Bishop's complaint

One of the worst task's I have as a bishop is giving out welfare. A new bishop gets a pamphlet and about 6 seconds of training, and whenever an issue is brought up at the stake meetings the final answer is, "follow the spirit". In order to allow the bishop to follow the spirit I will give out these suggestions, I hope you never have to use them, but just in case: 1-Keep communication open. If things are going south let the hometeachers or visiting teachers or the bishop know about it. 2-Don't wait until the crises is dire, if you need medication don't wait until you've swallowed the last pill to go to the bishop. There are certain policies and procedures the bishop has to follow and it generally needs a sunday to get the paperwork in order. 3-Don't run up credit card bills...The church has a very strict policy about NOT paying off consumer debt. 4-don't borrow money from those check cashing places. If you do you are way too stupid to be trusted with any more money! 5-Maintain good relations with your family, the church expects the family to step up first, before the church is to step in. If you hate everyone in the family, or visa versa...it makes it difficult to ask for help and yet some bishops will insist on it. So keep the relationships good in order to get the help you need. 6-Utilize the resources available. Let home teachers into your home and be up front with them. If the ward welfare committee knows about the situation they can come up with some great ideas which may keep you from having to go to the bishop at all. 7 Finally, be humble and teachable. Sometimes these challenges are put before us to bring us down a notch and help us be more teachable. Pride cometh before the fall, and if the pride continues then its very difficult to help out.

The changing face of Logan

I used to love Logan, of course I had the romantic view of it from my early 20's. I recall it being a place of fresh air, beautify mountain scenes, stimulating intellectual discussions, and fun activities. Now my view has been reduced to a 3 by 3 foot cell, encased in an 8X8 foot room with a temperature hovering around 95 degrees, and with an occasional trip to Lowes or Home Depot. So go the memories of youth.

papa's big day

So we get up at 4:00 AM in order to get Jan and Clark off to the airport by six. We get home, only missing one turnoff and having to travel down Redwood Road for a few miles, by 7:10. I do some watering and weeding then its off to work. Luckily kind of a slow day which gives me a chance to correct my papers from the Monday U. of P. Class. In the meantime I register a few kids and answer the parent's questions. (My job is to have them leave happy, so I tell them what they would like to hear) Sitting at my desk is a german manuscript I am supposed to be translating for Aunt Pattie along with the packet assignment hanging over my head. [I'm writing 4 packets for the Financial Literacy Class, I have one finished]. Pretty soon I need to start thinking about what I will teach in my new U of P class which starts tonight. I will miss the ward service project as a result of the class. Also I need to figure out when I can do a key exchange with the Shumways so they can have a Thursday baptism.
Oh well its just one day, I'll catch up on my sleep at some point and I'm reminded of my mantra: Let the Mountain Rest You.

number 1

Here is my initial blog post. A blog used to be something that stuck to your feet after trying to catch frogs. How times have changed. Now there's a Gandolphols sitting on the old frog pond.