We Can Sorrow

Myrna wrote: We do have a right to sorrow. I was wrong and you need to know that. If God can sorrow and weep, so can we.

 Moses 7:

27 And Enoch beheld angels descending out of heaven, bearing testimony of the Father and Son; and the Holy Ghost fell on many, and they were caught up by the powers of heaven into Zion.

 28 And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains?

29 And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?

 30 And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still; and yet thou art there, and thy bosom is there; and also thou art just; thou art merciful and kind forever;

31 And thou hast taken Zion to thine own bosom, from all thy creations, from all eternity to all eternity; and naught but peace, justice, and truth is the habitation of thy throne; and mercy shall go before thy face and have no end; how is it thou canst weep?

The answer, as you well know because you know and love the scriptures, was that God could weep because of his children.

We can be filled with joy at the potential of each child and can be happy at the promise that comes to all of a glorious resurrection because of Christ. We can joy in the promise of eternal life and eternal families. We can love and love and then love some more. Love is the answer to every question.


Shawn wrote: Thank you. I was aware of that. I also remembered when Jesus was among the Nephites and after blessing the children he wept because of his knowledge of a future state of unbelief. I love you. Shawn

Myrna wrote: I was thinking that sorrow was anti- and happiness was pro-Heavenly Father. I know that He does expect us to be happy but not all curcumstances can be greeted with joy. Some situations are full of sorrow. We are loved by Father in Heaven. We all, each of us, have great potential. We are ever evolving as individuals. The person I am today is not the person I was yesterday. Hopefully, each day, we are each better than we were the day before. We can all change for the better. I have faith that that is true. Nevertheless, If God can weep, we should be able to weep. Sometimes we just learn to know sorrow. I apologize.

Tissues

I have been floating around this past week. I went to my endocrinologist and had my six-month check-up. I no longer need any meds except for my thyroid medication. She cut that in half, almost. I do not need to worry about my cholesterol because the good is great and the bad is also at a great level and the total is 130 (it can go down a bit more), my A1C was low normal (a good thing) at 5.0, my blood pressure was 113/70. My glucose average is 85. I am no longer diabetic. I told the Dr. however, that that only meant I would keep doing what I was doing because, if I did anything else, it might get bad again. She agreed. I now know, however, that some people (me) can reverse diabetes with exercise and diet. On her scale I weighed 120. We think that 115 might be where I should stay. I am beginning to worry about how to stop losing weight. Every week I drop a pound or two. I love walking. I am just so much happier, most of the time. It will be nice to get my thyroid level adjusted down. When it is too high, it makes me anxious and nervous. (She said crabby, but I don't believe that.) :)

I think that I am going to have to take tissues, my own box, to sacrament meeting with me from now on out. I am talking the ENTIRE box. I have turned into a real crier. I have no idea what has happened to me. I didn't cry in my middle-age. I did when I was young, so I suppose, I am just back to "phase childhood." Maybe the sages are right to call old age, the second-childhood.

We have had a somewhat busy week. Thursday, we went to Hurricane and watched Donovin earn his arrow of light award. I love scouting. It is such a great thing for young men. David and Bree fixed quite a wonderful meal for us. David smoked a pork loin over applewood and Bree, in consideration for me and my sugarless meals, made a great sugar-free cake that she served with strawberries. There was also a really great fresh-fruit salad and other good things.

We are making some schedule changes at the temple. The afternoon shift (that starts at 10 a.m.) will start one hour later in the day, at 11 a.m. but we will pick up one more endowment session. That will mean that we have more opportunity to serve, rather than less. It is so wonderful to work with my childhood/teenaged friend Gerri Page. (She was Geraldine Shield back then.) She was one of my bridesmaids and is now one of the assistant matrons. We get to work closely together and it is like old-times.

Today, Sunday, we got to go to AnnMarie and Brandon's ward. Kyle ordained Matthew to the Aaronic Priesthood to the office of Deacon. Matthew got to pass the sacrament for the first time and got to serve our row. Kyle blessed the sacrament. That was quite special. Then Brandon was released as a counselor in the bishopric and was sustained as the new stake executive secretary. We got to be there for his being set-apart for that calling. Randy and Tammi were also there though none of us knew what was happening to Brandon until we got there. I don't know why, in particular, but my heart was so touched. One of the sisters from the ward sang, in an outstanding fashion, one of my favorite hymns. Sitting on the row with the Howards was like sitting with the Mormon Tab, they are all such gifted singers, and Matthew was so very somber and serious about his new calling. Then the speaker talked about the Savior and I may as well have just kept my hanky in my hand. We also got to sing happy birthday to Matthew and to Braden. By the way, Braden also sings very, very well. Shawn, Kimberly and Sorina came over after church and we got to spend some time with them also.

Speaking of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Jim's sister is going to be singing at April Conference. I am certain that you will recognize her.  She looks like our little Christene.

Mary's birthday is tomorrow and she wants to come here for her birthday dinner and have Grandpa fix his fried chicken. That is her favorite meal. So we will be celebrating her birthday with cake and ice cream at our house. I was feeling sad that I am getting so old and Mary is so happy that she is getting older.

When I went to the temple on Friday, one of my good friends came up to me. She said she had prayed and asked who needed her help. Heavenly Father told her that I did. So she put my name on the prayer roll, gave me a big hug, and asked if I wanted to talk. I did, though we only had a few minutes. I told her what I was feeling sad. I have been so happy in being alive, in feeling good, and in being part of a big and loving family.  Then the idea hit me that I am getting old enough that LHT or I may not live forever after all (who knows how long) as I had supposed when I was a kid. Life for us is likely winding down. I had that brought home to me when I heard that still another classmate had passed on. We have lost so many and all my age, for goodness sake. My friend told me that Heavenly Father wants me to be happy. She is right. It is only Satan who wants us to be worried and unhappy. He likes us to be miserable. I resolved, with her help, to count my blessings and to leave the tomorrows to Heavenly Father. I want you to know that the thing that helped most of all, however, was that Heavenly Father wanted to answer my prayer. He wanted me to be content. He sent my friend to tell me that. How grateful I am for the knowledge that He cares about silly little old me. He cares about you, also.

I love you. Gramps loves you. Your parents and siblings love you. Other family members love you. Your good friends love you. Heavenly Father loves you. 

1. For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies,

[Chorus]

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

2. For the beauty of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flow’r,

Sun and moon, and stars of light,

3. For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

Friends on earth, and friends above,

For all gentle thoughts and mild,

Text: Folliott S. Pierpoint, 1835-1917

Dumb Bunny Grammy‏

Myrna wrote: OK, did we say Wednesday or Thursday?

Braden wrote: I thought that we said Wednesday, but now you/we know about that concert thing that Kyle will be doing. What will be easier for you all to do? I have class from 1-2 and 3-4 on Wednesdays and then I have classes 1-2, 2:30-4, and 5-6:30 on Thursdays. Just let me know what works best with your schedules and trying to see Kyle and everything.


Myrna wrote: Do you want to go to the concert with us? We could do the meal and the concert, if you wanted to go. Honestly, do you feel neglected? I feel neglected and I am not in your shoes. I think we have had our share of postponements. You will be going home and I will still not have spent the time I wanted to spend with you. I am getting old and who knows how many years worth of chances I will have? I think, if I work it right, I may just request being translated. How good do I have to be? :)

Braden: I think that I just want to go to The Brick Oven tomorrow. Is that okay? I think we should go to the exhibit first. 

OK, the concert is from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. We will call you when we leave there and meet you for supper. We can still see the exhibit afterward, right?

Matthew's Ordination‏

Monday, AnnMarie wrote: This is late notice, but if you are available and would like to attend Matthew's ordination will be Sunday before church, probably at 12:15.  I know that is a terrible time for most of you.  If you cannot make it at noon, we are still having a big dinner after church to celebrate March birthdays (including Braden).  My ward is from 1-4 p.m. If you live close and want to drop by for the ordination and then come back for dinner, that would be good, too.  Brandon's parents will be here, so we will eat as soon after church as possible so they may get on the road to St. George.

 

I am including the rest of you who cannot attend so you know you are thought of and loved.

Thanks,

AnnMarie

Myrna wrote: What potluck can we bring?

AnnMarie wrote: I'm not sure.  I haven't decided on the menu. 

Fun for St. Pat's Day‏

Melanie wrote: I am going to use some of these on Sunday!

Myrna wrote: St. Patrick’s Day is the perfect opportunity to add a bit of Irish humor to your family's dinner table. Here are some silly, but funny St. Patrick’s Day jokes for kids and fun facts to share with your own wee ones to tickle their Blarney Stones and keep them laughing all week long.

Top 10 St. Patrick’s Day Jokes for Kids:

1. Q: Why do frogs like St. Patrick’s Day? A: Because they’re always wearing green.

2. Q: Why would you never iron a four-leaf clover? A: Because you shouldn’t press your luck.

3. Q: Why can’t you borrow money from a leprechaun? A: Because he’s always short.

4. Q: When is an Irish potato not an Irish potato? A: When he’s a French fry.

5. Q: What do you call a fake stone in Ireland? A: A sham rock.

6. Q: What would you get if you crossed Christmas with St. Patrick’s Day? A: St. O’Claus.

7. Q: Why did St. Patrick drive all the snakes out of Ireland? A: Because he couldn’t afford airfare.

8. Q: What is left out on the lawn all summer and is Irish? A: Paddy O’Furniture.

9. Q: What do you call a diseased Irish criminal? A: leper con.

10. Q: Why did the leprechaun cross the road? A: He wanted to reach the pot of gold faster.

Top 10 Fun Facts about St. Patrick’s Day:

1. St. Patrick's Day began as a religious holiday to honor St. Patrick, who brought Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century.

2. There are four towns in the U.S. named after a shamrock, the emblem of Ireland. They are Mount Gay-Shamrock, West Virginia; Shamrock, Texas; Shamrock Lakes, Indiana, and Shamrock, Oklahoma.

3. Nine cities are named after Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The most populous are in California and Ohio.

4. The actual color of St. Patrick is blue. Green became associated with St. Patrick's Day during the 19th century. Green, in Irish legends, was worn by fairies and immortals, and also by people to encourage their crops to grow.

5. The very first St. Patrick's Day parade was not in Ireland. It was in Boston in 1737.

6. Nine of the people who signed our Declaration Of Independence were of Irish origin, and nineteen Presidents of the United States proudly claim Irish heritage - including our first President, George Washington.

7. The Irish flag is green, white and orange. The green symbolizes the people of the south, and orange, the people of the north. White represents the peace that brings them together as a nation.

8. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the highest number of leaves found on a clover is 14.

9. One estimate suggests that there are about 10,000 regular three-leaf clovers for every lucky four-leaf clover.

10. Legend says that each leaf of the clover means something: the first is for hope, the second for faith, the third for love and the fourth for luck.

What exactly is a Blarney Stone?

The Blarney is a block of bluestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, Blarney, about five miles from Cork, Ireland. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of gab. The stone was set into a tower of the castle in 1446. Today, the castle is a popular tourist site in Ireland, attracting visitors from all over the world to kiss the stone and tour the castle and its gardens. The word blarney has come to mean clever or flattering talk.

Kirsten's Surgery

If one photo is worth 1,000 words, then this one must be worth much, much more. She was so brave to have it done.

Alyssa's Email

Myrna wrote: Do you have an email address for Alyssa? You note that I do not send them much but I do like to send the "away" kids a few things. Thanks.

By-the-way, would you check and see if she got her St. Pat's package? I had the zip as 84604 and the postmaster said that it should be 84602 and changed it. When I got home, I looked at Braden's and it is 84604.

AnnMarie wrote: Her address is on the last email.  But she doesn't want it given out so I respect that by not including her in group emails beyond me and the kids and now you. It is how BYU and her professors contact her.

Her zipcode is different from everyone else because she is on campus. I'll check with her though.

Myrna wrote: OK. I will not include her in a group email. Thanks.

Birthday Dinner and Delay

Myrna wrote on March 5: Braden, could you go out to dinner on Wednesday or Thursday? We are going to be in Provo on Thursday to take Gramps back to the doctor. We don't know what your plans are for celebrating. Would you rather wait and come here on Sunday? Let me know what you would like.

Myrna wrote on March 6: Braden, I am so sorry that I got so sick. I still feel terrible but some better. I haven't heard angels singing so I must be going to live.

Melanie wrote on March 6: Maybe you weren't supposed to go to Provo today. I heard there was a horrible accident near one of the freeway exits.

MelBraden Bolton wrote at 2:06 p.m. Mar 11: Thursday would be fine. I'll be even closer to the Brick Oven.

Moroni Painting

Myrna wrote: Brother Justensen, the assistant recorder, went upstairs, as he does to check on "things" as part of his job, into a storage area by the Priesthood Room and said that he had seen the painting was still in the temple.

Sister Grimshaw said that she understood that it had been commissioned for the temple. Do you know if that is true? Your relative, the sealer (whose name escapes me at the moment), might have been the one she mentioned. Is it Christopherson? I said that the painting had been in the temple since I first attended in 1960 to receive my own endowments.

I was worried about where it might have gone to as Sister Grimshaw said she did not know.

At any rate, Brother Justensen said that the painting, by Harold I Hopkinson (the same painter who painted the one that hangs in the St. George Temple featuring the signers of the Declaration), was based on a statement by Warren S. Snow. Was Snow the man who was with President Brigham Young at the site dedication? Hopkinson, whose son, Glen, is also a painter, was born in 1918 and died in 2000 according to a web bio.

Can you remember that the painting was taken down once before? Someone reported the painting missing to President Hinckley (story one) and he called and told them to put it back. Or he was visiting and saw that it was missing (story two) and said he wanted the painting hung back up again.

Brother Justensen also said that when the park at the foot of the temple was dedicated and the Mormon Tab came to sing that one of the speakers was also a church historian. The church historian did not believe the story about Moroni and the temple site dedication was true and thought that it was legend. He said that there had been a problem with a statue of Moroni also and that it had been removed.

Also, he said, that at a recent stake conference in Manti (Is there more than one stake?), the president of the stake went into some detail about the history of Moroni and the story by Snow. Brother Justensen was a busy man and Brother Hagemeister (sp) was waiting to record some information so that was all the time we had.

President and Sister Grimshaw came into the office about then and I said that Brother Justensen could tell them about the painting. He replied, "Yes, I know who painted it." He then told them the name of the painter and they left and so did I.

One of the sisters at the clothing desk, from the Saturday evening shift, told me when I went to return my Eve vest, that she knew the President had received a letter from the First Presidency telling him to take the painting down. However, in pre-preparation meeting, Sister Grimshaw said that it was done while they were not at the temple. Rumors abound, do they not?


Merilyn Jorgensen wrote: Yep—rumors are wonderful.  Many problems for many years about this—and many of us are VERY upset about the Mortal Moroni statue not being put back up.  And the MM Pageant has had ‘grief’ for eons about the ‘tradition’ mentioned in the Pageant—and that part may be removed this year, if the ‘powers that be’ have their way.  My son, Michael is pageant pres. And is looking for documentation to prove the story, but so far all we have is a quote in “The Life of Heber C. Kimball”, about Warren Snow, etc. But that book is well documented, and claims to have had some general authorities double-checking for authenticity of the book’s contents.  Plus, Pres. SW Kimball was the editor of the 2nd printing in 1945.  He reportedly removed the things at that time that he did not think were authentic.

The book was originally printed in 1888, so only eleven years after the Moroni ‘story’ had been first told.

I really do not know, of myself, the story of the painting—only what I’ve ‘heard’ J  The sealer who is related to me is Elder Gillespie.  I’ll speak to him about it, but I do know his wife (who is my cousin) has said she had a dream/vision about it, and claims the story is true.  Since she died last fall, I’ll need to ask her husband for confirmation when he gets back in town.

Bureaucracy in government is deplorable, but I’m sorry to say that I don’t care for it in the Church either.  ‘Committee’ is somewhat of a ‘nasty’ word in my book.

Merilyn


Myrna wrote: I just hope the painting stays put in the storage area until the "committees," "boards," "departments," and "others" make certain that the painting has a right to hang somewhere important. The painter's son, an artist in his own right, is the person that I contacted.

Let me tell you about the "Ghost of Crede," painted by Dean Fausett. It hung, proudly, at Juab High School until it "disappeared" and an investigation has not uncovered it in the past six or so years. His family, after his death, wanted to buy it back at a rather nice sum. The school board said they wanted to keep it. Someone knows where it is but not anyone in the family or in the school district (who will admit it).

Glen Hopkinson About Moroni Painting That Once Hung in the Main Hallway

Myrna wrote: Harold I Hopkinson, another painter, painted an oil of Moroni dedicating the still-future Manti Temple site. Are you related to this painter.

Glen Hopkinson wrote: Yes.  Harold is my father.  Dad passed away December of 2000. Should you have any questions, please let me know.  Thanks, Glen

Myrna wrote: There has been some controversy surrounding your father's (Harold I. Hopkinson) painting of Moroni dedicating the temple site for Manti Temple recently. (It has nothing to do with its beauty but, rather, with the story that surrounds it.) It has been removed from the hallway wall (whether permanently or just until the facts can be verified, I do not know). The painting is so very beautiful that I thought you may be interested in contacting the Manti Temple president, or the temple recorder, and discussing it. It may even be  wise to contact the temple committee, located in Salt Lake City. I do not know if the painting was commissioned or not so I do not know who the rightful owner is. I am, quite literally, sticking my nose in where it does not belong. All I am is a worker at the temple and I have no authority whatsoever. There is a controversy swirling around the story of Moroni and his dedication of the temple site while Moroni was still on the earth. All there seems to be to authenticate the story is a quote in the book, "The Life of Heber C. Kimball." The Manti Mormon Miracle Pageant people are also working to authenticate the story because it is included in the pageant. 

Artist Glen Hopkinson wrote: I think that is all my Father had to go on when he created the painting of the Manti Temple.  Just a statement somewhere that when Brigham Young dedicated the Temple he indicated that Moroni had already been there and dedicated the spot.  I don't know much more than that.  I believe a lady  commissioned him to do the painting based on that comment and a dream that she had where she saw Moroni but he was accompanied by others thereby explaining the other figures in the painting.  It's been a long while since I've seen it.  I do remember posing for Dad when he was doing the painting back in 1989.  Let me know if there is any other info on the painting and the controversy surrounding Moroni's visit to Manti.  Glen 

Glen Hopkinson

P.O. Box 45

19 West Shoshone

Byron, Wyoming  82412     ph. 307-548-2471   cell 602-509-5513

visit glenhopkinson.com

Myrna wrote: Thank you for your response and for your time. Thank you for answering. I know that you are a very busy man. 

I am a fan of the painting.