August 20, 1974

We have just returned to McCall from a road trip to Salt Lake City. Being able to fly has been a blessing to our family beyond measure. When we spend two weeks at McCall in the summer I have flown close to 20 hours taxiing member of the family and friends back and forth between Boise, McCall, Seattle, and Salt Lake City, etc. Also, I have been able to fly with Kirk several hours and have been able to impart to him many of the things I have learned. We have had a wonderful time together this summer. Perhaps this is the last time we will have so many family members together. Tom will be on his mission, Jane and Carol may be working, but I keep hoping for continued family unity and this year I have stressed and made a fervent plea that we offer up our prayers in unison for a family business.

            I feel a sense of satisfaction in having completed my reading and abstracting of the book of Alma and Helaman and also the Book of Joshua. In addition, I have studied considerably on the Airline Pilot Transport Rating. I will drop this endeavor immediately if it interferes with the Lord’s work and responsibilities I have in this area.

June 29, 1974 - Call to the Bishopric

Kirk James has brought his girlfriend, Holly Haskell, home for the summer. Their intent is to live with the family and see if they are suited for one another in marriage. They are both 27 years of age. Kirk is going to summer school at the U. of Washington. This means that he has exposed himself to Professors he doesn’t know. Holly is working to finish her Master’s degree in Spanish literature. She really should be close to her Prof at BYU.

            Kirk has told me that Holly can’t believe the relationship that we have. We are very open with one another and communicate our feelings openly. Perhaps we have found certain treasures of family life that others have not but I am so grateful for the trust I feel in our children and the manner in which it is reciprocated.

            I perceive by the Spirit, that after experiencing much tribulation, the blessings have come – D&C 58:3; 112:13 – perhaps we have even undergone an Abrahamic trial to some degree. It is evident that we are enjoying a relationship of love, respect, and joy that truly is a reflection of what eternal life will be like.

            As Alma’s prayers were answered regarding the conversion of his errant son, Alma (Mosiah 27:14), I know that God has answered our prayer for each individual in the family. May it continue to be so!! I long for us to be pure in heart and a true Zion people that as a family we will be recognized as the Lord’s people. How grateful I am for the charity and love and respect I feel for each member of this family. How grateful I am to my Father in Heaven for his guidance, His chastisement, His concern, His love for me personally that has brought all this about.

Call to the Bishopric – On Thursday evening, June 27th, Norma and I were called to the Stake President’s office concerning our call to the Bishopric. This is the first time in our church experience that we have been called together. An indication of things to come??

            What I write now I want to be a testimony that this call came from my Father in heaven and not from man. Bishop Fillery (sp?) was the intermediary but he waited for a long time to receive spiritual confirmation. I have always felt that Bishop Fillery is the epitome of Church leadership because he directs with humility and spirituality that is true and brings peace and confidence to those who work in his presence.

            I could feel the sincerity of the Stake Presidency and their concern in enlisting the Lord’s help for the 8th ward. How fortunate we are to have such men to care for us and direct the affairs of the Lord’s church in these last days. How reassuring to know that this train of authority goes all the way to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who’s church this is.

            Truly the Lord has sent me to school!! – as an Elder’s Quorom Pres, that I could learn to care about others and expand my life out of my self-centered medical life, as a Seventies President that I could come to understand and develop the missionary Spirit which in turn was enhanced by being called to a Stake Mission, as a Seminary teacher, that I could learn to care about the choice youth that are in our midst, that I could come to care for them as I care for my own children, a High Priest Group Leader, that I could become converted to geneaology work, but above all the privilege of coming to know the blessings of being a patriarch in my choice family. Because of some success in these areas I now wax strong in confidence in the presence of my Father in Heaven because He is concerned about my growth – may it ever be so. I pray humbly in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Jan 24, 1974

Tonight Norma and I are in Honolulu. We had planned a snow skiing trip with the family but it did not work out because of the “energy crisis” and the kids could not get out of school. Therefore, spontaneously, we decided to come to Hawaii. The children supported us in this.

Norma has given of herself to the family and particularly so during the holidays and I am pleased that we could be alone together for a little time. We have done nothing but read, study, swim in the surf, walk, and eat – so much so that we cut our stay on Maui short because we were getting “antsy”.

I have re-read and studied most of the D & C and cross-referenced it with the other standard works.

Today we saw the USS Arizona memorial where over 1000 men went down with the battleship when it was bombed by the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941. I thought how most of the people in the world are pawns or marionettes in the hands of a few powerful wicked men of the world and how we have been influenced by war during most of my life. Truly, a feeling of emptiness and useless wasting of young life was felt as we stood over the sunk battleship which still holds the bodies of the dead. I have decided to call my right fifth finger a “memory finger”. As a tradition I have been and will continue to look for rings to remind me of pleasant travels and memories in my life. I now have rings from Mexico, Egypt, Jerusalem, and Honolulu.

Jan 11, 1974

This preceding note from Shirli and Leland to Norma and me [the note reads as follows: “Dear Uncle Kirk & Aunt Norma and family, I wanted to write you a friendly Happy Holiday note and say a few of the thoughts that are on my mind. How do you thank someone for 50 Sunday dinners, 60 loads of wash, 100 listening ears, a couch, four chairs, a beautiful flannel baby quilt, a baby book and an always open door? And heart? I guess you just write Thank you on blue paper for a start… Thank you! Much love, Leland, Shirli & Leland III] is so meaningful and important because we have been privileged to reach our arms and heart to these wonderful relates and become “family”. When such respect and love exists, nothing seems impossible. It truly is that part of the Spirit of Elijah which turns the harts of the Fathers to the children and creates a celestial-like family life here upon this earth -> truly “a bit of heaven on earth”. Last week when we were walking down the street together, Shirli spontaneously stated “I like you” – what a thrill!! I love my family so much – Truly the Lord has opened the gates of heaven and poured out a blessing on me that I would have never thought possible. I know that other members of our family on the other side of the veil are watching over us and guiding us and I feel confident in times of stress.

I love to write in this journal. I can almost see the people of my family who will walk the earth after me and will read these words and know of me. A bond will be created between me and them and in this family which will help to make us a true Zion people. I want more than anything for us to be a great [underlined four times] family in the eyes of the Lord because we desire to do His will and obey His commandments. As a consequence He may then give us great power through the Priesthood to do His work here upon the earth.

I love the scriptures. I have just completed an hour of study in the Doctrine and Covenants. It is apparent to me now that in order to lose ourselves in the scriptures and understand them, we must ponder each passage and pray over each passage or phrase to understand their meaning.

I spent most of the week in Salmon, Idaho working. This began 2 years ago when Dr. Boyd Simmons (also a Stake President’s counselor) asked me to fly to Salmon and do some total hip replacements. Since then I have continued to fly to Salmon to see patients. I have enjoyed it for several reasons – 1. Because my medical skills have more meaning in the small remote area where such medical care is not readily available – as a sideline it is interesting that my presence in the community is a threat to orthopaedists who work in the cities over 150 miles away. Doctors are some of the most defensive, insecure people who declare an imaginary domain and get “all shook up” if it is invaded. 2. Because the people of Salmon are “different”. They are more hardy and heal themselves faster than the “city folk”. The relationship is a more genteel, appreciative one. 3. Because I have been able to stay with the Simmons and have many precious hours of communication. They are striving for the same things we are. They have experienced much sorrow because their decisions in life have taken them on pathways at times that restrict them in their desires to have complete “freedom” to be profitable servants for the Lord. I respect and love them so very much. And 4, lastly, because I love to fly. Flying is very much like surgery and like the pursuit of living. It can be highly successful and rewarding if the pilot is prepared; has an alternate plan if the primary flight plan fails or is threatened; and if the pilot is knowledgeable enough to make intelligent decisions. I have progressively improved myself to become a commercial and instrument rated pilot and am now working toward an ATR (Airline Transport Rating). Getting an instrument rating allows a pilot to penetrate a world where he cannot see and must depend on his instruments (akin to faith). He must gain a superior knowledge to fly in a world of clouds and weather systems that otherwise would be the means of his destruction. So it is with the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we soften our hearts and place ourselves in His hands, but at the same time gain greater knowledge of His world through study and prayer, then we are allowed to see things through our Spirit eyes and we can enter and penetrate a world of new experiences that lift us from just living in a restricted mortal world. Yeserday, when flying home I was able to fly “on top” of clouds which covered most of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington and then penetrate a layer of clouds to make an instrument approach to Boeing field which brought me home. Very few people saw the beauty of the setting sun filtering through a spectacular lenticular cloud on top of Mt. Rainier and its brilliance extending through the cloud layers as I descended to earth. How very fortunate I am!!! How grateful I am!!!

I must spend a few hours now paying bills – which I detest, but it is made easier by the rich moments I have spent this morning reading the scriptures and recording my thoughts. Nevertheless, I am grateful for the abundance we have been given and the nature of the stewardship we have been given to manage. We are out of debt so that we can of our own free will contribute to the welfare of others that “we might esteem our brethren as ourselves”. Norma and I have been given a large family to manage and considerable resources. We must organize our time and efforts and activities that we might effectively manage our stewardship effectively. It is in this sense that I don’t mind keeping our affairs in order. However, deep in my heart I long for us to reach a state where we can live the law of consecration – So!!! back to the mundane things of life.