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
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
April 1, 2012
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
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Mar 18, 2012
Mission Reunion w/Pres Asay in SLC Temple
Friday April 2, 1999, Marie, Jeff and I went to a Texas North Mission reunion at the Salt Lake City Temple. President Carlos E Asay was then the President of the temple and had invited all of us to come with our spouses and any endowed children to participate in a temple session for our reunion. There were 305 of us in attendance including Elder Haire whom I had not seen since my mission in 1973 while we served together in Midland Texas for 6 months. As we were waiting in the chapel for the reunion to begin Pres Asay spoke to us and told us that the session could hold 300 but we would get all 305 into the session. Needless to say it was a pretty big group. It was a very special reunion however and Pres Asay took those who lived outside of Utah for a special tour of the temple that night after we were done. He told the rest of us that we could schedule a time with his secretary later and he would take us on a tour as well. That never had a chance to be fulfilled since on Monday morning he went into his office as it were on a cloud since it had been such a special experience. Then that night he had a massive stroke and the following Friday we were in the tabernacle on Temple Square attending his funeral rather than a special tour of the temple. He was a very special mission President and had been etched deep into the hearts of all of his missionaries.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Mar 17, 2012
Mission calls Ann & I
Sept 16, 1972 was a special day and began as I went to the post office to get our mail in which I was hoping there would be a mission call. Well there was and there was also one for Sister Ann Behrmann. Later with my family I opened my call and was surprised by the fact that I was called to the Texas North Mission due to enter the mission home on Sept 30, 1972. (Two weeks later.) Well due to the need for further preparation the following Saturday mom and dad and I went to Provo and purchased all of the clothing and everything I would need for my mission. Ann however received her call to New Zealand and didn’t leave for several weeks after that. I received my endowments after I had gone into the mission home in Salt Lake city. We went in on a Saturday to the mission home and then the following Monday morning entered the Salt Lake Temple where I received my endowments in the first of two sessions that we were able to participate in that day. We also were able to go into the special room at the top of the temple where we were able to listen at the feet of the prophet President Harold B Lee. He would later pass away while I was still in the mission field and I came home with President Spencer W Kimball as the prophet. One of the missionaries, in the group of 30 all going to Texas that week, was Bernell Taylor whom I would later serve with in the Mapleton Stake High Council and to whom I later found out I was kind of related. He and I were both nephews of Carling Allen. I was the nephew through Carma Allen and he was the nephew through Carling. That was the start of a great experience for me and even though Ann left a couple months after me I came home 4 months after her since the sisters only went on 18 month missions. Bernell was also one of Ben’s employers while he was in high school.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Mar 16, 2012
Maple Mountain Fires 1989, 1994
I have witnessed not once but actually 4 times now fires on the face of Maple Mountain next to Mapleton. In 1989 Marie and I were driving home form Storehouse market after doing our weekly grocery shopping when we noticed smoke going into the sky off the face of Maple Mountain. It was started by two boys who were making a fire to signal down to their friends in the valley. A wind came up and quickly spread the fire into the nearby dry grass where it went so fast that all they could do was run so it didn’t get them as well. The fire spread quickly up the hill but was finally contained after only going to the top of the one draw. Fire crews supported by an airplane were able to contain it to just that one area. The following spring I took part in a scouting project where for our Order of the Arrow campout we hiked up the ridge with 1,500 small evergreen trees that we panted in the area that had been burned. I always wanted to go back and see how many of those trees lived but was not able to and then a small fire was stared by a lightning strike on the property where blasting powder caps were manufactured in the mouth of Spanish Fork canyon. Trojan Powder plant refused help from the city fire fighters because of the explosives and consequently the fire got out of hand when the canyon breezes carried it toward the mountain and further north along the fire break road. I was awaken by one of the children at around 11 pm during the summer of 1995 when the fire looked like it might even come down into town. I photographed it though as it burned along the plateau and then around 2 am the following morning it turned and was carried right to the top of the mountain in just a couple of short hours. I sat on the roof photographing while Ben and his friends were having a sleepover on the trampoline. It was a very destructive fire and not easily contained. There were helicopters flying up and dumping water on the fire for several days before the hot spots were contained. I have never really wanted to go back and see if those trees survived the first summer because I am sure they didn’t survive that fire when it not only burned up that draw but all but one of the major draws on the face of the mountain. I still remember the friend of mine who during the first fire in 1989 was on a hike with his 8 children up the backside of the mountain. They were on the top of Spanish Fork Peak when the smoke from the fire started to spill over into the valley at the top of the mountain and he suddenly knew he had to get his children down off that mountain as fast as he could. They all ran all of the way down to the parking lot and then left the canyon just as it was being closed to any traffic trying to go up.
The other two fires that I have seen were also started by lighting. The first was put out by the resulting rain storm while the second burned up the hill much further before being put out by fire crews and helicopters carrying water buckets. I have been glad that those fires were not as bad as the others.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Mar 13, 2012
Blazer patrol Hike
I didn’t always have a love for scouting as many think I have had. I started out as a cub scout and then as a blazer and later a boy scout. I remember getting my button cut off of my shirt because it wasn’t buttoned during a uniform inspection as part of a major stake cub scout activity. I remember feeling bad as a scout left camp to walk home because boys were making fu of him and even threw raw eggs at him. I learned first hand as I watched that raw eggs do not always break when thrown art someone but they do leave goose eggs on the head. I love to play some of the games, like Capture the Flag”, but learning the morse code was not as fun and pretty hard work the only paid off after winning a morse code flag contest at a district camporee. I couldn’t swim either so getting me Eagle Rank was not a possibility until someone who could swim found out and decided that I couldn’e give up an Eagle rank just for two merit badges that she could teach to me. The thing that probably really made scouting come to life for me and to become a lifetime love was being called to teach the Blazer Patrol in Primary when I was only 17 years old. It may have been just a way to help me want my Eagle rank or just because they needed a Blazer leader and I was available as the son of the second counselor in the Bishopric. It doesn’t matter much why as the fact that it worked. I got my Eagle rank because I told my boys I would, because a leader took interest in me and taught me to swim, and because my parents never gave up on me either. I learned that year as I taught primary while also going through my senior year of High school that there was a lot of value in the scouting program. 6 or 7 boys looked up to me to teach them to have fun in scouting while earning their badges and filling their requirements. We played the games and did a lot of activities in and out of class but I only specifically remember one hike. We had to cook and take a five mile hike as I remember. I loved to go up to Snow Draw and the Big draw so that of course was where I took the boys for that hike. We chased jack rabbits and cooked dandelions in the bottom of the draw on a small fire that they started with only a little help from me. It was fun. As I think about it now however that was a lot of responsibility to place on a 17 year old boy. We did not have any 2 deep leadership at that time and so I had the boys all to myself as the sole leader. It scares me as I think about it now but then it wasn’t at all out of the ordinary so I didn’t even consider the possibilities of problems then. I will always love the boys from that patrol just as I do all of the boys I have had in scouting since that time. They are still my friends and I love it when I bump into them even now. In fact I write this only a couple of weeks after seeing one of them at UVU. He was walking back to his car when I saw him and so we talked for a few minutes before he continued his journey home. I also see one of them every now and then if he is at the station he owns when I go to get my car oil changed. Yes they will be friends forever.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Mar 12, 2012
Little League Baseball
There are just some things that most people think a young man should do as he is growing up. Well I thought the same thing for a long time but then realized that I was actually wrong and had known it for a long time as well. I speak about Little League Baseball. I think I learned this by participating as a boy myself (for one whole summer), by coaching it for a couple of years and by watching other fathers who believed it a lot more than I did. So now I must explain myself I guess. Here are the lessons that I learned from each of those three things. I played baseball for one summer because I think mom and dad finally gave in to my desire to play. We had played as a family some with other families and I did enjoy it. So as a young man I joined for one summer only to find out that since I hadn’t been involved at an even younger age that I really wasn’t very good at it. So the coach ended up making me an outfielder since I could at least stop the ball and had a pretty good throwing arm. I wasn’t a hitter however and so I seldom got on base. I had enough in just one summer and left it to the other boys after that who had dad’s that had to win through their boy he games that they had not won when they were that age. Well as a coach I did OK because it was for T-ball and the need for winning wasn’t the main objective for the boys that age. We could just have fu and the boys always got on base. I liked the game for that age group. However when they got older and the dad’s suddenly had to win the game or it was the end of life for them and their boys I realized that it really wasn’t for every boy. I still remember however one father who really got it right. He wasn’t actually the father of this one particular boy but he was the coach who wanted him on the team and then did everything to make it fun for that boy, and consequently for the rest of the team, as well as far as the boys were concerned anyway. This was Dave Nemelka who asked Lindsey Ashton (a dow syndrome boy) to play on his team. I don’t think the team won a lot of games but as far as I was concerned as a father of another one of the team players they didn’t have a losing season at all. Everytime I saw Lindsey hit the ball and all of his team cheering him on as he rounded the bases I knew that they won that game that day for Lindsey despite the score not reflecting it so much. I will always respect Dave because of his understanding of the real need for baseball in the life of some young men. It was quite the opposite for some of the other father’s who would swear at the team players if the struck out or got tagged out on base. I lost respect for mother’s who would swear at the coach for not letting their little boy play every inning or be the only pitcher. Thank you Dave for your understanding the needs of every boy not just the future major leaguer.
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