On Sunday 17 August we watched "Music and the Spoken Word" on BYU-TV.  We enjoyed the Book of Mormon panel discussion that followed.  Brother Robert L. Millet led the discussion and he will be speaking at our stake fireside next Sunday.

Brother Robert L. Millet on the left

It was nice to be back in our Ellijay Branch again.  Our opening hymn was #134, "I Believe in Christ" by Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and John Longhurst.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915-1985)

John Longhurst, organist

The sacrament hymn #191, "Behold the Great Redeemer Die" was written by Eliza R. Snow.

Eliza R. Snow (1804-1887)

Brother Steven Ashton of the stake high council was our first speaker.  He spoke from a devotional at this year's Roots Tech family history conference.  He quoted Alex Haley from his book "Roots" about the roots, trees, and branches.  How often does the Savior use these images! Malachi 4:1.  He spoke of Jacob who was renamed Israel.  His 12 children became the 12 tribes of Israel.  We are gathering the members of those tribes today.  The prophet Elijah returned to the Kirtland Temple to restore the sealing power to the earth.  4th Article of Faith.  Our ancestors are accepting the Gospel in the hereafter and we need to perform the temple ordinances in their behalf.  D&C 128:24.  Think of family pictures and stories.  Keep me, protect me, share me.  Power of partnerships in the world of family history.  Ancestry, My Heritage, and Findmypast.  Find your cousins if you think all your ancestors' work is done.  Puzzilla.org.  Spell out Elijah.  E enter.  L look.  I investigate.  "Search records" in Family Tree.  J justify.  A add name.  H House of the Lord. 

Ben and Eileen at the Kirtland Temple

The intermediate hymn was #249, "Called to Serve."  The words are inspiring to  missionaries all over the world. "Called to serve Him, heav'nly King of glory, Chosen e'er to witness for His name, Far and wide we tell the Father's story, Far and wide His love proclaim.  Called to know the richness of His blessing - Sons and daughters, children of a King - Glad of heart, His holy name confessing, Praises unto Him we bring."

Brother Gary Rogers was our concluding speaker.  He is the stake family history director.  He wore his genealogy tie with hearts on it.  We receive a lot from our ancestors.  The Lord is hastening His work.  Spoke of Elder Dennis Brimhall, CEO of FamilySearch, and his weekly meetings with the First Presidency.  Directions right from the Lord.  Millions of records being added to FamilySearch.  Billion Graves.  Pictures taken by youth of tombstones.  Our ancestors want to be found.  Serendipity?  Intuition?  Promptings!  

Elder Dennis Brimhall

Charles E. Templar.  Garden City, Kansas.  Cemetery.  Shoe missing.  Found on the gravestone of their great-grandmother!  Woke up at 3 am and was prompted to go to his computer.  What then?  Google Books.  Name came to mind.  A book came up with a single page to illustrate.  He and family were on the page.  Author Fietta (sp?) Newcombe and e-mail address.  Resulted in three binders from his mother's side of the family.  Woman wanted to know more about her great-grandmother.  Prayed and got phone call from distant cousin!

A PRAYER FOR GENEALOGISTS

Lord, help me dig into the past

And shift the sands of time

That I might find the roots that made

This family tree of mine;

Lord, help me trace the ancient roads

On which my fathers trod

And led them through so many lands

To find our present sod.

Lord, help me find an ancient book

Or dusty manuscript

That's safely hidden now away

In some forgotten crypt;

Lord, let it bridge the gap that haunts

My soul when I can't find

The missing link between some name

That ends the same as mine.

Curtis Woods, Tennessee Author

Gospel Doctrine was in the chapel with Darlene Burgess teaching.  The lesson was #31 “Happy Is the Man That Findeth Wisdom” using Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

The purpose of the lesson was to encourage class members to inspire class members to be more Christlike by applying the wise counsel in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

Proverbs are short sayings that generally give counsel about living righteously. The Old Testament records that Solomon “spake three thousand proverbs” (1 Kings 4:32). Some of these wise sayings are included in the book of Proverbs. Although Solomon and the other authors of this book were not prophets, much of what they wrote was inspired by the Lord. Their writings generally reflect a belief that true wisdom comes from God.

The book of Ecclesiastes also contains wise sayings, and some people believe Solomon to be its author. The message of Ecclesiastes is that life is meaningful only through God.

The following topics were discussed:  wisdom (in biblical language, to fear the Lord means to reverence and obey him. Wisdom is more than knowledge; it is the proper application of knowledge. To the Israelites, wisdom meant obedience to God’s laws.),

trust in the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-7),

the words we speak (Proverbs 6:16–19; 16:24.  Elder Gordon B. Hinckley said: “We seldom get into trouble when we speak softly. It is only when we raise our voices that the sparks fly and tiny molehills become great mountains of contention” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1971)), 

President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008)

pride (President Ezra Taft Benson said: “The central feature of pride is enmity--enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means ‘hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.’ It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.

“Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of ‘my will and not thine be done.’ As Paul said, they ‘seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s’ (Philippians 2:21).

“Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled (see Alma 38:12; 3 Nephi 12:30).

“The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives (see Helaman 12:6). They pit their perceptions of truth against God’s great knowledge, their abilities versus God’s priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works.

“Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers. The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren’t interested in changing their opinions to agree with God’s. …

“Pride is a damning sin in the true sense of that word. It limits or stops progression (see Alma 12:10–11). The proud are not easily taught (see 1 Nephi 15:3, 7–11). They won’t change their minds to accept truths, because to do so implies they have been wrong” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1989),

President Ezra Taft Benson said: “Another face of pride is contention. Arguments, fights, unrighteous dominion, generation gaps, divorces, spouse abuse, riots, and disturbances all fall into this category of pride.

“Contention in our families drives the Spirit of the Lord away. It also drives many of our family members away.

“Pride adversely affects all our relationships--our relationship with God and His servants, between husband and wife, parent and child” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1989)),

President Ezra Taft Benson (1899-1994)

friendship (Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: "Someone has said, ‘A friend is a person who is willing to take me the way I am.’ Accepting this as one definition of the word, may I quickly suggest that we are something less than a real friend if we leave a person the same way we find him. …

“No greater reward can come to any of us as we serve than a sincere ‘Thank you for being my friend.’ When those who need assistance find their way back through and with us, it is friendship in action. When the weak are made strong and the strong stronger through our lives, friendship is real. If a man can be judged by his friends, he can also be measured by their heights. …

“Yes, a friend is a person who is willing to take me the way I am but who is willing and able to leave me better than he found me” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1972)),

Elder Marvin J. Ashton (1915-1994)

raising children (Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “You must be willing to forgo personal pleasure and self-interest for family-centered activity, and not turn over to church, school, or society the principal role of fostering a child’s well-rounded development. It takes time, great effort, and significant personal sacrifice to ‘train up a child in the way he should go.’ But where can you find greater rewards for a job well done?” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1993)),

Elder Richard G. Scott

and happiness and good humor (President Hugh B. Brown said: “I would like to have you smile because after all we must keep a sense of humor whatever comes. I think of all the people in the world we should be the happiest. We have the greatest and most joyous message in the world. I think when we get on the other side, someone will meet us with a smile (unless we go to the wrong place and then someone will grin), so let us be happy. But let our happiness be genuine--let it come from within” (The Abundant Life [1965])).

President Hugh B. Brown (1883-1975)

We skipped out as Eileen wanted to look at a microfilm she had ordered in the Family History Center.  I got with several members about cleaning the building this week.  We arranged for Thursday morning with the Messina's and Cheryl Dawson.  Ron Fisher won't be able to make it. The microfilm did not have what Eileen wanted and we slipped back into Gospel Doctrine class.

We had a combined meeting of everyone except Primary.  Brother Rogers taught us with his laptop, iPad, and screen up front about the FamilyTree and Memories apps.  We can click on "FamilySearch Apps" on familysearch.org and learn how to use them.

After the block of meetings we had a baptismal service for Brother Mark Usry.  The opening hymn was #116, "Come, Follow Me." He was baptized by Don Bivens.  Elder Howell spoke on baptism and Elder Burkinshaw spoke on the Holy Ghost. The closing hymn was #85 "How Firm a Foundation," which was in the first LDS hymnbook in 1835.

We enjoyed a quiet afternoon and I finished reading "The Warden" by Anthony Trollope which I had begun on 19 April.

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882)

Later while watching the Atlanta Braves play the Oakland Athletics I finished reading, and admiring the pictures in, "Ca'd'Zan Inside the Ringling Mansion" by Aaron H. De Groft and David C. Weeks which I bought when we visited the Ringling estate in Sarasota on 6 August.  Eileen enjoyed the guide, too.

I read "Roots and Branches" by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the concluding talk of the Saturday afternoon session of the April 2014 General Conference.

Elder Quentin L. Cook

Eileen did some indexing on her laptop and I worked on my blog for the week of 3 August.  The Atlanta Braves defeated the Oakland Athletics, 4-3.

On Monday 18 August we drove to Cindy Bozeman's in Jasper.  We picked up the Honda she has sold us for Darlene Burgess.  Eileen then drove our car and I drove the Honda to Darlene's in Blue Ridge.  It will be wonderful for Darlene to have reliable transportation again.  Hopefully it will facilitate her finding a job.

On the way from Ellijay to Blue Ridge Eileen saw our palindrome 80608.  With her in the Avalon following me in the Honda, I was able to hear her on my receiver!  I waved so she knew that I heard her.  Pretty neat! 

We had a nice visit with Darlene and enjoyed playing with her dog Baxter which has never happened before.  We shared the August Ensign First Presidency message from President Dieter Uchtdorf.

Darlene Burgess's home

We then checked out the new Walmart in Blue Ridge.  It is very nice but a bit strange as it only has the one door labeled Market & Pharmacy unlike most Walmarts that have two doors, one labeled Market and one labeled Pharmacy.  We enjoyed a foot-long veggie sub from Subway at home for part of a late lunch (or early supper).

One door Walmart in Blue Ridge

We had a quiet evening as I worked on my 3 August blog and some bills, squeezing in some of the "Star Trek The Next Generation" novel that I've begun.  It's been a long time since I've read one and it is so delightful!  I had read a lot of them from April to October 2012 so it's been almost two years.  We watched the Atlanta Braves defeat the Pittsburg Pirates, 7-3.

On Tuesday 19 August we were up early and drove south to the Cherokee County Toyota dealer in Canton as our car was almost 1000 miles overdue for an oil change.  It took less than 30 minutes!

Cherokee County Toyota

We then went to Cracker Barrel nearby and returned the book that Eileen had gotten for Tanner.  It was for horse lovers but not appropriate for a six-year-old.  We enjoyed breakfast there, too.

Eileen at Canton Cracker Barrel

Inside Canton Cracker Barrel

A display in Canton Cracker Barrel

Then we went to Hallmark where we got a Jim Shore turtle that Eileen liked.

Hallmark Halloween Display

Jim Shore turtle

Back to Ellijay with gas at Walmart for $3.169 (10 cents off with their gift card), a few items at Ingles, and some compost from Ace Hardware for the planters on our front porch.  

On the way home we observed the palindrome 80708 on our odometer.

We were away a lot and did not plant flowers on our front porch.  None are available now, though we were told at Quinn's on Saturday that pansies would be available in a couple of weeks.  So Eileen thought that we could dig up the flowers in our one raised bed garden and plant them on the two planters.  We'll see how they handle the transplanting.  We heard and saw some hummingbirds, so we hope they like the flowers.

We received an e-mail from Dusty Harral, who served his mission here several years ago.  He wanted to know if he could have Eileen's goulash recipe!  He has a craving! We'll send it to him tomorrow.

We watched the Atlanta Braves defeat the Pittsburg Pirates, 11-3.

On Wednesday 20 August we picked up Sisters Rueckert and Sullivan in the Ingles parking lot at 9:05.  Then we headed for the Gilmer Community Food Pantry.  We had not been there since 21 May!  We were welcomed back and received condolences from many.  I had help doing the plastic bags, one of the helpers being Scottie Flynn who was visiting the area.  She had been a volunteer for a long time starting with the Sailors Drive location, long before our time!  Being the 3rd Wednesday, the numbers were a bit low with about 100 families being helped.

Sisters Sullivan and Rueckert at the food pantry

Sisters Sullivan and Rueckert at the food pantry

Sisters Rueckert and Sullivan at the food pantry

We mailed a box of Sue's garments to Colleen and then drove to the Back Porch Bistro in the rear of the antique store on the circle in Ellijay.  It opened last Friday and we heard about it from Janie at the pantry.  We enjoyed a light lunch.

The owner and Eileen inside the Back Porch Bistro

Inside the Back Porch Bistro

Eileen and Janie inside the Back Porch Bistro

We stopped at R&A Orchards on the way home and got the Times-Courier, some peaches, and a small peach ice cream for Eileen.

Fried pies at R&A Orchards

Apples and peaches at R&A Orchards

Apples and peaches at R&A Orchards

I went to a meeting at church with President Boland and Brother  Chester at 6:45 to discuss our branch's part in the upcoming stake food drive.

Back home we watched "Who Do You Think You Are" with Reba McEntire at 8 pm, Kelsey Grammer at 9 pm, and Vanessa Williams at 10 pm.

I finished reading "Star Trek the Next Generation #42 Infiltrator" by W. R. Thompson which I began four days ago.  Star Trek novels are very difficult to put down!

On Thursday 21 August we went to church to clean the building.  Phil Messina and Cheryl Dawson were also there and Phil had the building key.  It took about an hour.

Our garden continues to produce banana and green peppers, and large and cherry tomatoes.  We have 16 large tomatoes in the house and I brought in 13 cherry tomatoes today.

Tomatoes getting red on the back porch

We came home to shower and then meet Ralph and Holly Hughes at Walmart to have lunch at the Ably Asian Cuisine restaurant in Jasper.  It was very good!

Eileen, Holly, and Ralph

Inside Ably Asian Cuisine

A bit of shopping at Walmart, Ingles, and Food Lion and mailing an envelope to David, and we headed home.  As we drove we saw our next palindrome of 80808.  We saw a cute new billboard in town.

Keep Calm and Be Glamorous

David and Caroline Echard came over at 7:30 pm as our home teachers and we chatted a lot about family history and how we were doing.

We watched the Atlanta Braves defeat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-0.

We worked a lot on our family history and I found the husband of my great-great grandfather's sister Elizabeth Baily in England.  It was his second marriage and her first at age 39.

On Friday 22 August having gone to bed after midnight we didn't awake until after 9 am!

Before we got up, I shared some news with Eileen from my daily morning news e-mails from the Deseret News and the New York Times.  I watched a video in the Times of an interview of Joe Torre by excellent sportswriter Tyler Kepner.

We got the sympathy card ready to mail to Joyce Witten in Annapolis, Maryland.  She and her husband Chuck were friends when we lived in Maryland.  He passed away recently after fighting cancer for many years. He had been the bishop of the Annapolis Ward years ago.

I went through the file of the family file cards that I had sent to the Farr's in Mesa, Arizona.  I entered the temple work that had been done into PAF and found that four couples may now be sealed when we go to the temple next Thursday.

We had gotten jumbo elephant garlics recently at the roadside location on the way into Ellijay.  We boxed up half of them to send to Heather.

jumbo elephant garlics

I recently finished the Church News dated 6 April 2014.  I enjoyed the article entitled "Temples reflect growth of the Church" with an update on the Rome Italy Temple.

Artist's rendition of the Rome Italy Temple

The centerfold was about the wonderful Easter video "Because of Him."  The link is at both easter.mormon.org and www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng.

The visit of Elder D. Todd Christofferson to Europe was very interesting as he and his wife Katherine visited England, Belgium, Cyprus, and Greece.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson and his wife Katherine visits Mars Hill in Athens

We coordinated with Heather to visit her family in Raleigh from 22-29 September.  We were going to go the first week of September, too, but Tom's parents will be there then.  Our upcoming stake conference is 6-7 September, so I made a reservation at the Comfort Inn in Kennesaw for the night of the 6th.

I began looking at the DVDs from Sue's memorial service to send to my sister Lib and our son Geoff.  It was very difficult to watch the collage of the pictures and the music.

I worked on more of my great-great grandfather's family as I found that his brother George Baily wed Fanny Gregory in the first quarter of 1863 Calne, Wiltshire, England.  He died in the first quarter of 1892 at age 56 in Wandsworth, London.

We watched the Atlanta Braves play the Cincinnati Reds but we hit the hay as they were tied, 1-1, in the 10th inning (Atlanta won, 3-1, in 12 innings).

On Saturday 23 August we went into Ellijay, stopping at the bank and mailing the box of jumbo garlic to Heather as well as the sympathy card to Joyce Witten.  We shopped at Walmart and Ingles and returned home.

We met the sister missionaries, Sisters Rueckert and Sullivan, in the Ingles parking lot at a little before 3 pm and drove them to an appointment in McCaysville to which they had asked Eileen to go to with them.  It was very close to where we had gone last Saturday!  Our odometer reached 80908.

We had a very nice visit with Bobby and Brenda Malone.  He is not LDS and he has been reading the Book of Mormon, having reached the book of Jacob so far.  He read a lot to us from the Book of Mormon, asking us questions about what he had read.

Bobby and Brenda Malone in McCaysville

Back in Blue Ridge we parked in town and the sister missionaries and Eileen went to visit a sister.

After they returned to the car, we drove to the Black Sheep restaurant but it was packed and we had no reservations.  So we went to the Blue Jeans Pizza & Pasta Factory, also in Blue Ridge, and enjoyed supper there.

Eileen and Sisters Rueckert and Sullivan

Sisters Sullivan and Rueckert

Yankee wall decoration

On the way back to Ellijay we showed the sisters where the food pantry used to be and got gas at the Citgo station on South Main for $3.159.  We dropped them off at the Ingles parking lot and we went inside to get a little birthday cake, small plates, napkins, and candles as tomorrow is Sister Rueckert's 20th birthday.

We were home by 8:45 and Eileen finished her stromboli.  We were disappointed that the Braves game wasn't on TV.