Tuesday, May 19, 2009

An Evening About Joseph and Emma Smith

Before I start telling about our zone meeting last evening, I just want to say that I still can’t register for the newFamillySearch. It is sooo frustrating to me!! I probably know it the best of anyone there who hasn’t been able to actually use it. I have attended classes on it. Almost everyone at the FHC can register. Even those who haven’t done the e-lessons or the family consultant lessons on lds.netdimensions.com. it seems to be because I wrote my name Renée instead of Renee and the computer is having difficulty recognizing me as a consultant. Elder Lyon, our director said last evening that they were keeping the lines hot between the center and SLC trying to get it straightened out. Hopefully, I will be able to register by tomorrow when I go back to the center.

Last evening we were given a very neat treat. We had a 4th great grandson of Joseph and Emma Hale Smith talk to us. He lives here in Idaho Falls now, is married and has two small children. He is working full time and going to school full time and is an officer in the Joseph Smith, Emma Hale Smith Family Association and in that capacity is working on getting ready for a family reunion in Nauvoo for 200 or so members of that family this summer. He is 26 years old and grew up in Montana. He said many of the family went to Montana to get away from the stigma of being related to Joseph Smith. He said they literally feared for their lives. He is the grandson of Gracia (pronounced Grasha I found out last night) Jones who wrote the books, Joseph and Emma and Emma and Lucy and one other one that I can’t remember. He stated that for many years he didn’t let anyone know of his heritage or lineage. He grew up in the church as did his parents. He says that there are only a small handful of members of the Church in the JSEHSFA. I think all of them are probably his siblings and their children and his cousins. He told how kids scoffed at him and gave him a really hard time even in 7th grade when they first learned of his lineage. He told of people who just plain didn’t believe him and made fun of him when they learned of it so he figured it would just be better that he not let anyone know. He mentioned that it was when he was on his mission that he found out that he needed to let others know of it. He was listening to a man tell of his ancestors experiences with the Wiley Handcart Company and thoroughly enjoying it when the Spirit whispered to him that he could and should also enlighten people about his ancestors. He said that at first it was difficult but now he enjoys doing it.

He bore a strong testimony of Joseph being a true prophet of God and Emma being an elect lady and is his eternal companion. He said one woman while on his mission told him she was sorry for Joseph because he could not spend the eternities with his eternal companion because she left the church. He told us that he knows that their Calling and Election were made sure. He didn’t site scripture and verse as he did with other things but I got the impression that it is there. He also said that Emma didn’t leave the Church, the Church left her that she remained faithful to its doctrine and principals the rest of her life. He mentioned that altho’ she didn’t like polygamy and sometimes denied it existed and was being practiced as a commandment of God, she endured it. He also pointed out that in the 124 Section of the D&C that it talks about the Nauvoo House and how it will be a “resting place” for her and it will be a place for her family in the generations to come. He told us that two years ago and again this summer he and Joseph and Emma’s descendants did and will stay there at the Nauvoo House. He said that two years ago, his mother (who is the daughter of Gracia Jones) was in charge of feeding all those people and as she was working and cooking in the kitchen she could feel “Emma’s spirit”. He also pointed out that he strongly believes and the Spirit has confirmed this to him that Emma stayed in Nauvoo because she was commanded to. She also stayed because Lucy Mack Smith was too ill and couldn’t make the journey so she took care of her. As he was telling us this someone asked about the houses there and how they’ve been restored. He was telling us that many even most of the restoration of those houses (altho’ our Church has done some of them) has been done by the RLDS or Community of God Church and “they have done a phenomenal job of it”. As he was telling us this he started to say that had Emma not stayed in Nauvoo, the houses and place as we know it today, then the microphone fell on to the floor, he said, “That is exactly what would have happened to those houses was they would have just fallen apart or been taken apart” and nothing would exist there today. He also said that Emma needed protection and General Bidemon provided that for her. He said that they had an “affectionate companionship”.

He had a decadency chart there. Most of Joseph and Emma’s posterity is from Joseph III and Alexander, his ancestor. Joseph III has only about a third of the posterity that Alexander does. He said, “We don’t know why that is, it just is.” It was a very enjoyable and enlightening evening. I feel I know Emma much better after listening to him. I have always felt that she would be with Joseph and that she is his eternal companion but now I feel like I know her better. I am very thankful that we went.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

About My Mother's Day and the day before

Yesterday was a different day at FHC. It started by Elder C telling us that everyone could register for the newFamilySearch except me. Apparently, I hadn’t completed the survey at the end of the lds.netdimensions site for the learning about the newFamilySearch. So that is what I did first after copying off the handouts for my last PAF class for this session of classes. (I start all over again July 11.) I will have to wait a day or two in order to be able to register. I had good times yesterday too but many complications. I helped four or five people. I think I was able to answer all the questions posed to me, which was nice. A woman came in and wanted help transferring things from her floppy disk to her USB drive. I later found out that she had other PAF files on another USB drive so was able to help her transfer everything to her new USB drive. Before that a couple with their daughter came in and wanted to prepare their file to go thro’ TempleReady. We put it thro’ PAF Insight for the ordinances that may already be completed and also merged a few duplicates on the file too. it all was on their USB drive. When we attempted to put it thro’ TempleReady, it kept asking for the disk to be inserted in the E drive. That was the port that the USB drive was in. Since they had an appointment at 11:30 they left saying they would be back. I had lunch then prepared for my PAF class. I felt impressed to check out the computers in the computer lab to see if PAF Companion was on each one and could be used since that was the last half of my class. I found out that something wasn’t talking to something else because altho’ PAF Companion was installed on all of the computers, a box that said “could not find experience drive” came up and it would go any further. That was for the tabs that you wanted to preview instead of printing. The first few tabs worked fine but it was the ones that wouldn’t work that are the most fun. So I asked Elder C if he could open and set up the Archibald room because I had taught in there before we had the computer lab and it worked fine. So I taught the first part of the class in the lab then we walked down two halls to the Archibald room for the rest of the class. I soon found out that the “fun”tabs wouldn’t work in there either altho’ it wasn’t the same problem. So I explained the best I could with what I had. Then we went back to the lab and let them work on my worksheet using the custom report part of the worksheet. I found out I had made a mistake and left out a step on the work sheet. I left the class members in there working on their worksheets while I went out and helped the family I had been helping that morning. We tried to do the TempleReady from the USB drive again and it still wouldn’t work. I have come to the conclusion that you must have to transfer the file to the desktop in order for TempleReady to accept it. We ended up making a GEDCOM file and putting it thro’ that way. That was easy enough to do but since the file only had a little over 300 names and the TempleReady program easily handles up to 2.000, I figured I’d skip that step. By making the GEDCOM file it worked fine. They were very appreciative. It was a pleasure to work with them.

After we were thro’ there at the FHC we met K & K, and M and S & Jand P at Smitty’s and they treated us to dinner and gave me a gift for Mother’s Day. (It was the book Daughters of God by M. Russell Ballard and some lotion and a lovely card. I’m looking forward to reading it. I read the forward by Sheri Dew out loud to my sweetheart on the way home. It all was very enjoyable. My sweetheart and I split the Halibut dinner. We had pancakes with it and a salad and a roll and strawberry shortcake that we brought home with us. I was soo full that it was an hour after we got home that I started feeling better. It was a very enjoyable time. I was very tired when I got home tho’. I got along fine while I was gone but I “let down” after I got home and didn’t do much after that. K is a very special daughter. She is our only daughter but I don’t think anyone could have a better one. She is so kind and tho’tful and loving. Her grandchildren just love her. I remember my grandchildren making me feel very special too. Being a grandma is a mutual admiration society with her grandchildren. It is a very good feeling.

I opened a gift from M & T this morning. It was a TimeOut for Women DVD and a lovely card that M wrote in. it is sooo neat being friends with my children. They are the best of our friends. Some of the discussions I have with my children are so enjoyable and enlightening. I’ve spent many a late night discussing things with M when no one else is about or around. We both find these very enjoyable. I’ve treasure those kinds of talks with all of my children. They have told me that they also treasure them and that makes them that much more special.

My sweetheart wrote me a lovely letter today. He started out differently this year than any other letter he has written me…talking about Heavenly Father’s creations etc. then went on to say what some of our prophets have said about woman being His greatest creation, etc. It was a very nice letter. He always writes such nice letters. He expresses himself very well. He is always complimentary to me when he writes about me. I love him very much and am thankful that I married him almost 47 years ago.
K called and I had a very nice chat with him. And B called and left a lovely message while I was talking to K. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to talk to him.

After our family chat, R sent this to me: I think it is beautiful.

I was thinking of you today and wrote this for you:

Today is Mother’s Day.
All across the nation, millions will meet to celebrate Motherhood… and most will miss the beauty of it.
They will meet in churches of many faiths, in restaurants, in living rooms.
They will think of the many dangers that mothers have rescued their children from, and of the very pains that those mothers endured to bring the children into the world at the mothers’ own peril, but this is not what makes my mother beautiful.
They will talk about the countless hours mothers spent watching after little ones, of sleep they lost and dreams they sacrificed to rear their children, but this is not what makes my mother beautiful.
They will tell stories about the times when mothers could easily have lashed out in anger at their children, but wisely held their tongues, but this is not what makes my mother beautiful.
They will recall times when mothers watched their children make choices they knew would bring sorrow, and could do nothing but pray, hope and wait for their children to see what they saw, but this is not what makes my mother beautiful.
They will reflect on the many menial tasks that mothers perform, and realize that many are done when those mothers would rather have been doing nearly anything else, but this is not what makes my mother beautiful.
No, as much as we deify mothers this one day out of the year, and rightly credit them for the many times when they put others before themselves, and the many times that they could so easily and understandably have let down those that they loved and did not, this Is not what makes my mother beautiful.
What makes my mother beautiful is not the fact that she did all of these things, but the indisputable fact that, given the opportunity to live her life again from the beginning, she would do these things all over again. That is her virtue. That is her glory. That is the legacy that will follow her into the heavens and all of the worlds to come. That is why Mother’s Day endures. Somewhere beneath all of the frills and mixed-up feelings is a sense that all of us have that, while childhood is fleeting, Motherhood is eternal.
R 5/10/2009
I’m so thankful that all of my children are my friends. Except for my sweetheart, they are the best friends I have. I love the discussions and events that I’ve had with each of them. They are special and dear to my heart.