1981...surprised to get Ensign and see this ....
here I had no idea about the article. Nothing to make me laugh myself silly over, as when I saw this fellow.
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| Bruce |
We instantly reacted the same way-- just started laughing and hugging-- over our time together in the Church calling described in the article!!
Terry was Branch President and he called me to the position and it seemed impossible to do. The goal was to get publicity for the Church. To get the Church name out. If something was happening at Church, like a special event, I was suppose to get it in the weekly newspaper. They were suppose to have Public Service Announcements. For free. Our paper did not do it like that. You paid for what was put in the paper. religious or not. Quite the challenge to figure out. Thankful for prayer and personal revelation. and fasting. and Priesthood blessings.
I was awakened in the middle of one night and given clear and concise directions to go to the newspaper and volunteer to do a weekly religious column. I went the next day. They accepted.
Further down the line the same awakening happened and this time I was to go to the local PBS radio and volunteer to do a weekly hour long religious show. I went the next day and they accepted also.
I needed someone to man the technical issues on recording and preparing the tape for broadcast. Bruce, my friend Pat's son-in-law, was a techie-type, and he accepted a call to help out with the show.
This ended up being one of the most fun/exciting/different callings that I've ever had. Bruce and I shared the happenings and both had the same sense of humor. When I saw him a few days ago, we instantly broke into laughter. He said, he'd told some of our stories but no one ever got them!
Same here, I said!!
One sobering time was when an Evangelical minister tried to speak in tongues to show he could do it at will and he couldn't do it. I looked at Bruce, sitting quietly at the board, as the man struggled. It dawned on me he held the Priesthood and this Preacher would not be able to accomplish his attempt, simply because of the presence of that Power. The poor fellow broke a sweat and and struggled and mumbled about...
not to cast pearls before swine. (we were startled by that comment!)
I felt such compassion for him as he struggled several minutes. The interview finished up and I knew it would be such an embarrassment, to him, for it to go out the airwaves. Bruce knew how to splice tape and I told the Pastor that we could cut that long break out and not mention it. At first he said to just leave it. Then he asked if Bruce would take it out.
The splicing the tape was when we had our I Love Lucy moment. We unwound that reel for yards and yards. Stuffing it in a drawer and then another drawer. Finally finished we stuffed it all into my purse. We didn't want to talk to the liberals at the station about why we edited the tape...and took it home and burnt it.
See?...that doesn't ring funny but the actually event itself was hilarious. the editing. not the poor preacher being horrified that he couldn't access his private prayer language. We did visit about it and how we felt when he talked about the
pearls and swine.
We shared lots of interesting moments during those interviews.
When Bruce made arrangements to come home to say hi to me and give me a hug...it was one of the best friendship moments ever. He went on to be Bishop and Stake President and is just the nicest fellow!
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Friendships. I've thought a lot about friends in my life and how wonderful it was to reconnect with Pat. We just picked up as if we'd talked to each other every day.
They lived in Anchorage, bought one of the two existing grocery stores in Homer, and moved down to run it. A story for another time would be that Pat did not like me. (one of the first things she mentioned, as we traveled towards the Temple, was she had recently told that story to someone! she has shared it over the years. even in a testimony meeting! She is still getting miles out of that story!!) Anyhow I decided we would be best friends as I couldn't stand to live in a Ward knowing someone really detested me. And that is what happened. BFF
So they bought the store, built the biggest house in town, and became quickly known for their Sunday hospitality. They bought a huge long dining room table and every Sunday would cook enough food to feed all that could sit at the table, the kitchen bar, assorted chairs... easily over a dozen. maybe more. Then Ray would bake his version of Mrs. Fields cookies, that were the popular rage then, for dessert.
Pat would laugh at the practicality of owning a grocery store and like the cobblers kids that had no shoes, their food fare were things that were overripe/outdated, be it fruit/veggies/meat/cheese etc., and they would carve it clean and share the wealth. Ray loved a bargain and Pat hated waste.
When we visited this time I asked if she minded if I shared one of my favorite tales of his bargain hunting. She said to go ahead. He loved Costco and he loved the rebate system. When he knew he was dying, he ordered his casket from Costco and lived long enough to even enjoy the rebate check!
I didn't even know you could do such a thing! well, you can! His casket just awaited being used and was stored in his garage! Go ahead. Look it up on CostcoConnection. I know you will because I did the same thing!!!
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Pat knew that I had no regrets about my friendship with Myra Faye and she and I want that with each other. Staying in closer more regular touch. Actually I want that with all my friends. I think it takes effort to be friends unless you travel on a regular basis in the same circle, like jobs/kiddos of like ages/Church callings in same auxiliary/ fitness levels/hobbies/sports etc. At this age of my life I have to sort of make things happen and make sure I stay in touch with those I love, whether they are hither, thither, or yon! (Be it a McD breakfast or a lengthy email or an e-card or sharing a Temple trip or going to a movie or a play or performances or whatever.) When I think of how much someone means to me?-- let them know!! I seem to have more one on one friendships than groups.
In our long talk about life it was interesting that we each came up with the same thing of importance over everything else. Unconditional love. it all boils down to that trait. Not easy to do but we both feel it's the key to life and needs to be the goal.
We talked about times that we, individually, have carefully examined our testimonies and the worth of keeping on Gospel sod and plowing through really rough times. Each has thought it through and wondered ...
is it all worth it? For each of us it is. We shared our testimonies and love of the Gospel with each other.
We have seen lots of this sort of happenings in our lifetime--
here and she shared that recently it happened in her Ward and how hard it is to be with people that find fault. out-loud. to a youths face.
We also talked about the torment of souls that causes them to take their lives. We knew this man as a boy and the miss-spoken words that wounded him so deep at Church during his teens. Precariously fragile to begin with, over the years, things festered on many levels and he eventually took his life. She gave me a disc of his music.
I'll return it to her.
Unconditional love. That pretty much sums it up.
And.....
I felt it with our children and grandchildren and family that we visited. All together we saw 15 of our immediate family. My sister and 10 of her family. Plus 4 friends!!
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