Santiago Izquintla

Not long after my trip to the mission home, I was transfered to Tepic, Mexico. We lived in Tepic but I was called to be the branch president in a little town about two hours away from Tepic, Santigo Izquintla. Both Tepic and Santiago Izquintla and seen better times in the church. There was only one active family in the church in Santiago Izquintla, the Carvajals. Hermana Carvajal was a widow sister with six or seven children. She owned the little newspaper that was published in town and also a small printing business. I really liked her and her family. All of her children were active members except for her oldest daughter who had left of college before the missionaries had showed up to teach them the gospel.

I soon became her favorite missionary. I only served two weeks in Tepic before becoming the Zone Leader over the Guadalajara Zone. As Zone leader I came back often to see the Carvajal family.

After serving three months as Zone Leader I became a district leader in Guadalajara. One day while walking back to our apartment I was stopped by a young mother who asked us if we were Mormon Missionaries. She turned out to be the oldest daughter of Hermana Carvajal. I was the perfect missionary to teach her and her family and they were my last baptisms on my mission.

Christmas at the Mission Home

We found out that we were going to have all the mission get together for a Christmas dinner and interviews with the Mission President. On December 24 we got up super early and took the bus to Guadalajara and then a taxi to the mission home. We supposed we were going to eat, see the mission president and then return home late that night.

Well the dinner took longer than expected and the mission president wasn't up to interview us and asked us to stay an extra day. We hadn't brought any clean clothes or any shaving stuff. Plus we didn't have any where to sleep. Everyone was up and partying all night long. I was not in the mode to party much because I had just had my bout with the Amebas. I finally crawled behind one of the couches in the mission home and fell asleep on the carpet. The next morning we finally got some breakfast and then headed back to the mission home. The mission president was still busy and told us to wait. The day dragged on and finally we headed off to an apartment of Elders in Guadalajara who let us spend the night there and once again I fell asleep on the floor.

The next morning we headed back to the mission home where I was finally interviewed by the mission president. I must have looked a sorry looking elder that hadn't shaved in three days. He told me to go upstairs and borrow his raisor and shave before heading back to Leon on the Bus. I did and then we took a bus back to Leon. I still remember having a long shower when we finally got home.

Amebas

One day when I was at Leon, I suddenly got real sick. I couldn't even stand up I was so sick. Elder Butler took me to the district president who happended to be a pharmicist, doctor, salesman. He knew right away what the problem was, I had the dreaded "Amebas." He gave me medicine to help be get better. After improving he asked me how much longer I had to serve on my mission. I told him nine more months. He gave me enough medicine to cover the rest of my mission with out charging me a cent.

I took the medicine the rest of my mission. I continued to improve but I was never felt very strong and healthy much during the last nine months of my mission. When I got home I weighed only 120 pounds and was very weak. I was near 180 pounds before coming to Mexico.

The kind district president now servers as a General Authority of the Church in the Second Quorum of Seventy.

Cought red handed poaching golden investigators

Early in January another new family showed at church. These were the new investigators of the sisters in our district. It turned out that the sisters were working in our area when they discovered this family eager to hear about the church. We decided to work with the sisters and so we both showed up to teach this new family. They were new to Leon where he was an agronomist for one of the banks in town. They had just moved from Mexico City where their old next door neighbors had given them a Book of Mormon as a going away present.

They were reading the Book of Mormon when the sisters knocked on their door. They were soon members and good members too. Before I left to go home he was the Elders Quorum president on the branch. He also became the first bishop of the first ward in Leon.

Frozen Delight

One Sunday at Leon a new person showed up at church. He was the nephew of the Branch President and he wanted to hear the missionary discussions and get baptized. Great, but we had only one problem. We didn't have any water to baptize him in. During the summer we baptized people in a swimming pool behind one of the nice motels in town, but now it was winter and all the swimming pools were drained. We didn't have building with a baptismal font of our own. One of the members got a bright idea that we could do the baptism in the reservoir that provided the drinking water for town. It was located up in the hills above the town. It was my turn to do the baptism. We all met at the rented building that served as our chapel and scrunched into a few cars and headed up into the hills.

When we got to the reservoir we discovered that it was frozen over with ice and I was doing the baptism. I got out of the car went down to the lake and discovered that the ice was only about two inches thick. I could brake the ice and we could do the baptism if we wanted to continue. The nephew of the branch president was eager to be baptized and said lets do it now. So I walked out on the ice breaking it as I went until I got deep enough to do the baptism. I was careful to only get the lower part of me wet becuase it was so cold.

Greg, was so eager to get baptized that he came running out into the lake splashing cold water all over me. Burr, when I did the baptism I felt like leaving him down long enough to freeze him solid. But it went quick and we both ran back up to the shore with waiting towels and warm cars. I didn't mind the scrunched up warm ride back to our branch building.

Today Leon has several stakes with many wards, it's own mission and temple. I am sure Greg helped fuel the growth of Leon.

Elder Butler again

While I was at Leon I was given Elder Butler to be my companion. Elder Butler was still struggling. Soon after he became my companion he disappeared on me. I thought he might be trying to leave for home. So I left our apartment, cought a cab and headed straight for the bus station. Soon after I showed up there in walked Elder Butler with all his suitcases. He was surprised to see me there. I knew the city better than he did. He listened to me and came back with me to our apartment to finish out his mission. I didn't try to contact the mission president and tell him about our troubles because he didn't seem interested in what we did. I had only seen him briefly once or twice before that.

I didn't baptize many people while I was companions with Elder Butler but I talked to him lots about life and the church. About a year after my mission, one afternoon while I was at BYU, in walked Elder Butler to my apartment. He gave me a big hug and told me that he probably deserved to be strangled. He told me that he was getting married in the temple in a few days to a wonderful young lady. He told me that she would never had considered marrying him if he had left his mission early. He thanked me and thanked me that I had talked him into staying on his mission and finishing it faithfully. The last time I heard about Elder Butler he was serving as a stake president back in Utah.

Leon

After spending three months in Zamora, I was transferred up to Leon, Mexico. Leon was large city with over 400,000 people. We had three pairs of missionaries in the city, four elders and two sisters. I also met up with Elder Smead (my first trainer) again. He as the district leader in the city. I grew to love Leon. They had city buses in Leon and we didn't have to walk everywhere like I did in Zamora. Plus we had lots of members in Leon in comparison to Zamora. My first baptisms in Leon was a family who made cows feet or menudo for a living. Of course being the missionaries who baptized them we got to eat lots of cows feet. They were poor but so sweet and special.

Leon was going through there 400th year aniversary when I was there. This was back in 1975 a year before we celebrated our 200th year aniversary as a nation. Leon is in the middle of cow country and everyone did something with cows. They made a lot of shoes in Leon from cow leather. I got a nice pair of shoes while I was at Leon. I later gave them away to one of my green Mexican companions who didn't bring a shoes for his mission. I quickly learned the layout of the city which was a blessing later on while I was there. I got to know the district president of while I was there. He was a young father with a young family but was very much converted to the church. Today he sits in the second quorom of the seventy as a general authority of the church. He sold drugs to doctors. While I was Leon I got very sick with the Amebas. He let me buy the medicine I need to get well from him with out any markup. He was great.

We grow our Branch

While at Zamora we baptized a young couple who were the brother and sister-in-law of the branch president of a neighboring branch in Uruapman (about three hours away.) I also got my very first green missionary the second month while I was at Zamora. Elder Flores came straight from Mexico City to Zamora to start his mission. He hadn't met the mission president and neither had I yet. He just showed up one day on the bus and anounced that he would be my new companion. My old companion was transferred back to Guadalajara. He was great to work with because he was so excited to serve a mission. But he didn't have much a clue what a missionary dressed like. We had to buy him his first white shirts. Plus he had a large bushy mustash on his face. I was pretty sure that it had to go and he agreed with out any fussing on his part. He loved small children and spoke perfect spanish.

Together we decided to grow Zamora. We tried tracting but the people we too nice. We got in every home and got fed at every place. They weren't very interested in the gospel but we sweet and nice and loved to listen and talk to us. We would tract in the morning and only get to three of four houses before we were too full to eat any more food and needed to do something else with our time.

We visited a splinter group from the Catholic church but they only invited us back twice because they were too "Born Again" and didn't like to hear about repentance or the need to keep comandments. Plus they lived way out of town and we would have to walk several hours one way to just get to their meeting place.

Then one Sunday out of the blue showed up a sister and her three children. They were visiting from Chicago, USA where she was a maid. She wanted her oldest two children baptized. She said that the elders back in Chicago wouldn't baptize them because they were all wetbacks. She was from a little place about a half and hour from Zamora. How she ever found us I don't know for sure except one of the people we contacted must have told her where we lived. We gladly baptized her two older children and wished her the best of luck getting back to the States. Before she left she introduced us to her brothers and sisters and parents. This was the break we were looking for. Before I left from my mission about a year later. I returned to Zamora as the Zone leader in charge of the work there to see that the branch in Zamora had grown to over thirty people. Most of the new converts were relatives of this good sister from Chicago.

Today Zamoa has a thriving stake located there. In fact it has been a stake for over then years. One of the members of the stake president was one of the small children who attended our first branch meetings.

Zamora

I was excited to get to Zamora. But when I got there I found out we only had eight members in the branch. We had mostly just two families and a few others. The town was small we could walk from one end to the other in under a half an hour. That was fine because we didn't have a car or bikes just our two feet.

We met for church in a small house that we rented from one of the active families in our branch. We lived in one of the bedrooms of the house. Like most houses in Mexico it had a flat roof. I liked going up on the top of the house and just looking around the country. Zamora was in Volcano country. I could count 20 volcanoes from the top of the roof of our house. While I worked at Zamora I visited the Paracutin volcano twice and the Colima volcano once. The land at Zamora was very fertile because of all the volcano ash. The rainy season was just ending when I got to Zamora which was good because there wasn't a lot of paved roads there and just a month before we would have been up to our knees in mud.

I was the branch president of the zamora branch. We tried to visit all our members at least once a week to see how they were doing. I especially remember visiting an old widow sister who lived out of town a bit. we would take a cross country bus out to her place and then get off near her place and walk the rest of the way to her ranchita. She was always so happy to see us and she always made a super lunch for us when we came out to see her. She had lots of fresh fruit, fresh farm eggs and bacon and lots of lots of love. I always wonder how the missionaries ever found her because she lived so far out of the way. Truely the Lord must have guided them to her.

Lorenzo practicing the Organ

This is short video of Lorenzo practing the organ up at Center City on the big three manual organ.

Fourty Days in the Wilderness

When I got to Quertero, I discovered that I didn't have any companion. Nobody there knew beforehand that I was coming and nobody was prepared for me. There were two missionaries in Quertero, but they weren't interested in working with me. I didn't have anywhere to sleep or to live. The missionaries lived in a small house that served as the chapel on Sundays. I took up residence in one of the small bedrooms and tried to sort things out. I didn't know where the new mission home was or who the new mission president was or how to get hold of him to tell him that I was now in his mission. I worked with the branch president when he was available or with any other young man or adult who could or would work with me. Otherwise I just went by myself around the town. Like I said the other two missionaries didn't have much to do with me. I wondered if I was destined to waste the rest of my mission trying to find a permanent companion who would work with me.

Finally fourty days after I showed up in Quertero, the new mission assistants showed up in Quertero and discovered me. They didn't know that I was in the new mission. Sensing my frustration with not having a companion or an area or place to sleep or bed to sleep in. They loaded me up in their small car and off to Guadalajara we went. (I didn't have a bed to sleep in while I was at Quetero and I didn't have a bed lots of other times during my stay in the Guadalajara mission.)

I liked Quertero, especially all the polished rocks they had for sale in the town. But I was glad I was going somewhere where I would get a real area to work in.

Mission Split

After spending a few days back in the mission home. I was well and rearing to go back to work. The big news was that our mission was going to be split into two pieces. Guadalajara and all the area around it was going to be in a new Mission. I didn't think that I was going to go out to the Bajio (The lowlands around Guadalajara) but that I would probably stay in Mexico City. I really liked President Whetten and I was very familiar with Mexico City. Plus, I didn't like my experience out in the country in Tula very much. However things were going to change. The very last day before my mission was split apart, President Whetten called me into his office and told me that he had just received inspiration that I was supposed to be in the new mission. He said good by and I was taken to the main bus terminal and go on a bus going to Quertero, Mexico just inside the new mission boundaries.

I was scarred a bit but off I went. It was on this bus ride that I saw the land I had seen during my dream before my mission. This helped me know that I really was supposed to go to the new mission. This was good becuase things were going to be really different in the new Guadalajara mission.

My first Transfer to Tula Mexico

My first transfer was to Tula, Mexico about 50 miles north of Mexico City. Tula had some neat ruins that we saw ever day we worked there. We actually lived in San Marcos about five miles south of Tula with a widow member sister. The ruins were interesting. They fit together like tinker toys. One P-Day we took off into the hills surrounding Tula just to dig around and saw lots and lots of pieces of pottery and little stone carved figures. There were lots of evidence that once the place was covered with houses and people. Tula when I lived there had only about 20 thousand people in it. But when it was the capital of the Toltec Empire it probably had 500,000 people living in the area.

The missionary work in Tula was difficult and slow. When it got dark everyone went to bed and didn't want to be bothered by us missionaries. We didn't have any late night discussions like we used to have all the time in Mexico City. There was no bus service. We had bicycles to ride. I had three companions in Tula during the two months I worked there. My first companion was transfered to the office after about two weeks with me. I was sent a missionary who came out with me as my companion. The transfer said that we were supposed to be co-junior companions. Essentially I was the senior companion. Two to three weeks later, I received a new companion, my last senior companion. He was a mexican elder from up north. He was going home soon and was the trunkiest missionary I ever had as a companion. He wasn't interested in working just visiting the members, especially members with young women in their families. He made me sick and and I litterally ended up in the hospital in San Marcos. From the hospital I was taken by the assistants back to the mission home in Mexico city to recouperate.

After getting better I hoped I wouldn't have to go back to Tula.

Mom's favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the above ingredients altogether.

Add 2 1/2 cups flour. Stir in 1 pkg. chips (optional 1 cup chop nuts).

Bake at 375 for 10 to 12 minutes.

My First Christmas in Mexico

This is out of order but before I leave Mexico City, I need to tell about my first Christmas. We baptized a family on Christmas eve. After the baptism we went to the then highest skyscraper in Mexico city and went to the observation deck on the top of the building. There we sang christmas songs with a several other missionaries. Then we went down and went over to a members house for some late christmas treats. Finally very late, we returned home. I woke up the next morning with a whopper of a cold. I was not good for much but to stay home and sleep. A friendly member family brought me a cold remody concoction made up of orange tea, honey, and spices. The stuff really had a punch to it. I got better and a week after Christmas on New Years eve, we had more baptisms and more late hours. This time my companion got sick. It served him right, Elder Roberts loved to stay up late at night. But a week later we were all better and working hard again.

Pizza and Fish Head Soup

Just before my 20th birthday, I had two special baptisms. One was our maid and another was the best friend of Relief Society President. These two baptisms showed the two sideness of Mexican culture. The Relief Society President's friend was very rich. Her Husband owned two fancy restaraunts in the main tourist section of town. They lived in a real rich nice high rise apartment building. They had real carpet on their floors. They were very nice and special people. I baptized her on my birthday and after the baptism we were all invited to one of their restraraunts for dinner. I had a special birthday pizza dinner just for me. It was the best pizza I have ever eaten in my life.

Our maid lived in a little one room shack up in the hills overlooking Mexico city. He house was small and had a tin roof. But it was spotless and had the cleanest dirt floors I have ever seen. I was invited to her home for dinner also. We were served fish soup. It was delicous and since I was the guest of honor, I got the head of the fish with a big fish eye in my bowl for extra flavor. I enjoyed the fish head soup just as much as the pizza dinner.

I enjoyed being with both families. They both had cute kids who loved us missionaries. When I left both families were still active in the ward which made me very happy.

Emilio

Shortly after becoming the companion of Elder Robert, we recieved a small written note containing an address and simply the name Emilio. One Sunday morning before church, we discovered we were near the address so we decided to find out who Emilio was. I timidly knocked on the door of this apartment and told the lady who answered the door that we were missionaries from the Church and wanted to see Emilio. She surprisingly said yes, come right in.

Emilio was a twelve year old boy who was in a complete body cast from head to toe. He had just been in a terrible car crash where his father and grandfather had been killed. We told his grandmother how sorry we were and then met his mother. After listening to them a bit, my companion told them we had just what they needed and he began to teach them about the plan of salvation.

His words fell on good soil and everyone believed. Two weeks later Emilio's mother and grandmother were baptized. Emilio couldn't be baptized because he couldn't leave his apartment. But just before I was transfered from Mexico City nearly five months later, I had the oportunity to baptize Emilio who had finally got his cast off.

Elder Roberts

Six weeks after coming to Mexico I received a new senior companion, Elder Geoffry Roberts. He was an interesting missionary. He was the great great grandson of Brigham H. Roberts. He was very different than Elder Smead. We made a great team together. He was a lot more liberal with the rules than Elder Smead. I sometimes thought that the reason that Elder Roberts was sent to this area was so that President Whetten could see him every week at church to check up on him.

One positive point Elder Roberts had was that he was an extremely hard worker. He played hard and worked hard. I was his companion for three months and during these three months we were the top baptizing missionary pair of Elders in the whole mission, averaging over twenty to twenty five baptisms each month.

Elder Roberts repeatedly told me that he wished he could be assigned to work outside of Mexico City down in the "Bajio' (The lowlands) out in the country. But after being my companion, he was transfered out to the east of Mexico City where he was made a zone leader of the east side of the City. He finished his mission serving as a zone leader in Mexico City but he never got to go outside of the city to work.

Visit from the Prophet

About a month in to my work in Mexico city, we found out that President Kimball was coming to visit Mexico city. However, just before he came there was a series of bad bank robberies in the City and everyone was upset. There were police and soldiers everywhere and everything seemed in great comotion.

During all this time were ordered to stay in our apartment until all the trouble ceased. Finally the day came for the visit of the Prophet and we got to leave our apartment after nearly a week of being stuck. We all took the subway to the stake center where we had a special meeting with us and the prophet. At this meeting we found out that the prophet and our mission president were close personal friends. Infact our mission president had dated sister kimball before she became sister kimball. After the meeting we all got to go up and shake hands with the prophet. It was neat to meet him.

Five Fingers

After coming to Mexico I had lots of questions for my senior companion, like why aren't the roads paved, why are there so many poor people, why don't we have a heater in our apartment when the temperatures get below freezing at night, why, why, why. I was always given the five finger response. I soon found out that the five finger response stood for 'You are in Mexico Now'!

Mexico back in the 70's was a land of contrasts; stark differences between the poor and the rich, differences between the city and the rural area, the dry season and the wet season, and the tourists and the locals, etc.

I had the chance to serve in the richest and poorest areas of Mexico. I didn't like either areas too much. The Gospel did better in the middle to lower middle class areas.

My First Baptisms

Ihad my first baptisms about three weeks after coming to Mexico. The Flores family had been taught by Elder Smead before I showed up so all we had to do was finish teaching them the rest of the discussions and continue bringing them to Church.

On the day of the baptism we traveled by subway to the stake center in Cherubusco where they had a baptismal font. The baptism was at night after work so people could come. I was doing the baptisms and I was also playing the piano. Just after the baptisms and after I got dressed in some dry clothes, all the lights went out. We had lost electicity. This happened often in Mexico City. I sat down on the piano and started to play hymns by memory in the dark and the members started singing by memory in the dark. After about 20 minuets of darkness the lights came back on and we continued with the services.

The Flores family stayed active in the church during all the time I served in Mexico City. It was a joy to see them at church every Sunday.

My First Day in Mexico

My first day in Mexico is kinda fuzzy now. Not because more than 30 years have passed but because we did so many things and I couldn't understand much of anything. Even with all the time I had spent in the LTM, I still couldn't understand much of anything when I got to Mexico. I wondered if I had wasted all my time in the LTM or maybe I had spent to much time there.

But after two weeks, suddenly I could understand what everyone was saying or at least much of what they were saying. I still had trouble being understood but it was a big improvement. Things kept getting better and by the end of the first Month I went on a split with a member priest from our ward who didn't speak any english and I got along just fine. By the end of my mission I was dreaming in Spanish and I was serving in areas with mexican companions, hours away from anyone who spoke english.

Anyway, getting back to my first day. I liked Elder Smead my senior companion, but I soon discovered that he had no sense of direction. By the afternoon of my first day, it seems liked I knew our area better than he did. I remember walking around the block with him and following him up the wrong door to someone else's apartment. He seemed quite lost until I told him, I think we live across the street. By the end of the first week, we went were he decided to go but by my directions.

I grew to love Elder Smead and interesting enough when I became a senior companion, he was my first district leader. We still worked together but his sense of direction still wasn't any better.

Flight to Mexico

We took off early from the Salt Lake City Airport. We took a short trip to Denver, Colorado where we waited a few hours then boarded a plane to San Antonio, Texas. There we picked up our Visas and after waiting several more hours we flew onto Mexico City. We arrived at Mexico City just as the sun was going down. After going through customs we found two elders from the Mission Home sent to greet us and take us back to the Mission Home. We loaded all our stuff and us (There were six of us with all our luggage plus the two mission home elders) into an old beatup Volkswagen Van and had a hair raising drive back to the Mission Home.

At the Mission Home we discovered that President Whetten, out Mission President was out of town and the only missionaries at the mission home were the two elders who came and got us at the airport. We were very hungry but didn't get much to eat. All of my companions were told to take there stuff out of the van except for me. I was told that I would be going to my new area that evening. After being in the mission home only about an hour, I was taken to my new area which was right near by the mission home. There I met Elder Smead my first Senior Companion.

Although, I didn't stay long in the mission home, I got to see it lots during the next few months because it was right in our area. I wasn't interviewed by the President Whetten until several months had passed. But I guess it didn't matter because I saw him lots at church and at the mission home. I spend five months in my first area. I had three companions during this time.

Dad

The LTM

After spending a week in the Mission Home, I was sent to the Language Training Mission (LTM) located on the south side of BYU Provo. Here we were taught the basics of the Spanish language, including the discusions. I was put into a district of eight missionaries all going to a Spanish speaking mission. We were supposed to be at the LTM only eight weeks but I had trouble getting a visa to go to Mexico so I stayed around the LTM a lot longer. My companion was Elder Wheeler. It was an interesting time. Elder Wheeler had a hard time adjusting to being a missionary. He had, had a very hard youth and upbringing. But he got along with well with me and he eventually adjusted to mission life. Besides, we seemed stuck at the LTM.

We stayed so long at the LTM that we learned all the discusions word perfect and all the Spanish they could teach us. Now days they send missionaries who have visa problems to another mission where they can work until their visa comes but back then we just seemed stuck in the LTM. Elder Wheeler and I became the mission taxi drivers. We learned how to drive a huge 12 passanger van and we took all the missionaries up to the Salt Lake airport so they could fly to their missions. We also took missionaries who were in trouble and needed to see a General Authority up to Church Headquarters to see a member of the First Quorum of the Seventies or one of the members of the council of the twelve. We went so often that some of the General Authorities got to know us and would come out of their office and talked to us. We used to go up to Salt Lake two or three times a week.

Well, eventually my Visa showed up and I got to leave to Mexico. Saddly Elder Wheeler's Visa didn't come and he had to stay behind. It was sad, I had really got to love Elder Wheeler after being his companion so many months. But I said good bye. Poor Elder Wheeler had to drive me up to the airport and see me off. I saw my Grandma and Grandpa Brinkerhoff and talked to them a few minutes then off I flew.

Dad

Finally on my Mission

I went on a mission before a MTC was built so I started my mission in Salt Lake at a converted school right across the street from the Salt Lake Temple (where the conference center is now located.) We slept in a huge gym with over a hunderd bunk beds in it. The first night there, the missionaries in the bunk bed next to ours got into a big fight. It was so bad that the mission president had to come up and settle them both down. I didn't know who the two elders were and I said to myself I hope I never do or have to be either of their companions. That was the wrong thing to think. I soon became Elder Wheeler's new companion and he was my companion from late July 1974 to early November 1974. I spent the last nine months of my mission with Elder Butler.

But we became good friends. I servered as a bishop the same time Elder Wheeler did while Elder Butler was serving as a stake president. I will say more about them later.

2nd Mission Experience

The second significant mission experience happened to me also before I went to the mission home. Just two weeks before the mission, I was taking my Dad to work one morning. The way home was along a four-lane divided highway. I was coming up this highway and curving to the left when down the highway came a pickup truck with a camper on it. This truck was going awful fast and the next thing I knew was that the truck jumped over the concrete divider between the two oposing lanes of traffic and was coming right towards me head on. I didn't have time to do anything more than close my eyes and think well, spirit world here I come.

Well nothing happened. I opened my eyes up thinking what would the spirit world look like and I was still in my little car heading up the hill. The pickup truck was right behind me still on the wrong side of the road crusing down the hill.

I soon came home and my mother noticed I was all white and asked what happened. I told her and she said her prayers were answered. She was always praying for us kids.

To this day, I don't know how I missed hitting that truck head on and being killed. I feel the Lord wanted me to serve a mission in Mexico and not in the spirit world.

Dad

Missionary Experiences

I wish to share some of my missionary experiences with you while I can still remember them. My first significant missionary experience happened before my mission. I turned nineteen on March 19, 1974 and after dinner my dad who was also my Bishop called me into his office (which was also my bedroom) and interviewed me and filled out my mission papers. About a week later I was intererviewed by the Stake President who then sent my paper onto Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City.

But nothing happened. I waited all April and May but nothing happened. My dad checked to make sure my papers did get to Salt Lake City and he told me that they did. Still nothing happened. I was getting quite worried and wondered if the Lord wanted me to serve a mission or not. Then one night I had a very vivid dream that I was on my mission. I remember the dusty dry rolling plains which seemed to go on for ever. I got up and wondered where I would be going. I thought it must be Texas because it was the only place I had ever been that was like my dream. But after the dream, even though I wasn't sure where I was going I knew I would be called and serve a mission and I didn't worry any more about it. The last day of classes right in the middle of my last physics class final exam, my parents came bursting into the room with my envelope from Salt Lake City with my mission papers. Right in front of all my classmates, friends and teachers and family, I opened up the envelope and discovered that I was called to the Mexico City, Mexico Mission.

Later on when I got to Mexico I took a trip from Mexico City to Queretero, Mexico and I resaw the same scenes from my Dream. It was eary, because I could remember my dream again and knew what was going to happen on the bus before it happened.

I hope you liked this thought. I will continue to share more in the future.

Dad

I love to read the Dictionary

I love to read the dictionary to learn the knowledge there;
Like the meaning of a Pictionary and other words so rare.
My word today is quoin; have you heard of it at all?
A quoin is a cornerstone that anchors a building wall

Fairview Lakes Regional Hospital

Grandma in the Hospital

Mom caught the dish cloth bug from Grandma

Too Much Rain

Rolls and breads

Quick Mix
Use this wherever you would use Bisquick

8 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 Cups inst. nonfat dry milk
2 1/4 Cups vegetable shortening
1 Tbsp salt
2 tsp cream of tartar

Sift together all dry ingredients. Cut in shortening with pastry blender and mixture resembles cornmeal in texture. Put in airtight container and label. Store in a cool, dry place. Use within 10 to 12 weeks.


Never-Fail Rolled Biscuits
3 cups QUICK MIX
2/3 cup milk or water

Preheat oven to 450. Combine mix and milk or wter in a medium bowl. Blend. Let dough stand 5 minutes. On a lightly floured board, knead dough about 15 times. Roll out to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with a floured biscuit cutter or glass. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown. Makes 12.

BISCUITS
3 cups QUICK MIX
3/4 cup milk or water
Preheat oven to 450. Grease a baking sheet. Combine mix and milk or water in a medium bowl. Stir until just blended. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown. Makes 12.

CORN BREAD
2 cups QUICK MIX
6 Tbsp cornmeal
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk or water
1/4 cup melted margarine
Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9-inch-square baking pan. Put mix, cornmeal and sugar in a medium bowl and stir to blend. Combine eggs with milk or water in a small bowl. Add all at once to dry ingredients. Blend. Add melted butter or margarine and stir to blend. Fill prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot with honey Butter. 8 to 10 serv.

Honey Butter
1 cup softened butter
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 honey
Combing all ingredients. Beat with electric mixer 10 minutes. Store in refrigerator.

MORNING MUFFINS
2 1'2 cups Quick Mix
4 Tbsp sugar
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk or water
Combine mix and sugar in a medium bowl. Combine egg and milk or water in another bowl, and add all at once to dry ingredients. Stir until just blended. Fill greased muffin pans or paper muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 425 degrees, until golden brown. Makes 12 large muffins.
VARIATIONS: Add 1/2 cup raisins or other dried fruit; fold in 1 cup blueberries or 2/3 cup chopped cranberries; add 1 cup grated apple or diced peaches (increase baking time to 20 to 25 minutes). For Oatmeal or Bran muffins, reduce QUICK MIX to 1 3/4 cups. Add 3/4 cup quick rolled oats or all-bran cereal to dry ingredients.


HOT ROLL MIX
20 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 tsp salt
1 cup instant nonfat dry milk
Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Stir together to distribute evenly. Put in a large airtight container. Label with date and contents. Store in a cool, dry place. Use within 6 to 8 months. Makes 22 cups.

PAN ROLLS
1 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
5 to 6 cups HOT ROLL MIX
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup veg. oil
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Blend in eggs and oil. Add 5 cups HOT ROLL MIX. Blend well. Add additional mix to make a soft, but not too sticky, dough. Knead about 5 minutes, until dough is smooth. Lightly butter bowl. Put dough in bowl and turn to butter top. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Grease a 13 X 9" baking pan or two 9-inch round pans. Punch down dough. Let rest 10 minutes. Divide into 24 to 30 balls. Place in prepared pans. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk. Preheat oven to 375. Bake 20 to 25 min. until browned. Brush tops with butter or margarine.

CINNAMON ROLLS
1 batch of dough for Pan Rolls.
2 Tbsp melted butter or margarine
1/2 cup packed borwn sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)Glaze: 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
About 4 Tbsp milk
Prepare dough as for pan rolls. Instead of dividing dough into balls, roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it is 12" x 24" and about 1/4 inch thick. Brush surface with butter or margarine. Sprinkle on brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins and nuts, if desired. Roll dough like aa jelly roll and cut into 24 inch slices slipping string under roll crossing to cut. Place on prepared baking sheets. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, 30 to 60 minutes. Preheat oven to 375, and bake 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. For glaze, combine powdered sugar, vanilla and enough milk to make a thin mixture. Brush on warm rolls.

PIZZA CRUST
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. warm water
1 Tbsp. or one pkg yeast
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 to 3 1/4 cups HOT ROLL MIX
Dissolve yeast in water, let stand 5 minutes. Stir in oil. Add 3 cups mix to make a soft dough. Sprinkle 1/4 cup mix on board, knead dough on board 15 times. Let rise in greased bowl 20 to 30 minutes. Punch down, pat into pan, bake 3 to 6 min. at 425. Add toppings, bake an additional 10 to 15 min.

Where we were last night

Why is Math Important?

Why is learning Math important? What does Algebra and Geometry and Calculus teach us? Math is important because it is the language of Science. If you can speak Algebra, you will be able to learn Chemistry, Physics, Accounting, Computer Science, etc.

Geometry Problem of the Day

Find the area in Red.

Geometry Problem of the Day

Find the area of this regular Hexagon.

Geometry Problem of the Day

Find the area of the yellow segment of circle L.

Calculus Problem of the Day

Sine the Geometry Problems are so easily solved. I have a calculus problem to think about:
If 1 + 2 = 3 and
1 + 2 + 3 = 6 and
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10, what is the sum of
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 +...+ n

Good Luck!

New Words to an old Hymn

The gospel theme is sounding through every clime and land;
A remnant is returning according to his plan;
His kingdom is a growing beneath his watchful gaze,
To all the world it’s spreading in these the latter days.

Now temples are a building in nations far and near,
In darkness light is shining because the work done here.
His work is hastening forward; no power can stop his ways
Of bringing home his children in these the latter days.

The prophet’s voice is crying through places far and wide
To warn us to be living now on the Lords right side.
The sheep and goats are joining each to their separate ways,
To safety or destruction in these the latter days.

The Lord will soon be coming to greet his faithful saints,
who through life’s sorrowing trials ner stops nor ever faints,
then we will all be happy and full of songs of praise
to our dear Lord and Savior in these the latter days.

Geometry Problem of the Day

If Side b = 12 and side c = 20 find side a, length d and lengths AD and DB

Birthday Boy and his Favorite Food

My Favorite Food - Chicken Enchiladas - Please feed me Lots

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of Chopped Pecans

1/2 cup of Chopped Onions

Three tablespoons of Butter

One four ounce can of green Chili Peppers

Two Three ounce pkgs of Cream Cheese

Two tablespoons of Milk

1/2 teaspoon of Ground Cumin

31/2 cups of grated cheese

Ten thin totilla shells

One 103/4 ounce cream of chiken soup

One 8 ounce carton of Sour Cream

One cup of Milk

3/4 cups of grated cheese

In a skillet cook pecans, onions and butter over a medium heat. Remove from heat. Stir in two tablespoons of canned green chili peppers.

In a medium mixing bowl combine cream cheese, two tablespoons of milk, cumin, above nut mixture and chicken.

Spoon refried beans onto tortilla shells. Add above Chicken mixture. Roll up tortillas and put into baking dish.

In another medium mixing bowl combine soup, sour cream, one cup of milk and remaining chili peppers. Pour over rolled up tortillas

Cover with Alimumn Foil and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 33 minutes.

Remove foil and sprinkle on remaining cheese. Put uncovered and bake two more minutes.

Serve with lettuce and salsa.

Geometry Problem of the Day

If measure of arc HI = 80 degrees and the measure of arc JI = 75 degrees calculate angle HKI

Thanks Auralee

For someone who has worked on computers since 1972 it is about time I got out of the computer stone age and began using a blog. I want to publicly thank Auralee for helping me get started.

Dad

Here is a sample picture I put up for you to see on your new blog site. I can delete it once you have started posting other photos and messages.