Baptism of Maverick Roy Rasband (February 24, 2024)

Youth Conference

 In my childhood, if I ever said to my mother, "I can't wait until Christmas," or I can't wait for school to be over," or any other wish that indicated I wanted time to pass quickly, my mom would respond, "Don't wish your life away."  I have tried to live according to that adage, but I admit, sometimes there are events or days that I want over.  Yesterday was youth conference.  If I was Roy, I wouldn't have stressed or seen it as different than any other day.  However, since I am not Roy, and my personality is decidedly type B, this is an event that I've stressed over for awhile.  I have to admit--I'm happy it's over.  

It turned out to be a great activity.  As I mentioned previously, I felt that everything was coming together the way the Lord wanted it to.  The events of the day seemed to confirm this.

 I didn't hike--I drove around to the end of the trail (the Ensign Peak Trailhead in Salt Lake) to meet the kids with some cold water; but Hyeji hiked it.  She said it was "kind of torturous."  A couple of kids said that Justin (our YM President) was a lier because the hike was a lot harder than he had made it sound.  It may have been hard just because it was the hottest day we've had this summer.  One of the young boys that does yard work for Roy said that he'd rather have pulled weeds in our yard than hike this trail (I think it's because he would have ended up a little bit richer in that scenario).  Roy would have definitely hiked if he'd been home, but he was in Bend, Oregon until early that morning.  His plane landed in time for him to join me as I picked up the kids in Salt Lake.  He's always great to support me in all my callings, but also, he is in the young men program, so it was good for him to be there, anyway.

 Overall, I think they had a good experience.  Following the hike we drove all the kids down to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where box lunches and cold water (in an air conditioned room) awaited everyone.  Following lunch, we had a presentation about the construction of the temple.  We were shown the elaborate systems being used to make the temple earthquake proof.  It's interesting that the old foundation was not removed, but is being added to.  They are digging below the original foundation to put in this equipment.  To make the temple act as one unit, there will be steel posts drilled all the way from the top of the towers and the corners of the temple, down into a space that is about 6 inches wide.  They have to be very exact in this.  We were told that the first one that was put in place was about 1/4 " inch off center.  These posts will hold the temple in place.  Then, there's another technique that is sort of like binding the foundation with rubber bands (I'm simplifying this almost to the point that I'm not sure I'm right).  The analogy is that if we are unified, we can withstand a lot of the pressures and instability of the world.  The presentation ended with this quote from President Russell M. Nelson's talk on The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundations, President Nelson said, 

My dear brothers and sisters, when renovations on the Salt Lake Temple are completed, there will be no safer place during an earthquake in the Salt Lake Valley than inside that temple.

Likewise, whenever any kind of upheaval occurs in your life, the safest place to be spiritually is living inside your temple covenants!

Please believe me when I say that when your spiritual foundation is built solidly upon Jesus Christ, you have no need to fear. As you are true to your covenants made in the temple, you will be strengthened by His power. Then, when spiritual earthquakes occur, you will be able to stand strong because your spiritual foundation is solid and immovable.

In the above pictures: Hyeji at the end of the hike and at right: Catharine talking to three kids from our ward, Ellie, Kate and Max.  I even got a hug from Ellie when she went home.

After the presentation we let the youth go home.  We reconvened at the South Davis Recreation Center at 7:00 for pizza, treats, ice skating, volleyball and basketball.  I had originally tried to get the pools, but through no fault of my own, my plans were thwarted and we ended up with the ice skating rink.  My secretary told me that she felt it ended up being for the best because the kids were more contained and had more interaction with each other than they would have had otherwise.  I believe she was right.

Sunday was much more relaxing-- even though I had agreed to sub for Relief Society.  As always, when you teach, you learn more than anyone in the classroom.  I had about a month to ponder Brad Wilcox' talk on "Worthiness is not Flawlessness."  I had time to go over all his footnotes and read a few other talks that were pertinent.  Mostly, of course, I just led the discussion.  It was great when a few things came up that allowed me to share a little bit about the youth conference.  

A couple of wonderful things happened in our family this week:

Andy graduated from the 3-year residency program in August, Georgia

Both he and Elise are excited that he's been hired on to stay there for at least the next three years.

Matt's book is published and he received his first shipment.  It's been a long, hard process.  

Cute grandkids

Harvey with his dinosaurs and Yuli with her rabbit

Hyeji and Yuna had a piano recital Saturday afternoon, but we missed it due to being busy with the youth conference.  I'm sure they did great.  It was outside at the park by the recreation center.  It was probably pretty hot for the participants and their audience.