Service Counts

What a great week it was.  To talk to all of you live (or piped in via Skype and Face Time), 3 birthdays, Christmas, and I got to actually do something productive for my home teaching family.  It was great.

I really enjoyed talking with each of you.  Skjelse, I hope you get feeling better, and Gavin, I hope you are fading into normality again.  At least you got it over with early on your mission.  

Kieren looked so good and happy in her current assignment.  Like Mom's favorite video of new years, "sometimes you never consider that the future can be better than the past".  And this area has been that for you.

Gavin looked waaaaaay better than we feared after hearing how sick you were.  And I am so pleased at how positive you are through the good and the difficult.  And you Spanish is so much better.  You are speaking so quickly now I can't even dissect words or phrases.  Not that I knew what they were before, but I could tell the drift of many things.  Not now, just a blur of sounds.

Skjelse was too sick to have a lot of fun.  I hope that changes so you can enjoy the rest of your trip.

I went up to Craig's and am working on patching some holes in the walls caused by girl's flipping each other over in Kung Fu practice.  

Then I saw that Spencer's were looking for a plumber referral.  I had to check so I called him.  Turns out the water heater went bad the day after Christmas.  Not such an exciting thing to spend money on.  I finally talked them into letting me help replace it.  But they don't operate this way usually.  So they didn't even know what to buy.  So I helped them shop, then I removed the old and put in the new.  It had a power vent system so that caused a bit more issues since the new and old were not exactly the same.  Like always!  But after a few hours we got it back in, gas, venting, and plumbing lines back up and going.  We only had to move the plumbing and vent lines.  But the next morning there was a drip.  It was not there when we checked it all that night.  At least they had hot water again.  So I ran over, we emptied the pressure, and I was able to add solder to the one joint and get it to seal up again.  Now it is all great.  I saved them about $4-600 based on quotes they had gotten.  I was happy to finally be able to help them in a meaningful way.

Mom's birthday was great.  I had worked with Aunt Carol (s) and in the end Carol Baker helped me get a new sewing machine from her shop she works at for less than half price.  Cost plus 10% as a special Christmas to employees only deal.  This was an investment in "tools" for mom.  She has needed it for so many years and I finally took some savings I had for tools (jobs from the past that I saved the tool money for) and for her a high end Brother that does tons of things.  She LOVES it and has just begun to learn how to use all the features.  It automatically threads the needle!  Tons of stitches including decorative ones, and it will do lettering also.  I hope this is the last one she will need.  I think it will be.  More reliable, better quality, just a good machine to last a lifetime.

I spoke at the Dayton branch today, thanks Kieren for your input on the "for unto us a child is born" topic.  I used your thoughts as well as some study mom had done on referencing each word/phrase of Isaiah 9:6.  And for nearly each one I had mom's scripture reference, a conf quote/story, and for many a personal story to share and illustrate the point.

I like how on the "mighty God" I had learned that when Handel wrote the Messiah oratorio, the first performance was a charity concert and all the money was used to free people from debtor's prison in Dublin Ireland.  142 men were freed from that event.  I found it interesting that the very thing that freed the men was the story of Christ freeing us from sin and eternal despair.  

I have now removed the grill from the house much to my dismay and to mom's delight.  I have build a custom cabinet front over that area and it will be the audio visual cabinet.  I have figured out how to run electric to behind the TV on the fireplace and to have the HDMI etc. cables to go through the brick and via the attic to the AV cabinet.  So all will be hidden.  It looks good so far but still a lot of work to do.  That is with the new mantle and fireplace surround plan that mom has.  I am trying to do that this week.  I had planned to last week but ended up spending my time helping others. Above that area I am putting the old window from mom's house growing up.  I took the flowers out of it (that we had not used for 4-5 years) and did a custom frosted glass pattern.  Then we can use that for a dry erase board to note down scripture study goals etc for each week and what we want to remember.  I painted it black so it matches the cabinet front I made.

 Around the black metal wood stove surround we are putting tile.  Do you think we should complement the brick colors with additional "glass" type tans and browns, or go with a "pop" of color of some type?  I worry about the color because it won't change for 20 yrs, but the browns already dominate the area.

Love you forever, it was great to talk to you.  Keep working hard.

Dad

3 John 1:4

The Positive Power Of Social Media

Happy birthday to Kieren.

Happy birthday to Gavin.

Happy birthday to mom.

What a fun week.

This past week I spent most of my time facilitating special events for our company.  An adjacent group was starting some major projects and we have a process to gather the correct foundation starting points that help everything be better along the way.  Normally our development takes around 2 years so the right starting point and direction is important.  So I spent nearly 3 days helping guide them through that.  It was draining for me because I have to be front and center so much, but I think it helped them.  I got good feedback from my "customers" so it worked well for them.  Too bad I can't charge them consultant rates for my time (since I replaced the consultant they regularly use.)  I actually did the same for 2 days over in China for our groups there.  For some reason I am becoming a source for many groups.  Not sure why but at least it is another skill set to put in the bank for educations, skills and learning.

I got the motorcycle back over to the repair guy and he rebuilt the carbs again.  It is running again and I have trouble shot the warning lights etc.  So I think I know all the issues.  It runs OK, just have the plug fouling issue still to deal with then it will be great.  I think it is the choke plungers.  Now I just have to figure out where those are, what they do, and how to fix that.  So much for knowing what's wrong when I have no clue how to fix it.  But hey, it's the first step.  I rode it back home in the dark, on a freezing night.  Augh, COLD!.  It was biting being in that wind.  But I thought that would make you happy Gavin!  I do want it running well if we are going to have it around.

Friday was a wonderful anniversary.  Skjelse called from England where she is visiting and that was a highlight that was unexpected.  Mom poted a wedding photo on instagram celebrating our 25th and she got more likes and comments than ever before.  She is now a social media titan.  And by titan I mean tiny little mouse since we have like no reach on social media since we don;t build up any networks etc.  I think Skjelse is queen on that side of life!  We went to the temple and did sealings during a session that was at the exact time as our marriage 25 years ago.  The sealer was really fun, and made sure we got back to the alter one more time so we could celebrate our 25th.  He commented that he really enjoyed watching us at the alter as we looked at each other and loved each other.  Even he can see how much I love your mom!  We were overcome during the last couple we were proxy for.  I am just so blessed to have mom.  I am so excited that we have 25 down, and like 25 bajillion gajillion more to go together.

We then shopped for mom's recital snacks, some Christmas wrap up things, and cooked dinner at home which is what we wanted. During the recital I was the kitchen help.  Quite a turn for me but I did OK to keep things cooked and stocked, and everyone eating and happy.  

Ty was home sick and had to miss his laser quest lock in with science olympiad.  He still is not really back to health.  I feel bad for him.  But I have tried to be extra kind and helpful to him.

Mom had her recital open house and it went fantastic. It was fun to hear all the songs especially from Ty and Alysia.  It made me want to have all 5 of you here and playing songs you know on piano, brass, strings, or recorder.  It's always fun to have music ringing through the house.  You have brought much joy to me through the years.  Thank you.  The greatest joy is when you make choices that take us on the path back to Heavenly Father as a family.  I cling to the covenants we have in the temple that allow that to be a real event, based on our faithfulness.

Speaking of temples, last Sunday I had a temple revelation in Sunday School.  We were talking about Israel and how he got his name.  I have never dissected his name but it ends in ...el.  If you consider that he called the name of the place he had his temple experience Bethel, or Beth...el.  Meaning house of God.  And Israel meaning one who is with God.  The common thread here is ..el.  Elohim, or God.  And when you are with me in the Temple someday remind me and I can tell you more about that ..el.  It just came with great power and clarity that the "mysteries of the kingdom" and the eternal truths I have learned all my life are based on truth and that I again got a witness of the plan of happiness' reality.

So, to the point of the subject line.  This week at work I heard of a neat story that they were awarding to an employee.  Here is the true story.  A few years ago a group of friends were out in the Netherlands searching for metal scrap with metal detectors.  One of them came across what turned out to be the top of a mess kit from WWII.  They were in an area where the allied forces had been.  On this piece was the stamped name of the soldier that this belonged to.  They could have just tossed it as junk but instead took it home and tried to research who this was.  They got back to the Sidney area and spent two years trying to work with the city and county governments to find the owner or family of the soldier.  After two exhaustive years they still had no answer.  Then they decided to post this situation on Facebook.  In two DAYS they had come in contact with the family of the recently deceased soldier.  The son works at Emerson in the plant.  They arranged to send it to him.  And when Emerson heard about it they asked if they could help and they framed this piece in a shadow box and awarded it to the employee in a ceremony honoring the soldier (who had worked at Emerson also).  I just found that amazing how the social media can be used for such good in the world if we harness it for that good.  I like how Gavin included that in his last letter, Sending friends to the #sharethegift site.

So there you have it, more than enough to read this week.  I look forward to talking to all of you on Mom's birthday.

Love you forever, really, that came so true in the temple this week.  FOREVER!

Dad

3 John 1:4

Everything's Better With The Spirit

So I had a very loooooong week in China. The best part was getting home Saturday eve and being with everyone again. It was a productive trip but very long days. I spent Monday and Tuesday in Shanghai, Wednesday and Thursday in Suzhou, then back to Shanghai until I left Saturday mid day. 

When in Suzhou I was to conduct a training event with a large group there. But the person who asked me to lead that did not do so well in giving me the details I had been asking for. So until the very day before I had little to no information on what they were trying to accomplish, the goals, what the people had been training on before etc. so I tried to prepare but could only be generic in what I had. 

Then the night before I got a better email and had only a short drive to look through material and be ready for the next day. This is along with all the major things I was primarily over there for that weighed heavily on my mind. I was very nervous and was not sure what to do. That morning I prayed for extra help to just do my best in a way that would help the people. And during the training I got constant help. Not only did it go better that I could have hoped, afterwards one of the groups even said "I'm going to go back and do this with our group". And the biggest reason for the subject line is that they had tons of questions which is generally good. But sometimes they were really trying to apply it to their work, and I got momentarily worried I would have nothing to help them with. Just at that moment I had such clear and distinct impressions come I almost felt guilty. They were clear thoughts that related exactly to what they needed and I know they were an answer to my prayer. I even had to give a silent prayer of thanks they were so clear and direct. I truly got help this entire week. 

In Suzhou we went to a "hot pot" restaurant where the cooking is in a broth right at your table. As part of this place they had a "noodle dancer" come and be amazing with a noodle dough before it was put in the broth for cooking. It started out about a foot long. Then by the time he was done it was about 8 feet long. You can see part of it in the picture. It was really neat. 

At a layover in Tokyo we took off at near dusk. It was amazing and unexpected. It does not show well in the picture but I could see Mt. Fuji so clear out by the red sun. Totally amazing!

Thanks for sharing all your great stories and experiences. I really enjoy reading about the people you are teaching. And Skjelse, I don't get enough in writing!  Send more. 

Enjoy also the Santa Claus in China. They have no clue about it but are starting to post it everywhere just because they have heard about it. I thought it was pretty funny. 

Kieren and Gavin, let us know soon when you are going to be able to call on Christmas so we can plan our day around when you can call. It will be wonderful to speak to you. 

Gavin, Elder Barfuss is a zone leader now and I saw him at stake mission correlation today. He was excited to hear how you are doing. 

Skjelse, we want to hear all about the new job. 

Love you forever,

Dad

3 John 1:4

Learning Around The World

I never cease to be amazed at how I can learn things no matter where I am. I left Wednesday and travelled to Germany, I had two very good days of productive meetings with the team there and met my adopted nephew Matteo. He is Italian.

While I was there it happened to be the day that St. Nicolas came to visit the children. It was like a family work party of some sort. I only got to stay for his visit and then the taxi took us to the airport, but it was fun to see.

I was then off to a connecting flight in Paris (too bad did not have enough time to see anything, like usual) and then to Shanghai. I got here Sunday morning and then after stopping at the hotel for a short while I was off to church. I am beginning to recognize some fo the families and then during testimony meeting it seemed like half of them are leaving this month to move home. It must be hard for the branch.

But...to the point. Here is a shout out to Kieren. We read and discussed from Daniel today. Where it lists the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery and dulcimer. I had fun thinking of you trying to play all of them in your life. But i learned from the comments shared when they discussed Daniel and the lion's den, and king Darius. His words lead you to understand that he was himself in a pit of frustration and sorrow due to his actions. A pit like the one Daniel was in but emotionally and spiritually. It is much like the Savior and our lives. Due to our actions, or at times the actions of others, we are in a pit. And in the morning we come running to the Den to see if God has delivered us. And due to the atonement we know He always will if we just come to Him. It is enlightening to read Darius' words as he laments, worries and cannot sleep the whole night.

Then we discussed the talk "Stay in the boat" from last conference. Another hour of really good insights led fby the elders quorum president. We likened keeping on a life jacket to holding fast to your covenants. When you do, no matter the rapids, no matter the situation, you can be safe eternally and be able to cling to the covenants like you would cling to the raft or the paddle when going down a white water river.

A sisiter gave testimony that she recently received her call to the Quebec Canada mission. I thought if you Skjelse (you are 'almost" Canadian) and then she said she would be spanish speaking! So then I thought of you Gavin. She has studied French for 6 years and will be teaching in Spanish. But I'm sure she will get to use her French along the way.

I got surprised when brother Clark (SS teacher) invited me over for dinner with the young single adults for fast Sunday dinner. That was so nice. I went and it was very kind of them. It was neat to meet their family, another couple who is teaching at the university through the BYU Kennedy Center program (another nod to Skjelse) and they even have met the Bjorkman's. They also had all the YSA over included a YM who is just taking the semester off school and has just been travelling the US and other countries. I'm not sure where his pocket book is financed but he seems to be just popping around where he feels like it. He came to Shanghai on a whim. Didn;t think about it until Friday and then was here. But he was at church and was contributing great comments along the way.

They played some games and talked, and I got to know the family some. It was very nice to have a home feeling while away from home.

From here on out it beomces crazy schedule, long days of meetings and reviews, travelling to Suzhou and back, and then after meetings getting on the plane back home. I fly back Saturday so I can be home for the ward Christmas party.

I love you all, make good comments in your meetings, listen, ponder, and share your insights, they can help others to learn more of the gospel.

I hope Skjelse tells you her good news, I will not so she can.

Dad

3 John 1:4