Winter Quarters
Dear Paul and Kate, Melanie and Jared, Bridget and Justin, Sara, Ben and Sarah, Heather, Audrey, Rachel, and Matt via hardcopy,
cc: file, Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail,
Sara and Des Penny, Claude and Katherine Warner, Lloyd and Luana
Warner, Diane Cluff, Maxine Shirts via mail.
Welcome to "Thoughtlets." This is a weekly review of an idea,
belief, thought, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit
to you, my children, with an electronic copy to on-line extended
family members. Any of you can ask me not to clutter your mail
box at any time.
"Kind of a quiet week on the family front. I did talk to Rob for a few
minutes yesterday. He didn't want to, and said `How about if next
time we talk, I call you.' He looks good. He said he is helping his
Mom with things around the house, now that he is no longer in school.
After telling him I will continue to come by regularly, he said `The
door will always be locked.' I doubt if any of you can realize the
pain this kind of conversation causes a father who cares, and who does
make a sincere effort to do the right things. I feel sorry for Rob,
and how this type of attitude will come back to haunt him if he ever
makes it as far as having a family. There is eternal truth in simple
principles like `honor your father and mother.' I look back at how I
treated my Mother and Father, and have regrets. Yet I am sure that
my efforts at weekly communication and support are appreciated and
worthwhile. Maybe I need Rob to be Rob so I learn at an emotional
gut level how Dad and Mom felt about some of the things I said and
wrote to them. I have been very judgemental of some of their choices,
and frankly their life is not mine, and I was out of order. I'm sorry
Mom. Like kids, we have to let folks make their choices, and then let
the chips fall where they will. In regards to Rob, my sense is that
we are at `Winter Quarters' of our relationship, and the glories of
reaching the promised valley are just a long hard march away.
I don't know if those of you who studied church history remember what
happened at Winter Quarters. I have not studied this part of church
history as much as I would like to, especially because Grandpa Hafen's
Mom's Grandfather, William Atkin, was a handcart pioneer who would
have stayed at Winter Quarters. Also, Grandma Hafen's Mom's
Grandfather, Nathaniel Ashby, who built one of the nicest pioneer
houses that is at Nauvoo today, died in September of 1846 near
Bonapart, Iowa, on the way to Winter Quarters. His wife died on
May 15th of 1851 in Salt Lake City at 43 years of age. They had
13 children, one who died 6 months after birth, and the next one
dying in 1873. Charolette Marie Ashby's father, who was also
named Nathaniel Ashby, was baptized in 1843 and endowed on the 11th
of February of 1856. There was a lot of history between those two
events. As they watch us, their descendents, in our trivial
pursuits and trials, I often wonder what they think of their
descendants. Especially Nathaniel's father Nathaniel, who paid
the ultimate sacrifice, giving his life, that we might decide
whether to eat at McDonald's or Burger King, and whether to fill
or minds with light and truth or to play with spiritual rattlesnakes.
So, for those who missed this part of seminary, or who have
never heard about Winter Quarters, here is a summary from `Ensign to
the Nations: A History of the LDS Church from 1846 to 1872,' pages 94
and 95, by Russell R. Rich:
<![CDATA[ `Although life on the Missouri was made as comfortable as possible,
exposure to weather and the shortages of nourishing food, combined
with unhealthy surroundings and the already low resistance of the
people caused many to succumb to the ravages of nature. According
to Colonel Thomas L. Kane, 600 Saints died during the year at
Winter Quarters. A massive bronze plaque at Winter Quarters
cemetery today bears the names of 600 Saints buried there. And a
large statue by Avard Farbanks, depicting a mother and father
looking upon the body of their infant child in his grave, has been
erected in honor of those who died at Winter Quarters. Many, upon
visiting the spot, experience a feeling of reverence and appreciation
for those who gave their lives for their religious beliefs.
Of those who successfully lived through the winter, a small number
who had made it this far but now found the price too high, gave up
the westward journey and returned to the East - some of them to
disappear from the records of the Chruch and blend into the gentile
civilization. But the great majority of the survivors were
steadfastly loyal to the Church, suffering many hardships but
continuing their rugged journey westward where they assisted in
building a spiritual empire, destined to become too sturdy for its
enemies to destroy.']]>
I'll get to why I'm talking about Winter Quarter's at the end. Back
on the family front, the following was sent by Paul this week:
<![CDATA[ `Dad,
Interesting thoughtlet. I thought you might find it interesting
that the achievement day girls in our ward made unleavened bread
for the sacrament. When you were talking about Andrea's Jewish
friend that reminded me of Passover and of our sacrament bread
today. Looking forward to having you up for Kate's graduation.
We are planning on having a B-B-Que in Kate's honor on Friday
night, so I hope that you are up for some good Texas steaks.
Thank you for being so steadfast and doing your best to show us
that you love us. I want you to know that your love is felt and
returned. Thanks for all that you do.
Love ya,
Paul and Kate Nelson']]>
So Audrey and Heather, Paul and I will be coming through Cedar
City about 10:00 on Wednesday morning, and if either of you or
both of you are available you are welcome to come with us to take
my Mom out to lunch. I hope to take Grandma Shirts and anyone
interested out to dinner Wednesday evening, and then to go to
Sara's concert at 7:30 at the Middle School out by Fiddler's.
As far as my week, Monday and Tuesday were spent finalizing a
process model for Dynamic Resources. I am real impressed with
the work, and it will be interesting to see if it proves to be
anywhere near as valuable as I anticipate it will be. Wednesday
and Thursday were mostly spent working at Hanover homes with
Blaine Taylor and Steve Joseph. I ended up building a process
model for `Just-In-Time Pre-Development.' These process models
can be applied to any business process, and I think they are
really valuable. I've called them a Knowledge Backbone(SM) in
previous Thoughtlets (../9729, ../9735.html, and ../0049.html).
Wednesday night David Pickerd arranged for Brother Dowd to talk
about his 13 years of experience in the Marines. Uncle Lloyd
and Aunt Luana, he was pleased to have your names brought back
to mind. I forget his first name, and he is Pat Dowd's older
brother. It will be fun when the two of you come to visit us
and reacquaint yourselves with the Dowd's.
Friday morning I went downtown to II&T. Swede Nelson called.
He is back from his vacation, and has several financial leads
he is following up on for Dynamic. I ended up talking too long
and was 10 minutes late for a meeting in the same room with
Hans Osterly from South Africa. He is interested in using
Dynamic, and it was an interesting discussion. After this
conversation, we worked on the prospects from II&T to be
detailed up using Chroma Energy's software. I ended up working
at II&T until 2:30. When I got to the house, there were about
10 phone calls, one right after another. It ended when it was
time to take Matt to his soccer practice. We got back from
practice just in time to go to the ward Family Relations
fireside at Burnham's. We host the next one on Saturday evening,
May 19th. There was a soccer game on Saturday morning at 9:00,
and Andrea and Rachel were downtown doing a Youth Conference
service project in the 5th Ward. I was suppose to go to the
San Jacinto reinactment, where Ken Turner was getting some
recognition. I went the wrong way, and ended up coming back
without making it there. Ken came by and we caught up for the
first time in a long time. Then it was time for Rachel to to
go to the prom. She looked beautiful. I've attached my favorite
digital picture (see www.walden3d.com/photos/Family/09_Rachel for
the rest of them, and eventually I'll get them renumbered and
edited, along with last Christmas's photos).
Last week we went with Matt to see Spy Kids, and the power went
out at the theater and so we got a rain check. After Rachel was
off, we went back. It is a very creative movie, and I liked it
a lot. The parents reminded me of Todd and Michelle Staheli. I
spent the evening working on Dynamic Resources Prospect descriptions.
Rachel came home about 1:00 AM. I slept in this morning and had a nap
after church and lunch. Getting old. I started writing the
thoughtlet about 4:00, and then at 5:00 went to the Stake Center
to be an usher for the Winter Quarters Temple Dedication. My notes:
<![CDATA[ `President Hinkley:
We don't have a cornerstone like in the old days where a trench was
dug and starting in the southeast corner a large stone was set,
accompanied by song and ceremony. Today we used reinforced concrete.
We place a soldid copper box with some things in before they
put a cover on the cornerstone. We will proceed to put a little mud
in the joint. We have a lot of experience with this but we haven't
learned very much. Mother do you want to do one of these. Then he
had the children participate.
L. Tom Perry of the 12 Apostles:
This visit has caused our family to read a lot about the history
of our family. We live in a condiminum and have brothers and
sisters above and on the left and on the right so it is easy to
call a family counsel. Our ancestor joined the church in 1832.
In 1830 an old man with white hair came and asked for a place to
stay for the night. He read to us from a book. Two years later the
missionaries came and they read from the same book and the family
joined the church right away. In the exodus from Missouri his
Great-Great Grandmother had a child. There were 5,600 endowments
done in the Nauvoo temple the two weeks after the exodus started.
There was not time to do sealings. When they arrived in Winter
Quarters his ancestors begged Brigham Young to do their sealings.
And finally he did this. Gus Davis Perry has 18,000 descendents,
and the sealing of those descendants started here. Think about how
sacred the sealing ordinances are. Sealings mean there is an
eternal link which ties families together. Study the history of
your family. Remember what it means to declare worthiness to a
Priesthood Leader and to be able to come into the Lord's house.
Those in this area no longer have to go to Chicago, St. Louis,
or where you have been going. Put on your calendar when you are
going to go the House of the Lord. When he was growing up, I think
it was in Logan, he could look out of his bedroom window and see
the temple lighted up on the hill. He closed saying `I know the
Book of Mormon is true, just as Jus Davis Perry did.'
Ariel Bydee of the Metropolitan Opera sang `Faith in Every Footstep.'
Don Stahley of the 70:
There have been 61 temples dedicated under President Hinkley's
administration, compared to 47 in all previous administrations.
At Kirtland they started building the temple 4 days after the 2nd
admonition from the Lord. Brigham Young was so poor he had to
borrow boots to work on the temple. Men carried guns to protect
the works from the mobs. The early trials were to test the stength
of the people and to prepare them for the trials like the winter of
1846 in Winter Quarters. Our challenge lies in how we maximize the
opportunity to serve in the temple. Those casually engaged versus
those anxiously engaged are shown by their commitment to temple
ordinances, the crowning ordinances available to members of the
church. If we are faithful to our covenants, great blessings will
come to us. He closed testifying of a living prophet teaching us
today.
President Hinkley:
Humbled and ashamed as stand on these grounds sanctified by so many.
Flew here in 1 hour and 50 minutes on a flight of comfort. Could
see in mind the wagon trains not knowing what they were going to
find. Brigham led them to a land he had never seen except in
vision. Has a portrait of Brigham in his office, and he talks to
it: `You had a lot of courage.' `You had a lot of faith.' `The
courage and the faith and the persistence and the utter reliance
on the Lord to take people from the ease and beauty of Nauvoo to
the starkness of the desert.' It took 3 months to do what we did
in 1 hour and 50 minutes. Heart is full of gratitude for those who
were driven from their homes in Nauvoo across the ice and in the
mud made there way here. No vegetables. They died of scurvy by
the hundreds. Some lived and some died. Those who lived went on
to find further trials. those who died went to the magesty of God.
Every member of the church owes a deep debt of gratitude to those
who paused at Winter Quarters. They did it with faith. They know
there were angels watching them. They supplied 500 young men to
serve a government that failed to protect them.
We built the temple in an older part of town, where it is a bit
shabby. This is where they were. This is where they lived, and
suffered, and died. The Mayor and the City Council deeded the
cemetary to the church. Forever this shall be hallowed ground.
There were several times when the Prophet broke down in tears.
Talked about being with President McKay at the dedication of the
temple in Switzerland, and he said he had a feeling there were a
great unseen audience watching the dedication. I've had that
same feeling today. Next week we dedicate a temple in Guadalajara,
Mexico, then one in Perth. However, this place is special. The
Hosanna Shout was similar to when ancient Israel waved the palms.
The Hosanna Anthem was written for the Salt Lake dedication.
The Spirit of God was written for the Kirtland Temple dedication.
Today we are joining these three great events: the Salt Lake Temple
dedication; the Kirtland Temple dedication; and the Winter Quarters
Temple dedication.']]>
(see ../9711.html and ../9743.html).
Some may ask why attend something, where you end up with tears flowing
from your eyes. Maybe it is that once you have experienced the
emotions tied to a spiritual experience it becomes addictive. Maybe
this is a negative way of saying it feels good, and experiencing
the spirit is a fullfilling, building experience. This type of
spiritual experience is what gave regular folks the strength to be
superhuman pioneers at Winter Quarters. I wish I knew how to teach
those I love the importance of this guiding light, to insure you will
each have the strength to meet the challenges sure to come to you in
your own personal winter quarters. Have a great week."
I'm interested in sharing weekly a "thoughtlet" (little statements
of big thoughts which mean a lot to me) with you because I know how
important the written word can be. I am concerned about how easy
it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of
distractions of daily life. To download any of these thoughtlets
go to http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets or e-mail me at
rnelson@walden3d.com.
With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)
Friday morning I went downtown to II&T. Swede Nelson called.
He is back from his vacation, and has several financial leads
he is following up on for Dynamic. I ended up talking too long
and was 10 minutes late for a meeting in the same room with
Hans Osterly from South Africa. He is interested in using
Dynamic, and it was an interesting discussion. After this
conversation, we worked on the prospects from II&T to be
detailed up using Chroma Energy's software. I ended up working
at II&T until 2:30. When I got to the house, there were about
10 phone calls, one right after another. It ended when it was
time to take Matt to his soccer practice. We got back from
practice just in time to go to the ward Family Relations
fireside at Burnham's. We host the next one on Saturday evening,
May 19th. There was a soccer game on Saturday morning at 9:00,
and Andrea and Rachel were downtown doing a Youth Conference
service project in the 5th Ward. I was suppose to go to the
San Jacinto reinactment, where Ken Turner was getting some
recognition. I went the wrong way, and ended up coming back
without making it there. Ken came by and we caught up for the
first time in a long time. Then it was time for Rachel to to
go to the prom. She looked beautiful. I've attached my favorite
digital picture (see www.walden3d.com/photos/Family/09_Rachel for
the rest of them, and eventually I'll get them renumbered and
edited, along with last Christmas's photos).