31 July 2005 #0531.html

Camelot

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Dear Family and Friends,

Welcome to this week's "Thoughtlet."

These words are my personal diary and a weekly review of ideas, beliefs, thoughts, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit to you: my children, my family, and my friends.

"In reviewing the context to start this week's Thoughtlet, I noticed my previous Thoughtlet (0530.html) did not include a description of the Nottingham Country Ward Party on Saturday, the 23rd of July. But I remembered writing about it, and after a word search found that the Pioneer Day breakfast was written about on the wrong Saturday, the 16th of July (0529.html). Oh well! Recognizing this error brings up the ward family, and provides a context for writing about Camelot.

Remember when King Arthur sang:

`Each evening, from December to December, Before you drift to sleep upon your cot, Think back on all the tales that you remember Of Camelot. Ask ev'ry person if he's heard the story, And tell it strong and clear if he has not, That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory Called Camelot. Camelot! Camelot! Now say it out with pride and joy: Camelot! Camelot! Yes, Camelot, my boy! Where once it never rained till after sundown, By eight a.m. the morning fog had flown... Don't let it be forgot That once there was a spot For one brief shining moment that was known As Camelot.'

I will always think of the Nottingham Country Ward as my Camelot. We have had very good friends in here, and we have had many very good times. And it is at times like the 24th of July breakfast on the 23rd of July, that these good times are brought to mind.

I've been reading "Dine' bahane` - The Navajo Creation Story." It is amazing to me how different and yet how similar all cultures are. Consider the first paragraph of Chapter Two of The Emergence:

`It is also said that the Air-Spirit People fought among themselves. And this is how it happened. They committed adultery, one with another. Many of the men were to blame, but so were many of the women. They tried to stop, but they could not help themselves.'

They were then told:

`You are no longer welcome here where I am chief. ... Go away from this land. Leave at once!'

In Chapter Three we are taught:

`It is also said that they circled upward until they reached the smooth, hard shell of the sky overhead. ... They found that hole and entered. One by one they filed through to the other side of the sky. And that is how they reached the surface of the second world. ... So it was that both sets of people began to treat each other as members of one tribe. They mingled one among the other and called each other by the familiar names. They called each other grandparent and grandchild, brother and sister; they called each other father and son, mother and daughter. For twenty-three days they all lived together in harmony. But on the night of the twenty-fourth day, one of the strangers became too free with the wife of the swallow chief. Next morning, when he found out what had happened the night before, the chief had this to say to the strangers: "We welcomed you here among us," was what he had to say to them. "We treated you as friends and as kin. And this is how you return our kindness! No doubt you were driven from the world below for just such disorderly acts. Well, you must leave this world, too; we will have you here no longer." ... Into the sky they went. Higher and higher they soared. They circled upward until they reached the smooth, hard shell of the sky overhead, it is said.'

In the fourth chapter we are taught:

`... "Perhaps we can join you here." The grasshoppers consented, and the two groups quickly began to mingle. They embraced each other, and soon they were using the names of family and kin together. They called each other mother and daughter, father and son, brother and sister, grandparent and grandchild. It was as if they were all of the same tribe. As before, all went well for twenty-three days. But as before, on the night of the twenty-fourth, one of the newcomers treated the chief of the grasshoppers exactly as the swallow chief had been treated in the second world. When he discovered how he had been wronged, the grasshopper chief spoke this way to the insect people: "No doubt you were sent away from the world below for such transgressions!" is how he spoke. "No doubt you bring disorder wherever you go. No doubt you lack intelligence. Well, here too you shall drink no more of our water. Here too you shall eat no more of our food. Here too you shall breathe no more of our air. Get out of here!"

In the fifth chapter we are taught:

`The land of Kiis' a'anii was a dry land. It had neither rain nor snow and there was little water to be found. But the people who had been dwelling there knew how to irrigate the soil to make things grow, and they taught the newcomers to do so. Twenty-three days came and went, and twenty-three nights passed and all was well. And on the twenty-fourth night the exiles held a council meeting. They talked quietly among themselves, and they resolved to mend their ways and to do nothing unintelligent that would create disorder. This was a good world, and the wandering insect people meant to stay here, it is said.'

And thus the Navajo tribe created their Camelot. And thus friends and I have spent years striving to create Camelot in the Nottingham Country Ward. Sometimes we have succeeded, and sometimes we have failed. Oh well!

Monday night Rob and David Hergenrotter came over to the house for dinner and Family Home Evening. Rob said a nice prayer. In context to the movie `Baracka,' which Rob brought over, I read a scripture I have quoted in six previous Thoughtlets (../0001.html, ../0031.html, ../0112.html, ../0205.html, ../0234.html, and ../0430.html). Andrea had fixed a feast. After watching the movie `Baracka,' which was a extension of the movie Koyaanisqatsi (Prime Words, Section IV.B.60), the four of us went to see the late showing of `Fantastic Four.' Rob had already seen it. I think we all enjoyed it. Monday was Ethan and Grandma Shirts' birthdays. We called, and Ethan was already asleep. Ben said he liked the dinosaur articles we sent him.

Tuesday I walked into Dave Johnson's office when Bee Bednar was in there. Bee said: `How's my favorite Mormon.' I laughed and said to Dave, `Some people have a favorite Martian, and Bee has a favorite Mormon!'

Wednesday Mike Dunn and I had a meeting with Scott Stoltz about the GDC web pages. Scott has been rebuilding all of these pages, and has even implemented a version of the Infinite GridSM. I look forward to seeing this work, hopefully by the end of August.

Thursday was my last day in the office until the 8th of August because of our vacation to Utah. I had been very busy finishing up all of the maps on the last of the six TilesTM that were to be delivered in July. Frank (Yu Guozhu) and I spent some time reviewing what he needs to get done before he returns to China on the 14th. At the end of the conversation he asked me a question, and I responded, `You bet!' He said, `What did you say?' As I repeated myself and tried to explained the colloquialism I realized I had just done a `Who's on first' because Frank's name is `Yu.' I thought it was very funny, and I didn't say anything to Yu Guozhu. However, I told the story several times in Utah.

Friday morning we were up early and on a Southwest plane to Salt Lake City via Hobby Airport and Phoenix. When we got to the gate there was one of my friends, Jory Pacht, his wife, and their two children. Jory (../0334.html) is my age, and his son is about 8 and his daughter about 10. What a cute family. Jory has left Seis Strat Services and is the principal in a new oil company called Quantum. They are looking for properties to purchase with some known production. I have a couple of leads, which I will follow up on to see if I can help him. We had a fun conversation. When we were walking to the plane in Phoenix, there was Ben Daniels. We had seen his brother, Aaron and Stephanie (Holleman), at Nottingham Country Ward the previous Sunday. He is teaching people about benefit plans. His funniest story was going to Las Vegas to teach employees, whose business it is to get people to gamble, to view pornography, to have sex outside of marriage, and do other unintelligent things, about the company benefit plans. It was a fun flight to Salt Lake City, and felt like we were in Camelot.

We rented a car and drove straight to Joshua and Audrey's house. They are really going to town on renovations. There is a big tree they had to take out. There are big holes dug to pore new foundations for a change in the outside look. There has been all kinds of work done in the back yard, including an electric fence to keep the dogs in their yard. It was a wonderful visit. We looked through all of the wedding photos, all of the honeymoon photos, and talked and talked and talked. Again, I felt like we were in Camelot.

I called and had a nice conversation with Wesley Staheli as we were driving past Spanish Fork. She was just leaving, and none of the other kids were there, so we did not stop. I was hoping to take them out to dinner. Oh well! We got to Cedar City about 9:00 Friday evening. Rachel and Matt had both left work at Burger King by the time we arrived. I had picked up a novel at Hobby Airport, called `Angels & Deamons.' It is definitely anti-Catholic, much more so than Dan Brown's later book `The Da Vinci Code.' I finished reading all 572 pages by Monday morning, showing what I did Friday night, Saturday, and when we were not at church on Sunday.

Saturday evening we went to dinner at Milt's Stage Stop with Sara and Des, Grandma Shirts and Rachel, and Jeff and Paula Jurinak. Matt had to work, and he had gone to Milt's the previous week for Grandma's birthday when Rachel had to work. After dinner we went to see `Camelot' (../0444.html) with the Jurinak's in the Randall Theater. I cried. I do not remember King Arthur's illegitimate son, Mordred, from the movie. And there are a couple of songs in the musical that I don't think made it to the movie. As I listened to King Auther talk to the young boy before the big battle, telling him to tell the world there once was a place called Camelot, I could not help but think about my Primary Class, and the wonderful little boys and girls I now have the privilege to teach on Sundays. Maybe I will be able to teach one of them about my dreams about Deseret, about Zion, about The New Jerusalem, or about Camelot.

Sunday morning we went to church with Grandma Shirts. Cedar City 7th Ward is Andrea's Camelot. President Bennion and his wife attended the 7th ward because they had to go to St. George. It was nice to briefly visit. I pointed out to him the Energy Bill finally passed the House of Representatives, and the core repositories are still budgeted. I wrote two possible stanza's for Prime Words at the 7th Ward:

`We are willing to Die for the gospel Are we willing to make Sacrifice to live the gospel' Luke Richmond, Cedar 7th Ward Sacrament Meeting, 31 July 2005 `Moroni wrote on a wrent Piece of his coat About what family And God really meant' Josh Davis reading about Moroni & The Title of Liberty, Cedar 7th Ward Sacrament Meeting, 31 July 2005

After Andrea talked to some of her friends, we picked up the kids and met the Jurinaks at the summer combined 1st, 10th, and 25th Student Ward. Wonderful meetings. I wrote 4 possible stanza's for Prime Words:

`The most important Part of a goal Is the path And scenery and toil' Bret Baumgartner, 1st, 10th, & 25th Ward Sacrament Meeting `When we can truly see With our spiritual eyes We find the strength To finish goals of any size' Jeff Gargano, 1st, 10th, & 25th Ward Sacrament Meeting `We just need more Spiritual candy bars To complete our Eternal marathon' Nicloe (organist), 1st, 10th, & 25th Ward Sacrament Meeting `Vision is what God sees in us Pride, duty, and survival Is how Satan controls us' Bishop Lewis, 25th Ward, Combined Priesthood and Relief Society

The weather in Cedar City was perfect. It never rained until after sundown. By eight a.m. the morning fog had flown away. As we walked down Dewey Avenue one evening I thought about the heroes who used to live there, Wendell Jones (../0206.html and ../0439.html), Conrad Hatch (../0007.html and ../0315.html), Dick Leigh (../0007.html, ../0016.html, ../0101.html, ../0139.html, ../0419.html, and ../0439.html), then on to 580 West and Morris Shirts (../9901.html, ../0004.html, ../0139.html, ../0142.html, ../0306.html, ../0330.html, and 0532.html), as well as all of the others who turned my growing up years in Cedar City as the time I do not forget, a spot where for one brief shining moment it was known as Camelot."

Since the 38th week of 1996 I have written a weekly "Thoughtlet" (little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me). Until the 43rd week of 2004 I sent these out as an e-mail. They were intended to be big thoughts which mean a lot to me. Over time the process evolved into a personal diary. These notes were shared with my family because I know how important the written word can be. Concerned about how easy it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of daily life, I thought this was a good way to reach those I love. It no longer feels right to send out an e-mail and "force" my kids and my family to be aware of my life and struggles. Everyone has their own life to lead, and their own struggles to work through. I will continue this effort, and will continue to make my notes publicly accessible (unless I learn of misuse by someone who finds out about them, and then will aggressively pursue a legal remedy to copyright infringement and I will put the Thoughtlets behind a password). The index to download any of these Thoughtlets is at http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets, or you can e-mail me with questions or requests at rnelson@walden3d.com (note if you are not on my e-mail "whitelist" you must send 2 e-mails within 24 hours of each other in order for your e-mail to not be trashed).

With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)

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Copyright © 2005 H. Roice Nelson, Jr.