Baked oatmeal is tasty

Dear family,

I'm a lucky man.  And if I'm lucky, I'll get eight hours of sleep tonight!

Love,

Dad

Friday, December 11, 2020
9:51 pm

Yesterday was Nathaniel's birthday.  Amazing that he is already one year old.  He needed a little help to open his presents and his older siblings were much more excited to play with his toys.  He got a set of magnetic animals that are interchangeable, so the tiger body can have crocodile legs and a giraffe head.  Very cute.  Grandpa and Grandma got him a cool bulldozer toy that spits a ball out the front, scooped up by the scoop and dumped back into the top to recycle the ball, all while you push it across the floor.  Snazzy.

Yesterday I attended a virtual retirement party for Marilyn Pearson.  I've been associated with her for about half her 36-year career in credit unions.  She has been such a great person to be associated with.  A special memory I have with her is from a trip to GAC in Washington DC.  Several of us took a trip to the temple in DC to do an endowment session.  Marilyn and I served as the witness couple.  That was the first (and possibly only) time she had that experience.  As a single woman in the Salt Lake temple district she had never had that opportunity before.  It was neat to be able to share that with her.

Today I spent a lot of time getting ready for Board meeting on Monday, including finishing the preliminary budget and working on salaries for next year.  I also dealt with a grumpy person who refused to provide some needed info for us to accommodate his request to cash a very large check.  I spent longer than I intended troubleshooting a piece of hardware that broke.

Tonight we visited with Mark, ate baked oatmeal for dinner, and sang a hymn and read a story for our Christmas devotional.

Thankful: I am thankful for the gift of the Holy Ghost that brings peace in spite of turmoil around us.  There are so many people who are so angry about so many things, but the gospel of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Ghost bring peace.  I try to cultivate the ability to receive the Holy Ghost and be patient when there are things I don't understand.

Ministering: I discovered a birthday report on the Church's Tools app that lets me see easily whose birthday it is every day.  With just a couple taps I can send them a text message birthday greeting.  I've started doing that each day, and it feels good. I hope it makes a difference for others.  Today is Mike Coyle's birthday.  I also texted with the father of an inactive 29-year-old sister in the ward who had a stroke this week.  She's doing okay.  I hope this will be an opportunity to help her feel Jesus' love and the ward's support for her.

More later…

Opening presents yesterday.

Reading Go Dog Go with Nathaniel tonight

Donuts and good night

Dear family,

I hope you all had a great day today.  I'm ready to read scriptures and go to sleep!

Love,

Dad

Wednesday, December 9, 2020
9:14 pm

Yesterday was a busy day at work.  I finished the financial statements for November and sent them to the Board.  Also discussed some of the configuration for our video banking service that will launch next month.  No one signed up for tithing settlement yesterday, so we just had Bishopric in the evening.  It was productive and I am happy with what we accomplished. 

Today I worked a lot on a budget for 2021 and a rough financial outlook for the next five years.  Forecasting is always hard, and the additional uncertainty of COVID is making it especially difficult.  I tried several times to get reasonable results and finally got something livable just before leaving.  I need to review and rework those numbers again tomorrow.

I left work a little early today to help the Young Men pass out bags for a food drive this Saturday.  We had a good turnout of Deacons and a couple Teachers.  None of the Priests made it; both my active Priests were working.  They were rewarded with donuts, which they enthusiastically accepted.  Tonight Andy Hjorth and I made a few visits to less active families with youth.  One visit went quite well, one did not.  It was sad – Daniel Condie doesn't believe the doctrines of the Church, but studies the bible deeply.  Unfortunately, he studies so deeply that it seems to me that he can't accept simple doctrines.

Found out today about a ward member who (I think) comes from an active family but is not active herself who suffered a stroke yesterday.  She is only 29 years old with two small children.  Her dad gave me a call this afternoon to let me know and ask us to be ready to help when she comes home.  This will be a good opportunity to reach out and make a difference.

Thankful: I am thankful for warm cars when we need to go places in the cold!

Ministering: I tried to minister to several people today, letting them know that they are known and important.

More later…

I filled mom's van while running an errand this evening.  Using some saved fuel points at Smith's made the experience pretty inexpensive!

What I learned from an apostle and his friends

Dear family,

It's kind of fun being the luckiest dad on the planet.  When I talked to Mark today I mentioned that I had a couple missionary-related impressions from the leadership meetings this weekend.  Here are some extracts from the notes I took:

Elder Dance on the importance of centering everything we do on Jesus Christ:

Don't teach faith.  Teach faith in Jesus Christ.

Don't teach repentance.  Teach repentance through the atonement of Jesus Christ and relying on Him.

Don't teach the plan of salvation. Teach the Plan of Salvation through Jesus Christ.

People need to feel the redeeming power of Jesus Christ in their lives.  This takes conscious and consistent effort.

Elder Gong answering a question from a Bishop about how we can deal with the challenges others face, hearing their confessions, and not become soiled or overcome ourselves:

A key to dealing with unpleasant issues that we have to help others with is our own daily repentance. Not that we have chosen evil, but it comes upon us.  Rely on the power of our covenants and let virtue garnish our thoughts unceasingly.

Elder Dance on obedience and leadership:

The degree to which you follow your leaders influences the degree to which you will be followed.  (Lesson Elder Dance learned from Pres. Hinckley)  Never let my faithfulness toward our leaders be hard to discern.  We are all volunteers doing the best we can.  And it's enough!

Elder Gong quoted John 15:1, that Jesus is the true vine and the Father is the husbandman.  As he said those words I was overwhelmed with the feeling of God's great love. He loves me, my family, my ward, and everyone in the world, with a love that is so powerful and deep that we simply cannot comprehend it.  I wish I could put that feeling into better words.

Sister Jones taught us to make the Savior Jesus Christ the center of the lives of the rising generation.  It's about receiving personal revelation, not completing a list of requirements.

Pres. O'Riordan (Provo mission president): It is a blessing for our sons and daughters to serve missions.  There are miracles available as they make promises to others in the name of Jesus Christ.

Elder Gong: We don't have to minister by bucketfuls; we can minister by the spoonful.  

Elder Dance drawing an analogy to learning to ride a motorcycle: We go where we look.  If we are focusing on our fears, we will end up where we don't want to be.  If we focus on Jesus, we will end up with Him.

Elder Gong promised blessings to those of us who come with specific questions and concerns, specifically mentioning sons and daughters serving as missionaries.

And here is my journal entry for tonight:

Monday, December 7, 2020
8:55 pm

Today was a pretty normal day.  This year we are changing the way we account for employee benefits.  Today I spent lots more time than I anticipated getting that ready.  It needed to be finished today to be ready for our December payroll since that will accrue for the expenses in January.

Another thing I did was devote some time to creative thinking.  That was a commitment from my last coaching session.  I turned my phone and light off, closed the interior blinds and opened the exterior ones, and worked on the couch at the west end of my office.  It was a change of "scenery," hopefully helping me think differently.  I think I came away with a good start, but the ideas are still pretty rough.

I enjoyed a short-ish visit with Mark this afternoon.  He said he's actually enjoying basketball on p-day; I want to know what he did with my son. ;-D  It's nice to visit with him and hear how he is doing.  His experience is similar but so different from my mission.  His and Jessie's missions are hard, but in different ways than mine was.  I am grateful for the experiences they are both having.

Tonight the missionaries joined us for FHE and shared a thought for the lesson.  They introduced the concept of "spiritual CPR" and asked us to guess what the letters meant.  I was so proud of my kids; they came up with lots of great ideas for what gospel-related concepts could start with those letters:

C – Choice, commandments, covenants, church

P – Promises, priesthood, power, prayer

R – Repentance, return, revelation, restoration, read (scriptures)

Thankful: I am so grateful that the gospel is a part of our culture.  Heck, it IS our culture.  Each of the kids had good answers for the missionaries' questions and participated in a good discussion.  What a blessing.

Ministering: I did some Bishop stuff today to try to bless our ward.

More later… 

Look who found a sucker!

   

Hugs from Heaven

Dear family,

I hope you felt the Spirit of the Sabbath Day and rejoiced.  I love and pray for each of you.

Love,

Dad

Sunday, December 6, 2020
9:02 pm

Good day.  Fast journal to go driving with Spencer.  Meetings this morning were productive.  Ward Council ended four minutes early.  That never happens.  Decided not to do the hayride w/ the youth next week, even though all of us want to.  Guidance re: COVID from Church leaders requests that we only meet in groups for religious purposes; can't figure out how to make a hayride through the Festival of Lights "religious."  Grateful for the Ward Council that shared opinions freely, then all sustained the decision we made.  I think that's how councils are supposed to happen.

Chuns blessed their son Anthony this afternoon.  Was nice to be with them.  Did some tithing settlement, extended a few callings while my counselors did a bunch more.  So grateful for my counselors who sustain me and do so much work so I can focus on the things only I can do.

First Presidency Christmas Devotional tonight.  It was delightful.  Felt the Holy Ghost and inspired to be more Christlike, not just at Christmastime.  Watched a little of the Lauren Daigle special following.  I prefer Tab Choir, but it was nice.  Cheeseball was tasty.

Thankful and Ministering: See above.

More later…

How our family watches the Christmas devotional

Channeling my inner Mark

Dear family,

Good day.  Read on.  I love you all.

Dad

Saturday, December 5, 2020
9:35 pm

Today went so fast but was really nice.  I started at church for the Priesthood Leadership Meeting with Elder Gong, Sister Jones, Elder Schmutz, and Elder Dance.  It was very good.  I took quite a few notes on my responsibilities and some ideas that came to me.  I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to fulfill this calling the Lord's way; to focus where He wants me to focus; to do what He wants done.  It is so easy to treat this calling as a job, especially since I am the President at work.  I identify what I think needs to be done and do it the way I think is best.  That's not how the Lord's church works, especially not as a Bishop.

After leadership meeting I came home and helped with lunch, then tried to clean the house with the kids.  Today was one of those days when it would have been easier and faster to do it myself, but I'm more interested in having children who know how to work than I am about having a clean home.  We ended up getting a fair amount done.  The upstairs looks pretty good because we focused on getting everything off the floor so we could run the Roomba.  That poor machine is trying to figure out where it is.  I hope if we leave the base where it is it will get more efficient.

Nathaniel is getting better at walking, and it is so much fun to watch him identify what he wants and go for it.  I know it was this much fun to watch the other kids go through this stage too, and I'm looking forward to getting to do it once more.

Tonight we put up more Christmas decorations.  Camilla helped me put the garland and lights on the banister going upstairs.

I found out today that Brother and Sister Mortimer have COVID.  Lyle is getting better, but Sheila is still really sick.  I added their names to the temple prayer roll and will add them to my fast this weekend.  The Cluff's also were diagnosed with COVID.  The increasing case counts are starting to hit closer to home.

Thankful: I am thankful for the teaching I received today from Elder Gong and those who were with him.  It was a wonderful morning.  I am also thankful for the Christmas season.  I love the lights and decorations, the tradition of singing Christmas songs before bed, and reading about the Savior.

Ministering: I wished Calvin Crandall a happy birthday today, prayed for the Mortimers, and am trying to prepare to be an influence for good tomorrow.

More later…

Getting dressed after meetings today I wanted a short-sleeve shirt.  This is what I chose.  The kids all said they thought I was Mark.  Quite the compliment!

Long entry!

Dear family,

I love you all!  Read on...

Love,

Dad

Friday, December 4, 2020
9:20 pm

Ouch, no journal entry for three days.  Schedules change as responsibilities change.  On Tuesday evening I had tithing settlement and a counseling interview.  I also got to do the baptismal interview for Kiana Tabarez which was nice.  She has a good understanding of what baptism represents and why she wants to be baptized.  Her parents are divorced, and dad will perform the baptism.  They have a good relationship, and it was nice to visit with them.

Wednesday I had some meetings at work, including a Quantum Group conference call with colleagues from other credit unions.  Someone asked about Courtesy Pay programs, and I'm afraid I got on my soapbox and preached.  I feel very strongly about those programs and think we should not offer them.  They take advantage of those who can least afford to pay the fees, and I feel like the way they are promoted is not really ethical.  In hindsight I may have gotten a little too passionate, and I sent a follow up email the next day to the leadership at the Association asking if they got any negative feedback from my rant.  They hadn't, and I'm not sorry for what I said, but maybe next time I can say it a little better.

In the evening we had bishopric meeting until 10:15 pm, taking all my journal time.  I was really happy with our meeting and felt like we discussed things that mattered and made some good decisions.  I'm grateful for that.

Yesterday morning I joined a webinar to learn more about a reporting program we have at work.  It is amazingly powerful and I don't even scratch the surface of what it can do.  I'd like to get better at using it, and make time to find good questions I can ask that it can help me answer.  In the evening I tried to figure out how to configure the new Roomba robot vacuum I got as a thank you gift from the Association.  Our plan is to make it the upstairs vacuum – if the kids will keep their rooms picked up it can clean the entire upstairs every day.  That would be SO NICE.

Today was really productive at work. We are getting ready to implement video banking to enable us to video chat with people.  That will be really helpful during Covid, and once we get the Springville branch open we plan to use it between offices to facilitate language needs.  I am glad for everything I got done today.

Tonight we enjoyed a visit with Mark.  Actually, Julie is visiting with him with Jessie and Spencer; I'm on guard duty outside the bedrooms where the little kids aren't sleeping yet.  It has been fun watching Nathaniel get much better at walking this week.  He gets better so quickly!  He has a sound for "gross," which is what he says when he throws away his diapers.  He also participates in singing Popcorn Popping, which I have designated the diaper-changing song.

Thankful: I'm very grateful for so many things.  For feeling good after getting enough sleep.  For the ability to be and do better today than I did yesterday, and to make tomorrow even better.  I'm thankful for a good job and for cars that work well and for our prosperous circumstances.  I'm thankful for my great counselors and for their desire to do good.  And I'm thankful that the Lord helps me in my efforts to help others.

Ministering: I've visited with several people in my Bishopric responsibilities, trying to remember people who have needs and help them feel God's love.  One other thing I'm trying that I identified in my coaching call this week – when I get home I am parking my cell phone before dinner, and I leave it there for 90 minutes so I can focus on people, and not checking texts, headlines, email, etc.  I can still see via my phone if a call comes in or something is urgent, but it helps me be more focused at home.  I think that is a combination thankful/ministering item.

More later…

You can make up your own caption for this picture! :)

Typical

Dear family, no journal entry again tonight. Last night due to late but very productive Bishopric Meeting. Tonight Spencer and I went diving then I tried to figure out our new Roomba robot vacuum. Life is good and you are better. I close with a typical photo of Payne children. Love to all!

Dad

Ken

Sent from my mobile device

Please forgive any strange auto-corrections!