Thoughts and stories, by Pal

This post honors my dear husband Wayne D Eckman, and also his twin brother Blaine D Eckman.  Blaine passed away on March 19, 1999, but Wayne passed away just 2 years ago today, February 21, 2016.  They are now together, and probably doing missionary work speaking Swedish! I posted this 2 years ago today -- It was entry # 600. To those who don't know, my husband, Wayne D Eckman, passed from this life into the Spirit World, and eternity, early this Sunday morning about 3:45 a.m.     He had missed his identical twin brother so much, and said that Blaine was in his dreams almost every night!  They are now reunited, with their parents, and some siblings! This post is rather long, as it includes reposting some entries I posted before.   Wayne, left, and Blaine, right, after retirement, both living in St. George. Blaine left, and Wayne, right, on their missions in Sweden.  He had been failing quite a bit since he...

More about our mission to Sweden.  The first picture is Wayne and me, with Toma Valid Daud, from Iran, who was a political refugee there.  He was only 27, and had defected from Saddam Hussein's army, and got political asylum there.  He was a Christian, and so lonely, in a city in Northern Sweden.  He didn't understand much Swedish, so we got him a "Gospel Principles" book in Arabic.  We were advised not to baptize anyone until they knew Swedish well enough to attend Church, etc.  Otherwise they would go inactive.  I often wonder where he is now.  He contacted us after we got back to the United States, and we tried to be able to sponsor him to come here.  But we couldn't get permission, as he wasn't a close relative.  I hope we will see him again in the Spirit World, as he really loved learning what he could about the Gospel!  Someday he will accept it. There is a lovely park called Bloomstergarden in Sweden, where there w...

This sounded really interesting.  I hope it will help some of you out there who have missionaries in the field, including grandmas and grandpas! 8 Weekly Questions to Help You Stay Connected to Your Missionary Missionary Blogs Missionary Moms Missionary Parents Feb 6, 2015 0  37 Do you ever feel like there is a disconnect between you and your missionary? Is it hard to feel like you are connected to them from the communication that you receive? Well, one missionary mother (Julie Hess) has shared some really useful questions that can help you find out what is in that missionaries heart. Here is what she said. When our daughter was on her mission, we used to write her on Sunday mornings and would receive her emails on Sunday evenings. I would share the group email she would send out each week here, but there were other, personal, emails that only passed between her and me. Her first few emails were a little lacking in the details I was hoping for. ...

We finally got our phone and internet on -- after 4 long days.  That may not seem long, but it happened the day after Wayne got out of the hospital, and the next day was our family reunion with all of our 9 children coming to celebrate my 80th birthday, which will be on October 6th.  So our cell phone got a lot of use!  Wayne was weak and dizzy, and we took him to the hospital on Sunday, Sept. 14th, and he was there 5 days, with pneumonia and renal failure.  He came home on his 84th birthday, and is doing a bit better each day.  Also, in keeping with the post by Brian Mickelson below, I can't use my right arm, it's in a sling from a rotator cuff operation on Aug. 25th, and I probably will have to wear the sling for 2 to 4 more weeks.  Before Wayne went in the hospital, he was helping me!  I have to try and do everything with my left hand, and I am right-handed! This is our entire family who were together last Saturday, Sept. 20th, 2014.  Fr...