Today was the first time in 6 weeks that I had been at a Sacrament Meeting in our church. I felt like a lost sheep returning to the fold. I miss those kinds of meetings and it is highly unusual that it would have been so long since I have been able to be there. Regardless, it was good to be back in church and I look forward to further activity in the future.
I had a special experience last Wednesday January 4. The Conditional Use Permit for the Payson River Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came before the Payson City Council for formal approval. It is not often in one’s life that one can be involved in such a historic event for Payson.
The whole project was presented to us. There appeared to be no dissent of any material kind. I was privileged to make the motion for the approval of the Site Plan. Additionally, I also made the motion for the approval of a Deferral Agreement. The vote was unanimous on all four motions made by the council. I am so excited to see this edifice built in our city. It will be a great addition to the church and to the city of Payson.
Today was a beautiful day. You would have never guessed it based on the weather. You would never have guessed it by whether the sun was shining or not. It was beautiful in a much different way.
Today was the groundbreaking service for the Payson Utah Temple. It rained all day Thursday, and even more and harder on Friday. One could hope that the heavens would have dried out after two days of soaking rain, but when I got up on Saturday morning the streets were wet and the skies were not blue. We had clouds, and rain, and not very nice weather for a groundbreaking ceremony that was to take place on a former wheat field.
We arrived at the site of the ground breaking and the rain kept on coming. In fact, I would swear that the rain was increasing rather than decreasing. The weather didn’t dampen our spirits however and we all waited patiently for the service to begin, knowing that in at least 26 Stake Centers in the central part of the state the majority of the members of the church had the opportunity to watch the service in dryness.
During the prayer, the supplicant pleaded with the Lord to temper the elements, and at that time, the rain stopped and only consisted of an occasional drizzle. It was a miracle. The service itself warmed the hearts of us all. The thought of a temple of the Lord being erected on this site was hear warming in the extreme.
Elder Oaks of the Twelve delivered an excellent talk and then used his Priesthood to dedicate and consecrate the ground to the building of a temple to the Lord. It was a spiritual feast for all of us that were in attendance. After his prayer, then the meeting ended and the breaking of the ground started to occur. First, the 4 general authorities in attendance turned over shovels of earth. That was followed by 26 Stake Presidents in attendance. My dear friend and associate President Wayne Pullan, whom I served with as a counselor when he was Bishop of the Page Ward that participated.
A personal experience of delight came when Elder Oaks invited the city officials, one of which I am, to come up and turn shovels of dirt and participate in the ground breaking. It was a neat experience to be able to participate in such a sacred ceremony, and do it as an official of Payson City. This will be a highlight of my service on the Payson City Council and as a member of the church. I look forward to the time, in 2.5 years, when the temple is finished and dedicated and I can walk its hallowed halls and participate in ordinances for the dead.
Finally, deacons were asked to come up and we also had many others, including my daughter Julie, who took the opportunity to get up and turn a shovel full of earth. It was a day to remember. It was a beautiful day.
It seems that I am not always correct in what I write. We recently had our new Stake Presidency called, sustained, and set apart. In my previous post I indicated that if I had someone at the top of my list, it was the kiss of death. Not so this time. I felt that Wayne Pullan was going to be the man called to be our President, and I heard his name from the pulpit and happily raised my hand to sustain him. May the Lord bless him and his family.
While recently on my cruise I saw a very interesting meeting. I was walking through one of the buffets when I came upon a meeting that I did not at all expect. We had previously observed a group of orthodox Jewish people on the ship. They had kept to themselves when eating and we noticed that they had a rabbi so they were eating most likely Kosher food, blessed in some way by the Rabbi.
The night in question, a Friday night, I came upon them in the back of the boat, meeting together around some tables in that buffet, chanting and singing. For a moment, I wondered why they were doing what they were doing until I realized that since it was a Friday night, it was the beginning of their Sabbath. I thought it special that they found a unique sanctuary for their service, and could meet even on the high seas in such a busy place as a buffet on the stern end of the Crown Princess. This world is an amazing place, and I am privileged to be here.
My trip to Wyoming and South Dakota brought back to me a legacy of history that I share in because of my family’s heritage. We visited many sites along the Mormon Trail, including such places as Martin’s Cove and the Mormon Trail. I have wonderful ancestors, who sacrificed everything they had to come to a new land and forge a new life. I don’t think many of us these days would be willing to leave a nice, warm house, and leave behind all of our possessions and risk family, life, and comfort for a new found religion and the promise of Zion. I would hope that I had that courage, but don’t know because I am not sure that I have ever been tested.
This trail, which I have seen, winds through Nebraska, Iowa, Wyoming, and Utah. It is a trail of faith and hardship. It is a trail of the forging of faith. It is a wonderful place. It is a somber place. I pray that I will be equal to my ancestors in the living of my faith.
If You Want to Be The Bishop You Have to be Nuts
I have the blessing to serve as a counselor to Bishop Wayne Pullan of the Page Ward. I have served as a counselor to two other Bishops, Bishop H.P. “Ted” Cardon of the Southfield Ward in the Bloomfield Hills Michigan Stake and Bishop David G. Ditto, of the Cheyenne 3rd Ward of the Cheyenne Wyoming Stake. I have had the opportunity to watch these Bishops serve and see the impact it has on their lives.
They are truly great men who serve with the interests of their members at heart. They are blessed by the Lord. However, I have also concluded that if you aspire to this office you must be nuts. Why? Bishops have great demands on their time. They sometimes put in 30 hours a week over the time their full time job takes, and I am sure that they are thinking, dreaming, or experiencing the calling the rest of the time. I am told that they receive great blessings for their service and sacrifice and certainly I have been a first hand witness of those blessings. However, I don’t believe that I have the ability to handle the kinds of stress that they experience. They are truly great men. I know the Lord blesses them. I would be nuts to want to take on their responsibilities.
Today was a special day for me. We visited Martin’s Cove (actually the Sun Ranch) for a second time. My Great, Great, Great Grandfather, Richard Collings and his family were part of the Martin Handcart Company that suffered such great challenges when crossing the plains in 1856. This handcart company suffered many deaths and much misery, yet my ancestors and many others remained true to the faith. I just pray that I will have similar courage when the challenges mount in my life.
One of the great curses of being part of a Bishopric in our church is the fact that it should be impossible to fall asleep in church. As my wife will attest, that is one of my favorite activities. When I was sitting in the congregation, one of the things I really liked to do in the past was sit in a pew that was against a load bearing wall. Once the meeting got started, I would lay my head against the wall and voila, I was asleep, catching some well deserved rest. My wife, being the good woman she is, realized that I should actually be learning something in Sacrament meeting, so she would wake me up. When she realized that was not going to keep me from getting some shut eye, she told me that I was forbidden from sitting next to the wall.
Next, she even refused to sit there and therefore we would sit in a row of chairs (not a pew, which was way too comfortable for me) and then we would try and listen. My eye lids would prove to be way too heavy and I soon would be having my head fall forward and sometimes that would wake me up, and sometimes it wouldn’t. That is how I learned just how sharp my wife’s elbow could be, as she would jab me in the side so that I wouldn’t embarrass her.
Apparently my heavenly father didn’t appreciate me falling asleep in church, so I was called to a position that would force me to sit in front of everyone in the ward on a row facing the congregation. Now I was trapped, with everyone watching whether or not I fell asleep. Unfortunately, even sometimes in front of a lot of people I would fall asleep, but I must admit that I probably fall asleep less in church.
Those of us that are somewhat older than the majority of the membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints remember Elder LeGrande Richards of the Quorum of the Twelve. He was a great man. He was a former Presiding Bishop of the church, and his roots in the church ran way deep.
No one who ever heard him speak will soon forget him. He would wind up (with no written talk in front of him) and get going, almost screaming out the words with force as he bore his testimony regarding the great latter day work of the church. He was an incredible man of great testimony. Those of us who knew of him, knew that we loved him. The church is a poorer place due to the lack of his testimony now.