April 12, 1974

This past week we were able to attend conference in SLC – Norma, John, Rick and I were able to fly to SLC together. We were able to get the family together on Sunday – 17 of us – the Dones, grandma Pixton and Kirk, Jane, Tom and us were together. On the way back to SEA we stopped in Boise and found that Norma’s mother was doing well. We also had a visit with my father and Florence. So I feel good at present that we have a good understanding of our families and a good feeling exists between us.

            As always, the conference was excellent. The prophets talked by the Spirit and related forcibly to the issues of today. It’s interesting this week that there has been extremely bad weather in the east and western section of the USA. There have been cyclones back east that have caused a loss of 300 lives and several billion dollars in damage. Again, this is fulfillment of prophecy in that we have been warned that there would be thunderings, earthquakes, etc which will serve as a warning to the people to repent. Literally, it is the voice of the Lord calling the people to repentance.

            Yesterday, I flew to Portland to visit with Grant Fagg and Glen Haws. Both of these men are unique Saints and choice priesthood holders. Br. Fagg was our previous Stak Pres. He is a choice person who is trying to truly put aside the things of this world. Consequently, this is why I went to visit with him. We spent 3.5 hours in intimate spiritual conversation and he has helped me to better crystallize my own thoughts, goals, and will help the future direction of my life. He was in a position to become one of the top 3 people in a highly successful pharmaceutical company but withdrew because he desired to be closer to his family. Now he has made another step by accepting a full-time assignment in the LDS Institute system. He is primarily motivated by his desire to become a true Son of God. This I desire with all my heart also. Br. Haws who also gave up a teaching position in the secular world as a Professor, now teaches in the Institute and is a true healer of the souls of men. He is also a Bishop and a father of 8 children. He told me of a man he knows in Provo who started with a small store, He then built it into a chain of stores and he became a millionaire – but!! – he has lost all of his seven children from the church. This is such an often repeated story its unbelievable that we can’t learn from the experience of others.

            Today, a beautiful Saturday morning, as I baby-sit my grandson Eric my heart soars with gratitude for the unbelievable blessings that have been showered upon this family. I cannot of myself generate the love and genuine charity I feel, I pray that I might live as a true patriarch to my family, that through me and the Priesthood I hold might flow the revelations that will guide us to exaltation. I envision that I might one day stand with Norma in the presence of God and rejoice with Him that we have successfully brought our choice family back into His presence with His guidance.

            I love the Savior and my Father in Heaven more each day. I desire to know them – truly know and understand the Atonement. As I envision the Savior on the cross my body is racked with emotion because He cared so much about me and my brethren & sisters upon this earth that He died for us under such degraded circumstances. And so, as I sat in the presence of Pres. Fagg, we intimately exchanged spiritual thoughts and felt an atmosphere charged with spiritual emotion because our “bond” is common and centers in the personal relationship we have with the Savior. Our brotherhood has been bought by experience, decisions, trials and the knowledge of both joy and despair. I am so grateful that there are men that have so lived and love so freely that they can give of themselves so fully. And so I approach this Easter with a prayer that my understanding of the Atonement may be deepened.

Nov 22, 1973 - Thanksgiving

What a special day!!! Kirk has come home to be with us because the family “turns him on” – Eric, Chris and little Eric will be here and Leland and Shirli will bring their special spirits to make this a memorable day. Kirk and I arose at 6 am to take John and Rick to the airport. They will fly to Salt Lake to join Nathelle and family – Tom, Kathy, etc. for a few days.

We all feel a great deal of anticipation regarding Chris’ and Shirli’s deliveries. Chris should deliver anytime and any day this week-end. Shirli expects her baby around Dec. 14. We have so much to be Thankful for. The Lord has blessed us so abundantly. We are enjoying a family unity and love such as I have never known. I sincerely hope that whoever might read this will feel the Spirit of transformation that has come over us. Truly we are now experiencing “A Bit of Heaven on Earth” in our home and can see and feel what salvation in the Celestial kingdom; being able to continue this relationship in the presence of God will be like.

I have been asked to give the Christmas message to the University Ward. This is a special privilege to be asked by a very discerning group of young people. I welcome the opportunity because I must ponder and pray and think deeply about the Savior if it is to be meaningful and then prepare myself further by fasting that I might have the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is not just another assignment but rather a quest in understanding that I might carry the audience with me on to a greater understanding of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I miss Jane and Tom tremendously and look forward to Christmas when they will be returning home.

Although there is much to be done along the pathway of personal purification, I feel that the Spirit of the Lord is with me and guiding me. Two things have happened this past week which indicate it to be so.

Briefly, I was asked to see a woman about her back problem (2 previous surgeries) whom I did not know. It happened that she was a member of the Church. As we were talking after her exam it came to me by the Spirit that one of the key problems in her life was preparing to go on a mission. I told her so and she was startled and asked me how I knew about her. I told her I knew nothing about her before I walked into the hospital room. She then told me about her plans to go on a mission and how her son had administered to her and told her that she would be led to a person who would help her with her medical problems.

I have also been concerned about a brother who is a recent convert who became very confused and troubled. I was asked to fellowship him as a home-teaching companion. One night he was so confused and negative that he called the Bishop and asked that no one in the church contact him.

Lately I have had a strong feeling to go against that request and contact him and let him know of my concern for him. Last Sunday night he called me to tell me that he was feeling better and was finding his way back to the church. I just regret that I did not get the call to him first.

101 Priesthood brethren in our Stake will be making a temple excursion tomorrow to Oakland. This will be a special spiritual experience. We have 18 going from our ward. It has been my assignment to put it together for our ward.

May the Spirit of the Lord be with us this day and know the gratitude of our heart for all the blessing that are ours as a family; for the stewardship we have been given to manage; for life here upon this particular world where He worked out His ministry; for experience in adversity, love, and joy; for a deep-seated desire to learn – an insatiable desire to learn about Him; for a testimony and conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Oct 26, 1973

We (Norma and I) are now in Provo. We have just been in San Diego attending the Western Orthopaedic Assoc WOA ( Meeting. This is the 9th time this year I have come to Salt Lake or Provo. The Lord has truly been good to us in allowing us to travel as we do. We have been able to see the children frequently – last Spring there were 6 of them in University study – Kirk (Univ of Utah law school), Kathy (graduated Magna cum laude – Univ of Utah), her husband Davis, Jim (graduated cum laude – Univ of Utah), his wife Peggy, and Jane. And now Tom – No. 7 is at BYU.

I feel a sense of urgency to see each of them whenever possible, to let them know of our love for them; to let them know how proud we are of them and their growth; and to develop a feeling of strong family Unity. How I rejoice that Eric and Chris and Eric II are close to us in Seattle and that Leland (my nephew) and his wife Shirli are attending school in Seattle. I know that God has answered our prayers and after much trial and tribulation has molded us and we are now in a period of harvest where we are truly enjoying His Spirit and guidance. I also know that He can and will use us as a family to accomplish the work in these last days.

When I attend a medical meeting I realize that the frontiers of knowledge are advancing rapidly. However, so much of it is irrelevant to the treatment and understanding of human disease and the human condition. Although many facts and trusts are presented, they are of dubious importance. And so – as I am now serving as one of the 2 Board of Directors of the WOA – the position is of little value because as medical men we are so steeped in tradition that we do not readily identify the “weightier truths”. We collect and stockpile data to become “learned” by the definition of the scriptures, but we fail to gain “wisdom” through properly distilling the acquired data. We understand to some degree the physical person as a medical man, but fail to understand the soul. The highlight of the meeting occurred when I met Ron Dykes (Representative for Richards Instrument Co) and learned that his wife had died 2 months ago from a brain stem injury riding a bicycle. She leaves 5 children who are strong in the Gospel. Ron is a non-committed Mormon – I was able to testify to him and offer my help in any way he desired me to help him in this hour of despair, decision, and compassionate understanding. Ron understood that he would have to embrace the Gospel “all the way” to please his children. It is evident to me that no matter what the circumstances may be that one can’t commit himself to the Gospel for someone else – it won’t work. It’s a completely personal thing – the commitment must be between Ron and his Father in Heaven. I had a strong feeling that his wife was taken from earth to do just that – to put Ron in a position where he would now, once and for all, have to make a decision whether he will make such a commitment. If he does than the true “issues of life” begin to reveal themselves, because he can then be sealed to his wife and children. Otherwise they are in limbo as it pertains to their relationship to their “physical” parents here on this earth.

And so, being able to confront one of the weightier issues of life, the meeting took an added enjoyment and value. I was also able to genuinely offer my sympathy to Harry Nash (an old associate in the Seattle Orthopaedic and Fracture Clinic), whose oldest son had just become paralyzed when racing a motorcycle and whose youngest son had recently committed suicide because of an unhappy marriage.