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D. Gardner

Greatness

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I just watched the movie Lincoln.  I am always amazed and deeply saddened by the cruelty and the injustices that people inflict on other people.  I look over recorded history, and it is sad that people have always sought ways to gain power over others.  Mostly through violent ways.  Sometimes the stories are about small groups, sometimes the stories are about complete nations.  To overcome this oppression it almost always it leads to violence. And much of this violence is war.

I cannot imagine the grief and suffering that people must endure because of war. And worse, the people who have the least control of the situation seem to bare the bulk of the suffering The mothers, fathers and families that have to endure the grief of losing a loved one in battle, sadly, these tragedies remain in our day. It is tragic that over 600,000 had to die fighting over slavery. But there is always hope because there are people who have the courage to rise above the oppression.  There are a few people, Lincoln being the one in the movie, that are truly magnificent and have the persistence, courage and vision to change the world.  Sometimes I wish I possessed some of those traits.  The reality is, I only possess enough of those traits to barely keep my life together.  I will always be amazed at this figures though out history.  These are the heroes, which possess; more than mortal qualities, noble and great individuals that show what it takes to change the world.  I am thankful there are a few out there that can change the world.

How can I give this Christmas season

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As I approach this Christmas season, I look around and I see and know of many in need.    My son is serving as a missionary in Mexico; One of his friends is in Africa,  and even here in Salt Lake City I see and know of people in need.  My son’s friend in Ghana Africa tells us about the people there that don’t have food in there houses, or clean water to drink.  I think he feels uncomfortable because he had grown up not realizing people had lived like that when he grew up in a place where we enjoy so much abundance.  I see and know of people in need right here in my city.  There are the homeless and the panhandlers I see every day.  I know of people suffering from Alcoholism and drug addiction.  I know of people suffering from loneliness and depression.  My first thought is, “I wish I had more money so I could do something that would help them.”

I have been thinking about this subject over the past couple of months as my son, and his Friend have been serving as missionaries in countries where people enjoy so little.  Then yesterday in church I remembered something that had happened to me in my own life that may be the answer.  One of my companions, when I was a missionary, was from Papua New Guinea, another one of those places where they don’t enjoy many luxuries.  Jimi Kairi remembers him, his mother, his brothers and his sisters going without food because his father would spend the little money he earned on Alcohol.  One day an older couple, who were missionaries from the US,  invited Jimi’s sisters to primary.  Primary is the meeting for children in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The girls enjoyed primary and told their brothers and sisters about it.  The whole family was taught the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The family,   including the parents made a commitment to follow Jesus Christ and joined his church.  Jimi said that this made a tremendous difference in his life because his father stopped drinking alcohol.  And used that money to buy food for his family.  Jimi said they were never  hungry again.

In America, and throughout the first world,  we don’t have a famine of food like many areas of the world, but there does seem to be a famine of happiness and peace.  Some places have a famine of all three things.   This I do know. If people make a commitment to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, they will stop the famines in their lives.  Making a commitment to follow Jesus Christ does not stop life from being difficult, it will not bring you worldly possessions, but it will bring us happiness and peace to our lives.  Some may argue the teachings of Jesus are old fashioned and explain they don’t need the binding chains of Christianity to make them happy.  I say let them try, maybe they can find happiness. But I can make you a guaranty.  If you make  a commitment to follow Jesus Christ, it will make you happy and bring happiness to your life.

So at this season of giving and throughout the year.   Even when I have no money to give.  I can give others hope for happiness and peace.

Think about the basic teachings of Jesus Christ.  If all people would follow these principles, it is easy to see that the world would be a better place.

Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself.  Treat others the way you want to be treated.   Do not lie.  Do not Steal.  Do not Kill. Do not sleep around.

And a couple from the modern era.  Do not take substances into your body that are dangerous and addictive.  Eat healthy

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple and easy to understand.   It is almost impossible to argue if all people would do those things then the world would be a better place.

My admonition to all the young men serving missions in these areas of famine;   Remember, the message you carry will have more effect for good in the lives of people you talk to, than any amount of money, food, water or electricity could ever have.

When is that Baby Due?

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Amanda has been hanging in there with the pregnancy.  It seems to be much more difficult for her because of here age.  She says she feels more tired and more sore than she was ten years ago.  She is doing a good job of keeping her spirits high.   I feel bad because I can’t really do much to help carry the load.

 

Temple Days

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Guess who we saw at the temple today?

For the past couple of years I have attempted to be a regular temple attender.  I had had several tough years during and after going back to school to get my bachelors.  So I thought I would try and tempt the lord to give me some blessings from regular temple attendance.  The first thing that happened was I got laid off, from a pretty lame job.  Then I ended up in St. George teaching a couple of classes at the college.  That was fun, but it wasn’t what I really needed to be doing to provide for my family.   About 6 months after getting laid off, I was blessed with a good job. I still believe it was Emerson’s praying that really got me the job.  But, I will blame some of it on the temple attendance.

Some time in the first quarter of 2012, my cousin Martin and his family were sealed in the temple.  So I asked him if he wanted to be my temple buddy and help keep me motivated to go regularly.  So he agreed and we have been going ever since.  We had been going to the Jordan River temple on Tuesdays because we could go before 6AM, but only on Tuesdays.  Then the schedule changed at the Jordan River Temple because of the new movie. We realized we could go to the 6AM session at the Salt Lake temple and the timing for work would be about the same.  So about a month ago we started attending the Salt Lake Temple.

Our second time in the Salt Lake Temple there was a lady, with a group of friends, that looked really familiar and then I realized it was a lady I had seen speak at General Conference last April, April of 2013.  Martin even remembered her name, Sister Elaine Dalton.  That was kind of fun to see a prominent member of the church in the temple.

This week we changed the day from Tuesday to Wednesday because of a thing I had going at work.  While in the waiting room I recognized one of the Ladies from Sister Dalton group walking in, and sure enough there was Sister Dalton followed shortly behind.  What a coincidence seeing her again.  Then after the session Martin and went to the name desk to pick up the family names we had just completed. We notice Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Eyring stading about 40 feet away in front of the stained glass panel in the main section of the entrance to the temple.  There were a couple of security people close by.  We asked the young women at the names desk how often things like this happened.  She said “I have been working here over a year. And this is the first time I have seen anything like this.  They are doing temple president training.”  When I turned around I also saw Elder Cook.  As we walked back to Martin’s work, were our cars were parked. We talked about other times we had seen and met general authorities of the church.

Just before reaching the car I got a text from Richard Coffy, A fiend of mine from South Carolina, who is now working in Salt Lake.  The text said “What are you doing in City Creek?”   I texted back that my cousin and I were just getting out of the temple.  He said he was surprised to look out the bus window and see me walking across the street.

Seeing all of these people is just one of the blessings I am getting from regular temple attendance.

Driving the Leaf Up Hills

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Last week end we drove up Big and Little Cottonwood canyons with the leaf, while listening to the second session of General Conference.  We also drove up the canyons to check out the leaves.

My goal was to see how the leaf did up the hills and how much it would recharge going down the hills.   Up the first canyon we  were down to about 25 miles and 40% battery when we turned around.  by the time we got to the bottom were up to 47 miles and 50% battery.  It’s pretty cool that just going downhill can give the car more juice.

The second canyon we were down to 13 miles and 32% on the battery.  At the bottom we were at 42 mile and 40% on the battery.

Another cool effect was the next morning on a full charge it said it would go 116 miles.  It’s never been that high before.

The next uphill drive is going to be up to Park City.  We’ll see how that goes 😉