4 Bits and tidbits

Aunt Berniece
Last Wednesday evening I called Aunt Berniece to wish her a happy birthday. She continues to be in good health and is able to get around as she needs to. She still drives around Tooele, to places like church and the store, but she does not venture on her own into the Salt Lake area.

Berniece is the youngest of the four children born to William and Hazel Batt: Dorothy Cleverly was the oldest and passed away in Nampa in 1982, Ruth Tovey is currently in a care center in Bountiful and pretty much does not recognize anyone, Bill Batt lives in Spokane and has family living with him (a granddaughter I believe Berniece said) and children living nearby, and Berniece Palmer in Tooele.

Cousin Kent
While I was talking to Berniece on my cell phone (because it has free long distance), her son Kent called on our house phone. He periodically calls to update me on the Palmer family. His youngest son was just made a first lieutenant in the Air National Guard and by next summer will be flying large planes. He already has a commercial pilot's license.

Lyle in Washington
Lyle called me Saturday morning from Terry's house in Aberdeen. He had driven up to Washington to spend about 10 days or so visiting his family up there. He had Thanksgiving dinner at Doug's. He reported that everyone seems to be healthy and fine. He saw a new grandbaby over for the holiday from Spokane. Unless it was too stormy, he was planning to leave today to return home to Idaho.

Gene and Cheryl in Texas
Lyle reported that Gene and Cheryl had gone to Texas for the Thanksgiving holiday and were planning to be there until about December 10.

Thanksgiving
Kate posted the following report on Saturday: "We had a fun Thanksgiving full of family and food. We ate with Lynda and the rest of Brian's family and then went to Mom's for dessert. As always, we had a political discussion with the siblings (which never seems to change anyone's opinions). When we left Mom's, we went back to Lynda's since their family usually plays cards all night. We ended up playing Phase 10 til 1:30 in the morning. John's chair collapsed, which was the highlight of the night since he had no time to react and was flat on his back before anyone knew what happened.

"Last night Brian and I were laying in bed at probably 10:30 when I realized we hadn't checked all the doors to make sure they were locked. I sent Brian out to do the man's work. He hadn't been gone 30 seconds when I hear screaming and other strange noises. Apparently the cat had been hiding in the dark and decided to attack Brian. All Brian heard were little clicking noises on our hard floor and he thought he was being attacked by a camel spider (bad flash back from Iraq). So he screamed. When he told me what had happened I laughed for nearly a half hour. I just couldn't stop picturing the "Puss in Boots" attack on my own husband."

5 Our family 50 years ago

What our family was up to during the winter of 1958, based on entries in Dorothy's Diary during December 1958. The full text of her diary can be found online and is updated daily, exactly 50 years to the day after it was originally written. The family at the time lived on an 80-acre farm in the Big Bend area of eastern Oregon.


Mon, Dec 1. I got up & took Kay & Gene over to church to Seminary. Came home & got Kids off to school. We went to Nampa & got Ivards check & paid bills & went to a guys house & ordered some watches at half price for Xmas. I laid down at 9: had to go back to work tonight at 11:

Tues, Dec 2. I came home from work and went to bed & Ivard got me up at 11: & Jackie and I went to relief society work day. had good dinner and candy demonstration & I finished my pillow slips for bizzar.

Wed, Dec 3. I came home from work & ate & we went to Adrian. Came home & went to bed at 10: Got up at 2:30. I made spagetti for supper and went to Adrian & got Kids from Primary, had to waite nearly an hr., they ran out of gas. got Kay from ball practice.

Thurs, Dec 4. I came home from work & we went to Caldwell and paid gas & laid away some Xmas presents. Came home at noon & washed some clothes & went to bed. Ivard tended Jackie. I got up at 4: & made 2 pumpkin pies for Ivard, Kay & Gene to take to foot ball banquet. I made 2 lemon pies and Ray fixed supper & I had a piece of pie & went to bed until time to go to work.

Fri, Dec 5. I came home from work & made jellow for relief society banquet & went to bed. At 5:45 Ray, Dean Dale & I went over to church to banquet & bizzar. I had charge of corn, heating & serving it. had a good turkey supper. I bought a couple of rugs, 2 dresses for Jackie a apron & pillow cases.

Sat, Dec 6. Ivard cut Kids hair and Gene plowed his corn field below dike ditch. Ray scrubbed & cleaned house & got dinner. Kay went over to school to play practice & cop gave him a ticket for no adult driver with him. Ray & I went to Parma & paid phone & Ray did his Xmas shopping.

Sun, Dec 7. I came home from work & went to bed. Kay - Gene, Dean & Dale & went to Nyssa to Stake Conference. Ray stayed home & tended Jackie & had dinner ready when they got home.

6 What in the world

Temple open house
The public open house for the new Draper Utah Temple—the 12th temple in Utah—will run from Thursday, January 15, through Saturday, March 14. Reservations for tours of the temple can be made by the general public beginning today, December 1, after 10:00 a.m. by going to www.lds.org/reservations (a maximum of ten reservations) or by calling 1-800-537-6181 or locally 801-240-7932.

Following the open house, the temple will be dedicated in 12 sessions on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, March 20-22. It will be the 129th operating temple in the world.

Jackie and Jared, when they were here visiting in October, and I drove around the temple site. The grounds had already been landscaped. The temple is located on a mountainside in the extreme southeast corner of the Salt Lake Valley and can easily be seen from the freeway at the south end of the valley.

7 A final word

We live in a crazy world. There is worldwide crisis in the financial markets. People are starting to lose their jobs. Many people still fear how the political future of our own country will unfold when Barack Obama assumes the presidency in January. There is a full-scale cultural war raging that seeks to redefine Christian morals and values that are the bedrock on which our country was founded. There has been a stunning outpouring of intolerance and hatred (in at least California and Utah) in reaction to the passage of Proposition 8 in California. I could go on and on. As Mom used to say, and she has been gone for more than 25 years, these are the last days after all.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity of teaching a priesthood lesson from the Joseph Smith manual on “The Second Coming and the Millennium.” It was a marvelous lesson, and the Spirit of the Lord was abundantly present. And so I share a thought or two from that lesson that may bear on the situation in which we find ourselves.

A passage in the Book of Mormon gives us the clearest, most succinct explanation in all the scriptures of why the Lord gives us signs of the times. Samuel the Lamanite was prophesying of the first coming of the Savior. In a situation remarkably similar to our own, since we live just before the second coming of the Savior, he gives a reason for revealing such signs:

“And also that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name.

“And if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye might have a remission of them through his merits” (Helaman 14:12–13; emphasis added).

And so our clear safety lies in coming unto Christ by believing in Him, having faith in His name, repenting of our sins, and binding ourselves to Him by making and keeping sacred covenants.

One other thought from the lesson, one thought from among many: The Lord will not come until all things are fulfilled in preparation for His coming. “It is not the design of the Almighty,” Joseph taught in 1843, “to come upon the earth and crush it and grind it to powder, but he will reveal it to His servants the prophets” (History of the Church, 5:336–37).

The lesson for us? Keep our eye on the Prophet. Listen to and do what President Monson tells us to do. He will bear witness of Christ and will teach us the things we need to know and do to stay safely bound to the Savior. That will be our only sure pathway to safety.