Gift From the Sea

Ward Relief Society meet to discuss some of the books we have read. Last Thursday we discussed Gift of the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. She is the wife of Charles A. Lindbergh. It is a commentary on the feelings of women. She explained in the forward that at first she tho’t she was the only one who felt this way but in discussing it with other women, she found that many, maybe even most, women feel this way. I’m a little better than half way thro’ it right now. So far my favorite chapter is called Moon Shell. She talks of walking along the beach and finding sea shells and she compares the different chambers in them to her life or our lives. She explained in the Moon Shell chapter how giving a woman is. She gives to her husband, her children, her friends and how she needs to be to be alone sometimes to replenish herself. She didn’t mention how when having toddlers it is difficult to even go to the bathroom alone not to mention having some “space” to her self but she gave the same idea in a different way. She mentioned how much easier it is to give of oneself when one has been replenished by reading, writing, or meditating, being alone for even a short time, and how difficult it is to continue to give when one can’t do those things. I really identify with her and her feelings. All of us there could. They mentioned those feelings there but I couldn’t really identify with them at that time because I hadn’t read it yet. As I read it, I tho’t, “Wow! She really explained the way I remember feeling.” Now that my sweet husband has retired and we now spend a lot of time together, he can’t seem to understand why I like to go to my nail appointment or haircut appointment by myself or somewhere else I may need or want to go without him. He calls it our “independent time”. Only he does it with disdain almost, not really understanding. Maybe I’ll encourage him to read that chapter because Anne explains it so much better than I ever could. The chapter I’m reading now is about marriage and togetherness and the love that evolves or matures in a marriage after the “romantic” love has gone. It is very good also. She has much insight. This book was published in 1955 when a woman was still an extension of her husband more or less and not really an individual as we have come to look upon ourselves now days. I wasn’t really anyone but Karl’s wife and my children’s mother until I got my nursing degree. Now I’m not saying that a woman must have a career in order to be an individual instead of and extension of someone else. That is just what it took for me. I was so shy as a child (still am sometimes in certain circumstances) and had such an inferiority complex that it took doing something like that….getting my nursing degree with having four small children and a husband to take care of too….to really find myself and be able to say, “I can do that….” I am really glad I am reading this book. I will finish it today.

Historical Day

Today we attended our first Regional conference via satellite. It was even on the KIDK news last night. It stated that 66 stakes would meet with the Regional conference, each in its own Stake Center. Today, however Elder Anderson stated that 76 stakes were meeting in Southeast Idaho. Later President Faust mentioned the 76 stakes in Southeast Idaho and Western Wyoming. So my guess is 66 stakes in SE Idaho and 10 stakes from Western Wyoming. I don't think I am off more than a stake or two each way. It was a delightful conference. Elder Neil L. Anderson is one of the seven Presidents of the Seventy and is over the Stakes in SE Idaho and Western Wyoming too I guess. He spoke, then Sister Bonnie D. Parken spoke, then Elder Dallen H. Oaks spoke. Then President James E. Faust spoke. We adjourned at 11:40 so it was a little shorter than most conferences but still very good. Each of the speakers told of their tie to Idaho. Elder Anderson was reared in the Cubbuck area and graduated from Highland High School in Pocatello. Sister Parkins grandparents lived in Coltman in our stake and helped settle that area. I guess her mother grew up there. I couldn't help but wonder if she were a cousin once or twice reoved to Susan Butikofer (Sister Parkin's mother's maiden name) who went to nursing school with me. She said her mother would always break into song And Here We Have Idaho winning her way to fame.... as they crossed the boarder of Idaho and Utah on their way to visit their grandparents. Elder Oaks stated that he grew up in the Twin Falls area until 1940 when his father died and his mother moved back to Utah to be near her family. He said that his mother always broke into song And Here We Have Idaho as they were traveling up here also to visit family. President Faust stated that he felt left out because he had never lived in Idaho. But had come up to Island Park to visit and Uncle and Aunt who had a home there. But he had eaten many many lovely Idaho potatoes. Elder Anderson told of his experiences in Brazil as an area authority down there and of one time when he met with one of the mission presidents there in Brazil how excited this mission president was because they were getting five new missionaries that week and three of them were from Idaho. He said that Idaho young men and young women have a reputation of knowing how to work and work hard. Elder Oaks stated he liked to claim his Idaho routes especailly when the work ethic of the Idaho missionaries was discussed. He was more light hearted and we saw him smile more than I ever have seen him before. He had some very good counsel but he was so relaxed and at ease as he gave it. He stated that there were four short things that a man should tell his wife every day: 1. I love you. 2. I'm sorry. 3. Yes, Dear and 4. We can't afford it. Both he and Elder Anderson as well as Pres. Faust spoke on unnecessary debt and to be watchful and don't go there. He said it isn't right to pay for February's food with July's paycheck. Pres. Faust said that the brethren have always stated that we shouldn't go into debt for anything but a home or education and maybe a car. "And," he said, "I haven't heard any of the prophets say anything different." Elder Oakes also stated that more and more young men and young women are arriving at the MTC with tatttoos. He said,
"Leave the tattoos alone!" Sister Parkin talked about her time with her husband as mission presidents in England. She stated what she always told the missionaries at General Conference time and then later challenged us to do the same four things: 1. Listen to or read intently the messages of the brethren and sisters who speak to us. 2. With the help of the Holy Ghost pick out an area that you can improve upon that was spoken of. 3. Live that principal for the next six months. and 4. Report how living that principal has changed our lives.

They all bore their testimonies of the Divinity of the Savior and His love for us. It was such a good conference and left me with such a good feeling. We were sitting on the front row on the west side of the chapel. We got there about 9:20 to get a good seat in the chapel. As President Batt, our stake president, came down off the stand he came over and shook hands with each of us. He looked at my sweetheart and asked how we were doing. Karl said, "I'm doing OK and she's doing better all the time." Then President Batt asked if we had tho't of going on one of those stay at home missions at the Family History Center. Karl said, "Or the Temple Visitor's Center?" And President Batt replied, No the Family History Center." Karl said, "I don't know how to do that." And President Batt said, "They will teach you and you can work on your own ancestors when there isn't someone else there to be helping." My heart sang! I have been thinking and praying that maybe we could do something like that and would the Lord please let us know if we could serve and where He would want us to serve." I, after I collected my tho'ts caught up to President Batt and told him that what he said was an answer to my prayers. And he said, "The tho'ts just came to me and to ask you." I am even more sure that that was an answer to my prayers. So now I am praying when the Lord wants us to speak to the bishop and turn in our papers etc. I had been praying that we could do it around tithing settlement time. That isn't really that far away. Probably less than a month. I'm being released from being the building scheduler next week and so neither will have any callings other than as visiting and home teachers. And with a home mission, altho' I don't know for sure, we could still continue doing those things. My heart is singing right now and I am happy!

A Correction

I just checked again on the IGI and Rebecca Ellis sealing to her parents has been done in 1995 in the IFalls Temple. But the other two were not listed, so we will take care of them. I'm trying to get a hold of Lois Anderson, Karl's cousin who lives in Springfield to see if she wants me to send her the card for the sealing of her mother to her parents or if she wants us to do it. I've been trying for a week now and she hasn't returned my call. I will try again right now.

What Else I've Been Up to Doing

Over the past month I have discovered the Family History Center. Let me tell what led to this. In 1999 Bryan & Sandy lived in Albequrque and while they lived there Sandy's ward calling was working in the Family History Center. They sent our daughter Karen some pink and blue cards for people that needed their temple work done. Some of them it turned out were duplicates of ones my sister Mildred had sent to me and that my husband and I did. Anyway, Karen set them aside and a couple of years ago gave them to me. At that time I went thro' them and went onto the IGI and found out that all the work had been done except for the work for Johanes Rufener, my 3rd or 4th great grandfather on my father's side. It had been cleared. I set them aside and didn't think any more about it until about a month ago. Since my health has improved greatly, I have been thinking that I need to go to the family history center and get some work done there and see what needs to be done. My sweetheart has been tutoring first graders and helping them read. He has done it other years but didn't last year because he was never called. They had been calling him every year since he first volunteered. Well, he saw Mrs. Sherry Marineau at the DI one day last summer (she was volunteering there) and she asked why he hadn't come back to Tiebreaker Elementary School to help her with her students. He explained that he waited for the call and since it hadn't come he found other things to do. They exchanged phone numbers and she said she would call him if she needed him. She called when school had been in session for only two or three weeks. He has been going every Monday and Wednesday morning for approx. an hour each time. He is working with three first grade boys right now. Deigo, Julio and Nathan. Deigo is a delight. Julio and Nathan have to be reminded to keep on track. So it can be challenging and sometimes stressful for him. But he enjoys it on the most part. Anyway, four weeks ago as I just before I fell sound asleep (I am more susceptable with the Spirit when I'm in what I call the "twight zone") the tho't came to me that I could go to the FHC after he left for Tiebreaker. The reason I have to wait for him to leave is: he parks his car behind mine in the driveway. I cannot drive his '79 Buick because it has a bench seat and is very difficult to move and my legs aren't long enough to reach the pedals. It is very difficult for me to even back it out of the driveway. This way it would already be moved and I wouldn't have to ask him to move it. So I went the next morning after Karl left. That day I relearned how to get on the IGI on my home computer. (It had been so long since I had done it that I forgot that it could be accessed at home.) So that week I spent time going back and forth between the IGI and my own PAF and getting more names and data. I soon found out that Johanes Rufener's work was still only CEARED. That it had never been done. I remember thinking, "I wonder why it hasn't been done yet. It has been years since it was cleared. The next morning when I was in the "twightlight zone" the Spirit whispered to me, "The reason why Johanes Rufener's work has only been cleared on not done is because you are holding the card." Wow! That woke me up. I had written cleared on the card in each of the squares and also his wife's name, Anna. I wondered if we could still use the card with it written on. I asked one of the officiators at the temple the next time we were there and he said yes, to bring it in and they have both blue and pink "whiteout" that they can use or they could just issue a new card. I told him the situation about my experience and he said, "Sister, he is probably the one who has been prompting you to get his work done." To which I replied, "I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find that was the case."

Anyway, I have gone to the FHC each week except for the weekend we went to Utah to see our chidren and grandchildren and my mother. (Incidently, that was a most enjoyable experience. I am sooo glad we went.) I have gone thro' by PAF and "cleaned" it up, took out abbreviations to states and approximated birth dates or marriage dates where it was needed. It turns out that if you have a birthdate and no marriage date but a spouses name, you can add 21 years to the birthdate and put abt before it. For the birth date if you have a marriage date you can subtract 21 years and put abt before it. I spent my spare time for four nights doing that. The next time I went to the FHC I was able to put my PAF with both my side and my husband's side of the family (I may eventually put them in separate files when I get to working more on them.)thro' temple ready. I found 119 individuals who need ordinances done. With Johanes Rufener that is 120 individuals. Some of them need baptisms, confirmation, initiatory and endowments, others need sealing to spouses and still others need only sealed to parents. I found a 4th great grandmother on my mother's side that hasn't been sealed to her parents. All other work and her siblings were sealed but she wasn't. I also found that my mother-in-law's grandfather wasn't sealed to his parents altho' his other work had been done and his siblings had been done and all the work had been done vicariously. Also a sister of my father-in-law was not sealed to her parents. That was a unique situation where their father was a member of the RLDS church and his work wasn't done until after his death. None of his chidren were baptized until after his death. My father-in-law was 22 years old when he was baptized. Anyway, Aunt Fern was already married at that time and she wasn't active in the church at that time. I checked on the IGI for those things and they weren't there.

Anyway, Karen is YMMIA president in her ward and she asked if they could do the baptisms on the 29th of this month. Then Karl and I and others, my mother and brother have volunteered to help with the work too as well as Karen and Kent and Shani and Jon. All of our children live close to a temple so they could all help with it. I have found this very exciting and rewarding. I think I have caught the bug and will go to the FHC often. I'll have to start on research from now on. I am back in the 1700's and some of them the 1600's even on the Wendel side. The people there at the FHC have told me that the church only lets us go back to the 1600's for right now. That is good enough.

My New Favorite Hymn

I mentioned right after General Conference that I have a new favorite hymn. It is Come unto Him # 114 in the hymn book. I was touched by both the words and the melody when the Tabernacle Choir sang it in general conference, then our ward chorister chose it to sing the very next Sunday. I was so touched by it I couldn't even sing all of the words.....just read them and listen to them as the rest sang it.

Here are the words:

I wander through the still of night,
When solitude is ev'rywhere--
Alone beneath the starrylight,
And yet I know that God is there.

I kneel upon the grass and pray;
An answer comes without a voice.
It takes my burden all away A
And makes my aching heart rejoice.

When I am filled with strong desire
And ask a boon of him, I see
No miracle of living fire,
But what I ask flows into me.

And when the tempest rages high
I feel no arm around me thrust,
But ev'ry strom goes rolling by
When I repose in Him my trust.

It matters not what may befall,
What thrat'ning hand hangs over me;
He is my rampart through it all,
My refuge from mine enenmy.

Come unto him all ye depressed,
Ye erring souls whose eyes are dim,
Ye weary ones who long for rest.
Come unto Him! Come unto Him!

The words touch my soul even as I type them now. I can feel His loving arms around me as I type them. (And as far as I know, I am not in crises here now.) It feels so comforting.

Hello again!

It has been a long time since I have added to this blog; since I've been able to add to it. All right I could have done it a week ago....but....Anyway, it all started about a month ago when I started having trouble with my Outlook e-mail. I would see messages come in and then immediately leave and not be able to read them. I called my "computer tech" son and had him help me defragment my computer (it hadn't been done since I got it in June). But first I called DELL and tried to see if they could help me. Each time I call DELL I get India. Sometimes I get someone who can speak English well but most of the time I have to listen very hard to understand the person on the other end. Anyway, I was told I had to buy a service for $239 before they could do anything at all to help me. I told them that I had just purchased my computer and that it was still under warrenty. The woman said that that didn't make any difference that I would have to purchase that agreement for the stated price before she could do anything at all to help me. (What I should have done is just hung up and called Kim.) I then gave her permission to control my computer by remote and she went thro' everything. She couldn't really find anything wrong. I don't know if that is why I couldn't get into this sight or the defragmenting part. Anyway, after those two things I was no longer able to get on. It was very frustrating to say the least. So I called my two computer savvy daughters-in-law and set up a gmail account. I think I will really enjoy that. When I was in the process of doing that, I had trouble getting online because of Teton Wireless, my server. Kim finally said, "Why don't you just go Qwest and be done with it. You've had nothing but trouble with Teton Wireless and you have not got the service you have been paying for!" That was true. I would have gone Qwest went I first left dial-up except my phone lines were too noisy." When Karen went Qwest broadband, I tho't, "If Karen can get Qwest out where she is, I should be able to also!" So I called and I could. So I've been toying with the idea for a few months. Anyway, I called Qwest on October 30. They said they could have the modem to me by Thursday, November 2. It was here when we got back from the temple. I started Friday morning to set it up. My first problem became evident when I found out that I need to plug my computer directly into the phone jack. Since the phone jack is across a 19 ft. long room, I needed to go get a longer ethernet cord. We first went to Wal-mart and all they had was a 50 ft. cord. We figured that a 25 ft. cord would be ample. So we then went to Circuit City and got a 25 ft. cord for almost as much as it would have cost to get the 50 ft. at Wal-Mart. When we got home and got it strung out, it wasn't long enough!. I hadn't tho't about the fact that it takes more length when you have to go around and behind things. So we went back to Circuit City and found out that they did have a 50 ft. cord but it would have cost over $40 and we could get it at Wal-Mart for $24. Just a dollar more than what we had paid for the 24 ft. one there. So we got our money back and went back to Wal-Mart and got the 50 ft. cord they had. We got home and got it finally strung and put together and It wouldn't work. The little screen said that it wasn't hooked up right. I was soooo frustrated. The literature that came with the modem said that it would be easy!! So I called Karen and explained that she'd have to e-mail everyone and explain that I wouldn't be able to be on the family chat Sunday. I had called Qwest twice for additional help. One techI tho't told me I didn't need filters on my other phones. (It turned out that I needed filters on all the phones except for the one plugged into the modem since it already had a filter.) Another one told me that I would need the filters but I would need an additional phone line set up. Anyway, Karen explained that she only had one phone line and everything worked out for her. She said, "Call Jon (her son-in-law) and see if he could come and help; he put mine in." That was the answer. I had momentarily forgotten that Shani and Jon and Macie had moved into their new house and now lived here in IF and that he also had a degree in computers. Since he had helped me transfer all my stuff from my old computer to my new one, I tho't it strange I hadn't tho't of that before. (I had more than once wished that Kim lived here so I could ask him to come over to help.) So I did call Jon. They came over Saturday evening and got it all set up for me. After I talked to Karen that Friday evening, I was totally exhausted. I hadn't stopped to go to my exercise class or work out or anything. I felt like I had walked at least two miles or more tho'. So I was finally set. I had my g-mail set up thanks to Tanya and Téa and had my broadband thanks to Jon. And I was able to participate on the family chat. We were all six of us on for a short time for a change. It was sooo good to be able to chat with everyone and learn what all has been going on in their lives. I am content. (For the moment anyway.)