You have to do more than open the book.

 You have to do more than open the book.

When we were in Lander one of the sisters in our ward said that the Book of Mormon had such a powerful spirit that all you had to do was to open the Book of Mormon and leave it on the table and the spirit would permeate the room.

People have strange ideas. Ones like this are not true and can lead us into many false ideas. The spirit that we receive comes from prayerfully reading and pondering the message. The prophet Joseph Smith said that the book contains the fullness of the gospel. It is to lead us to a testimony of the divinity of Christ and to prepare us to meet our Father in Heaven.

We need to read and internalize the writing. Opening the book does not let us digest the contents without reading or listening to the words and thoughts.

We are blessed to be able to have the scriptures available to us on a small handheld device that we can read or have the chapters read to us.

I am fortunate to have hearing aids that pair with my iPhone. I have been able to listen to all of the October general conference without disturbing my wife while she watches TV. I can hear and she doesn’t even know that I am listening.

I have the ability to listen to the Book of Mormon while I am getting dressed.

Many things come up all around us and each of our experiences are different. The answers to our challenges can be found by reading the Book of Mormon. The spirit of the Lord will inspire us. It may take some time. In my experience it has not come immediately but will come with effort on our part when we are ready and absolutely need it.

Don’t just leave the book open. Read or listen to its contents.

Love,

Grandpa

Independence, industry and thrift

Independence, industry and thrift.

These words were spoken at a general conference before I was born. It was an invitation to the members of the church. It was to help us to understand the principles we should take into our life to guide us through the challenges we will be faced with.

Independence
We are to independent in our actions. We should not have to rely on the government for our maintenance. The more we are not beholden to outside influences the freer we will be to make decisions for ourselves. The church is to be independent and so are we.

Industry
Adam was told that he was to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. We are to earn our living and provide for ourselves and our family by working and using our minds. We are not to rely on the dole. The original statement said that the evils of the dole should be abolished. The term we use now is welfare. There is a concern about those who are receiving state welfare who will refuse employment when it is available. When we are on the dole we are no longer independent.

Thrift
This does not mean that we are miserly. It means that we make our expenditures wisely. We are to avoid debt as we would the plague as the original statement from the leaders of the church pointed out. Many people use credit cards and do not pay the debt at the end of the month, but only a small amount leaving a balance due. Thus they become slaves and are in bondage until the debt is resolved. If you take out a loan do not expect the government to pay it back.  It is your responsibility.

The council from the leaders of the church is that we try to have a year’s supply of money and food on hand. Obviously we cannot start out our life with that, but we are to work towards that goal. We can start with paying our tithes and try to save ten percent of the earnings. We cannot buy a house without going into debt. We should start out modestly. We need to have a plan to be free and clear of the debt and work towards that goal.

 

Love,

Grandpa

 

 

The first amendment and the scripture

 The first amendment and the scripture.

Matthew 12:36 “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”

The constitution of the United States gives people the right to vocally express their opinions. It is called freedom of speech. We refer to it as first amendment rights.

Over the course of the last years there have been many people who have abused this privilege and vocally and digitally expressed their views without regard to how the opinions expressed affect others and whether they are true or not.

They think that their opinions are what everyone else should think and have no regard to how their speech affects others. They don’t realize that one day, they will be held accountable to the Lord for those words.

The King James Version as quoted above stated, gives the translation as idle word. The Luther translation is unnütsliche Wörter or un-usefull or unnecessary words.

We should guard our tongues. It is also important not to pay attention to those who abuse the right to express their opinions. We should look to the true source of knowledge.

This applies to social media posts. The golden rule applies to this. Do or say unto others as you would have them do or say unto you.

In this case we should change the phrase “Think celestial” to Speak celestial.

Grandpa says mind what you say and write. 

 

Love,

Grandpa

Doing thngs the Lord's way

 A scripture comes to mind. "Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence. He that is slothful shall not be counted worthy to stand, and he that learns not his duty and shows himself not approved shall not be counted worthy to stand. Even so. Amen."

I have found that most people in the church fail to read the handbook and understand the order of the priesthood. They just make up the way they do things or follow what they have seen what other people have done.

Unfortunately when things do not go the way they are used to or procedures change they may get offended and may find themselves disagreeing with the leaders of the church.

One of the things that some people do not realize is that this is the Lord's church and we do not do anything without His approval.

When I was new in my term as stake president I was training the bishops on the proper way to sustain an individual in sacrament meeting. I suggested that one could say, 'The Lord has called so and so to serve as a teacher in the primary association, all who could sustain so and so please manifest it by raising the right hand. Any opposed by the same sign.' One bishop said, 'I could never say that.' He was a good man, but did not
understand the priesthood or his responsibilities to act in his office under the direction of the spirit. He used his own intellect to administer the affairs of the ward.

This seems to be all too common in the wards that I have seen while I was in Wyoming.It is apparently easier to rely on the arm of the flesh.

You have been brought up in our family and know how the kingdom of God works.
We need to be understanding and patient with those who are not as understanding of how the Lord's church works. If they stumble, we just let them do it until we are responsible for their actions. We do not steady the ark.

Texting a person to issue a calling or release is never appropriate. There is a missed opportunity to show love and concern to the person being released. It shows total disregard for a child of our Father in Heaven.

These are my thoughts on the matter. Not to be taken as doctrine. That comes from the priesthood.

Love,
 

Grandpa

Thy speech bewrayeth thee

 Thy speech bewrayeth thee

This quote from the Bible is applicable today.

We don’t use the language of the King James translation today, but how we talk and express ourselves in writing does label us and our abilities.

Bewrayeth means betray or reveal. What we write or say will reveal our learning and upbringing.

I was recently reading my missionary journal and ran across some phrase that I would never use today. The words in the phrase do not make sense except in the slang of the day. If my ancestors of three generations back were to read that, they would not know what I meant. In about one hundred years when my descendants read that phrase they probably would not know what it meant.

As I read posts and see lol, it may mean something to you but it really doesn’t make sense. It is a lazy way to say I am laughing out loud. Or that make me laugh. It then reveals to the reader or listener that you are not very articulate and are greatly influenced by the ways of the world.

How would you feel about communicating to the Lord with language like that?

We belong to Christ’s church. We need to be a light to the world. They should look up to the members of the church for that which is uplifting “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”

A number of years ago we had some people comment on the language which Elder Neal Maxwell used in his writings and conference talks. They said that he used words that they didn’t understand. We had no problem, In fact, we really loved the way he expressed himself. It was uplifting and inspired us to increase our ability to express ourselves.

Slang is really revealing what we think of ourselves and those that we communicate with.

Think celestial when you speak and write. We don’t have to use Thee, thou, or thine except when we pray. This is the language of prayer and shows our respect to God. 

Love,

Grandpa

Listening to the Spirit

 D&c 84:46 listening to the spirit

We had a lesson in Sunday school this week. During the discussion a number of the participants shared incidents in their lives. That got me to thinking about times in my life when I had promptings from the Holy Ghost. There have been a number which I feel are not to be shared publicly. Today I would like to share one. It illustrates a two way interaction of the spiritual prompting.

My wife and I were just home from our mission to the Europe East area in Frankfurt in 2000. We were staying in an apartment in Canyon Road Towers just up the street from the conference center. We had people living in our home in Lander while we were on our mission and they had not yet moved so we could not go home.

That July there had been a change in the area presidency and Elder Ronald Rasband was assigned to the Europe Central area presidency. We had come home before we had met him.

We were still living in the apartment at the time of October general conference. We did not have tickets to attend, but wanted to go. We were standing in the line to gain entrance to the meeting for those who didn’t have tickets. As we were standing on the sidewalk across the street from the conference center Elder Rasband came along shaking the people’s hands. As he approached I had the impression as if a voice. “He has tickets,ask him.” I thought, I think that would be presumptuous. I am not going to ask him. He went down the line and then when he came back, he stopped in front of us and asked us if we would like tickets. I do not think he knew who we were, but he listened to the spirit and gave us the tickets. This was the Sunday morning session when President Hinckley dedicated the conference center.

I didn’t act on the prompting of the spirit, but Elder Rasband did.

Some times we may realize that we are getting messages from a loving Father, but we fail to act as in my case. Not often will things turn out as they did in this case.

The best advice that grandpa can offer is to learn to listen and when the impression comes act without hesitation.

Love,
Grandpa

The path is not a destination

 

The path is not a destination

Recently the church has talked about the covenant path. I did not remember this phrase when I was growing up. Although the gospel has not changed, the emphasis on certain aspects has changed. For instance they do not speak about having a year’s supply of food or money like they used to. That is important as well.

What is the covenant path and how do we get onto it? This is the path that will eventually lead us back to our Father in Heaven. It is described as a narrow way.

We must start on the path to make covenants with our Father in Heaven. Usually this starts when we are given a name and a blessing in the Church. For those who did not have parents who were members we start on the path when we were introduced to the restored gospel. For those who had parents who were sealed in the temple they were sealed into the new and everlasting covenant and were heirs to receive the blessings of Abraham. This is referred to as being born in the covenant. This now is our start on the path.

Once on the path, we make our first covenant when we are baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. This covenant is, that we will mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that are in need of comforting and stand as a witness of God at all times and in all places even until death. We take upon us the name of Christ and become His disciples.

The ordinance of the sacrament is to remind us of those covenants that we made when we were baptized. When we partake of the sacrament unworthily we are stopped in our progression along the covenant path. The scriptures give this condition as damnation. Just as a river has its flow interrupted, our progress along the covenant path is impeded or damned until we remove the obstacles by repentance.

For the men, the next covenant is the oath and covenant of the priesthood as described in the 84th section of the Doctrine and Covenants.

We next go to the temple where we make more covenants and get a symbolic representation of our destination, which is being admitted into the presence of God.

The temple is not the end. We have to keep those covenants that we make in the temple for the rest of our lives walking along holding onto the rod of iron. 

 

My dear grandchildren, please stay on the path. If you need help, I will hold your hand. 

 

Love,

Grandpa

The spot remover

 I was involved in a dry cleaning business in Lander a number of years ago. A couple of members of the church decided to open a dry cleaners in Lander. They came to me and asked for some financial backing. Alan Anderson and I had purchased some property on Main Street that had three buildings and a trailer house. Alan moved into the building with the garage with the hydraulic lift and gas pumps in front. There was a cinder block building on the property next to the garage that the individuals remodeled and installed the equipment and opened the business.

The business did well, but they decided to move and my wife and I became the owners and operators. My wife worked there as well as my daughter Rachel. We also hired some help.

I would go in and do pressing and remove spots on the clothes. We used a special fluid to spray on the items to remove the spots.

I was thinking about spot removal today and this quote came to mind from my high school English class where we had to memorize quotes from Shakespeare.

"Out damned spot" is a line spoken by Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth.

She is walking and talking in her sleep about the assassination of King Duncan, in which she is implicated. This was the spot she wanted to get rid of.

We develop spots on our character by transgressing the laws of God and man. After we die the spots on our characters may or may not disappear. To quote Shakespeare again, “The evil that man does lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones. So let it be with Caesar. “

We all make mistakes and transgress God’s commandments or laws that will keep us from his presence after we pass from this earthly existence.

Just as we used spot remover at the dry cleaners there is a process to remove the spots on our character that come with us after we die.

We must go through the process of repenting. Only Christ can make us clean again. Only He is the spot remover. He suffered for our sins, but only if we do our part and bring our souls to the eternal dry cleaners by first washing ourselves in the waters of baptism and feeling godly sorrow for our sins.

Examine your selves and get rid of the spots in your life.

Love Grandpa

Conference messages

 Conference messages

During my life I have seen the changes in the accessibility of the messages spoken in conference. The first time I remember was that the messages were compiled and printed in a volume called the conference report. It took almost a year before they were available and most members did not avail themselves of them.

The next thing that I remember was they were included in the church magazine, Improvement Era later the Ensign and now the Liahona.

Now one can read or listen to the messages on the Internet. I have an app on my phone and iPad which has all the scriptures as well as the conference messages.

We need to have access to all the spiritual information at this time, because we will go through a period of trial and testing and we will need access to the words of the prophets even more than ever before.

 

Feast upon the messages!

 

Love.

Grandpa

My first missionary companion

 My first missionary companion 

I recently tried to find out what had happened to my first missionary companion Richard Mac Crandall. I could not find him on Find a Grave or in Family Search. I Googled his name and didn’t find a match. I did find someone who might have been his father in Family Search so I sent a message to some individuals who had added sources with the surname of Crandall.

“My first missionary companion in Germany was the son of this man. His name was Richard Mac Crandall. Are you related ? I would appreciate knowing something about him.

Laurence Gee, M.D.”

His daughter Shauna Jorgenson emailed me back and related that he was still alive and living with his second wife in Oregon. He is no longer a member of the church and does not believe.

While I was in Germany I heard that he was going to go to the Swiss temple to marry a young lady that he met in Berlin when he got released.

Apparently that didn’t happen because of the Swiss regulations. They got married in the Los Angeles temple. Her name was 

Christel Gerda Luise Brandt

They had three daughters and then they divorced. Christel moved back to Germany and raised her daughters there and eventually did come back to the United States. She married again and died in Utah in 1985.

The daughter that I talked with is a realtor here in Utah and an active member of the church.

I did not tell the daughter that I talked to about a number of times that Elder Crandall left me alone. I was assigned to Hildesheim when we met with the mission president in Hannover to receive our assignments and after three days in Hannover he left with someone else and I had to travel to Hildesheim on a train with a German sister missionary Anna Ernst who was assigned there.

After I had been in the country 20 days I took 4 Boy Scouts on a camping trip to Hamelin by bicycle and he said he was sick and sent me alone.

There were a number of other times when I was left alone to travel.

We were teaching a young lady Lillie Goetz. She was working for the British army. We had arranged to go with her to a concert at the cathedral given by the children’s chorus, the Regensberger Domspatzen. When I was ready to go he said he had some branch work to do and sent me to go to the concert alone with her.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXWXpCM8p44&list=OLAK5uy_kt359u1yRwD_rIO_2o-69ieVR2kPHsoOw

He left me to go off with a soldier friend when we were to attend the mission conference in Laboe. I was left to go by myself and missed my train to Hannover where I was to join the missionaries from the district to travel to Laboe. Fortunately the train going north was late and I was able to join them. I had only been in the country for about two months.

I did not think it necessary to share this information with his daughter.

It is not surprising that he has lost his testimony. When we do not obey the mission rules we will be tempted to disregard God’s commandments and find ourselves on shaky ground or out of the kingdom.

My counsel to my grandchildren is to keep the rules and the commandments. 

 

Love. Grandpa

The story of the chewing gum

 The story of the chewing gum

I used to like to chew gum. Initially it came in packages of five sticks. I would first only chew one stick of gum. As time went on I would add an extra stick until I ended up chewing all five sticks at the same time. They next came out with packs of 15 sticks. I followed the same procedure until I was chewing all fifteen sticks at the same time. That was quite a mouthful. I would prefer Wrigley’s spearmint or double mint gum. I also like to chew bubble gum.

When I was on my mission to Germany as a young man they did not have chewing gum. One day my companion Elder Crandall had a friend come to visit him. He brought a large pack of chewing gum. I was delighted and wanted to savor the gum, so I only used one stick at a time.

We were teaching the Jensen family the gospel and at some point we taught them the lesson on the Word of Wisdom. I was chewing gum at that lesson. At a later lesson Herr Jensen told his wife that Herr Gee didn’t keep the Word of Wisdom because I was chewing tobacco. When I found that out I had to explain about American chewing gum. I told them that I had never chewed tobacco.

I then realized that appearance mattered. I resolved never to chew gum again, because I didn’t want to give people a false impression. I didn’t want people to think that I did not keep the Word of Wisdom.

“Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). 

 

Vision

 Vision

There is a verse in the Bible that goes something like this. Where there is no vision the people perish.

This week we studied in the book of Acts about the centurion Cornelius who had a vision.

Both my wife and I have recently undergone cataract surgery. Our vision was impaired to the point that neither of us could read. We still have trouble seeing in the dark, so we don’t drive, especially after dark. So it may be that if we did drive we would perish.

Of course the scripture was not really referring to being unable to drive at night. It was referring to spiritual vision.

Two stories come to mind. My wife’s ancestor Sarah Minton McMullin Henderson was the first of her line to join the church. One night she had a dream. Some may call it a vision. She saw two men coming to her house.

The missionaries were living in a populated town and would then go out in the Florida countryside to contact people in the rural area. They would walk and visit each farmhouse along the country road. This day they walked about 26 miles without stopping at any houses as was their custom. They just kept walking. They eventually came to a farm house with a rail fence. As they approached Sarah was sitting on the porch and called to them to come in and teach her the gospel of Jesus Christ as she had been instructed in her dream. She even recognized their faces from her dream.

At about the same time in Georgia Sarah’s sister had a dream. She saw two men at the town’s railroad station. She was told that they could teach her the true gospel of Jesus Christ. The next morning she had the same vision. She asked her husband to go to the station and invite the men to come home with him. They taught her the gospel and she, like Cornelius was baptized.

We see that the Lord is no respector of persons in any age. He will touch the hearts of those who are receptive. As a result of these two visions there are many who have and are living the gospel.

 

You may ask, why don't all of us have visions or dreams like this.  All of you have the gospel of Christ. You just have to have the vision to live according to Christ's commandments.  You may be the instrument of bringing the gospel to someone that needs it.  This is the vision that you must have.  

 

Keep your eyes open!

Love,

Grandpa

 Times when I could have died 

When I was 6 months old I contracted scarlet fever. The death rate for children under one year was 50%. I did not have any complications. A number of the survivors developed heart problems that caused early death.

When I was a junior in high school I was riding with some friends in a car driven by Ronald Carey. We were on the Baldwin Creek road and the car missed a turn and rolled over two or three times and went through a fence. There were no seatbelts at that time. I was the only one injured and had a broken little finger on my right hand.

The summer after my senior year in highschool I worked for the forest service. One night they called me to join the fire fighting crew to help fight the Dishpan Butte fire. We drove up to Dickinson Park and found the trail. It was getting dark and we were soon walking in the dark. We had a Coleman lantern and flashlights to help us follow the trail. The person carrying the lantern stumbled and broke the mantle,so that source of light was gone. I was in the lead and was unsure I was on the right path. I stopped and the person with a flashlight came up and I found I was on top of a big boulder. It was about fifty feet to the ground below. I doubt that I would have survived the fall. We found the trail and spent the night putting out the fire.

The following summer I was working again for the forest service. They only had enough money to fund one person for the trail crew,so I was hired to clean the trails from Sinks canyon to Dickinson Park. I would work ten days and then I would have four days off. I would buy groceries to last that period, pack them on to the pack saddle and get the horse from the ranger station barn in Sinks canyon and lead the horse to a campsite in a meadow about halfway between Sinks and Dickinson park. I would tie up the horse and walk the trails clearing up dead branches and trees that had fallen across the trail and make sure that the fords across the streams were clear for foot tragic or had bridges. One night I was sleeping in my tent when I was awakened by a noise and a bear was in my tent. I grabbed my fishing pole and hit him on the nose and the bear ran off into the night. I could have been mauled or killed by the bear.

While I was on my mission in Berlin we lived in the Charlottenburg chapel. This was just off the big street that went straight to the Brandenberg Gate.
One day I was riding my bike and turned the corner. There was a bus parked at a stop and there was no turn signal flashing. I rode close to the bus because there was no bicycle path in order to avoid any cars coming in my direction behind me. Just as I got to the front of the bus the driver opened his door and I slammed into the door at full speed. I did not fall or hit my head and was not thrown to the ground. Thus avoiding serious injury or death.

The next incident occurred in Florida. We took our family down to Florida to visit the Clark grandparents. We went to the beach and into the water. The undertow caught me and carried me out. I tried to get back. I did not have a life jacket and fortunately Aaron came and helped us get to shore.

Time passed and Alice and I had gone down to Salt Lake to pick up some marble for our fire place and an electric typewriter of my parents that had been there for repair. We picked up doctor Whiting’s mother to bring her to Lander for a visit. As we were going through South Pass and down Beaver hill we hit a patch of snow on top of ice on the road. The car fishtailed and went off the left lane and high centered on the drop off to the canyon. A snowplow came along and seeing our plight pulled us back onto the road. Had we gone over the edge we would have been killed. 

 

There may have been other times that I was not aware of.  I thank the Lord for preserving my life. 

Stedying the ark part three

 The church and policy and procedures

Sometime in the past few years a former bishop demonstrated in front of the church headquarters because he thought that bishops should not interview young people in the ward.

There have been demonstrations at BYU trying to influence a change in policy in regards to the proclamation on the family. Some have even suggested that if the church did not allow same sex marriage in the temple and by local priesthood leaders that the tax exempt status be revoked by the government.

These people are trying to steady the ark.

We belong to the Church of Jesus Christ. He sets the policy and the procedures. Those who try to influence the church to change to their way of thinking are in danger of loosing their place in the celestial kingdom. 

 

Keep your hands off the ark.

 

Love,

Grandpa

Steadying the aek part 2

 The priesthood and the church

We must ask whose church is this? Whose priesthood is this? The answer is simple.  It is Christ's.

Originally Adam was given the priesthood and gave it to his children and his descendants. Noah had this priesthood. He had the garment of the Holy Priesthood. Canaan wanted to wear the garment to show people he had the priesthood. When Noah was drunk he came in to steal the garment and left Noah naked and as a result was denied access to the priesthood as well as his posterity. (Genesis 9:26)

The Higher priesthood continued in the righteous posterity of Noah down to Jethro who gave it to Moses.

Because of the iniquity of the children of Israel Moses and the higher priesthood were taken away and only the descendants of Aaron were allowed to hold the priesthood. None of the other tribes of Israel could hold the priesthood.

Christ restored the higher priesthood which remained on two continents until apostasy did not allow anyone on earth to claim true authority from God, although there were false Christs and false priesthoods.

A restoration of the true priesthood occurred when John the Baptist and Peter, James and John came and ordained Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey. For reasons debated those of African descent were denied access to the priesthood. No amount of protests made a difference. At one time a reporter from California asked President David O. McKay when those of African descent would receive the priesthood. His reply was, not in my lifetime or yours.

It required a revelation to the presidency of the church and council of the twelve for the Lord to grant access to His power and authority to all worthy male members.

Just because women tried to get into general conference priesthood session or demonstrated on temple square doesn’t change who will gain access to His power and authority. These try to steady the ark and are mislead.

At one time before the above mentioned revelation, a bishop in the church ordained an African to the office of Elder. The bishop was excommunicated. 

After the revelation a temple ordinance worker in the Salt Lake temple told the temple president that he could not perform those sacred ordinances to any African. The temple president replied, you are hereby released from your position in the temple. 

This is Christ's church and His priesthood. We go by His rules.

 

Try and remember not to touch the ark.

 

Love,

Grandpa

 

Steadying the Ark

 Money and the church

A recent television news show featured a former employee of the church who was involved in investing church funds. He no longer works in that capacity. It was his feeling that the money should be used in a different way. He went on national television to criticize the church.

This reminds me of an account in the Bible. It seems that a man who was not a Levite saw something that he thought was happening that he could control. The ark of the covenant was tipping and he feared that it might drop to the ground. He reached up his hand to keep it from sliding and touched the ark. The account records that the Lord struck him dead on the spot.

Why? Because he took over a priesthood responsibility that he was not authorized to assume. We call this type of action steadying the ark.

No matter what our personal desires and opinions are we have no right to question the church or its leaders. We may die a spiritual death if we do.

Recently a rather wealthy man sued the church to have them return the tithing that he paid because he did not think the church was using the money he way that he thought it ought to be used. He wasted his money by bringing suit, because he did not recoup any money. He has left the church.

During the history of the church, funds have been required to cover expenses. In lieu of money members have donated goods or labor. As example; the building of the Kirtland and Nauvoo temples.Then after the saints moved west the three temples in Utah as well as numerous tabernacles, stake and ward buildings.

When the chapel was built in Lander the local members had to raise 30% of the cost of the building before construction could begin. My family contributed labor as well.

I have a receipt in my files that shows that I contributed money to the building of the Idaho Falls temple. Later we were asked to contribute money to the building of the Jordan River temple. Now the church uses funds to purchase lands and provide funds for the building of temples all over the world. They do not ask members to specifically contribute to the funding of temples.

When I was stake president we had ward and stake budget assessments as well as welfare assessments. I was appointed to be the regional welfare coordinator. The Wyoming region was asked to provide a certain amount of money for welfare. I talked to the stake presidents of the Casper and Big Horn stakes and we agreed on each stake's share of the assessment that we received from church headquarters. Each stake would then assign the wards their share.

At tithing settlement the bishops would meet with each family and suggest an amount for each to contribute to the budgets in addition to tithing and fast offering.

As things progressed the welfare assessment was filled by welfare projects with members working in the various canneries and farms and orchards. No money was asked for.

Each ward and stake had a building fund provided by the church to cover future building needs. No money was asked for members to contribute to and paid janitors were replaced by donated labor. This also happens in cleaning of the temples.

The monetary assessments were then covered by the funds from the proceeds of wise investments of excess church funds. 

The Savior taught the principle of stewardship in Matthew 25:14-30. Most people read this and think it is just a nice story.

Most of you are not even aware of these changes. 

"Isn't it wonderful that faithful tithe-paying by rhe members and prudent investment of church funds have made it possible for the Church to cover all of these needs without additional financial sacrifice of church members?

My dear grandchildren please remember whose church this is. Do not try to steady the ark.

Love,

 

Grandpa

Sin like illness is best treated early in its course

 Sin like illness is best treated early in its course

Today my daughter was visiting our neighbor. She has been coughing and complaining of pain and the cough was productive of colored mucus. This was accompanied by a sore throat.

It was 8:00 PM. I thought she had a bronchitis and needed an antibiotic. I had a sulfa based antibiotic on hand, but the neighbor was allergic to sulfa based drugs. All the drugstores in the area were closed for Memorial Day.

My daughters who live in the area did not have any antibiotics. Had we known a few hours earlier I could have been of help by phoning in a prescription. Now she will have to wait until tomorrow to get treatment.

She may get pneumonia by waiting too long to seek treatment.

The phrase at the beginning of this post was one that I used to quote to people to emphasize the need to repent early. If one does not, then the spiritual illness that accompanies sin may become more serious and lead to spiritual death.

So, my dear grandchildren repent early and often.

Love,

Grandpa

The nurse with the long blond hair

 

The nurse with the long blond hair

While I was in the hospital after surgery a nurse came in to take care of my dressings and surgical sites. The hair was down past her waist and draped over my abdomen. As a doctor I was concerned about cross contamination. We would not have allowed that to take place in the Lander hospital. She would have had to wear a snood to keep her hair from draping onto the patient’s area.

I asked her how long it took her to grow the hair that long. She reached up and pulled the wig back to reveal some dark hair beneath. The blond, long hair was false. It was a wig.

She also had piercings and tattoos.

I cannot change what other people do with their bodies. My concern is for you, my grandchildren.

One day you will stand before the Lord and He will do what I call a stewardship interview. Among other things He may ask you this question. What have you done with the body that I gave you? Can you answer, I have respected it and not defiled it?

We are surrounded with the ways of the world. We can choose to be influenced by the people in the great and spacious building or give them no heed.

A number of years ago while I was serving as stake president some of the Aaronic priesthood holders were piercing their ears. The bishops were receiving complaints from members objecting to the young men administering or passing the sacrament. A few bishops were of the opinion that these young men should not bless or pass the sacrament with rings in their ears.

The prophet Joseph Smith said he taught correct principles and let the people govern themselves. One approach would be to interview each boy with earrings and present them with the bishop’s concerns and let them make their own decision.

At the next stake conference I gave a talk using the scriptures in Exodus. (Exodus 21:1-6) I explained that this was an analogy. If the slave wanted to stay with the master, that the master would take an awl and pierce the ear to the doorpost, and he would then be a slave for life. By piercing the ear for a male it would be a sign that he would be a slave to the worldly ways. Of course, the law of Moses was abolished with Christ and He instituted a higher and holier law.

A few years later a friend of our son came to live with us. He had pierced his ears and was wearing earrings. I do not believe we ever mentioned that to him, but after a while he removed them and later served an honorable mission.

When I was in medical school, we were taught to test ever person who had a tattoo for Syphilis. The reason being that many of those doing the procedure did not adequately sterilize the dyes or needles. They transmitted the disease from an infected individual to one who did not have the disease.

My cousin Joann has alopecia areata totalis. She has worn a wig for all of her adult life. There are valid reasons to wear false hair.

In order to place the x-rays properly for my radiation treatment they placed 4 tattoo dots on my chest to line up the machine. I don’t think anyone can see them. I can’t.

The point of this post is that we don’t alter our bodies to follow the ways or the fashions of the world.

I think it was President McKay who said that we need to have our own fashions and not those of the world.

 

My dear grandchildren, please consider your appearance and how you would like to appear before your Father in Heaven and His son Jesus Christ. 

 

Love,

 

Grandpa

 

 

Contemplating the sacrament.

 

Contemplating the sacrament.

Each Sunday we are given the opportunity to partake of the sacrament. It consists of a small piece of bread and a small cup of water. When the church was first organized there was only one vessel of wine, and the congregation drank out of the same container. The bread was homemade and there was one plate. The prophet Joseph Smith received instructions to use water instead of wine. Eventually individual small cups of glass were used for the water and multiple trays for the bread. I remember helping my parents wash and dry the glass cups and trays after Sunday school and sacrament meetings when we were living in Cheyenne. We even supplied my mother’s bread.

The next change came when they introduced paper or plastic cups for the water.

When they went to the block schedule for Sunday meetings the sacrament was only administered once every Sunday with the exception of stake and general conference Sundays. Because of governmental regulations in the United States all bread must be from a commercial source.

On each of these Sundays I listen to the prayers and repeat in my mind the words in German or English. I think of Christ and his atonement and those things that we have promised to do.

I have recently reviewed my life and found that I have often partaken of the sacrament unworthily. It is not that I have committed some great sin, but been light-minded or lost my temper and not sought forgiveness. We do not go to the confession booth and talk to the bishop. We have direct access to the Lord. Especially during the time before the priest offers the prayer.

If we have not paid our tithing should we partake of the sacrament? If we have used foul language, should we partake of the sacrament? If we have lied, should we partake of the sacrament? If we have committed adultery should we partake of the sacrament? If we have not prayed, should we partake of the sacrament? If we have been dishonest, should we partake of the sacrament?

 

There is a misunderstanding being circulated in the church that the sacrament is connected with baptism and by partaking of it we are cleansed from out sins.  A careful reading of the prayer found in the 20^th section of the Doctrine and Covenants should dispel that notion.

 

You may ask, who then is worthy to partake? The answer is clear. He who has a broken heart and a contrite spirit and contemplates his life and asks the Lord for forgiveness. The Lord knows your heart. Those who do partake unworthily are impeded in their progress toward Eternal Life until they repent and always remember Him and keep His comandments.

We often take this ordinance for granted as something that is common, instead of a blessing to be cherished.

My dear grandchildren please do not bring upon you the judgement of your Heavenly Father by partaking of the sacrament unworthily.

Love,

Grandpa