http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/ en-us Nucleus CMS v3.21 MD © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/ http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/?itemid=7015
Bradley and I were able to shake John Carmack’s hand before we sat down for lunch. Of course John recognized Bradley. He also recognized me; but since I had a name tag that was made easier.

The original invitees to this event were people who had graduated OVER FORTY YEARS BEFORE, Brad was a little younger than the other 150 luncheon guests; but Bradley is a natural conversationalist. He mixed right in with the other total strangers at our table.

The blessing on the food was by Tara’s ex mission president.

There where several rituals at lunch and before the speaker including SINGING THE SCHOOL SONG. I knew the lyrics as did most of the audience, but Bradley did not. Since then I asked my home teacher who went to the Wyoming football game with me, if he knew it. (He is only 30 years younger than me.) He did not. However, after the game, the band was playing it. I do not know when the school got out of the habit of singing this nice song. It was written by the same man who wrote the famous ‘Rise and Shout’ song.

Then Brother Carmack spoke; the topic of his address – the Perpetual Education Fund. He described the board that supervises the fund; the board consisting of the First Presidency, a couple members of the Twelve, a few members of the Seventy, the Presiding Bishop, and the General Relief Society President. He then described the last board meeting that President Hinckley attended in January, which he claimed was the last public meeting President Hinckley conducted on earth.

He quoted President Hinckley as saying that the Conference Center came to him by direct revelation.

When Elder Carmack was serving as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, he was serving in the Area Presidency in Germany and about to become emeritus when he received a call from President Hinckley. The President gave him a 15 minute lecture on the history of Perpetual EMIGRATION Fund. How this fund helped 100,000 moved to the Rocky Mountains. 30,000 loans were given out, many if not most were paid back.

Brother Carmack wondered why he was getting this historical lecture. President Hinckley then changed the subject and described his idea for the Perpetual EDUCATION Fund. He described how it would work. President Hinckley said it would be directed by an Emeritus member of the Seventy, but the problem was that member was in Germany. Brother Carmack said, “Are you calling me to this position?” President Hinckley said, “Yes.” Of course, Brother Carmack accepted, and President Hinckley said, “We’ll see you at conference” and hung up.

Brother Carmack said the church has been very generous in their donations – the typical month brings in 2 to 3 MILLION dollars. However, they invest that money and can only loan out the interest. Traditionally they have been getting 8%, but this year it has been down to 4%. President Hinckley prophesied you will always have enough money.

The original loans were for vocations; some of the more recent loans have been for professions and university training. All of the funds are out of the United States.

All of the department’s operating expenses come from the general church budget; not from donations to the Perpetual Education Fund.

They have 75 missionary couples helping to administer and supervise the funds.

So far 31,000 have been helped with loans; the majority have been repaved.

Area Presidents say that 10% of Stake Presidents and Bishops come from men who have received these loans. .

The program started in Mexico, Peru and Chile, with Brazil added early. It is now in 40 countries.

Brother Carmack has been the director for 7 and ½ years. He is an impressive, low keyed, humble man. I was glad to be there that Wednesday.





]]> General http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/index.php?itemid=7015 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:22:01 -0400 http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/?itemid=6996

Clarence Olauson was born April 2, 1914 in Oslo, Norway. He came to the U. S. when he was 7 years old. He married Margaret Childs a younger sister of my mother. Margaret was always my favorite Aunt. (Robert Larsen was always my favorite Uncle. Did the fact that Margaret looked like Mom and Robert looked like Dad have anything to do with these choices?)

Clarence and Margaret were married a few days short of 70 years. Margaret died about five years ago. Clarence died September 4th. The funeral was September 13th at the Larkin Mortuary in Sandy, Utah.

Members of the family gathered for the viewing at 1:00PM. My first cousins who were present where Jeannette Olauson Christen and her husband Duane; Ron Olauson and his wife Marsha; Marilyn Childs Owens (Elsie’s daughter) and her husband Bill. In addition my cousin Doug Olauson’s wife, Margaret (another Margaret) was there coming from Denmark where Doug is serving as Mission President.

I reminded Margaret that one of her missionaries, Elder Brandon Robinson, was the Grandson of Elena’s sister. She said, “Oh, he was one of our favorite missionaries. He just glowed!” This was the same phase that Ron and Laurene described him as he got of the plane last Saturday.

In addition to these first cousins, there were numerous cousins once removed, or twice removed. In particular, there was David Perry, Jeannette’s son by here first marriage who my siblings probably remember as a small baby. He is now a six foot three grandfather.

There were also a group of “Thunnels” This is the last name of my mother’s mother. One woman said that Margaret had been raised by her family, whom we knew as Uncle Issac. When Margaret was born, my Mother’s mother died in childbirth and my Grandfather Childs could not raise a newborn baby and Issac’s family did the bulk of raising her.

I ask this distant cousin, Melba Thunell (I forget her married name), “Didn’t your Dad serve as Mission President in Sweden at one time? She said yes. I said “And now, Doug Olauson is serving as Mission President of the Danish Mission.” I did not add that Howard Childs, Doug Olauson and Richard Carmack had all also gone to Sweden on a mission.

One other Thunell distant cousin by marriage who was present, Ken Hardy, had taught me my first statistics class in the psychology department FIFTY YEARS AGO.


For the first time in decades I TOOK PICTURES of these cousins. I will e-mail these pictures to my siblings and anyone else who requests them.

Jeannette gave the family prayer in the viewing room and then we all moved into the small chapel in the mortuary.

Duane Christen conducted and Marilyn Owens gave the opening prayer. Jennifer, daughter of Ron, Clarence’s oldest son, sang a beautiful song accompanied by her mother, Judith.

When I was a Freshman at BYU Margaret and Clarence befriended me very much, but so did Ron and Judith. Ron was a drama major and introduced me to some good plays. Somewhere along the line, he and Judith where divorced but Elena and I were able to see their daughter, Jennifer, perform Shakespeare at BYU years later. It was good to see them both again.

Richard Olauson, a grandson spoke briefly (Doug’s son.)

Then Ron spoke. He was very emotional. He finally had to ask Jeannette (his sister) to come and stand by to give him emotional support. He told many stories about his Dad; how supportive a father he was. But the major thrust was HOW DEVOTED CLEARENCE WAS TO HIS WIFE. Jeannette echoed this sentiment.

Then we were surprised to get to hear Doug speak via computer from Denmark. Doug said essentially the same things as Ron and added his strong testimony that life goes on beyond the grave and that Jesus is the author of the resurrection.

This was followed by a beautiful solo by Doug’s daughter-in-law, Corey –“Because I Have Been Given Much”

The final speaker was Jeannette’s son that I mentioned before, David Perry. He gave a short talk about the faith that brought Clarence and others to the Salt Lake Valley. David has served as a Bishop and was the proper one to give such a talk. It was mercifully short.

The funeral closed with Doug’s daughter-in-law singing again. This time singing, “God be with You until We Meet Again”

The benediction was by one of Jeannette’s and Duane’s daughters, Shelly Stadling.

I was one of the pallbearers who helped with the casket. This was a first time experience for me.

As we pallbearers were waiting by the hearse, I asked if anyone knew the score of the BYU—UCLA game and someone told me that at half time BYU was ahead 42-0. I was delighted.

A few minutes later, David Perry dedicated the grave.

We were invited to McGrath’s for a lunch/dinner. Quite a few of us did attend where I took some pictures which I will forward via e-mail eventually.

One of the distant cousins and spouse sat across the table from us. I finally figured the relationship – step cousin once removed. Anyway, this couple has a son on a mission in Bolivia, or rather they did. That very day their son had been moved from Bolivia to Brazil because of an uprising in Bolivia. I said but Brazil speaks a different language. The father said, “Yes, we do not know where his permanent location will be.”

It was a very good day. Clarence was a good man. Elena commented how the two of them were always cheerful. When they attended some of my children’s wedding breakfasts and we asked everyone to make a brief comment, Margaret would always cry with her comment. She had a soft heart. I was glad to know both of them and I their children.

My father’s siblings and spouses have long since passed on. Elena’s parents’ siblings and spouses are all gone. But some of my mother’s siblings and/or spouses are still with us.

My uncle Gordon Dee and his wife live St. George, Utah.

My mother’s half sister’s Muriel’s husband Frank Rydalch still lives in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Finally, my mother’s half brother, Lynn’s wife, Lois lives here in Orem. I need to make sure I do not ignore these people before it is too late.


]]> General http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/index.php?itemid=6996 Sun, 21 Sep 2008 09:44:58 -0400 http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/?itemid=6980
Let me report on Tyson’s wedding. (For blog readers who are not Bodily family members Tyson is Elena’s nephew. Even those readers may find the first paragraph below mildly interesting.)

The wedding was excellent on all fronts. The first event was a dinner held Friday evening after Tyson and Jana’s Temple Endowment session (at the Bountiful Temple.) By coincidence this was held at the chapel that Elena attended while she and I were engaged. As I told anyone who would listen Friday night, 45 years ago Elena and I attended a fireside in that chapel one Sunday evening. In fact Elena’s uncle Alma with whom she was living right across the street was conducting the program and Elena was accompanying on the piano for a musical number before the Fireside speaker. Well, after the musical number, Elena and I were too anxious to be together and slipped out and went across the street to her apartment. After about an hour of talking, I proposed to her. In a few minutes Uncle Alma came home and sternly criticized us for leaving early. Of course, he was correct in almost all circumstances. We were not ready to tell anyone we were engaged yet. We wanted to get the ring first. That happened two nights later. So we took the criticism without complaint and announced the engagement Tuesday night.

The same chapel had earlier held the reception for Seldon and Carol Owens and Doug and Karen Anderson.

The actual wedding between Jana and Tyson occurred in the Salt Lake Temple shortly after 10AM on Saturday morning September 6th. As always there is nothing to match the feeling accompanying a temple wedding. A brother Richards conducted the ceremony and gave the couple some wonderful advice which he acknowledged they probably would not remember, but those of us in attendance got a refresher course on how to live happily married. Family members in attendance included LouAnn and Ivan, Wayne and Elena and Ron and Laurene.

Later there were pictures on the temple grounds. The picture taker was Erin Hoffman’s good friend, John. More family joined us here – Amanda Hoffman along with Shane. Alanya Hoffman Silver with her Husband Dan, and Ryan Hoffman.

Three hours later there was a three hour reception held at a picnic area in a canyon area north of Salt City. More family members attended including Kirk, Kathy, Julia and Jon Larsen. Doug and Karen Anderson. Carol Owens and her son Fred and maybe some more I have forgotten. The couple looked very happy. Many of Jana’s family were there including her father from Michigan.

They went to southwestern Colorado to some cabin her family had in a timeshare for a week long honeymoon.
]]> General http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/index.php?itemid=6980 Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:21:23 -0400 http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/?itemid=6903 Part One
Hugh Nibley
Transcripts of lectures presented to an honors Book of Mormon class at Brigham Young University 1998-1990

Semester 1 Lecture 8
I Nephi
Escape from Doom

Finally, Professor Nibley gets into the Book of Mormon per se. But then in his first paragraph he points out another major historical figure who was a cotemporary of Lehi – Zarathustra. He even tries to tie the great musical theme “Thus Spake Zaratustra” by Richard Straus that Kubick uses to open up the movie “2001” with the Book of Mormon. I could not follow his reasoning. I just mention this in case any reader of these summaries has any idea how Nibley has this Zarathustra and The Book of Mormon related.

When I get beyond Nibley’s first paragraph he begins to make sense to me. He mentions the obvious fact that Nephi has good parents and that Nephi has a good education. He then comes upon one of the repetitive themes – REPENT OR BE DESTROYED. A computer printout has the word DESTRUCTION 456 times in the book and the word REPENT 360 times – usually mentioned in the same breath.

Nibley points out that many ancient civilizations are still around, but Lehi’s civilization on this continent is gone. THIS IS THE RULE FOR THE PROMISED LAND. KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OR BE DESTROYED. Nibley believes that is a warning to us.

Nibley then spouts on for several pages about how the foundation of the world order in Lehi’s time AND OUR TIME “is absolute nihilism. That is no hope for anything future—no hope for any hereafter, that this is all there is. That is what nihilism is.” I cannot speak about Lehi’s time, but are we really living in a time of nihilistic thinking? To a certain extent, yes. There is much talk in our major publications about mutual nuclear destruction. Scientific articles discuss how the universe began 14 billion years ago and will end some billion years in the future; there is never any discussion in these scientific articles that theologians disagree and feel that we will exist for eternity.

So what does The Book of Mormon have to say about such a pessimistic view? Look at the last verse of I Nephi: “if ye shall be obedient to the commandments, and endure to the end, ye shall be saved at the last day.” The Book also warns us: “Cursed is he who puts his trust in the arm of the flesh.” So Nibley quotes D&C Section 1 and shows that the first 18 verses are warnings and then the last 18 verses are good news. Good news if we follow the prophets.

Meanwhile back to the I Nephi. In 1873 a German scholar, Martin Haug, discovered the phenomenon of the Ascension story. The Ascension story in ancient times follows the same format – a righteous man is suffering and is worried about his people. He prays and is taken up to Heaven where he sees God on his throne. He is given an explanation of things which he writes down. He goes forth and preaches. The people do not believe him and put him to death.

The first chapter of I Nephi is a perfect example of an Ascension story except that Lehi escapes death by fleeing Jerusalem. Note that Lehi says, “Great and marvelous are thy works…” What is he talking about? He has just learned that Jerusalem is going to be destroyed! But more importantly, he has learned about the Eternal Plan of Salvation, which overshadows everything else.

Nibley than discusses that Lehi was a wealthy man; therefore when he and his family left their house and their gold and silver and their precious things that they would surely be traveling with beasts of burden; animals to carry their provisions and Lehi’s tent.

“My father dwelt in a tent.” They travel for eight years in one of the worst deserts in the world so they must have these animals.

We leave it there for now.






]]> General http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/index.php?itemid=6903 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:58:48 -0400 http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/?itemid=6884
For those who have not heard, Bronco Mendenhall, the head coach approached Pam Mayes, the director of the Western Sand Play Associates, asking for help with some his players who are not totally prepared for college academically, socially or culturally. The result of this is that I am now part of “Project Morningstar” or as Bronco calls us, the Dream Team; a set of diverse people who are going to work with a subset of the football team in order to help them get their grape point average up among other things.

So let me describe August 1st, one of the more exciting days I have experience in a long time.

At 8:45 we meet with Bronco and all the Freshman players (along with their parents.) We meet in the athletic building, a building I had never been in before expect to eat at the Legends Grille. For those who know the campus, it is the building across from the George Albert Smith Fieldhouse. This building is relatively new and it is beautiful. The halls are filled with displays of passed glories – the BYU National Championship, the Cotton Bowl victory in the late 90’s, etc.

Bronco (isn’t that a great name for a football coach) has the meeting open with prayer. He then introduces all the assistant coaches. One comment is worth mentioning. He says that he has nothing to do with the team’s offense. He leaves that totally in the hands of the offensive coordinator. The only time he gets involved is on fourth down, he does make the decision whether to punt or go for a first down.

The assistant coaches are then dismissed and we then have a couple of musical numbers by Maxine, a daughter of one the campus security officer, who is in attendance.

Bronco then launches into an extended pep talk for these Freshman. The pep talk includes football, but mostly it is about how to succeed in life. If I were a player on Bronco’s team, I would be enthusiastic. HE IS THE RIGHT MAN FOR THIS JOB.

He tells these young men that as football players that are particularly visible as part of BYU and NOT JUST ON THE FOOTBALL FIELD. They are representatives for Christ in everything they do.

The goal of this year’s team is “Quest for perfection and eternal life.” This goal has been widely interpreted by the press that he wants an undefeated season, be he says, no, he just wants his players to do their personal best in all aspects of his life.

So he had a longer goal –

“Flag bearer of Brigham Young University through football excellence, embracing truth, tradition, virtue and honor as a beacon to the world.”

Speaking of flag bearer, when the team comes on the field one player leads the team carrying the flag with the big Y. The team chooses who gets to carry that flag.

As most of you know, before every game the team gives firesides. Last year 60,000 people came to those firesides.

Two years ago BYU was ranked 15th at the end of the season. Last year they were ranked 14th. ONLY 5 TEAMS IN THE USA WERE RANKED IN THE TOP 15 BOTH YEARS.

We also have the longest win streak in the country – 10 games.

The present team has 68 returned missionaries.

The Grade Point Average of the team is 2.94 which might be the best in the country, but Bronco wants it to be higher, at least 3.0.

Bronco met one of his previous graduates who is now playing for New York Giants. The alumni told him how disappointed he was in his teammates; vulgar, immoral players. At one time there were two buses offered to players—one going back to the Hotel where the players could indulge in their hedonistic activities—the second going to a Ronald McDonald House where the players could talk to some kids who were fighting some disease. At first no one was going on the Ronald McDonald bus, but then the BYU player said he would go and finally a couple other players joined him.

Bronco then introduces us, the members of his ‘Dream Team.’ He has our names on excellently prepared PowerPoint slides along with our accomplishments. For me he mentions my WordPrint study and my work with ranking sports teams. He lets me say a word about the latter. I keep it quick and just say that our ranking system is better than the BCS systems and that when Lavell Edwards won the National Championship our system vindicated Lavell. Bronco also pointed out that I was the man who developed the formula for Expected Grade Point Average which the team uses to identify team members who might get into trouble. He made me sound like one of the world’s best statisticians.

After he introduces us, Pam, our leader says that what we are going do is going to be fun. Bronco says good, since he is not know for being fun. (His practices are known for being extremely hard.)

The meeting ends.

Our group meets before lunch and discuss a few details and then we break for lunch.

We come back at 1:00 this time with just team assistants in charge of academics. After about a 15 spiel where they tell the Freshman how to contact them with any problems with their academic schedules, they dismiss the players who are not in “Project Morningstar” and we are left with the Freshman who are in the program. The are about 9 others who are in the program but by some NCAA rule since they are not Freshman they cannot meet with us today.

Pam tells them a little of what the program is and has us introduce ourselves again. I have about 2 minutes this time and tell them a little about both LARC and the WordPrint analysis. I also tell them I am excited about Sand Trays.

Pam them distributes a story about “MorningStar” who was an actual Native American who has a pretty dramatic story to tell. She tells the story. I save that story for another time. It turns out that one our team, Lakato John, is his great-grandson. Spring Term these young football players are going to get go down to Southern Utah and go through a 5 day vision quest with Lakato John. I may be going with them.

At this time each football player is given a one-on-one (or at most a one-on-two) interview with an Associate of Western Sand Play. The Associate was doing an In-Take interview and then scheduling a time that the young man could do an initial Sand Tray.
Pam had divided all the young men up to us practitioners beforehand. My two are both non freshman, so I did not get to meet them; will do so when we meet again at 9:00 on Monday morning.

I then left for supper break to return for the team’s first activity at 8:15 that evening.

At 8:15 Bronco opened again by introducing us, the Dream Team again; this time to the full team. He then show a 17-minute DVD; a church film entitled “Only a Stone Cutter.” This is wonderful film, about a man who walked 22 miles each week from Alpine, Utah to work on the Salt Lake City Temple for over two decades. He even continued this after he had lost a leg.

After the film, Bronco told each of the players he had a chisel for each of them. They were to go into ten separate rooms and each write their life’s mission of the chisel and then come out on the patio and coat their chisel with gold or some other color of paint. They would then come back at 9:30 and report.

I mingled around the rooms while the players where writing their goals. One of the players said to me, “So you are the numbers person?” I affirmed that I was. He said that he had trouble with numbers. I told him that they were “the only true fun”. I mention this because I think this young man might be one of my two clients.

I asked Bronco could I pick up the DVD at church distribution. He said no, that he had a special relationship with Sherri Dew and got a pre-release copy. But look for it when it comes out. It will make a real impression on the church.

I told Bronco that I was very impressed with the day’s activities. He said that this was not unusual. They often had activities like this that had nothing to do with football.

We were then dismissed. They wanted to have the reporting back be strictly a team affair.

A day to remember.
]]> General http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/index.php?itemid=6884 Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:45:44 -0400 http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/?itemid=6845
We returned to Logan to see our second musical -- "Into the Woods." As always the Utah Opera Festival do a good job, but I just do not like this play. So I was disappointed.

We returned to Provo Friday morning and at 1:00 I joined several other members of the "Western Sand Play Associates" to meet with Bronco Mendenhall, the head football coach of BYU. Bronco wants us to help with some of his football players who come to BYU but just are not ready for college. We are working on the final details tomorrow. I was VERY impressed with Bronco. He really is concerned with these young men as individuals, not just as football players. BYU is lucky to have him.

Ross and Tatiana are back in Utah. They staying with Tatiana's sister in SLC for a couple days before coming to Provo. It will be fun to have them here for a month.

]]> General http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/index.php?itemid=6845 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:58:33 -0400 http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/?itemid=6835 Music and Lyrics by Sherman Edwards
Book by Peter Stone

Sherman Edwards always wanted to produce a musical play about the writing of the Declaration of Independence. So he wrote the lyrics and the music to some songs. He went searching for a playwright to write the ‘book’ and eventually found Peter Stone who previously had done “Two by Two”, the play about Noah’s Ark with music by Richard Rodgers.

Stone’s book tries to stay somewhat true the history of the Second Continental Congress. There are a few changes made for dramatic effect; the number of characters are reduced; but the basic history is there. The result is the play and later the movie ‘1776.’ It was first produced on Broadway in 1969.

Edwards never wrote any other musicals. In fact he died before the movie came out. Stone went on to write the book for the musicals ‘Titanic’ and ‘Woman of the Year.’ He also wrote the screenplay for the movie ‘Charade.’

Today, I saw the play at the Utah Festival Opera in Logan Utah. This production opens with some local law official presenting the flag, the pledge of allegiance and the orchestra playing and the audience singing “The Star Spangled Banner.” So I began with a lump in my throat before the play even starts.

Michael Ballam plays the lead role of John Adams. It is appropriate that Edwards and Stone give so much attention to Adams since Adams did play such a pivotal role in establishing the independence of the 13 colonies. This is the second time Ballam has played this role for the Utah Festival. ‘1776’ is the only musical that they have repeated during their 16 years in existence.

The play progresses through the hot summer days as the delegates to the Congress debate whether it is a good idea to declare independence. The dialogue is mixed with songs, many lighted hearted

After Thomas Jefferson’s written document is presented to the Congress for approval, the delegates make changes to it. Most of the changes are minor until South Carolina insists on removal of a section that condemns slavery. It is most interesting that Jefferson penned this section since he himself was a slaveholder, but Jefferson did write this section. It became apparent that in order to get approval of all the states it would be necessary to drop the opposition to slavery. Ben Franklin says to John Adams that we will handle that problem later, not realizing that it would be almost 100 years later before the Civil War did get rid of slavery.

So eventually each of the states votes for independence; some of the states do so by narrow margins. Then comes the time for the signing. The set for the play has been just one room, what is later to be known as Constitutional Hall. There has been no curtain on the stage at all.

The clerk of congress calls for members of the Congress by name to come and sign. The orchestra plays a chime as each name is called out – John Adams of Massachusetts, Ben Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, etc. As this is happening a transparent curtain is dropped in front of the performers with the words of the Declaration of Independence on it. I was choked up by this time. The playwright and the performers hae done their job. They have made me thankful for the United States.

I reflected on one other thing. We see much political bickering today. But it has always been such. We live in an imperfect country and imperfect system. Yet somehow it is still great.

Finally a word about the Utah Festival Opera itself. This is only our second year in attendance, but from what I have seen these productions are theater at its best. To see musicals performed by singers with excellent voices, and excellent acting backed by full fledged orchestra is a real treat.

This can be traced to Michael Ballam. The Festival has been his idea from the beginning. It is amazing what one man can do if he works at it with enough persistence. Three cheers for Michael.
]]> General http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/index.php?itemid=6835 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:25:08 -0400 http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/?itemid=6812 America Becomes a Nation

During the bicentennial of the creation of the constitution Brigham Young University produced this two hour dramatization of the creation of United States Constitution. The university used all the resources at its disposal, the best actors, director, script writer, etc. The result is a show (now a DVD) that EVERYONE SHOULD VIEW.

The script was researched and supervised by my friend and colleague, Noel Reynolds. Professor Reynolds was instrumental in having my WordPrint study brought to the attention of the LDS community and I likewise was at least partially responsible in inspiring him to publish the books that contain my study, his study and many other studies that support the ancient authorship of the Book of Mormon.

The director was Peter Johnson. Recently, Johnson has been the director of the excellent Journal of Faith series. Viewers of LDS films will recognize many of the actors. The film rightly centers on James Madison, since he is considered the ‘father of the constitution.’ I am not familiar with the actor who portrays him or the actor who portrays George Washington.

It appears that BYU received permission to film some of the scenes in Constitution Hall itself, where these momentous events took place. This brings me to mention another recommendation – there is now a new display near Constitution Hall in Philadelphia. I have forgotten its name, but one of the displays is a room that has life size statues of all 50 plus men who participated in the constitution convention. It is worth seeing whenever you are in Philadelphia.

When BYU first produced this film, it was viewed nationally over PBS. I have seen it several times before, but when Elena and I viewed it again this Independence Day season I still find myself receiving a strong emotional reaction.

I could not find the DVD on Netflix, but it is available on Amazon – highly recommend.

]]> General http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/index.php?itemid=6812 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:47:24 -0400 http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/?itemid=6805
Justin Chang is called to Utah Salt Lake South Spanish Speaking Mission -- October 1st

We are in the Provo Mission.

We are very proud of Justin and wish him well. He will come here for Education Week before his mission.

]]> General http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/index.php?itemid=6805 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:43:26 -0400 http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/?itemid=6798 Author's name withheld upon request.

Home Early

I don't remember arriving home from work before 6:00pm in many years. If I'm home before 7:00, my wife is surprised. But this Monday, February 27, 1995, was somehow different.

In retrospect, I know it was a prompting from the Holy Ghost that moved me to head home early, but at the time, going home just seemed like the thing to do. I couldn't have realized that my family was about to embark on a crisis, and they needed me there. I was home at 4:30, wondering why.

Since I was a boy, I have loved that brief respite from winter February occasionally brings us in Utah. It's the season when all of the snow melts, the temperatures increase, yet winter is far from over. Meteorologists may have a name for it, but for those who have been cooped up for months with winter, it is just nameless, wonderful, new life.

That February, we had been experiencing quite a few days of that unseasonably warm weather. The snow was gone, children were riding their bicycles, neighbors were washing their cars and our son Devin, and three of his 12- and 13-year-old friends decided it would be a great time to build forts in the hillside above our home.

The idea had flooded my mind with memories of the forts I used to build with my friends thirty- two years ago. On Saturday, I had encouraged the boys and helped them get started. Each of the four had dug a hole about three feet deep, five feet in diameter and four or five feet from the other holes. They had kept their holes in a straight line.

The digging was made easy and comfortable by the warm weather and loose sandy soil. I had helped them get plywood to cover the holes, so they could hide. They had spent most of the day perfecting and camouflaging their forts. By the end of the day, they had been quite proud of their hard work. I inspected the holes and wished I was young.

Forgotten Forts

The forts hadn't really entered my mind as I had begun another Sunday of church meetings. Our family had done all of the things we normally do on Sundays. We had gone to church, we had studied, we had prayed, but this Sunday Devin and his young friends decided to do one more thing that none of us knew.. They had dug their holes deeper. For hours on Sunday, the boys had kept on digging.

Then it was Monday, February 27 th . Devin and two of the boys had decided to race home after school and dig their holes even deeper. When they had reached a depth of seven to eight feet, they built a ladder to climb into the holes. "Let's dig a tunnel and connect all of the holes," said one. "OK, but there is only enough room for one of us, so let's take turns."

It was 5:25, and still surprised to be home so early, I was talking to a colleague on the phone when we heard the scream. It was our daughter Mikah. She had been outside and heard an unusual noise and had seen Devin's two friends as they began to yell for help. I said, "What is it?

She said, "I don't know but Devin's in trouble."

Then, I remembered the forts. I dropped the phone mid conversation and ran outside to find only two young men. The looks on their faces are still vivid in my mind. One was unable to speak or move. The other was as white as the snow that had covered the ground only a few weeks earlier.

"Where is Devin?" I asked, my voice taut with panic. They stuttered and pointed to the trench that had been created by an obvious cave-in of the wet hillside. The fear that came over me as I looked at this 25-foot-long and six-foot wide trench cannot be described but only felt by those who have watched a tragedy unfold before their eyes. My son was eight feet down somewhere in that trench, and I didn't know where.

My wife was standing in the doorway. I can still see the look on her face as well. "Call 911!" I shouted.

I grabbed the only shovel in sight. Questions assaulted me. I've only got seconds. Where do I begin? Where in this 25 feet is he? I shoveled frantically, moving vast amounts of dirt. "What if I hit him in the head with this shovel? What if I am digging in the wrong place?" I fell to my knees and began to scoop dirt with my bare hands. They started to bleed, and I was running out of time.

"How long can someone survive with no air?" I wondered. I figured I had a few precious minutes left. Panic filled my soul. This was our son, and I couldn't let him die like this. "He has too much potential," I remember thinking. "He has only begun to live."

As the squeal of sirens approached, Devin's two friends were wildly scooping dirt with their hands. The sirens only intensified the feeling of time running out. Where was he? I felt desperate. The trench was too long and too wide for one man and one shovel working on a very short clock.

"OH GOD, HELP ME!" I screamed it as loud as I could. As soon as the words left my mouth, something nearly beyond my comprehension happened. I saw through the dirt, as if it were transparent. For a moment that was extremely brief, I could see Devin plainly. I was digging in the wrong place. I was below his feet and to the right of his body. He was lying on his left side, his hands clutching his chest, his knee bent. He appeared to be unconscious. This view into a few feet of earth disappeared as quickly as it had come.

I quickly moved and began shoveling in the right place. Within seconds I had uncovered his nose and then his mouth and then his entire head. He was, in fact, unconscious. I stuck a finger deep into his mouth to clear the dirt he had been trying to breathe.

He coughed. I cleared more dirt. I was preparing to give him mouth-to-mouth with only his head showing from the ground. My lungs burned from exhaustion. Devin started to cough and spit. He opened his eyes and saw me. "Dad I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you," he blurted over and over.

The paramedics arrived and finished digging him out. One big fireman carried him down the hill to the awaiting truck. He placed Devin on the bed, knelt down, and I saw tears fill his eyes. He looked at us and said, "We go on about four or five of these kinds of cave-ins a year, and it is rare that someone survives. You tell that boy that someone is watching over him."

Devin is now a priest in Sandy, Utah. He plays football and basketball for his high school. He is tall, handsome, and has many good friends. Yet, he has never forgotten that day in February 1995 when God intervened and allowed him to live to serve a greater purpose. He is preparing for a mission, now, and will join the ranks of the Lord's growing missionary force in August 2001.

And as for me, I can bear unqualified witness that our Father is a God of miracles.
]]> General http://nevergiveup.blogcadia.com/index.php?itemid=6798 Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:53:18 -0400