Modern Mormon Dad

Scripture study with three small children: How we try to keep it sane

2011-04-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

Mormon families are encouraged to study books of scripture together. We think it's a good way to bring a good feeling into our home and remind ourselves each day that there's a bigger picture to our lives. It also helps our children learn basic principles of the gospel.

As uplifting as the scriptures are to us as adults, they're new territory for children. How do you get a 5 year old, a 3 year old, and an 8-month old to sit still for any amount of scripture reading? I thought I'd share some ideas that have worked for us.

We currently hold "scripture study" for a period of 5-10 minutes before our oldest child leaves for school. Every member of the family is present. If it's on a weekend, we do it before the first person leaves the house to do something in the morning. Doing it the same time every day helps us to be consistent; however, we are not perfect. There are occasional times where we forget or are especially in a hurry, and we try to make up for it by doing the study in the evening.

Our children are young enough that they are not going to be able to process extended passages of scripture. So when we first began daily study, we took the set of 100 "scripture mastery" passages (used by teenagers in Mormon seminary classes) and studied one each week. These passages consist of usually one or a just a few verses that cover a key point of doctrine. For seven days in a row we read the same passage, and accompanied it with a different thought, or some thoughtful questions, each day. Occasionally in church when one of the scriptures was quoted, our oldest son would turn and look at us with wide eyes and we knew he had remembered it!

When we ran out of scripture mastery scriptures (yes, it took about two years) we studied the 13 Articles of Faith. By this time we had begun to accompany the study with a song or a hymn related to the passage we were studying. I believe the words of the songs are sometimes easier for children to understand and remember than the scriptural verses, but the songs have the double benefit of reinforcing the principles we are learning in the scriptures.

Having exhausted the scripture masteries and the Articles of Faith, we needed another place where we could find focused passages to study. The "few verses a day" approach was working well for our little ones. Usually we could keep them quiet for at least 30 seconds and ignore whatever ruckus was brewing for the next 30 seconds, or distract them with a question about the material. Their thoughtful answers showed they were usually listening.

We finally found a scriptural gold mine in the Gospel Principles manual, which is essentially the textbook for what you could call the "Mormonism 101" Sunday School class for new members and visitors. It has dozens of in-line scripture references in each chapter. So we started with the first in-line reference in the first chapter and read it as a family on the first day of study. With this manual we decided to no longer repeat the scripture for the whole week, so on day two we just went to the next in-line scriptural reference in the chapter. We have kept this up to the point where we are now in chapter 16, having touched a great variety of areas of the scriptures. Sometimes we'll also read a few sentences of the very concise and easy-to-understand Gospel Principles text that accompanies the scripture reference.

We finish our study with a prayer together as a family. Although there is nothing doctrinal requiring us to do this, we hold hands in a circle during the prayer because we've found it extremely effective at curtailing any toddler mischief that might occur while (most people's) eyes are closed. Two of our children are old enough that they can participate in offering the prayer when asked to do so. We take turns.

I imagine our study techniques and practices will change as the children get older. I look forward to the day when they are old enough to take turns reading and we can cover longer passages. But I doubt those moments will be any more satisfying than the ones we are having now each morning. Although everyone has good and bad days, more often than not I get in my car for work with a great feeling after spending this period of time focusing on my family and God.

Mariners broadcasts by Niehaus transcended generations

2010-11-12T05:49:00.000-08:00

Although this blog has been quiet for a while, I haven't made any movement to officially retire it. I wanted the blog to still be here when I felt that I needed to write. This week, I need to write.

On Wednesday, longtime Seattle Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus passed away of a heart attack at age 75. It was one of those days that I knew was going to come eventually, but never wanted to think about.

I've been listening to Dave Niehaus announce Mariners baseball since I was old enough to tune a radio. Our family lived far enough away from Seattle that we only made it out to one game while I was growing up, and "Mom forbid" that we would have any type of cable TV package that would allow us to watch every game (I still thank her for that). The radio was it, and the radio was available everywhere: in the car, the kitchen, and even in my room.

A kid with no serious life obligations (there wasn't even homework during the summers) could easily pass an evening listening to a game, executing full windups and releases in the middle of the kitchen. My career aspiration by 4th grade was to be a sports radio broadcaster, due to logging uncountable hours with Seattle broadcasting legends Bob Blackburn, Kevin Calabro, Rick Rizzs, and Dave Niehaus.

Of those, Niehaus's mannerisms were the most memorable. Before long I knew all his common exclamations, such as "Swung on and belted!", "Fly away!" and "It's grand salami time!" When a declaration such as "My oh my!" came out of Dave's mouth, it wasn't a "signature phrase", it was just something you believed Dave Niehaus would naturally say when he saw something incredible. It fit.

A game with Niehaus was not just a game. It was a production, a work of art, every night. As Steve Kelley put it, with Dave, "a pitch wasn't just low, it was 'loooooow'. In a close game, Dave was almost reverential. He could have been a preacher giving a sermon when he called the late innings of a tight game."

Dave could even make the commercials he was obligated to read throughout the game sound fascinating. He would work them into the spaces in the game's action and put all feeling into the words, varying the tone of his voice as he tolled the virtues of Sterling Savings Bank. He wasn't afraid to reveal his emotion about the action on the field either. Kelley remembers:

"If a game was meandering and a Mariners pitcher couldn't throw a strike, [Dave's] voice would get sharp and gravelly, and he would say something like, 'You gotta throw strikes.'"

"The pleasure of listening to him on a stormy day in April or one of those long, lush nights in July always has felt like an inalienable right of being a sports fan in Seattle."

Indeed, Niehaus's presence was something you could always count on, something maybe too easy to take for granted. If you go to bed, the sun will come up. If you turn the key, your car will start. If you flip on the radio on a summer night, Dave Niehaus will be there calling a game with all the fervor of his soul, even if the Mariners are down 7-0 and they can't buy a hit.

My dad shared an appreciation for Niehaus's broadcasts, although as a busy father and physician he didn't have as much time to kill listening to the radio. Our opportunity to hear games together often came in the car on the way to or from some activity. A father and a teenage son can strap themselves into a vehicle and sit together in silence for hours, each in his own world. But when we switched on Niehaus, we were on the same frequency.

One night this past summer my 5 year old son was having trouble settling down to bed. I switched on a Mariners broadcast hoping that would lull him to sleep. Wincing through the beer commercials, I took a few minutes to explain what was happening in the game, then left to go to bed myself. The next morning I asked who won, and he responded in a sincerely dejected voice, "the Angels". This episode reveals three things about Niehaus's effect on my son: he communicated what happened, he explained how we should feel about it, and he didn't put him to sleep.

It's this family bond of listening to Niehaus that makes his passing so difficult. Last night I was in charge of watching the kids. Two out of three were successfully in bed, but the baby boy was agitated. In desperation, I switched on an Internet recording of Niehaus highlights. My son's eyes became wide and the pacifier began bobbing up and down in his mouth contentedly. As I watched his reflection in the computer screen, I saddened at the thought that I wouldn't get to share a Niehaus broadcast with him. Then I felt happy that, even at my son's young age, I was having an opportunity to share what Dave meant to me.

If you're a baby, too young to understand words or baseball or the magic of a summer evening, I guess you can be excused for getting soothed to sleep by the golden voice of Dave Niehaus.

Learning Hebrew on your own: Some resources

2010-04-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

Well, this blog has gone into hibernation although I wanted to publish a quick post to let you know it's not dead. I think things started to slow down when I started working a second job...and we bought a house, and we got pregnant with our third child, and I started traveling to California once every few months, and...you know...

Since both my jobs involve creating Web content, I have been doing other things to relax and enrich my free time that don't involve sitting in front of a computer screen. One of my goals for 2010 was to learn enough Hebrew that I could read the book of Genesis in its original language. I've been spending about 15 minutes per night studying The First Hebrew Primer on the floor of my son's room while he falls asleep. I picked this book after reading a number of reviews for "teach yourself Hebrew" texts, and I am happy with this choice. The print is large enough I can read it, and the book doesn't throw too much information at you before you're ready. Plenty of exercises help you review the material, although there's no included answer book. The going has been slow, but steady.

A few weeks ago I had a chance to browse the Jewish section at Powell's City of Books and had another great find: The Pentateuch and Rashi's Commentary: A Linear Translation into English. This old volume had the entire book of Genesis with the Hebrew and English side by side, line by line (not just verse by verse). I also get Rashi's commentary if I ever want to foray into Jewish theology...we'll see if I get time for that.

Finally, an amazing Web resource for Hebrew that has helped me learn pronunciation is the Mechon-Mamre Hebrew-English Bible online, which allows you to listen to any chapter as you read along.

Last night I made it through Genesis 1 (a good chapter for learning because of the repetition!) There is a beauty and simplicity in the Hebrew text that is making my work pay off.

Shalom until next post! Maybe I'll be in Canaan by that time.

Note: The author of this blog has not received any compensation from the authors or publishers of any of the materials reviewed in this post.

Thousands gather at Washington state capitol to support pro-life movement

2010-01-19T21:23:00.000-08:00

On March 19, I gathered with about 6,000 other marchers at the Washington state capitol to protest the legalization of abortion in the United States 37 years ago. I choose carefully the political events in which I get involved, but I felt that this was an important enough issue that I could take some time and add one voice to the March for Life crowd.

This kind of an event is a good place to quickly learn things. Here are some thoughts I took away from the march:

Thirty-seven years after Roe v. Wade, opposition to abortion is still strong and is growing. Although many have tried to justify abortion with the "safe and legal" mantra (one might ask, "Safe for whom?") and others have tried to sweep the issue under the rug, public identification with pro-life principles is growing to the point where more than half of Americans consider themselves pro-life. This is up from 33 percent in 1995, causing me to cautiously wonder if the "abortion rights" movement is sunsetting.
The Catholic church is a major force holding up the pro-life movement. Most of today's crowd seemed to consist of Catholic parishioners bused in from all over western Washington. Catholic schools and organizations such as Knights of Columbus also showed strong representation. Other evangelical and orthodox groups were represented, but it was no question who comprised the majority. I do not suggest that the Mormon church formally organize groups to attend these rallies, but I do hope that more Mormons take motivation in themselves to get involved with the pro-life movement and consider it as high of a priority as Catholics do.
Some pro-abortion lawmakers cannot stop trying to hinder those who offer alternatives. Unsatisfied that abortion is already legal and readily-available in the United States, some activists and lawmakers cannot stop trying to suppress or throw roadblocks in the paths of those who would try to reduce the number of abortions through alternatives such as adoption or abstinence education.

One such effort in the Washington state legislature this session is Senate Bill 6452, which would require any crisis pregnancy center not offering abortion services to state that no medical care is available at the facility in "thirty-point font size or larger on the main entry door of the organization", on the home page of the organization's Web site, and in all its advertising materials. I have read the full text of this bill, and it seems to be motivated only by persons upset that more young women were not being steered to abortion clinics. Perhaps the clinics are feeling the competition?
Abortion is not a partisan issue, a "wedge" issue, or even a political issue. It is a tragedy. On the Capitol steps we were addressed by various Democrats and Republicans who understand that abortion is wrong and are not ashamed to call themselves pro-life. They took time from their session to come out and stand with us in opposition to abortion. We need to pay attention to how legislators vote and support Democrats who have done a difficult thing and broken from their traditional party line that favors abortion. We need to sternly question Republicans who have broken from their party's platform of supporting pro-life principles. We are still a nation ruled by the people, and if the people vote for candidates who support pro-life principles, Roe v. Wade will be overturned. Today gave me hope that this day can come.

Stories from a North Korean prison camp

2009-11-11T20:08:00.000-08:00

Today is "Veteran's Day" in the United States: a day to honor those who have served in the Armed Forces. I've found that learning about people who are not free is often a good way to appreciate the value of freedom and why it's worth sacrificing for. Today's post is about a man who experienced one of the places most absent of freedom on this earth... and lived to tell about it.

Kang Chol-Hwan was born in Pyongyang, North Korea sometime around 1968. His grandparents had spent some time in Japan, where the family had made a comfortable living. Caught up in a wave of North Korean nationalism, they decided to return to their native country and serve the Communist party. Shortly after arriving, they realized they had made a mistake; but by that time it was too late to turn back.

The family, especially Kang's grandmother, remained loyal to Communism and continued working toward better times in North Korea. But one day, when Kang was 9 years old, his life was turned upside down as government police stormed his family's house. The government suspected Kang's grandfather of treasonal motives, and decided to sentence Kang and most of his family to the Yodok prison camp.

Kang endured a Communist education and hard labor duties in the Yodok camp. School was no picnic as a prison camp wasn't nearly the first choice of assignment for the teachers. The curriculum demanded that the students parrot the merits of the "Dear Leader" with a satisfactory element of fervor. Lack of enthusiasm was duly punished.

Manual labor duties after graduation were no better. Often the prisoners had to work in freezing temperatures under the watch of abusive guards, then scramble at the end of the day to find any scrap of food they could. Escape was not an option. The prisoners were forced to witness executions of those who attempted it. Other would-be escapees perished on their own due to the harsh weather and terrain.

To his surprise, Kang was released from camp after 10 years. He didn't ask any questions. He returned to civilian life in North Korea, trying to eke out some existence as a young man. Understandably hardened against Communism after his experience in Yodok, Kang began listening to South Korean radio through an illegal transmitter. Sensing some suspicion from the government, Kang decided to flee the country.

Kang found someone to sneak him across to a Chinese border town with relative ease, but he had to keep on the move. As an ally of North Korea, China could not be too kind to defectors. Kang traveled through China and finally found a long-term hiding place with some friends who operated a brothel. Eventually he was able to "escape" again on a boat to South Korea.

Kang tells his story in the book Aquariums of Pyongyang. The increasing shades of freedom Kang describes as he passed through North Korea, China, South Korea, and finally the United States brings the value of our country's freedom into clarity. It's amazing to think how the story of life in a North Korean concentration camp could make its way to the free world. This book will cause you to thank God for your freedom, and pray to God for the freedom and comfort of those who do not yet have it.

An afternoon in Tijuana

2009-09-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

One item on my list of things to do in California never got fulfilled before I moved out of the state: visit Tijuana so that I could take a peek inside Mexico. I finally did get the chance to visit in July while on business in San Diego. For a tour guide I had my work buddy Rob who visits TJ about once a year. Finding our Thursday afternoon available, we decided to go on a brief stroll south of the border.

Getting to the border from downtown San Diego took about 15 minutes. We took the last USA exit for Camino de la Plaza and entered the maze of streets and parking lots that is San Ysidro, California. (It looks like just a slightly nicer version of Tijuana with the peace of mind of being on the familiar side of the fence.) We found a good $4 lot on the grounds of what appeared to be an abandoned motel and started working our way toward the border.

We zig-zagged through a maze of walkways up and over the highway to get into the border crossing. We passed through one tall turnstile, then right past a few officers doing occasional random checks, I guess, and through another pair of turnstiles into Mexico. Immediately the smell changed. It wasn't a heavy stench but a light pervasiveness of sewage in the air that continued the entire time we were in the country.

After following a corridor of walls we entered a plaza with some pharmacies, souvenir shops, and restaurants. Bright, tacky, bold-worded signs in English were everywhere. We strolled across the plaza pretty quick and wended our way up over a pedestrian bridge crossing the Tijuana River. This was a narrow green ribbon flowing down a broad cement channel. The river carried suds, occasional piles of garbage, and probably other stuff. A few beggars sitting along the bridge held paper cups.

One thing I had noticed at the border crossing that made me a little nervous is that we were the only Caucasian people around. Somehow I thought the border would have groups of American tourists moseying across, but I didn't see very many. Rob told me later it was the smallest number of Americans he's seen in Mexico, and that many of the stands normally housing souvenir shops were either closed or empty. The economy, plus the swine flu scare, plus some drug-related violence earlier in the year seem to have hit Tijuana tourism pretty hard. This made us prime targets for vendors hawking their wares. They could spot us coming a mile away.

After crossing the bridge, we took the main pedestrian route heading toward Avenida Revolucion. Before reaching the Ave. however and its giant archway, Rob abruptly stopped at a fish taco restaurant and declared it was time for dinner. He had been to this place at 125 Madero (marked by yellow signs and Tecate advertisements) several times and told me it was his favorite. The restaurant had an open front and picnic tables, but we had a roof over our heads. The menu was printed on a cardboard sign in black marker. In the upper-right corner was listed "Viagra Soup - $4.99. It works!"

View Great fish tacos in Tijuana - 125 Madero in a larger map

I ordered a supreme taco and, when prodded by the owner, assented to ordering two. I also ordered a Coke, following Rob's Guatemala mission trick of washing down dinner with a Coke in order to "kill the bad stuff". While the kindly owner and his wife were grilling up the tacos, we were treated to chips out of a plastic basket and a bowl of green salsa that had been sitting on the counter. The salsa was excellent and very hot!! The tacos had everything on them as well, and, while small, they were extraordinary. I asked the owner what the meat was and he replied "Marlin". All that for $5. Only bummer was the small bug crawling across my plate when I was done but I just pretended (and prayed) that it had wandered on there from somewhere else as I was finishing up my meal.

Our stomachs full, we proceeded under Tijuana's landmark arch toward Avenida Revolucion where we walked south for probably five or six blocks. Merchants at every store approached us with greetings in English, promising wonderful wares if we would only step inside. Some of them yelled out endearing statements about Seattle, since I wearing a Mariners t-shirt. One guy asked if we would like to pay some money to take a picture next to the "Tijuana tiger", a burro that I guess had been painted to look like a zebra. The burro was cool but sadly we had not brought a camera. Other men on the street asked if we liked women, and tried to entice us to enter adult clubs or allow them to lead us to other related activities.

After crossing what seemed like a fairly busy east-west thoroughfare, we walked one more block and turned around for the return down Ave. Constitucion, one block west. We had not yet reached the landmark big Mexican flag flying over downtown Tijuana. Rob said he walked to it once but by the time he reached it the neighborhood had gotten pretty sketchy.

The plan was to poke around in some shops on the way back, but Constitucion didn't have as many touristy shops and was a busier street. After a few blocks we jogged back over to Revolucion, where I started taking a look at some children's sized fake soccer jerseys out on the sidewalk. The owner pounced on me and let me inside to look at others that were on display. He quoted me around $40 the first time and when I started looking at something else he immediately dropped it to $25. I started looking at an adult-sized "I (Heart) Tijuana" t-shirt instead, which he quoted at $15. Rob later said his younger lady assistant was quoting him how low he could go in an Indian language while I bartered. Rob served a mission in Guatemala and is familiar with this kind of language.

We went back and forth for a while on the shirt. I got it for $11 but I think I was had. The owner showed no gratitude and yelled at me as I left the shop, angry that I had not taken a package deal for the kids soccer jersey, which he had dropped to $10.

We continued toward the bridge, but first Rob had to stop to get a peeled mango on a stick from a fruit stand. While we were waiting, some little kids came up with boxes of trinkets. One had a bunch of cool little bobblehead turtles, so I bought one for a dollar. It's held up pretty well through abuse from my kids since I've been home.

After crossing back over the river we wandered around the plaza looking at some more kids soccer jerseys. We asked some shopkeepers just lounging around if Tijuana had a futbol team. They said that yes, they were called Xoloitzcuintles (never would have been able to spell that without Google) and that they were okay. They played in the A division, and they had just beaten Chivas 2-1 the other night. Unlike the other storekeeper they were nice and told us to have a nice day, even when we didn't buy something.

I also looked at some stained glass art that had a Seahawks logo. I felt it would be too tacky despite the fairly reasonable $8 I was quoted. The shopkeeper must have been disappointed. He was already polishing it up for me once I showed the slightest interest.

The return to the USA border was not well-signed and I was glad I was going with a Tijuana veteran in order to not take a wrong turn. You have to walk down a longer corridor to get back, past some street merchants. I bought a few pieces of Bubbaloo gum from some kids right by the border complex. Good memories from Argentina...

We entered the hallway and room of the return walk-across border complex, and the place was apparently relatively deserted. We picked one of the four or five lines and sped through in about 5 minutes. After showing my passport, answering a few token questions, and passing my shopping bag through an x-ray machine, I was back on blessed American soil.

The drive home was crazy. It was about 6:00 PM and everyone was trying to return from work to their homes in Mexico. The main border crossing is on I-5 but folks were taking side-streets to get there and San Ysidro had been reduced to gridlock. We started back over the freeway on Camino de la Plaza but that was mistake because the road intersected the final freeway onramp to I-5 South that everyone was trying to use to shortcut the line. We flipped a U and headed north on San Ysidro boulevard. We had to wait through some more gridlock but it was a fairly easy drive to get onto the next onramp leading north. From there, smooth sailing on the freeway.

The poverty in Tijuana is a contrast to our comfortable way of life in the United States, but it is what I expected to see. I didn't find it much more disturbing than the excessive displays of wealth alongside homelessness that I've seen in downtown San Diego this week. The exploitation of women and children that occurs in Tijuana is definitely a problem and hard to see or understand. One other thing I had a hard time getting used to were people shouting greetings and other things to each other in the streets in very loud voices (not common in the USA to raise your voice above a certain level). I guess I always thought they were shouting at me.

Next time I go to Tijuana I'd like to get on a city bus that does a loop route and take the loop around the city, not getting off. I would do this in the morning, if possible. It might also be fun to walk a similar route near the border, just one or two blocks off the tourist circuit. Although I can now say I've been across the border, I still feel like I've yet to see the real Mexico.

Summer without a television

2009-09-18T20:58:00.000-07:00

Well, this blog has obviously been on summer break. We've had plenty to do, and we've done it without a television for three months now. Sometime in mid-June, the television signals in the United States switched from analog to digital, and all of the sudden our TV just started replaying a program of a man explaining how to hook up a converter box. A converter box we didn't have and didn't want to pay for.

Perhaps we were secretly anticipating an excuse to get rid of TV. "Just give me an excuse..." is a threat I occasionally toss at my children. The TV itself has provided plenty of excuses for us to turn the thing off, including rude and mindless sitcoms, unrealistic and predictable dramas, and raunchy commercials. What would I miss by not upgrading my TV?

Before the great signal switch, the only programs I watched were sports events (mainly college football), the final 12 rounds of American Idol, and occasionally, the news. Let's address these concerns in order:

I now have plenty of sports to watch, including dozens of college football games, on ESPN360.com, a streaming online sports site that comes free with certain Internet providers. Instead of paying for cable to get ESPN (which was not even included with the basic package), we just upgraded our Internet to high-speed Comcast and, voila, many good games to watch each Saturday, with the option to replay any of them. All the ads are for ESPN, Honda, and Gatorade. It's nice.
Last season's judge juggling, poor production, mediocre contestants, and crazy rule changes were all pretty good evidence that American Idol is headed out the door, and I'm not afraid of missing much next year. My wife and I had gotten in the habit of taping the episode and fast-forwarding (now I really sound like a dinosaur) through the commercials and, sometimes, the judges comments. In this way we could make it through a two hour episode in about 40 minutes, but by the end of last season, we didn't even watch the final round.
The news is available online and I can get it from the website of my choice with much less spin and no interruptions for commercials. Admittedly, it's interesting to watch live breaking news coverage, such as when we were among the wildfires in Southern California and it was incredibly smokey outside, or when the Iraq invasion occurred. However, I can also follow this type of news on the Internet, and with Twitter, there are plenty of eyewitness reporters that can give me the news before the TV crews even get there.

So why don't I just upgrade to cable TV to get some shows that I really want to watch? Well, suppose I plunked down between $30 - $40 a month for a nice cable package. Now suppose that between two jobs, church responsibilities, raising two children, taking care of the yard, spending one-on-one time with my wife, and other critical stuff like eating and sleeping, I was blessed enough to sit down twice a week to see a program I really wanted to watch. That's like plunking down $4 every time I want to watch TV and I still have to watch advertisements for that privilege.

Anyone have a good book recommendation?

LDS Church leaders present President Obama with his family history

2009-07-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

LDS Church president Thomas S. Monson met with U.S. president Barack Obama this week and presented him with five volumes of Obama's family history. The histories were compiled for Obama as a gift from the Church. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is a member of the church, attended the meeting, along with Elder Dallin H. Oaks from the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

President Obama on the meeting: "I enjoyed my meeting with President Monson and Elder Oaks. I'm grateful for the genealogical records that they brought with them and am looking forward to reading through the materials with my daughters. It's something our family will treasure for years to come."

President Monson on the meeting: "President Obama’s heritage is rich with examples of leadership, sacrifice and service. We were very pleased to research his family history and are honored to present it to him today."

Cape Flattery hike and the Makah Nation

2009-07-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Three months after our 1,000+ mile move to Washington state, I finally started to get the desire to take another car trip. Over two days last week we completed a circuit of the Olympic Peninsula that included stops at Ruby Beach, La Push, and Forks (no, we are not huge Twilight fans, but we were amused at how the local economy has capitalized on the opportunity). Our ultimate destination, however, was Cape Flattery, the northwesternmost tip of the Olympic Peninsula, and home of the Makah Nation.

I gained an interest in this area as a Boy Scout when we made several 50-mile backpacking trips on the Olympic Coast. I remember seeing a former archaelogical dig site at Cape Alava, where the Makah village of Ozette was covered by a mudslide in the early 17th century. The slide preserved thousands of Makah artifacts, which, when excavated, provided clear views into the tribe's past and reaffirmed oral traditions passed on by tribal elders.

Many of the artifacts from the dig are on display at the Makah Cultural and Research Center. After hours of winding along the Strait of Juan de Fuca on state highway 112, we reached the town of Neah Bay and made our first stop at this museum. Here we saw baskets, clothing, blankets, weapons, toys, and other artifacts unearthed at the Ozette site. We went inside a replica of a Makah longhouse and viewed a dugout canoe like the kind used by the tribe for whaling. (See this page for information on how the Makah have struggled to retain the traditional whaling rights granted them in their 1855 treaty with the United States).

The museum was well worth the $5 price of admission, especially if you like Pacific Northwest Native American artwork. The displays contain various pieces of old and new art from the Makah, and you can get many art prints and postcards with designs like this from the museum gift shop.

After the museum, we took a beautiful 7-mile drive to the Cape Flattery trailhead. From what I understand, the Cape Flattery experienced has changed somewhat in recent years. Contrary to what I read in one Internet report, the road to the trailhead is completely paved. The Makah tribe recently rebuilt the 1/2 mile trail, with generous use of stairs and boardwalk that allow even my two toddlers, to see the beauty of Cape Flattery. You do need a $10 Makah recreation permit to park at the trailhead, which is good for the calendar year and is available at the museum.

The trail keeps a mostly straight course through the forest, mostly downhill. As you approach the cape, various spurs head off to viewpoints at the left, then the right. These look out over storm-battered cliffs and deep blue coves. Although the viewpoints contain railing, you'll still want to keep ahold of children and pets as they are right on the edge of high cliffs and can be circumnavigated.

Continuing past the spurs, you reach the final viewpoint where the Makah have constructed an observation deck. At this lookout you feel like you are clearly at the "tip" of the cape, and can observe amazing quantities of water in the Pacific Ocean to your left and the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the right. The expansive Vancouver Island looms across the strait.

Although the trail was packed to almost California-like proportions on the sunny 4th of July weekend, we enjoyed staring in awe with many others at this wonderful area of God's creation. We feel grateful to Him and also the Makah tribe for providing us the opportunity to see it.

A scripture from Dad, about Dad

2009-06-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, Father's Day, I was thinking about a scripture that my Dad sent me when I was on a mission for the Church in Argentina. It's Jacob 3:1-2 in the Book of Mormon:

"But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction.

"O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever. "

My Dad said this scripture had given him comfort at various times throughout his life, and I can say it's done the same for me. I feel blessed to have a father on this earth that worked hard for me and consoled me as a child when I needed it. At the same time, I know that if I did not have a father, or if my father were not available (as happened on the mission), I have a Heavenly Father who can plead my cause and send me comfort when I "pray unto him with exceeding faith".

A teaching of Mormonism that I feel very strongly to be true is that God is literally our father. When Jesus addressed "Our Father, who art in heaven," it wasn't just a figurative expression. He was representing all of us and talking to a real being. I think many people believe this deep inside, regardless of whether they subscribe to organized Christianity.

Our own patch of mud (Does the Honey Bucket stay?)

2009-06-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

In the past few weeks my wife and I have forayed into the complex new world of home shopping. There's a lot to learn and decide. Although we hit the market at a good time, we want to make sure we don't get duped. We're also looking for a home that will fit our family after a few more children (heaven willing), while still being affordable in the not-so-cheap Puget Sound home market.

Interestingly, we found our best prospect for square footage on the dollar was to buy new. It seemed like the only other way to get a house meeting our size and price requirements was to purchase a fixer-upper. That may be the right decision for some folks, but we currently don't have the skill set or time to invest in a home that has fallen apart, especially when new ones are available at the same price.

So yesterday we found ourselves trekking out past the row of model homes (the interior of which will look nothing like our house) to affix the "SOLD" sticker on our own lot sign. You'll notice that this lot has already been partially developed, but I think we would get charged for an upgrade to keep the Honey Bucket.

The same afternoon we hit the showroom to start choosing the interior and exterior details. Our builder boasted that we could make over 700 free choices to customize our home. I didn't exactly think that was a selling point with two young children who barely kept it together during the paper-signing process (and are currently howling downstairs as I write this). How could we make 700 choices with them clinging on us? Luckily we learned that the showroom has a kids area with surround-sound, big screen Curious George. This gives me confidence that my wife will be able to peacefully make all our selections as I lounge in a beanbag chair with the little ones and watch that naughty little monkey fly, fly away with his bundle of balloons.

I think this process has brought our family closer together.

Remembering those who purchased our freedom

2009-05-25T23:50:00.000-07:00

Today was about the most beautiful Memorial Day one could ask for. In the morning we completed a short family hike through the forest to a remote beach on Puget Sound. After a quiet afternoon of reading and looking through home listings, we met some friends at the park and let the kids run loose on the playground. By then it was too late to worry about cooking dinner, so we picked up some food on the way home. After chatting online with my parents for a while, my wife and I got the kids in bed and finished the evening watching a movie together.

In the late afternoon as I was running footraces against my son (who is surprisingly speedy for a 4-year-old) I felt a pang of sadness for the men and women who have fallen in combat for the United States of America and would not have a similar opportunity to see the laughter and growth of their children. Lately I've been engrossed by the book Lone Survivor, in which Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell gives an eyewitness account of a few of these brave soldiers who lost their lives during a special operations mission against Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. These men and thousands like them paid a very high price to preserve the freedom and opportunities that I enjoy in their place. They made the ultimate sacrifice that allows us to enjoy our daily lives, and they deserve recognition for that not just today, but every day. God bless them and their families.

Blog analyzes growth of Mormon church

2009-05-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the top five states in LDS Church membership growth between 2000 and 2008 (including convert baptisms and members moving in) were Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky, Iowa, and South Carolina in that order? This and similar factoids are plentifully available on Matt Martinich's blog United States and Canada Church Growth. Also see his other blog LDS Church Growth for commentary and news on Church growth worldwide.

Martinich is mesmerized with Church statistics and he provides detailed analyses of where the Church is growing and, in a few cases, shrinking. His thoughtful posts include maps, history, and comparison of current statistics with growth during previous eras.

Product of a quiet Sunday morning...

2009-05-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

My wife was never really into dolls as a kid, so we didn't inherit much pink stuff after getting married. However, she did own about 7 million K'nex that have wound up in our home.

This morning the K'nex turned out to be a quiet way to entertain the kids. They get up about 6:30, church starts at 11:00. You do the math. This void needs to be filled so we don't wind up at the chapel already insane.

As we sat in the kids' room building different things and talking, I realized how nice it was to spend a few peaceful hours alone with the family. And as abominable of a toy the K'nex are for keeping a room tidy, they can get a daddy hooked. The above tractor is the product of this morning's labors. It was my son's idea to build this, but I was still engrossed in the project after he and the others had lost interest and gone downstairs. Now here I am showing it off on my blog... Is that a shameless Daddy trick or what?

This year's Rays?

2009-05-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

April's gone and the Mariners are still leading the AL West. Did anyone see this coming?

My oh my...

Not someone's best guess...

2009-04-29T20:34:00.000-07:00

Because of all the commotion with moving, I didn't get out a post during this April's LDS General Conference. Thankfully I did get the chance to view the conference over the Internet. This one of my favorite quotes, from Dieter F. Uchtdorf (Full text of his talk) :

"This gospel does not come from man. The doctrine of the Church is not someone's best guess as to the meaning of ancient scripture. It is the truth of heaven revealed by God Himself. I testify that Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw. He truly looked into the heavens and communed with God the Father and the Son, and with angels."

This quote describes why I choose to belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I believe that to have an effective organized religion, God himself must lead it.

The following highlight video from the conference shows a good example of how God inspires and speaks through the leaders of the Church. The men speaking in the video are "apostles" (the same kind as in the Bible), and their assignment is to lead the Church and be special witnesses of Jesus Christ.

Farewell California

2009-04-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

It's difficult to categorize the emotions we felt leaving Southern California for our native Pacific Northwest. In the past week I’ve felt occasional pangs of homesickness for our friends, our home, and the sunshine that we left behind. We were very blessed during our time in California and contrary to the prejudices of my youth it turned out to be a great place for our family to begin a career. Here are some things we’ll miss.

There’s always something interesting happening close by. If you want to go to a sporting event, the zoo, a farmer’s market, a shopping center, camping, or whatever, it’s all there and usually you have multiple choices.

There are many choices of hospitals, libraries, performing arts venues, clubs, and other organizations that enhance the quality of life.

The weather is unbeatable in the Fall, Winter, and Spring. In early April we left sunny, t-shirt weather, which allowed us to go on family walks or attend outdoor activities just about whenever we wanted.

The Church is strong and its members in California are extraordinary people. We saw individuals give hundreds, if not thousands of hours of their time in volunteer service to Church administration, youth programs, humanitarian projects, and defending the traditional definition of marriage. We also enjoyed attending a temple just minutes from our home.

Along with these advantages, California definitely has its challenges. For example, we won’t miss the prohibitive cost of living, the threat of a massive earthquake at any time, severely underfunded schools, torn-up busy freeways, unhealthy air, and political corruption and ineptitude at every level of government. Many of these things exist to some degree everywhere, but California is a state of extremes.

Peter Schrag’s book California: America’s High-Stakes Experiment gives a well-rounded picture of some of the current and future hurdles that California faces, and you will find it interesting whether you’ve lived in California or not. The book was published too early to include last year’s Proposition 8 battle over gay marriage or the 2009 state budget standoff, but these events would have fit in as natural chapters and were easier for me to understand after reading Schrag’s book.

1100 miles later, we're back online

2009-04-17T14:39:00.000-07:00

This blog has been offline for a while as our family has been busy relocating to the Pacific Northwest. Although we had tried to limit the amount of stuff we accumulated during four years in California, it was still quite a chore packing everything up, loading it onto my father-in-law’s trailer, driving 1,100 miles with two children, and unloading everything at the new place.

Some things I learned on the drive:

Goldfish crackers will quiet almost any storm that brews in the back seat. But if that doesn’t work, Pez will do the job.

If you buy two identical Magna Doodles for your children so they won’t fight, they will still pick one to fight over.

Nothern California rest areas are just as thrashed and understaffed as Southern California rest areas.

Oregon must have some money in their budget for road projects. We crawled through one construction site after another.

Once the kids get to sleep on the first evening of driving, gun it and get as far as you can.

If you drive through California, Oregon, and Washington in April, you’re going to see a LOT of water. And a lot of green. The drive was beautiful.

For our friends back in California, we are cold and wet just like you predicted, but safe and settled in just as you wished for us. Thank you for all the help and offers for help leading up to our move.

Church sponsoring links in Google Maps

2009-03-29T15:43:00.001-07:00

Today I typed in a Google Maps search for an address near a Mormon temple. I was excited to see this sponsored link when my search results appeared:

It's nice to see the Church looking to boost its Web traffic in creative, yet effective ways. Who hasn't searched for something in Google Maps? And if someone searches for my temple, I want them to get the official link.

Madness is a part of life...

2009-03-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

Last night I flipped on the first round of March Madness, knowing that Big Ten overload notwithstanding, the evening would produce at least one thrilling contest. I was not disappointed, as hot-shooting Siena knocked off Ohio State after 2 barnburner overtimes. Wisconsin also made the evening interesting with their come-from-behind, overtime victory over favored Florida State.

Watching the merry-go-round of games in Round 1 of the Big Dance, along with the ensuing Final Four and Championship game, is a yearly ritual for me. My dad got me into it. He and I are still the only ones at home that really enjoy watching sports on TV. But everyone else in the family knew they had to participate in one Family Home Evening a year where we watched the Championship Round, since it fell on a Monday night.

Early memories of the tournament include Tark the Shark, his towel, and his unstoppable Runnin' Rebels who trounced Duke in the 1990 title game. I also remember Seton Hall being pretty good, which meant I could have started taking interest in the tournament as early as 1989. An exceedingly archaic but useful site bracketville.tripod.com helped me reconstruct this important piece of my life's timeline. (Somehow it didn't make the scrapbook.)

Other memorable moments of tournaments past include Christian Laettner's last-second heave against Kentucky in 1992, Michigan's Fab Five in the early 90's, Utah's unlikely run to the finals in 1998, and 14th-seeded Bucknell knocking off Kansas in 2005. Last year saw its own set of thrills with Mario Chalmers' three that saved the Jayhawks and sent the final game into overtime. This game happened during our spring vacation in Washington where the family was once again gathered around the screen.

Do these bring to mind any great tournament moments for you? What's your earliest memory of the Big Dance? Post it here!

What do I do on March 17?

2009-03-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

What do I do on March 17 of every year? I bust out U2 and The Cranberries, put on some green item of clothing, and celebrate my Irish heritage! I may even live dangerously this year and bring home a six-pack of 7-Up.

Apparently my forefathers came from the Killybegs area of Donegal County in the north of Ireland. I hope we get to learn more about them this year, especially if my sister's long-dreamed-of trip to the mother country goes through. Thanks to Panoramio, we've been able to find some lovely pictures of the area.

Now that's green!

Route 66 camping at Amboy

2009-03-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

For the first time during my two-year tenure as a Scoutmaster, a boy voluntarily suggested a place for our troop to camp: a volcano! Not about to discourage this practice, we packed up the 4-runner a few weeks ago and headed out to Amboy Crater, an extinct cinder cone just a few miles off the old Route 66 in the Mojave Desert.

We found a nice open lot for camping about a quarter of a mile away from the trailhead and went to work pitching our tents in the very black and quiet desert. After about 10 minutes a faint rumble began, slowly growing to a roar that filled the entire valley. Thankfully the volcano hadn't awakened; it was just a freight train passing through just a few hundred yards to the north. As we were reminded all night long, the old Route 66 is still alive and heavily-traveled by rail traffic.

In the morning we took a stroll up into the crater. The trail is well-signed and is about a mile and half one way. A breach on the west side of the crater ensures you don't have to do much climbing to reach the rim.

The views at the top were spectacular. I hadn't seen any pictures on the Internet looking back down inside the crater, so I included one here. Notice the panoramic views of the desert in the background and some small puddles of water at the bottom of the crater, left over from some recent February storms. I imagine this is a rare sight as summer temperatures in the area can reach well over 120 degrees.

Following lunch on the rim and a quick descent, we took a spin over to Amboy, California. Once a thriving stop on Route 66, Amboy became a ghost town with the completion of Interstate 40 in the 1970's. Recently a revival effort began and Roy's, the town cafe, was open for souvenir sales when we passed through. The original hotel sign at Roy's, preserved for movie sets, made us feel like we were stepping back in time 50 years. However, I kept getting a creepy feeling I was going to have to leap into a refrigerator at any moment to weather a nuclear attack...

Just east of Amboy on the old Route 66, there's a tree where people throw old pairs of shoes. Viewing the picture below, start at the bottom of the tree and scan to the top until you find the very highest shoes. Those are my $15 Spauldings that I purchased with my own money after I got home from my mission. Those have served me well these past 6 years and I was thrilled to send them to such a dignified resting place!

If you don't have your own shoes, there are plenty lying around you can chuck in the tree. Some of them represent a stark clash of the cultural and physical geographies of California.

What is a Mormon "Institute"?

2009-02-26T15:57:00.000-08:00

If you're a college student or young adult interested in learning about Mormons or meeting some Mormon friends, you can visit your local LDS Institute of Religion.

"Institute", as members commonly call it, refers to both a physical location and a set of religious courses. Mormon students meet at the institute to supplement their secular education with classes about the scriptures, church history, and other related topics. Institutes are often also a place where students can study, socialize, and participate in organized activites. Institute is often held at a local chapel or a separate building purchased by the Church.

The Church has an online locator that can help you find the nearest Institute. You're welcome to participate in the activities whether you're a member of the Church or not. This can be a good way to make new friends and familiarize yourself with Mormon beliefs and lifestyle. An institute might also be a good place to find a roommate if you are looking for someone else who wants to avoid alcohol, sex, or profanity in your living quarters.

"The Kid" returns to Seattle!

2009-02-18T20:03:00.000-08:00

As a die-hard Mariners fan, today -- for the first time in a long while --I have something to smile about. Forget the 101 losses. Forget Ichiro staying in his own hotels on road trips. Forget that this is supposed to be a painful rebuilding year. "The Kid" is back in Seattle.

Ken Griffey, Junior was every aspiring Little Leaguer's hero in the central Washington town where I grew up. In that era he gave Dave Niehaus some of his only reasons to say "My oh my!" He was the reason the M's broke .500 for the first time. For Seattle fans, Griffey brought hope in proportions Barack Obama would be proud of.

When you ripped open a new pack of baseball cards fresh from the grocery store, Junior's was the one that you wanted to find. I remember pining over whether I could afford to shell out $7 for his Donruss rookie. I was certain I could eventually put my kids through college with it. (Guess it's okay that it's only worth $28 today because in the end it was more than my ten-year-old budget could handle.)

But card value aside, The Kid in a Mariners uniform again is priceless. Thank you Seattle and Griffey for making this happen. I'll see you at Safeco this year!

Teaching about tithing

2009-02-16T20:25:00.000-08:00

My wife and I pay 10 percent of our income to the LDS Church as "tithing". A 10 percent tithe is taught in the Bible and is a principle Mormons are asked to adhere to.

We believe that by giving to the Lord, we show the faith that He'll provide a way for us to have the shelter, food, clothing, and other things we need. During my full-time mission in Argentina I often saw this to be true. The country was experiencing a period of great financial devastation and unemployment was through the roof. I knew several Church members who had to personally live the following scripture, putting the Lord to the test:

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10)

I was amazed in particular about how one old man, a Chilean immigrant, always seemed to find odd jobs to put food on the table. He was well past his prime years for manual labor and had limited education. However, I saw that he paid his tithing and did his best to serve in the Church however he was asked. His faith opened the "windows of heaven" and although his circumstances were humble, they were always adequate for his needs.

I want my children to understand why we pay tithing, so tonight for Family Home Evening we endeavored to teach our three year old son about it. We gave him ten pennies. We explained that this represented the blessings that Heavenly Father gives us. For each coin we gave him, he cheerfully replied "Thank you!"

We then asked him to return one of the pennies. He was happy to do so knowing that he could keep the other nine.

We then repeated this exercise with dimes and with quarters. Although I don't expect our son to know fractions at his age, hopefully he got something of the "one out of ten" principle.

In the end, we had 36 cents of tithing. He enjoyed putting it in the envelope and watching me fill out the donation slip. We showed him the Bishop's name on the envelope and explained to our son that he can give the envelope to the Bishop on Sunday.

After the lesson we had to run an errand, so at the store our son used his money to buy a treat. He picked "Dots" and we shared a few before bed (and before brushing teeth).

God's blessings are indeed sweet.

To read a Mormon church leader's talk on tithing, which includes some information about how the money is used, see Elder Robert D. Hales' Tithing: A Test of Faith with Eternal Blessings.

Catholics, Mormons on the same page with New Media

2009-02-11T21:38:00.000-08:00

I recently learned that both the Mormon and Catholic churches have launched their own channels on YouTube. The LDS channel, Mormon Messages was recently showcased on the Church's website. The Vatican's channel was introduced by Pope Benedict XVI last month.

The Pope's message introducing the channel was titled New Technologies, New Relationships: Promoting a Culture of Respect. This speech is comfortingly similar to LDS Apostle M. Russell Ballard's widely-circulated 2007 talk Using New Media to Promote the Work of the Church. I've chosen just a few examples that show just how closely these Mormon and Catholic leaders view our changing media environment:

Pope Benedict: "The new digital technologies are, indeed, bringing about fundamental shifts in patterns of communication and human relationships. These changes are particularly evident among those young people who have grown up with the new technologies and are at home in a digital world that often seems quite foreign to those of us who, as adults, have had to learn to understand and appreciate the opportunities it has to offer for communications."

Elder Ballard: "How different your world is today. If you read newspapers, the chances are you read them on the Internet. Yours is the world of cyberspace, cell phones that capture video, video downloads and iTunes, social networks like Facebook, text messaging and blogs, hand-helds and podcasts. As many in my generation are just getting onto email, that’s already becoming old hat to most of you. "

* * *

Pope Benedict: "If the new technologies are to serve the good of individuals and of society, all users will avoid the sharing of words and images that are degrading of human beings, that promote hatred and intolerance, that debase the goodness and intimacy of human sexuality or that exploit the weak and vulnerable."

Elder Ballard: "Satan is always quick to exploit the negative power of new inventions, to spoil and to degrade and to neutralize any effect for good. Make sure that the choices you make in the use of new media are choices that expand your mind, increase your opportunities, and feed your soul."

* * *

Pope Benedict: "Dear Brothers and Sisters, I ask you to introduce into the culture of this new environment of communications and information technology the values on which you have built your lives."

Elder Ballard: "Talk honestly and sincerely about the impact the gospel has had in your life, how has it helped you overcome weaknesses or challenges, and helped define your values."

* * *

Pope Benedict: "It would be sad if our desire to sustain and develop on-line friendships were to be at the cost of our availability to engage with our families, our neighbours and those we meet in the daily reality of our places of work, education and recreation. If the desire for virtual connectedness becomes obsessive, it may in fact function to isolate individuals from real social interaction while also disrupting the patterns of rest, silence and reflection that are necessary for healthy human development."

No comparable quote from Elder Ballard on this one but this Mormon-produced YouTube video pretty much says the same thing:

Testimony of Elmira Pond Miller

2009-02-05T21:19:00.000-08:00

Browsing through some family history files my Grandpa gave me on a CD, I found this account of Elmira Pond Miller written by herself in 1890. This history is unique because it contains not only a chronology of her life, but also her religious feelings that led her to convert to Mormonism in the early days of the Church. She recounts:

"Father did not belong to any church. My mother was a Methodist, also my two sisters and one brother. I was religiously inclined. In my young days I read the New Testament often, and many times wished that I had lived in the days of Christ and His apostles and often wondered why the same gifts and blessings were not in any of the churches. We were told that they were no longer needed. That seemed a mystery to me. My desire was so great to prepare for a future state that I made up my mind to unite with the Methodist Church. That was in the year of 1827. In 1829, we moved to Adams County, Illinois. From that time I was not a member of the Methodist Church. I found that I could not believe as they did. I did not believe in shouting or in calling out amen before a prayer was finished. I believed that God was a person as I had read in the New Testament, that Christ was in the exact image of the Father. I had a great anxiety to find something that would satisfy my mind. I was sometimes impressed with the hope that greater light would come, and it was my sincere prayer that I would be prepared to believe it.

"On the 19th of June 1831, I was married to Henry William Miller. He was not religiously inclined, but I believed that he was the one for me, for I loved him the first time that I met him."

. . .

"In 1839, I heard the first true Gospel sermon I had ever heard in my life. It was delivered by Elder Able Lamb. I could not help but express my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for sparing my life, and giving me the opportunity of hearing the same gospel taught by Christ and His Apostles. . . . Brother Lamb held meetings at our house. After having a few meetings he gave an invitation for baptism. I was one of the first to accept. He said he did not like to baptize me, as my husband was not then at home. He wanted me to wait until the next meeting which would be held in two weeks, and he promised me that my husband would be ready to be baptized at that time. I did not like to wait, but did as he desired, and the promise that he made me was fulfilled, as we were both baptized at the next meeting. This was about the middle of September 1839. The Gospel was so plain that I could not believe that my relatives would reject it, but only three of my sisters believed. One of them did not join the church because her husband refused to let her be baptized."

. . .

"I feel to bear my testimony to this work. I know it is the true church, the only one the Lord has on earth, and whatever I may have to pass through I never can doubt it. This knowledge I received not only by those appointed to lead, but by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost which is a sure guide. I have many testimonies to bear. I have seen the sick healed by the laying on of hands and prayer of faith. I have been healed myself and so have my children."

Elmira's loyalty to her faith was put to the test, as several years after joining the Church she was forced out of her home in Illinois and eventually walked across the Great Plains to settle with the Mormons in the Salt Lake Valley. Although I have not had to do anything like this, the reasons she gave for believing are the same ones that I feel. I find it thrilling to belong to a Church that believes that God is literally a person, a father, just as it says in the scriptures. To me it makes so much sense that Christ's church would be directed by him, and would have apostles, prophets, and miracles, just as in the Bible. I think many people believe these things deep inside, and that Mormonism resonates in the soul of people who study it with a sincere intent to find God's will for them.

Disneyland Dos and Don'ts...what I learned

2009-01-27T21:53:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I blogged about the anticipation of visiting Disneyland for the first time as a parent. Well, the big day came and went and much to my surprise we wound up staying until 7 PM, with everyone still composed and in fairly good spirits as we left the park. I left a wiser man than when I arrived, gathering some Disneyland Dos and Don'ts to share here on this blog.

Do- Go on a Thursday morning in January a few days after a holiday (when everyone else already went) on a day when it looks like it's going to rain but doesn't ever do anything more than spit. Park workers told us it was the slowest day of the year so far. I can't imagine lines on a normal day.

Don't- Try going to Toontown first thing. We were going to try to beat everyone to see Mickey, but it opened later than the other areas.

Do- Bring your own food. The stuff inside the park is about two times what it should regularly cost. Save the money for a treat at the end of the day.

Don't- Buy a bag of jelly beans without weighing them ($12/lb!)

Do- Ride the teacups. It was a great starter ride for our 3 year old son, for whom Disneyland had been the "Scariest place on Earth" up to that point. Also, I calculated that they can easily move over 50 people through the teacup ride at a time, so the line moves pretty fast.

Don't- Start spinning the wheel in the middle of the teacup or look at the other teacups until you near the end of the ride...unless you want to be sick.

Do- Ride the Matterhorn Bobsleds with your spouse in a double car. Make sure the male sits in front unless you are finished having children. Stop making out after about 15 seconds in the tunnel up the first climb unless you want to lose some teeth. This ride is bone-chilling not because of the architecture of the roller coaster, but because of how old and rickety it is.

Don't- Fall for the Autopia ride. It looks like cool go-karts, but you cannot really steer and you are limited to a low cruising speed. To make the car go you have to keep your foot all the way down on the pedal, which gets tiring. If a small kid is trying to drive in front of you, they will not have the strength to keep the pedal down, and you will not be able to get around them. This ride had one of the longest lines at Disneyland and a lot of it was in the path of gas fumes from the cars. Wish I would have braved the Finding Nemo line instead.

Do- Go on the Indiana Jones ride, but only on a slow day. If the lines were on the order of 1-2 hours, I would rather spend that time doing other things at Disneyland. The line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was pretty short and if you are into speed or drops that is better than Indiana Jones. Indy is just for special effects.

Don't- Ride on the deceptively benign-looking train that goes around the periphery of Disneyland if you have children who are scared of pitch dark tunnels and violent dinosaur dioramas. That was about the scariest thing we could have imagined for my son, but we had no idea the train would go through those kind of scenes. This scary stretch is between Tomorrowland and the main entrance.

Do- Get the Mickey ears. The kids kept them on all day (surprising) and looked cute in them. (Did I use the word "cute" again on this manly blog?)

Don't- Be afraid to park your stroller. Just make sure there are enough stains on it to render the stroller unattractive to thieves and easy to identify.

Do- Check out the Lego store in Downtown Disney. It has giant Lego sculptures (including R2D2) and about every Lego set you can think of. This is a good place to hit on the way out if you're staying in one of the hotels.

Don't- Think about the ticket price if you want to have a priceless experience.

Wasabi game is a winner

2009-01-19T14:12:00.000-08:00

Christmas at our house usually involves at least one new board game. This year we found a winner in Wasabi! by Z-Man Games.

In Wasabi! you take on the role of gourmet sushi chefs. The ingredients are square tiles that you take turns placing onto the board, or "kitchen". The object of the game is to assemble ingredients into adjacent squares to complete sushi "recipes" that carry exotic names such as Squid Salad Sandwich, Snapper Crunch, Poison Pill, and so on.

You get extra points for completing longer recipes or assembling your recipes in the exact order. When space runs out, or you complete all your recipes, you tally up the points and see who wins.

There are multiple reasons to like Wasabi!

A 2-player game only takes 30-45 minutes to complete.
Gameplay is mostly based on strategy; the only luck involved is the recipe-drawing.
The theme is creative and the artwork beautiful. I don't even like sushi and it makes me hungry. If this wasn't such a macho blog I would go so far as to call it "cute".

The theme also causes this game to have many pieces that require about 5 - 10 minutes to set up. You need to have a large table available, especially for a 3 or 4 player game. The pieces are brightly colored and probably attractive to young children. We don't know. It's one of those items where my wife and I have vowed, "The kids must never know this exists."

Wasabi! is not the kind of game you find at Target (that's also reflected in the price). A good place to get it is boardgamegeek.com, Amazon, or eBay.

Bringing Grandpa's mission journal to light

2009-01-11T06:07:00.000-08:00

My grandfather joined the Mormon church at age 18. Two years later, he left his home in Idaho to preach the Gospel in the Great Lakes Mission. I first learned that Grandpa kept a daily journal of his mission when I was serving a mission myself in Argentina. My mom obtained it somehow and typed out sections to send me.

Reading about Grandpa's difficulties and successes, as well as his dilligent work ethic, inspired me to work harder and lift up my head during the rough times that all missionaries face. It was comforting to know someone I knew and loved so well had experienced the same thing before.

This past year my wife and I embarked on a project to make Grandpa's journal more widely available to the family. I had run across the original copy and did not want it to remain hidden in my grandparents' house for occasional discovery. With their permission, we took the journal home and did the following with it:

Type - We transcribed the journal into Microsoft Word, preserving the original spelling and grammar as much as possible. Grandpa wrote most of the entries quickly at night and did not bother with periods or capital letters, so we divided the text into sentences as best we could. Once we finished the transcription, we gave the text a full proofread to fix our own typos and review parts that were difficult to interpret the first time around.
Add mission letters - For a long time we've had the text of a handful of letters Grandpa sent home while on his mission. We put these in italic font and inserted them in the journal at the appropriate places in the chronology.

Add pictures - We have several pictures of Grandpa near his mission age, which we inserted into the journal at appropriate spots. We also have his mission "business card" which we scanned and added to the journal near the beginning.
Add maps - At the time of Grandpa's mission there tended to be only one branch or ward per large city, so he did a lot of traveling to surrounding towns. To help the reader follow the geography, we copied out maps of each area from Google Maps and placed them on a title page for each area.

Add foreword - We wrote a brief introduction to the journal that communicated the journal's value to us, how we transcribed it, and what to expect when reading it.

Print - With the above additions, the journal wound up taking about 50 double-sided pages. At 12 copies we calculated it was cheaper to buy a print cartridge or two and print the journals ourselves, rather than make 600 copies. We put the printer on a lower-quality "Fast" setting which, from what I could tell, printed everything well enough for distribution.

Bind - We took the manuscripts to Office Depot and got them spiral bound with a plastic cover for several bucks each.

Distribute - Our goal was to get a copy of the journal to each branch of Grandpa's posterity. We enjoyed wrapping up the journals as Christmas presents and mailing them to Grandpa, his seven children, and his three grandchildren currently serving or called on missions.

Spirit of Speedy Joe

2009-01-04T12:47:00.000-08:00

The Utah football team honored the late Mormon Apostle Joseph B. Wirthlin this week by wearing the initials "JBW" on their helmets during the Sugar Bowl. Wirthlin played for Utah in the 1930's and remained a fan and "self-appointed chaplain" of the team for decades.

Maybe some of the spirit of "Speedy Joe Wirthlin" was with the Utes in their 31-17 romp over Alabama. It's painful to admit this, but this season Utah executed every time and place that BYU didn't, and they have the BCS bowl win to show for it. The Cougs should take note of this for next year.

Hopefully this Utah win will take us one step closer to either a playoff system or an automatic BCS berth for the Mountain West Conference. It's unfortunate that MWC teams have to run the table to get in a BCS bowl. There are other teams in the conference that are perennially good enough to compete on the national stage. For example, this year's TCU squad is better than at least Virginia Tech, Cincinnati, Ohio State, and possibly other teams that got a BCS bowl invitation this season (I don't want to talk about Penn State right now).

A rare white Christmas in western Oregon

2008-12-29T09:22:00.000-08:00

We arrived at our Christmas vacation destination in western Oregon just in time for the biggest snowstorm the region has seen in recent memory. Over a foot of snow fell the weekend before Christmas, causing church to be canceled. My father-in-law received permission to administer the Sacrament here at his home, so we had a nice little church meeting with 18 members of my wife's family. That's bigger than some branches I remember from the mission.

Since we're up on a hill out in the country, the only way to get out for a while was with 4-wheel-drive and chains. There's been a lot of "Rock Band 2" and pinochle playing going on to pass the time. I also found "The Life of Heber C. Kimball" on my in-laws' shelf of old Church books and was happy to get the chance to start reading it. This biography was written by Orson F. Whitney and contains a lot of church history, especially relating to the spread of the Gospel in Great Britain.

Today my wife and I are off to the Oregon coast to celebrate 5 years of happy marriage! Thanks to parents, in-laws, and grandparents who have been such a great example in this regard.

We wish anyone reading this post a Happy New Year!

Lending with a conscience pays off

2008-12-20T10:13:00.000-08:00

The Sun carries a story about one Southern California mortgage lending company who is actually experiencing success lately. Mike Douglass and Gary Martell, Jr. have been dealing in home loans together for years. Instead of making a money-grab selling subprime mortgages, they stuck to more conventional packages such as FHA loans. Says Martell, "In lending, you have to have a conscience to do this."

Although their more conservative lending strategy took more work, Martell and Douglass still have their money, and their competitors who sold subprime mortages are all gone. Furthermore, because housing prices have dropped, more people are looking into the capped FHA loans and business is good.

The lending with a conscience is literally paying off.

Read the full story

Winter comes to Southern California

2008-12-18T20:20:00.001-08:00

We get a few good storms like this every year. The snow level was down to 2000 feet last night and in the valley we got drenched with rain. Here in Smogtown it feels very cleansing.

Do Mormons celebrate Christmas?

2008-12-07T15:20:00.000-08:00

The official name of the "Mormon Church" is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormons believe in Jesus Christ and celebrate Christmas in recognition of Jesus' birth. Like many other Christians, we also feel that Christmas is a good time to remember Jesus' life and atonement for us.

Mormon families that I've experienced Christmas with tend to read the nativity story in Luke 2 on Christmas Eve or Christmas day. I also like to read the Book of Mormon chapter 3 Nephi 1, which describes what happened in the Americas at the time of Christ's birth.

There's no special religious service that Mormons attend on Christmas Eve or Christmas day, unless one of those days falls on a Sunday. In that case Sacrament Meeting is held as usual, perhaps with a few special musical numbers added to the service. If Christmas day is a Sunday, there are usually no other church meetings held besides Sacrament Meeting so that members can spend time with their families.

Mormons also participate in secular Christmas traditions such as exchanging presents, talking about Santa Claus, lighting fireworks (if you live in Latin America), etc. However, church leaders frequently urge members to remember the spiritual side of Christmas ahead of the secular traditions.

The first Sunday of December the First Presidency of the Church holds a special Christmas devotional in Salt Lake. The music is superb, with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square performing several numbers. You can find out more about how to watch the devotional here.

Favorite Joseph B. Wirthlin talk: Lessons Learned in the Journey of Life

2008-12-03T06:57:00.000-08:00

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, an Apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away on Monday night at the age of 91. I gained a special respect for Elder Wirthlin in the early days of my two-year mission for the church when I found this talk Lessons Learned in the Journey of Life.

At that point, two years in the mission was starting to look like a really long time. The work wasn't as easy as I had expected. When I read Elder Wirthlin's experience, I realized I wasn't the only missionary who had ever felt that way. Elder Wirthlin's assignment was the Austrian/German mission in 1936. He describes how he felt in his first area, alone, with Hitler mounting armies just across the border:

"I remember those days well. I don’t suppose there has been a time in my life when I felt more discouraged, more lost. The mission was a difficult one; no one seemed to have time for me or the message I brought. I wondered if there would ever be enough members in that city to make a ward.

"Six weeks I was alone. Six weeks I waited for a companion. Six weeks I wondered about what I might be doing had I stayed in Salt Lake City and continued my studies."

As often happens to dedicated missionaries, things eventually got brighter for Elder Wirthlin and he received a companion to work with. That year at Christmas, they visited the village of Oberndorf, where the hymn "Silent Night" was written. On the return walk home they discussed goals for how they wanted to live their lives after the mission:

"As we walked, my companion and I talked of our hopes and dreams. We talked of our goals and what we wanted to have happen in our lives. The more we talked, the more serious we became about achieving the things we talked about. As we walked under the light of a full moon, we both made serious resolutions.

"I committed that night that I would not waste my time. I would renew my efforts to serve the Lord. I made up my mind that I would magnify any callings I received in the Lord’s kingdom."

Elder Wirthlin then shares five points that he has learned for living a happy and successful life:

Have faith in Heavenly Father
Set righteous goals
Work to accomplish your goals
Magnify your callings
Enjoy the journey

Elder Wirthlin realized the effect these points had on his life when he traveled to Salzburg many years later to organize a stake of the church and as he walked with his wife on the same road back from Oberndorf.

"The resolutions I made on that holy night in Oberndorf, Austria, have been a guiding force throughout my life. Although I still have much to learn and to accomplish, I’ve done my best to have faith in God; I’ve done my best to focus on the things that are important in life; I’ve done my best to work hard at righteous tasks; I’ve done my best to magnify the callings I’ve received in the Church; and I’ve done my best to enjoy the journey.

"May you do the same as you create of your lives something worthy of your divine heritage."

Expell me!

2008-11-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

When I signed up for my required Biology general education course in college, I was a little apprehensive about whether the curriculum would contradict or raise doubts about my feelings on religion. I found that just the opposite was true. Learning about the elements, the pieces of the cell, the progression of the human body as it grows in the womb, and similar topics actually strengthened my belief that only a God could have created life and the earth we live on.

I've observed with interest the intelligent design movement that has blossomed over the past few years. I think there's merit in admitting that some things in the universe are so complex and perfectly balanced that they are unlikely to have occurred by random processes. Unfortunately, scientists in America who dare to suggest this do not always face an easy road. Ben Stein presents some of their stories in his documentary Expelled!: No Intelligence Allowed, which my wife and I watched together last week.

In Expelled! humorist, lawyer, actor, and documentarian Ben Stein interviews a parade of scientists who have been blacklisted for asserting that life is so complex and organized that it did not come into being by undirected processes. The movie doesn't argue against the established fact that organisms change and evolve over time. But Stein does challenge the notions that Darwinism explains how life first appeared on the earth.

A main theme of Expelled! is that the American scientific estabilishment views intelligent design as a cunning tool of the creationists in the decades-long battle over American science curriculum. Defending evolution is not enough for these scientists; they have gone on the offensive against religious belief and promoted the idea that science and religion are "at war", and that science is the obvious winner. Stein interviews some very bright individuals, some religious and some not, who counter that a belief in God can be an asset to a scientist, and that "we may be able to encounter God through science, if we are free to go there."

Stein presents Richard Dawkins as Exhibit A from the "Darwinism = no God" school of thought. Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist at Oxford University whose book "The God Delusion" has sold over 1.5 million copies. In the movie's climax, Stein sits across a table from Dawkins in a one-on-one interview. When pressed to explain the origin of the first cell on earth, Dawkins actually suggests that life might have been "seeded" on this earth by a highly evolved intelligent life form on some other planet (a life form whose origins Dawkins confesses not to know). At this point the cool-as-a-cucumber Stein probably figured he had his documentary in the bag.

The Berlin Wall also gets a lot of footage in Expelled! The movie states that American science has placed a wall around what it is willing to believe, and is missing out by failing to consider ideas outside this wall, however meritorious they might be. Through all this, Expelled! ends on an optimistic tone. After all, the Berlin Wall came down, and Stein suggests that incorrect ideas will eventually fall as long as there are enough people willing to listen to and pursue the truth.

Expelled! is available on the Netflix "Watch Now" list.

Breakfast with Brigham

2008-11-19T21:00:00.000-08:00

The newspaper has been pretty depressing lately, so I switched to some more enlightening breakfast table reading: an old copy of Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young that my wife found. Brigham Young was an inspired man whose advice about the world is great to start the day with. Here are some favorite quotes from the skimming I've done so far.

On thrift and industry:

"We will have to go to work and get the gold out of the mountains to lay down, if we ever walk in streets paved with gold. The angels that now walk in their golden streets, and they have the tree of life within their paradise, had to obtain that gold and put it there. When we have streets paved with gold, we will have placed it there ourselves. When we enjoy a Zion in its beauty and glory, it will be when we have built it." (p. 226)

On learning about the world:

"We are in a great school, and we should be diligent to learn, and continue to store up the knowledge of heaven and of earth, and read good books, although I cannot say that I would recommend the reading of all books, for it is not all books which are good. Read good books, and extract from them wisdom and understanding as much as you possibly can, aided by the Spirit of God." (p. 197)

On how we live our religion:

"Our work, our every-day labor, our whole lives are within the scope of our religion. This is what we believe and what we try to practice." (p. 189)

Amen.

Joshua Tree day hike: Lost Horse Mine Loop

2008-11-16T21:07:00.001-08:00

This past weekend we took the Scouts out to one of my favorite outdoor venues in Southern California: Joshua Tree National Park. I like camping in the desert because it's relatively quiet and empty compared to the rest of Southern California.

One way the desert is similar to the rest of Southern California is that almost every inch of it has been subject to human activity at one time or another. Our day hike on the Lost Horse Mine loop trail showed evidence of that.

Lost Horse was a gold mine, one of the biggest in the area, and it's fun trying to spy the various ruins still strewn about, such as old car parts, cables, scraps of metal, and rusty nails (make sure your shoes have thick soles if you do this trail). The actual mine site is fenced off. I shot this picture through the chain links.

The mine is situated on the side of Lost Horse Mountain. It took just a few minutes to scramble to the top, and the view was well worth it.

Most people visit this mine as an out-and-back hike. We continued on the less-traveled 6.5 mile loop option for some real desert solitude. The trail grew fainter as it descended Lost Horse Mountain and wound along and around a ridge. There was more evidence of mining in this area, including at least one open shaft and this interesting chimney thing.

The trail was flatter for the final few miles, following a wash along the western base of the Lost Horse Mountains. This was a good place to concentrate on the desert plants. I was impressed by the circular leaves of this yucca.

This part of the trail also had the most Joshua trees. These two looked very friendly. It's nice to have someone to go through life with.

Right about the time when our eyes started to blur with the same desert plants, rocks, and sand, and our water started looking frighteningly good, we were back to the truck. The parking lot, which had only a handful of cars at 9 AM, was now overflowing at noon.

For lunch we hopped in the truck and took a side trip down to Keys View. This is where you reach the edge of a desert plateau and can see a broad swath of the Salton Sea, Coachella Valley, and San Gorgonio Pass areas.

I imagine on even a normal day Keys View would be windy, but this was during a Santa Ana wind event and the gusts were almost enough to knock you over. From the viewpoint, we saw the smoke of the Orange County fires over 80 miles away, fanned by the same winds.

Learning about places in your family history using the Internet

2008-11-09T08:58:00.000-08:00

Below are some notes from a workshop "Learning about places in your family history using the Internet" that I've presented several times to local genealogical interest groups. When we say the Internet is an "information superhighway", that includes information about places all over the world. The amount of geographic information on the Internet, in the form of pictures, maps, and articles, has grown immensely even since I first gave a presentation like this two and a half years ago.

Although getting pictures of where you ancestors lived may not help you get through that "brick wall" on your pedigree chart, the information can be a nice supplement to your published family histories and can help you feel a stronger connection to your ancestors.

Getting pictures of your ancestors’ homelands

Open a Web browser to http://www.panoramio.com/

Type in a place name and click Search

Browse the pictures that appear

If you see one you want to save, right-click it with the mouse and click Save Picture As…

Optionally, leave a comment for the person who posted the photo. Use a “junk e-mail” address

Why is this useful?

Supplement your histories with beautiful photographs of your ancestors’ homelands.

See what the area looks like without visiting it.

Communicate with people that took the photographs.

Add your own interesting photographs for the benefit of others.

Tips

Submit JPG photos. They are smaller in size and will load quicker.

Can’t submit photos of people to Panoramio.

Flickr provides a similar way to browse photos on a map, but the photos can be of anything.

My ancestors' homeland: Killybegs, Ireland. Photo obtained from Panoramio.

“Driving” through a neighborhood

Open a Web browser to http://maps.google.com/

Click the StreetView button. You’ll see some cameras of areas where StreetView is available.

Zoom to one of the cities with a camera icon or type in an address from one of those cities and click Search Maps. You should see a little yellow man and some streets outlined in blue. The blue streets have StreetView.

Drag and drop the man onto the street you want to view. A viewer window should appear.

Use the arrows on the viewer window to take a “drive” down the street. You can look to the right or left, zoom in and out, or turn around.

Why is this useful?

Tour your ancestors’ neighborhoods without actually having to go there.

Enter addresses from vital records, journals, etc. to see what the area looks like.

Take a screen capture of a house, landmark, etc. for your family records.

Tips

If you something you want to save a picture of, press the Prt Scr (Print Screen) key. Then open Paint and click Edit > Paste. Then save the file.

If you’re taking many screen captures, try SnagIt by TechSmith software.

The address that Google Maps gives you may not put you at the exact house. Some prior knowledge of the area is helpful.

If your area doesn’t have StreetView, keep checking back.

My great-grandparents' former home in South Gate, California, as seen in Google Maps StreetView.

Piccolo Pete

2008-10-30T06:56:00.000-07:00

Since I've spent most of my life in the dry Western United States, fireworks have been banned in most places I've lived since I was a kid. So my wife and I had to go way back to remember this old favorite: the Piccolo Pete.

What brought this little blue screecher instantly back to memory? Our one-year-old daughter, who has recently demonstrated that she can emit a high-pitched noise just like a Piccolo Pete in church, in the library, in the store, or anywhere else where she can find a captive audience.

I wonder how many years she'll have this talent. It might be a good self-defense mechanism when she grows older.

Proposition 8: A letter to the editor

2008-10-27T06:58:00.000-07:00

The San Bernardino County Sun was kind enough to print a letter I sent last week regarding Proposition 8. A section that The Sun edited out (probably for length) is enclosed in []:

"Proposition 8 would amend our state constitution to recognize only marriage between a man and a woman as valid in California. [Interestingly, 75% of voters in San Bernardino County voted for this same wording in 2000 before the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage earlier this year. As I’ve talked with many voters in our community on Proposition 8, it’s become clear that the mainstream of our county still believes that marriage between a man and a woman is the God-ordained way that families are created and established.]

"Many Californians, including me, are concerned that if Proposition 8 fails our children will be taught in schools that same-sex marriage is equal to traditional marriage. Opponents of Proposition 8 say that this won’t happen, but should we really believe this?

"Earlier this year we saw how a few individuals using the court system can widely affect what our state is required to do. All it will take are a few activists and a court decision to change the way marriage is taught in our schools. In fact, all it takes is one teacher with an agenda to change the way marriage is taught in your child’s class. I see little protection from these scenarios without Proposition 8.

"Opponents of Proposition 8 say that even if same-sex marriage is taught in schools, I have the right under California law to withdraw my child at any time. But do we really want it to come to this? And what about teachers who aren’t comfortable including same-sex marriage in their curriculum? Will they be able to withdraw without fear of losing their jobs or being sued?

"Please consider these questions before you vote on Proposition 8."

Got The Message?

2008-10-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been using some additional Bible translations to help get a supplemental understanding of phrases that are complex or archaic in the King James Version (the official English translation used by the Mormon church). This is a trick I learned at BYU when a professor required us to read at least one additional translation of Isaiah to give us another perspective on difficult passages.

The most interesting Bible I've come across in these studies is The Message, translated by Eugene Peterson. Originally employed as a teacher of Hebrew and Greek in a theological seminary, Peterson took a job as a pastor and, in his words, "I was now plunged into quite a different world. The first noticeable difference was that nobody seemed to care much about the Bible, which so recently people had been paying me to teach them." (All quotes are from the The Message Preface.)

Peterson realized that he had a gift for conveying the message of the Bible in everyday, conversational language:

"I lived in two language worlds, the world of the Bible and the world of Today. I had always assumed they were the same world. But these people didn't see it that way. So out of necessity I became a translator..."

Peterson's interpretations of "the Bible in the language of Today and the language of Today in the language of the Bible" caught the interest of an editor, who convinced him to work on a complete translation, or paraphrase, of the Bible. This became The Message.

You can get a good taste of what The Message is like by reading the Ten Commandments story in Exodus 20 (link is from BibleGateway.com). You can fly through a chapter in a minute or two. I find this useful for getting a quick overview of a story or an alternate view of one of those occasional "Say what?" verses in the writings of Paul or Isaiah.

Peterson states that his intent with The Message was just to get people reading the Bible. "It is not intended to replace the excellent study Bibles that are available."

For me that excellent study Bible is the King James Version published by the LDS church, which contains the Topical Guide, Bible Dictionary, and excerpts from the Joseph Smith Translation. But when I've got five extra minutes to hang out in the kids' room while they fall asleep, The Message makes for a very nice inspirational read.

Salvaging a rough sports week in a big way

2008-10-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

I guess a Modern Mormon Dad is entitled to a sports post once in a while, especially after a week like this. Last Sunday at this time things sure looked a lot brighter for the Dodgers, who are now facing a long and uncertain offseason, and the BYU Cougars, whose BCS-busting hopes fell to pieces Thursday night at the hands of an energized and clearly superior TCU team.

Thankfully I have another football team that wears blue and white, makes their home in "Happy Valley", and plays the same faux-roar recording after a first down, and these guys are the REAL DEAL this year. But for two and half terrible quarters it looked like Penn State might also falter this week and drop their tenth straight game against Michigan. The Nittany Lions battled back, though, and took the lead with this play:

This safety late in the third quarter made it 19-17 and from there Penn State decided to tack on 27 more points just to make the win a little sweeter.

Wasn't that a great video, by the way? That's the $200 ticket and $500 airfare I didn't have to buy to see a guy jumping up in front of me during the game-changing play. Someday I'd still like to make it to Beaver Stadium and camp in the parking lot and wave a white pom-pom...hopefully before Coach Paterno calls it quits.

BTW, this will be my second straight year dressing up as JoePa for Halloween. Time to roll up the khakis!

What do you do at the Happiest Place on Earth?

2008-10-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

We've lived in Southern California for over 3 years and have not yet set foot in Disneyland. (I've hit the Rose Bowl, Dodger Stadium, and the Staples Center, so I guess my priorities lie elsewhere.) Thanks to an overseas visit we'll be getting from my sister, we've finally scheduled a magical day to check out "The Happiest Place on Earth". But that's the catch- we have one day, probably 6 hours if the kids do real well and we try to beat traffic.

So what are the "must-see" places in Disneyland with a 3-year-old, a 1-year-old, and 6 hours? Any tips for taking young children there? I'm hoping some of you friends with Disneyland experience can guide me on this one...

SALSA...the way WE know it!

2008-10-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

One reason I like having Netflix is that I can get jazz videos that would be difficult to find in a mainstream rental store. These are often hit or miss, but this week we found a great one: "Tito Puente: Live in Montreal". This one-hour excerpt of a concert at the Montreal Jazz Festival contains a nice variety of Latin jazz styles. I am no expert of these, but as Tito explains in the bonus interview, his intent is just that you have fun listening.

There's no question that the band is having fun playing the music. The members vary so much in culture, age, and grooming, that it looks like Tito just grabbed a bunch of cats off the street, but the beautiful thing is that they all come together in a tight, intense sound. Tito himself leads the charge, scatting and pounding the timbales and other instruments whose names I don't even know. My son especially enjoyed seeing those.

The film is no piece of artwork, even for 1983, but skill and enthusiasm of the band members makes up for that. Near the end, Tito quips to the audience that to get invited to these festivals, he has to portray his band as a "Latin Jazz Ensemble", but "Now that I got my foot in the door...we're gonna play SALSA! The way WE know it!" The roaring finale of "Pare Cochero" leaves no doubt that Tito's salsa is hot, hot, hot.

A second temple for Argentina

2008-10-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

At the opening session of today's Mormon General Conference, President Thomas S. Monson announced the locations for five new temples, one of which is Córdoba Argentina. I would love to have seen the reaction of church members and fellow missionaries that I served with on my full time mission in Argentina. I can imagine packed meetinghouses of members gathered to watch the broadcast, buzzing with excitement at this announcement.

We occasionally speculated that the next temple in Argentina would be built in Córdoba. The city is centrally located and is home to at least four stakes. I don't have a Church Almanac, but I'm pretty sure that's the most of any Argentine city outside Buenos Aires, where the first temple in Argentina is located. Since I returned from my mission I have listened closely to every temple announcement in General Conference to hear if Córdoba's name would be called. Today's announcement is a confirmation to me of the Church's inevitable growth across Argentina and the world.

It was my privilege to work with many stalwart missionaries from Córdoba and other provinces that will be in this temple district, such as Catamarca, La Rioja, and Santiago del Estero. I love to think of them attending the dedication of this temple and frequently worshiping there with their families.

Mormon General Conference happens this weekend

2008-10-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend millions of Mormons around the world will be watching or listening to the church's General Conference, broadcasted twice a year from Salt Lake City. At the conference, church leaders give short talks about Jesus Christ, the Bible and Book of Mormon, the restoration of Christ's church in modern times, and other gospel topics. Traditionally the president of the Church addresses the conference several times. Musical interludes are provided by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and other local volunteer choirs.

If you're curious about Mormons, General Conference is a good way to get a dose of the church's official teachings straight from its world leaders. The talks cover basic topics and are easy to understand. This is partly because the talks need to be translated into many languages and reach an audience that includes many new members of the church.

I like to listen to conference through the Internet. This page will get you to video and audio streams. You can listen to the live broadcasts or hear archives of previous conference. The live sessions will occur on:

Saturday, October 4, 12:00 PM EDT
Saturday, October 4, 4:00 PM EDT
Sunday, October 5, 12:00 PM EDT
Sunday, October 5, 4:00 PM EDT

Southern California night hike

2008-09-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

It's officially autumn now in Southern California, but from the 90+ degree heat the only way to know this is that the days are getting shorter. The early sunset leaves little daylight for backpacking into Friday night Scout campouts. This past weekend we tried our first hike in the dark and realized that you don't need flashlights if you plan your trip on a slope above 10 million people. The view was enthralling.

That lowest band of lights you see near the mouth of the canyon is a bunch of commuters getting nowhere on the 15 freeway heading out Cajon Pass.

Below is one unexpected source of paranoia on this trip...

That is a real tarantula, seen near the beginning of our trek. I was hoping we would gain enough altitude to be out of their habitat before setting up camp for the night.

More scenes like the one above lit our way to the top of the hill. The Scouts found it a tough climb and fell asleep within minutes of reaching our campsite. But in the morning the daytime views made the hike well worth the effort.

We passed a lot of hunters driving up to scope out the area and one mountain biker, but we were the only ones crazy (and fortunate) enough to be out hiking.

A Hugh Nibley classic: Lehi in the Desert and The World of the Jaredites

2008-09-21T16:19:00.000-07:00

The Book of Mormon includes travel narratives from two ancient groups who crossed the ocean from the Old World to the Americas. The Nephites, who are the principal subject of the book, came from Jerusalem in 600 BC and the Jaredites came from the scene of the Tower of Babel thousands of years earlier. In 1952, Mormon scholar extraordinaire Hugh Nibley presented Lehi in the Desert and The World of the Jaredites, which compares the Book of Mormon details about these travels with what scholars know about the ancient Middle East and Asia.

Nibley's grasp of fine detail in both historical works and The Book of Mormon is astounding. He examines words, place names, traveling style, family relationships, and warfare of the Nephites and Jaredites, showing repeatedly how these align with things we know about the Mideast and Asia at the same time period.

Nibley's intent is to show that The Book of Mormon is a real work of ancient history. A repeated theme is that Joseph Smith, or anyone else in 1830, could not have produced such a historically accurate narrative. Nibley invites the reader to give this some thought:

"...let the reader make a simple test. Let him sit down to write a history of life, let us say, in Tibet in the middle of the eleventh century A.D. Let him construct his story wholly on the basis of what he happens to know right now about Tibet in the eleventh century--that will fairly represent what was known about ancient Arabis in 1830, i.e. that there was such a place and that it was very mysterious and romantic. In composing your Tibetan fantasy you will enjoy one great advantage: since the canvas is an absolute blank, you are free to fill it with anything that strikes your fancy. So you should have no trouble in getting 'smoothly launched into your narrative'--which Mrs. Brodie seems to think was the only obstacle confronting the author of the Book of Mormon. But there will be other obstacles, for in your chronicle of old Tibet we must insist that you scrupulously observe a number of annoying conditions: (1) you must never make any absurd, impossible, or contradictory statement; (2) when you are finished, you must make no changes in the text--the first edition must stand forever; (3) you must give out that your 'smooth narrative' is not fiction but true, nay, sacred history; (4) you must invite the ablest orientalists to examine the text with care, and strive diligently to see that your book gets into the hands of all those most eager and most competent to expose every flaw in it. The "author" of the Book of Mormon observes all these terrifying rules most scrupulously." (Lehi in the Desert and The World of the Jaredites, p. 133 - 134)

Nibley does not attempt to "prove" the Book of Mormon's authenticity with any one piece of evidence; instead he submits a mountain of examples that, when considered together, make it impossible that any charlatan could have authored the book. Nibley continues:

"In your Tibetan epic you might get something right by happy accident once in a while but don't expect it. "

An original edition of Lehi in the Desert and The World of the Jaredites was a steal on eBay for under $10.

Prisoner of pop culture

2008-09-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

Before one of Pastor Philip Miles' frequent trips to Russia, he decided to toss a box of hunting bullets in his luggage as a gift for a friend. Pastor Miles' travels took an unexpected turn when he was arrested and charged with smuggling ammunition. Russian courts sentenced him to three years in prison, later shortened to just a few months. Pastor Miles is now safely home in South Carolina.

Dick Gordon interviewed Miles about his experience on NPR's "The Story" (listen to MP3). Interestingly, Miles recounted how his least favorite part of incarceration was the television blaring nonstop movies, music videos, etc:

"It almost drove me crazy. Finally everybody'd be asleep, I'd turn it off, and I'd have maybe a couple of hours that I could read, pray, and just have some solitude. I can't tell you how I craved just silence."

Pastor Miles explained how he obtained relief from the worst of the programs:

"I remember one time they were watching some full-on porn. I got up, went into the corner, opened up my Bible, and just stood there with my back to the TV. And in about 5 minutes, they changed channels. That was the last time they watched porn in the room while I was there."

Have you ever felt like you were trapped by inappropriate or overbearing movies, television, and music? From experiences in doctors' waiting rooms, the bowling alley, dorm rooms, and so on, I can relate to the feeling of being imprisoned by explicit media. What do you do to escape? Pastor Miles' seeking refuge in the scriptures seems like one good technique.

What to do if Mormon missionaries knock on your door

2008-09-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

Mormons are widely known for their attempts to proselyte door-to-door. Chances are you've seen young Mormon missionaries in white shirts and ties "tracting" a neighborhood, looking for people interested in learning about the Mormon faith. Perhaps they've even come to your house before.

In this post I'll give some tips on what to do if Mormon missionaries knock on your door or contact you on the street, whether you're interested or not. These tips come from my own experience of two years as a Mormon missionary in Argentina and various other times volunteering with missionaries in the United States.

There are a few things that make Mormons different from other people that might knock on your door. First, Mormons are not selling anything; they are paying their own way to be on the mission and they stand to gain no status, privilege, or monetary reward from finding proselytes or teaching lessons. Second, Mormons do not believe that you are doomed to a fiery eternity in hell if you don't listen to their message. Mormon theology is not this superficial, which is one reason I find it so believable. When Mormon missionaries knock on your door, they are sharing a religious message that they feel will augment or enlighten existing beliefs that you have.

Mormon missionaries are instructed not to argue with people or deride their beliefs. If missionaries do this to you, ask them for their local mission president's telephone number so you can report their misconduct. But I really doubt this will happen. The vast majority of missionaries feel that their time is too valuable to spend extensive effort trying to persuade people who are not really interested.

With this in mind, here are some tips for conversing with Mormon missionaries that approach you, depending on your attitude about hearing their message:

If you're not interested in what they have to say...

Politely and briefly explain that you are not interested. If you really don't want them to come back, don't make up an excuse like, "I have to go to work right now," which might be misconstrued as possible interest. You're not going to offend the missionaries if you politely explain that you're not interested. It's nothing they haven't heard before.

I also suggest that you don't ignore the knocking. It's possible the missionaries are looking for a neighbor, or maybe they got your address by mistake. Perhaps unbeknownst to you, someone at your house requested a visit. If the missionaries think someone with possible interest is living at your address, they will come back many times even if no one answers.

Missionaries rotate areas usually every 3 to 6 months, so it's possible you will get them coming to the door again even if you are not interested. If this happens it will only take you a few seconds to explain that you are not interested and that will take care of them for a while longer. Given the amount of work missionaries have, I think it's unlikely they will knock on your door by chance more than once a year. Missionaries usually only knock on doors when they cannot find people to teach by other means (member and media referrals, etc.)

If you're not sure if you're interested...

Ask them to give you the 5 minute overview on your doorstep. They will be thrilled to do this. I think you will have a good idea after 5 minutes if you want to continue listening. In many cases, people are more attracted to the "spirit" of the missionaries rather than what they are saying. This makes sense. If someone really is bringing a message from Jesus Christ, as the missionaries purport to do, it should be detectable in the way you feel while you are talking to them.

If you are interested in what they have to say but they caught you at a bad time...

Tell them this and suggest a time they can return. Accustomed to rejection, some missionaries will interpret, "This isn't a good time right now" as "I'm not interested." If you suggest a time for them to come back and indicate that you are really interested, the missionaries will gladly make an effort to return to your house at the time you suggest.

If you are interested in what they have to say and you have some time...

Invite them in and tell them a little bit about your religious background. If you have a Bible on hand, go grab it. Then listen closely as they present their message, which should last about 30 - 45 minutes. If you like the visit, the missionaries have additional lessons they can share with you during other visits. At any time you can decide if you want to continue hearing more or if you want to discontinue the lessons.

If you want the missionaries to knock on your door but they never do...

Visit the Have missionaries contact me page at the mormon.org web site. You can fill out a form with your contact information that will be sent to your local missionaries.

If you're interested in learning about Mormons but you're not ready for the missionaries to visit...

Take a look at the Church's informational web site http://www.mormon.org/. If you click Basic Beliefs and go down the menu items on the left, you'll get a good outline of the message that missionaries share when they visit people's homes.

Kickin' it in Quebec

2008-09-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

I spent a lot of time during my trip to Ottawa going back and forth across the river that divides Ontario from Quebec, something that I imagine is routine for many of the city's residents. I was fascinated by the subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle differences between the two provinces.

One of the most striking is the change of the dominant language to French. It's easy to forget about this coming from the west coast of the U.S. My first day at the office I went to grab lunch at a Gatineau mall food court. I went for all-American: A & W. As was the case everywhere I went in Canada, the restaurant staff greeted me kindly. "Bonjour," the clerk welcomed, "____ _____ __ ___ ______ __?"

I held up three fingers, "I'll have a number three," I slowly articulated.

"Do you want fries or onion rings with that?" she replied in perfect English. It was like the first days in my foreign-speaking mission, but with a safety net. I loved it.

There are five main bridges in Ottawa, and I think I got to go over at least four. This one, the Pont Alexandra, is right across from Parliament and is great for walking. I was startled by the width of the river. It took me somewhere from 10 to 15 minutes to get across.

The Quebecois city across the river from Ottawa is called Gatineau. It's made up of several neighborhoods. The one you hit when you cross Pont Alexandra is called Hull. It contains a few sprawling federal office complexes, built by the Canadian government to distribute jobs to the Quebec side of the river.

You can tell you're in Quebec because the stop lights become horizontal and they have all kinds of options. The lights actually have two reds, I guess to tell you that you really need to stop (Californians take note). Then there's yellow, green, blinking green (!), sideways green arrow, straight green arrow, etc.

I have French Canadian ancestors who lived a few hours east of Ottawa and I felt a great pull to the Quebec side of the river. Although work committments prevented me from making the trip out to their exact homeland, I did get to see a portion of Parc de la Gatineau, a massive forested recreation area north of the Ottawa metro area. This is Lac Pink. Guess how you say that in English.

This trail to a waterfall reminded me of scenes from Mormon history in upstate New York. I imagine the forested Quebec landscape is similar to that near the Sacred Grove.

No one was on this waterfall trail and the excursion was very quiet and peaceful with clean, clear air. Just what a Southlander needs once in a while...

Images from Canada's capital

2008-09-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

While USA political convention-goers were bathing in the stars and stripes, I spent last week surrounded by maple leaves on a business trip to Canada's capital. Ottawa is a fortunate place to get sent on a business trip. The city is beautiful, clean, walkable, and offers a lot to do. Before and after work each day I had just enough time to walk around and see most of the important stuff...from the outside. Next time I might have time to go inside something.

Here are a few pictures from the Ontario side of the river. Later I'll post some images from the Quebec side.

Below is the Rideau Canal which was built by the Army to be a water arterial through Ontario. It runs north-south through Ottawa and becomes a skating rink in the winter.

The canal ends at the Ottawa River with this series of locks.

The eye-catching architecture of these Parliament buildings is so different from what you would see in Washington, D.C., an interesting distinction between two countries that are so similar in other ways.

The National Gallery of Canada mimics the architecture of the Parliament in a modern, glassy way.

Here's what happens when you stand outside the art museum and look at the cathedral.

Proposition 8 at the grassroots

2008-08-31T15:46:00.001-07:00

Recently I spent several mornings talking with voters door to door about Proposition 8, which would amend the state constitution to say that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. My walks were part of a group effort by people from multiple faiths. We were canvassing neighborhoods and learn which registered voters are in favor of Proposition 8 or still undecided. These voters will receive more information and get-out-the-vote reminders as the election nears. A classic grassroots campaign.

While talking with voters about Proposition 8, I realized several important things:

Many people are confused about Proposition 8 or do not know what it is. As I introduced myself and began talking about the proposition, I could tell many voters were trying to size up which side I was on. A number of people wanted me to clarify whether a Yes vote was "Yes on traditional marriage" or "Yes on same-sex marriage" before they gave me an answer.

This means that the grassroots voter education movement is extremely important. People need to know exactly what they're voting for or against when they encounter Proposition 8. In this way, Attorney General Jerry Brown's biased reword of Proposition 8 may actually help the proposition more than it hurts it. Although Brown's "eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry" phrasing casts the proposition in a negative light, it makes it clear what "Yes" and "No" votes mean.
Proposition 8 has a good chance of passing. Very few people are undecided about Proposition 8, and opinions run strong among both supporters and opponents. At many houses I visited, voters would tell me their opinions on Proposition 8 before I even asked. This causes me to believe the outcome will be similar to that of Proposition 22, a similarly worded law that was passed by 61 percent of California voters in 2000.

Sure, things are a little different this time around. Proposition 8 would carry more weight as an amendment to the state constitution, and public sentiment seems to be more open to same-sex marriage than it was eight years ago. But will this be enough to sway the outcome? Somehow I doubt it. Our canvassing effort only sent us to the houses of registered voters, and the majority were strongly in favor of traditional marriage. I'll admit I was assigned to precincts whose demographics are socially conservative, but it was comforting to realize that many folks have not changed their minds on this issue.
Apathy is the most dangerous opponent of Proposition 8. Because most people's minds are made up about the issue, Proposition 8 will be decided by how many people from each side show up at the polls. At that point it won't matter what the media thinks or says about same-sex marriage or even what popular opinion is on the issue. It's all decided by who registers and who shows up (or mails in their ballot). In this way, our democracy is beautiful. It requires you to care about local, state, and national affairs enough to make an effort to get to the polls. If there's any issue on the ballot that merits a supportive effort, it's Proposition 8. Please do all that you can to support its passage on Election Day.

I gotta go my own way...to sleep

2008-08-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

For one year of my baby daughter's life I was at a severe biological disadvantage when it came to putting her to sleep. But now that she doesn't nurse as much we've discovered that we can sway her into a slumber with some soft music. I'm all over that. Nothing beats dancing with my baby girl.

She doesn't go out without a fight, though. For a while we had a CD of soft music I had made for my wife that was pretty effective. "Sailing" by Christopher Cross would always take her out. But after a few weeks she caught on to us and would writhe in protest upon discovering our intent. So we had to find a new tactic, and a new song.

Lately the breakup scene from High School Musical 2 has done the trick every time. Some nights it takes a few go-rounds, though. Did you know that this song starts 1:22:14 into the DVD? My wife and I have that figure memorized.

Death of a sax man

2008-08-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

This week saw the unfortunate passing of talented saxophonist LeRoi Moore of the Dave Matthews Band. Moore, 46, died from complications related to an ATV accident he was in earlier this year.

I am not a Dave Matthews Band fanatic; many of their lyrics have an overly gloomy tone that I've never really felt was “for me”. However I will acknowledge that the band has created some very complex and beautiful music, due largely to Moore’s woodwind efforts on all ranges of saxophones, the flute, and even the penny whistle. To me, DMB’s finest moments came after Dave stopped singing and LeRoi started jamming with violinist Boyd Tinsley and drummer Carter Beauford (one of the best in contemporary music).

Moore is to be commended for using the saxophone in alternative music and for introducing the instrument to a wider audience.

Multiple tributes to LeRoi Moore have appeared on YouTube. The one below contains a soaring solo from the song “Spoon”. It reveals Moore’s background in jazz and is representative of many of Moore’s solos in DMB’s live recordings.

Pinkberry smoothie: Smooth, but not pink

2008-08-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

Had another Southern California experience a few weeks ago visiting my first Pinkberry. This is a minimalist, hip frozen yogurt establishment that currently exists only in California and New York. It’s designed to make you feel cool enough to shell out a few more bucks to get Cap’n Crunch and kiwi fruit on the side of your Green Tea flavored yogurt. For the Word of Wisdom compliant, there’s regular frozen yogurt, shaved ice, or a smoothie, which is what I tried.

The Pinkberry smoothie is not pink, but it definitely has berries in it. I think its purple color and abundance of hard seeds come from the blackberries. The smoothie has a very milky taste which I wasn’t crazy about at the time, but the more I think about it, the more I really want another one. It may be time for another family trip to Victoria Gardens…

How much does a Mormon bishop get paid?

2008-08-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

Mormon congregations are divided into wards, usually comprised of several hundred members. The leader of the ward is the Bishop. The Bishop helps ensure the ward members' physical and spiritual needs are taken care of. The Bishop spends many hours each week counseling individuals about their families, marriages, spiritual questions, assignments in the ward, relationships with other ward members, financial struggles, etc.

So how much money does a Mormon bishop earn? The answer is nothing. Even stake presidents, which oversee multiple wards, are not compensated for their time. Unless they're old enough to be retired, bishops and stake presidents work at full-time jobs to provide for their families. In fact, you might be working alongside a Mormon bishop at your day job without knowing it.

So why do bishops make the effort to serve? I would guess this scripture in the Book of Mormon reflects the attitude many bishops have about their church service:

"And now, if we do not receive anything for our labors in the church, what doth it profit us to labor in the church save it were to declare the truth, that we may have rejoicings in the joy of our brethren?" (Alma 30:34)

Because most bishops also hold a full-time job, their church service is done mostly on nights and weekends, supported by patient wives and children who sacrifice their husband and father so that he can help other ward members. This takes an extraordinary family effort, which is not unnoticed by the Lord. I've heard bishops' families talk about the divine help they've received in working together to help their husband or father fulfill his calling as a bishop, which usually lasts 3 -5 years. This article contains a particularly touching story about one bishop's wife realizing the importance of her sacrifice.

I have served as secretary to several Bishops and I can attest to the effort they devote to their callings. As secretary, my assignment was to help the Bishop organize his calendar; if someone needed to visit with the Bishop they called me and made an appointment. So I knew how much time the Bishop was devoting each week to visits. Or so I thought. Often the the Bishop would show up at our weekly planning sessions and start talking about additional visits he had made the past week that I knew nothing about. Some people don't want to call the secretary and they go to the Bishop directly, and often the Bishop was inspired to stop by and visit members on his own. That's the diligence offered by many bishops in the Church.

To learn more about how Mormon church assignments are made and carried out, see Serving in the Church at Mormon.org.

Manufactured Landscapes: Images of industry in the new China

2008-08-12T22:22:00.001-07:00

If watching the Olympics has piqued your interest in modern China, you'll be fascinated by the 2006 documentary Manufactured Landscapes and the China-related exhibitions of Edward Burtynsky.

Burtynsky is a Canadian photographer whose interest is portraying "industrial incursions". Consequently Burtynsky found all kinds of inspiration in China, a nation powered by coal that manufactures enormous amounts of goods not only for the United States, but for its own population of over a billion.

In Manufactured Landscapes, director Jennifer Baichwal follows Burtynsky through China and Bangladesh as he performs his work. We see endless ranks of uniformed factory workers, eager residents chipping apart e-waste for scrap metal, aisles of crates at the port of Tianjin, new ships built to transport the goods, old ships broken apart with bare hands and a blowtorch, residents displaced by the Three Gorges Dam who are forced to tear down their home cities, mountains and mountains of coal extending into the horizon, shantytowns in the old Shanghai overshadowed by new skyscrapers just blocks away, and so on. If this imagery sounds depressing, it can be, but as Burtynsky's assistant explains to some skeptical Chinese coal field administrators, through his camera lens, "he'll make it look beautiful."

Neither Baichwal nor Burtynsky preach about what they are showing. They present the story with pictures and allow the viewer to grapple with the awesome and disturbing feelings the images invoke.

Viewing this film will forever change the way you understand the stamp "Made in China". One lesson I took away from Manufactured Landscapes is that everything we consume, from food to electronics to electricity, has a beginning and an end that we rarely see. The beginning and the end places may not be pretty and they may be far away from our homes where we consume the item. This makes it easy to forget the environmental and human cost of what we consume, which might rise far above the sticker price at Target or Wal-Mart.

Manufactured Landscapes is appropriate to watch with older children (toddlers will lose interest) and will provoke some good family discussion from the very opening scene.

The Olympics in Heaven: How will this happen?

2008-08-08T22:44:00.000-07:00

I spent part of this evening watching the parade of athletes in the Olympic opening ceremonies. The mix of nations, peoples, languages, costumes, and religions in this parade is always thought-provoking. As a Christian, how do you reconcile the fact that billions of people on the earth, from many of these nations, will not fully learn about the teachings of Christ during their lives, even though His is the only name under which salvation can come? Will they be condemned for this in the afterlife?

An excellent commentary from LDS Newsroom, titled Everyone Else Makes Such Lonely Heavens, describes the Mormon belief that a just God could not condemn his children for something they have no control over in this life. The article gives a brief but accurate overview of the Mormon belief in performing baptisms on behalf of people who have died, so that they can have the opportunity to accept Jesus after this life. The doctrine of baptism for the dead upholds the Christian belief that salvation must come through Christ, without unjustly condemning those who did not have the opportunity to hear about or accept Christ's teachings in this life.

For more on this subject you can also see a video clip on Mormon.org: What happens to people who've never heard of Jesus Christ?

Brigham Young University: The nation's top party school

2008-08-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

For the 11th year in a row, Mormon-operated Brigham Young University has earned #1 on the Princeton Review's list of Stone-Cold Sober Schools. BYU did well in a number of categories, causing university spokesman Michael Smart to remark, "We maintain that [BYU's] top 20 rankings for happiest students and best quality of life go hand in hand with being considered Stone-Cold Sober".

He couldn't be more correct. The Stone-Cold Sober list is often contrasted with the Princeton Review's list of Party Schools, which generally gets more publicity from the media. I noticed that BYU did not appear on this year's list of party schools, but I believe this could be an error.

It depends on if a "party" is defined as having alcohol or if a party is defined as having fun. If a party is defined as having alcohol (a dangerous definition, especially for a publication aimed at high-schoolers like the Princeton Review), then BYU doesn't belong on the list; but if a party is defined as having fun, then BYU should be at the top.

I haven't seen a place in the world where people have more fun than at BYU, and this all happens without a drop of alcohol. I loved living in (the old) Helaman Halls and (the old) Glenwood Apartments, well-known centers of said fun. Despite all the pressures of schoolwork, those were some of the most spontaneous and carefree times of my life.

It's easy to have fun at BYU because the students share a common commitment of faith and values, and most are genuinely kind and willing to make friends. From snowball wars to Creamery runs, from football games to tunnel singing, from "Dining Plus" to Fall Fling, from intramural ultimate frisbee to "Ward prayer", from midnight pranks to midnight runs to Denny's to midnight renditions of "The Saints Go Marching In" at the Library, there's not a school the Princeton Review could name that has a bigger party than BYU.

Did I forget some reasons why BYU is THE top party school? Go ahead and list them here.

Playlist from a 90's stake dance

2008-07-31T20:40:00.000-07:00

In Mormon lingo, a "stake dance" is a social event where teens 14 through 18 can get to know each other, bust a move, and collectively wish they were old enough to be out doing more exciting things, like driving and dating. Actually, that's not totally accurate. When I was 15 there's nowhere I'd have rather been on a Saturday night than at the Yakima or Selah stake center "cultural hall", catching up with friends from around "The Valley".

I was an adolescent during the late 90's and am endeared to the great music of that period. That was back in the days when you had to shell out at least $10 for a CD even if you really wanted only one track. Thanks to the modern miracle of songs for under a buck apiece on the Internet, my wife and I were able to construct a 90's stake dance megamix, containing these songs.

"Hero" - Mariah Carey

"Angel of Mine" - Monica

"You Gotta Be" - Des'ree

"Show Me Love" - Robyn

"Still In Love" - New Edition

"Come and Get Your Love" - Real McCoy (although "Runaway" might have been more likely)

"Twisted" - Keith Sweat

"One Sweet Day" - Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men

"Crash and Burn" - Savage Garden

"The Background" - 3rd Eye Blind (as Simon would put it, this one was "an indulgence")

"You're the Inspiration" - Chicago (although it's 80's, a lot of 90's stake dances played it)

"Blue (Da Ba Dee)" - Eiffel 65

"I Think I'm in Love" - Jessica Simpson

"Someday" - Sugar Ray

"All I Want" - Toad the Wet Sprocket

"Walk on the Ocean" - Toad the Wet Sprocket (had to slip in a 2-for-Toad here)

"The Animal Song" - Savage Garden

"I Can Love You Like That" - All 4 One

"I Knew I Loved You" - Savage Garden

Whoah, I can almost taste the stale Chips Ahoy now. I'm sure a few of you are saying, "That's great Sterling, but what about 'Cotton Eyed Joe', 'Linger', 'Macarena', 'Coco Jambo'..." etc. Well, if you put on this CD at 8 PM it currently doesn't make it 'til 10:30 (although it does switch on every light in your house as soon as it finishes). We need a 2-volume set, so go ahead and add your own suggestions to complete the ultimate 90's stake dance playlist!

Earthquakin'

2008-07-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

Today's earthquake, a magnitude 5.4, was just enough to really shake things up without causing any serious damage. A definite blessing for 20 million Californians who live within 100 miles of the quake's epicenter in Chino Hills (to get that figure I used this nifty application).

I was on the phone with a co-worker in Indiana when the quake hit. This must have been a bizarre experience for him ("Hang on, Tom, we're having an earthquake!") The experience was different than most small quakes we feel around here which are just a quick jolt. Instead, today's quake gave a slow, rocking sensation that just kept going and going. It seemed like it took at least a minute to settle down, which is a long time for an earthquake. I was down on one knee ready to get under the table if it got any worse. Thankfully that was not the case.

I think folks closer to the epicenter got shaken up a little more (I live about 30 miles away). My wife and kids were at Costco and did not feel the quake, but noticed people pointing up at the swaying overhead lights after it was over. I am glad my three year old son did not notice anything. He's recently very paranoid of earthquakes after just a 2.6 jolt that happened last Wednesday a few miles away.

I don't blame him.

From the life of President Kimball

2008-07-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

While attending a recent activity at the Stake center, my wife came across a pile of old church books that someone had left for the taking. She thoughtfully snatched a tattered copy of President Spencer W. Kimball’s biography, written by his son Edward Kimball and grandson Andrew Kimball, Jr.

Spencer W. Kimball served as President of the Mormon church from 1973 – 1985. Mormons often refer to their current church President as “the Prophet”, believing that he is the only one authorized to receive prophetic guidance from God for the church as a whole. I’ve always felt a special attachment to President Kimball, maybe because he was “the Prophet” at the time when I first learned what a prophet was. When I was a teenager, long after he had passed away, I remember discovering some of President Kimball’s books and referring to them often.

I like President Kimball’s plain, no-nonsense explanations of many doctrines and practices. He was a champion of kindness, reverence, and rectitude, and his life was an example of what he taught. One thing that has struck me from skimming this biography is that no part of his life was easy. His church service as a stake president was so demanding that it seems a miracle that he could still run a business and provide for his family (Mormon stake presidents and bishops receive no salary and must keep regular “day jobs” to provide for their families).

This passage is particularly revealing of the burdens Spencer felt as a stake president:

“To visit each ward and return home would take 1,750 miles. Spencer and his counselors did that repeatedly. He initiated a stake bulletin which kept missionaries and members of the scattered wards informed of Church-related news.

“Responsibilities as a new stake president sometimes seemed overwhelming. Spencer wrote to Camilla, who was in California again with Eddie: ‘Tomorrow is a heavy day—I dread it and will be glad when it is over. I find I am weak and too small and too lazy and too inefficient. Maybe they will release me after a year or two. I really hope so. I could step out today with the best of feelings and no misgivings, but I guess I’ll have to go on at least until an Apostle comes down to see how poor it is.’”

This humble passage may seem foreign to Church members who saw a strong and steady leader in President Kimball. It's reassuring to read this and know that it is okay to feel tired and inadequate sometimes while giving Church service; it happens to the best of them.

Despite his feelings of inefficiency, Spencer was an effective stake president and one of the most well-known and respected men in his community. He ran a prosperous business and sat on numerous local boards and committees in addition to his Church service. When called to serve full-time as an apostle of the church, Spencer and his family left their dream home they had completed several years earlier, in which they had planned to retire. Although this was also a challenge, they made the sacrifice and gave decades of service for which members like myself are very grateful.

I may be posting more excerpts from this biography in the future. It is a very worthwhile read.

Pioneer Day 2008: Remembering a visit to Martin's Cove

2008-07-23T23:04:00.000-07:00

Today marks the 161st anniversary of the arrival of the first company of Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley. The Mormons had fled mob violence in Missouri and later Illinois that resulted in the murder of their leader Joseph Smith. Before Joseph died he had investigated sites for the Mormons to eventually settle in the Rocky Mountains. The second president of the church, Brigham Young, was the one to lead them there.

For several decades starting in 1847, thousands of Mormons walked across the Great Plains to Salt Lake City and surrounding Mormon colonies. Many of them traveled without incident, but a few parties experienced sickness and deadly weather conditions. One such group was the Martin Handcart Company, which left very late in the year 1856. Members of this company were too poor to afford oxen or wagons, so they loaded their possessions into two-wheeled “handcarts” that they pulled along behind them. Although others had crossed the plains successfully with handcarts, this group had left exceptionally late in the year and were struggling through cold weather with very little food. When Brigham Young learned of their condition, he commanded church members in Salt Lake to form a rescue party:

“I will now give this people the subject and the text for the Elders who may speak to-day and during the Conference, it is this, on the 5th day of October, 1856, many of our brethren and sisters are on the Plains with hand-carts, and probably many are now seven hundred miles from this place, and they must be brought here, we must send assistance to them. The text will be-to get them here…

“I will tell you all that your faith, religion, and profession of religion, will never save one soul of you in the celestial kingdom of our God, unless you carry out just such principles as I am now teaching you. Go and bring in those people now on the Plains…” (Journal of Discourses 4:112)

Soon after the first rescuers arrived, a ferocious blizzard struck the company and they were forced to seek shelter in Martin’s Cove, near present-day Alcova, Wyoming. A number of pioneers died and were buried in the cove as they waited out the storm. Miraculously, a large part of the company survived and completed the trek to Salt Lake City thanks to the supplies and moral assistance brought by the rescuers.

You can visit Martin’s Cove and even take a hike pulling a handcart at the Mormon Handcart Visitor’s Center. In June of 2003 I did just that with a group of students from Brigham Young University and, wouldn’t you know it, we got caught in the snow! Only in Wyoming… Here are some thoughts I recorded about the experience shortly afterward:

“As we exited the Visitor's Center we encountered some marble-sized hail that had fallen, still melting on the ground. It was pretty windy and chilly as we began pulling our handcarts toward the west along the south side of the Sweetwater River. Almost immediately it began to rain, and as we passed Martin's Cove off to the right, large flakes of snow began to fall! It was quite the sight, to be experiencing a little of what the pioneers must have seen and pull and handcart through the storm. Luckily for us, it was not cold enough for the snow to stick, and the storm soon died down. We made a little over 6 miles with the handcarts and then camped on the plains.

“That evening a senior missionary came who impersonated Ephraim Hanks, one of the initial rescuers from Salt Lake. Brother Hanks told a story about how the Lord had called him as he lie in his bed and informed him that he was needed to help rescue the people out on the plains. The next day Brigham Young extended the call to him and he was already prepared to go. Bro Hanks used his medical knowledge to perform amputations of the pioneers' frozen limbs and saved many from dying of gangrene. He performed the operations with his hunting knife, and before each one he gave a priesthood blessing to the person being operated on, promising that they would not feel anything. Not one person complained of pain during his operations. This was in fulfillment of a blessing that Brigham Young gave him right before he left Salt Lake.

“The senior missionaries that visited our camp loaned us some tents for the night. We had planned to sleep under the stars but it was threatening to rain again, and sure enough, right around bedtime drops started to fall. We were grateful for their rescue efforts to us, and that we didn't have to sleep in our makeshift plastic lean-tos.

“The next day we hiked back along the same trail four miles, crossed the Sweetwater (on a convenient foot bridge), and then parked the handcarts for our hike up into the cove. When President Hinckley dedicated the site he said it was "hallowed ground," and it is…

“The cove itself is a horseshoe-shaped rock formation along a long ridge/range of rocks. In the middle of this horseshoe, an enormous hill has formed over time by blowing sand, leaving a marshy ring around the inside between the hill and the rocks. This is where the pioneers camped. When we reached the lower cove, a senior missionary met us at a little amphitheater and told us some of the history and stories of the Martin Company. Then we did a silent walk-through around the cove. As one missionary who was native to Wyoming put it, the state doesn't have a temple yet, but Martin's Cove is their temple. I can testify that the spirit I felt there was the same as in the temple, and that it was a place very conducive to spiritual contemplation and communication.”

Tribute to an old Scouter

2008-07-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month I spent a week up at Scout Camp in the San Jacinto Mountains with our ward’s troop. This brought back great memories of the Scout camp I attended as a boy in the Cascades of Washington state. We were blessed to have leaders who were great role models. Two seasoned adult Scouters from the ward volunteered every year to attend camp for a week, so that our Scoutmaster and his assistants could take time off for trips during other parts of the year.

One of these brave shepherding souls who attended camp with us each year was Don Flinders. He was about 70 years old, but that didn’t slow him down. Between the day’s routine trips to the flag assembly bowl, dining hall, and other areas around camp, he rejuvenated himself by lounging on a camp chair and reading Louis L’Amour westerns by the fire.

Despite over five decades of age difference, us boys considered ourselves good friends of Don’s. We liked him because he was cheerful, laid back, and had a great sense of humor. He never behaved in a way that would cause us to question the things he taught us about living the Scout Oath and Law and being worthy holders of the Priesthood.

Don just couldn’t get rid of us. When we were age 10 he was called as the Webelos leader. About that time I have memories of bouncing paper balls off his head as he tried to teach us lessons in Church. I also remember a few of us ganging up on him one time in the back of a car on the way home from a church activity. We thought he was an old man so we could take him in a wrestling match. Surprisingly he was able to hold us at bay and return every bite, scratch, and jab we could dish out. I don’t think we ever tried to mess with him again after that. Despite these persecutions Don retained his patience in a way that I wish I could emulate now as an adult.

As older Scouts we got to spend a week every year with Don at camp. He kept up on the merit badges we were each working on and encouraged us to complete our courses and attend the camp activities. He knew that he couldn’t really compel us to do it, and he didn’t try to force us, but he had earned our respect and we wanted to do a good job for him. I believe that’s how successful Scout leadership happens. It’s more difficult to be that kind of leader than it sounds, so I’m grateful for the example of Don and others that I can look back to.

A few years after my last trip to camp, Don suffered a fatal heart attack while setting up tables for a Relief Society dinner at the church. The pallbearers at his funeral were all Eagle Scouts that he had worked with, including, by that time, me. I can attest that Don’s influence in the lives of the boys he worked with has lasted well beyond the day that he left this earth. This post is a tribute to him and many leaders like him who freely give their time and talents to help young men.

What to expect when you visit a Mormon church

2008-07-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

Many Mormon (LDS) churches have a sign on the front proclaiming “Visitors Welcome”. Visiting an LDS church service is usually a pretty good way to get an idea of who Mormons are and what they believe. Here’s what to expect if you’re contemplating a visit to an LDS church, along with some tips for first-time visitors.

Where and when can you go?

Visitors are welcome in all LDS meetinghouses. Type your address in this locator to find out where and when your local congregation, or ward, meets.

You may have heard about LDS temples, which can only be entered by baptized members in good standing. Most temples are easily identifiable by their large size, exquisite architecture, and in many cases a statue of an angel on top. Meetinghouses, on the other hand, are usually nondescript and are much more common. There’s probably one in your town or neighborhood.

What happens at church?

Church meets on Sunday and is three hours long. There are three meetings in a row that each last about an hour:

Sacrament meeting - This is the most important meeting and it’s held in the main room, or chapel. It starts with a song, a prayer, and announcements. Occasionally, special blessings are given to members of the congregation such as babies or newly baptized members.

After these opening proceedings, the congregation sings another song and some (usually) young men bless and pass the Sacrament through the congregation. The Sacrament consists of small portions of bread and water that are reminders of Jesus’ body and blood, respectively. This is the most sacred part of the meeting and the room may get quieter, depending on the number of small children in the congregation.

The Sacrament bread and water is intended for baptized members of the church. However, it’s not taboo if you want to take some yourself. The Sacrament is offered to everybody, so if you don’t want to take it, you can just pass it on to the next person.

After the Sacrament, a few members of the church give talks about different subjects that the Bishop assigns. This takes the majority of the meeting. An exception to this is the first Sunday of the month which has an “open mike” format where anyone can share their feelings about Jesus Christ.

The meeting wraps up with another song and a prayer.

Sunday School - After Sacrament Meeting, everyone attends a Sunday School class based on age and experience in the church. For visitors and new members of the church, there’s a class called “Gospel Essentials” which covers basic topics. Ask anyone where this class meets and they will be happy to show you where to go. You may be asked to introduce yourself briefly just so others can get to know you.

Priesthood Meeting / Relief Society - In this meeting, all of the men meet together in “Priesthood Meeting” and all of the women meet together in “Relief Society”. This is often a less formal environment than the other meetings and is used for more specific announcements about upcoming activities and lessons on special topics. Because these meetings tend to be less formal and convene based on age and gender, this is where you’re most likely to meet members who resemble you.

During both Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society, there are "Primary" classes available for children, and a "Nursery" for toddlers.

In some wards, the order of the three meetings is reversed, so that Sacrament Meeting is last. This is usually so that a church building can accommodate several wards at once.

Heads up...

Here are a few things that might happen when you visit an LDS church and how to prepare for them.

Upon entering the church you may be greeted by one or more enthusiastic members. Because the same church members meet together every week, they get to know each other well and it’s easy to spot newcomers. Experience shows that most visitors appreciate this, but if you want to be left alone, just state that you’re here to observe.

You may be approached by missionaries. LDS missionaries are usually young men and women who teach lessons to people who are interested in learning the Church. The missionaries are easily identifiable by their black name tags. If you like what you see at church, you can choose to have the missionaries visit your home to teach you more things about the LDS church. If you’re not interested in having the missionaries visit, it’s best to say so directly. You can say, “Thanks, but I’m just observing right now. I’ll let you know if I become interested in having some lessons.”

You might hear yourself referred to as an “investigator”. Some members use this term to refer to anyone who is not baptized that is visiting, or “investigating” the church. It’s not meant as a derogatory term, although I prefer the term “visitor”.

Someone may ask where you live or direct you to another church building. If someone does this, they’re not trying to get rid of you, they’re just trying to be helpful. LDS congregations, or wards, are defined by geographic boundaries, so given an address, you can find out which ward you belong to. If you enjoyed your visit but didn’t attend your own ward, don’t worry. All LDS congregations teach the exact same things and are “staffed” by volunteers, so most wards tend to be very similar.

What you won’t see

A few things are noticeably absent from LDS services:

Requests for donations - Donations aren’t requested publicly at LDS meetings. If you want to contribute money to the church, there are envelopes available in the hallway, usually next to the Bishop’s office. You can give the envelope to the Bishop directly or mail it to his address, which is on the envelope.

Crosses - The symbol of the cross is noticeably absent from LDS churches. There’s nothing evil about a cross; the LDS church just prefers to focus on a living Christ instead of displaying the mode of his death.

Polished sermons - Most sermons and classes in the LDS church are given by common members of the congregation, who may not have public speaking experience or who may not have been members of the LDS church for very long. This is how we all learn together. Hopefully the sincerity of the discourses makes up for lack of polished speech.

Additional info

For some similar information from the official Church web site, see What to Expect at Sunday Meetings. If you have any additional questions or tips about visiting an LDS church, please add them as comments to this post.

Looking forward to your visit!

Cruising the Claremont Village

2008-07-06T10:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took the Metrolink train out to Claremont to check out “The Village”. My son was in heaven on the train. Now what three year old wouldn’t give his right hand to look at this kind of thing?

I am glad that he likes to look out the window. My wife and I marveled that a year or two ago he would have been more interested in the tables, chairs, windows inside the train, instead of focusing on what was outside.

The Village is a hip section of town near the Claremont colleges (and the train station!) that offers a range of local shops and art galleries. The older section of the Village is on the east side and contains small, local businesses. To the west there are newer developments, including the renovated Packing House. From what I could tell, this was an old lemon warehouse converted into a mini mall of local businesses and an art museum, with private lofts on the second floor. A very nice mixed use development project, in my opinion. There were works of art on display throughout the Packing House, and this one was by far my favorite. I am trying to find more details on it:

Southern California looks a lot like that, from the street. When you are on the train, it looks like this:

Most of the businesses in The Village were too fragile, expensive, or artsy for the kids, but I would have enjoyed browsing them alone with my wife. We will definitely have to check out the Hip Kitty Jazz and Fondue next time we have a few hours for a date.

If you are visiting The Village with young children, take them into The Boon Companion and get them a toy to keep them occupied for the rest of the trip. Also, if you have some extra time to wait for the return train, the Claremont Library is just two blocks from the station and has a great children’s section.

An Argentine 4th of July

2008-07-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! One of my most memorable Independence Days was the first one I spent out of USA. I was a relatively new Mormon missionary, age 19, living on the northern outskirts of Mar del Plata on the Argentine coast. That day I recorded:

"For the 4th of July today, Hno. Ferro, a new member, invited the 4 of us out to his house way out in the campo and made us lechón. What he did was kill a young pig, pretty much cut it right down the middle, stretched it out on a metal cross thing, and cooked it by the fire for three hours. Of course we showed up right when he was just about done with the process. The pig looked and smelled great. You could pretty much eat any part of it. The weird parts like the skin you just put between bread like a sandwich. It all tasted great. The only thing I didn’t like was the occasional pig hair or two or three that was still attached until it was already in my mouth.

"They also made a chocolate cake, and we brought sugar cookies. After dinner, to show gratitude, the four of us sang Ye Elders of Israel. We had prepared it before with harmonies, but Elder R. was kind of sick and couldn’t sing very well, so I helped him out on the melody. We sang all three verses in Spanish and one in English. Then we sang the Star-Spangled Banner. When Pedro realized what it was he motioned for everyone in his family to stand up. It was touching - the first 4th I’ve spent out of the USA - and it gave me a greater appreciation for my homeland."

One thing that surprised me as a new missionary was to hear the Argentine people pray, "We're thankful to live in a free country". I frequently included that phrase in my prayers as well, but I guess I only had the stars and stripes in mind. Fortunately many countries in the world, especially the Americas, are blessed with freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and many other important freedoms.

Seattle Supersonics: 1967 - 2008 Thanks for the memories

2008-07-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

It's official. The Supes are moving to Oklahoma City and it doesn't look like we'll even get two more seasons of them. At least Seattle gets rights to the name and colors for a while.

They can sell your team for millions, but they can't take the priceless memories:

Listening to Bob Blackburn and Kevin Calabro broadcast games into my room while I ran around 10 square feet of carpet creating my own epic "hardwood" battles on the Nerf hoop.
Attending the free "Seafirst/Sonics Jammin' Hoops Camp", which was about the most exciting thing to pass through my hometown of Yakima during the summer. As kids we were thrilled to get our pictures taken with any Sonics journeyman, but we also got to meet well-known figures such as Michael Cage, Avery Johnson, and George Karl.
Being thrilled to see the Sonics and Trailblazers duke it out in the Kingdome in the 1 dollar seats obtained from the aforementioned camp.
Riding with my dad 6 hours round trip to see a game in Key Arena as a teenager. Just me and him, winding our way over the Cascades, talking about experiences from his youth that I had never heard him talk about before. (Thanks Dad!)

Good bye Sonics. You will always be my team.

Eight generations on an 8.5 x 11 sheet

2008-07-01T22:35:00.000-07:00

I've started a project researching which of my ancestors were the first in their families to join the Mormon church. I have a lot of respect for these ancestors as several of them joined the Church at a time when Mormons were violently persecuted for their beliefs (one ancestor was even murdered, along with 16 others, in an event known as the Haun's Mill massacre).

I hoped to get as many generations as possible into one pedigree chart so I could easily visualize the branches of my family and mark who was the first Mormon in each branch. In doing so, I found this excellent 8-generation fan chart created by Duane A. Bailey. You can print it out on a regular 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. Eight generations is usually just enough to get back past 1830 when the Church was organized, so this chart is perfect for my project. Thanks, Duane!

Welcome

2008-06-30T22:34:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this blog is to give you a view into the life of a common, contemporary Mormon dad. I hope to write this in a way that will be easy to understand if you're curious about who Mormons are, what they are like, and what they do.

Mormons are frequently misrepresented in the media. Elder M. Russell Ballard, a Mormon apostle, recently wrote, "We cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches." With this blog I hope to come off "the sidelines" to share with you what I believe and how it has blessed my family.

Some posts on this blog won't be directly related to my faith or my family. I hope to review inspiring books, music, websites, and other things that I learn about. The purpose of these posts is to show that Mormons do not seclude themselves from everything in the world; but that they actively look for things "of good report" no matter what the source.

The opinions in this blog are my own and do not necessarily represent official doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which you can find on www.mormon.org. However, I like to think that my views don't vary from mainstream Mormonism.

I've been very blessed in life with a wonderful family, a valuable education, and enough to provide food, clothing, and shelter for my family. My wife, my children, and I have a lot of fun together. I believe the love we have in our family comes largely through attempting to live the teachings of Jesus Christ. Whether or not you share the Mormon faith, I thank you for joining me on this blog and hope you'll find something of worth here.