Jan. 28, 2012

Kick the can / No Bears (Yesteryears Night Games of today)

When I was young and lived on the farm, we were quite a ways from town so there was very little light to give illumination to the yard. Well that made it very dark outside especially if there were no full moon. During the summer we liked to play outside games. Our yard had a lot of great places to hide and it was really a lot of fun to play the Hide and Go Seek types of games. The two I remember best were “No Bears Are Out Tonight” and “Kick the Can”. I used to love to go around the backside of the house so that I could come in from a different vantage point than what might be expected, plus it took a lot longer to go around so everyone else would already be distracting the one who was it. Mother loved trees and bushes so the yard was filled with great places to hide behind. We even had a hedge that could be walked around and gain closer proximity to the safe point. It was always fun and to this day I do not know why we didn’t get hurt a lot of times where it was so dark and there were ditches for watering the lawn and plenty of other obstacles upon which to trip. It was even more strange since we played it many times with friends who didn’t know where those obstacles were located. However I do not ever remember a single incident where someone was hurt, but that could be due to selective memory I suppose.

Jan. 27, 2012 Portrait of Christ

In my previous post I mentioned that mom and I had just finished reading a book called "Heaven is for Real". In it it mentioned a girl that had seen Christ and 4 years later painted a picture of how she remembered Him. This is the image that she had painted.

Jan. 27, 2012

Jesus Shoots Down Power

This past week Marie and I have been reading a book called "Heaven is For Real". It is the story of Colton Burpo who during an extremely severe illness was in the operating room and went to Heaven for 3 minutes. He was three and a half years old and a few weeks to two years after he recovered he continued to tell his parents about Heaven. It is a very special book about a very special child or a child just like all other children in the eyes of Jesus. One of the chapters talks about how he saw Jesus shoot down power from Heaven upon his father who is a minister in the Crossroads Wesleyan Church in Imperial, Nebraska. He told his father that while he would be giving his sermons he could see Jesus shoot down power upon his dad to help him preach his sermon that day. I find this all very interesting and wonder what his dad would do if asked to listen to the missionary discussions. Anyway it is a very special look at Heaven from the eyes of a child who had been there. 

Well the reason for this post is that I like the way he explained help from Heaven while we are teaching. I was asked to teach the High Priests Group last week and I was to use the talk by Elder Christofferson on Repentance. I spent Saturday making some models from match sticks that I could use to represent the five parts of repentance that he choose to expound on in his talk. While preparing it I thought about how to present the materials just as I always do and wasn't coming up with much other than the little match stick representations to show a burning of bridges talked about in the third point. Well as I gave the lesson my mind was taken to Ammon, Lamoni, and Lamoni's father's story and there were several parts of that story that fit perfectly into illustrating those 5 points of repentance including the burning of all the bridges in every direction as you repent so that you can't go back and repeat sins committed. Well when the Lamanites buried their swords and weapons and kneeled before the attack from the other Lamanites they had definitely burned their bridges. As I thought about the lesson later I realized that in all my preparations for the lesson that story had not crossed my mind at all yet like a Shot of Power from Jesus it came when I needed it most. 

Jan. 26, 2012 Happy Birthday Loren!!

Jeffrey and Jonathan Nackos

Jeff Nackos had been on my Timberline staff one year and did a really good job. I had asked him again a second year and he wanted to do it since we had recruited his younger brother John to go to Tline that year as a candidate. We started our staff development meetings in Jan and as time went on Jeff became more and more involved in some other things and wasn’t sure he should continue with our staff. He decided to stay however for his brothers sake so that he would be there with his brother, We had actually had John signed up the year before but then he couldn’t go at the last moment.  Well this year as we got closer to the course we filled up rather late and I knew I needed all of the youth staff that I had which for several months had really been in question. I had told Jeff if we didn’t fill up that he could be on the list to drop out first if he still needed. Well just a month or so before the course date John had been on an overnight camp up Hobble Creek. He and a friend decided that they needed something from town so they got in the car and took off a little too fast for that canyon. As they came around one corner the driver lost control and rolled the car. John had his seat belt on and the window open but somehow his head was caught between the road and the rolling vehicle. He was killed instantly if I remember correctly. I went to his funeral with several of the staff members and remember a story one of the speakers gave about John. When John was just 5 years old he had been sick and in the hospital. The speaker was his Bishop at the time and was called to the hospital to give him a blessing. He recalls that he was blessed to be able to live and he did pull through from a point where he was at deaths door. The Bishop then recalled that as he left the hospital that he had a very distinct impression that John was only going to be here for a short time and that he would be taken at a later date. John was a very loving and friendly kid and had lots of close friends as he grew older. Then at age 14 he was taken and the Bishop was now no longer his Bishop but told his parents about his experience at the hospital which he had never shared before with anyone. He also felt though very concerned about the situation and was granted a dream where he saw John walking down a green pasture between two older men dressed in white. He recalls seeing John turn toward him with a huge smile and then letting him know that he was doing just great and for his parents not to worry about him. Jeff was hit very hard with this accident however and came to me and told me that he wanted to be off of the staff. I then told him we were completely full and I really needed him and promised that if he would come he would do a lot better. Well he did come and during the week there were several times when it was very obvious that he was struggling with John’s death still very hard. Each time it happened however the rest of the youth staff would get around him and help him. Toward the end of the week he told us how he was so glad he had come because they had helped him through a very difficult time and he was very thankful for their friendship.

Jan. 25, 2012

Kicked out of English by Mrs Evans

When I was in my senior year at Duchesne High School I was on the yearbook staff again and I was still the photographer and the editor that year. We had to get excused from classes each time we had to do pictures of various groups and clubs. It wasn’t very many times since we didn’t have a whole lot of them at DHS. But there were enough that it became a little bit of an irritation to the teachers. Well it wasn’t bad enough that we had to get excused for one session but when we ended up having to redo a group that apparently was the straw that broke the camels back for Mrs. Evans. I do not remember what we were studying that day but I am sure it was only English, since that was what she taught and it was not my favorite subject so to speak. I may have been a little heavy on getting excused form that class to do the pictures too I suppose, I really don’t remember for sure. But I do remember her getting extremely upset when I mentioned that I needed to leave class a little early to go do some retakes for one of the clubs. She proceeded to kick me out of class and so I left and went down early to the library where mom was working and told her what had happened. She was also the Yearbook advisor so that was part of the reason for going there as well. I don’t remember any more of what happened and I am sure things got straightened out some how and mom probably had a lot to do with that as well. I most likely didn’t get out of English quite so often either but I really truly do not remember since the most dramatic part for Mrs. Evans and I both had already passed. We were still friends and the yearbook got published and I even graduated from high school as Salutatorian of my class with a record of only having been kicked out of class once in my entire thirteen years in school to that point of my life.

Jan. 24, 2012

Insurance Salesman

After Signetics shut down I went to work for Kara Chocolates in Orem. It was a good job while Bishop Anderson owned it and while Keith Cavanaugh worked there. Then two brothers took over and started to run it. They took the good chocolate that was used and no longer used it and went to a cheaper chocolate. They fired Keith and that left me to run the molding plant. They started systematically firing the women who had worked there for several years and hired Spanish people who couldn’t speak English.  For the most part they were good workers but very slow. They would have me run the molding plant, when the rush seasons came along, on a graveyard shift. That didn’t bother me as far as the hours but it did get pretty quiet since I was the only one there. Then we started doing work for Guiradelli and that was pretty fun. I did learn to love dark chocolate because of their dark chocolate. I would only run the graveyard shift for a few days until we got caught up and then go back to dayshift. A year or so went on this way and then things started to go a little south. They would have me go in on graveyard and run the molding plant but they didn’t plan things out to where I would have sufficient materials to run an entire shift so I would end up just sitting around for several hours until my shift was over. I kept telling them how much chocolate was needed and they would promise me it would be there but then never come through with the promises. I started to study insurance and became licensed in Health and Life insurance and also got my Securities License. I then started working with a group of insurance people so when the next graveyard shift came along I told the boss that if there was not enough materials to run an entire shift I would be quitting. He promised me that there would be plenty. Well I got there that night and was able to make chocolates for a total of one half hour before I had exhausted every single bit of materials that I could find to keep the plant running. It was a Friday night and so I took the key to the front desk and shut down the plant and locked the door behind me. I just couldn’t in all good conscious sit there 7 and a half more hours. I then began working for A Plus insurance and found out that I was just not an Insurance salesman. I tried for sometime but finally David Nemelka told me I was too honest to sell insurance and to get out. He then helped me start Treasured Photography. While starting that I also worked for a Safe company called Ft. Knox. It was fun but then the photography started creating major conflicts with it and I had to quit. I was having to take so many days off that it wasn't fair to them to keep trying to make both of them work.

Jan. 23, 2012

Hunting Rabbits with Don Hansen

One of my favorite things to do after school during the warmer parts of the spring and fall was to meet Don Hansen, my best friend, and go rabbit hunting. I used my father’s old single shot .22 caliber rifle and I still remember the day Don showed up with a new semi-automatic that could shoot 9 or so bullets before having to reload. Of course with a single shot I had to reload each time after I had fired off a round. I learned something very valuable however and that was that I had to make the shot count and I would go through a lot less ammo since I could kill the rabbit with one bullet rather than shooting the dirt up behind it for 8 shots or 9.  We would go up on the bench and could shoot almost any direction except toward town that was three miles away. We would go up to the Big Hollow and walk along the top and sometimes drop down a little and walk along the little hills. It was not uncommon to see 5 to 10 rabbits at a time. That was part of the reason for hunting them was due top their numbers and the damage they would do to the hay crops. I got to be a pretty good shot but now sometimes can only remember the suffering and pain that I caused a lot of rabbit when I didn’t kill them with the first shot. I really have no desire to hunt them now but gladly take a camera out and shoot them with it instead.

Jan. 22, 2012

High Council Disciplinary Councils

I have had the opportunity to be on The Mapleton Stake High Council and the BYU 3rd Stake High Council. 6 years in the first one and 2 and a half in the second. I am currently reading the Doctrine and Covenants and was reminded as I read the 102nd section the other night about the responsibilities when we hold a disciplinary council. I was only in one while at BYU but served in several while in Mapleton. I remember how hard we tried to make each council a special one full of love toward the person for whom it was held. I never had a negative one during that time even though I did have to miss one that apparently was not very good. I remember how when we would go into the room that we had the slips of  paper laying face down on the table and would have to pick one up. The slips each had a number on them and we would always feel relieved if the number was above 6 and especially happy if it was 11 or 12. That is how the seating was determined and how the speaking either for the Church or for the accused was also determined. I can only remember a couple of times when I had a number between 1 and 4 and thus was guaranteed that I would need to speak. I do remember feeling the responsibility to treat the discussion fairly and with love no matter which side of the room I sat on. They were special experiences and most special when it was a case involving the completion of a period of repentance when the person was being brought back into full fellowship. I was involved in only a couple as a Bishopric member in Mapleton wards but was involved in several BYU Bishop’s councils. Most of them were for the purpose of being brought back in and they were all very special. It is not easy to be a judge but was required in those circumstances. I am glad I don’t have to do it all the time. 

Jan. 21, 2012

High School Track, 880 Yards run and the mile relays and Cross Country.

The last four years of high school I was asked by Coach Josie to run the 880 Yard Run and the Mile relay. He also had me running Cross Country in the fall since track was always in the spring. I was a good runner and would have been a great runner had my heart really been in it. I had plenty of practice since I loved to race the bus home after school and I loved to go up  on the bench and run along the road up to Snow Draw.  I ran a fairly fast mile and was usually under 5 minutes and as I got older came closer to the 4 minute mile even though I never did actually run it that fast. The 880 when I started as a Freshman was really only a run but as I got older it seemed to move into the dash rather than a run.  We used to run a mile each day in athletics and then we would run up the hill behind the school to the top several times. During Cross country season we would run up Utahn  along the Duchesne River for several miles and it would even be the course when we hosted the competition at our school. I liked running that one since it was actually fairly flat but I didn’t really like it when we went to Tabiona because they ran up and down all of the hills. I went to a track meet in Helper once when we ran around a golf course twice. It was pretty nice because I knew what the last half of the run was like and after the first round I was back in the pack at about 25^th place but since I knew what I was up against the last half I was able to move into 5^th. It wasn’t my best race but it was better than it probably would have been had I not been able to go past the coach halfway through and find out how far I was back into the pack. I remember running a cross country at East Carbon also and they ran it out through the sagebrush since that was about all they had around the city.  It was good for me to run in those events even though I think I got quite tired of it by the time I graduated and really haven’t done much running since then. I look at people out running though and it seems more like they are just jogging and that is probably because I remember too well how fast we had to run or be totally left behind in the race. I also have not had a desire to run that hard because I remember too many times that I would end the race and then have to go throw up. Memories like that tend to make the experience seem less enjoyable.