April 9-10, 2012 Greyson Hayden Poulson

April 9, in the Davis County Courthouse, Greyson 's adoption was made complete and legal. It was a very special experience and for Hayden a very interesting one since the judge wanted to pick on him it seemed. He asked Hayden to explain what he meant when he said that he loved Cheyenne. I won't tell anymore of the story of that part but for each of you father's that is a very hard question to answer especially when sitting in a courtroom in front of a judge when your answers may make the difference in whether your get to adopt your son and make your family an eternal unit. Well the judge did finally go on to say that it meant service to her and that he would put her first above all else forever. Hayden and Cheyenne did really well and it ended being a very special time for all of us who got to attend. There were a couple of things that the judge said that I wish I could remember word for word but I don't have that good of a memory. Just let it suffice that he said some very eternal truths about families and couples in particular in making sure that the husband always treats his wife with the greatest of respect since that is what the children will learn most of all. They will always remember how dad treated mom no matter what is said by dad.
Here are a few of the pictures.

Now today, April 10, 2012, we will be meeting at the LDS Provo Temple at 10:00 Am to seal Greyson to their family. We are so thankful for this special day and for all who have had a part in it especially a very unselfish young lady who gave Greyson to Hayden and Cheyenne. We love her very much.

April 8, 2012

Today I as we talked during priesthood meeting I had the impression to put my Priesthood Line of Authority on this blog for you boys since I am not sure if you still have copies of it or not.
The first is my current line of authority as an High Priest (the one you would use).
The second one is my line of authority as an Elder (just for your information).

I, Kent Jay Poulson was ordained an High Priest on 30 June, 1985 by
Richard Smoot Nixon who was ordained an High Priest on 3 September, 1961 by
Mark E. Peterson who was ordained an Apostle on 20 April, 1944 by
Heber J Grant who was ordained an Apostle on 16 October , 1882 by
George Q Cannon who was ordained an Apostle on 26 August, 1860 by
Brigham Young who was ordained an Apostle on 14 February, 1835 by
The Three Witnesses  were was ordained on 3 June, 1831 by
Joseph Smith Jr. who was ordained June, 1829 by
Peter, James, and John who were ordained by
Jesus Christ.


I, Kent Jay Poulson was ordained an Elder on 23 September, 1972 by
Kermit Poulson who was ordained an High Priest on 15 August, 1954 by
Sterling W Sill who was ordained an Apostle by
Henry H Blood who was ordained by
Hyrum Mack Smith who was ordained by
Joseph F Smith who was ordained by
Brigham Young who was ordained an Apostle on 14 February, 1835 by
The Three Witnesses  were was ordained on 3 June, 1831 by
Joseph Smith Jr. who was ordained June, 1829 by
Peter, James, and John who were ordained by
Jesus Christ.

April 7, 2012, My Easter Dream

During General Conference last week one of the general authorities commented about dreams and that revelation can come through dreams. Well as I listened to that talk I thought that my dreams are definitely not ones containing any personal revelation since they are very stupid for the most part such as some of my most recent have been a playing over and over of some of the duties I have been doing in my current employment. (Moving bottles off an assembly line to a box and so forth.) Usually my dreams have nothing to do with anything useful that I have been doing that could contain any revelation. However, with that being said, I decided that I need to record the dream I had this morning with a little background for the dream.

First the history leading up to this dream.

Part A. Colby Jeffers, Dawna's second son, just received his mission call to go to Los Angeles Spanish speaking mission.

Part B. The other day, in fact last Friday, as I went outside to do some yard work I caught a bit of a conversation, heated , very heated, between he and his older brother. You know how sibling rivalries can be and even though they rope calves together and such they do have their times when they are simply brothers doing what brothers do before they are both mature and while still in the same home together, they fight.

Part C. Marie and I have been reading books together during the evenings and on sunday afternoons. I have been reading aloud from the Book of Mormon each night now for many months before we go to bed. With Clairs books we have often read them together. I usually am reading to her while she does other tasks like scrapbooking, or as in last night, filling Easter eggs for todays hunt with the grandchildren.

Part D. We recently discovered that a close friend of ours likes to read books and so we suggested some of Clair's for her to read. We would take three or four over to her and after she had read them a few days later she would bring them back for more. Well after that exchange a couple of times then she started bringing some of the others that she has read by other authors over to us and I would read them to Marie and then take them back to her. Well she gave us a book called "Rearview Mirror" by Stephanie Black. It has, as part of it's plot, two brothers that have lost their father when young and their mother. The one brother is very manipulative like the mother who died in the first part of the story. He convinces the brother to do things totally out of what should be happening and is responsible for several bad things happening in the book. Oops, I will not say any more than that now just in case you want to read it some day.

Part E. The last several months I have made it a goal to go to the temple at least one day per week and do work for the names that Uncle Vincent Houtz (mom's uncle, the funny one.) had prepared several years ago that we recently found. (He died about four or five years ago and the baptism and confirmations had been done for these names back in 2001.) So I started with about 5 or 6 names taking them through each week that I went and when completed then Britt gave me 23 more that needed initiatory and endowments completed. So one week in the first of February I did all of the initiatory with the help of one other young man and then have been doing multiple endowment sessions to try and get them all done (2 every friday morning). We were also able to complete 6 of them in one day as we went through with Colby as he received his endowments now that he has his mission call and several others during our ward temple night in early March. I have 6 left as of today. During these weekly visits the story of the creation has been a usual major part of each visit

Part F. The last several nights of reading from the B of M is where Alma and Amulek are teaching the people of Ammonihah about the Plan of Salvation.

The jest of the dream.

I am out walking with a bunch of youth, could be grandchildren or mutual age scouts or someone like that, I don't recall that part of the specifics of the dream. Anyway Colby and Trevor ride past, with another person, on their bikes. I ran after them to talk to them and when I caught up to them, (remember all things are possible in dreams including super running speeds) I remember a very vivid and detailed look at Colby and he looked just like a punk rocker and had spiked hair and nose and earrings etc. Suddenly someone else was the older brother rather than Trevor but that's all possible in dreams as well of course. I then started telling the older brother how he was wrong in telling Colby that he didn't need to serve a mission and he was responsible for how Colby was headed down the wrong tracks now instead of heading out on his mission. In other words the brothers in the book were now part of the dream in a little different setting.

The important part of the dream.

The logic that I used to try to teach the older brother why he was wrong was inspired due again to a part of one of the talks from General Conference by Elder Nelson, I think. He talked about how the creation and how the body was so complex and that it could even repair itself and then said something to the fact that it is so hard to believe all this began with a big bang after which he talked about an explosion in a printing shop and from it came a dictionary that could automatically update itself or something to that effect. Well the logic I used in the dream, and I wasn't calm as I was yelling this at the boy (not my preferred teaching style), was that all he needed to do was to look around and see the wonders of nature to realize that all we have been taught in the gospel is so true. I pointed to the flowers at the side of the road, the bees busily at work around them (inspired by recent photographs I took as the apricots were in bloom), the sunset and many other things that were instantly so vivid in the dream. I remember so strongly feeling how wonderful the creations are that are around us and that the priesthood is so powerful thatThe Lord and others were able to create all of these things through the use of that priesthood.

The lesson from the dream.

This is a wonderful world filled with so many beautiful things that were all created for our use and enjoyment that, should our testimonies ever start to falter, all we really need to do is to go on a walk and look closely at what we have around us, for everything testifies that we have a very loving Father in Heaven and a wonderful brother that gave His life for us and then rose from the dead to provide for us the same opportunity and blessing to live with them through the eternities.  Enjoy this Easter season but most of all remember why we have it and why it is so important to each of us.

Love,
Dad

April 1, 2012

When mother passed away I was given her old Book of Mormon from which she studied each night. I kept it for several years before deciding that it would be the one I would use for scripture study each night and have now done so for several years as well. I have always liked the two things that she has taped into the front inside cover of the book. It is her testimony and a couple of quotes from the prophets about why we should read the book and a warning if we do not. I must admit the for many years I did not read the Book of Mormon as I should have but ever since I was a home teacher to a fellow who was trying to read it 100 times I too decided that I would read it every day. I am not going for the 100 times goal yet I have probably read it now over 30 times at least, I really do not know for sure since I haven't tracked that. I have found it to be very fun as I am now much more able to tell who is writing it and can feel the power of the prophets testimonies that are given throughout the entire book. I often though am thankful it is not a movie since I do  not think I could stand the horror of some of the wars and what the people did to their enemies during those wars. There are movies that I have seen that give me a little of the feeling what it might have been like but nothing that can remotely compare to the destruction of the Nephites and final battles of the Jaredites. I do enjoy the movies however that the church has been producing that show the coming of the Savior to the America's for that to me is the most significant part of that history. I wonder how it must have felt to be there when he came. First of all knowing that only the more righteous were permitted to remain for that event and second that they were able to hear him speak to His Father as he spoke things that were unable to be recorded in this book due to their sacred nature. I can only imagine a very small portion of how that had to have felt knowing that it effected life here for over 300 years and took several generations before Satan could again get hold of the hearts of men again and finally destroy a nation that had lived in perfect peace because of the Savior's love that they had felt. No wonder Satan will be bound when we, if we live worthy of it, can be with Christ and Father in Heaven for eternity. I look forward to that time and the blessings which will come from it. However I also enjoy the time now that I have to spend here with each of you my children and grandchildren because I feel the love of both of them as I get to watch you grow. I now want to admonish all of you to learn to love each other and to feel what it must have been like when the Savior was here. During the Priesthood session of conference last night I got the distinct impression to share my mother's testimony with each of you as you read this blog and let you know how much she and my father loved the gospel and gave that same love to me. I have made mistakes through my life just as each of us do but I know I have felt the love of my Savior many times as I have worked to overcome those mistakes and repent of them. I have also enjoyed being able to go to the temple now weekly for several months and to do work for some of Marie's ancestors. There is still a lot to be done and I will be calling for help as we take the names for sealing. Thank you Brittany for spending the time to see where each of those person's work has been completed so I could continue with it. It has been special knowing that I have been doing work for some of you direct ancestors instead of just picking up a name as I would go to a session. 

I want each of you to know that I know this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ and that He and My Heavenly Father not only live but love me and each of you. I can only know a portion of what it feels like to love as they love us because of the love that I have for each of you. I know the church is true. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and did see them in person as well as many of the other ancient prophets as he was called to establish the truth on the earth once more. I know that the Book of Mormon is a true book and wish so much to be able to read the sealed portion but then realize that I am not yet ready for that. I know the Priesthood has been restored to the earth and I know that I have not exercised it enough throughout my life and thus admonish each of you that now hold it as well to use it to the fullest degree that you can. I know it is the power of God but do not yet fully understand how great that power really is in our lives. I know as I watch the story of the creation in the temple that that power is far greater than I can comprehend but I do know it is real and that our Heavenly Father really loves us. I can only begin to understand how it will be to have all that the Father hath given to us and to be as families through the eternities (another thing that is hard to comprehend as well.) This is the true gospel and the Lord has given me many blessings throughout my life for which I am so grateful. I feel Their great love for me each day I live and am so thankful to Them for that love. I can only look at the wonder of nature and feel it even more as I think of what he has created for us. As I look into the faces of each of your children, and watch them learning, I feel so much His love again that He has for all of us. As I watch the blessings that each of you are receiving in your lives I again feel that Love for each of us. So as your earthly father, who is full of weakness, I want you to know that I truly love each of you and want you to grasp  hold of the gospel and try to live it as best as you can. It is true, God does love all of us with a love we cannot yet understand but is real none the less. Christ is our eldest bother and loves us as well with that same love as the Father because he suffered for each of us and our mistakes and has served us far greater than we can comprehend during this life. Be true to the Gospel and to each other as brothers and sisters and parents and children. I love each of you and leave my testimony again with you in the name of my beloved brother, your beloved brother, Jesus Christ. Amen