For youth conference this year, one of the activities was for the youth to see the movie "Witnesses"--the story of the witnesses of the book of Mormon. I was unable to attend because we were in Iceland, but I heard great feedback from the youth. The Stake Young Men President had a connection with the producer of the movie, Russell Richins, and he and one of our bishops contacted him and asked him to speak in our stake (the bishop was cousins to the speaker's wife). He agreed and asked if he could bring Paul Wuthrich along--Paul had played Joseph Smith in the movie. Right after we had arranged the speaker, our Stake YM President was released, so I carried on. Soon there was another YM president in place and since I was now thoroughly in charge, I assigned him refreshments. This was pretty easy as we'd already decided to have Fat Boys, all he had to do was order and pick up.
The night before the fireside I went to Deseret Book and purchased the movie, so I would know what I was talking about when I talked with our speakers.
We had a full chapel, and you could have heard a pin drop, the kids were so interested. Bro. Richins talked about the three witnesses and their absolute conviction that the Book of Mormon was true. He talked about the trust the Lord had placed in them. The Lord knew there would be difficulties, He knew the struggles they'd have with their testimony of the Prophet, but He also knew that these men would never betray the trust He put in them. Bro. Richins asked the youth, "Can the Lord trust YOU?
Bro. Wuthrich shared his testimony of Joseph Smith and told us what he'd done to prepare for the role. He listened to Truman Madsen's lecture series on the Prophet and from learning so much about him, he gained a connection with him through little things. For example, Joseph Smith had a gift--he could sleep anywhere. He was being persecuted and the hosts of hell would be raging around him, and he could lay under a tree and go to sleep. Bro. Wuthrich said he tried to do that when he had a few free moments on the set-- lay down on a picnic table or somewhere, and have a nap. The fun thing about Bro. Wuthrich is that he wasn't much older than our youth. He was married and he and his wife had just had their first child--a son. He spoke about his convictions of the gospel, and how, as an actor, he'd had to draw his moral line in the sand and turn down lots of opportunities to make real money. I think this was something our youth needed to hear.
With a worldly view, this movie was probably a B movie, but from a spiritual viewpoint, it was poignant, heart-rending, and tender, and I think it helped our youth come closer to the Savior.
It was interesting that only about 50% of the actors were members of the church, so there was a lot of opportunity on set to share the gospel. Both actors who played David Whittmer (younger and older) were non-members. The older actor said he was atheist, but he "felt something." He told them, "you have something here..." although he had no idea what it was.
One of the best things about the fireside (for me) was that the YM leaders did the refreshments which allowed the YW leaders to mingle and visit with the speakers following the fireside. We don't usually get to do this.
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| Young men leaders Calvin Bowen and Justin Atkinson, Joseph Smith Actor, Paul Wuthrich, Russell Richins, producer off the movie, and my YW leaders, Diana McDonald (me) and Kathy Hurst |
Not everything this week was as good as our fireside. Roy had a PET Scan on his heart and found that he has a condition where his heart has thickened. This has been causing him problems with breathing while walking (up hill) and shortness of breath, etc. His brother has the exact same condition, so we're pretty sure it's genetic. His mother also had heart disease and had to wear a pacemaker, and her father died of a heart attack while he was in his 40's. Roy was told not to ride his bike until they do an Angiogram and check out his heart this coming week because he's a heart attack risk. If they find any blockages, they will put stints in at that time. Afterwards, they will decide what further action needs to happen. Roy's brother, Alan, is set to have surgery in January (I guess he's waiting on a specialist), where they will go in and cut off some of the heart where it is too thick. Roy and I always thought that he would not have heart problems as his cholesterol number stays abnormally low, at about 63. So, needless to say, we are concerned for him and ask for everyone to keep him in their prayers. I still feel peace from the blessing he received before he had his first heart related test.
Crista came down Friday with the girls (and Todd) to visit. Matt was planning on staying home and getting some work done, but decided he didn't want to miss out on all the family time, so he brought his work with him and spent some time in Roy's office. Roy and I took Ruby and Greta to see "Secret Garden" a the Hale Center Theater for a Saturday Matinee. They seemed to love it. Ruby said, "This is long like a movie--it's going to take our whole day!" But she couldn't wait to get back to her seat after intermission. I didn't get any pictures, but I would have liked to take one of her lounging in her theater seat. Greta was great, too. She got a little tired at the 2 hour mark and wanted candy, but the candy we got at intermission was all gone. I kept reminding her that she had to act like she was 5 because you have to be 5 to go to the theater (she's only a couple of months shy). When we left, we know Ruby's eyes were wide open and she was practicing her reading because she said, "Can we come back to see Mousetrap?" This was a great theater trip because it was totally free--even the concessions. We received comp tickets from our bishop and his wife (she works for the theater) after giving them some solar panels that we weren't using. I think we got them free or cheap at one time. He's using the panels to keep the battery charged on an old trailer he inherited.
We had everyone for dinner Saturday night since Crista was here. She says her ward is really needy right now and just about every week she has to step in at the last minute and sub for someone. Matt is in the bishopric, so it's hard for them to miss church. I got a few pictures of our fun evening. These were all taken inside, but the kids had spent a lot of time in the yard prior to this. It was the perfect temperature. We decided it's wonderful to have the family on Saturday instead of Sunday so we can focus more on the Sabbath Day.
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| Ori, Oli, Todd and Doyeon |
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