10December2000 #0050.html

Journal

. . .

Dear Paul and Kate, Melanie and Jared, Bridget and Justin, Sara, Ben and Sarah, Heather, Audrey, Rachel, and Matt via hardcopy,

cc: file, Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, Claude and Katherine Warner, Lloyd and Luana Warner, Diane Cluff, Maxine Shirts via mail.

Welcome to "Thoughtlets." This is a weekly review of an idea, belief, thought, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit to you, my children, with an electronic copy to on-line extended family members. Any of you can ask me not to clutter your mail box at any time.

"Friday I had lunch with the Chief Operating Officer for EEX Corporation. His name is Dave Henderson and he lives across the street from the Green Trails pool on Shillington. He is very interested in some of the things in the Dynamic prospectus, and is particularly interested if we can help promote some very deep prospects they have identified and have purchased leases over. It was a neat discussion over a Greek salad and seafood gumbo.

After lunch I drove across the street to review where Dynamic is at with Sam LeRoy. He wasn't there. So I sat in the car, waiting for him to return from lunch, and I listed on the back of a card all of the companies we have feelers and proposals and prospects out to:

Since I havn't closed any deals yet, and in accordance with what I told Andrea I would do if I didn't have money to act like I have a real job by the end of this week, I called Digital Prospectors on the cell phone to see if there was a logical way to work together. Bradley Birkelo, a partner and geophysicist was tied up for the next week, and we set an appointment for a week from Monday (0052.html). Then I called Mike Dunn, the President of Geophysical Development Corporation (GDC). He was at lunch and his receptionist gave me his cell phone number. So I called him and interrupted his lunch. He asked me to come by about 2:00, and it was 1:00. I didn't want to spend a half hour driving out to the house and then a half hour driving back into GDC at Westheimer and Gessner (../9945.html, 0009.html, 0014.html, 0015.html, and 0046.html). I had no books with me except my journal, which I usually carry with me. And so I decided to read the 93 pages of notes I have written down in it since 19 Sept 2000 and John Lienhard's talk at the GSH luncheon (0039.html).

I do a pretty good job of taking notes (the journal I was reading from was #33 of those which Sara helped me organize and number a few years ago. As I read over these notes, I realized it would do me good to read over them more often. I was particularly touched by the notes from last General Conference. Specifically, as I read the last comments from President Gordon B. Hinkley on page 52, I realized what the title and theme of this week's Thoughtlet would be. My notes, starting in page 33, say:

`As you turn off the TV, remember a contrite heart still stands. If there is no improvement in our lives, the talks are a failure. Write down a phase or a paragraph which touched us and share it with your family.'

So here are some of the notes which were in my Journal from the last General Conference, which hopefully will be of some use to each of you:

`Constant pain is a great humbler. If we endure it well, we shall be exhalted. ... We all need the Holy Ghost to help us love God, our fellow ment, and then worldly power and riches become of no value.' Robert D. Hales, 12 Apostles `Temple work is the strongest evidence of our belief Christ will come again.' D. Todd Christopherson, Presidency of 70 `Come and see. He is the lamb without blemish or spot. Lay your burdens at his feet and find rest. He will heal your soul and make you whole. All are alike unto God. Com and see the people of God building His city. The fruits of gospel living are good. He will wrap you about in the cloak of His love.' Alexander B. Morrison, 70 `83,000 went through the Boston temple. The first temple in the home of freedom represents the coming together of the freedom of the United States and the Church.' Loren C. Dunn, 70 `Our outward lives reflect our insides.' Margret Nadauld, President `If we are lost and have no map then we call for help. Where? Turn to Him who knows us best. The Standard Works provide a standare of measurement, like the Department of Standards. Few find the way because they ignore the map God has given us, and He is the maker of the map. Those who let the Internet take over their time poison their minds with pornography and they cease to be servants, serving false gods. ... The development of character comes bo focusing on who we are. To feast means more than to taste. The words of the scriptures become embedded in the fleshy tables of the heart. Truth is indivisible. Danger lurks when we fractionalize ourself with our private life, professional life, or addictie drugs. We must regain integrity of truth in all aspects of our lives.' Russel M. Nelson, 12 `Just had 94th birthday. Eyesight is not so good, and yet as it is worsens, vision improves. ... Life is a great chain of generations, and the key is to not be a weak link.' David B. Haight, 12 Apostles `Making a step into the unknown builds us up. Bearing testimony is a trial of faith. Bore apostolic testimony.' Joseph B. Wirthlin, 12 `Repentance is something we should always do. It is not optional. We need to repent and call on God each day of our life. Full repentance results in forgiveness. ... If you have repented of serious sins and feel you will always be a second class citizen in the Kingdom of God, Lucifer will attempt to get you to relive the mistakes in order to gain control over you. When past mistakes cross your mind, turn to Christ.' Richard G. Scott, 12 `"Ha" means the breath of life in Hawaiian.' Donald L. Hollstrum, 70 `Six of eight grandparents immigrated from Europe and all joined the church. The savior's ministry is `one-by-oine' as shown in III Nephi. Christ ministers to all of us one-by-one.' Ronald A. Rasband, 70 `The true church of Christ is filled with light. Developed spirituality separates us from the secular world. Every bush is afire with God, and only those who see will take off their shoes. J. Ruben Clark taught we should never read anything we don't want to remember.' Douglas L. Callister, 70 `The gospel encourages us to become something rather than to learn something. It is not enough for any of us to go through the motions. A parable of inheritance: that which I have I can give you (a Ken Turner original for instance); that which I am you must learn yourself. To testify is to know and to declare. The conversion to Christ requires us to do and to become. Conversion starts with being born again. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan to help us become, to prepare to meet God. Reduce statistical measures and focus on what we are striving to become. ... Charity is something one becomes. Some have been prepared and are like the dry mix only needing water (i.e. baptism) to be able to perform. Instead of being judgemental of others, we need to look at ourselves.' Dallin H. Oaks, 12 `The unspiritual is reaching every home. ... Like goldfish in a bowl some are mindless of who changes the water or gives the pellets. Some want to have it all now. No remedy is more powerful than accessing the gift of The Holy Ghost. Be weary when some demand public tolerance of their private indulgences. The returning prodigals are never numerous enough, and yet many return regularly. ... Moments are the molecues of eternity. ... Isn't it marvelous, God who knows everthhing, still takes time to listen to our prayers.' Neil A. Maxwell, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles `You of the rising generation will need to use the priesthood often and in unanticipated ways. Sanctify yourself, for tomorrow the Lord has much for you to do. ... Flee youthful lusts and call on the Lord. Amusement: "A diversion of the mind to deceive." Every square inch and every second is claimed and counterclaimed by God and Satan. Public appetite and public laws never close down. Avoid at all cost those who tempt you. Willimam Wordsworth wrote "The world is too much with us" 200 years ago. What would he say today. Lightening will strike. Be prepared.' Jeffrey R. Holland, Quorum of the 12. `Alma taught us to trust no one to be our teacher, unless he is a man of God. Listen, ponder, and carefully consider teachings.' Dennis B. Neuenschwandler, Presidency of the 70. `How do you folks like hunting snipes. Satan wants to fill our bag with the good life. Immorality, in all of it's forms, including pornography, language, etc, is in our bag. "Everybody is doing it." "Nobody will know." "So what, you can repent later and still go on a mission or go to the temple." The Lord has warned us of Satan's deceit. Wickedness never was happiness. We are the ones chosen to hold God's priesthood. We can discern between Satan's snipes and God's eternal principles.' Richard C. Edgely, Presiding Bishopric. `The war for the souls of man is still in affect. There is a battle each of us must wage within ourselves. Never experiment with any addictive substances. The Mr. Hyde side of us says it is OK to look at pornography. Real disconnection. Pornography is addictive and is a posion. Premediated repentance is false. True repentance is a long hard process.' James E. Faust, 2nd Counselor. `The world seems to have slipped from the moorings of safety. Look to the lighthouse of the Lord. Prayer provides peace. Faith preceeds the miracle. Honesty is the best policy. Faith and doubt can not exist in the same mind at the same time.' Thomas S. Monson, 2st Counselor in the First Presidency. `Repetition is a law of learning. Nothing has as profound an influence on you as how your children turn out. There are some of our young men slipping into the fog of failure. ... Bad things happen after 11:00 PM. Teach sons and daughters in the ways of the Lord: 1. encourage good friendships; 2. teach self respect; 3. Tatatoos are no good, it is graffiti on the temple of the body; 4. Multiple rings and piercings are inappropriate; 5. Stay away from drugs; 6. Teach honesty and how small lies lead to large lies; 7. Teach virtue. 8. Divorce has become so common, we need to realize divorce is failure; and 9. Teach children to pray.' Gordon B. Hinkley, Prophet. `As a youth received a testimony of the three witnesses. Henry D. Moyle interviewed David Whitmer, who told him he held the gold plates and he saw an angel. There are 643 stakes in Latin America where there was 1 stake sixty years ago. ... "I have heard His voice and felt his spirit and influence." All can receive this knowledge to some degree." James E. Faust, 2nd Counselor in the First Presidency. `If we clean the corners, the center of the room stays clean. Thoughts are in the corners of our mind. Inescapeably our thoughts shape our mind. Rapidly alter our thought and we modify material. Thoughts rapidly crystalize as actions.' L. Tom Perry, Twelve Apostles. `If we follow the Savior we will not walk in darkness.' Virginia Jensen, 1st Counselor in the Relief Society. `We are too proud to pray to God who made us. Identify patterns in a family of love: pattern of prayer; library of learning (our lives may be the book our children choose to follow, our lives can not be closed); legacy of love. In the end what matters is who we have loved and who loves us. President McKay: "A true Mormon home is one where if Christ happened to enter, he whould choose to linger on."' Thomas S, Monson. `Millennial year has been remarkable for the church. Passed 11 million members. In 1947 at the Centennial of the pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley, there were 1 million members and 50% lived in Utah. Now there is only 15% of the church membership in Utah. ... Isaiah's prophecy also relates to The Conference Center, as well as the Salt Lake Temple.' President Gordon B. Hinkley. `The body is the foundation of our spirit. We would not paint the temple with dark pictures. Gender is an essential characteristic of pre-existent, mortal, and eternal life. The stricted commandments are tied to helping us keep control of our body. We are free to choose a path which could dry up the fountains of life.' Boyd K. Paker, Acting President of the Quorum of 12 Apostles `"The Sisters are the Lord's secret weapon." Sheri Dew. Now is the time to be more bold reaching out to others.' M. Russell Ballard, 12. `To retain a remission of our sins: 1. remain humble and submit to the Lord; 2. call upon the Lord daily; and 3. stand steadfast.' Keith Crockett, 70 `The Sabbath lasts all day. It is a true principle bringing great blessings. Leviticus 26:2-12' H. Aldridge Gillepsie, 70. `Fear of rejection or fear of hurting a friendship is the most common reason for not doing more missionary work.' Robert C. Oaks, 70. `Joseph Smith's prayer was the most important event of the last 200 years. Nothing is impossible to those who firmly believe in Jesus.' F. Enzio Busche, 70 emeritus. `Parents need to teach children to pray. ... Prayers are answered when we teach forgiveness, like when Enos prayed for forgiveness of sins. The only real tragedy is if we are apart forever.' Henry B. Eyring, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

There is great wisdom in these notes from my journal. And yet, as President Hinckley so plainly said, `If there is no improvement in our lives, the talks are a failure.' So hopefully by writing some of the words out, they will touch you as they have touched me. Of course, if you skipped reading the words, there is no chance they will touch you.

As far as how the week went: kind of slow. Monday I had a nice lunch at Carmellos with Don Herron of BP. Opportunities for Chroma Energy in about February. In the evening I had dinner with Roger. Dynamic is now 100% owned by me, and Roger, Albert, and others will earn stock based on performance. We played Clue for Family Home Evening. We had tithing settlement after the missionaries stopped by. It was nice to go to tithing settlement with Matt and Rachel and Andrea.

Wednesday I took the revised prospectus over to Tom Piletary, Joe Robert's friend and office manager. It was raining and we ended up talking for a while. One of the guys there pointed out to everyone there that I am personally responsible for 90% of the geophysicists in the oil industry losing their jobs and not being able to be rehired. I've heard this before, and I feel sorry for those who did not retrain themselves. The workstations have created a lot of jobs too, and I have never done the numbers to see the net number that actually lost their jobs because of Landmark technologies. I had an RC-SIG teleconference call at noon. Paul, we will have the next RC-SIG meeting at Iowa State on May 9th and 10th, if you want to plan an interview trip at that time. The venturing crew planned a campout at Sam Houston State Park on December 22nd and 23rd, and at Guadalupe State Park over Spring Break (although I hope to be with Andrea in Japan over Spring Break at a Virtual Reality Conference). It was an allright evening.

Thursday was the big call to Richard Nehring by Sam LeRoy and myself. He is still interested in an exclusive arrangement with Dynamic. He will talk to his partner (wife) about it over the weekend and we will talk again on Monday. Andrea fixed dinner for Tana Holmes on Thursday, because her father-in-law died and she had a lot of family in town. I went to the grocery store to get wide egg noodles for Andrea and on impulse bought the latest Tom Clancy Power Plays novel called Bio-Stike. I finished page 453 last night. It has some of the pornography the General Authorities talked about, and the science was really interesting. Maybe I'm caught in the web now. I had a Personal Priesthood Interview with Bishop Feil at 6:45 PM. It reminded me of the old days when I served in the Bishopric with him. We went to the Orchastra, Band, Choir Concert at Taylor High School. I read my book during the performance, and becuase I can multiprocess, I still know the performance was really good.

Friday I got a couple of documents bound for EEX and went to the lunch I mentioned at the beginning. In the evening Andrea and I went to the Ward Christmas Party. Rachel had a date and Matt wanted to stay home. The gymnasium was still set up like Bethlehem. Brother Nichols did a wonderful job of creating the sets. The dinner was salad and soup and deserts. It was really good. We took it all apart, and that took an hour with 4 electric screw drivers. Pretty intricrate work. When we got home I read. Saturday morning was another four hours of choir practice, and then I read until I finished the book. I did enjoy the book. There were a couple of breaks, including calls to Sara and to Melanie (Melanie I'm still working on an answer to your question!). Andrea made some really good goodies for a party after the Epiphany Concert.

I taught 30 Young Women today about work so Andrea and the other teachers could go to a Visiting Teaching Conference. It seemed to go OK. I took the scythe from Calf Springs Ranch to show the girls what was used when men like Grandpa Hafen really worked. I also gave them each a rock and sung a song I wrote on April 5th, 1973:

Spring 1. A flower pushed it's petals Through broken twigs and dried up leaves To put it's head where the sun could shine on it. It's roots were strong from melting snow, And so now was the time to grow, And search for light from above. C. Spring has come, Bringing new birth Of seeds planted yesterday. 2. A squirrel digs through dirt that's covered up his door And forms a little window So fresh air will come in. Having spent the winter Eating nuts within his hut It now is time to search for food once again. C. Spring has come, Bringing new life Awakening a sleeping world. 3. A little boy goes walking with his hand within the hand Of an old man who means so much to him. The old man is the young man's Granddad, And he's glad that he can take the boy for a walk in the country side. As they walk and talk they see a flower, And a squirrel in the sunlight that surrounds them. C. Spring has come, Bringing new life And memories of a job well done. Spring will come, And bring new life Reflections of work done today.'

They were quiet and polite and I even got a compliment when we were at the Epiphany Church this evening from one of them. Tonight was the annual joint concert with Epiphany. I thought it sounded wonderful and we had a good evening. The program this year was:

'The Glorious Sounds of Christmas Our Millennium Program Conductors: Carolee Weber and Michael De La Garza 1. People Look East 2. The Hills are Bare at Bethlehem 3. Dance and Sing For The Lord Will Be With Us (Children's Choir) 4. What Sound Upon the Midnight Air 5. Hark The Hearald Angels Sing (Congregation) 6. O Holy Night (Handbell Choir) 7. Shepherd's Pipe Carol 8. The Star Carol 9. O Come All Ye Faithful (Congregation) 10. What Can We Bring (Children's Choir) 11. O Love So Small 12. For Unto Us A Child Is Born 13. We Three Kings of Orient Are (Organ Solo) 14. We Have Seen His Star 15. In The Bleak Midwinter 16. Fantasia On Greensleeves (Orchestra) 17. Joy To The World (Congregation) 18. Hallelujah Chorus'

At the end Msgr. Jack M. Dinkins gave a placque to President Jones which reads:

`In this Jubilee Year, we the Community of Epiphany of the Lord Catholic Church thank The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the seven years of Friendship, faith, and hospitality. We pray God's blessing on all your membership. 10 December 2000.'

Afterwards Ken and Sarah Turner, Art and Ruth Henderson, and Frank and Ruth Belease came over to the house for refreshments and to talk. It was a really nice evening. One worth writing about in my journal. Since these Thoughtlets have taken the place of a daily journal, I guess I have. My mind runs to my missionary journal, HyperMedia HyperJournals, the Walden 3-D Journal (0039.html), and all of my work and church journals. It's too late to write about all of them, and they are there for reference and to be incorperated into the ELDO I intend to generate some day, hopefully not in the too far distant future. I hope each of you take time to write in a journal, and I hope you take the time to read what you have written and then to reflect on what you have read in your journal."

I'm interested in sharing weekly a "thoughtlet" (little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me) with you because I know how important the written word can be. I am concerned about how easy it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of daily life. To download any of these thoughtlets go to http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets or e-mail me at rnelson@walden3d.com.

With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)

. . .

Copyright © 2000 H. Roice Nelson, Jr.