Sacrament Talk given 29 Apr 2007

I try to be an instrument for furthering Family History each and every day. I know the great good that has come from seeking out my own ancestors and the ancestors of others. I know that I have helped several people in this ward find long sought ancestors, but I do not take any credit for the results. I absolutely receive help and guidance. Although I have gone to great lengths to educate myself to become a better genealogist, Heavenly Father always meets me more than half way. Whatever steps each person takes you will be guided. I have watched the Spirit of Elijah start to burn within members of this stake in the last two years with the opening of the family history center. People come into the family history center knowing very little and within a short time are often making great strides in not only finding their ancestors, but gaining knowledge about how to research. I am here to bear witness that the spirit of Elijah is alive and well in this stake. The seeds have been planted and now it will be up to those so moved by the spirit to nurture the seeds. I have faith that the acorn contains the oak. Heavenly Father will light the fire of the Spirit of Elijah in those who ask for guidance.

I have been a zealot for family history and in fact I have been quite pushy with some people. Do not underestimate that it was simply me acting without guidance on you unsuspecting victims. I have no idea why I badgered a certain handful of people and said nothing to others. Prayerfully consider the promptings and either hold them dear or discard them according to the dictates of the spirit.

For me there is great importance in knowing your family history. In fact, I wrote my masters thesis on the Transformational Power of Genealogy. I take the Spirit of Elijah seriously and I know that the great and dreadful day of the lord approaches, but more importantly your ancestors are waiting for their work to be done. They are also waiting to get to know you. Eternity is organized into families. We are responsible for taking care of our living and our dead relations. They without us cannot be made whole. By spending time getting to know ancestral stories we get to know them. 

Joseph Smith said, "Our dead should be as dear to us as our living relatives." The way that we get to know our living relations is by spending time with them. With living relations we sit around the dinner table and tell stories. We take little moments to just be together. We sit in church and reverently pray together. In similar ways we can get to know our ancestors. When you spend hours hunched over a microfilm reader and finally find the person you have been seeking, they are right there in the room with you in spirit. They cast a warm glow of love upon you that cannot be described. When you visit the cemetery and touch the weathered headstone you get a sense of the love others felt for this person, which then warms your heart. What is even more unfathomable is that when you exert great energy and effort on behalf of your ancestors they start to fall in love with you. When you meet them in the Spirit World you will know them and they will know you.

The doctrine tells the story of the importance of family history work.
The old testament ends and the doctrine and covenants begins with doctrine regarding family history. In Malachi Chapter 4 verses 5 and 6 we read:
5 ¶ Behold, I will asend you bElijah the prophet cbefore the coming of the dgreat and dreadful eday of the LORD:
6 And he shall aturn the bheart of the cfathers to the dchildren, and the heart of the echildren to their fathers, lest I come and fsmite the gearth with a hcurse.
This final proclamation from the old testament was repeated by Moroni when he first visited seventeen year old Joseph Smith in 1823.

D&C Chapter 2. Moroni spoke to Joseph saying:
1 BEHOLD, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of aElijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and bdreadful day of the Lord.
2 And ahe shall plant in the hearts of the children the bpromises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.
3 If it were not so, the whole aearth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
On his first visit, Moroni, conveyed to the young Joseph the keys of the priesthood and the importance of family history work.

I testify to you today that each of you has the power within to move mountains in the pursuit of family history. I cannot imagine what my life would be like without a deep and intimate knowledge of my ancestors. The more I learn about my ancestors the more understanding and compassion I have for my living family. We are each born or adopted into a family, which was designed before our coming. Heavenly Father has cleared the way for each of us to learn our family history. Whether you do the actual research or just take the time to study thorough research done by others you will begin to develop a relationship with your ancestors. The doctrine regarding Elijah can be confusing.
When Jesus first began his ministry he was often mistaken for the returning Elijah. And even to this day in the Jewish tradition an empty seat is left at the table for Elijah’s return.

In Biblical times the mission of Elijah was not fully understood and only when the keys of the priesthood were revealed did we finally understand the full picture of the Spirit of Elijah. In 1842 Joseph Smith gave even more clarity to the significance of Elijah’s mission with an explanation of the meaning of the curse suggested in the scriptures in Malachi.
Joseph said in D&C 128: 18 in part

the earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding clink of some kind or other between the fathers and the dchildren, upon some subject or other—and behold what is that subject? It is the ebaptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect.
He goes on to say in D&C128:24
Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the hrecords of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.

We must tie ourselves to our families or this life was an exercise in futility. We will have lived, loved, suffered, sacrificed and then died for nothing. This raises an important point about doing accurate work. If you tie yourself to the wrong people through shoddy research or by relying on the work of others, What is the point? Sacrifice begets love. You cannot download or inherit your family history. You have to sacrifice either time or money or both. In the average year I spend a few thousand dollars on my own family history and that money is always returned to me. I feel strongly that my efforts on behalf of my ancestors have not gone unnoticed. By the same token I can see the scope of a persons life and that there is an ebb and flow to life. My great grandfather was born in the church to stalwart pioneers who never strayed in their convictions. He married a beautiful woman in the temple and they went on to have eight children. I am in possession of many anguished letters written by his wife, which generally say, “How could you treat me this way?” There are stories of him disappearing for days on end including a ten day absence over Christmas one year. He was an alcoholic and he often stole money from the till in his wife’s restaurant, which she started because she could not depend on him for money. Eventually he returned to the fold and was a devout member of the church and by all accounts the couples last few years were very happy ones. The full scope of this man’s life demonstrates that every person has the potential for repentance and forgiveness. Only by knowing the full history can I let go of judgment for his wrongs.

Jesus died on the cross for ALL Gods children.

I bear my testimony that the work of family history is a holy endeavor and you will be rewarded for any role you play in the furthering of the work. The knowledge of your ancestors will only bring positive rewards. I bear witness that Heavenly Father has opened the way for every one of us. His disciples are ready and waiting. This I say in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

What I really want to say...

I have been creating blogs that go along with photos I have taken. In the last few days though I lost my charger for my camera battery. I realized that my words don't necessarily need pictures, because ultimately the words are as important as the pictures. However, I am still looking for the charger, because I love the pictures too.

Perfect Harmony

I used to listen to the Grand Ol Opry on the radio on Saturdays when I was a kid. Let me tell you that I was alone in this passion in 1970's Utah. I didn't mention it too often, but when I did all I got were dumbfounded looks. I developed an interest in bluegrass because my uncles were in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, who came up with the idea of gathering together a group of oldtime Nashville and bluegrass legends to record an album. The result was an album called Will the Circle Be Unbroken. I wore that record out. I loved listening to the imperfect voice of Mother Maybell and the perfect guitar of Doc Watson.

I tried to listen to the Opry in case I might catch a live performance of my unlikely heroes. In the summer of 2000 Jerry was invited to do a recording session at Sony studios in Nashville. We arrived a day early and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my Saturday night. I informed Jerry that we were going to see the Opry live. He did not protest, but was a bit puzzled at my eagerness. That is when I first told him about my Opry obsession.

Our seats were pretty far back, but I didn't care. I was in a state of rapture. I watched with fascination how the hosts of each segment entertained the audience during commercial breaks, something I never knew since I was always hearing the commercials. The commercials even to this day are for things like Goody's headache powder and some fried chicken place. I am not even a huge fan of country music, for me it is a love affair with bluegrass.

I was grinning from ear to ear as some famous people and some not so famous people graced the stage. Then it happened. A band called the Osbourne Brothers came out. The place went nuts. I had never heard of them, but they were no spring chickens. With the first notes my mouth dropped open. They started out acapella with perfect four part harmony. There was no wavering on the pitch. As the song progressed their playing was fast and flawless. Mid song the harmonies hit a note so pure and sweet that I burst into tears. I was having what might be called a peak experience. I was here in a place I had long dreamed of being, listening to exactly the kind of music I had loved, only this was better than anything I could have dreamed. This perfect note in the perfect place was beyond a dream come true. I cried uncontrollably for several minutes. I could not gain my composure and you know what is so funny is that not a single person gave me a look. These people knew.

I went straight to the CD store the next day and I chose an album titled: The Osbourne Brothers, Once More, Volumes I and II. When I got home I read reviews on my random choice and there was a general consensus that this was the quintessential bluegrass album.

Yessssss!

I have little compassion for drunk drivers. I think it is a really terrible decision to drink to excess and then drive. The possible outcome can be life altering and I don't appreciate anyone who takes chances with my life. Tonight or this morning, depending on one's perspective, at about 1:30 a.m. I was driving home on 280 after visiting family in Santa Clara. I was driving 55 because of a construction zone when a white sedan cruised past going about 70-75, not super fast, but weaving quite a bit. At one point the car steered towards a work crew missing them by five or six feet, running over some orange cones in the process. I had that thought, "Where's a cop when you need one?" Maybe two minutes later a highway patrol car passed me in a hurry and a couple of miles down the road I saw that the white car had been pulled over.

Two Sides of the Same Fence

This blogging life has changed me. I think my first few posts were kind of like a first date, "Let me tell you a little about myself...." Now our relationship has matured and its like a telephone conversation, albeit one sided. I find myself taking note during the day of potential blogging subjects. Maybe in a way creating potential blogging subjects. What I have noticed is that I feel more connected to my friends, because there is daily feedback. On the average day I do A LOT of listening. I hear all about people's family history and I am amazed at how quickly these people, to whom I have listened attentively to every little nuance, glaze over the moment my mouth opens. It is an occupational hazard, I understand that many people are only interested in their family, but sometimes I am simply opening my mouth to agree, that what they have just told me is the most amazing story of all time.

However, with blogging I get to spill my guts and some of you are actually listening. It may seem like a small thing, but for me it is a big deal. I also look forward to checking my friend's blogs every day. Jerry chastised me one day for spending too much precious time typing away at the computer. I sat him down and told him a story, which I will share with you now. When I was a kid I used to lay awake talking about anything and everything. My sisters would yell out, "Mom, Kathy won't stop talking and let us go to sleep." To alleviate the "problem" I was given my own room in the basement. With no one to talk to I would lay awake nights trying to solve the world hunger issue, for one. I have never been a good sleeper and I have spent thousands of nights tossing and turning trying to figure out why this person said this or why that politician did that. Problems I could not possibly solve gnawed away at me. I am one of those people who needs to know why. Jerry lays his head on the pillow and he is snoring. I go to bed and toss around the days events. I wonder why the driver in front of me on the way home refused to drive the speed limit, going 25 in a 35. I wonder why it was unseasonably cold and windy today.

Instead of tossing and turning I will roll out of bed, grab my laptop and head for the living room so I can see if there are any weather explanations and then I will look for websites on traffic psychology. What is happening now though is I am writing nearly every day and I am putting the contents of my brain on paper, so to speak and then I roll over and sleep peacefully. It is an amazing phenomena for me after 35 years of sleepless nights. I am looking at the world through different eyes. I am looking for photographic opportunities. I am trying to leave thoughtful and inciteful comments on my friend's blogs. Not even for the person necessarily, but for me. Drew's blog about being an instrument of Christ really got me thinking. Lainie's blog about singing with her kids made me stop and rethink how I spend family time. Annie B has inspired all of us to be better parents and photographers. Annie J. inspires me to be more relaxed about life.

All in all I have gotten to know everybody in a deeper way through blogging, but most of all I have come to know myself better.

Bloom Where You're Planted

About a year ago this terra cotta pot, which I have had for years, cracked and broke. In fact the whole back side of the pot is gone. I placed the pot near the trash cans, intending to throw it out one week when there was a smaller amount of trash. I forgot about it and in the middle of the summer I noticed that this beautiful grass was growing in the broken pot. It looks like it was planted there by design, as it is growing perfectly centered and you cannot tell that the pot is even broken. This photo was taken yesterday while the grass is still dormant the beauty comes through.

I guess even broken things can be made beautiful if the right thing is done, either by accident or by design.

Viewer discretion is advised

I am very, very sorry to the squeamish among you.
This is the original cracked filling
Half the filling is removed
AHHHGGGG!!
This is the calcification in the bottom. Notice the intact tooth with a crack towards the back.
After the inside edge of my tooth collapsed

Root Canal

You dental students/dental wives are going to love this. I hope some of you are still my friends given the story I am about to tell. I am not perfect, but I really do brush at least twice a day, I floss, I use the rubber pick every day. In short I TRY to take care of my teeth. Back in November I went to the dentist and he told me I had a cracked filling and that it needed urgent attention. About a week later I had a gall bladder attack and subsequent surgery and then it was Christmas and then I went on the road with Jerry to St. Louis and then it was my birthday and then I started teaching Sunday School and then it was tax preparation time and then I got a toothache which sent me to the dentist. As soon as I pointed to the ouchy tooth he said, "Remember I told you that was receding gums?" Oh yeah, I forgot.

Well, he wanted to know if I would like to take care of my tooth with the cracked filling. What cracked filling? I had absolute amnesia about that tooth since I usually instantly forget what the dentist says to me. I can remember the birthdate for a girl I knew in first grade because I went to her birthday party, but I have to take notes otherwise I forget everything the dentist says.

Anyway, he removed the filling and gasped in horror. Under the filling, which I got 33 years ago was a pink pulpy mess. I have the pictures if anyone wants to see. They should make a horror movie and use pictures like that. As he was drilling and scraping the entire side of my tooth collapsed. I was freaking out. He cleared out two of the roots fairly quickly, but it took nearly an hour to find and remove the third root which had calcified. Two hours and fifteen minutes later I was minus my roots and half my tooth. It will take three more visits to correct this mess.

My dentist has this video system which allows him to show me the inside of my mouth on a screen. I asked if I could have pictures, but he had no way of making pictures, so in the spirit of AB I ran home and grabbed my camera in order to photograph the video monitor. I would post the pictures, but I don't want to be responsible for anyone fainting.

BBC World in Pictures

Photo from BBC News in Pictures
This is one of my favorite sites. I try to view it at least once a week. It gives me a perspective on the world and takes me outside myself. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/default.stm

Standing for Something

Today I was brave. While standing in line at Fedex/Kinko's I overheard a man swearing while talking on a cell phone. He was using the F word repeatedly while talking in a loud and agitated voice. I am not exaggerating when I say he used it 50-60 times in two minutes. Customers and employees looked nervously at each other and laughed. We tolerated his tyrade for two or three minutes then I looked over and noticed a little girl about three years old peeking nervously from behind a display. Her mother, standing at the counter was oblivious to the tyrade and the nervous child. I acted instantly. I stormed up to the guy, who had his back turned to me. I stabbed him in the arm with my index finger. He jumped and I yelled, "See that little girl? Have some respect." I turned and walked away. His reaction was to attack. He called me a F-ing rhymes with Witch and said, "Don't you F-ing touch me." I never looked at him again. The lady in line in front of me got out of line and said, "Listen buddy you better get out of here before I call the police." Two fedex workers walked from behind the counter and grabbed him by each elbow while the lady held the door. They physically tossed him out. None of us looked at each other or said anything and within seconds it was as if the man did not exist.

I am ashamed that it took me two minutes to act, but once I did many other people immediately took an active role. All it took was one person to motivate others. In my psychology education we watched films about test subjects who could clearly hear that an accident had happened out of sight and they would all sit motionless waiting for someone else to rise. Even as the person moaned in agony they sat. Once a single person rose, they all rushed to the scene of the accident. How have we become such sheep? A room full of men would not or could not confront this jerk. He was clearly bothering everybody and yet we did nothing. Even though we were being assaulted with words, we stood the abuse. I am not sure what the remedy is, except to know what you stand for and then you will know what to do in most situations.

Musical Genes

I don't seem to have gotten the musical gene. At least not in the traditional sense. I cannot harmonize and I cannot play any instrument very well. According to Jerry I do have a good tonal memory. I can remember the melody and lyrics to almost every song ever written. Jerry will ask me to sing the bridge to Summertime or Smells Like Teen Spirit and I usually know it. Sometimes I have to sing through the song until I get to that part. I can't always pull it out of thin air.

I grew up with semi-famous uncles and I probably developed an interest in music because of them. I attended my first concert when I was about five and I went to several each year from then on. I bopped back and forth between my assigned seat and backstage. I thought that was the life and I used to get melancholy thinking, "I am a little kid and when I grow up this band will be no more and just when I could truly appreciate having backstage access it will be gone." Well, they are still a touring band. Through Jerry's connections I now get backstage at most every show I attend anyway. I actually wasted a lot of time worrying about what I was going to lose and then I never lost it.

Other members of my family did get the musical gene. My mom and her four sisters sing together regularly for funerals and church services. My twin aunts sing with the Choral Arts Society of Utah. My cousins Jaime and Jonathan were talented enough to get a record deal in April 2005. They put out an album that I think is really great. I happened across these videos on youtube of my three favorite songs.

My mom was the baby of the family for eleven years until her twin sisters, Kae and Rae, were born. Kae is Jonathan's (black hair) mom and Rae is Jaime's mom. Jaime and Jonathans PR package touted their sibling-like harmonies since their mom's are identical twins, which I was kind of like...whatever. I have to say though that my voice has never blended better with any other male singers playing on my car radio. Maybe there is something to that family harmony thing!

Since I cannot figure out how to create links the best I can offer is copy and paste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AEpAy8Sr0w&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSHSY0L1R7c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWxosfHuPaQ&mode=related&search=

Here are their moms pictured in a spread in Look magazine 1969. Kae (in front) married the guy playing the banjo aka Jonathan's dad. Rae married the guy kneeling aka Jaime's dad.

Those Were the Days

That is Jerry on the back right. He looked like that when I met him. Photo of Go Ahead taken 25 Jul 1986 backstage at the Lonestar Cafe, New York City. Bob Minkin also took some photos of a gig Jerry played last year at Marin Academy.

I called Jerry this morning and excitedly told him about my chance to finally hear him with Go Ahead. Anyway, I mentioned "this song" and "that solo" and told him it was fun to finally hear the band. He chuckled and said, "Those were the days...NOT"

Back then he was playing with Go Ahead and Jesse Colin Young. He would play Friday and Saturday on the east coast with Go Ahead, fly to Seattle on Monday morning and play two or three dates with Jesse and fly back to the east coast by Wednesday or Thursday. Go Ahead mostly played the east coast and Jesse mainly played festivals and ski resorts out west.

Although there are several places online which state that Go Ahead only toured for a couple of weeks they actually went out on tour several times over the course of three years. Jerry described why those were not the days. He had a moment standing in front of a packed house singing La Bamba that went something like this:

Ba la la La Bamba

"I can't believe I woke up at 3:00 a.m. and flew across the country"

Ba la la La Bamba

"Just to stand in front of these drunk, high people"

Una poca de gracias

"and sing this stupid song."

That was literally the day that Jerry said to himself, "When I get home I am going to stay home." He went back to teaching guitar and he has never looked back. He always talks to me about how the milestones his students achieve are much more important and memorable than even the most prestigious gig. For him gigs are a very temporary high. Watching his students grow and progress is a long term thrill. Now I must add that if more than two weeks go by without a gig or session Jerry gets a little fidgety. He has continued to play gigs, just closer to home. Occasionally someone will fly us to Nashville, Hawaii or England to do a recording session, but he always takes home with him, in the form of me.

Jerry can't be faulted for going down that rock and roll road. He thought he wanted to be in a rock band his whole life after seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Then some well known rock stars asked him to be in their band and go on the road. The dream was fulfilled. Only it turned out to be a nightmare. Life on the road with Dead members involved limousines, roadies, four star hotel suites, and your every need catered to before you even knew there was a need. The red carpet was rolled out wherever they went. Yet it was a hollow existence. In 1990 about a week after I met Jerry his friend from Go Ahead, Brent Mydland, died of a drug overdose. He left a wife and two toddlers behind. Let's see, you're rich, you're famous, people worship at your feet, you get to express your talents to huge audiences. What is wrong with this picture?

They call it the curse of the Grateful Dead keyboard players. Every keyboard player in the Grateful Dead has died young including the last one, Vince Welnick, who died about a year ago, age 53. If you ever saw the movie Spinal Tap, in which the drummers keep exploding onstage, they are alluding to the Grateful Dead keyboard curse. I would say it is more likely the curse of the road. It is an altered reality, where you lose perspective of real life, family life, neighborhood life, and church life. You are not really accountable to anyone except the tour manager, who says, "Lobby call, 6:00 a.m." Whatever happens in Roslyn, New York stays in Roslyn. As long as you are in the lobby at 6 a.m. nobody in the band cares how high you are, who you slept with, whether your shirt is ironed or whether you had a good balanced breakfast. That is why daily family life is so important in the big picture. And that is why people can die from sheer neglect surrounded by "adoring" fans, and yet so alone. Those fans are just there for themselves. They don't care if you had a good balanced breakfast either, they just want to know what else you can give them. One more song. One more picture. One more autograph. And the moment you turn your back after signing, smiling, singing, playing for hours in addition to the twelve hour travel day which began at 3:00 a.m. the ones you could not meet and greet sneer and call you a selfish jerk. Why choose this life when you could be at home snug with your family; and your wife is the only one calling you a selfish jerk, but at least she is entitled.

I LOVE the internet

Look what I found online! The following is a poster created for a gig Jerry played in 1987 at the Country Club in Reseda. I found it for sale at Wolfgang's vault which is Rock Promoter, Bill Graham's personal collection of rock-n-roll memorabilia. For a mere $50 I was able to surprise Jerry with a piece of his past. The band Go Ahead was an offshoot of The Grateful Dead. When Jerry Garcia was in a diabetic coma this band was formed. The Dead members in the band were Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzman and Brett Mydland. Singing was Alex Ligertwood who also sang lead with Santana at the time and Dave Margen bassist for Santana.

While performing a google search I came across the following link http://tela.sugarmegs.org/_asxtela/ if you scroll way down the page to "Go Ahead" and wait for it to open in windows media player you can hear Jerry playing live in 1986. What was great about this was that I never heard Jerry play with Go Ahead until just now Monday April 9th, 2007 at 1:40 a.m. I am amazed that on a stage with one really great singer and two good singers with clout they let Jerry sing a song. Many times less talented singers will hog the limelight al night. Even if this is not your cup of tea it is pretty cool for a number of reasons. Brent Mydland was an amazing B3 player but in the Grateful Dead hippy jams he did not get to show his great funky bluesy chops. Jerry sings lead on the fourth or fifth song, Take Me to the River. Check out the way Jerry and Brent trade fours on Take me to the River. Trading fours is when one instrumentalist takes a four bar solo and then another instrumentaltist takes a four bar solo which answers the first line and so forth. It must have been a lot of fun for Brent and Jerry, since they were good buddies. It is like a musical conversation. Alex Ligertwood is an astounding singer from Scotland. Jerry is playing all the lead guitar parts. Definitely hang in for the second song. Alex kills on the vocals.

The Atonement

In the last few weeks I have been teaching a Sunday School class centered on Family History. Preparing the lesson each week gives me pause to think about the Plan of Salvation and this week, Christ's sacrifice for us. The Atonement paved the way for our eternal salvation. Last week in conference President Hinckley said, "Without Easter there would be no Christmas." I realize I am quoting this out of context, but I think it is a profound statement on its own. I tend to overlook Easter and its signifigance, but this year I am in a different frame of mind. I have watched Jerry make tremendous sacrifices for his students. Some are deeply aware and grateful. Some totally lack awareness. And some just don't seem to care, always keeping the focus on self. It has been a huge lesson for me. Jerry not only sacrifices by flying back and forth every week, but he spends most Sundays, his only day off writing out charts to songs his students have requested to learn.

These seemingly simple charts are like little representations of Christ. Some people are deeply touched by his sacrifice. Some students look at the chart and say, "I decided I don't care about that song" and some people take the chart and say, "I'll work on that at home. Let's work on something else because I want to get the most out of my lesson." That value for dollar approach overlooks the real value in walking through the song, with Jerry teaching the nuances of the piece. Just like showing up at church and reading your scriptures while a speaker is speaking. You are not reading well and certainly not listening to the real message you are meant to receive. The notion that you can kill two birds with one stone is an onerous task. You can try and try and try. maybe once in a lifetime can you kill two birds with one stone. In the meantime you waste a lot of energy for nothing. Walking side by side with Christ with deep gratitude is the only way to truly inhabit a Christlike persona. Focusing only on the person or task in from of you allows the pitiful soul to develop a Christlike attitude. Imagine Christ watching to see who is walking in and out as he heals the blindman. I cannot picture that happening. It invalidates the real beauty of the situation when your fellow conversationalist is looking over your shoulder to see if a better conversationalist might come along. Sorry for the silly analogy, but sometimes that is what it takes for me to get the lesson.

I think about the sacrifices people around me are making every day. Dental students spend a lot of time and a lot of money to become professional and competent. Will they have to endure flaky patients who forget or cancel appointments and then don't pay their bills? Probably! I think of the women I know who go above and beyond with no expectations. To me these people are representations of Christ.

A few weeks ago I was supposed to help after a linger longer and I ended up sitting in the next room while others finished the dishes. I felt guilty, until I came down with the flu about three hours after church ended. I could not figure out why I was being "lazy" but I definitely judged myself. I think the moral of the story is that most people are doing their best each and every day. Christ would wash our feet for us no matter who we are. On this day of ultimate sacrifice I try to remember that in order to be like Christ I have to be Christlike. What that ultimately means to me is:

Judge not
and
Love one another
By this shall men know that ye are my disciples
If ye have love one to another

Storybook Cottage

Last year we decided we finally had enough money for a down payment. We were pre-qualified for an exorbitant amount of money. We began house hunting in Marin and when we came across the house pictured we looked at each other and laughed at how ridiculously expensive it was.

This storybook cottage is charming inside and out. The insides were made to look like the insides of an old ship. However, when we got the reports we sighed. The house is on a 1/4 acre, which is fairly large for our area, but perpetually in shade (i.e. mold laden). The retaining walls were crumbling, The house originally built as a summer cabin on piers was filled in from the center out with concrete, probably in the 1940's. There was extensive borer beetle damage. Many of the windows needed to be replaced and the floor in the kitchen had a large 6 inch drop which had been patched with concrete. The beautiful terra cotta tiles simply dropped off all along the width of the kitchen and gray concrete had been sloppily plopped in by hand.

The asking price was $700k and it would have taken $100k to make it livable. We just looked at each other and said, "Why spend so much for such a dump." This was the moment we decided to invest in a more affordable market. Many people are laughing at the amount of equity they are sitting on, but it is so sad that this community cannot allow for school teachers, emergency personnel, and store owners to be home owners unless they happen to marry a wealthy person. Among members of the genealogy society most of their children live in other states because they cannot afford to live here and raise children. When you have a community of only wealthy, elderly, or renters the quality of life suffers when nobody can afford the time, effort, energy or money to help their neighbors, because they are so busy trying to keep their heads above water.

We are sad to leave, but we did not choose high paying careers, so something has to give. I guess it has to be us.

Microclimates

One striking aspect of the San Francisco Bay Area is that every little valley has its own climate. I was struck this morning by the microclimates I passed through after dropping Jerry at the airport. I pulled away from the curb at 7:40, stopped for gas at Costco in Berkeley/Richmond and arrived in my driveway at 8:43. The photos that follow illustrate the varied climates I encountered in the course of one hour.

Bunco discussion

For those who were present for this discussion last night here is the posting I described. Some of the links no longer work, but I thought you might like to see what a trouble maker I am. I think it was the very last sentence which invoked a death threat. Several people, including Mr. Mokotoff, had posted messages on the discussion list that the Mormons were continuing to actively add Jewish names for temple ordinances. When I pointed out that Mr. Mokotoff had written in an article that he saw no evidence that new names were being added, contradicting something he had posted earlier in the day about Mormons actively adding Jewish names, I was deluged with hate mail for revealing that the emporer wore no clothes.

Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 10:59:49 +0000
posted by Kathy at rootsweb

My deep interest in this issues lies in the fact that I was born and raised in Utah as a Mormon. In church I was taught to hold the highest regard for Jewish people. My best friend is an Israeli Jew. Beyond that I am very interested in the ethics of the situation, on both sides.

For those interested in this issue I have pulled a few quotes from websites that highlight both sides of this issue. I wanted to know the origin of the 1995 agreement and this is a sample of what I found.

http://www.avotaynu.com/mormon.htm
unlike the Dutch extraction [Lijst van Nederlandee jooden die gestorven zijn gedurende de tweede wereld oorlog (List of Dutch Jews, prisoners and missing people that have died in concentration camps during World War II)] which was Church sanctioned, the German extraction [128,000 names from the Gedenkbuch] was the act of individuals--five families in the Salt Lake City area.

{My note} For those concerned about the loss of genealogical data by removing the names, Gary Mokotoff writes:

I commented that, at least in the case of the Gedenkbuch extraction, the entries had negative genealogical value because of inaccuracies. The people doing the work erroneously assumed that the place of last residence was the place of birth, and, therefore, tens of thousands of IGI entries from the Gedenkbuch had the wrong place of birth.

The January [6, 1995] meeting was attended by Senator Hatch, Elder [Monte] Brough, [Ernest] Michel and Herbert Kronish, a lawyer active in UJA-Federation affairs. The meeting was very cordial, not adversarial but more in the spirit of two friends trying to resolve a mutual problem. Elder Brough explained to Michel what had happened, why it happened and that the Church was upset it had offended people, which was not the intent. Michel indicated that the Mormon Church had always shown friendship to the Jewish people, was a supporter of Israel and was sympathetic to the impact on Jews of the Holocaust tragedy. Brough presented a number of alternatives which Michel said he would bring back to the members of the American Gathering board of directors. When the board met, it was unanimously decided that the names should be removed from the IGI and provisions made to be certain that any future submissions would be expunged.

On May 3, 1995, in New York, the LDS Church and representatives of the Jewish community signed the agreement described at the beginning of this article.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/mormon/mormon153.html
Under the 1995 agreement, the church directed its members not to include the names of unrelated persons, celebrities and certain groups, such as Jewish Holocaust victims, for its "baptisms for the dead," according to documents provided by the LDS church.

The church also assumes that the closest living relative of the deceased being offered for proxy baptism has consented.

"It did not guarantee that no future vicarious baptisms for deceased Jews would occur," church papers say of the agreement.

In a Nov. 14, 2003, letter from church Elder D. Todd Christofferson to [Ernest] Michel, a copy of which was sent to [Senator Orrin] Hatch, Christofferson said the church did not agree to find and remove the names of all deceased Jews in its database.

"That would be an impossible undertaking," Christofferson wrote. However, 400,000 names of Holocaust victims were removed, and the church continues to delete names when asked.

http://www.ourjerusalem.com/opinion/story/opinion20040104.html
For years, Jewish officials have blasted the conversions as an insulting desecration, but the controversy is flaring anew this week amid charges that the Mormons have broken a 1995 promise not to add Jewish Holocaust victims to their International Genealogical Index.

Church officials insist they've kept to the agreement. And even among Jewish critics of the policy, there is some dispute over just what the Mormon church originally agreed to, and what it has done wrong.

D. Todd Christofferson, a church official involved in the talks, said the church removed Holocaust victims listed before 1995 and has since followed the pact by instructing members not to add more.

"When the church is made aware of documented concerns, action is taken in compliance with the agreement," he told The New York Times.

Christofferson told the Times that the church cannot monitor the situation completely and that some members might themselves add names.

[Gary] Mokotoff, who publishes Avotaynu, the International Review of Jewish Genealogy, and who began finding Jewish names in the Mormon archives before the 1995 conflict, said he sees no evidence the church has added new names to its rolls.

Urban Decay

I have the cutest little office and yet when you look out the windows you would think that I am in the worst ghetto. Even a year and a half ago it did not look this bad. Directly across the street are two historic Victorian houses. They had some charm and they were occupied by two nice families. For some reason they moved out and within a week or two graffiti started to appear. Then gang members started hanging around in front. Apparently people were squatting in the house on the right for a couple of weeks. A dispute led someone to start a fire on the front porch which quickly spread up to the roof. Literally two or three weeks of vacancy led to the desctruction of a beautiful historic house. Even when humans try to destroy nature creeps back in and beautifies.

Myceneaen Creed

In conference President Hinckley mentioned that other Christian churches use the Myceneaen Creed as a basis for their beliefs. While I knew a little bit about the creed I did not realize that it was still the basis for modern religions. I did a little research and here is what I found:

In 325 the First Council of Nicaea was held and the bishops of the Christian Church were given free travel and accommodation. They came together to discuss whether Arianism or Trinitarianism would prevail. In essence they made a scholarly decision whether God created Jesus or whether God was Jesus. Joseph Smith heard directly from God the Father that Jesus was his beloved son. We do not rely on a written creed, created by man, for our beliefs. We rely on Heavenly Father's word. How often I have relied on the written word of man for guidance, instead of turning to prayer.

"The Mormons" on PBS

Have you all heard about this program which will be broadcast on PBS April 30th and May 1st in the Bay Area?

"The Mormons"
AN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE - FRONTLINE Special Presentation (two 90-minute episodes, April 2007)
The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints is one of America's fastest growing religions, and its influence circles the globe. The church has 11 million members today and over half of them live outside the U.S. Yet the birth of Mormonism and its history is one of America's great neglected narratives. This three-hour documentary brings together FRONTLINE and AMERICAN EXPERIENCE in their first co-production to provide a searching portrait of this fascinating but often misunderstood religion. Produced by award-winning filmmaker Helen Whitney ("Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero," "John Paul II: The Millennial Pope"), the film will explore the richness, the complexities, and the controversies of the Mormons' story as told through interviews with leaders and members of the church, with leading writers and historians, and with supporters and critics of the Mormon faith.

A Day at the Beach

Harbor Seals in the distance


Harbor Seals with pups in Bolinas Lagoon


Some of the coastal vegetation


This is Seep Monkeyflower, which is not often seen. It needs to have its feet in water.


Every once in a while I put the dogs in the car and take them to the beach. The latest trip resulted in a spectacular sighting of harbor seals with their pups. The lagoon is a safe haven from great white sharks and there is one particular harem that lives in the Bolinas lagoon. The pups are less than a week old right now and you can see the whole family lounging on the sandbars at low tide. On the way to the beach I was reminded of how spectacular the scenery is in West Marin. I thought I would provide a fun itinerary for a day in West Marin. I would recommend starting out in Point Reyes Station. If you are there around lunch time or earlier stop at the Pine Cone Diner (across from the Cowgirl Creamery) and try the pan seared trout for breakfast. Trust me.

If you are in Point Reyes later in the day be sure to eat at The Station House Cafe. They have been written up in all the food magazines and are famous for their popovers which arrive hot at the table before your meal is served. They have a spectacular garden patio too. There are several galleries and a couple of antique shops. You could spend a few hours in Point Reyes. As you head down the coast you will pass through the little town of Olema. As you enter the Olema Valley keep your eyes peeled for the fallow white deer, that is if the park service has not exterminated them all yet. Do a google search. There are about a 1000 pure white deer in the Olema Valley, but as a non-native species they may be wiped out.

On the way to Stinson if you are passing at low tide, late afternoon, you may see the large harem of seals with their new pups. I counted three pups and there was one casualty with vultures huddled over it. After you spend time at Stinson be sure to stop at the ice cream parlor in town.

If you drive out to the coast via Sir Francis Drake take the detour that is recommended, there are good signs, or you may be delayed by up to 30 minutes.