A Good Man

I was informed at lunchtime today that a good man that I've know for the past 3 years passed away.  Al Granato passed at about 11:30 PM last night.  I had been to visit him at the hospital on January 31, one week ago today, after finishing a day of Jury Duty.  He was in a an induced coma because most of his organs had failed or were failing.

I was alone and did not feel impressed to give him a Priesthood blessing but rather speak to him for a few minutes and ultimately offer a pray with/for him on his behalf.  I touched his had and expressed to him that he was a good man and was on my way.

On the Sunday evening previous I had gotten a call from his wife Kathy, who incidentally is also now in a coma at another hospital.  She had expressed to me how much she wanted for Al to have a Priesthood blessing and her concern that something might happen to him.  Arrangements were made and a blessing was administered.  She had also expressed concern for Rachel her daughter in the event that something should happen to both of them.  Call it premonition but Rachel is indeed on her own at the moment so we are hopeful for Kathy's recovery now.

Al had just recently started returning to church after years and years of inactivity.  Rachel is quite active now and although Kathy was not attending with the same regularity she too had been coming out after years of inactivity.

Al was anxious to serve his fellow man and to help where he could.  He had been going out with the missionaries when able and had even accepted a Home Teaching assignment to his neighbors in recent months.  I know that his weight and health made it difficult to do much but I know that his heart was in it and I feel like I missed knowing so much more to who he was because of his death.  Al and I are about the same age, in fact I think I'm actually a couple years older than he was which is to say He was a very young man at his passing.

I know that Al and Kathy, although not living all of the gospel principles of late had been to the temple to be sealed.  I know that our Heavenly Father will bless them for the works and I admire Al for his Charity.

I was at his home with the missionaries just a couple of weeks ago where he fed us quite a feast and we spoke of Charity after which we visited Kevin Algood.

Al will be missed.

The Still Small Voice

I can't tell you how many times I've had the impression to turn this way or that and I've followed it only to never really know why it was that I had the impression.  I believe that in some of those cases we're being diverted from danger or misfortune and the fact that we followed the prompting prevents us from encountering said problem.  I also believe that there are probably times when it doesn't matter if we turn right or left but our Father in Heaven is teaching us, testing us, preparing us to always be listening so that we are in tune and more readily recognize that still small voice so that when something really important comes along we are ready for it.

Last night I took the missionaries out to teach a couple of lessons.  The first was with a less active family and the second was for a new investigator, a single woman, and the missionaries must have a priesthood holder with them in order to teach in that home.

The first family fed us and we read from Moroni chapter 7 on Charity and discussed it's importance.  The second appointment a few doors down canceled on us at the door.  The Elders not to be deterred suggested we visit some nearby less active members.  I felt impressed to visit someone not quite as close but someone equally important.

Upon arrival at the home we discovered the young man in humbling circumstances and receptive to our visit.  I believe the visit was inspired and something much needed by this young man.  I really do love it when we can see our Heavenly Father at work.  When we can truly be instruments in his hands to bless the lives of those in need.  To bless and be blessed by or brothers and sisters in the family of God.

Conquering Mountains

Conquering Mountains – Ward Conference January 9, 2011

In the June of my last year of undergraduate studies at BYU I was at a crossroads in my life.  There was much I needed to pray about so I determined to make it different from my day to day prayers and I put I put much thought and consideration into the place where I would pray and the preparations I would make to ready myself for it.

I had decided that a particular mountain peak several miles up the canyon behind my home would be a place where I would feel closer to Heavenly Father.  There were many things that I did not anticipate and had I known what was in store for me and how my life might be threatened I probably would have done things differently.

What I did know was that even though I wanted to fast it was not a good idea to go without water on a hike of this magnitude so I chose to drink plenty of water and I set out on my journey.  I of course told my mother where I was going and what time I expected to be home.  The hike was only 6 miles each way but what I had not anticipated was the amount of snow pack still present even with summer about to begin.

Within the first mile I had to take a slight deviation from the trail because the heavy spring run off had washed it out.  With my goal in mind and a quick detour I safely got around the problem area and was again on my way.  About 3 miles into it and about 8000 feet above sea level the snow was increasingly present in the shaded areas.  By the time I’d put 5 miles behind me I was starting to feel fatigued and began to question the wisdom of my trek. 

I’d come this far and was not about to turn back even though the last mile and the remaining 800 vertical feet would prove the most daunting and dangerous I was committed to go on.

My boots and pant legs were wet from the snow I’d already encountered but the snow this high up was crusted over making it impossible to know just how deep it was.  I felt that if I stayed on top of the crust I could make good time getting to the peak spending some time in prayer and meditation with the Lord that I wanted to and then making the return trip. 

It soon became apparent that I had underestimated this as well.  On the steeper parts I seemed to slide back one step for every two forward.  Although it was progress it was arduous and time consuming not to mention it was draining me of what little energy I had stored from meals of the previous day.

At one point I broke through the crust up to my arm pits in snow and quickly scrambled to get myself out, cutting my bare arms on the icy snow.  With the goal now in site I pressed on and found myself finally at the peak where I had intended on supplicating my Heavenly Father for guidance in my life.  Frankly at this point the only thing on my mind was to ask that my life be preserved and that I make it safely home again.  I sat down and pulled my scriptures from my pack and discovered a Tootsie Pop sucker in the bottom of the pack.  No doubt forgotten there months earlier to provide the dose of sugar that would  get me off that mountain.  I took out the camera and took a couple of haggard self portraits as thoughts of search and rescue finding me frozen there days later flooded my mind.  I then opened the scriptures and read from Enos 4^th verse. 

And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.

With the sugar now in my blood stream I was feeling more alert and keenly aware that I needed to get home before the temperature started to drop.  I spotted a good walking stick repacked my things and headed straight down the mountain.  Using the stick as a rudder I was able to lean back and essentially ski down the steep slope that had taken me almost an hour to climb in a matter of minutes.

With a spring returned to my step I made my way home eager to see my family and have something to eat.

Had this experience been my wrestle with God?  What was I to learn from all of this.  I did not come down from the salt river range like Moses did from Sinai.  My hair was not streaked with grey (that didn’t start til I received my present calling ;o)

What I learned is that we need to always be prepared for the unexpected. 

We need to have constant nourishment in this case physically but more importantly spiritually.  What may seem a simple task may prove to be more challenging than we had anticipated but we have it within us as children of God to overcome. 

We will undoubtedly make mistakes and similar to when I broke through the crust in this world we live in we may almost be swallowed up by all that wrong in it and as we struggle to dig our way out of all we may be cut and bleed and in many cases have scars even after the healing has taken place. 

Our Heavenly Father has given us things to help us along the way.  Our friends and families are like walking sticks that will help bear us up and give us stability.

The scriptures are both a map and a compass that is we follow will lead us to eternity. 

And sometimes when we least expect it, when all seems lost, we will find just that little something extra in the bottom of our packs that will give us what we need to get us home.

Throughout that summer I hiked quite a bit and by August I took on Mount Timpanogas and made the hike with relative ease.  This only happened because I had conditioned myself over time. 

President Heber J Grant said, "That which we persist in doing becomes easy to do, not that the nature of the task has changed, but that our capacity to do has increased."

This is true of all the mountains we must face in our lives and I promise each of you that you will conquer if you put yourself to the task.

I know that God Lives. 

I know that he loves us. 

I know that he wants us to make it home safely

I know that he sent his son Jesus Christ to make that possible.

In closing I share with you 2 Nephi 31:20

20Wherefore, ye must press forward with a ^asteadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of ^bhope, and a ^clove of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and ^dendure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have ^eeternal life.

 21And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the ^away; and there is ^bnone other way nor ^cname given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the ^ddoctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the ^eFather, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is ^fone God, without end. Amen.

A New Year ~ 2011

Happy 2011!  A new year has begun and it promises to be a great one.  I tried something different this year that I think I will become a tradition for me.  I made resolutions for 2011 back in October/November and I started on them back then so that when today came I would actually be well on my way.

I've been studying Japanese more to better hone my skills

I also wanted to lose weight and as it turns out I started in November and I've lost 33 pounds.  Now that the new year is underway I don't have to lose any (although I probably will) I just have to maintain what I've lost.  247 down to 214 and feeling great.

I want to be very dedicated to learning the piano very well also.  This I must start today and do my best to practice 30 minutes a day.

I will continue to read, study, and ponder the Scripture, with the kids, with Liz, and personal study.

I want to get our Elder's Quorum running smoothly with consistent PPIs and effective Home Teaching assignments.

I want to go on regular dates with Liz and improve our relationship.

I want to improve my relationship with the kids.

Strive for Heaven in 2011!

The Fire of the Covenant

When we first moved into this area we became part of the Rising Sun Branch.  It had been a branch for 20+ years.  At that time I was a branch missionary and I spent a lot of time with brother Kubesh sharing the gospel with non members and doing our best to reactivate non and less active members.

Fast forward 3 years and I've now been the Elder's Quorum President for just over a year and we are now the Bay View Ward.  We've had over 2 dozen baptisms, some of which are still active and some of which who are not.  Some who are zealously engaged in the work and some who joined for self serving purposes.  I am not here to judge, I would just like to share some of the successes that I've observed.

Leonard Evans:  3 years ago a convert of almost 30 years, receptive to visits but came to church once in a blue moon and really didn't grasp the truthfulness of what he had been a part of for all these years.  In recent months, due to diligent home teachers, missionaries, and most of all the spirit, he has been at church consistently each and every week.  He has received the Aaronic Priesthood, his Patriarchal blessing, and is just weeks away from becoming an Elder.  He is also a faithful home teacher.

The Sponenburg Family:  3 years ago we weren't sure if they were here or not.  They too were receptive to missionary visits but not seriously committed to the gospel.  In recent months, a non member daughter (Kayla) was baptized and confirmed, and yesterday called and sustained as a Primary worker.  Josh, the glue of the family has received the Aaronic Priesthood and is working toward the Melchizedek.  Yesterday he administered the Sacrament for the first time and is always engaged in the lessons by sharing his simple yet powerful testimony.  Lisa, mother of the family, anxiously engaged in seeing to her families eternal salvation, expressed that in all the time she's been a member she's never held a calling which she would like very much to do.  Brian, father of the family, has given up coffee and is working hard to give up alcohol so he too can receive the Priesthood and the blessings that come with it.  Samantha daughter and friend has lost herself in the Book of Mormon and gains a stronger testimony of it's power and truthfulness each day.

There are others that have found their way back and are becoming stalwart members of our newly formed ward.  The two examples I've sited have given me great joy, as the scriptures declare, because I've been involved with and witness to these glorious transformations.  I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is had in it's fullness within our church.  This is his church, restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith.  I know our Father in Heaven Lives, I know that Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer Lives.  I know the Book of Mormon is true and that we do indeed get closer to God by abiding by it's precepts.

I am so happy and grateful to be a part of the Lord's work in these the last days!