Thoughts and stories, by Pal

Our Missionary Grandson coming home from Indonesia, and his brother's wedding! Almost 2 years ago I posted this photo, showing where our grandson was going on his mission.  Well, today, Thursday July 28th, he is coming home, in the evening at the Salt Lake Airport, just in time for his brothers Temple wedding the next day in the Payson Temple!   Here are pictures! Elder Jacob Wayne Lieske will be coming home tonight at 6:35 p.m. in the Salt Lake City Airport.  He couldn't come home to St. George because he would have arrived at 11:15 p.m. at the St. George Airport, and then we'd have to be up to Payson for his brother Ben's and Ashlee's wedding in the Temple before 2:00 p.m.  He doesn't know it, but he will have several best friends who will travel to Salt Lake to be there, as he can't have his usual greeting at the home airport. This is the missionary picture which has hung on our wall for 2 years! He has filled a wonderful missio...

Last Friday, July 22, 2016, I was privileged to play the piano for  Kiki Shakespeare Thompson, a talented soprano who has a degree in vocal performance, and is a beloved vocal teacher. and  Connor Lee, a very talented young tenor, who will be going to BYU this fall to be in their opera program. It was done at the Friday noon concert at Town and Country Bank here in St. George, and they  always put numbers there on youtube.com.   I'm sure you would enjoy listening to any or all of these.  I especially was thrilled to accompani Kiki on the aria from Madame Butterfly, by Puccini, which is # 7 on this list.  My mother, Ruth Allen Miles, was a gifted soprano in operas in the 1920s at Dixie College, and sang that same solo.  I had never accompanied anyone on that beautiful song.  My mother also sang with my father Orson Pratt Miles many times in duets.  She sang solos, and in a ladies trio throughout her life.  You can read about he...

The 3 Simple Words My Grandma Brought Me from  the Spirit World by Zack Oates  | Jul. 26, 2016 Mormon Life My grandma was in a coma for nearly 10 days. She had flatlined a few times and doctors said that things were not looking good. It’s interesting how when someone is so close to death, memories of their life begin to flood your mind. I remembered her teaching me to let my little sister win at Go Fish, or her waking up an hour early to grind fresh wheat for her famous homemade pancakes after a cousin sleepover, or her gathering the family and making everyone say something nice about each person on their birthday (during family reunions these “Nice Talk” sessions could last a few hours). But it wasn’t just what she did when everyone was around; it was the countless personal letters of encouragement, or the call right when I needed it, or simply pulling me aside to let me know that she thought I was special. She just had a way of mak...

This lovely article was in the March 1988 Ensign.  With much turmoil and suffering in this world, I hope we all can remember to LOVE ONE ANOTHER! This was reprinted in LDS Living recently, from lds.org. We Couldn’t Preach, but We Could Love By  Annette Stevenson Print Share In the refugee camp … The plane glided above the peaceful green islands below. I looked out of the window in awe. Surely we were headed for paradise! One month earlier, my mission president had informed me that I would be sent to serve in a Vietnamese refugee camp on Palawan, an island between Vietnam and the Philippines. My companion had come from one of the refugee camps in Thailand, where she had been serving with twelve other LDS lady missionaries. She was strong, reliable, and full of charity. I remembered my introduction to her at the airport. I had heard that lady missionaries sent to the refugee camps ran the risk of losing their missionary discipline, and I was almost certai...

I posted this a year ago today, and it is still very appropriate!  It was blog # 472. Today, being July 24th, we think of our pioneer ancestors.  Also there are many who are as a pioneer to their own family, being the first to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   I have spent time this morning reading stories of some ancestors which have been submitted to Family Search, on Family Tree.  If any of you have not registered so you can access Family Tree, I encourage you to go to www.familysearch.org, and register.  If you are a member, you need the last 5 numbers of your current Temple recommend which is the last 5 numbers of your membership.  Or if you don't have that you can get your membership number from your ward clerk.  If you are not a member, you can sign on without that, but you will not be able to get some of the benefits the Church has made with different groups, such as free access to Ancestry.com, and other genealog...

This is a very interesting article, about pioneers wanting to go to "Zion".  I'm also going to post some about my pioneer ancestors.  I know that my own pioneer ancestors came for that reason, after having been persecuted a lot in Nauvoo, and other early settlements of the Saints.  I'll put more of our family pioneer stories on very soon. The Real Reason the Pioneers Came West By Maurine Proctor  · July 21, 2016 Image by Clark Kelley Price.  It was a September day in 1842 when George and Ann Quayle Cannon stood with their six children on the windswept dock at Liverpool ready to board the great ship  Sidney  for America. Crowds of emigrants thronged the gangplank, worried over details, and clutched a few remnants of the home they were about to leave behind.  They carried boxes, beds, and assorted bundles.  Some had cabbages, some cheese, some bread and butter stored in tins. Like so many others, the Cann...