Thoughts and stories, by Pal

I love this story! Elder Holland Shares one Of The Most Remarkable Missionary Stories Of All Time The following is a portion of R. Scott Lloyd’s article posted on DeseretNews.com. Elder Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke on June 27, the fourth day of the 2017 Seminar for New Mission Presidents being held at the Provo Utah Missionary Training Center. His topic was “the Divine Companionship.” Elder Holland closed by relating a story  — being careful to protect the privacy and anonymity of the participants —  of a young man from southern Idaho.  One night the young man stormed out of the house and set off to join an infamous motorcycle gang. He succeeded in that resolve and for 20 years became immersed in a culture “of temptations yielded to and degradations explored,” never contacting his parents, who feared that he was dead. Eventually ending up in Southern California, he one day was sitting on the porch of a rented home when he ...

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 me up from an old Church in Salt Lake City, I forget which one, where we were attending a family reunion.  We just rode around and they 2 men mostly talked about memories of their high school days, and Wayne's mission.  Wayne said he would write to me, and I told him to write to:  Pal Miles, St. G...

I am also posting another blog today about July 4th I have posted before, which is very significant to me!  This post is from LDS Living. 6 Renditions of Patriotic Songs by LDS Artists That Will Give You Chills by LDS Living Staff  | Jul. 04, 2017 Mormon Life Comments These inspiring renditions of patriotic sons by LDS artists are sure to give you chills and help you remember the  true meaning  of  Independence Day . Happy July 4th, everyone! BONUS: The Piano Guys dedicated this touching rendition of "Bring Him Home" from  Les Miserables  to families who sacrifice to  preserve  freedom. MORE Mormon Life   Alex Boye   Mormon Tabernacle Choir   The Piano Guys   David Archelta   Lexi Walker   Gentri   Patriotism   Holidays   United States

June 8, 2017 Second Coming SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY Moses 7:65-67 "And it came to pass that Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, in the last days, to dwell on the earth in righteousness for the space of a thousand years; But before that day he saw great tribulations among the wicked . . . And the Lord showed Enoch all things, even unto the end of the world; and he saw the day of the righteous, the hour of their redemption, and received a fulness of joy. " QUOTE OF THE DAY Joseph Smith "Yea, lift up your heads and rejoice, for your redemption draweth nigh. We are the most favored people that ever have been from the foundation of the world, if we remain faithful in keeping the commandments of our God. Yea, even Enoch, the seventh from Adam, beheld our day and rejoiced, and the prophets from that day forth have prophesied of the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and rejoiced at the day of rest ...

Today, I am sending a letter back to a dear friend of Wayne's that he had written to Wayne while he was in the Korean war and Wayne was on his mission in Sweden.  This friend was my dear husband Wayne's best friend from high school to the end of his life, along with his twin brother Blaine.  When Wayne was able to go on a mission to Sweden from 1950 to 1953, Arlen, his friend, had to go into the army and he served in Korea.  At that time only 2 young men could go from each ward to serve a mission.  All the rest were drafted.  The photo below is of Blaine, left, Arlen, and Wayne.   They played baseball and other sports together as young teenagers, and were friends forever. Since I have moved up to West Bountiful to live with our son Wayne and his wife, Julie, I have been going through many papers, etc., that I brought with me, but hadn't really gone through.  One box included the letters which Wayne's parents had sent to him while he was on hi...