Thoughts and stories, by Pal

  I got this a week or so ago.  I really enjoyed reading it! Why a Baptist reverend says ‘Come, Come, Ye Saints’ embodies ‘the struggle of the human family’ by LDS Living  | Aug. 19, 2021 In a new video published by the Church’s newsroom, Elder Jack N. Gerard, a General Authority Seventy, sits down with Rev. Amos C. Brown of the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco. “We have not mastered that pronoun, ‘We,’” Rev. Brown tells Elder Gerard in the video. “We are family. We came from one Creator.”  Elder Gerard asks Rev. Brown about his love for the Latter-day Saint hymn “Come, Come, Ye Saints” to which Rev. Brown explained that he first heard the hymn 50 years ago during the Tabernacle Choir’s weekly broadcast.  “That hymn embodies a statement of the struggle of the human family,” Rev. Brown says. “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints went through struggle. Your congregation did not rest in the ruins of oppression. It did not just survive. It struggled ...

      Some missionaries are still out in the mission field, and trying to spend          their time usefully -- and are showing their talents! Watch: Quarantined Missionaries Around the World Spread the Gospel Through Social Media Music Videos by Greyson Gurley  | Mar. 30, 2020 In order to connect with others during quarantine, many people are sharing their musical talents with each other through social media—missionaries included! With more time on their hands than usual, some missionaries have found creative ways to spread the gospel virtually, including companion duets, catchy compositions, and multi-language compilations. Even Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf has posted about those who are sharing the gospel through music. The apostle shared a video of his grandson and his grandson’s companion playing a rendition of the hymn “There is Sunshine in my Soul Today” on guitar and clarinet. Here are a few videos th...

I hope you all enjoy this as your are staying home!  I especially love the cell phone choir!  Be sure to make it full screen! #AloneTogether: How People are Connecting During COVID-19 By  Michaela Proctor Hutchins  · March 26, 2020 We got a text from our neighbor the other day asking if we would be willing to come outside with a welcome home sign and balloons to cheer on her missionary son returning home early from Brazil as they drove by in the car. The wind picked up as all of us in the house came outside at 2:30pm, wrangling balloons, shivering, and getting text updates of where the family was on their way home. Suddenly, the quiet neighborhood was full of life, families outside in front of each house with signs and balloons. We waved to each other, feeling a new found community feeling (though we were already a very tight-knit community) and glad to see each other after not being at church together for two weeks. When the family fina...

This was posted last year, July 4th, 2018, and is # 1050 in this blog.  I hope you enjoy these special memories!  And Beautiful music! Happy July 4th to all you dear friends!  I'm reposting # 881 I posted a year ago, about my husband Wayne, and him coming home on July 4th from the army in 1955, and 2 years earlier on July 4th from his mission to Sweden.  Fun memories!  Also some beautiful Patriotic songs!  (Further down) Wayne, on a July 4th holiday at our son Allen's in Menan, Idaho. Wayne on the left, and Blaine, his twin brother, in the army in 1954, in Europe. This was first written on July 4, 2016.   Tomorrow, July 4th, is the anniversary of two major events in my husband Wayne D Eckman's life! In 1953, he returned home from his 2 and a half year mission to Sweden,  and was awaiting his draft papers to be in the army, during the Korean War period.  In August, the next month, is when Wayne and I were introduced by m...

Happy July 4th to all you dear friends!  I'm reposting # 881 I posted a year ago, about my husband Wayne, and him coming home on July 4th from the army in 1955, and 2 years earlier on July 4th from his mission to Sweden.  Fun memories!  Also some beautiful Patriotic songs!  (Further down) Wayne, on a July 4th holiday at our son Allen's in Menan, Idaho. Wayne on the left, and Blaine, his twin brother, in the army in 1954, in Europe. This was first written on July 4, 2016.   Tomorrow, July 4th, is the anniversary of two major events in my husband Wayne D Eckman's life! In 1953, he returned home from his 2 and a half year mission to Sweden,  and was awaiting his draft papers to be in the army, during the Korean War period.  In August, the next month, is when Wayne and I were introduced by mutual friends, on a blind date.  My best friend from Dixie High School had married one of his best friends in Murray, Utah.  They picked ...

Today is Sunday, and the last Sabbath I had was on April 28th, Saturday, which is when they hold the Sabbath in Jerusalem, to go along with the day the Jews celebrate the Sabbath there. I was in front of the beautiful arches at the BYU Jerusalem Center! I had requested before to be able to play on the beautiful organ there, and the lovely Sister Janice Clayton who was the organist for the Branch there, allowed me to play.  I played "The Holy City"  (Jerusalem), and was so full of gratitude and just thrilled to be able to do it! This is looking toward the front of the chapel there, and you can see the beautiful city of Jerusalem through the big windows in the arches!  We had some very inspirational speakers there, and I will tell of them, and what they had to say in a future blog.  I need more time to get it ready, but I wanted to post this on the Sabbath Day here at home!    A view from below, showing the 16 acres it is b...