I beheld the great city of Jerusalem
... I beheld the city of Nazereth ... I beheld a virgin
She was exceedingly fair and white
A virgin, most beautiful and fair
above all other virgins
Cliff Jones
Mesa, Arizona
Saving Sisters One at a Time
http://www.meridianmagazine.com/articles/051214safety.html
Safety in the Face of Betrayal,
by Fay A. Klinger
Thanks for publishing the article
"Safety in the Face of Betrayal." I was in an abusive
marriage that ended over 7 years ago. The article will be effective
even if you help only one person. I believe that you will give
someone in a dangerous situation the courage they need to get
out.
Name withheld by request
********************************************
50 Ways to Leave a Krueger
http://www.meridianmagazine.com/arts/051229kruegar.html
Mr. Krueger’s Christmas: Part
of a Wonderful Life, by Kieth Merrill
I have five kids (and eleven grandkids),
and have worked in an office with a grand total of eight employees.
When I received the special DVD in the Ensign, I thought that
it would be neat to get copies of this for all kids and co-workers.
Called the Distribution Center, and found the price to be $2 a
whack, or $1 each if I ordered 50. Fifty? — hmm. Well, wait a
bit. I was currently in a play with a cast of 17, my wife works
at a place with a lot of folks, and the extras could always be
given to the missionaries to distribute as they felt necessary.
So I bit the bullet, paid the extra $10 to get fast, fast, fast
delivery, and held my breath.
I have three left. The missionaries
haven't got them yet — because there are some neighbors I think
I will give them to.
So, thank you Jimmy Stewart, thank
you Kieth Merrill, thank you Michael McLean. Candidly, in my opinion,
I like this one much better than It's a Wonderful Life.
Oh yes, and the "bonus feature" of Craig Jessop and
the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for about an hour and a quarter doing
up Christmas in music was truly a Bonus!
Dave Birley
Rock Hill, South Carolina
>***************************************************
Merry Myths-mas
http://www.meridianmagazine.com/myth/050712Charitable.html
Charitable Dialogue, by H. Wallace
Goddard
This is a wonderful article, and
it expresses my feelings so succinctly. I had lost it (there
are many people I want to share it with), so I have searched your
site and finally found it again. I can't quite understand the
category "Myth of the Month." Why is that title chosen?
At first, I wasn't going to look there, as I supposed that was
a repository of some of the wild stories that some LDS float around
that perhaps have been debunked. I think the title should be
changed to give the articles the chance for respect and reflection
that they deserve.
Jeff Axson
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
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Further Light, Please
http://www.meridianmagazine.com/joseph/index.asp
Witness of the
Light: A Photographic Journey in the Footsteps of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, by Scot Proctor
I just finished looking at "Witness
of the Light" (I got three copies of it to circulate around
our family and friends) and it was a superior production. Thank
you so much for putting it out. I also appreciated the separate
menu items. May I ask for one more short article in the Magazine?
Can you tell us more about the techie part of the camera work?
What kind of camera do you use and maybe what you would recommend
in a digital for the common man. Did you use an imaging program?
How do you ever keep 50K shots organized? How big a memory card
do you use, did you use a particular program to coordinate and
integrate the shots/video, etc., etc. We "common guy"
kind of family history worker use our camera for a lot of genealogy
uses and could really benefit from some help you could give us.
Thanks again for a significant production in the history of the
Prophet and the Church.
Dick Michaud,
Logan, Utah
Angels in High Places
http://www.ldsmag.com/jsbicentennial/051223presHinckley.html
President Hinckley at Joseph Smith’s
Birthplace, by Scot and Maurine Proctor
How did you get all the pictures
and words so quickly? Connections! I thought I would have to wait
until the January Ensign, so when I found them on Meridian,
I was so overjoyed I printed them both. Thank you for such a quick
turn-around, with pictures and everything! My bosom is still filled
with the greatest love for the Prophet Joseph Smith; his birthday
celebration was more than I ever expected; I thought my heart
was going to leap out of my chest. I was enthralled and the tears
just kept trickling down my cheeks. I love my prophets. I love
Joseph; he is mine, and I am his. We are kindred souls.
I will know him when I see him, and
he will know how much I have loved him, and how my whole Christmas
of 2005 was centered around him, not to mention my whole testimony
as well. I will pass by him with all the awe and respect one
little woman can hold in her heart. I also love my Prophet Gordon
Hinckley. He is also mine. I have made him mine. He has done so
much for good in this failing world. What a beacon he is, and
oh how I will miss him when he passes. Your article was timely.
I was having a hard time waiting for some way to get the message,
rather sooner than later. You have provided that for me and for
many others. Thank you both for your wonderful coverage. I think
you must be angels.
Rebecca Crowther,
Salem, Utah
**
Thank you so much for what you do!
I love your photographs! You allow me to be there with you!
You have blessed my life by your efforts!
Marieta Peterson
Orem, Utah
**
Since I can't be there, I truly appreciate
these beautiful pictures and commentary of this and other historic/significant
LDS sites!
Tammy
Oregon
**
Thanks so very much for providing
a glimpse of Vermont before the broadcast tonight. When the prophet
said that "if possible" he would go to Vermont, it was
so thrilling to see that he actually made it (should there be
any doubt). How wonderful President Hinckley looks — how beautiful
the setting. For a man of 95 to take a journey of that kind in
the "dead of winter," only serves to strengthen our
faith in the reality of God the Father, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith,
AND President Gordon B. Hinckley. How grateful we are for your
pictures and narrative.
Harriet Sutherland
Kennewick, Washington
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A Countenance Accounting
http://www.meridianmagazine.com/bookofmormon/051221image.html
The Book of Mormon, A Latter-day
Corrective — #13: His Image in Our Countenances,
by H. Wallace Goddard
I agree fully with the conclusions
drawn by the author, but I don't feel they go quite far enough.
Compassion is only one aspect of
taking on the image of God in our countenances, like acquiring
his eyes or the shape of his mouth. Compassion is one of the many
fruits of the Spirit. When one walks in the Spirit, especially
over an extended time, there is an emanation that radiates from
such an individual.
I remember sitting in a meeting with
our stake patriarch and marveled how holy he appeared. Joseph
once said that he saw in vision the twelve in prayer on their
mission in England and that they "all looked alike."
I believe he did not mean that they looked alike in their physical
characteristics, but that they were alike in spirit and emanated
that Spirit.
Even in the shorter term, I think
that the influence of the spirit is discernable. When I am living
the way I should, I find that the innocent children respond to
me more. Their mothers, even though strangers, react differently
to me in that situation than they do when I have chosen to estrange
myself from the sanctifying influence of the Spirit. When we consistently
so live as to have the promised continual presence of the Holy
Ghost in our lives, I believe we acquire the image of our Father.
David Canen
Evanston, Wyoming
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Digging up Anderson Stories
http://www.ldsmag.com/people/051219anderson.html
Pulitzer Prize Winner, Jack Anderson:
Celebrating America’s Premier Muckraker, by Mark Feldstein
During the late 1970's I managed
a beautiful cemetery in a suburb of Salt Lake City. One afternoon,
a couple from out of town came into our offices and indicated
that they felt certain a relative of theirs was buried in the
wrong burial plot. We went out on the grounds and they explained
that the grave marker for their relative should have been on an
adjacent plot, not the one where it was then located. My first
thought was that the grave marker had been mistakenly placed on
the wrong grave and I promised to have it moved. This couple
wasn't satisfied with this answer and insisted that the grave
be opened up and if the burial wasn't in the right place that
it be moved to its proper location.
In the Salt Lake area most graves
are dedicated and so I tried to explain to them that we certainly
didn't want to do anything to desecrate this burial spot. They
were not about to be dissuaded and then they brought out their
"big gun." It seems they were childhood friends of
Mr. Anderson and if we didn't comply they would make sure he got
involved.
We not only complied, but even provided
transportation and a driver for them during their visit while
we opened the grave. We found that the burial was in fact in
the wrong spot, moved the burial vault containing the casket to
the proper location and replaced the soil and sod and burial marker.
The mere mention of Mr. Anderson's name made a human error take
on international significance. In hindsight, it was a good thing
the error was brought to our attention at that time rather than
discovering it when a subsequent death required the use of that
particular burial spot.
Thanks for the nice write up of this
giant, true hero.
Dave Martin
Boulder City, Nevada
(formerly Salt Lake City, Utah)
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Grand Baby Steps
http://www.meridianmagazine.com/grandparenting/051228art.html
The Art of Step-Grandparenting,
by Fay A. Klinger
Your wonderful article hit the nail
on the head. I am the step-grandmother to 17 (almost 19) grandchildren
under the age of 14 years. I have no blood grandchildren of my
own. I love my husband's darling grandchildren so much. Only
two were born before we were married. Only one parent (in-law)
resisted having her children call me Grandma, and that was due
to her worry that it would confuse her children. Eventually that
changed. How lucky these children are to have so many grandparents
to love them.
One word of advice that I would offer
is to take a small step back when your step-grandchildren's blood
grandparent (your spouse's former spouse) is in the same room.
I am careful not to tread on her toes or in her territory. Of
course, I would never push a child away, but I do try to consider
their blood grandmother's feelings.
I am told often that I will feel
differently toward my blood grandchildren than I do my step-grandchildren
— if that is indeed true then I think my heart will burst with
all the love it contains.
Shannon Bird
Washington City, UT
I will be interested to read your
article about grandparenting and divorce.
My daughter has not had contact with
me for several years following my divorce from her father and
my move out-of-state. She has also not allowed contact with the
grandchildren. She refuses phone calls, emails, letters and gifts.
She refused to attend her sister's
wedding because I would be at the temple. Other family members
(including her father) have been unsuccessful in encouraging her
to have contact with me. She now has limited contact with other
family members. She has refused to talk to me or anyone I know
about her reasons for excluding people from her life.
I am running out of options, do you
have any suggestions?
Please do not use my name as she
may read your column and I do not want to give her any more reasons
to continue to exclude me from her life.
Name withheld by request
**
When my husband and I married 24
years ago, I brought 4 children to the mix, and he brought 2.
It wasn't long before the grandchildren started to arrive. Note,
I refer to them all as GRANDCHILDREN. We have NO step-grandchildren
in our family. There is always enough love to welcome another
child into the fold... no matter how old, what color, or where
they came from. We don't want to saddle any of our angels with
the sometimes negative aspect of anything to do with being a "step."
It is easier as a grandparent to be able to do this, than the
parent. Children just can't have too many grandparents that are
able to love them unconditionally, in this mixed-up world of today.
And of course, respect is always shown for all the other grandparents.
No, this isn't always just a piece
of cake. But for us, any problem has come from not any of the
children, but from narrow-minded adults. I remember the look
on a new 15-year-old grandson’s face, when he came to his first
True Family Christmas party. I had not met him yet. However,
I took the time to find out some things about him from his mother,
so I could get a gift for him that he would like, and know that
there was caring involved. He received as many gifts, hugs, and
teasing... as if he had always been part of our gang. We have
to remember that these innocent ones are where they are due to
decisions of parents and grandparents, so it is our sacred responsibility
to go the extra mile in everything we do for and with them.
It is more than worth any effort.
Janice G True,
Moses Lake, Washington
