Last week, Debbie and I celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary. As part of our celebration we chose to go to the Jordan River Temple, where we were married, and participate in a sealing session about the same time that we were married on that special day, 27 years ago. As we knelt across the altar and listened to those wonderful words, the Spirit was strong and our love for each other was magnified even further. In the sealing ordinance we are asked to counsel and labor together. I love these words, I feel that they are indicative of the joy that we have had together, counseling and laboring together.
In the past two months, we have continued to counsel and labor together. These have been months of preparation and finally facilitating our first institute classes as Church Service Missionaries. This we have done together, as we have in our other missionary opportunities. This is what has made our missionary opportunities so special.
Together, we have also had many opportunities to support our family members in programs, birthdays, temple service, reunion planning and with an upcoming wedding. We have been taught by the examples of incredible friends and mentors who have passed away and by inspiring entertainment. We have updated our family grandchildren tree and our family photos on our wall. We have certainly seen the hand of the Lord in our lives each and every day.
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| In front of the Jordan River Temple 27 years after our marriage in that same sacred place |
Celebrating 27 years of laboring and counseling together
Twenty Seven years ago at about 11:00 am we were married in the Jordan River Temple. At that time, our ceremony was for time only. We were not able to be sealed at that time due to the quickness of our marriage after my divorce. That occurred the following year in the Salt Lake Temple. This began a journey that has only gotten better each year, even each day.
This year our sealing session was scheduled for 11:20 am. We were delighted to see that the assigned sealer was Elder Mervyn B. Arnold, Emeritus General Authority. I had worked with him on a few occasions during my career. He was also at our last Self-Reliance seminar of our European Mission. This was a special treat for us to have him with us on this occasion. We were able to seal four of Debbie's great . . . grandmothers to their husbands, the culmination of much effort, both in Family History and Temple ordinances on their behalf. The thoughts of these individuals and the privilege to hear the sealing ordinance repeated four times while we knelt across the altar from each other is joy beyond description.
We don't need many presents any more, but we did agree to buy a cleaning system for our hearing aids two days earlier, so we made it our anniversary present. One thing we never get enough of us Sees Chocolates, so this year I made it a two pounder. Other than that, we enjoyed an early dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then a trip downtown for a viewing of "Les Miserables" at the Eccles Theater. The tickets were in the high balcony, but still required a bit of investment. We planned this months ago.
"Les Miserables" is an incredible story that inspires me in so many ways. It is about the redemption of Jean Valjean, a saintly bishop, a changed life dedicated to helping others, and the ongoing dilemma of justice and mercy. It represents justification and sanctification. The last of so many beautiful songs includes the phrase "To love another person is to see the face of God". I could go on and on, but this musical is simply inspiring, a great way to complete our anniversary.
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| Our 27th anniversary presents, a cleaner for our hearing aids and a two pound box of Sees Chocolates |
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| and a visit to see "Les Miserables" at the Eccles Theater |
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| My favorite stage play of all time |
Temple Visits with our Grandchildren and a related Family History ministration of angels:
We love being in the temple, we love our grandchildren, we love doing family history work. All these come together when we bring our grandchildren to do baptisms for the dead in the temple. First let me share a little story of a family history miracle:
In early February I was working on researching the ancestors of one of Debbie's grandmothers, Elisabetha Bachmann, married in 1651. We knew her father's name was Hans Bachmann, because of her 1651 marriage record in Langensalza, Germany. I found some older records in Langensalza in Family Search and decided to search for Hans Bachmann. I searched and found a birth record of Elisabetha Bachmann in 1617 and another one in 1627, both to Hans Bachmann. I determined that the first had passed away and another daughter received the same name in 1627. This seemed to fit a 1651 marriage. I found a marriage of a Hans Bachmann in 1615 and again in 1617, as the first wife had passed away. I also found another Hans Bachmann, married four times from 1575 to 1593, as each wife had passed away with assorted children born to his marriages. I assumed that this was the father of our Hans Bachmann, but could not find his birth, which I estimated was about 1590.
The records were complicated to search, appearing in different versions for different parishes in Langensalza. Interestingly, these records had been indexed, so after searching with limited results, I found a search on the indexed records. With this resource, I found more children of each of the marriages, but still no Hans Bachmann. I searched on the name of Bechmann and Bochmann, finding a few more children, but still no Hans. On Sunday night, February 16, I lay in bed accepting that I had searched every way I could imagine and I would need to accept my hypothesis that Hans Bachmann was born to Hans Bachmann in about 1590, although I could not confirm this.
As I lay in bed, a thought came to my mind that the additional children that I had found from the indexed records may be from individual records that I had not been able to locate. This included a daughter born to Hans Bachmann in 1593. I felt impressed to track her into the detail records and continue my search. The next day I followed up on this thought and started looking towards 1590. In 1590 I did find another birth to Hans Bachmann, but the son was Paul Bachmann. He had been totally missed in the indexing process. However, still no Hans Bachmann. I decided to look the other direction, going upward from the 1593 birth. To my delight I found the birth of Johann Bachmann to Hans Bachmann in 1594. It had been indexed, but under the name of Joh Bonsmann, not coming up in my previous searches. Hence, this additional search not only confirmed the birth of Johann (Hans) Bachmann but attached him to a different mother since his father had remarried in 1593. It also identified his stepbrother Paul who would have been missed.
That same day we were studying about Doctrine and Covenant Section 2 about the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood and the ministering of angels. The following comes from my study notes in Come Follow Me:
"Perhaps more of us ...could literally, or at least figuratively, behold the angels around us if we would but awaken from our stupor and hear the voice of the spirit as those angels try to speak".
(Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "A Standard Unto My People", 1994 CES Symposium, p. 12)
From President Dallin H. Oaks (1998)
But the ministering of angels can also be unseen. Angelic messages can be delivered by a voice or merely by thoughts or feelings communicated to the mind. President John Taylor described “the action of the angels, or messengers of God, upon our minds, so that the heart can conceive … revelations from the eternal world” (Gospel Kingdom, sel. G. Homer Durham [1987], 31).
As I pondered these above words and citations, I believe that many of the Family History miracles that I have experienced may have come through the ministering of angels. A recent example occurred in the last two days as noted in my journal. While feeling these promptings, I could easily attribute this prompting to be the ministering of angels from Johann Bachmann, wanting us to seal him to the correct mother and to do the work for his step brother who had been missed.
That very same week we traveled to Hyrum to pick up two of our grandchildren and take them to the Brigham City Temple where the baptisms and confirmations were done for each of the Hans Bachmanns and their multiple wives and others. The following month, we completed many more baptisms for the Bachmann children, including Paul Bachmann, with our grandchildren in the Salt Lake Valley. Words cannot describe my joy in all of these moments.
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| With Ashton and Ellie (her first time with us) at the Brigham City Temple. Our meal with them also was delightful as we felt of their strong spirits and testimonies. |
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| With Josh, Jacob, Jasper (his first time in the Jordan River Temple), and Abbie at the Jordan River Temple |
Mission Preparation and finally getting started:
We officially began our Church Service mission in December 2024. That is when we completed our initial training as on-line instructors for Institute Classes for Pathway students. With computer challenges, the number of Pathway students that were able to get signed up for the January term of Pathway was greatly reduced, leaving an excess of Church Service missionaries available without classes to teach, including us. This was disappointing but also a relief, for we certainly did not feel ready to take this new challenge on. We were still uncomfortable with the software system used to interact with the students and were not experienced in teaching with the priorities and direction of the Church Education System.
We believe that everything happens for a reason. In this case, it was determined to hold a 7 week on-line class of teachers, where we could teach one another and begin using the Canvas software. Each of us took turns teaching 15 minute blocks to the others. We also got to study the curriculum as students and as teachers. This opportunity was heaven sent. Each week we would teach each other and our leader, Scott Bird, would then stay on and discuss what we were learning, doing right and doing wrong. He patiently spent over an hour each week of additional time, just answering questions. We were taught, learning while doing, which was a perfect learning experience.
During January and February we had two online inservice lessons, the annual training for all institute and seminary teachers from Elder Clark Gilbert (Church Commissioner of Education) and others. We also attended monthly in-service meetings at the Salt Lake Community College campus for all institute teachers in the Salt Lake Valley. In all of this we learned with the professionals and experts and from each other. We bonded in friendships and we feel like we improved in our abilities. The great anxiety that was felt by all was greatly alleviated. As the computer challenges were resolved, the on-line registration for Pathway went from less than 10,000 to over 30,000 for the term beginning March 3. The 100+ on-line Church Service Missionaries were now ready to begin.
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| One of our on-line classes with instructors, learning how to effectively use the Chat boxes in the teaching process |
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| At one of the in person in-service training and dinner in early February |
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| This was the topic of one of our in person in-service training, how to encourage students to attend the temple and receive the promises made by President Nelson |
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| Another discussion in our last in person in-service meeting, exceptionally well presented in a very interactive presentation |
We have loved getting to know the other instructors through this extended training. We have found many connections with them. One knew my brother Mike and his family well. Another was from our ward, another worked in the temple with me. One special couple was Gordon and Linda Linder. I had trained them as Perpetual Education Fund missionaries 18 years ago before they served their second senior mission in the Philippines. They were one of my inspirations to serve senior missions. Elder Linder had felt impressed to retire while in his late 50s so that he could start serving missions. Now 18 years later, Sister Linder is no longer able to serve a full-time mission, but they are still serving from home. It was a joy to reunite with them.
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| With dear friends and fellow Instructors, Gordon and Linda Linder |
Finally by February 26, we received a list of students and an assignment to teach students in Utah on Thursday nights at 8:00 pm. Our first class would be on March 6. We got working and tried to get to know our students through some on-line announcements and discussions with small bios for many of them. The numbers started at about 26 students but were in flux until the term officially began on March 3. Even on March 6 we had a student come that we had not seen on our list. By then our official class was 19 students and 12 showed up for the first class. We had over prepared and were only able to cover a half of what we had planned. Several of the students came onto the Zoom link early, others stayed after the 45 minute class to get to know each other and us better. One attended from a cruise trip in Mexico while on a cruise. We were far from perfect that first night, but we were warmly welcomed by the students and we had pretty good participation by most of them.
Our class resides throughout the state of Utah, in Helper, Oak City, St. George, Fillmore, Ogden, Provo, Santaquin, Farmington, West Valley and one from Taylorsville. We have grown to love them. The second week, we had 14 out of 15 students in attendance. The others had dropped out or transferred to another time or class. We are still learning, but our apprehension is not so high. We are enjoying getting to know these students. Most of our students are married with children. One is a 17 year old high school student. All are kind and appear to be pretty diligent.
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| A screen shot from our first class |
Updating our Family:
Our family tree of grandchildren downstairs is now three years old and some of our family photos on our wall were older than that. So we took on a project of updating our visual family. Our family tree now has all 53 of our grandchildren, with most of them updated recently.
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| Updated photos for most and all born in the past three years |
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| Our individual family photos around our large photo are mostly updated, including recent weddings and grandchildren |
We have a few more updates to make. Sam has never been on our wall in an individual photo. On his recent birthday we were able to take this current photo with his girl friend, Tina. It is the next one to move onto the wall.
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| Sam and Tina on Sam's birthday |
The next update needed is Beckie's family. She has been divorced for about 20 months and is now engaged to get married to Eric Colmar. Last week they just received clearance to get married and sealed in the temple. We think the planned marriage will occur on April 20. We are excited for them. The Lord has been guiding and blessing Beckie during this time. We have seen his guiding hand in many ways. We are also excited to get an updated picture for our wall.
Funerals and inspired remembrances:
President Nelson Baker:
In January, my mission president, Nelson Baker, passed away at the age of 89.
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| President Baker was a very young mission president in Brazil, in his 30s |
Since he moved back to Utah about 20 years ago, we have had frequent missionary reunions. The photo below was taken two years ago, the last time that I saw my mission president. Last year we missed the reunion while we were on our mission.
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| With President and Sister Baker in April 2023 |
We have a good group of missionaries who served with President Baker. At his death they asked for as many as possible to come to the funeral and participate in singing "Israel Jesus Te Chama" in Portuguese. I was privileged to be able to attend and sing in this wonderful choir, approximately 30 missionaries from our time 50 years ago.
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| Photo of missionaries singing at President Baker's funeral |
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| Another photo taken from a different angle |
The funeral was inspiring and I learned a lot more about my mission president than I had previously known. Two years ago he had given me a copy of a book that he had published about "The Process of Atonement". Debbie had read the book and said that it was very insightful. In all that I do, I seldom take time to read a book, usually filling any of my free time with Family History Research. I chose to repent and begin reading meaningful books that have sat on the shelf too long. I started with this book from my mission president. I read each day after lunch, just a few pages, as this book is quite deep. I am amazed at the wisdom and scriptural understanding of my mission president. I wish I would have read this earlier and spent more time visiting with him while he was living close by. He is one of the heroes of my life. I am inspired daily by his deep understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have so much to learn.
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| An amazing book written by my Mission President and published in 2016 |
Walter James Thomas: |
| Walt Thomas passed away just a month before his 97th birthday |
Last month, we attended the funeral of Walter James Thomas, a remarkable man from our last ward in West Jordan. Walter received his name by a vote of the small town of "Small, Idaho" because his parents had not yet assigned a name in his first two weeks of life. The most popular name in the vote was Walter. James took second place. Walter was an amazing person, full of love and drive, but not too heavy into the spiritual side of things. Then in 1982, at the age of 54, he was in an accident with a train, which caused damage to his brain and his body.
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| A newspaper article and photo of the truck that Walt was driving when he was hit by a train |
He said that he had a dream that he went to heaven and there was no room for him there. He decided to change his life and joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1983. In 1984 he took his wife, Betsy, to
the temple and was sealed for all eternity. At this time, he moved into his daughter's house in West Jordan, in our ward. For more than 40 years Walt has been active in the Church, but with limited physical abilities. We always remember him shuffling in the hallways, slowly moving to class. Then he started using a walker and for the last many years he has been in a wheelchair. With all his limitations, he continued to come to church without fail. He and his wife were an inspiration to many. One bishop said that
“Just being in the same room as Walter made you a better person.” One of the speakers said that he never accepted excuses from others to not come to Church. If Walt could come, anyone could. I remember us singing Christmas Carols with our family at Walt and Betsy's home each Christmas. I had the privilege to help bring him to the Church house from his daughter's van when she brought him to go to Church. He never complained and always had a happy smile. He served continuously as High Priests secretary for more than 35 years. As I sat in this funeral and pondered the amazing life of this man, I was in tears. I am grateful that I knew him and felt of his goodness . I also remembered his wife who passed away a few years ago and his daughter who is not a member of our Church. She was always faithfully caring for her parents and bringing them to Church.
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Photos from the funeral program.We were able to attend their 75th wedding anniversary two days after returning from our European mission in 2017
Seeing the Lord's Hand in My Life:
On December 16, 2024 I began recording where I had seen the hand of the Lord in my life each day. I have now been doing this for more than three months. This may be one of the most beneficial things I have ever done. Each day I look for the hand of the Lord. Most of the time, I identify multiple moments. Some days I have to sit and ponder a little bit, but as I do, I see His hand in many small ways that would otherwise be forgotten. I can say that I have felt happier in these three months than I can remember in my life. Even though they have not always been filled with great miracles, I can still see daily blessings that I am recognizing constantly. Seeing the hand of the Lord in my life has brought a recognition of His help and the accompanying joy that has surprised me. Some of these special moments have been noted in this blog, but they are only a few of them. I took some time to categorize the type of experiences where I have seen the Lord's hand. I share this summary below, just to show that the Lord is interested in everything that we do:
% of noted instances since December 16, 2024:
| Family, children, grandchildren, extended family | 22% | | Temple / Family History / Personal History | 19% | | Personal Learning from the Holy Ghost | 16% | | Ministering and serving others | 12% | | Our Church Service Mission | 11% | | Debbie; from her and for her | 6% | | Amplifying abilities and gifts | 5% | | Steps of the "Temple Miracle" of our deceased daughter | 4% | | Inspiring entertainment | 3% | | Remembering | 2% | | | |
Update on Debbie's Health:
On January 28, we received great news about Debbie’s health. In her visit to the cardiologist, she did another echocardiogram and her refraction score was 50, up from 47 a year ago. Her blood test also showed improvements in her Creatinine level (1.7) and Potassium level (4.4). These levels are significantly better than previous tests. About two weeks earlier, Debbie began taking a new medication that helps reduce her potassium levels. It appears to be working! I am grateful for the hand of the Lord in inspiring modern medical miracles, such as this medication and the heart medications that Debbie is taking. These have saved her life and are allowing her to carry out her day to day activities with reduced limitations. I believe that all these medical advances are available so that we can use our time and energy to gather Israel on both sides of the veil. Personally, I am extremely grateful to have Debbie at my side in all that I do. We love serving as a team!
 | | Debbie receiving her echocardiogram |
Other Performances and Events:
On one of our Saturdays in the afternoon we were able to attend a military honor ceremony for our friend Tom Allen. Tom has been very ill and is not expected to live much longer. His wife arranged for an honor ceremony for him to honor his time in the Air Force. It was a beautiful ceremony with several members of the military in attendance. He was awarded a certificate, a flag, and several pins. The ceremony was wonderful, but what was more impressive was the large group of family members that were there to pay tribute to this good man. What a wonderful way to honor this man while he is still alive.
 | | Tom Allen with representatives of the military |
Once a year we try to get some of our grandchildren together for a "holiday" lunch, usually in January. These are the grandchildren who do not live with one of our children and generally do not come to family parties. This year we just had Naliyah and her boyfriend and her brother, Tiancom. The numbers were down, but we love this tradition. It gives a chance to have a more personal contact with them. Our grandson, Tiancom, has now become a big fan of the Bible. We are loving the relationship of sending scriptures back and forth by text with him. This started with his Grandma and recently he has included me in his texts. |
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| Naliyah and an updated photo for our grandchildren tree |
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| Debbie and Tiancom, scripture texting friends |
In February we were able to make another visit with Caide, who is in a care center in South Ogden. He loves it there and seems very happy. While there, we were able to help him connect to our daughter Gina, in North Dakota. He has a tablet and can make video calls. She says that he now calls her just about every day.
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| With Caide as he is showing things to Gina on the video call |
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| Caide talking to Gina and Hudson |
We were able to have lunch with Aria and Paisley on Grandparents Day at their school. It is always a special day to be with these two granddaughters. |
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| Their lunch hours overlapped, allowing this group shot, taken by one of Arias's friends |
We also attended a few performances of grandchildren. This included Lord of the Flies with Joshua, a self-written skit by Jacob, Eight Aces competition with Edward, Choir concert in Abravanel Hall with Ashton, and a Cheers competition with Ariana:
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| Joshua with the Lord of the Flies presentation at Hillcrest High School |
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| Jacob (far right) wrote and directed this skit at his middle school |
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| Edward answering in his competition that they won, thank to three correct answers in a row by Edward in the final round. We watched on-line. |
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| Ashton's middle school choir at Abravanel Hall |
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| The most close up photo of Ashton that we could get, waiting in the side seats after his performance. He is the one with a red tie looking at us. |
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| Ariana at her Cheers competition, the same day as Ashton's concert. We also visited her for her 11th birthday, but took no additional photos |
Birthdays:
I celebrated my 72nd birthday last month. I am now at the "age of man", as defined in the Book of Mormon. At our stage in life, we receive texts, Facebook comments, Messenger messages, and phone calls from family, friends, and acquaintances all over the world. Our in person visits are generally reserved for each other. Debbie went out of her way to make this day special for me. We opened a few presents, went to a movie and dinner, then she allowed me to do Family History Research in the evening. We did receive a surprise visit from Giovanna and Sophia who brought fresh Brazilian "pão de queijo". That was a special treat.
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| With my Chocolate Lasagna at the Olive Garden |
