"We had a very busy week here. Hopefully yours was just as fulfilling. I have not talked to several of you for several weeks. Hope you are doing OK, and hopefully I will have a confirmation of that when we talk later tonight. As I look back over the last week, it seems more like a month than a week. However, I'm tired today, and so I doubt if this is going to be an epistle like some Thoughtlets turn into. However, the title I've chosen as a theme for the week is very close to my heart, and so who knows how and what words will flow.
As I said, it was a very busy week. And the week ended with one of the strongest and most touching Fast and Testimony Meetings I have ever had the privilege to attend. And as I looked back at the week, and all of the different things which happened this week, it seems like the word testimony is the best summary for the theme of my week.
There was a photo from Audrey the Wednesday before last
Sunday, which summarized last Sunday afternoon, and I
attach it for your amusement. I have written about my
testimony of Home Teaching a lot of times (my search brought
up the phrase from 49 different Thoughtlets, with 41 lines
it was mentioned on in 0409.html).
Similarly, I have not been shy in writing about my testimony of singing and choir (the word choir shows up in 57 different Thoughtlets, often many different times. We had Ward Choir practice after sacrament meeting. As I was sitting next to one of the Brothers I have sung with for years, he started to ask me how work was going. I basically repeated what I had written about struggling with being perceived by my bosses as a salesman, after they had given me the title of Vice President of Business Development, which to them means salesman. He did not know I had gone to work for GDC 7 months ago. He asked about some of my other projects, which he was aware of. I told him they were pretty much on hold. And he said, `So if someone gave you a couple of million dollars would you be able to do something with them?' Anyone want to guess what my answer was? He agreed to come over Tuesday night and listen to me describe how I would use $2 million investment. After visiting the Schmidts for Home Teaching, later in the afternoon, I was working hard to get caught up on my Thoughtlets, and really did not want to go to Stake Choir, which has started as preparation for the Christmas concert with Epiphany. However, I realized I will be going back to China and missing some of the practices, so I decided I needed to go with Andrea. Plus it is nice to help her set up her room for seminary. So I went.
Sunday was Halloween, my least favorite holiday of the year. It is cute with little kids, but the blood and the gore and the rest of it is a little too close to home relative to things I grew up with in Nelson Meat Packing Plant. And I have a testimony that all of this stuff drives away the spirit. I do believe evil forces are real, and do not understand why anyone would want to celebrate evil. I was touched by an article in last Sunday's Chronicle, which talked about how much prominent writers and Roman Catholic Church officials have spoken out against Halloween in Mexico. They refer to it as a commercial and pagan festival:
The article went on to say:
Kids see things differently. Matt is really into Halloween.
He dressed up with his scream mask on, sat on the steps,
and when little kids came up to the door he would move his
scythe and scare them. Maybe this was one of the reasons
I decided to go to Stake Choir practice. I have a
testimony one is more likely to feel the spirit of truth
singing praises to Heavenly Father than passing out candy
to trick-or-treaters.
Monday was quiet at work, mostly because Dave Johnson was still in Libya. I spent some time, including my lunch hour, working on updating my Cedar Cove presentation for my friend from choir. On the way into work, I've been listening to the Pat Gray show, a funny-guy Rush Limbaugh, which is hosted by Pat Heaney, who is in our ward. One of the callers made a statement which I considered as the theme for this week. He talked about how people were saying this is the most important election of our lifetime, and said, `Actually, we don't recognize it yet, but I think the previous election was the most important election of our lifetime.' These words resonate with me, and I expect that by the time you kids are interested in going back and rereading these words, you will see that history agrees with this statement.
Matt did the Family Home Evening lesson. It was about land mines and being guided by the still small voice. We each took a turn being blind folded and listening to someone representing the still small voice and someone representing the devil try to guide us through or into the land mines (pillows) scattered on the floor. I admit, it was fun. Then we played hide-and-seek. Andrea won. Oh well. (Not that I'm competitive or anything.)
Tuesday morning I looked at my voter registration card, only to find that it had expired. I was quite upset. I decided to go to the polls anyway, and actually stood in line for 50 minutes not knowing if I would be able to vote. I showed my driver's license and was listed, and so I voted. It felt good. I have a testimony of the importance of the right to vote. I called Rob as I left Pattison Elementary, pleased to have him pick up, and sang `Happy Birthday' to him. He asked if I wrote the song. He said he would come over to pick up his present, and he hasn't yet. Oh well! Then I went to the drivers license office off of the Toll Road and renewed my drivers license. I got to work just in time for the status meeting on Tile-02. Things started to heat up at work on Tuesday, and I was worn out by the time I got home. After dinner, I set up the computer and got all of the files on Walden 3-D's history (see http://www.walden3d.com/w3d/papers) and Red Cove (0436.html) up on the system for my friend from Ward Choir. Then there was a call, saying he was all caught up in the election returns and wanted to know if we could postpone until Wednesday night. With a firm understanding of the investment golden rule, i.e. he that has the gold rules, I said sure. Even though I knew Andrea would not be pleased.
Audrey, thanks for calling and wishing me a Happy Birthday on Tuesday. As Andrea left for seminary on Wednesday morning, she gave me my present. Then she showed up at work with a birthday cake and got a bunch of the people there to sing Happy Birthday to me. I was definitely embarrassed. Oh well! It was the Owl picture my Dad had given me years before, in a beautiful frame, for my office at home or at work.
Andrea's friend Carole Hulet, Carole's mother Laurel, and her sister-in-law Melanie Hulet arrived for the quilt show on Wednesday. I was very busy at work, and still left early enough that I could meet them at Carmello's for a nice dinner at 6:00. We had a good time, and the food was very nice. Andrea kept saying it was my favorite restaurant, and then when she pointed out this was the first time we had ever been there together, Mrs. Hulet minced her eyebrows. Oh well! I got a call from Luis Viertel in Mexico about the Pemex work during dinner. I don't think it was too obtrusive. None of us ate dessert. Matt drove home. He had a hard time getting out of a very packed parking lot. But we made it, and he went straight to the church for Mutual. Carole was very impressed with his driving, and pointed out several times how Matt is in a much different place than he would have been without me in his life.
My friend from Ward Choir showed up shortly I got home. We spent an hour-and-a-half going through the material I had prepared. He pointed out he normally does not make glib comments, and he also said he was very interested in what I showed him. I cut him a CD and he said he would show it to a couple of his associates who were very interested in or working in Real Estate development. As he left, I thought of the bid deadline coming up on November 18th for the Barker Reservoir Property, and how I had just said to myself, if this is something the Lord wants to happen, he will open the doors. As I thought this, there was a burning inside, and I received a confirmation that if the new city ideas I have pursued so hard and for so long are to happen, they will happen when the Lord wants them to. And this is certainly fine with me, especially as my only goal is to create a better world for you kids and to do this by helping to build up His Kingdom here on the earth.
As I told my friend, Landmark Graphics was intended, if only in my mind, to be the economic and demographic basis of a social experiment. China Cattle Corporation was formed to provide meat for the city. Walden 3-D was formed to be the general contractor for building the city. HyperMedia was to provide an information framework for the city. Advanced Structures Incorporated was to build the framework for the city. Dynamic Oil & Gas (later including Dynamic Resources Corporation) was to provide energy for the city and money to build it with. Continuum Resources Corporation was to provide a way for potential investors and inhabitants to view the city in virtual reality. And, of course, every time I go to Cedar City I stop at Ray Gardner's office and we talk about what it takes to make some progress on the city. Anyway, as Andrea has resolved in her mind, it is my hobby, and it is better than many hobbies men have. And as I've resolved in my mind, it will happen if and when it is suppose to. Not before.
Thursday was really busy at work. I was talking to Jialin Yan first thing in the morning on both Thursday and Friday. Looks like my next trip to China will include trips to the Tarim Basin, to Tibet, as well as to Da Qing, Ji Dong, Loe Hie, and Sheng Li Oil Fields. Also, Dave wants me to go to Libya on the way to or from China. So it will probably be another around the world trip. If I'm doing that, I'm going to go to Benin and see Sara Ellyn. So just thinking about all of this is enough to make me tired.
When I got home on Thursday there was no one here. Andrea and friends were at the Quilt Show. Matt had tried out for being the Jester in The Madrigal Dinner, and then had gone to a JV football game. It turns out he made it, and he is so excited to be the Jester. He also brought home the best report card he has ever brought home. Matt, I am very proud of how well you are doing. In a very real sense it restores my sense of value as an individual, knowing I made a difference with you, and knowing I could have made that same difference with Rob, had he not left / been pulled out of my influence. Oh well! It is a type of testimony, and actually, from my perspective, the most important type. So I went up to Hartz Chicken, across the Freeway on Fry Road, and ate dinner, came back and escaped into my youth, watching Gunsmoke and Rockford Files. When the ladies came back, they all went upstairs and talked until after I went to sleep.
Friday morning was spent with Bjorn Wygrala of IES. He gave a great presentation to Lee, Mike, Dave, and Scott Burns. Lee later told me how much he loves their work, but how it can be of no benefit to GDC. The models they build are a variation of the velocity models GDC needs to build for pre-stack depth migration. Really it would be better for GDC to feed data to IES than vice-versa, like I was trying to set up. Oh well! I finished the Knowledge Management stuff I was doing for Dave to send to Libya, and then I started working on my paper which will be given next Tuesday at the Southwestern Louisiana Geophysical Society (SWLGS) meeting in Lafayette next Tuesday. Andrea took the ladies to the Houston Museum of Natural History, and I worked on my paper until they got to the Hunan Restaurant on South Post Oak Road just north of the Galleria and very close to the office.
They were all waiting for me when I got to the restaurant. We had a very nice meal. It turns out that Mrs. Hulet was a friend of Aunt Shirley when she was growing up. Aunt Shirley got to eat school lunches, and she didn't, because it was close enough for her to go home and the farm was too far away. One day at home she learned about Grandpa Nelson being electrocuted, and walked back to school with Aunt Shirley. She took each of the other kids aside and told them, and then a half-hour after they got back to school, they came and pulled Aunt Shirley out of class and told her. What a small world it is. Andrea had me tell them about my conversion experience in Corvallis (../9715.html). I have not told this life changing experience for a long time, and it was hard for me to tell it. I kept breaking up with emotion as I tried to describe how Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost reached down and gave me a testimony of the restoration. I felt there was a good spirit in the restaurant. My fortune cookie read:
After Andrea read this, she said:
I responded, `Yes, and summarized the upcoming
trip as it had been unfolding earlier in the day.
The ladies took the HOV lane and beat me home by about 15 minutes. Mrs. Hulet had gone upstairs to get ready for bed and Andrea and Carole and Melanie were watching JAG and talking when I got home. Matt wanted to play the computer, and I told him he could if he did not bother the ladies. He and they said he wouldn't. However, as soon as they saw the game he was playing, Diablo, both Carole and Melanie went upstairs. Before going upstairs Melanie told us she will not let that kind of game into her house. I think this is very interesting, and said so to Matt later in the weekend. Too bad I'm not a better parent, stronger at enforcing good and logical family rules.
The Thursday, November 4th, edition of The Katy Sun was at the house on Friday evening. The following article was on the front page:
Andrea first learned about the article when she got
to seminary on Friday morning. She read the article
to her class, and they ended up discussing it the
entire class period. I was really impressed with
some of the reactions of the kids, although I do
not remember all she told me. I'm pretty sure she
will be back at the school board meeting next month,
and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the kids in
her seminary class are the ones there talking to the
School Board. I'm very proud of the stand she has
taken. It has been interesting to see the reaction
of folks at church. Virtually everyone in
Priesthood Meeting signed the petition, and several
went to the meeting with Andrea. I was in Cancun
when the School Board Meeting happened. This is
an example of sharing a testimony of the importance
of the Sabbath by taking action.
Saturday morning I went over to the store early and bought roses for Andrea (I've tried to do this on Friday nights for the last several months, partly in an effort to keep up with Sam Hathorne, husband to Andrea's walking lady friend, Rita Hathorne). I also got some Vitamin B, because I ran out a couple of months ago and my arm has started to hurt again, like it did when I dislocated it in Denver (../9652.html). Oh well! When I got back all of ladies were downstairs eating breakfast, and were packed and ready to return to Utah. As Andrea had requested I sang `Froggie Learns the Gospel,' then I sang `The First Prayer,' then `Benjamin's Song' (Melanie Hulet has a Benjamin), and finally `Questions,' the song about whether dinosaurs all have white teeth, which was Benjamin's song Andrea originally wanted me to sing. It was fun. Then I dropped Matt off so he could go to his last football game. I had meetings at Velocity Data Bank and with Dick Coons, which finished about 4:00 PM. So I missed Matt's last football game.
Andrea and I went to see `Ladder 49' staring John Travolta in the evening. I think it is a pretty good capture of big city culture, in this case Baltimore, Maryland. As you all know, I disagree with all of the drinking. However, they did have a good time together, and the fire team became an extended family. It reminds me of the kind of relationships that build up when someone is active in their ward for many years, like my involvement in the Nottingham Country Ward.
This feeling from the movie was strongly reinforced in today's Testimony Meeting. I cried so much that I had a big headache when we got home from church, and I proceeded to take a two hour nap. Since I've written more than I thought I would, let me summarize.
Matt and Andrea were ready to leave for church when I came home from Welfare Meeting at 8:30. As Ward Employment Specialist, I go to the Ward Welfare Meeting each Fast Sunday morning. So we got to church early and helped set up the chairs for meetings in the overflow area and in the gymnasium.
As the meeting was about to start, John and Kathy McReynolds arrived and sat by us. John refers to himself as a reprobate, because he smokes and drinks. He knows the savior, and he attends church. And he comes with a strong tobacco smell on his clothes. Oh well. Guess this is right. After all, church is the right place for us sinners. The smell of tobacco is part of the spirit of the meeting.
Alex Beckstrom blessed the sacrament. Those who remember Alex will be very impressed. For those who don't, if you come and visit Nottingham Country Ward while he is still here, you will be impressed.
Bishop Camp has a very good spirit about him. It was his turn to conduct, and he bore a strong testimony, stressing how even though we all have problems, the Lord is there to help us and guide us. He definitely set the tone for the meeting.
Julie Caron (0428.html) was the first to get up and speak. What a strong little lady. I have felt sorry for myself and the unwanted changes that came into my life. Julie has one child, a child with serious mental challenges (Asperger's Syndrome), and she has been left alone in the world because of a motorcycle accident. Julie's words brought new perspective to the challenges of my life. Every since we worked together on The Ward Activity Committee I have felt very close to Julie and Charles and Emily. There is so much I would like to do for her, and I don't know what to do nor how to do it. Oh well! What a wonderful testimony.
Alan Peterson (0435.html) was the second to get up and speak. What a strong big man. Alan described his struggle with prostate cancer, with having his prostate removed, and with finding out that they have found cancer cells in his lymph nodes and it is now a matter of waiting to find out where it is going to show up next. He is taking a hormone treatment. The frank open comments that Alan made would not be found anyplace other than a very close community, in a church family. What humility. What strength. What a wonderful person and what a strong testimony.
Andrew Beckstrom bore his testimony next. Rachel, it was nothing like the first and last testimony meetings you went to this summer (mentioned the first time he did shared his experience of being lost in California and reported in Thoughtlet 0331.html). It was short, to the point, and his testimony rang true.
Christie Jasper was next to bear her testimony. I thoroughly enjoyed Home Teaching the Jaspers, and will be sorry to see them moving back to Coeur d' Alene, Idaho (0429.html). Her comments were a little bit too political for me. But the spirit was good, and she was simply opening her heart and sharing her testimony.
Jeff Jurinak got up and talked about communication, kids, sealing of children in temple, the return of his son Jared from his mission, how fathers feel about these things, and what a big deal really is. He didn't talk about just returning from Beijing, China and Ho Chi Ming City, Viet Nam and other similar places. Here is a humble man who is in the middle of billion dollar budgets for Conoco-Phillips, and who talks about the big deals in his life, about his testimony.
Rachelle Williams bore her testimony. She talked about being able to help others, about her eight kids, about her relationship with Christie and Christie's eight kids, and about her testimony of our Lord and Savior.
Tim Gebauer, our Home Teacher was next. He pointed out we often don't get everything pray for, or at least not when we think we deserve it. He basically repeated what he said to us last Sunday, after we returned from Stake Choir Practice, when he Home Taught us, late the evening of the 31st of the month. He has a new job in Southwest Bell. He has been praying for this for years. It is allowing him to spend time with his Mom and his sister. It is a challenge to have to commute to the Hobby Airport area each day, but it is an answer to his and Karen's prayers and how it had strengthened his testimony.
Ellen Camp was the last person to share her testimony. Like Bishop Camp, Sister Camp has always seemed like a very good and a very strong person. I felt this strength as she bore her testimony.
I felt drained as Fast & Testimony Meeting ended. And I had not said anything. However, I could definitely relate to the closeness among firefighters demonstrated in the movie `Ladder 49.' After several people finished talking to Julie, I went over and gave her a hug, and felt strength going out of me as she hugged me. I know she knows I care deeply for her and for Emily, and I know she knows I will be here to help them whenever and whatever they need. And I feel the same way about each of the individuals who bore their testimonies today.
Alan Peterson and I had an extended conversation about Dr. Nancy White, and how she has overcome a matasticized cancer simply by will power. Nancy has helped many people who have struggled with cancer (for example ../9805.html). Alan is going to call Nancy and learn what she has learned about cancer in the fifteen years she was not suppose to live. I hope it proves to be of some use to Alan. As he said in his testimony, the priesthood blessing he got before the operation included a promise he would not have any problems with the operation and that he would live to an old age. Maybe this connection will help the second promise come true. I talked about how I got much more help from Nancy than from the church. Alan told me no one at the church knew what to do to help. He thanked me for coming to visit him. I shrugged it off, and said he has done much more for me than I can ever do for him, specifically by recording my songs for you kids.
Ellen Camp (a) taught the High Priests Quorum a lesson on the ideal husband. I did not take notes, but she did hand some notes out if some of you guys are interested. I did write three possible stanza for Prime Words from her lesson:
It took me longer than I thought it would to write my
little thoughts about this week and about testimony.
And since Andrea has gone to sleep, I leave from work
tomorrow evening to go stay with Melanie and Jared and
Colby and Taylor on my way to give the talk at the
SWLGS Tuesday at noon, and will not be able to go over
her comments about this or the previous Thoughtlet on
The Da Vinci Code (0444.html), these Thoughtlets won't
be sent until later in the week. Oh well! Hopefully
when you receive them, you will read enough to know
that when it comes to the restored gospel of Jesus
Christ, I have a firm testimony."