cc: file, Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, Lloyd and Luana Warner, Diane Cluff, and Maxine Shirts.
"This was a quiet week. Largely because on Monday morning Andrea and I went for a walk/jog around the Baker Road block. We walked out to Cresent Green and then along Kingsland, and at Forrest Green started to jog. When we got to Baker Road, Andrea took off, and I have got so out of shape, not running since allergies came out this year, I couldn't keep up. So I walked. After Andrea got to where the grass trail stops, and zigged over 20 feet to Baker Road, I waited until the trees were between us, and I took off running. I stayed inside the trees, and was able to get past her and in position to scare her just before she got to the end of the bushes and trees by the first houses on Greenwind Chase. She came out and I went BOOOOOOOOOOOOO! and lunged towards her (much different than when I unintentionally scared the ladies when Paul and I went for a jog: ../9903.html). Well there was a hole in the ground, my ankle cracked, and I could not walk on it until Friday. Paul, it is as black and blue as your ankle was when you sprained it in the MTC. It is still about twice as big is normal, my toes are black and blue, as is the bottom half of my right foot.
The other time I did this was in the early 1990's. I was saving a few bucks, and drove a car from Vegas or Salt Lake to Cedar City and dropped it off at the airport. To prove how tough I was, I left the car at the airport, changed into jogging clothes, put my other clothes in a backpack and jogged the 5 or 6 miles out to the farm. The only problem was it was dark, a car came up the dirt road and I got way over to the side, I didn't stop, my foot hit a big rock, and I sprained my ankle. It had been so long since I had been home, I didn't know if Mrs. Luke was still alive, and I was too proud to stop and knock on anyone's door and ask for help. So I hobbled the last 4 miles to the farm, and felt sorry for myself for the next couple of weeks. As I recall, my foot was almost as black and blue as it is now. Maybe I should take a digital photo and put it on the web page to prove my story. At least the swelling has gone down enough I can put a shoe on now. For reference, this time Andrea volunteered to run back to the house and come and pick me up, and I said I could make, and I did.
I worked all day Monday, 6:30 AM to 12:30 AM, and all day Tuesday, 7:00 AM to midnight, and Wednesday until Dick Coons came to pick me up and drive me to the meeting, finishing up the spread-sheet table documenting Dynamic's CLPs (new exploration Concepts, Leads, and drillable Prospects). I'm sure impressed with all of the work we have done this last year. I know it is just a matter of time before we find someone with money who is also impressed, and who will purchase some of the CLPs we have developed. The meeting Joe Roberts set up with Pat Cooper went very well. There will be follow-up meetings this week. There were also phone calls with Jim Hurn, and there will be follow-up meetings with him this next week. The rest of the week was spent getting ready for these meetings next week.
Speaking of next week, we were able to get $200. round trip tickets to Salt Lake, and Andrea is going to go to Provo Tuesday morning to help Kate for Paul's first week back at school. I'm not sure when I will make it to Provo to meet Grant Matthew. As I was cleaning out e-mail the week before last, I did find an e-mail from Diane, which I had originally intended to be in Grant's Thoughtlet. So here it is:
And I'm 52, just 6 years younger than this Grandpa. I think I would be hard pressed to identify which of the things listed above were discovered between 1943 and 1949. World War II brought a lot of changes, just as the current war with terrorism is bringing rapid changes in other areas. A lot of these thoughts kind of jelled for me Friday night when Andrea and I went to see The Majestic. Good yarn, and I enjoyed the movie. I don't care for Jim Carey, and yet I found his character in this movie, quite believable. I cried, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it was the movie brought to mind what I recall as 19 flag poles for slain soldiers in the Paragonah cemetary, 20 miles to the north of where I grew up in Cedar Valley. I wonder if there are 19 families living in Paragonah now. The writers strive to reach softies like me, and they did. I hope, when you see the movie, you will each think about what you have now, that your Grandparents and other ancestor's didn't, and that you will remember their efforts to build a better world than they had for you, and remember to the degree you do the same for your grandchildren.
Today was Stake Conference. Andrea and I have stayed in the Stake Choir since the Epiphany Conference, and we sang in the morning session (the Katy Stake has grown so much we have two sessions that each fill the Stake Center). I wish you could each have been there and heard the words and felt the spirit as I did. I won't type out my notes. Rather, I will point out that they are in my current Journal, pages 54-60, and when we visit you are welcome to read them and I would love to talk about them with you.
There were two things which had especial meaning for me. The first was related to the first song we sang: How Lovely are the Messengers by Felix Mendelssonhn. During my first year at the University of Utah, somehow I was recruited for the Institute Choir. It turned into a very special experience. As described in a prevoius Thoughtlet (../9732.html), I ended up sitting in the first row behind President McKay when this Choir sang at April General Conference. I loved the spirit of the moment. Several times, after the Nottingham Country Ward Choir got started, I mentioned I would like to sing this song. Andrea Slack finally relented and ordered the music, although she said she thought it was too hard for us. We have sung the song several times since then, including at the Epiphany Concert a couple of weeks ago. Whenever we sing it, I feel the spirit of that General Conference where I was singing to the first person I personally had the Holy Ghost bear solemn witness of as being a prophet of the living God and creator of Earth. I would like to type out the words of the base line, I have come to love so much:
Sister Joanne H. Kuttler, Assistant Matron at the Houston
Temple spoke an hour into the two hour conference, and said:
Then she had all of the ordinance workers for the Houston
Temple stand, and said:
The second was Ron Burgerner's talk (He is 1st Counselor in
the Stake Presidency). He held up the little stool that Ted
Romig made from the scrap wood from when he built my desk for
me, which the primary children use to stand up and bear their
testimonies on Fast & Testimony Sunday, and said `I'm going
to stand on this so you can all see me.' Then he had everyone
hum `I am a child of God' and then the Primary Children in
attendance sing the first verse. I AM A CHILD OF GOD. YOU
ARE EACH A CHILD OF GOD. HE WANTS THE BEST FOR EACH OF US.
WE CHOOSE WHETHER HE WILL BE WITH US. WHILE WE ARE FREE TO
CHOOSE FOR OURSELVES, WE ARE NOT FREE TO CHOOSE THE
CONSEQUENCES OF OUR ACTIONS. This is why it is so important
for each of us to choose what is right throughout our life.
I could go on, and I won't. As we start, yet another year, I just want to write the simple words: I LOVE YOU. I hope you each know how much I love each one of you, and how I want nothing but the very best for each of you. Sometimes we can let the trials of life beat us down and keep us from seeing the beauty surrounding us. Yet that hope for the very best remains, and sometimes it shines, like it did in the movie for the owner of movie theater named The Majestic."