Family Campout #1
Dear Paul and Kate, Melanie and Jared, Bridget and Justin, Sara, Ben and Sarah, Heather, Audrey, Rachel, and Matt via hardcopy,
cc: file, Andrea, Tony Hafen, Sara and Des Penny,
Pauline Nelson via Aunt Sara, & Maxine Shirts
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.
"I didn't send a thoughtlet last week because:
- we got back from Family Campout #1 just in time to get ready for church, and I had some Home Teaching to do after church;
- I wanted to wait until the interviews at Apache on Monday to confirm what I had written about a recognized miracle (0309.html); and then
- I didn't want to have to tell everyone I didn't get the job at Apache. I will write about this in the next thoughtlet (0311.html).
In the book `Scriptural Teachings of The Prophet Joseph Smith,'
1993, Deseret Book Company, on pages 177-178 is a section
labeled `A Key to Mysteries.' It says:
<![CDATA[ `I will give you one of the Keys of the mysteries of the
Kingdom. It is an eternal principle, that has existed with
God from all eternity. That man who rises up to condemn
others, finding fault with the Church, saying that they are
out of the way, while he himself is righteous, then know
assuredly, that that man is in the high road to apostasy; and
if he does not repent, will apostatize, as God lives. The
principle is as correct as the one that Jesus put forth in
saying that he who seeketh a sign is an adulterous person;
and that principle is eternal, undeviating, and firm as the
pillars of heaven; for whenever you see a man seeking after
a sign, you may set it down that he is an adulterous man.']]>
In my defense, I am not an adulterous man. However, I was
out of line in the last Thoughtlet, recognizing a miracle
which had not yet happened. Signs follow those who believe.
Sometimes we are able to cite our minds forward, see the
future, and to prophesy. However, these occasions are very
rare. This concept has certainly played out over the last
9 months in a very public forum in regards to Elizabeth
Smart. Were her parents prayers answered? Most definitely!
Why are other parents prayers not answered? Are they just
not answered yet? The recognized miracle does not come on
our time schedule, and if we pre-recognize it, we are
undoing our prayers and showing our lack of faith. It is a
good thing I am a lot like J. Golden Kimball, and can
continue to hope I won't get cut off from that which I hold
most dear, specifically because `I repent too damn fast.'
I did get a nice e-mail this last week from Melanie, along
this line. It said:
<![CDATA[ `Congratulations dad! What a miracle... but you worked hard
for that miracle. The Lord does bless us. I forgot to tell
you that Jared got set apart last Sunday as the new Elder's
Quorum President. He started his meetings this morning and
I have feeling things are going to be real hectic in our
lives - as if they weren't already. We're pretty stressed
about money, but I too believe that if you pay your tithing
and fast offerings and strive your hardest to live within
your means, the Lord will take care you. Anyway,
congratulations. Be praying for us that we can land a big
account soon because we could use the blessing.
Love you,
Melanie.']]>
I responded:
<![CDATA[ `Melanie and Jared,
Congratulations. I've done the Elder's Quorum President
twice, and it is a big responsibility. I'm full of advice,
if you have any interest. Make sure to not run faster than
you have strength, and delegate so others share in the
spiritual experiences.
Stay stressed out about money until you have no debt and a
couple of years of salary in savings, and then remain watchful
of every penny. Tithing and offerings do not keep us from
receiving the blessings accompanying trials. However, the
Lord will always take care of us, if we prove each day our
love for Him. I'm not sure a big account would be a blessing
at this point in your life. Remember the worst of all Arab
curses is `May you receive everything you desire.' Successful
businesses grow slowly and steadily.
Melanie, we do have your new dress from China here, and a
plant you have never taken, if you happen to come by this way
sometime. The Corvalis experience is recorded at
../1997/9715.html, and it was the most important turning
point of my life.
Love,
Dad']]>Click here for ../1997/9715.html
In terms of things which happened last week, specifically
leading up to Family Campout #1, it was a very busy week.
Monday I caught Roger and Albert up on the things in Nigeria,
China, with SpotFire and IES, and the potential job at Apache.
They were excited and saw some opportunities to use SpotFire
to help a guy at Apache. Albert, in his enthusiasm, sent him
an e-mail, telling him I would be working at Apache, and I
did later wonder whether this was a political bombshell.
There are regular, typically daily, conversations with Swede
Nelson. Swede and I had a conference call with John Dickinson.
There were several conversations with Jude. Lac Nguyen and
I gave Jude and his team a demonstration of Lac's virtual
reality capabilities. Good stuff, and very well received.
Wei He and I had a phone call on Tuesday, and he set up a
meeting with Xuri Huang for me on Wednesday. Very nice guy,
and a definite possibility as a replacement for Geo, if our
Joint Venture does not go anyplace. Friday at noon there
was a two hour meeting with VRMT and SpotFire, where we
signed agreements so VRMT and Walden 3-D will each be able
to represent SpotFire with `Registered Clients' and thus
earn a commission on sales made. There are certainly a lot
of irons in the fire, it would sure be nice if one of them
would catch on fire and we could have some financial stability.
For a lot of reasons, I never, not in my wildest imagination,
thought I would be involved in a family campout. I have
thought it would be nice to take the boys and work on hiking
the continental divide trails between Alberta and Mexico.
But a family campout was outside of possibilities. Isn't it
interesting how we get images and ideas built up in our mind
and these perceptions become the very thing which limit our
choices and what we do?
THANKS SARA! I love to camp! I love the outdoors! I love
my family! And I thoroughly enjoyed Family Campout #1.
Hopefully we will get up to Family Campout #50 before my
mortality is over. It was really nice to spend time with
both Roice and Sara. I don't know why I expected Andrea
would not want to go camping with me. History certainly can
create inaccurate perceptions. It was really nice to see
Andrea enjoys the outdoors also. Anyway, here is Sara's
report:
<![CDATA[ `So, the results of a camping trip with Dad, Andrea, Roice
and me...
Had some good 'ole times...with the guitar, smores, foil
dinners and great conversation to keep us amused the first
night.
Some pre-exploring...Dad, andrea and I stuck to the roads
and trails for a nice jog in the morning...through fog and
mist because it was so humid.
On another trip out, we all went for a hike....stopped by
the Guadalupe River for a rock skipping contest, and
realized Dad and Roice had just a LITTLE more practice than
I had. We'll just have to have plenty of more camping trips,
so I can catch up.
A wet bum...from 'exploring', taking a not-very-well-groomed
trail, discovering that the real trail was just over those
20-foot limestone walls, and deciding it might be a good
idea to try and climb it. (Yeah, so I fell on the wet moss
and got a wet booty.)
A different perspective...We realized that distances always
seem longer when looking down...Instead of the rock, we
decided to climb an old tree...It was actually really cool,
and looked much higher after we climbed it!
On our way back, Dad gracefully chatted with the red
cardinals. It was really funny to hear the back and forth
conversation between them.
Back to civilization...in order to fix the blowout on Dad's
car, we headed into town, and in the middle of our
'nature/outdoor weekend', we ended up at WAL-MART. Their
taking over the world!
But we made it back in time for dutch oven cookin', more
talkin', more relaxation, a couple of raccoons and even an
armadillo.
We really missed you Robby!! And Renee! I'd love to do this
again, soon. And it'd be fun if we could work more with
people's schedules. I know it's hard 'cause there's so many
of us, but we can do it! We've got to get all of Indiana
Jones' children in action. :)
Oh, PS: We need everyone's help in coming up with a 10 minute
movie so Roice can use his new video camera, and we are
looking to screen for actors and actresses...Please reply if
interested...jj. :)
Sara Ellyn :)']]>
I selected 10 of my favorite photos from the trip and will
include them with the on-line thoughtlet (0310.html). They
show:
 |  |
| The Campground at Guadalupe State Park. | A cardinal on the table eating breakfast left overs. |
 |  |
| Roice relaxing. | Roice and Sara sitting on a rock overlooking the river. |
 |  |
| Roice skipping rocks and Sara in a tree. | Sara in a tree (reference ../0032.html). |
 |  |
| The river with Sara, Roice, and Andrea on a trail in the bushes. | Close-up on Sara, Roice, and Andrea. |
 |  |
| The tree we climbed up and the 20 foot cliff it was against. | Looking down the tree we climbed up. |
There are a lot of words which can be written about any kind
of event, like Family Campout #1. I have four brief expansions
on what Sara wrote.
- Roice pointed out camping is all about being flexible
and being willing to change your plans based on whatever comes up.
- I should point out I feel it was a miracle and a specific
answer to our prayer offered just before we left home by Matt
that Andrea and I did not have more problems with the tire. As
we were starting to pack Andrea said, `Are you sure you want to
take the blue car with the bad tires?' I said, `It will be OK,
and I don't want to get the new car dirty.' We drove the same
distance as driving to San Antonio with no problem. After we
arrived, we could not get the Crepe Myrtle branches we brought
to start on fire, and Andrea drove three miles back to the
ranger station to buy some wood, and then drove back to camp,
with no problem. It was the next afternoon when all four of us
got in the car to go and call Rob and find out where he was that
we discovered the back drivers tire was flat. Looking at it,
the edge had worn through and there were big splits all the way
around. As a scientist I can figure out how the tire warmed up
as we drove, and the hot air provided extra tension to keep the
tire from leaking. As the tire cooled overnight, the large
cracks opened, and the tire went flat. However, as a man of
faith, you will never be able to convince me this was not a
direct answer to prayer, a recognized miracle, something given
in the Lord's time, and not in my instantaneous gratification
time frame.
- Sara was there to watch us struggle with getting a fire
started. We spent 2 hours Friday evening, and 2 hours Saturday
morning getting a fire started, which could be used to cook
steak, potatoes and carrots, apple and pineapple cobbler,
breakfast burritos, etc. We were close to the river, and
humidity had to be about 95%. All the local wood was soaked
by the heavy rains of the previous week. The crape myrtle we
brought with us was still green. We did not have any lighter
fluid (until Roice bought some when we went to get the tires
fixed). At one point, Andrea said, `Why don't you go borrow
some lighter fluid from one of the other campers? It is just
your pride!' We did get the fires going. Mostly we got it
going by waving my camping hat on it very fast and fanning the
fire. Seemed to be the only way to get enough oxygen down
in the coals to get them to flame up. It did lead to several
interesting conversations about pioneers, bellows, and other
aspects of fanning the fire.
- I really enjoyed Family Campout #1 immensely, and look
forward to doing something similar with each of the 10 of you.
Specifically something you will enjoy, and it is fine if it does
not involve camping out in the mosquitos and bugs (although I
hasten to point out we didn't have much problem with either on
this campout).
Lastly, I feel it appropriate to point out, as we walked into
church Sunday morning, freshly showered, and tired from having
driven back to Houston that morning, Daniel Bohman from Katy
2nd Ward walked up to me and handed me a $50 bill. I had
given him a Macintosh computer in the garage a year ago, he
sold it on e-bay, and he was paying me an unexpected fee. I
thought it was symbolic of the fact Heavenly Father will watch
out for us, will provide for our needs (and wants) as we are
consistent in following his commandments, and that even though
I was concerned about Apache and the interview scheduled for
Monday, everything will turn out appropriately given time.
Matt was glad to have us back. His Sea Cadet activity was
changed several times, and did not take near the time he
thought it would. He missed Special Olympics, and he missed
Family Campout #1. However, he is looking forward to being
with us in the future, and he did get his photo in his
uniform in the Houston Chronicle and The Katy Times this week.
For him, I think this was even better than Family Campout #1."
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.)
