The Short Story of My Conversion

Sacrament Talk: January 16, 2011

Stan and I were asked to give talks about The First Article of Faith in Sacrament Meeting this week. The outline for this talk became a summary for how I joined the church. As I gave the talk, I restyled the talk to include some incidents that I had not remembered until I was on the stand. I have rewritten the talk to include those remarks as well as some remarks I did not actually say for clarity.

First Article of Faith: We believe in God the Eternal Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.

I have always believed that while we have many stories to tell about our lives, the most important story we have is how we came to accept the truths of the gospel.

I was born to parents who weren't members of any religion. My father was brought up Protestant but by the time I was 10 claimed himself as an agnostic (meaning he did not believe or disbelieve that there was a God) and my mother, a non-practicing Methodist.

I did not attend church or Primary, have Family Home Evening, read the Book of Mormon, know who Joseph Smith was or have any knowledge of Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. However, even as a little girl I knew there was a God and thought of Him as my Father. I attribute this to my mother’s relatives who did pray over meals and went to Christian churches regularly. They were also very kind and loving to me. The source of their peace and kindness seemed to be their belief in God.

Someone taught me a night time prayer which goes like this:
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Every night before I went to bed, I would recite this prayer. Once settled, I remember gazing into the Heavens and wondering about God before I went to sleep. Around five years of age, my wonderings turned into personal prayers that allowed me to ask questions or pray fervently for some need.

For me, God was the creator of all the wonderful and beautiful things in my world and my protector at night. I felt a very personal relationship with Him and knew that He loved me and watched over me.

I remember asking my father about Jesus Christ. He told me that there were many great teachers in the world and Jesus was one of them. He would be pleased if I used the teachings of Christ as a guide in my life but that he did not believe that Christ was a God or that there was a God for sure. However he said that I could believe in anything I wanted to as long as it came from my heart.

I was always amazed that my Dad did not know there was a God. As a young girl I thought that his lack of faith was the source of his depression and addictions. But I listened to my father about Jesus Christ as I had no other reference point.

As my brother and I asked other questions about religion, my parents noticed that we were looking for answers from our peers. About the time I was thinking about being a nunn, they decided to take us to a number of churches always careful to not impose any religion on us but merely to introduce us to other ideas. As time went on we were informally introduced to various world religions and philosophies.

When I was ten, I befriended Sally, a girl in my sixth grade class. I highly respected Sally because she was the youngest of nine children whose mother had died and was in charge of running her family's household. With eight older brothers on a large farm, Sally was in charge of breakfast, dishes, laundry and house cleaning chores. When she invited me to attend her church one Sunday, I was curious to see how her religion helped her manage her life.

Her church was a small wooden, clapboard building at the end of a dirt road surrounded by trees. Inside was one long room with pews down the both sides leading to a pulpit area with a portrait of Jesus in the highest arch of the room. Everyone was dressed in Sunday best, very friendly and appealing. But I was astounded by their church services. There was no mention of God. Every song, story, prayer and sermon was the retelling of Christ, His life and teachings. I was horrified that they had put Jesus in God’s place of worship, worshipping the teacher instead of the Father. I went home angry and determined to never have anything to do with Jesus or Christianity again.

That night as I knelt down to say my prayers, I told God about my experience and promised Him that I would never worship Jesus Christ. I laid out my anger and reasoning to Him expecting peace to settle down upon me. Instead, I immediately felt God’s displeasure with my decision. It was the feeling of being rebuked, even chastised and I started crying in response. Then I became very frustrated by my situation. I knew that my parents would not support my claim that God told me Jesus was something more than just a teacher but at ten, I didn't have the resources to go looking for answers in other churches. With resignation and some irritation, I told God that if He wanted me to understand who Jesus was, He would have to provide the way for that knowledge to come to me.

A year later, we had moved to Florida and I was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by a Karen Mitchem, a classmate in the 7th grade. I was so impressed by how happy her family was and how they responded to me. Eventually Karen asked me to attend Young Women's where I learned the hula. I also went through about four sets of missionaries but never got past the first discussion because they always talked about a baptism date and I could never understand what baptism had to do with anything relating to God. Finally in ninth grade Karen started attending early morning Seminary every day before she went to our high school. That was just too much for me. I felt she was becoming fanatical. I drifted to other friends not knowing that my Mormon friends fasted for me every fast day for two years.

When I was fifteen, I started working at a facility for the mentally retarded in the nursery helping to care for approximately 30 children under four years of age. One of the other workers would sing hymns and spirituals as she worked feeding, bathing and dressing the babies. One day she started lamenting to herself about how these children would all be damned to eternal damnation because they had never been baptized. I was aghast that anyone could possible believe these innocent sweet children would be anything but loved and healed in the next life.

Shortly after this incident, Karen invited me to attend a fireside. The speaker was going to address the topic of "Do Little Children Need to be Baptized?". I went purposefully to debate the topic. I wanted to express my disapproval in the belief that children who died without baptism were damned.

The fireside was held in the newly built chapel in Orlando. A girl also about 15 years of age lead the discussion and I was impressed with her articulate message and clarity. She explained that little children could not sin until about eight years of age and God didn't require baptism of innocent babies.

Over cookies and mingling, I met a nice red haired boy who asked me out. After two weeks dating, he gave me a Book of Mormon to read, asking me to read 50 pages a night. I didn't know this was hard and quickly knew that the book was a true record God's relationship to men. It was like coming out of a dark tunnel into the light and I felt more clear and secure than I had ever felt in my life.

My brother and I asked to be allowed to go to early morning seminary at the start of the school year. There were nine of us that traveled about a half an hour in an old 1940s automobile leaving at 5:00 a.m. We would seat four in the front and four in the back with one of the smaller boys laying across the four in the back. The class was taught by Vera Smith. We studied the New Testament and the mission of the Savior. It was in Seminary that I finally found the knowledge of who Jesus is, His relationship to God and the Holy Ghost.

The concepts of God as the Eternal Father, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are some of the precious truths that were lost because of a series of historical events. With the deaths of the Apostles and Prophets, converts with many different backgrounds tried to interject their old beliefs into their new Christian faith, especially the ideas and philosophies of the Greek converts. This caused many disputs and factions within the church and eventually transformed Christianity.

“From Wikipedia:The First Council of Nicaea (ni-SEE-ah) was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea (an old city in what is now Turkey)* by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in A.D. 325. This council did not create the doctrine of the deity of Christ (as others including my father have claimed) but it did settle to some degree the debate within the early Christian communities regarding the divinity of Christ. (This idea of the divinity of Christ seemed by many to be confusing because they thought there should be only one God.) The council affirmed and defined what it believed to be the teachings of the Apostles regarding who Christ is: that Christ is the one true God in deity with the Father.” (And the Holy Ghost.) (My comments in italics)

Dallin Oaks
“We must begin with the truth about God and our relationship to him. Everything else follows from that.

In common with the rest of Christianity, we believe in a Godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. However, we testify that these three members of the Godhead are three separate and distinct beings. We also testify that God the Father is not just a spirit but is a glorified person with a tangible body, as is his resurrected Son, Jesus Christ.

We maintain that the concepts identified by such nonscriptural terms as “the incomprehensible mystery of God” and “the mystery of the Holy Trinity” are attributable to the ideas of Greek philosophy. These philosophical concepts transformed Christianity in the first few centuries For example, philosophers then maintained that physical matter was evil and that God was a spirit without feelings or passions. Persons of this persuasion, including learned men who became influential converts to Christianity, had a hard time accepting the simple teachings of early Christianity: an Only Begotten Son who said he was in the express image of his Father in Heaven and who taught his followers to be one as he and his Father were one, and a Messiah who died on a cross and later appeared to his followers as a resurrected being with flesh and bones.

The Nicene Creed erased the idea of the separate being of Father and Son by defining God the Son as being of “one substance with the Father.”

While trying to unify the Christian believers, we believe that essential truths were lost. Ones that bless the lives of Heavenly Father’s children by defining Who God is, His relationship to Christ and the Holy Ghost.”

This quote is part of a marvelous talk from Dallin Oaks in April 1995 Conference. called Apostasy and Restoration.

The conclusions I draw from it are that there had to be a restoration of basic truths and these were brought to Joseph Smith, 14 year old boy is was seeking to find out the nature of God." April Cconference 1998

Forty Years Ago, Stan and I Met

Forty years ago this month, Stan and I met. I was twenty-three, getting ready to graduate from BYU and Stan was twenty-five . I had won a bet with another young man who in payment, had to wash my hair. As he was in process, in walked my roommate’s cousins, Stan and Sam, looking for dates for the next month financed by Sam’s military Per Diem. After some scrutinizing, Stan called his cousins and said he wanted to ask me out. Our first date was on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. He had a terrible cold, snotty nose and everything but I just really liked him. We went to the John Wayne movie, “Cowboys”, a wedding reception and to his parent’s home for homemade pie. I was normally very careful about affection with young men, but I would have let him kiss me good night, cold and all after that first date, something I had never done before. By the second date we were completely enthralled and started seeing each other every night financed by Sam’s military money. We owe a lot to Sam. By the third date, we started having prayers together after the kissing. In May, we were talking about our future and everything seemed to just fall into place. We became engaged June 4, 1972 and were married August 18, 1972 in the Salt Lake Temple. There were some worries and hesitations but every time I prayed about it, I felt like my answer was “well, duh, yes, marry this guy. He’s the best thing that has ever happened to you.” Forty years later, I still feel that way about him most of the time. We have learned so much from having to compromise, communicate and celebrate. He is giving me some really good smile wrinkles, something we talked about while we were dating. And I look forward to the future knowing he will be by my side for as long as the Lord allows us this sweet pleasure.

Grandmother Dot and Grandpa Glenn Mornings

My grandmother and grandfather Skinner lived in a small town about fifty miles outside Richmond, Virginia. While I only visited them for probably 30 days during my entire childhood, they had a profound effect on my life. It was a second marriage for my grandmother (my mother’s side) who was widowed at age 31. They were married when my grandmother was 35 and lived in a large two story home, renting to a few boarders, while my grandfather Glenn taught “Shop” at the local high school. Every morning after a restless night, listening for the trains on the East side of the property, I would awake to the smell of bacon coming from the Grandma Dot's kitchen. Running downstairs, grandmother was in the kitchen, powdered, groomed, wearing a simple dress and nylons, finishing the final touches on breakfast and standing next to a table set with dishes, mats and glasses embossed with "The Great State of Virginia." Those glasses seem to announce what I felt about being in the home. It was great. We said grace before every meal. Sometime into the breakfast, Anna ( one of the boarders) would knock on the door bringing with her a voice that had a high hollow bell tone in a deep southern dialect difficult to understand. Her voice sang and fluctuated with a cadence and lyrical value beautiful and alluring. She welcomed the day; she welcomed me back into her life. We continued our bacon, eggs, toast and butter breakfast to conversations of what was happening that day and the gentle rhythm of human interaction bound to a place that calls to us, bringing back memories both pleasant and sad. It was like Christmas but the presents were the presence of those around the table. These adults surrounding us were infatuated with our childish aura. They filled our cup with attention and adoration. We were a novelty and something about the way we grew was very important to them. My grandmother loved us with her rhythms and routines of daily living. She was happy to love us and for our company. I loved her so much.

My First Experience with Organized Religion

My first experiences with organized religion happened in the home of my mother’s mother in Alberta, Virginia. Grandmother Dot was a short, plump powdered woman who always managed to smell of talc and perfume instead of the cigarettes she smoked on the front porch in the evenings. She kept a house as clean as imaginable, decked in the linens and crystal of old southern culture. Sunday mornings were hurried. We were expected to attend church on time. I was scrubbed, primped, and otherwise made ready to be presented to the community at the Bethel Methodist Church. At a quarter to 9:00 a.m. the church bell tower would sound echoing through the community and we would pile into Dot’s car to drive the two or three blocks to the church on the same street as my grandmother’s house. Hats with netting, pearls, dresses, suits, oriental paper fans, and soapy clean floral smells all blended to compose the atmosphere of the Bethel First Methodist Church. Southern politeness, rich accents, nodding, knowing glances, greetings, hurrying to a hard wooden pew, Randy and I were the treasures Grandma Dot brought to share with all the country folk who came to church for just such a surprise. Their culture consisted of clean houses, consistent journeys, weekly routines, visiting, cooking, drinking ice tea from tall chilled glasses with silver spoons for stirring the added sugar, and taking occasional trips to Richmond. Glad they were to hole up in their safe quiet world where children were the silver they polished. Charitable, devoid of sandal or lasciviousness, they immersed themselves in the rich sweetness of southern hospitality, blended with long summer nights, fireflies and humidity. Their hospitality was born of a desire to please and be of service. Church meetings were long, so long on those hard wooden benches. Paper fans would cool the surrounding corseted powdered women while the preacher smiled and convinced us to be more like the beatitudes and other lessons taught in Christian churches. But they knew and worshipped Jesus, working hard to be more like Him in all their actions and words. As a child, I didn’t connect with Jesus. But attending church with my grandparents was the beginning of a questioning attitude toward Christianity. They made Christianity very attractive and I wanted to understand my relationship to the Savior because of watching them. I will always be grateful for their community service and devotion in their Methodist Church.

Lorraine Walker Swenson Boyer

On my first date with my future husband, Stan, I met his mother, Lorraine. She was standing next to the fireplace in a long sapphire blue robe trimmed in white. Her hair was lightly mussed from the day's work but that pure white color apparent and her presence regal, confident, graceful and serene. She welcomed me into her home with the practiced manner of someone who has welcomed many of her children's friends and possible spouses before. I felt like I had entered a sanctuary with symbolic collections decorating the walls, fireplace, sideboards, china hutch and table. They heralded a love for nature, wild life, the mountains, family, work and most of all children. With seemingly no effort, she handed me a slice of apple pie, hot with a dipper of ice cream on the side and I began my tutorial of womanly graces with Lorraine.

Her husband, Roy, was a handsome, young man with dark curly hair she met at the Y. He swept Lorraine off her feet dancing long into the night and taking motorcycle rides in the canyons. Their courtship began during the depression. They eloped. As the years went on they worked together to raise a family of seven children and establish a car repair business, eventually becoming very successful in both areas despite life's challenges and upsets.

In her first home in Provo, she painted flower borders in the living areas to decorate the walls. As she was telling me this, her eyes seemed to glisten going back in time. She indicated this was a precious time in life for her, working with Roy, raising little boys, struggling to make ends meet and putting her heart into that modest little home by painting her flower borders. She even commented on how she loved the effect of her handiwork. it gave her a great deal of pleasure to create beauty in her home. Her love of beauty, nature and flowers is reflected again in the beautiful yard she crafted in Pleasant Grove.



Golf was Roy's passion. But rather than staying at home, Lorraine, a natural athlete, adopted and excelled in golf too. Tuesdays and Thursday were her golf days with the woman's league. She won many trophies and was a competitive golfer with Roy and their golfing friends as well. Along with others, I have often speculated that it was Lorraine's good food and golf that contributed to her longevity.

In Roy's later years, after Roy had recovered from the first bout of prostate cancer, he said to me that once he decided to just do what Lorraine suggested, he was happiest he had ever been in life. Creating an atmosphere of love, hospitality and beauty, nurturing with food, activity and laughter, and being an example of healthy living, Lorraine had a positive influence on all of her large extended family.

Stan and I discovered each other through Roy and Lorraine's watchful eyes, our future more apparent to them than to us. They recognized the difference, the attraction, the affection and cultivated their rights to observe by introducing us to "Rook". We competed, we won, we lost, we laughed and came again and again to bask in their company as we learned how to be a couple in the game of life. Rook was a vehicle to draw us back as much as Lorraine's food.

Meal preparation was an art form. Lorraine understood menus, complimenting tastes and compatibles in food, timing and presentation, like a skilled oil painter creating a composition, carefully calculating lighting, tones, and contrast. Her dinners were an experience beginning with the aroma greeting us at the front door to the table center piece carrying the theme of the day. A farm girl, Lorraine also understood the rhythms of harvest, so food was selected by the seasons, temperature, and occasion. A cold wintry night would be offset by a fire in the fireplace and hot vegetable beef soup or pink-eyed beans and ham with homemade rolls and a dessert. A warm summer's evening would feature a cold shrimp in lemon jello salad with rolls and cold drinks.

Dessert was a requirement. Pie was a favorite but real homemade cake watered my mouth as soon as I walked into the kitchen trying with my x-ray vision to see into the metal cake cover. Black Walnut Cake, Anything-But-Cake, Picnic Cake, Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Sour Cream Chocolate Cake she discovered and delivered all during my nearly forty years of marriage to Stan and every diet I ever tried was tested by our mutual love of sweets. The cookie jar was required to be full with homemade or store bought cookies but always full and clear glass so you could see the contents.

And then there was the candy. Always a stash somewhere supplied by her sons and kept constant by herself, never hoarding, always offering and bemoaning her own weakness for candy. Not the cheap stuff, mind you, See's or Kara's or what's the name of the one in Salt Lake off of 7th East? That's the one she most preferred and savored each bite like a true connoisseur. She would open her mouth wide and then with her front teeth clip a third of the chocolate behind them pressing the candy into her palate and rolling it around her taste buds, moaning as the flavors hit her senses. Watching her eat candy became part of the experience. Only one piece at a sitting unless she was driven to eat two...and always offering a second (of her precious candy) to every one. Love: love was food, service, beauty, sacrifice, time and money for Lorraine and she gave freely.

Family gatherings in the spring and summer were set in the landscape of her ever blooming yard with all kinds of flowering shrubs, bulbs, annuals, perennials and trees. With Roy as her best worker, Lorraine cultivated the acre grooming every shrub while dubbing the yard "the canyon look". She weeded mounds of myrtle, planted hundreds of bulbs, cut flags and pruned roses, staging a magical garden around her home. Visitors were mesmerized by the colors, heights of varying blooms, positive and negative space drawn in the grass or through the branches of the trees. How many different varieties of irises, roses, daffodils, tulips, crocus and lilies were there? It was like she had to celebrate all of them to express her passion for horticulture. Then she would hose down the patio, make cupcakes, hamburger patties, two salads, have chips, dip, buns and hot dogs for her growing clan of children, spouses, grandchildren and greats. And we would gather, playing pin-pong, watching the children, laughing, talking, growing into a close-knit family.

Cultivating family came as naturally to Lorraine as gardening. She resisted losing her freedom to the demands of tending little ones in her late 50s but by her early 60s embraced grandchildren as the reason for life. She loved them, smiled at their discoveries, provided good books, old toys and an acre to explore while chronicling their lives in pictures. Every event deserved a picture. New shoes, pretty hair, Easter, Christmas, baptisms, rain, mud, kittens, Thanksgiving, school programs, eventually weddings and more babies are all preserved for us in her Life Books. We watched ourselves grow up in those books. All the joys, pains, growth, sorrows and happiness are sandwiched in Lorraine's Picture Books. She was our historian while looking at us through rose colored glasses hoping we could live up to our potential. Lorraine provided a backdrop for us to observe our growth as we tentatively faced the trials and triumphs of life.

One day during my early years of marriage I visited her while she was doing spring cleaning. This meant the drawers under her bed, although nearly empty, had to be wiped on the inside and on the outside. Inside one of the drawers was a collection of old magazine pages about a woman's most glorious traits, illustrated by models dressed in formals from the early 1950s. I don't remember the exact categories but they were something like grace, hospitality, charm, dignity, character, fidelity, loyalty, etc. I was immediately struck by how these traits were the epitome of Lorraine. Long before the notion was popular, Lorraine had created herself, defined herself by her standards and by what she wanted to leave behind. Lorraine was a beautiful farm girl from a large family with heavy responsibilities. Early in life she learned never to shrink from work but bent it to meet her own ambitions and goals. Lorraine was a Lady.

Her standards were high for herself. She worked very hard to elevate her family and encouraged them to pursue talents, gain an education, marry well, be happy and optimistic. Her remarks would sometimes be construed as criticism but were usually laughed off or put into a collection of Grandma B's stories brought up later to amuse or gossip about. When she complimented you, it was generous, enthusiastic and in front of others.

From what I observed, Lorraine's perception of her relationship to God was humble and honest. There was no pretense that she was special to God or any messages that she was holier than anyone else. She just seemed to live the best she knew without worrying about some details like "coffee". She told me once she prayed regularly but didn't want to bother Him with silly problems or insecurities. Surely He had more important things to worry about. But I observed her worshipping daily with her gratitude. She was always very grateful for her many blessings and acknowledged them openly.


This developed into what I feel is the most prominent of all Lorraine's attributes, her positive attitude toward life. Life was the most glorious of all opportunities and wherever she was, she was grateful for what was around her. She noticed birds, deer, hawks, butterflies, grasshoppers, blooms, clouds, the sky, sunsets and even precocious weeds as part of the wonder and beauty of this earth. Every conversation contained some comment about an element she had noticed and enjoyed, part of nature not man-made but gifted from God as part of the tender mercies we receive so generously.

And she smiled. She smiled when we came, she smiled when we left, she smiled when she drove down the road as if the pavement somehow pleased her. Having a pleasant countenance was part of her beauty and charm, scripted by her as part of her life. Lorraine lived her life wisely with purpose and decisiveness.

There are three tangible images that will always represent Lorraine to me. First is the porcelain Lladro Roy bought of a dancing woman who resembles Lorraine as a young woman. Her figure is slim and alluring taunting the observers with the twist of her hips, position of her arms and style in her grace. Lorraine was that kind of woman. A woman to reckon with so to speak.

The second is a video I saw once of her coming out of the house to hang up her laundry. She and Roy may have staged this to show off her lovely legs in the shorts she was wearing and her confident attitude as she cast one last beguiling look at the camera before going up the stairs and into the house as a young wife.

The third one is the little figurine she put on her kitchen table most frequently. A little scrub woman dressed in a blue house dress white polka dots and matching kerchief, bending over accentuating the woman's prominent hips as she holds flowers in a vase at her feet. She talked to me about this once, how she sometimes felt in life like all she did was the cooking and cleaning, etc. The little scrub woman was her salute to women's work, she said, and for me a salute to her . Lorraine worked so hard while striving to keep the grace, style and loveliness of the porcelain Lladro woman she really was. One of her legacies to all the women in our family is that she has succeeded in keeping her loveliness all her days.

Catharine Houtz Boyer

In July, Stan and I attended the Catharine Houtz Boyer Family Reunion in Springville, celebrating Catharine Houtz Boyer, who came to Utah in 1853. Previous to attending the reunion, this family story had not been passed down in Stan’s family line. The following is taken from a blog about her life: In May of 1853 Catharine Houtz Boyer gathered her six children and departed from her beloved Pennsylvania to go towards Zion. She left family and friends and two lonely graves containing her husband, Augustus, and daughter, Bregetta. As yet, Catharine and her children were all un-baptized but that did not alter her desire to gather with the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints already settled in the valley of Salt Lake, Utah. Traveling first by team, railway, and steamboat to Council Bluffs, Iowa they would ultimately travel in a very unique independent wagon company consisting of only twenty-four persons; the Orson Spencer/Joel J. Terrell company. They had seven wagons, five of which were pulled by ox teams and two lighter wagons pulled by horses. They left Council Bluffs on Thursday, July 28, 1853. The oldest member of the company was fifty-two years old; the youngest was the age of two. More than half (thirteen) were under the age of twenty. The company consisted of nine females and fifteen males. Only two of the females were adult women. One of those was Catharine Houtz Boyer. At the Reunion, we learned that Catharine’s husband died from complications from an abscessed tooth. He suffered for a couple of months and knowing that he was going to die, arranged for his oldest sons to be apprenticed to his brothers farm in Pennsylvania. At the time of his death, Catharine felt strongly that she should follow her brother to Utah and with her sons pleaded to keep the family together and for the sons to be released from their pledge to apprentice at their uncles’ farm. The uncles agreed and helped to send Catharine and her family to Utah. Stan is descended from the oldest son. We heard many other stories about Catharine’s six children and the rest of her prosperity, including their numerous contributions to Springville area. It was very humbling to know how Catharine’s courage in her choices affected our family’s future. Yesterday was our Fortieth Wedding Anniversary. Thank you Catharine.

Christmas 2012

Forty years ago this month, Stan and I had our first Christmas. We had been married about two and a half months but were waiting for our eligibility for health insurance to start our family. Like many young brides, I was baby hungry and fixated on a beautiful peach faced love bird I saw at the Pet Shop. The Bird was shy and so every day after work, I would stop by the shop and talk to the bird. Finally I asked Stan for the bird. He feigned disapproval but immediately paid the shop keeper to hold the bird while having a turquoise ring set in gold made for me additionally. I bought him his first heavy weighted hammer and some addition tools; wrapped them in brown paper bags and then decorated each gift with a colorful characterture of the tool made of some left over felt. We were so in love. On Christmas Eve, he took the bird to his brother Jerry’s family for safe keeping. Christmas Morning the phone rang about 8 a.m. Jerry described to Stan how careful he had been with the bird but that when he looked into the cage that morning, my love bird was on the bottom, feet upward and not moving. It was a sad Stan who came to tell me my big surprise was dead. I have never forgotten how disappointed he was. We have eternalized the moment with “love bird” salt and pepper shakers. Over the years Stan has given me many surprises but our first Christmas set the tone for the many loving Christmasses that followed.

Captain John Locke

Until about 1998, I did not know the name of my paternal grandfather. He went by Kenneth R. Lock-Smith and Lock-Smith is my maiden name but I couldn’t find him in any census or listing. Then my daughter Michelle miraculously found a book linking my father to the “Locke Family” who were early settlers in the East. Here is one account of my eighth great grandfather, Captain John Locke, I found on the internet. "In 1694 John Locke being at Locke's Neck was ambushed and killed by the Indians as he was reaping grain in his field." The spot where this happened is along the seashore, and can be seen by turning off Ocean Boulevard onto Locke Road. The Locke Burial Ground is there, with John and Elizabeth Locke and several generations of Lockes. There is a marker on a granite post, labeled 1934, and a memorial roadside marker, which now reads: “Locke’s Neck- named for Captain John Locke who settled here before 1665 with his wife, Elizabeth Berry, born in London in 1627. He landed in Portsmouth ca. 1644 and according to tradition framed the first meeting house there about 1654. As Captain of militia he was noted for his defensive actions against hostile Indians. He was killed here August 26, 1696 by Indians as he worked in his fields with only a sickle for defense. The best part of the story is not from the archives, nor the memorial markers, but is an anecdote from the Locke genealogy (which means that the best part is probably a myth!) According to the family myth, when the Indians ran up to scalp Locke, he summoned his last breath to cut off the nose of one of the Indians. In the New Hampshire Historical Society Museum, in Eagle Square, Concord, New Hampshire, John Locke’s famous hand sickle, which he was supposedly using as he reaped grain on that fateful day in 1696, is on display in a glass case. The very obliging curator of the museum, Doug Copely, told me that as a descendant, he could also take Captain John Locke’s sword out of storage and show it to me. He also said that although it may be myth, the docents tell the tale of Captain Locke and the Indians to visiting children at the museum. Both items were donated in 1890 by George Locke of Manchester, New Hampshire. I’m sure that many generations of school children have been thrilled by this bloody story and have carefully examined the sickle for any signs of gore. Family Tree (new.familysearch.org) shows that Captain John Locke Senior’s LDS ordinances were performed in 1934. I am one of the branches grafted on this long tree whose pioneers were baptized long before me. Please email your family history story to t roxannaboyer55@gmail.com .

Vera Dunn Smith-And the Hand Written Family History

My grandmother Vera Dunn Smith lived with my family all my life. She was a talented woman knowing several languages and aspired to be a concert pianist in her youth. During the early Great Depression years she used her talent to play piano music for silent films When I was just a girl, before I joined the church, she showed me a hand written copy of the Biography of the Beighley Family of Europe. In the 1930’s, she had copied the biography with her lovely scrolling handwriting while visiting her uncle Isaac Newton Beighley. I have kept that copy all my life as a lost family artifact, using it to connect to ancestors in the France. A couple years ago, I was on the internet and decided to just “Google” my ancestor’s name. There it was in less than five second, the treasured biography of the Beighley Family History abridged by someone and posted on the internet.. Here is the story I want to pass down to my family. “Johan BUEHL came under notice from King Louis XIV under the following conditions: Louis XIV, profound in his belief in the divine right of Kings, found himself opposed by half the armies of Europe; wherein the Rhine Valley, for many years was destined to be a battleground. Many of the settlers of the area intermixed with the thrifty Hollanders whose beliefs were diametrically opposed to those of Louis XIV. These people adhered to self government, free thought and Protestantism. The victorious armies of Louis XIV seized the city of Strausberg, mistress of the Rhine, and decreed that all Protestant Churches be closed. All were ordered to embrace Catholicism and into the homes of those who refused, groups of solders known as the Dragoons were sent for the purpose of persecuting the inhabitants until they submitted to Catholicism. When members of the detested Dragonade entered the home of our Johan BUEHL, he handed a small bible to the officer in charge and told him, "I am guided by this Book and will flourish as yon evergreen tree, as this Book promises." It is said that the shamed officer took his departure and the incident was reported to the King. Whereupon, the King sent Johan an invitation to become one of his officers and sent him a coat of arms. The College of Heraldry describes this coat of arms as "a green tree on an azure background, quartered with the king's own color." As an officer of the King, Johan would have been permitted to wear this on his sleeve. Also as an officer of the King, his name was to have been changed to BUCHLI, meaning "little book." After the revocation of the Great Edict of Nantes (which promised protection of Protestants), Johan BUCHLI, who refused to convert to Catholicism, was forced to leave the land occupied by generations of his family and travel across the border into Germany, where he made a new home in the city of Stutgart. Having lost everything, he had taken up the trade of weaver. [Excerpted from a family history compiled by Harry L. Hutchinson, great-great-great grandson of Johan Conrad Buchli, son of Johan Buehl.]”

The Gift of the Holy Ghost Spencer's Baptism

Spencer-Thank you so much for asking me to give this talk. It has reminded me of the my own baptism and what I learned then; and prompted me to try to be less selfish and more like the Savior. You were born to parents who waited, wanted even prayed for you. I remember how excited your mom and dad were when they saw you. We all were. And just like Andrew and everyone else who comes to earth, you were a baby, very dependent on your mom and dad, needing help with everything from eating, dressing, bathing. And You didn’t remember living with God. BUT every person who is born to this earth is given a source of inspiration, whether they are members of our church or not. This source of inspiration is called the Light of Christ. It is not a personage like the Holy Ghost but actually a part of our essence. A part of what makes us a person. A part of our makeup because we come from God. I remember before I was introduced to the church having many experiences with what I now know is called the Light of Christ. I did know good from evil, I recognised inspiration in books, art and all religions I studied. I knew when I was thinking wrongly or acting poorly even though I did not attend Primary, Sunday School or any church activities, read the scriptures, and was not taught anything about the Savior. The Light of Christ stayed with me as I explored my path in finding out about the Savior and God’s Plan for Salvation, just as it does with all of God’s children on earth, as long as I do not make poor choices. The Light of Christ will fade if we act in anyway selfish, ugly, wicked or evil. Most people coming to earth, will not be taught the Plan of Salvation or become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints but God will give them experiences so that they will know the difference between good and evil. As they make mistakes, learn and grow the Light Of Christ will be stay with them all of their days. When they die, they will be able to see their life, their choices and then decide after their life experiences, if they want to make the decision you are making today. Which is: To take upon you the name of Jesus the Christ, To always remember Him To keep the commandments that you may have His spirit to be with you, To bear one another’s burdens Mourn with those that mourn Comfort those that stand in need of comfort And stand as a witness of God at all times, in all things, in all places After you are baptised you will be given the Gift of the Holy Ghost. This gift is given to Heavenly Father’s children who decide to make the covenants listed above. It means that a member of the Godhead, a personage, will be with you to help you with specific things---above and beyond the ways the Light of Christ already helps you. So you chose to try to be like Jesus because it sounded like a good idea and it is. After you make this decision God chooses to give you the Gift of the Holy Ghost. You may even think this makes you special or “Chosen” but the real question here is what are you being “chosen” for? The answer is you have chosen to serve your fellow man all your days on earth and try be like the Savior in helping to bring his children back to God’s presence.. One of the main purposes of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how to serve others and we do this within the structure of the church, our community and in many parts of the world. Think about your mother and father and the way they serve the members of your ward. Your mother helps with Activity Days, gathering young girls into her home each week and teaching them a life skill. Your father is working with the Young Men, teaching them, taking them on camp outs and biking adventures, your grandfather Bollinger works as the bishop of his ward helping families and assigning church callings to ward members in his ward. Your grandmother Bollinger has directed many plays and worked with the youth for years, Bapa meets every week boys age 14 to 16 and takes them to serve in the temple once a month as well as working as a temple worker once a week, and your Nana works in Family History teaching her ward members about the temple and how to find their ancestors. The Holy Ghost helps us know how to do this in effective ways. The Holy Ghost comforts us when we are afraid, sad or hurt. I can’t tell you the number of times I have prayed because I was afraid for myself or a loved one and the Holy Ghost comforted me when nothing else helped. The Holy Ghost will actually warn us when there is danger. Remind you of the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, truth and lies. Help you through the process of repentance when you make mistakes. Inspire and help you understand sacred things. teach you Strengthen you to hold on to the principles of the Gospel. Guide your footsteps back to Heavenly Father Let you know in your heart that God Lives and loves you And testify of Jesus Christ. That Jesus lived unselfishly, always doing the Father’s Will so that we would have a redeemer to help us repent and return to Heavenly Father clean, having learned that things we needed to learn while we were on earth. You will have many experiences in your life and after you are baptised and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, your weekly attendance in the church will help you understand and sort out what life is all about. It will help you be less selfish by giving you opportunities to serve and help you grow through these opportunities as you use the Holy Ghost to learn how to serve. Being baptised was the best decision I have ever made. I am so happy for your decision and the know that it will bring you much happiness. I say this In the Name of Jesus Christ Amen Notes related to this talk: President Monson says, “A joyous welcome...awaited you here on earth. Those first years were precious, special years. Satan had no power to tempt you, for you had not yet become accountable. You were innocent before God.” Indeed, one of my favorite poems is from Wordsworth, a non- member who never found the church during his life-time but is often quoted by modern day prophets for his vision of the pre-existence in this poem. Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home: Elder Boyd K. Packer: From his talk “The Light of Christ” “Perhaps the single greatest thing I learned from reading the Book of Moromon is that the voice of the Spirit comes as a feeling rather than a sound. You will learn, as I have learned, to “listen” for that voice that is felt rather than heard.” Conscience affirms the reality of the Spirit of Christ in man. It affirms, as well, the reality of good and evil, of justice, mercy, honor, courage, faith, love, and virtue, as well as the necessary opposites—hatred, greed, brutality, jealousy (see 2 Ne. 2:11, 16). Such values, though physically intangible, respond to laws with cause-and-effect relationships as certain as any resulting from physical laws (see Gal. 6:7–9). The Spirit of Christ can be likened unto a “guardian angel” for every person. 2 Most members of the Church have a basic understanding of the Holy Ghost. Most have experienced its promptings and understand why the Holy Ghost is called the Comforter. They know “the Holy Ghost … is a personage of Spirit” (D&C 130:22) and a member of the Godhead (see A of F 1:1). But many do not know that there is another Spirit—“the light of Christ” (D&C 88:7)—another source of inspiration, which each of us possesses in common with all other members of the human family. If we know about the Light of Christ, we will understand that there is something inside all of us, and we can appeal to that in our desire to share truth. The Holy Ghost and the Light of Christ are different from each other. While they are sometimes described in the scriptures with the same words, they are two different and distinct entities. It is important for you to know about both of them. The more we know about the Light of Christ, the more we will understand about life and the more we will have a deep love for all mankind. We will be better teachers and missionaries and parents, and better men and women and children. We will have deeper regard for our brothers and sisters in the Church and for those who do not believe and have not yet had conferred upon them the gift of the Holy Ghost. Light of Christ-the more we will have a deep love for all makind deeper regard for our brothers and sisters in the church and for those who do not believe and have not yet had conferred upon them the gift of the holy ghost. the spirit which giveth light to every man that cometh into the world the light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things the spirit of jesus christ spirit of truth light of truth spirit of the lord the spirit of god the holy spirit some of these terms are used to refer to the holy ghost. innter lih knowledge of right and wrong moral sense conscince it can direct us to moderate our actions Unless we subdue it or silence it. Boyd K. Packer Where they act in concert. This Spirit of Christ fosters everything that is good, every virtue (seeMoro. 7:16). It stands in brilliant, indestructible opposition to anything that is coarse or ugly or profane or evil or wicked (see Moro. 7:17). Conscience affirms the reality of the Spirit of Christ in man. It affirms, as well, the reality of good and evil, of justice, mercy, honor, courage, faith, love, and virtue, as well as the necessary opposites—hatred, greed, brutality, jealousy (see 2 Ne. 2:11, 16). Such values, though physically intangible, respond to laws with cause-and-effect relationships as certain as any resulting from physical laws (see Gal. 6:7–9). The Spirit of Christ can be likened unto a “guardian angel” for every person. 2 The Spirit of Christ can enlighten the inventor, the scientist, the painter, the sculptor, the composer, the performer, the architect, the author to produce great, even inspired things for the blessing and good of all mankind. This Spirit can prompt the farmer in his field and the fisherman on his boat. It can inspire the teacher in the classroom, the missionary in presenting his discussion. It can inspire the student who listens. And of enormous importance, it can inspire husband and wife, and father and mother. This inner Light can warn and guard and guide. But it can be repulsed by anything that is ugly or unworthy or wicked or immoral or selfish. The Light of Christ existed in you before you were born (see D&C 93:23, 29–30), and it will be with you every moment that you live and will not perish when the mortal part of you has turned to dust. It is ever there. Every man, woman, and child of every nation, creed, or color—everyone, no matter where they live or what they believe or what they do—has within them the imperishable Light of Christ. In this respect, all men are created equally. The Light of Christ in everyone is a testimony that God is no respecter of persons (see D&C 1:35). He treats everyone equally in that endowment with the Light of Christ. It is important for a teacher or a missionary or a parent to know that the Holy Ghost can work through the Light of Christ. A teacher of gospel truths is not planting something foreign or even new into an adult or a child. Rather, the missionary or teacher is making contact with the Spirit of Christ already there. The gospel will have a familiar “ring” to them. Then the teaching will come “to the convincing of [those who will listen] that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations” (Book of Mormon ). The idea that with the Crucifixion of Christ the heavens were closed and that they opened in the First Vision is not true. The Light of Christ would be everywhere present to attend the children of God; the Holy Ghost would visit seeking souls. The prayers of the righteous would not go unanswered. The conferring of the gift of the Holy Ghost must await the restoration of the priesthood and the dispensation of the fulness of times, when all things would be revealed. Temple work—ordinance work—would then be revealed. Then those who lived during the many generations when essential ordinances were unavailable, when baptism was not available, would be redeemed. God never abandons His children. He never has abandoned this earth. We are told that then “the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” The First Presidency has written here is a universally diffused essence which is the light and the life of the world, ‘which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,’ which proceedeth forth from the presence of God throughout the immensity of space, the light and power of which God bestows in different degrees to ‘them that ask him,’ according to their faith and obedience.” 1 Regardless of whether this inner light, this knowledge of right and wrong, is called the Light of Christ, moral sense, or conscience, it can direct us to moderate our actions—unless, that is, we subdue it or silence it. Every spirit child of our Heavenly Father enters into mortality to receive a physical body and to be tested. “The Lord said … they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency” (Moses 7:32). “Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil” (2 Ne. 2:27). Therefore, we know that “every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency [the words free agency do not appear in the revelations] which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment” (D&C 101:78; emphasis added). We are admonished to “quench not the Spirit” (1 Thes. 5:19). Thus we can see that “[all] are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil” (2 Ne. 2:5; see also 2 Ne. 2:27). They have their agency, and they are accountable. This Spirit of Christ fosters everything that is good, every virtue (seeMoro. 7:16). It stands in brilliant, indestructible opposition to anything that is coarse or ugly or profane or evil or wicked (see Moro. 7:17). Conscience affirms the reality of the Spirit of Christ in man. It affirms, as well, the reality of good and evil, of justice, mercy, honor, courage, faith, love, and virtue, as well as the necessary opposites—hatred, greed, brutality, jealousy (see 2 Ne. 2:11, 16). Such values, though physically intangible, respond to laws with cause-and-effect relationships as certain as any resulting from physical laws (see Gal. 6:7–9). The Spirit of Christ can be likened unto a “guardian angel” for every person. 2 The Spirit of Christ can enlighten the inventor, the scientist, the painter, the sculptor, the composer, the performer, the architect, the author to produce great, even inspired things for the blessing and good of all mankind. This Spirit can prompt the farmer in his field and the fisherman on his boat. It can inspire the teacher in the classroom, the missionary in presenting his discussion. It can inspire the student who listens. And of enormous importance, it can inspire husband and wife, and father and mother. This inner Light can warn and guard and guide. But it can be repulsed by anything that is ugly or unworthy or wicked or immoral or selfish. The Light of Christ existed in you before you were born (see D&C 93:23, 29–30), and it will be with you every moment that you live and will not perish when the mortal part of you has turned to dust. It is ever there. Every man, woman, and child of every nation, creed, or color—everyone, no matter where they live or what they believe or what they do—has within them the imperishable Light of Christ. In this respect, all men are created equally. The Light of Christ in everyone is a testimony that God is no respecter of persons (see D&C 1:35). He treats everyone equally in that endowment with the Light of Christ. It is important for a teacher or a missionary or a parent to know that the Holy Ghost can work through the Light of Christ. A teacher of gospel truths is not planting something foreign or even new into an adult or a child. Rather, the missionary or teacher is making contact with the Spirit of Christ already there. The gospel will have a familiar “ring” to them. Then the teaching will come “to the convincing of [those who will listen] that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations” (Book of Mormon ). The idea that with the Crucifixion of Christ the heavens were closed and that they opened in the First Vision is not true. The Light of Christ would be everywhere present to attend the children of God; the Holy Ghost would visit seeking souls. The prayers of the righteous would not go unanswered. To describe the Light of Christ, I will compare or liken it to the light of the sun. Sunlight is familiar to everyone; it is everywhere present and can be seen and can be felt. Life itself depends upon sunlight. The Light of Christ is like sunlight. It, too, is everywhere present and given to everyone equally. Just as darkness must vanish when the light of the sun appears, so is evil sent fleeing by the Light of Christ. There is no darkness in sunlight. Darkness is subject unto it. The sun can be hidden by clouds or by the rotation of the earth, but the clouds will disappear, and the earth will complete its turning. According to the plan, we are told that “it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things” (2 Ne. 2:11). Mormon warned that “the devil … persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him. “[Now] seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully” (Moro. 7:17–18). This Light of Christ, which gives life, is within you. The evil one will attempt to obscure it. It can be so clouded with confusion so far as to convince you that it does not even exist. Just as sunlight is a natural disinfectant, the Spirit of Christ can cleanse the spirit. Every soul, no matter who or where or when, is a child of God. Our responsibility is to teach that “there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding” (Job 32:8). “Every man can receive a manifestation of the Holy Ghost, even when he is out of the Church, if he is earnestly seeking for the light and for the truth. The Holy Ghost will come and give the man the testimony he is seeking, and then withdraw; and the man does not have a claim upon another visit or constant visits and manifestations from him. He may have the constant guidance of that other Spirit, the Spirit of Christ.” 3 The Spirit of Christ is always there. It never leaves. It cannot leave. Everyone everywhere already has the Spirit of Christ, and while the Spirit of the Holy Ghost can visit anyone, the gift of the Holy Ghost is obtained “by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel” (A of F 1:3), by submitting to “baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; [and the]laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost” (A of F 1:4). It is not automatically present like the Spirit of Christ is present. This gift must be conferred by one holding authority (see A of F 1:5). That is what we are commissioned to do, to foster the Light of Christ, which is within every soul we meet, and bring souls to the point where the Holy Ghost may visit them. And then, in due time, they can receive, through the ordinance, the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is conferred upon every member of the Church. Once a person has received that gift of the Holy Ghost and can cultivate it together with the Light of Christ, which they already have, then the fulness of the gospel is open to their understanding. The Holy Ghost can even work through the Light of Christ. 4 The Light of Christ is as universal as sunlight itself. Wherever there is human life, there is the Spirit of Christ. Every living soul is possessed of it. It is the sponsor of everything that is good. It is the inspirer of everything that will bless and benefit mankind. It nourishes goodness itself. Mormon taught: “Search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ” (Moro. 7:19). Everyone knows about sunlight. When you liken the Spirit of Christ to sunlight, ordinary examples from your own experiences may come to your mind. These examples are almost endless. These examples can be understood by little children or by adults, as the parables of Christ can be understood. It should not be difficult to teach how revelation can come through Light, even though we do not know exactly how inspiration works. Man himself, with all his limitations, can convey messages through fiber-optic cables. A single tiny fiber of glass, smaller than a human hair, can carry 40,000 messages at the same time. These can then be decoded and turned into sight and sound and color, even motion. Man can do that. A laser beam, where there is no wire or fiber at all, can carry 100 billion bits of information in a second. If man can do that, why should we marvel at the promise that the Light of Christ is in all of us and that the Holy Ghost can visit any of us? It should not be difficult, therefore, to understand how revelation from God to His children on earth can come to all mankind through both the Spirit of Christ and the Holy Ghost. This Light of Christ is everywhere in the scriptures. The Doctrine and Covenants is a very rich source of teaching on the Light of Christ. For example, it speaks of “the light of truth; which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. … He is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made” (D&C 88:6–7). Ordinary teachers responsible to teach the doctrines and to testify of spiritual things have within their own personal experience everyday things which can be likened unto things which are spiritual. Then the Light of Christ can be ignited by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. We are told that then “the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26). President Harold B. Lee explained: “That light never entirely goes out … [speaking of the Light of Christ] unless we commit the unpardonable sin. Its glow may be so dim that we can hardly perceive it, but it is there for us to fan into a flame that shall burn brighter with understanding and with knowledge. Except for that, we wouldn’t be able to achieve. Ourmissionary work would come to naught.” 5 If we understand the reality of the Light of Christ in everyone we see and in every meeting we attend and within ourselves, and understand the great challenge that we have—the surroundings in which we live, the danger which sometimes besets us—we will have courage and inspiration beyond that which we have known heretofore. And it must be so! And itwill be so! All of this is a dimension of gospel truth that too few understand. May you prayerfully and diligently endeavor to comprehend the meaning of these principles, and then begin to apply them. As you do, then follows the testimony that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, that the Restoration of the gospel is a reality, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” (D&C 1:30). Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father. And from Him emanates the Light of Christ to all mankind. May you who are called as missionaries or teachers and you who are parents “feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do” (2 Ne. 32:3). In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

"Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand

I just finished the book by Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken. This powerful story of a military World War II bombardier, plainly illustrated the cycle of the healing for someone who has experienced Post Traumatic Syndrome. I was so impressed by Hillenbrand's insight, breathe of knowledge, and ability to lead the reader through the healing process without staging or pushing. It was brilliantly written. Stories of survival from abuse of any kind start first with the revelation of the acts of abuse and how the victim innitially responses. Healing from abuse is quite tricky and not for the faint of heart. The resentment, anger and vengeful spirit that is cultivated by the victim can only be tempered by God. It is a humbling insight to see God's hand in molding people from this all too common life malady or the distructive influence that can be adopted by those who choose to harbor their wounds and offenses taken.

Family History Talk July 22 2012

“Collin L. Morse was courting his wife-to-be, Olivia hatch, in Salt Lake City. The grip of the depression was solid, and jobs were few. To earn a little money to meet the necessities of life and work toward their future, Collin traveled to Clinton, Montana, to top sugar beets. He located a small flat where he could stay in the town, shared by several other workers. Every few days, he would walk to a small store several blocks away to purchase...supplies...The path took him past a very small family cemetery in an open alfalfa field. Each time he walked by the cemetery he felt impressed to stop. On his last trip to the store he stopped and recorded the names and dates from each headstone. There were only five or six. They appeared to be from one family with the surname of Mitchell. He folded the paper and put it in his wallet. He returned to Utah and on Dec 14, 1934, married his sweetheart in the Salt Lake Temple. He and Olivia were blessed with four children. Over the next 22 years Collin worked hard to support his family. On many occasions, he cleaned out his wallet or replaced it. He always felt compelled to return the paper to his wallet. In 1954 Collin and Olivia moved their family to Independence, Oregon. There Collin was called to serve as the president of the Dallas Branch in Dallas, Oregon. One Sunday, Collin was talking with a branch member who said he was eager to continue genealogical research but had encountered a roadblock. Collin listened intently to the member. He recognized the surname sought to abe the one he copied from the gravestones years earlier. Collin pulled his wallet from his pocket and removed the folded list of names. He handed it to the branch member and asked if the information would help him The man stared at the names in amazement and then responded that the names were precisely those he had been looking for. Collin’s heart was filled with joy.” Church News 1993. This is one of the family history stories told in the Church News from 1993 . While not every search for ancestors has this dramatic evidence of the work of the spirit in people’s lives as this one does, I have found it to be much more common than I ever imagined. Last Saturday night at the advice of one of the BYU missionary genealogical consultants I was searching on the “Find a Grave” sight for my great-great-grandfather. William H. Staples. who died in 1910. Finding William’s parents has been a very difficult search because he moved away from the family land holdings and the county his family was from, Appomattox, had all the court house records burn in 1892. On “Find a Grave”,I went to several different counties with several cemeteries each looking for any evidence of a Staples family haven’t been born there, hoping to connect to my line. At midnight, after about 20 searches, before closing down the computer, in desperation and a little rebellion, I typed in “Where is the Staples Family from Amherst County buried?” I immediately received a “hit’ documenting a current amazon book for sale with viewing capabilities with several paragraphs about the Staples family, such as which brothers settled in that area, where they were from and where they had land holdings. It also explained why I was running into so many William H. Staples. It was a family name originating from the original settler in that part of Virginia. On Monday, I resorted to calling the library of Lynchburg Virginia to see if they had any biographies or obituaries from 1910 of members of the Staples family in their stacks. On Wednesday, the library called me back and told be that the newspapers did not have any obituaries from 1910 but suggested that I call the Jones Memorial Library in Lynchburg, Virginia. After calling them within three minutes, they were able to find the Will of William h. Staples died in 1910. i knew it was my William H. Staples because they mentioned his daughter Dotty Maud who married a Jimerson and my great-grandfather John Edward Staples. They emailed me a copy of the will and I immediately noticed that here was no mention of Dotty Maud in the will. I called back and asked “How do you know about Dotty Maud Staples, it isn’t in the will? and this was my identifying mark that let me know I was working with the right William H. Staples. The researcher, I had called out of the blue, replied that she knew, because Dotty Maud Staples having married Robert Jimerson in 1900 was part of her own Jimerson genealogical history. She had the following information and sources for me: Marriage certificate of Dotty Maud Staples to J. Robert Jimerson in 1900. Death certificate of Dotty Maud Stapes in 1906 Birth, death and marriage certificates of Dotty’s two children. The evidence of an additional grandson of William H. Staples, whose name was Carrington Staples. My heart was filled with joy. I can’t tell you how excited I was to have this information drop in my hands after my amateur genealogical efforts. You may be in for an experience just like this one, if you have any promptings to find or look at your genealogy. It will feel like you are restless or unsettled. You may feel most burdened by a nettling to do SOMETHING with your genealogy. Looking for ancestors you may feel frustrated and hear in your mind several times. “Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.” Genealogy has given me so much joy, kept me out of trouble, made me less selfish and is a continuing source of experiences that humble me and make me so thankful for this Gospel. I encourage everyone especially the youth to participate is this marvelous work and a wonder. And I say this in the name of Jesus Christ Amen

January 22, 2012 Tezra's Talk

Once at school somebody pushed me and I pushed him back. Then later Isaw the same boy that pushed me. Then I asked if he wanted to be friends and he said, "yes". I learned that making good choices helps us be happy and nice. I am responsibile for my choices.

Heavenly Father wants us to follow His plan and if we do good choices we are following His plan and can return to Heavenly Father.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.