success and to make some great friendships, I also found out a lot of information about the missionary that had been sent home and some of his inappropriate behavior. I really believe that I knew more about him and his actions than anyone else in the mission, with maybe the exception of the mission president. Seventeen years later I lived in another state hundreds of miles from the location that these events had taken place. Still actively engaged in the LDS Church, I was given the opportunity to serve as a Bishop. A bishop is the leader of a congregation or group of members, which in the church is called a ward. The formation of our ward took place the same day I was sustained as its Bishop. It was formed by taking parts of two existing congregations in order to form a third. The reason this is important is that half of the members of the new ward were individuals that I had never met before. For our first Sunday worship we had our sacrament meeting and then because there were no teachers called to teach Sunday School or in the other organizations - we had a social or what they called a linger-longer. This gathering allowed the members to meet and greet each other while having treats. During this time I tried to introduce myself to as many people as possible. I remember walking up to one small group of couples that were talking about where the men had served missions for the church. Politely they ask if I had gone on a mission and where I had been able to serve. I told them where I had the opportunity to go and when I as there. One young women in the group asked if I had served in a curtain area – which also happened to be the location I have discussed in this story. I told her that I had and loved it. She then took me by surprise and asked if I knew an Elder, calling him by name. I hadn’t heard that name for more than seventeen year – it was the Elder that had been sent home and I had followed into the area. With a surprised tone I told her I know more about that Elder than anyone in the world and that he was a piece of work. At that time someone called my name and I needed to go to another part of the church – I excused myself and went to where I was needed. Personal revelation is just that - personal and unique to each individual. Over the next week or so this young lady continued to receive manifestations from the spirit that she needed to come see me and talk about an event that happened in her life. Seventeen year earlier this woman then a little girl was living in part of the area this Elder was serving. An Elder is trusted because of his calling – he broke that trust by touching her inappropriately on more than one occasion. She was scared as any young girl would have been and tried to tell her parents – but sadly they didn’t believe her because he was a missionary. He was then sent home because of the other things that happened which I was given the responsibility to rectify. She decided at that time that she would never tell another soul about the things that had taken place during that time. Despite her silence, these events continued to haunt her for those many years. Until her new Bishop told her he knew what kind of missionary he was – and then the spirit told her that I would believe what she needed to tell me. After a couple of weeks she made an appointment to come and see me – the spirit was so strong and helped her to feel the love of the Lord and the power of the atonement. I assured her that not only did I believe her but also it was in complete character with the other thing I knew had happened at that time. It wasn’t her fault nor was she to blame herself anymore for the things that had taken place. We ended that appointment with a priesthood blessing. After she left my office I fell to my knees and thank my Father in Heaven for the marvelous miracle that had just taken place. I envisioned seventeen years earlier a faithful mission president on his knees in humble pray – asking which of his hundreds of missionaries he should sent to take care of the problems that had developed. I even think he would have been surprised at the answer he received, perhaps even asking again. Yes there were many missionaries that could have successfully taken care of these problems – but there was only one that would someday be the Bishop of this little girl. The Lord knows the beginning from the end He is and will continue to prepare each of us and those with whom we will come in contact with. It’s our opportunity and responsibility to be worthy enough to be used as a tool in his hands.

Mission Call -

I went on an LDS mission over thirty years ago. The cost of a mission has changed –but not as much as you would think. Now all missionaries pay the same amount no matter where they go. The receiving of the mission call is an exciting event. First there are interviews and medical examinations. This is to make sure you’re spiritually and physically able to serve. Different than when I got my call – the application and submitting of the appropriate paper work is submitted online. Once it is submitted you can follow it step by step on the Internet – or at least your church leader can. Where does it stand – with the Bishop, now with the Stake President, now with the Church – assigned and it’s been sent? But receiving the actual call hasn’t changed at all over the last thirty years, well almost not at all. The call comes through the mail. When it says on the computer that it has been sent – chances are you will get it the next Wednesday. The excitement of getting the call is tremendous, where are you going to spend the next two years? This summer my son put in his papers to go on a mission. When I got my mission call you could tell if you were staying in the U.S. or going foreign just by looking at the postage – if you were going foreign there were more papers in the packet for visa’s, passport, etc, thus more postage. When the call was sent, we knew that our son would not be in town – he was working at a youth camp in the mountains. We had decided to take the call to him to be opened. To get the scoop I goggled to find out if you could still tell where you were going by the postage, there was a number of entries, most of which said you could still tell. One of these entries said that if it was over $1.57 it’s foreign. My nephew had just gotten his call two weeks before to Iowa, so I called my sister and asked if she still had the envelop – great what was the postage, $1.57. It was a hour drive to the camp and we had to get all the family together for the trek – so when his call came it was going to be four or five hours before he could open it. Most people don’t say where they want to go so they don’t seem disappointed. I was disappointed when I got my call, after being in the mission field it was the greatest and I loved my location but when I opened the call and found out I was going to a bordering state it was a let down. Maybe I could come home on weekends. What was the use - most of my friends wouldn’t be there, they were going to New Zealand – South America – Iceland, all over the world, but not in the same time zone. Not only was it a bordering state but they also told me to bring a sleeping bag – what was I going to be do, sleep out on an Indian reservation? Our son had been vocal that he wanted to learn a foreign language and go to another country. I hoped he wasn’t going to be disappointed. So when it came and I was the one that got it out of the mailbox – what was the postage? Dang - $1.57. I know that it would be all right in the long run and would be a great experience. I just hope it wasn’t Pocatello Idaho. Opening the call is kind of like Christmas, I hope the kids like their presents. There are 344 different missions in the world, so we had a contest to see who could guess the closest – of course I had a clue and knew it was in the states. When we got there he was excited, but also a little nervous – which is understandable since it was telling him where he was spending the next couple of years. His mother just hoped it wasn’t some place that made him eat insects or has a rebellion every couple of months. Well here we go – Argentina, Buenos Aires South. Wow! That’s along ways away. He got what he wanted and our ten-year-old daughter actually picked the right country. I guess the postage thing doesn’t work – what a great experience for the family.