"Sunday it was confirmed that I will be speaking at two of my Primary Class members baptisms this next weekend. Saturday at 1:00 is Dylan Hutching's baptism. His Grandparents are going to be here from Hurricane, Utah and Oregon. Then Sunday at 5:30 PM is Ashley Siebert's baptism. In both cases, I have been asked to talk about The Holy Ghost. In both cases, I asked the Mom's if it is OK if I do something weird at the baptisms. Both mothers immediately said yes, followed by, that is what we like about you. So I have ended up spending all week thinking about what I can do that is weird and still follows the spirit of the meeting and of talking about The Holy Ghost.
The most that happened at work was that I walked 54 flights of stairs each day at lunch, for a total of 270 flights of stairs for the week. There was an e-mail on Monday telling me that there is no interest in investing in Dynamic Resources. Because there had been a positive e-mail before this, I was very disappointed. Oh well! I passed the e-mail to Bob Mishler, Eddy Rogers, and Merrill Littlwood. Eddy wrote back and said they were receptive to the idea, just not the structure, and so I should ask if there was a structure they are more interested in. So I did. Dave Johnson is very busy with the merger of Grant and Geokinetics. Mike went to Mexico on Tuesday. Luis was not here this week. Les was working on an II&T interpretation project. Carlos and I spent some time working on the new version of d-TIPS and making plans for the next version of GDCMOD, which Carlos is suggesting we name GLASS (Geokinetics Log Analysis Simulation System). I worked on the prototype Ward Abbott Atlas, and I admit I am not very excited about work these days. Oh well! Given our finances, it is obvious I will be here for a while.
Tuesday Matt called me at lunchtime, just after my walk. He has a friend who has a guitar he wants to sell, and Matt wanted to know if this is a good investment. My response was it depends. I told him the neck might be warped. He said he was told this, and that it could be fixed for $30. I told him it would be a good idea to get a firm bid from the guitar store before buying it. He agreed. Sounds good. My impression is he is listening to The Holy Ghost.
Wednesday about the same time Audrey called to tell me we are going to be grandparents again. She was very excited. The due date is about a week before Paul and Kate's announcement (0641.html). Joshua is estatic. They wanted to wait until they knew for sure before they told everyone. Audrey had a sonogram earlier in the day, listened to the the very fast little heart beat. She had already called Andrea. It was one of those nice phone calls one looks forward to. Audrey, I still have your wedding announcement on my file cabinet, and so I was looking at it as you were telling me the news. My how fast time flies. It is so nice to see the positive impact of The Holy Ghost in the life of those you love.
When I got home, I ended up spending the evening getting material ready for my talks on The Holy Ghost this next weekend. There was a timid knock on the door, and when I answered it, and guess who was there, to my pleasant surprise. It was Rob. I had not seen Rob for several weeks. He brought over a gift from Roice, a CD from called 'Gravitas - Portraits of a Universe in Motion.' He told me he has been busy because of a DWI ticket. I said, 'Good! I hope you learn from this experience.' I asked if this is why he lost his job delivering hazardous material, and he said yes. I reminded him he did not learn this type of activity from me. He said he is fighting the ticket, and that he had to go meet some friends at Bennigans. I told him it was good to see him, I hope he will come by more often. And I said, and meant it to the bottom of my heart: 'I love you!' And then I came back in the house and continued to work on my talks on The Holy Ghost for the weekend. Life is full of stark contrasts.
Thursday in the LDS Daily News there was the following talk by the Logan Temple President at BYU Idaho on the topic of The Holy Ghost:
Thursday evening we watched Smallville, and I cut up and pasted together the handout for Ashley's baptismal talk. Then I printed the page for Dylan's baptismal talk. Then I worked on catching up past Thoughtlets. Mabye someday I'll catch up. I'm still behind 21 weeks. Oh well! At least I am keeping up on writing the recent Thoughtlets, even if I haven't posted a Thoughtlet since 0607.html.
Friday was another slow day at work. I'm sure the biggest issues are in my mind. However, there is no question I am not excited to be at Geokinetics Processing and Interpretation. As I told Mike, it seems like I am simply working to make someone else a buck, I am really not making any progress on getting out of debt, and I am certainly not doing anything that makes the world any better place for my Grandkids. In other words, they will never realize the benefits of TILESTM, of a sale to China, of a new marketing brochure, etc. Oh well! In reality most of life is about living and attitude, and not about making a difference. Friday evening there was the newsletter from POPS (Pioneer Oil Producers Society, which I didn't read until Monday. It included some history from Bob Scott, who quoted Dr. Billy Graham as saying:
'A couple of years ago our lead story for this history segment wa about an energy pioneer as opposed to one from the petroleum industry, namely Dr. Albert Einstein. Well, a new yarn about the good Dr. has surfaced, illustrating one of his charming characteristics which I'm pretty sure is shared by many of us in this room. It seems Herr Dr. boarded a train in Priceton one day on his way to one of his many speaking engagements. When the conductor came by to punch his ticket he reached in his vest pocket and the ticket wasn't there. He then searched his coat pockets, his pants pockets, his briefcase and the seat beside him - still no ticket. The conductor then said "Dr. Einstein, I know who you are and I'm sure you bought a ticket, so don't worry about it." Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor moved on punching tickets and as he was leaving the car, glanced back and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees searching under the seats for that lost ticket. The conductor rushed back and said "Dr. Einstein, please don't worry. I know who you are. There's no problem. You don't need a ticket. I'm sure you bought one." Einstein looked up at the conductor and replied, "Young man, I too know who I am. What I don't know is where I'm going."
Saturday morning I woke up about 6:30. Read the paper. Worked on some stuff on the computer. Mowed the lawn. Cut down some more branches in the back yard. Cleaned up dead leaves on the banana tree, which ended up causing one of the largest branches to fall over. Oh well! Then I got cleaned up and ready for Dylan's baptism. Andrea was at a quilting course and running errands. Dylan's grandparents were in town from Hurricane, Southern California, and Corvallis. The program read:
My talk started putting out a red, yellow, and gray Chinese tie with identical writing on. I told Dylan his Mom had told me he really liked things from the Far East. I told Dylan I would give him one of these ties if he passed the test I was going to give him later in my talk, and that this would be of great use to him when he gets his mission call to New York City, or someplace else in the far east. Everyone laughed. Then I read D&C 130:22, which reads:
I told Dylan about being baptized as a youth, and not seeking nor finding the Holy Ghost until I was 18, away from home, in Corvallis, Oregon, where his Mom's Mom lives. Then I told him about meeting a hippie from Houston, Texas the summer of 1970,when I worked for Pan American Petroleum in Denver, and had him read the first phrase of D&C 101:16, which reads: 'Be still, my son, be still,' and proceeded to sing 'The first Prayer' (0044.html) with my guitar. I changed about 2/3rds of the chorus lines to say 'Be still, Dylan, be still.'
Then I talked about how the previous Sunday he had asked me to help him fill out his profile. When it got to his desired profession, he asked me what to put. I told him I thought philosopher would be a good answer. He said, 'What is that?' Then he asked, 'What are the guys who work with rocks?' I said, 'geologists,' and he said that is what he wants to be. So I read to him from the Preface to 'An Open Mind,' and from the beginning of the third chapter. It was too many big words for him. So I told him it was time to read to him what the three ties say. I told him the guy that translated it for me told me that no one else in the world would translate it the same, and so I assumed it was a made up translation, but that I like it:
Dylan selected the gray tie. And I told him that as he studies geology there will be people who tell him there is not a God. I told him to always remember that he could tell them one of his Primary teacher's was a geologist, and he knows that God lives and loves us, and I bore my testimony. It felt good.
I got home from the baptism at about 5:30 and Andrea and I left for the Ward Party and chile cook off at about 6:30. Several folks told me how much they liked the talk, as we entered the cultural hall. Sister Bancroft was the driving force behind the Ward Party. There were all kinds of chile and deserts. It was good. There was a professional square dance caller, and three squares of square dancers, many in their 70's. They gave us a show, then they came and got others, and taught us square dancing for quite a while. It was a good Ward Party. Best one I've been to since I was the Activities Committee Chairman. We came home and watched two episodes of season 3 of '24' (hours 5 and 6) before going to sleep.
Sunday morning I slept in until 10:00. Allergy season, and I'm wiped out all of the time. I did not have any Primary lesson preparation to do, because of the Primary Program next week (0643.html). The two hour practice took a long time. Sacrament meeting was nice. Our new Stake Patriarch, John Evans, talked. He used the distortion of Greenland to demonstrate what happens when a 3-D surface is mapped onto a 2-D map, and likened this to mapping a Patriarchial Blesssing onto a time line or place. Nice analogy. Patriarch Evans also talked about how without spiritual guidance, like saying our prayers or receiving a Patriarchial Blessing, there is an 80% chance a child living in todays world will be led astray, and participate in things like smoking or alcohol or immorality. He pointed out how these activities will build a barrier to guidance by The Holy Ghost, estrangement with parents and church members, and ultimately leads to unnecessary unhappiness, which, if not corrected, leads to what the scriptures refer to as hell. I wrote the following possible stanza for Prime Words based on his talk:
We sat next to the Hutchings. Sister Susan Hutchings from Hurricane told me she could never leave the red rocks of Southern Utah, and she is surprised Wade could. She pointed out how the red rocks get in your blood, and I thought I was talking to a farmer in Cedar Valley. After church we went home and Andrea cooked some pork chops. By the time we finished it was time for Ashley's baptism at 5:30. The program read:
During the Primary Program practice Ashley had asked me if my talk on the Holy Ghost was ready. I acted like I forgot, with a gapping mouth. She told her Mom, who was worried I had forgot. So when it was my turn to talk, I walked up front and said, 'Ashley, I' can't believe you thought I forgot your baptism. And after I thought about it a little, I decided it was a good I thing I tricked you, because I'm a guy, and for the next 10-15 years the only guys you should trust are him (pointing to her Dad) and him (pointing to the Bishop). Then I said I had the opportunity to give this talk yesterday, and so I will start with the same scripture and then see where we go. After I read the scripture, I asked Ashley what it will feel like to have a spirit dwell inside us? With all of the evil demons we see on television inside people's bodies, is this something we want? Then I described how the Holy Ghost gives us a warm and peaceful feeling in our heart, and this is very good. I pulled out the book 'Joseph Smith - the man and the seer' and told her I was reading this shortly after her Mom asked me to give this talk, and this story reminded me of her:
Then I reminded Ashley of times in Primary Class when she has told me about praying for something she had lost, and how she had found it shortly thereafter. I told her how much I appreciated her faith, and how much she adds to our class. Then I reminded her about my colored scriptures, and that her faith also reminds me of the faith of Nephi, and handed her my scriptures turned to I Nephi 11:2-22. Then I sang to her my version of Nephi's Vision (see 0317.html), with altering 2 of the four choruses from 'Blessed art thou Nephi, because you believe in the Son' to 'Blessed art thou Ashley, because you believe in the Son.'
After singing the song, I took back my old scriptures, and showed her my new scriptures, and how I am marking where ever it mentions God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Ghost in yellow. I gave her a copy of the spread-sheet I have prepared up through Exodus 14, showing I count God being referenced 168 times, Jesus being referenced 759 times, and the Holy Ghost being referenced 8 times. I said, 'The Holy Ghost is not talked about very much in The Old Testament. Then I explained how as I have been reading this, I noticed that it often says 'God said.' I asked 'If God said something, what does he need have?' 'A mouth,' was the answer. I explained that in these few chapters it says that God said something 89 times. I explained how wonderful it is that we have the restored gospel, and a better knowledge of our Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost and I bore my testimony. It felt good.
I got home just in time for Andrea and I go go back to the church for the first practice to get ready for the joint concert with Epiphany. Things are a lot better than a year ago, and the threats that were going on, and so I felt like I could go and participate and not detract from the spirit. It was a nice practice. We went through all of the songs, and they all seem reasonable. Afterwards, Andrea and I set up her classroom. We got home about 9:00. I was wiped out from talking about the Holy Ghost (or maybe allergies, or both), and went right to sleep. Bringing an end to a good week, even if I didn't get to talk to any of the 10 of you kids."