In our ward, there are not a lot of callings to go around, but those that we do have are very meaningful. I just completed my assigned month to pass the sacrament. I am also serving part of my 4 month assignment to take the sacrament to some of the homebound members in our ward. Earlier in the year, I had a one month assignment to bless the sacrament at the Legacy House (memory care) branch. As I participate in these ordinances, it has given me the opportunity to ponder further the importance of the sacrament.
I love seeing the importance of this ordinance in the lives of those who are homebound. It reminds me of a talk given by Elder Renlund in April 2016. He told about a woman in South Africa who had not received the sacrament during sacrament meeting and was administered to individually in a classroom after the meeting.
"A priesthood holder came in. He knelt down, blessed some bread, and handed her a piece. She ate it. He knelt down again and blessed some water and handed her a small cup. She drank it. Thereafter, Diane had two thoughts in rapid succession: First, “Oh, he [the priesthood holder] did this just for me.” And then, “Oh, He [the Savior] did this just for me.” Diane felt Heavenly Father’s love."
This individual basis of the atonement was emphasized in a recent Come Follow Me lesson where we read the following quote from President Heber J. Grant:
“Not only did Jesus come as a universal gift, He came as an individual offering. … For each one of us He died on Calvary and His blood will conditionally save us. Not as nations, communities or groups, but as individuals”
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| Part of our "kit" to provide the ordinance of the sacrament to the homebound |
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| The carrying case for our homebound sacrament "kit" |
In Come Follow Me, we have also recently studied the Last Supper. In the recent general conference, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave an amazing talk which focused on this sacred ordinance of the sacrament. Our recent visit to Israel also enhanced our understanding of the sacrifice of our Savior and the symbolism of the "bitter cup". I have grown to love the sacrament and the privilege to participate in this ordinance. Recent General Conference talks have emphasized the meaning of "Taking His name upon us" and "Always Remembering Him". I have tried to improve my experience during the sacrament. One of my goals developed in my Come Follow Me study to make my sacrament experience more meaningful comes from the Elder Holland's ideas:
I will improve my sacrament worship by being “mindful of the other broken hearts and sorrowing spirits that surround us” and then remembering Him by joining “the Great Physician in His never-ending task of lifting the load from those who are burdened and relieving the pain of those who are distraught”. (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland)
We have just "finished" many significant activities. These include completing our Come Follow Me study of the Savior's life as presented in the four gospels. We enjoyed studying these lessons, especially after our trip to Israel. As the Lord completed his mortal ministry, he made the comment "It is Finished". He gave up His life only after he knew that he had completed all that he was sent here to do.
We have completed our "Cousin Hang Outs" with each of our grandchildren, three visits to the zoo PA conservation center and have attended the last of the three baptisms of our grandsons for this year. We have also completed our personal study of all of the conference talks from the April General Conference.
Temple and Family History work
We continue to meet monthly with our grandchildren to complete baptisms for the dead. This obviously blesses our ancestors and relatives who need these saving ordinances and it also blesses our grandchildren as they are receiving the blessings of being in the temple. The following are photos from our last two sessions (May and June):
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| With Katelyn, Joshua and Joseph in May |
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| With Joseph and Joshua in June |
We were also to visit from the outside two of the newer temples in Arizona during a quick trip for the funeral of Debbie's Aunt Ruth.
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| In front of the Phoenix temple |
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| The Gilbert, Arizona temple behind us |
During these months, Debbie finishes her Saturday evening temple service an hour before me. Thus, I walk home on these evenings, which has been an inspiration. This last week, the wind was blowing pretty strongly, which left the flag unfurled near the temple, creating this inspiring photo.
We also held another sealing session with my brothers and mother on June 22. We love this opportunity. Besides our own sessions, I have an opportunity to complete more of the sealing ordinances in our 2nd Thursday sealing group. Even with these two groups, we still have many more sealings to complete. We have sent nearly 200 sealing ordinances to be performed by the dedicated saints in the Legacy Retirement House and their friends in Meridian, Idaho.
For Father's Day, I bought some of the new 13 Generation Fan Charts in PDF format. I got one shipped to me on paper. To make it readable, it was pretty big. This shows 13 generations from my Grandfather born in Germany, which makes it 15 generations for me. Besides being a fun visual, it is very helpful to be able to see which lines need additional help and also identify temple work priorities.
My Mother
My mother continues to input additional data into Family Search from the Rueckert genealogical finds that we brought home from Europe. Even though we have done hundreds of ordinances, she is still staying way ahead of us, with over 3,800 ordinances still to be completed. We have completed the baptisms for all that she had input by the end of last year, so we are making progress. I sent out an email to some of our Rueckert relatives that accepted temple names to do last year and received responses from several of them, resulting in almost one hundred additional ordinances transferred to other relatives to complete.
When we returned from our trip to Israel in May, we found that my mother's health had been declining quite significantly with continued challenges with her colon. Tests did not show any additional infection but her pains continued. As we have taken her to the doctor, she has been placed on a very restrictive diet, which basically doesn't allow gluten, dairy products or a host of other things, such as cashews, peas, cauliflower, tree fruits, etc. This has been a complicated lifestyle to support, but she is feeling better, so I guess it is worth it. She has also had additional doctor visits dealing with declining vision in one of her eyes and minor skin cancer. This is keeping us (mostly Debbie) busy. However, we recognize that this is an opportunity to minister to someone very special in our lives.
My mother has been an excellent minister to our next door neighbor, Pat. As they have visited often, they have strengthened the bonds of friendship. Unfortunately, Pat has also had declining health with quite serious issues. It has gotten to the point that Pat will soon be moving to an assisted living center. We will make sure to keep these two ladies in contact with each other.
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| My mother Goldia (right) with her dear friend Pat |
We also took time to visit Camila after one of my mom's doctor visits. Camila sure loves her grandmother.
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| Camila with her grandmother |
My mother also had her younger sister Vivien and her husband Dale visit us around Memorial Day. They are kind and loving and genuinely good people. It was a pleasure to have them spend a few days which included a visit to their mother's grave on Memorial Day.
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| My mother with her Sister and brother in law by the grave of their mother and her husband |
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| With my mother at the grave of my father |
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| Debbie at the grave of her parents, with our granddaughter, Serenity who was with us that day |
Visit to Mesa, Arizona
The day after Memorial Day we made a quick trip to Mesa, Arizona to attend the grave side service for Debbie's aunt Ruth, the last of her Father's generation. She was 94 years old. Debbie's brother Gary and his wife Lisa also made it to the graveside service. We spent a little time with her two cousins, who we had not seen for many years.
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| Debbie and her bother Gary with their cousins, Ruth Ann and Russell |
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| With Gary and Lisa at the grave site of Aunt Ruth |
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| My mother with her sister and brother in law. Also a beautiful tea set and table cloth made by Aunt Ruth that we were permitted to bring home with us. |
I have started doing the Personal Finance Self-Reliance course with our son, Ben. Ben has been attending Church meetings with the Portuguese branch and is striving to put more order into his life. This has been a wonderful experience to get to know Ben more and focus on spiritual self-reliance issues as well as temporal issues. We are thankful for the gentleness that Ben offers. He has taught me much about true compassion for others.
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| Ben with the Church Personal Finance manual |
Baptisms
This is the year that four of our grandsons turned eight years old. Three of the four of them have been baptized. The second of these baptisms occurred on June 1 for Jacob Digerness and the third of the baptisms occurred in Pennsylvania on July 6 for Edward DeVore. These are each good young men who are being raised in the gospel. We are thankful for their sweet spirits.
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| With our grandson Jacob on his baptism day |
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| Jacob with his Book of Mormon embossed with his name |
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| Edward with his father and receiving his scripture case from Grandma |
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Edward cleaning the chapel after his baptism service and celebration
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Cousin Hang Outs
This year we decided to hold Cousin Hang Outs for all of our grandchildren. We did this with grandchildren in the same age group to give them a chance to get to know each other a little better. We finished these Cousin Hang Outs by the end of June for all of the cousins. All in Utah between the ages of 3 to 18 participated except one. We were thrilled to see relationships improved, not only with their cousins but also with their grandparents. We have been blessed with amazing grandchildren.
4 to 6 yr. old girl cousin hangout on May 10 (Aria, Ellie, Arianna, Tiare and Addie):
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| Opening Pizza dinner with 5 wonderful girls, the theme is princesses |
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| Stringing beads for a special princess necklace |
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| 5 princesses together |
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| Playing a princess match game |
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| Finishing the night off with banana splits |
May 24 with 4 and 5 year old grandsons (Jasper, Kaleb and Dawson):
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| Pizza Dinner to Start with 3 active grandsons |
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| Sharing treats and favorite photos |
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| Putting together their Lego toys |
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| Three young men with their Lego Creations |
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| Playing their Lego March Game |
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| Ready to go home |
June 14 11 and 12 year old boys. This was a little different and included bowling together (Joshua, Isake and Jon):
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| Isake Bowling |
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| Three cute little princesses, ready to eat pizza |
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| Evelyn sharing her photo |
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| Highlighting Olivia |
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| Getting to know Grandma and Grandpa |
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| Making Princess bracelets |
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| Three princesses with their necklaces and crowns |
Zoo Days
Last year we bought grandparent passes to the Zoo to facilitate the individual dates that we had, several which were at the Zoo. Before our annual passes expired, we decided to take many of our grandchildren to the Zoo. Each pass allowed 10 grandchildren at a time, so we went for it. While the Jordan River Temple was closed for maintenance, we used our normal Wednesday temple service time to take two groups to the zoo. It actually turned out quite well, with younger children the first week (June 5) and a slightly older group on June 12. Each week we had a couple of parents to help out or this would not have been possible. Add to that our visit to the conservation center in Pennsylvania with 6 more grandchildren and we completed these activities with 25 of our grandchildren in the past 5 weeks.
June 5 group (9 grandchildren):
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| All together as we got started |
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| Lunch, peanut butter and jam for all. Great helpers, Gina and Melanie |
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| Captivated by the Sea Lions |
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| Grant, enjoying his Zoo day. Missed the other photos |
June 12 Group (10 grandchildren):
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| Jon starring in the bird show |
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| Lunch with all, great helpers, Amy and Jason |
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| Loving the river otters |
July 8 group: Visit to Environmental Center in Pennsylvania with Melanie's family in Pennsylvania (6 grandchildren):
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Six more grandchildren at this visit, posing below the stuffed bear
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| This may be my favorite photo from our Pennsylvania trip, four year old Timothy with his umbrella while we toured the outside portion of the Carbon County Environmental Center |
Grandchildren Events
We attended several Grandchildren Performances at the end of the school year, dance recitals or sports. This keeps us busy, but is rewarding and also means so much to our grandchildren:
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| McKenzie performing in a community playhouse |
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| After the performance with her orange hair |
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| Katelyn in her high school choir concert |
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| Closer up of Katelyn after the performance |
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| Caide singing with his high school men's choir |
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| Aria at her year-end dance recital |
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| Arianna, caught in an amazing jump in her year end dance recital |
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| Ashton hitting the ball at his baseball game |
4th of July Weekend
We celebrated the 4th of July by flying to Pennsylvania and spending the weekend with Melanie and her family. We flew on the 4th and arrived in time to watch store bought fireworks with Melanie and her sons. James was working at this time.
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Fireworks outside of their home in Lehighton, PA
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We then watched the movie "1776" with those who could stay awake until 1:00 am. It was only 11:00 pm on our MST clocks.
Friday, we went swimming with the whole family at our hotel. We have done this often on our trips to Pennsylvania. It is a fun activity for all and a good way to interact with the children.
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Edward practicing going under water the day before his baptism at the swimming pool at the hotel
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We also took time on Friday to have a lunch with Melanie to celebrate her birthday which occurred earlier in the month.
We then spent Saturday participating in the baptism of Edward Joseph DeVore and a little celebration at the Church after the baptism. After playing games with the grandchildren, we went out to dinner with James, celebrating his birthday that will be coming in October. We finished off the day by watching the city fireworks from in front of their home.
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Watching the Lehighton Fireworks on Saturday night, from the side of the DeVore home
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On Sunday, after going to Church with the family, we took three of the older boys to our hotel room to have a further discussion on the Come Follow Me topic of receiving revelation to call apostles. This was based on a prompting received earlier that day and turned out to be a short but meaningful spiritual interaction with them.
We spent most of the rest of the day with Melanie and her family, eating dinner, sharing our Israel Trip with the family, playing games and plenty of conversation. Some of these boys are very competitive, especially James Preston, the 13 year old. He and I could go forever challenging each other to games of Connect Four. Mostly he wins, but I had my times of success.
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| Tom and James Preston in one of many, many Connect Four games |
On Monday morning, we spent an hour with the DeVore family at the Carbon County Environmental Center (see previous photos) and then we said farewell. This time we will see them in just a few weeks as they make a visit to Utah for our Rueckert Family Reunion later this month.
We then went to downtown Philadelphia to spend a few hours before we caught our plane ride home. We thought it would be fitting to finish our 4th of July weekend at Independence Square in Philadelphia, where it all began. This included a tour of the Congress Hall where the original meetings of the House of Representatives and the Senate were held in the first years of our country. We also saw the original documents that were inspired for our country, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. As we pondered those important events that helped our country get started we recognize the hand of the Lord in providing this land of liberty. He did this so that we could have a place with the necessary freedom so that the gospel could be restored.
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| In front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia |
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Looking at Independence Hall "way down there" with modern Philadelphia behind it, seen from the end of the Visitors Center
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| In front of the Liberty Bell |
Grandchildren Birthdays
As always, we celebrate birthdays. We are the book grandparents.
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| Katelyn turning 17 |
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| Aria turning six |
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| Paisley turning two |
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| Serenity turning 4 |
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| Jacob turning 8 |
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| Dawson turning 5 |
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| Abbie, turning 9 |
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| Ellie turning six |
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| Visiting our great granddaughter, Marceline who turned 3 months old |
It has only been two months since we returned from our trip to Israel, but all of these activities make us feel "finished". We are thankful that we have been blessed with time, health and resources to participate in all that we do. We pray constantly that our efforts will lead us in the direction that our Heavenly Father wants us to go. We pray that all of our efforts will help us to truly "Remember Him".
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