We all know that 2020 has been a year like no other that we can remember. Nothing has gone as planned and most of us have felt restricted in many ways. However, in our recent General Conference, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf told us:
“There are still a lot of unknowns about this virus. But if there is one thing I do know, it is that this virus did not catch Heavenly Father by surprise. He did not have to muster additional battalions of angels, call emergency meetings, or divert resources from the world-creation division to handle an unexpected need.My message today is that even though this pandemic is not what we wanted or expected, God has prepared His children and His Church for this time. We will endure this, yes. But we will do more than simply grit our teeth, hold on, and wait for things to return to the old normal. We will move forward, and we will be better as a result. . . In a way, we are seeds. And for seeds to reach their potential, they must be buried before they can sprout. It is my witness that though at times we may feel buried by the trials of life or surrounded by emotional darkness, the love of God and the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ will bring something unimaginable to spring forth . . . "
This certainly has occurred in our lives over and over again in the past 7 weeks. These unimaginable occurrences have come from God while we have strived to do our best.
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Cousins together again (by Zoom) for the first time in over 50 years. This included the wife of a great uncle that none (except my mom) had previously met.
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Celebrating 90 Years of Goldia Rueckert
Perhaps the biggest event of the past two months has been the 90th birthday of my mother, Goldia Mary Miller Rueckert. Many months ago, we reserved our Condominium Clubhouse with the intent of celebrating her 90th birthday. This would be a large reception so that many of her posterity, relatives and friends could wish her well in a way that would be memorable for her for the rest of her life.
As the time drew nearer, we realized that the Coronavirus was not going away and that we would have to reconsider our plans. My mother definitely wanted to meet as many people as possible in person. She loves talking to those that are dear to her. In her words, she would sit all day long, as long as people would come to visit with her.
We organized a Zoom meeting with her sister, Vivian and her 5 living sons and one daughter-in-law to make plans and get ready for the celebration. As in most families in the United States, there were diverse opinions about the impact of the Coronavirus on our plans. Using caution, it was suggested that many would not want to come in person and we should consider a Zoom reception. In the end we settled on a mixed solution. It included an in person reception with an abundance of caution and an alternative Zoom reception for those who did not feel comfortable coming in person.
Assignments were given as noted below:
- Provide food for the in person reception - Rob
- Prepare the invitations - Dan
- Produce a slide show of her life - Jim (Becky)
- Decorate the Clubhouse - Kendra
- Provide a surprise birthday present for her - David
- Coordinate the Zoom reception - Tom
In the end, this was well supported by all and the effort required was shared. In retrospect, it couldn't have been done any better. What we didn't know is that this turned out better than any of us imagined, in fact it was something unimaginable!
The in person reception on her birthday, September 19, was divided into six one hour segments, allowing time for 1-Children, 2-Posterity A, 3-Posterity B, 4-Extended Relatives, 5-Friends from her past, 6-Friends from her current neighborhood. This provided opportunities for all to visit with her without having large crowds that would cause any Social Distancing concerns. From 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, there was a non stop flow of visitors, with about a 5 minute break in the middle for her to eat part of a sandwich. She was elated.
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| This invitation was sent to many and posted on Facebook with customized times depending on the individual |
The reception began with a sneak preview of her 38 minute slide show celebrating the 90 year old miracle that is Goldia. It was produced by her daughter-in-law Becky who did an amazing job. This video was available for all visitors to watch as they awaited their turn to wish her a Happy Birthday. The first viewing was watched by her children with their spouses.
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Becky introducing the video to Mom and the rest of us
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Everyone enjoying the video in a socially distant way
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| Cookies and Water prepared special for the occasion |
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Each Cookie was individually packaged and labeled
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Tables were set up with memorabilia
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The Birthday girl with her 90th Birthday Cake
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| Close up of the Birthday Cake |
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We also had a 90 Helium Balloon connected to the railing in front of the Clubhouse. The balloons broke loose early in the process. This is the best photo that we got.
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As visitors came, we decided to move her outside to keep better social distancing. This worked until we got a little bit of rain for the first time in months. She finished her reception indoors. The following are just a few of the many guests that came:
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Posterity from three different sons
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Grandkids from another son
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Posterity of her oldest son, now deceased
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Mom, a son, and a great grandson all celebrating their birthday on the same day
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A dear friend from years gone by
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Neighbors watching the video while waiting their turn to visit
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While others visited
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At the end of the day, we returned home to a dinner furnished by our neighbors and more gifts and greetings. Also a new bed that had been put into her room while at the reception. This was everything that we had hoped for.
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Mom with cards, flowers, gifts, etc.
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The next day she shared some of her flowers with special friends who shared her birthday (within a day or so).
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| This friend turned 90 the next day |
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This friend shared the same birthday, but was turning 93, see her surprise on her garage door from her posterity, "93" made of photos of her and her posterity
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After Church that day, we continued with the Zoom reception. Again, it lasted more than 4 hours, with a constant flow of posterity, relatives and friends. Most waited in a Zoom room, watching her birthday video, while waiting their turn to talk with Mom.
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Mom, enjoying visiting with others from our living room
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| With a couple grandchildren (brother and sister) from different locations |
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| Including dear friends, even Karl Hegorhorst, 94 years old |
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| Or one on one with her oldest nephew and his wife |
With all that occurred that weekend, our expectations were far exceeded. The changes that were required for Coronavirus opened many opportunities that were unimaginable before we began.
An Angel has Returned
During this pandemic, we continue to lose dear friends and neighbors who pass to the other side. However, in our community, none have been due to COVID19. Last month we attended the funeral for Pamela Burke, one of our dearest friends. Because of the pandemic, the services were not held in the meetinghouse, but, with limited capacity, at the funeral home.
Her and her husband, Elwin, had become some of our favorite people. The following is what I wrote in my journal after her funeral:
Today we attended the funeral of Pamela (Gun Ingeborg) Erickson Burke. Her and her husband, Elwin Burke, moved into our community while we were on our mission. As I served in the temple, I was very impressed to see them regularly come to the temple each Wednesday afternoon. For a period of time I was assigned to the recommend desk. What a joy it was to see them come in with their walkers and smiles.
We decided to invite them to dinner in our home in November 2018. This was a spiritual treat that we recorded in our blog. They later invited us to dinner and a game night in their condo. This was one of our most treasured relationships in our ward. Pam had a smile that was captivating. Her hearing was limited and in time her sight was reduced, but they always sat on the front row of the chapel and their light inspired all around them, including us.
This continued right up until the temple and church services stopped with the Coronavirus. During this time her health declined further and on August 29, 2020 she passed away. Pamela was the only member of her family converted in Sweden. She was the type of angelic person we all should become, an example to all around her. Her place in the celestial kingdom is assured.
What made this couple so special wasn’t just her radiance and spirit, but the love and respect that they showed to each other. Elwin has also walked with a cane or walker and has been hunched over quite a bit. He will be turning 90 years old next month. She was 87 years old at her passing. In spite of his own limitations, Elwin has cared for her in an extraordinary way. He treated her with amazing love. At the funeral, Elwin spoke and gave a wonderful tribute to her. He had met her as a missionary in Sweden. He then sang a verse of How Great Thou Art in Swedish. I was overcome by the spirit by the love that he always showed, exemplified by the singing of this song.
I wondered why I was so touched by his expressions of love. I believe that it touched me so deeply because of the love that I have for my sweetheart. I love seeing other men expressing that same love for their spouses. That is one of the special treats in our ward, good men, willing and happy to honor their special wives. We don’t see enough of this in our world.
Today I am thankful for the lives and examples of both Elwin and Pamela Burke!
Personal History
During this time of restrictions in our daily activities, especially in our service in the temple, I have focused a significant part of my time to the writing and organizing of "My Life's Journey". This has been a wonderful experience, to reflect on my life and see the Lord's ever present hand. I have become so grateful for His Grace as he has blessed me in spite of my mistakes and wrong turns. I have tried to focus on the spiritually defining moments of my life. This has led me to the many blessings of remembering His hand in my life.
Last week, I finally finished the first draft of 37 chapters to this story. I believe that I now have all the content needed, even more than will remain in the final product. I have now identified a Book Publishing software and am just getting started in organizing the content. In this process, I have much more editing to do. I am grateful to have this first phase completed and am excited to move this history to a publishable format.
I have pondered this project for several years. Without the restrictions of the pandemic, it would probably still just be a thought. This certainly is one of the unimaginable blessings of the Coronavirus in my life.
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| Sections and Chapters of My Life Story |
Debbie has also caught the personal history bug and has spent much of her extra time organizing her personal history documents. She has thoroughly enjoyed preparing her own personal history summaries for her children for the time before we met. Recently, she was able to discover the missionary journals from her mother, which has provided some very interesting reading!
Less Restrictions
For a time, we have been enjoying less restrictions as much of our society has learned how to move forward within prescribed criteria. Last month, we were told that we would be able to begin attending our sacrament meetings in person each week. This is a great joy for us, but has also left us with mixed feelings. We have enjoyed blessing and partaking of the sacrament in our home each week. Taking the sacrament in our home each week brought a strong feeling of the Spirit. This worship included our own sacrament meetings, which were filled with review and study of pronouncements and messages from our prophets, seers and revelators. The following are photos reflecting some of these unimaginable blessings.
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This beautiful sacrament cloth was given to my mother as a 90th birthday gift from a wonderful neighbor who sewed it. We were only able to use it once, before our weekly sacrament meetings were reinstated.
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This is one of our grandsons, showing the sacrament trays that their young men made in an activity during this time of restriction. He is a priest and has two Aaronic Priesthood brothers. Their honoring of the priesthood has made the sacrament a blessed time in their weekly Sabbath days.
With the opening up of weekly Sacrament meetings came the guidance to hold Elders Quorum, Relief Society and Sunday School over Zoom. For our ward, that was easier said than done. Once again, the Lord blessed us and continues to bless us. We were able to hold a Zoom Teachers Council meeting to instruct teachers how to teach on Zoom. Some were more experienced, others were terrified. We, and others, also worked with several of our older neighbors to help them connect to Zoom. We consider the first weeks of these classes to be a success with more learning occurring each week. Once again, one of the unimaginable blessings is seeing home bound members participating, who have never been able to attend these Sunday classes.
 | | Our first Relief Society with 65 participants |
 | | Debbie taught our first Sunday school Class with 89 participants |
There has never been restrictions on our personal study of Come Follow Me and that continues to be a big part of our daily routine. We have just finished 4 Nephi and are nearing the end of the Book of Mormon. This will clearly have been our best study of the Book of Mormon in our lives. Correspondingly, we felt the great spirit of that book strongly within our lives. The timing of this pandemic in our lives could not have been better, because of the opportunity that it has given us to study the Book of Mormon more deeply. As we have been restricted from meeting together with others, we have hosted weekly study groups for Come Follow Me. This has helped me focus not only in studying but identifying new insights and organizing my study results. One more thing unimaginable which has blessed our lives immensely. |
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A photo of our Tuesday at 4:00 pm study group. Most of these individuals participate on a regular basis, which has added a strong feeling of sociality. Some have rarely left their home over the past 7 months.
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As restrictions were partially lifted, Debbie was able to hold an opening social with the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers on September 21. They were able to maintain social distancing and enjoyed a sack lunch that had been carefully prepared. It was well attended as the members of our community seemed to be anxious to see others again.
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| Daughters of the Utah Pioneers successfully meeting under social distancing guidelines with Debbie conducting the meeting |
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| Part of the socially distant eating space for the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers |
More Restrictions AgainJust when we started enjoying the limited opportunities to be with others, the Coronavirus started to spike again. On October 13, the governor of Utah announced that no casual social gathering should exceed 10 individuals in Salt Lake County. The biggest impact of that was our planned Family Halloween party, scheduled for that Saturday, October 17, and the next meeting of the DUP on October 19. After confirming with the State that our activities should not proceed, we quickly planned alternatives.
Since our Halloween Party is perhaps the biggest family activity of the year, we did not want to cancel it, so we turned it into a Virtual Halloween Party. Each of the grandchildren could show their costumes and participate in games together, over Zoom. Debbie had already bought games and activities for this party. She immediately prepared some of the materials and we proceeded to hand deliver them to each of our families that would be participating. That began with our family in Pennsylvania that normally would not be participating, but now they could, since it was virtual. We sent their materials on Wednesday morning and they arrived hours before the party began on Saturday. Debbie found some virtual games that we could play to substitute for some of the planned activities. Each family created master faces and decorated pumpkins at home and shared with the others on-line. We played musical chairs with music over Zoom and chairs in each home. We played Halloween virtual games that were quite creative. All together, we had 26 grandchildren participating, including 6 from Pennsylvania and one from Idaho, who wouldn't have been there otherwise. One more unimaginable blessing.
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Costumes in Hyrum, Utah
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Others in West Jordan, Utah
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| Some of the Pennsylvania costumes |
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A fox in West Valley
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| A giraffe and snake also in West Valley |
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A princess from another West Jordan family
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| A little batgirl with us in South Jordan |
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| A Pokemon family in Provo, Utah |
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Everyone bouncing punch balls at the same time to Halloween music.
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The next Monday we held a Zoom Daughters of the Utah Pioneers meeting. For many of the older sisters, this was the first time that they had been on Zoom. This required several in person meetings to make sure that they could each make the connection. In the end it worked marvelously and included some who would not have participated in person.
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Debbie, conducting the meeting, more than 20 in attendance
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Pledge of Allegiance with a flag flying
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A lesson on PowerPoint about Cowboys and the West
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| Treats were handed out to each Sister in their home after the meeting |
Family Additions and MovesGina invited us down to her new rental to have dinner, which was really nice of her. As we arrived she had us open a package that revealed that she would be having a new baby next March, just a few weeks after Pollyanna. Later, we have found out that each of them will be having girls, which will make it fun for these two cousins growing up so close to each other in age.
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Addie with the announcement, now she will finally have a sister
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As I was pondering about where we were with granddaughters vs. grandsons, I discovered a very unique pattern. With the two new granddaughters coming, our grandchildren total will be 48, without counting Giovanna's little girl. Of those 48, 24 are from Debbie's children, including step grandchildren that we have gained in the past year. The other 24 are from my children, . From my children, they are 12 boys and 12 girls. From Debbie's children they are also 12 boys and 12 girls. I conclude that we have a well balanced posterity. (Something unimaginable?)
Another major activity this past several weeks has been the move of Kari and Michael to Nibley, Utah, near to where Jared is living. They went up north to consider new houses on the Saturday before Labor Day. We were then asked to help them on Labor Day to prepare their house to go up for sale. So, we labored with them, and were able to get their house ready to take photos for a real estate listing.
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| Their living room, ready to photo |
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Their downstairs Family Room after packing up a lot of excess stuff that had been in the room
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Our efforts were rewarded, for two days later they listed their house and had an offer which they accepted. Fast forward to October 16. It was our turn to help once more as they were moving out of the house that they sold, even though they had not closed yet on the new house in Nibley. With limited help to load the trucks, the larger share of the work fell on Michael, myself and our son Dan with his son Ashton, helping. It was a long day, but we returned back to West Valley a little after 9 pm. I rode back with Dan and Ashton that night. What a joy to work together with our posterity, helping our posterity. Dan and Ashton were great examples and an indispensable help for this move.
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| Dan and Ashton in one of the two trucks that we loaded |
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| Michael and Kari's new home in Nibley, Utah |
BirthdaysAs always, we celebrate birthdays. It seems like it is almost weekly, sometimes more than that. The following are a few of the birthday celebration of our grandchildren in the last month:
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Joshua turning 14
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Addie turned 6
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Caleb turned 7
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| Natalia turning 13 |
Other Grandchildren ActivitiesWe had the opportunity to spend some time with Ammon and his son Tommy, which doesn't happen very often, so we took advantage. Hopefully, Tommy is feeling a little more comfortable around us.
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| I climbed Ensign Peak with Ammon and Tommy. Photo from the top. |
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Ammon and Tommy at his home
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| With Ammon and Tommy at the Zoo the following week |
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| Ammon, Tommy and Debbie watching the gorillas |
We got to watch Olivia playing soccer in Hyrum in late September. We try to attend at least once a season for most of our grandchildren's sports teams.
To finish up, I want to review our activities of the past week or two in perspective. Much has been covered in this blog. As I mentioned, on October 13, we already had a full week ahead of us. This included helping Kari and Michael with their move on Friday, Family Halloween Party on Saturday, Debbie teaching Sunday School to the ward on Zoom on Sunday, and Debbie's monthly Daughters of the Utah Pioneers meeting on Monday. Although a full agenda, Debbie is especially good at planning ahead of time so that all can be accomplished. She already had most of her preparations complete for the Halloween party, Sunday school lesson and the DUP meeting.
With the new restrictions announced by the governor, many of these preparations had to be rethought. That included dropping off materials for the Halloween party to each of our children and grandchildren. On Thursday, I had a scheduled visit with Camila and her mother, the first time this has been possible since early June.
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With Camila for the first time in over 4 months
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When I returned we started making deliveries to our family. By Thursday night, we were in Provo, dropping things off to Gina. While we were in Provo, I received a phone call from our bishop. He invited me to speak in Sacrament Meeting that Sunday. Of course, I accepted, knowing that this was adding to a very complicated weekend.
Friday, I spent all day with the move. Debbie helped pack for the move until early afternoon, but was able to finish the other preparations for the virtual Halloween Party in the afternoon while I was still helping with the move. Saturday, we were fully engaged in the Halloween Party. After the party, we spent time visiting with people that needed to connect to Zoom for Sunday School and for the DUP meeting. Then we went over the Sunday School lesson that Debbie had previously prepared, making sure that the sharing, break out rooms and video were all ready for the Zoom meeting. We incorporated a few changes based on a few Zoom glitches that we had in the family party. Finally, I had an hour to put some additional thoughts into my talk.
Sunday morning, we were working with ward members, preparing for our first Sunday School Zoom lesson and then we were able to have a successful class. Thankfully, the lesson went very well. I then had about another half hour to review the thoughts for my talk before we went to Sacrament meeting. As I delivered the talk, I was able to speak without notes, only using them for specific quotes that I wanted to include. The Lord guided me all the way, better than I remember in the past. By the time we finished, we were emotionally exhausted but with lightened burdens. It had become a Rueckert day for the ward, being in charge of the Sunday School lesson and the Sacrament meeting talk. We certainly felt the hand of the Lord guiding our preparations and sharing with the limited time that we had.
After Church we had another visit to our daughter's house that had been previously scheduled. Then we visited one more member to set them up on Zoom for the DUP meeting in the morning. On Monday morning, we rehearsed before the meeting with the instructor and others who were unsure how this would work.
I am happy to say that all of this worked out well. Each step of the way we saw the Lord's hands at work, helping us. The following is from my entry in my journal:
"The reason that I share all of these details, is that this is the busiest that we have been since our mission. As we often did on our mission, we learned to take one event at a time, preparing for other events as possible, but knowing that we could not deal with everything at the same time. Debbie is amazing at this. The moment one event is completed, she is working on the next. We have found that if we do the best that we can and pray with all earnestness, our Heavenly Father will always help us. Our faith has grown tremendously to the point that we don’t spend much energy worrying, because we know that we are striving to do His will. We give total credit to Him for our ability to make it through this past week and any successes that occurred. We thank Him for His guidance and support throughout the process.
When I received the assignment from the bishop with an open theme, thoughts instantly began coming into my mind, even before I hung up the phone. As I got home that night, I prayed to my Heavenly Father and He confirmed my initial thoughts and added to them. I was to speak about our living prophet and the counsel received in our recent General Conference. I took the time to right down these initial thoughts and then put it aside for the next two days, although the thoughts were in my mind. Debbie had a similar experience with the Sunday School lesson. She felt that there would not be time with the large class to finish her lesson as initially planned. She knew when the lesson would end and we were able to make those corrections in our planning and in the presentation.
In our wonderful ward, we received many kind words by email, in person, by text, by phone call and by a thank you card delivered to our home. We have an amazing and supportive community of ward members. Our study time was compromised over the last half of the week, but I was able to catch up on Monday afternoon to be ready for our Tuesday Come Follow Me study groups. God is so good and amazing!"
Once again, he did something unimaginable with us and he always will!
