Halloween is Scary

So, I'm posting this for October 31st, but I'm writing it on November 14th.
It's taken me 2 weeks to move past (past isn't the right word) Halloween.  For days leading up to Halloween I was in a bad way.  When it was time to make it happen, we did.

Mikey the Scarecrow

Me as a 70's throwback.

And Keith as "Darth Pumpkin" or "Count Pumpcula"

No photo of Lucy.  She was a hipster.  We didn't really understand what that was.  She wore a white button-down shirt, 3D glasses and a black headband.

The raw emotion of the day is gone.  I don't know if it's good that I waited 2 weeks or not--doesn't mean I didn't feel it, just that I buried it.

Now I can publish all the other posts that have been stuck in my brain for 2 weeks.



Bad Mood Morning

I took a walk during part of Sunday School today.  I wasn't in the mood to hear about Jesus healing all the lame, blind, deaf, sick and afflicted people.  I wasn't in the mood to listen to the comments that would follow.

But I came back.  I caught the second half.

When I came in they were still in 3rd Nephi 17.  They were talking about why Jesus stayed longer with the people after he was ready to go.  I say they probably begged for just 10 more minutes.  The scriptures say he had compassion on them.  They asked him to stay and so he did.  That's when he healed;  That's when he blessed the little children one by one.  Then he wept.

I can't even imagine the contrast of this experience for the Savior.  In Jerusalem, even his closest friends and disciples had not understood his mission; had betrayed him and were surprised when he did what he said he would do. 
These Nephites (the ones that were left)  were so humble and believing.  They were taking notice of his every action.  He was weeping because he was feeling acceptance.  His joy was full.
Wouldn't it be great to show this people the prints in his hands and  wound in his side and give them knowledge in exchange for their incredible faith?

The Name Game

Amos
Amos
Bo Bamos
Banana Fana
Fo Famous -or not so famous
Me My Mo Mamos
Amos

I'm stuck on something--which is a good thing.  I started reading the scriptures again this week--10 minutes, you know.  I started with 4th Nephi.  The page was folded down on my ragged leave-in-the-car scriptures, so I took that as a sign.

I found something fascinating--to me anyway.  There's an Amos in the Book of Mormon;  2 of them actually.
When I think of Amos, I think of the seminary scripture in the Old Testament about God revealing his secrets to his prophets.  I don't ever remember taking note of an Amos in the Book of Mormon.  How come?  Well, because they only get mentioned twice-once when they start writing and once when they die.

 19 And it came to pass that Nephi, he that kept this last record, (and he kept it upon the plates of Nephi) died, and his son Amos kept it in his stead; and he kept it upon the plates of Nephi also.

 20 And he kept it eighty and four years, and there was still peace in the land, save it were a small part of the people who had revolted from the church and taken upon them the name of Lamanites; therefore there began to be  Lamanites again in the land.

 21 And it came to pass that Amos died also, (and it was an hundred and ninety and four years from the coming of Christ). . .

What's interesting to me is how many years he (the first one) kept the record--84, and the significance of the time that it was.  Here's the context verses:

 17 There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.

 18 And how blessed were they! For the Lord did bless them in all their doings; yea, even they were blessed and prospered until an hundred and ten years had passed away; and the first generation from Christ had passed away, and there was no contention in all the land.

Those are the verses before.  He dies.  Then the 2nd Amos--his son, takes over.  This is all there is about him:

(still in verse 21) and his son Amos kept the record in his stead; and he also kept it upon the plates of Nephi; and it was also written in the book of Nephi, which is this book.

47 And it came to pass that after three hundred and five years had passed away, (and the people did still remain in wickedness) Amos died; and his brother, Ammaron, did keep the record in his stead.

He kept the record for 109 years.  109 years.  Not he lived to 109, but that he was actually recording all those years.  And in that time this is what happened to the people:

22 And it came to pass that two hundred years had passed away; and the second generation had all passed away save it were a few.

 23 And now I, Mormon, would that ye should know that the people had multiplied, insomuch that they were spread upon all the face of the land, and that they had become exceedingly rich, because of their prosperity in Christ.

 24 And now, in this two hundred and first year there began to be among them those who were lifted up in pride, such as the wearing of costly apparel, and all manner of fine pearls, and of the fine things of the world.

 25 And from that time forth they did have their goods and their substance no more common among them.

 26 And they began to be divided into classes; and they began to build up churches unto themselves to get gain, and began to deny the true church of Christ.

 27 And it came to pass that when two hundred and ten years had passed away there were many churches in the land; yea, there were many churches which professed to know the Christ, and yet they did deny the more parts of his gospel, insomuch that they did receive all manner of wickedness, and did administer that which was sacred unto him to whom it had been forbidden because of unworthiness.

 28 And this church did multiply exceedingly because of iniquity, and because of the power of Satan who did get hold upon their hearts.

 29 And again, there was another church which denied the Christ; and they did persecute the true church of Christ, because of their humility and their belief in Christ; and they did despise them because of the many miracles which were wrought among them.

 30 Therefore they did exercise power and authority over the disciples of Jesus who did tarry with them, and they did cast them into prison; but by the power of the word of God, which was in them, the prisons were rent in twain, and they went forth doing mighty miracles among them.

 31 Nevertheless, and notwithstanding all these miracles, the people did harden their hearts, and did seek to kill them, even as the Jews at Jerusalem sought to kill Jesus, according to his word.

 32 And they did cast them into furnaces of fire, and they came forth receiving no harm.

 33 And they also cast them into dens of wild beasts, and they did play with the wild beasts even as a child with a lamb; and they did come forth from among them, receiving no harm.

 34 Nevertheless, the people did harden their hearts, for they were led by many priests and false prophets to build up many churches, and to do all manner of iniquity. And they did smite upon the people of Jesus; but the people of Jesus did not smite again. And thus they did dwindle in unbelief and wickedness, from year to year, even until two hundred and thirty years had passed away.

 35 And now it came to pass in this year, yea, in the two hundred and thirty and first year, there was a great division among the people.

 36 And it came to pass that in this year there arose a people who were called the Nephites, and they were true believers in Christ; and among them there were those who were called by the Lamanites—Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites;

 37 Therefore the true believers in Christ, and the true worshipers of Christ, (among whom were the three disciples of Jesus who should tarry) were called Nephites, and Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites.

 38 And it came to pass that they who rejected the gospel were called Lamanites, and Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites; and they did not dwindle in unbelief, but they did wilfully rebel against the gospel of Christ; and they did teach their children that they should not believe, even as their fathers, from the beginning, did dwindle.

 39 And it was because of the wickedness and abomination of their fathers, even as it was in the beginning. And they were taught to hate the children of God, even as the Lamanites were taught to hate the children of Nephi from the beginning.

 40 And it came to pass that two hundred and forty and four years had passed away, and thus were the affairs of the people. And the more wicked part of the people did wax strong, and became exceedingly more numerous than were the people of God.

 41 And they did still continue to build up churches unto themselves, and adorn them with all manner of precious things. And thus did two hundred and fifty years pass away, and also two hundred and sixty years.

 42 And it came to pass that the wicked part of the people began again to build up the secret oaths and combinations of Gadianton.

 43 And also the people who were called the people of Nephi began to be proud in their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, and become vain like unto their brethren, the Lamanites.

 44 And from this time the disciples began to sorrow for the sins of the world.

 45 And it came to pass that when three hundred years had passed away, both the people of Nephi and the Lamanites had become exceedingly wicked one like unto another.

 46 And it came to pass that the robbers of Gadianton did spread over all the face of the land; and there were none that were righteous save it were the disciples of Jesus. And gold and silver did they lay up in store in abundance, and did traffic in all manner of traffic.

I know, that's a lot of verses, they're written by Mormon.  He abridged the whole nearly 200 years this father and son wrote.  The whole Book of Mormon is a 1000 year history.  I remember saying that every day in Hong Kong.  1000 years and they wrote 1/5 of it and I didn't even catch that they were in there.  They only account for 2 or 3 verses between Nephi and Ammaron--who told Mormon he was a sober child.  I think about the details of those 200 years and that we get it all in 20 or so abridged verses.

Can you imagine spending your whole life writing things down for God and then being edited out of the book?  I know--I'm way into rewards and fairness and "credit where credit is due."  I think I want to meet the 2 Amos' and thank them for giving Mormon such good material to pare down.  I want to ask them what it was like to witness the entire downfall of their civilization.  I want people to know about them.  I bet they spent more time than any other person on this sacred text.  I'd like to hear about their families and their conversions.

Write me a comment and tell me you always knew about them so I can feel like a dummie.

Personal Mt. Rushmore

I really want to to see Mt. Rushmore.  I think I've said it on this blog before.  I call it "the heads."  I love nature and historical sights.  It seems like a great blend of both.  It's not commercial--at least in my head where I envision big birds of prey soaring overhead and a waterfall coming off the backside.  Who knows?
Someday we'll go and I'll check it off the list.

For now,  I'm going to write about a reference made to it.  We had stake conference this past weekend and as always, President Pond was the highlight.  I spent family home evening retelling his talk to the kids because he only spoke in the adult session,  Here's how it goes:

He started with the song More Holiness Give Me and how we all need to become "more Savior like thee."
Then he told about taking swimming lessons as a kid.  Sounded like he loved them.  When his mom came to pick him up he always asked for 10 more minutes.  In that time he would show her all the great stuff  he had learned and practice all the skills.  He said that 10 extra minutes really made a difference in how good he got.  Then he told about his mean piano teacher and how he hated taking piano lessons.  He said he was supposed to practice 30 minutes every day, but that 5 minutes was about his limit.  His mom would come in and ask him to give it 10 more minutes and he would sit there for 10 more, but really fritter them away just goofing around.

He said how it would make such a difference if we all spent 10 more minutes a day with our personal worship.  In prayer or reading the scriptures or pondering.  He said we could become more like the Savior if we devoted just 10 more minutes everyday.

Then he talked about his father-in-law, who he said was on his "personal Mt Rushmore."--Nice reference huh?  He talked about how hard he worked and what a great man he was.  He had a dairy farm and physically worked so hard that he fell asleep during dinner every night.  He said eating at his in-laws was great because she was such a good cook and he served cereal-bowl servings of ice cream every night.  It was a dairy, after all.  He tried to refuse, but his father-in-law always said,  "There's always room for ice cream.  It slides down in the cracks and fills in all the empty spaces."

Then he went on to say that we need to treat the gospel like the ice cream.  There's always room for it.  It can fill in all the cracks and empty spaces and we need to give it 10 more minutes every day.  We'll be amazed at how much more we will learn and how much more we will love it and how much more we will become like the Savior.

We talked about our personal Mt Rushmores in Family Home Evening too.  Keith said he would include both our dads and his bishop when he was a teenager.  Mikey said Ian.  I said Mae Wright and maybe Grandma Rich.  Lucy did the usual and stayed quiet.

It's something to think about.  Who do I admire enough to carve on a figurative mountain?

Disneyland Top Five

5.  Great Mexican Food in Frontierland that wasn't any more expensive than anywhere else.

4.  Riding the Matterhorn at 8 am with no line.

3.  Getting Mikey's camera back after leaving it on Thunder Mountain.

2.  A family who was willing to share their fast pass for 12 with us and taking us on the last 2 rides we would  have missed without them.

1.  Not crying the whole day.  Thinking of Ian's reaction to things;  feeling his absence, but not crying.

There's also a bottom Five
 

5.  Haunted Mansion decorated for the nightmare before Christmas.

4.  Sleeping Beauty's Castle doesn't hold a candle to Cinderella's in Florida.

3.  The kids are too old/too young to love "It's a Small World."

2.  There are only discounts on tickets for more than one day.

1.  Captain EO--yes, we sat through it.  We were waiting for our fast pass time for Space Mountain.  There's 20 minutes of our lives we can never get back.  We could just see Ian laughing and pulling faces and being loud enough we'd have to shsh him.

General Conference

 

I guess I've waited long enough to make my post about general conference.  It's sad really.  Maybe I thought I would be inspired later--that one of the talks would stick and I would think about it over the next few days or weeks.  But no.

I have to blame myself.  They say if you don't get anything from a talk, that you aren't prepared spiritually.  That must have been me.  Nothing stuck.  I listened--to 4 sessions.  I wanted to love it.  Yeah, nothin'.

The announcement about the missionaries was cool.  I think there will be more problems between elders and sisters now, but whatever.  I was surprised by a blog I read that lamented that it wasn't that way when she was 19, said she was a little jealous.  I had a student at the institute tell me the next day that he had started his papers--he won't be 18 until next month.  He was so excited.  My thought was how will the mothers be able to let go a whole year earlier.  Mikey said,  "Dang, one less year to save!"

Conference is over.  We had traditional conference breakfast and hung out together.  It was peaceful.  But not too lingering this time.

Hide-and-Seek vs. Sardines

I was going through old files in the institute, trying to decide what to keep.  I've come across some really interesting things that way.  Like seminary grades from the 80's and canceled checks from the 70's.  This story struck me.  I have a friend that I'm going to email it to.  I want her to stop making it so hard for people to find her--spiritually.  It's such a great story.  It made me remember the huge piles of leaves in our front yard in New Hampshire and how someone could totally hide in them and never be found.  I miss those leaves;  and those friends.

In the early dry dark of an October's Saturday evening, the neighborhood children are playing hide-and-seek. How long since I played hide-and-seek? Thirty years; maybe more. I remember how. I could become part of the game in a moment, if invited. Adults don't play hide-and-seek. Not for fun, anyway. Too bad.

Did you have a kid in your neighborhood who always hid so good, nobody could find him? We did. After a while we would give up on him and go off, leaving him to rot wherever he was. Sooner or later he would show up, all mad because we didn't keep looking for him. And we would get mad back because he wasn't playing the game the way it was supposed to be played. There's hiding and there's finding, we'd say. And he'd say it was hide-and-seek, not hide-and-give-UP, and we'd all yell about who made the rules and who cared about who, anyway, and how we wouldn't play with him anymore if he didn't get it straight and who needed him anyhow, and things like that. Hide-and-seek-and-yell. No matter what, though, the next time he would hide too good again. He's probably still hidden somewhere, for all I know.

As I write this, the neighborhood game goes on, and there is a kid under a pile of leaves in the yard just under my window. He has been there a long time now, and everybody else is found and they are about to give up on him over at the base. I considered going out to the base and telling them where he is hiding. And I thought about setting the leaves on fire to drive him out. Finally, I just yelled, "GET FOUND, KID!" out the window. And scared him so bad he probably wet his pants and started crying and ran home to tell his mother. It's real hard to know how to be helpful sometimes.

A man I know found out last year he had terminal cancer. He was a doctor. And knew about dying, and he didn't want to make his family and friends suffer through that with him. So he kept his secret. And died. Everybody said how brave he was to bear his suffering in silence and not tell everybody, and so on and so forth. But privately his family and friends said how angry they were that he didn't need them, didn't trust their strength. And it hurt that he didn't say good-bye.

He hid too well. Getting found would have kept him in the game. Hide-and-seek, grown-up style. Wanting to hide. Needing to be sought. Confused about being found. "I don't want anyone to know." "What will people think?" "I don't want to bother anyone."

Better than hide-and-seek, I like the game called Sardines. In Sardines the person who is It goes and hides, and everybody goes looking for him. When you find him, you get in with him and hide there with him. Pretty soon everybody is hiding together, all stacked in a small space like puppies in a pile. And pretty soon somebody giggles and somebody laughs and everybody gets found.

Medieval theologians even described God in hide-and-seek terms, calling him Deus Absconditus. But me, I think old God is a Sardine player. And will be found the same way everybody gets found in Sardines - by the sound of laughter of those heaped together at the end.

"Olly-olly-oxen-free." The kids out in the street are hollering the cry that says "Come on in, wherever you are. It's a new game." And so say I. To all those who have hid too good. Get found, kid! Olly-olly-oxen-free.

- Robert Fulghum, "All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten"

There are several conclusions that can be drawn from this story.  Is it better to have fun or to win?  Are you winning, if you are alone?  Have you set it up so the others will eventually tire of looking for you?  Was it on purpose?  I don't know,  just some thoughts.

Happy in the Temple

I didn't get to go through the temple with Ian.  I don't get to in the future.  Keith and I went for Ian.  While it was a special day, it wasn't a happy day. 

This past week we had a happy day in the temple.  We didn't expect it to be happy.  We went with Ian's friend Taylor.  We saw him beaming and his parents beaming.  We saw their excitement as he came into the celestial room.

Keith told me he could picture Ian doing his jumping up and down dance.  That "I'm so excited, I just can't contain myself" dance.  He would be that excited for Taylor.  He is that excited for Taylor.  All I could think was that maybe Ian could be one of the angels round about Taylor to bear him up like the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 84:88.

I miss Ian.  I'm happy for Taylor.