Wednesday training meeting today! I had a small part in the meeting when I gave a 5 minutes presentation on the Nauvoo Visitors center. It was an interesting observation to watch the reactions from the missionaries. Some seemed very interested!
Our morning preparations went very smooth. Mom was up ever so early to do the laundry and she had it almost completely done before we left for the meeting at 7:15am. We walked down to the meeting and the morning air was brisk! We did not have time to take our usual morning walk because of the weekly meeting, so the walk down was wonderful. The clouds are always a unique sight as is noted here in this picture;
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| The morning sky above the temple this morning |
Mom and I had separate assignments today. She worked at the John Taylor Home and I worked across the street at the Browning Gun Shop. We had 4 guests during our 7 hour shift at the gun shop. I got to work with Elder Mamales today. He and his wife went through the MTC with us last February. They are here for just 12 months and they are getting ready for their release here in February. We've enjoyed our association with them.
Then tonight, we went to the 6:00pm temple session. That is so hard for mom to be up later than 7:00pm and the session is a two hour session. We were ready to come home and enjoy our cozy home. Mom is now sound asleep and I am working on the blog. Every time I post on this blog I can't help but think about our precious family back home in Idaho and Utah and California. We are so grateful for your love and support!
Tonight, I have been thinking about how decisions we make early in life affect us later on in life. Now mom and I have had a little experience in our 6 decades of making decisions early on in our lives! Now we can see how some of those decisions have affected us individually and as a family today.
As grandparents we are very much aware of some of those decisions that could have been made that would have altered where we are today... From time-to-time I will offer, here in the blog, some of the choicest decisions that have led to where we are today, ie; serving a mission, enjoying four precious children who have married four precious spouses, in the temple, for time and eternity, and having the wonderful Gospel in our lives today and 19 going on 20 grandchildren!
I think back to July 24, 1971. I was attending Fresno City College when I was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through my friend from Ski Club, Ellen Draper (Clason). I was elected President of the Ski Club and our club membership soared from less than 100 to over 300 in the year I was involved. We were the most active club on campus and that seemed to be the most important thing to me, even after my baptism on the above date.
In fact, I was so involved in school government that I was elected Inter-club Council Vice President soon after my baptism. Attending Church and learning about the Gospel of Jesus Christ was the farthest thing from my mind..
Then, in March 1975, my sister and her friend Bob Kenney, were serving on the Stake Young Single Adult Council together. I had no idea what that was, but they asked me to "accept a 'calling' to serve as the Young Single Adult Recreation Leader". They explained that I would lead the young single adults each Thursday night in some fun activity. I am not sure why I said yes, but I did. I really wanted to pursue more political type positions in school and maybe beyond, but I said yes to this "calling".
With all the other responsibilities I had and with college graduation coming up in June, I was absolutely swamped with this "calling". I came up with activities every Thursday Night for the next 3 months. The first Thursday we had 7 YSA's in attendance. I had a fun activity and it seemed to go over well. The next Thursday we had 14 YSA's in attendance. By June 1975, after serving in this calling for over 3 months, my last Thursday Night activity drew almost 300 YSA's! Interestingly, just a few weeks prior, we had to move our activities from the Stake Center to Roeding Park there in Fresno to accommodate all who wanted to participate.... I was addicted to serving! (And a positive addiction as well!!)
Accepting this calling was the best decision I had made up to this point in my life. I was hooked on serving, and organizing, and in working with the YSA's. Then, in June 1975, I was promoted by Longs Drug Stores and moved to El Centro, California, to help open a new store location. This was over 400 miles from home, but the experience I had with the YSA's in Fresno, caused me to look up the new ward family in El Centro. That decision to accept the calling in March 1975, opened up so many more doors than I could have ever imagined! Wait until I tell you about some others that were slated to come my way over the next year!
And this final note.....
Several Yale University students were captured on camera by a documentary filmmaker happily signing a petition aimed at repeating the First Amendment. The video shows media personality Ami Horowitz ask students on the Ivy League campus if they would willingly sign his anti-free speech petition... Here are some of the comments by these students;
“I think this is fantastic and I absolutely agree,” one student replied.
“Excellent,” echoed another.
“I totally agree with where you are at,” yet another said.
Horowitz said that in under an hour he was able to collect over 50 signatures from the Yale community. He told Fox News the reactions from students were an “unbelievable display of total stupidity.”
The petition from Horowitz comes amid a national debate over free speech and the idea of “safe spaces” on college campuses.
It is interesting to note that our college students in prestigious colleges don't understand that they were willing to sign a document that would make it illegal to sign if the 1st Amendment was repealed! This is one excellent reason for parents and grandparents to be ever vigilant in knowing what our children and grandchildren are being exposed to!! Take a look at a comment posted on this article:
It certainly does… Then again, I just asked my oldest kids (13yrs old) if they would sign a petition that repealed the First Amendment, and they looked at me as if I were insane. They laughed and asked me if I had a hidden camera in the room. So, we may not be totally FUBARed. At least, not those of us in fly-over country who still teach the Constitution of the United States of America and cursive handwriting everyday. Oh yeah, I homeschool.
And this final note.....
Several Yale University students were captured on camera by a documentary filmmaker happily signing a petition aimed at repeating the First Amendment. The video shows media personality Ami Horowitz ask students on the Ivy League campus if they would willingly sign his anti-free speech petition... Here are some of the comments by these students;
“I think this is fantastic and I absolutely agree,” one student replied.
“Excellent,” echoed another.
“I totally agree with where you are at,” yet another said.
Horowitz said that in under an hour he was able to collect over 50 signatures from the Yale community. He told Fox News the reactions from students were an “unbelievable display of total stupidity.”
The petition from Horowitz comes amid a national debate over free speech and the idea of “safe spaces” on college campuses.
It is interesting to note that our college students in prestigious colleges don't understand that they were willing to sign a document that would make it illegal to sign if the 1st Amendment was repealed! This is one excellent reason for parents and grandparents to be ever vigilant in knowing what our children and grandchildren are being exposed to!! Take a look at a comment posted on this article:
It certainly does… Then again, I just asked my oldest kids (13yrs old) if they would sign a petition that repealed the First Amendment, and they looked at me as if I were insane. They laughed and asked me if I had a hidden camera in the room. So, we may not be totally FUBARed. At least, not those of us in fly-over country who still teach the Constitution of the United States of America and cursive handwriting everyday. Oh yeah, I homeschool.
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