Thoughts and stories, by Pal

This afternoon we drove about 45 minutes north to go to the baptism of our oldest great granddaughter, Aiyona.  It was really a wonderful feeling to see her be baptized, and to see the wonderful example she is to her 2 younger sisters.  One of the quotes that the bishop made there was really worth remembering.  He mentioned that she had had problems already in her life (her parents were divorced), but he said "Life is fair, in the eternal perspective."  That is a comforting thought I want to always keep, when it seems life gives us more problems than we deserve.                    This is our darling Aiyona, when she was 9 months old. It has been a busy day baking bread to take to my visiting teaching ladies for Christmas, and getting ready for Christmas.  I can honestly say we don't do elaborate things at Christmas, at this time in our lives, either with money or time.  I know we spent many years ra...

This morning I went to the St. George Temple at the 8:00 a.m. session.  Even though I have been often, I sat there just thrilled with the beauty of this wonderful world we are so blessed to live in.  The beauty of the earth, the heavens, and Heavenly Father's Plan for us was filling my soul with joy.  I prayed for the person whose name I took through, and hope she will accept my offering to her.       The beautiful St. George Temple, from which I live only a 5 minute walk  away.   My ancestors helped build it, and attended it often during its early days. The name I took was one of some names from the line in my ancestry which is "Pennsylvania Dutch", which is the group which came from Holland in the early 1600's.  They called their city "New Amsterdam", and in about 1664 when the English conquered them, they renamed it "New York".  I have found many interesting stories about that group, including an ancestor of one of those...

\Seth Adam Smith on a LITERAL odyssey Skip to content Home About Me A “Literal” Odyssey Forward Walking The Seven Paths Subscribe and Follow (from Pal)  I decided to post this today, in case anyone reads this today or anytime in the future:) To the Depressed and Suicidal: I Know How It Feels Seth Adam Smith  /  14 hours ago   --   Posted on Facebook on December 19, 2013 LDS Missionaries I came home a year early from my mission because I was suffering from depression. To any missionary that is suffering: "Just as night is defeated by the dawn, or as the winter is conquered by the spring, or as the darkness is dominated by any degree of light, I know that you can make it through this." Please SHARE this article with anyone who is suffering from depression. http://sethadamsmith.com/2013/12/18/an-open-letter/ I wasn’t going to write anything today. In fact, I wasn’t going to publ...

We live in a world with many problems.  When we turn on the news, or read the paper, a lot of the news is negative.  Yes, the Christmas Season does soften people's hearts more than other times of the year.  We often read of good deeds done by very caring and unselfish people.  There are numerous places we can donate money to make the lives of the less fortunate people better.  This truly is the time to do that.   I have often wondered what it would have been like to have lived in the Americas, right after Jesus Christ came and visited and taught them. Some of the scriptures in 4th Nephi in The Book Of Mormon give us an idea of those days: (4th Nephi is just one chapter, so I'll mention the verse number) 2. And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, (remember that Jesus came and taught them in A.D. 34 and 35 -- they reckoned their time from the birth of Christ,--so this was the next year) the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all...

Tonight I am including a great article I read on the Meridian Magazine on Dec. 13, 2013. This article was called "December Stress, or December Joy?" by Darla Isackson (condensed some) Do you have mixed feelings, at best, about December? Then you’ll relate to the following journal entry I wrote a few years ago . . . and you’ll be interested in the ideas I’ve collected. They are guidelines, really, for more Christ-centered, less stressful choices for the Christmas season. “ The Saturday after Thanksgiving, my husband pulled all the Christmas boxes out of storage and offered to help me assemble our artificial tree.  How did December get here so quickly? Letters to family, friends, and missionaries needed to be written, neighbor and visiting teaching presents wrapped and delivered. I hadn’t even begun to decide on many of the presents I needed to give family and close friends! And now, what if I couldn’t finish the picture histories I had started for each son?  “ I we...

The photo above is of McKay and Kim's wedding in 1987.  Kim's parents are on the left, and traveled here from Taiwan to be at the wedding.  Her father  passed away a few years ago.  Her mother isn't well at this time, and is in the hospital. Her parents were very polite, well educated and genteel people. This picture is of Wayne's mother, Gladys Tregenna Dayton, about age 18, before she was married.  Our daughter Tacy looks a lot like her. This above is of Wayne as Santa, and Elder Sam Watts on the left and Elder Jared Beckstead on the right, when on our mission in Connecticut in 1999/2000.  At that time we worried about Y2K -- or the coming of the year 2000, and if it would cause problems with computers, etc.  It didn't !   This is Jeremy, and his darling daughter Jessica.  Jessica is now 20, and a beautiful young lady. This is Pal and Maria, a dear friend who was a member of our Portuguese branch on our mission in ...

I just found this on facebook, and watched and listened to this on youtube.  I think you'll enjoy it!  (You need to copy and paste the link below.) Hi! My name is Bryce Romney and I'm in a group from BYU called Vocal Point as part of the marketing committee. We were International Collegiate A Cappella champions in 2006 and we placed in the top 5 in season 3 of NBC's The Sing Off. We are all returned missionaries and active members of the church. We strive to do missionary work using our talents, and one of the ways we do that is by singing. This music video that we created is our way of spreading hope in Christ this Christmas season. I am writing in hopes that you will post this music video. It is a message of hope that comes through Christ even in the darkest of times. We know that the message and song are powerful and can help many people, just as creating this video has helped us. Thanks so much for your support! We hope this song can bless the lives of many people....