July 24th Fun and a family history story

 In Phil's letter last week, he quoted a talk given in October 2003 entitled To the Women of the Church, by President Gordon B. Hinckley, he said, "“Nothing else you will ever own, no worldly thing you will ever acquire will be worth so much as the love of your children.”  When you reach our age (Roy's and mine),  you realize how true that is.  You are all so important to us, and all we need from you is your love.  I think it's obvious how much love we have for each other when I put this letter together and see all the pictures of us interacting and enjoying each other.

This week we celebrated the pioneers coming into the valley.  "This is the place."  Imagine how it must have looked to these early settlers; they'd left homes in green areas of the nations to experience persecution, hunger and other privations--all for their love of the Savior and His gospel.  I am very grateful to them, especially to our own ancestors.  I received an email this week telling me that I had 100 pioneer ancestors.  

Of course, parades are one way we celebrate this holiday.  I have to admit, I didn't go to any.  Matt and Crista, however, went one step further and took a spot in the Logan parade; advertising Matt's business, Mobrium.  

Zack, Greta, Bridget, Todd and Ruby

Jordan shared this picture of our sweet Elijah

We had several birthdays this month and Roy and I were on time (for a change) to take Effie and Avie out for their birthdays (July 23--Avie, July 29--Effiie and Nick).  They each spent about half their money and took the rest in cash.  

We should have put Effie and Avie in front

Roy didn't "watch" the parade, but he helped out (as he has in the past) with his bike and ham radio.  He got a lot of exercise, especially since he rode from our home to the parade area and back.

It was the Dan Rasband family's turn at the cabin this week.  It looks like they had a great time with their friends.

I'm stealing some things from other people's letter's this week.  Nan shared this story about our ancestors:  Richard Palfreyman IV and his wife, Hannah Butler; my great great grandparents.  They lived in Derbyshire England. The missionaries knocked at her door, she let them in and believed their message.  She couldn't wait until her husband came home from his coal mining job to share it with him, but he didn't believe it.  Hannah was baptized in 1851, but Richard IV never joined the church.  Hannah had a great desire to gather to Utah with the saints.  Richard could see how happy the church made her and their children, so he told her she could go.  She sent her oldest two daughters to Utah with the Hatfields.  After her youngest child was born in 1863, she and her four youngest children left from Liverpool and traveled to New York.  She, carrying a baby, walked the entire way to Utah in 1864.  Richard IV was not a member of the Church, but he lived like a polygamist.  Besides Hannah, he lived with Mary Butler, Hannah's sister, Mary had her oldest child in 1863.  Richard never married her and her children all used the last name of Butler.  He did marry Elizabeth Harrison Sturgess, following the death of her husband, John Sturgess, in 1868 (they had four children together).  Richard and Elizabeth married in 1890 (even though he was still married to Hannah) and they had three children together but all her children used the last name of Sturgess.  In about 1865, Richard Palfreyman IV, sent his son, Richard Palfreyman V, to Utah with a "large box of rare provisions, including: fancy apparel, a feather bed, a gun (which Hannah sold at a good price)." This allowed her to buy some land and build a log house.  Hannah had a beautiful singing voice and made a living selling sour dough starter, washing and weaving.  There are more stories about this family on family search.

Some of you know the Erekson family in our ward (Carolyn Erekson is Roy's 2nd cousin).  Their 3rd daughter, Haley, is serving a mission in Canada and we're lucky enough to be on her email list.  She shared the testimony of one of her new converts.  I was very touched and wanted to share it.  I've just given his initials instead of his name even though I'm pretty sure this blog is now classified as private.  It reads like a poem and I thought it was just beautiful..

(From Sister Erekson's letter; also in the letter was a picture with Sister Erekson, another sister missionary, and this man in his baptismal clothing).

My Testimony of Jesus Christ

By E. D.

I’ve lived through storms most people wouldn’t believe and truth is, some of them, I created myself.

 I’ve lied. I’ve loved wrong. I’ve broken people I cared about and got broken in return. I’ve chased power, chased women, chased money, and tried to fill the emptiness with fast food, fast highs, and faster exits. 

But somewhere in that chaos, in the sleepless nights, the regret, the rage, and the ambition… I heard Him.

Not in thunder, not in fire—but in the stillness that came after I ran out of noise.

In a moment where I wanted to end it, where I felt unheard and lost.   

Sister Ngou reached out to me out of Hinton. And started this journey to finding Jesus. Through trying to disprove the claims of the church, I was only disproven myself. 

Jesus Christ found me in the wreckage of my own making. He didn’t show up with shame or punishment. He showed up with purpose. With presence. With patience.

He reminded me that even when everyone else walked away—when lovers left, when family failed, when friends betrayed—He didn’t.

He was always there.

I know who I’ve been. I know I’ve done things I can’t take back. But I also know this: my past doesn’t get to define my future.

Jesus Christ does.

He died for me. Not the polished version of me I try to show the world, but the real me. The angry, confused, hungry, prideful me.

And He rose so I could rise too.

He taught me that strength isn’t always loud. That the hardest battles are often fought in silence. That turning the other cheek isn’t weakness

it’s war against my own ego. That forgiveness is freedom. That sacrifice is power.

And that love—real love—is not what you take, but what you give.

I still struggle. I still fall. I still question.

But I no longer walk alone.

Jesus Christ is my Savior. My Shepherd. My King.

He’s the reason I’m still standing.

He’s the reason I believe I can build something greater than myself.. something eternal.

I testify that He lives.

That He knows me. That He walks with me. That He calls me to more.

Not just success. Not just revenge. Not just survival.

But redemption.

And when the world sees E. D. and says, “He’ll never be more than his past,”

Jesus says: “Watch what I do next.”

I give Him my story. I give Him my scars.

I give Him my heart because He gave me everything.

In the sacred name of Jesus Christ,

Amen.