Report: Funeral Services for Elder Richard Gordon Scott/We will start moving in tomorrow! (Wednesday's the big day!)

I wanted to post about a couple of things. First, to get it said and out of the way of the more important item, I wanted to let my readers know that the current owner of the trailer is planning to have all her stuff moved out by tomorrow. We have to go over and retrieve the bill of sale, so we will be moving in some of the smaller stuff at that time. We will also get me set up so I can pick up my prescriptions in the future from Walgreens, which is on the same road as the trailer court. I think I will be happy with Walgreens' pharmacy, which opens an hour earlier and closes an hour later during the week than Fresh Market does. Only problem is, it closes at 6 pm on Saturdays. But I've considered my options very carefully, and Walgreens just seems to make the most sense.

My purpose in mentioning all that is leading up to the fact that I will be taking a bit of time off work tomorrow to get these things taken care of. And I have been granted approval to have Wednesday off to help move the bigger things, even though I may not be able to get much done that way.

In the meantime, the more important news is that funeral services were held today honoring the life of Elder Richard Gordon Scott. President Henry B. Eyring conducted, just as I had predicted, and, in doing so, offered his brief tribute to Elder Scott., who he said had embraced him with open arms and sound advice when President Eyring first became an apostle.The invocation was offered by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and the benediction by Elder M. Russell Ballard, who now sit with only Robert D. Hales between them after the three apostolic deaths this year. I was spot on in predicting the speakers. Michael Scott did represent the Scott family and paid a beautiful tribute to his dad, mainly focused on the fact that he was with his beloved Jeanene now, along with the two children they had earlier lost. Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave a special tribute in representation of all the missionaries who had served under Elder Scott and his wife. President Russell M. Nelson reminisced about his travels with Elder Scott. And President Thomas S. Monson concluded the service with a beautiful account of his last visit with Elder Scott, wherein he gave him a blessing and told him how much he and the other apostles, and indeed the whole Church, love him. Each spoke in joyful anticipation about a future reunion with their beloved associate in the work of the Lord. It was truly a celebration of life rather than focusing on the sadness of it. The Tabernacle Choir provided beautiful music, closing the service with Mack Wilberg's stirring arrangement of Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing. I was grateful I had made the effort to get up and watch it.

Now all that remains is to wait for moving day to get here, get the stress of that over with, and then look forward to our first General Conference not only in our own home, but also marking the calling of three new apostles of the Lord. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but the third apostle called will bring the number of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in this dispensation to an even 100. With all the moving, I haven't given any more thought to who might be called. Whether I'm right or not in feeling the way I do about who might fill the apostolic vacancies, the important thing is that I know these men, whoever they may be, will be the ones the Lord would have called to the apostleship at this time. It is my hope and prayer that we will with all our hearts and our uplifted hands sustain these new prophets. seers and revelators as fully as we strove to sustain President Boyd K. Packer, Elder L. Tom Perry. and Elder Richard G. Scott while they were still here with us. If they were among us still, that is what they would ask us to do.

I will get through the next couple of days and then perhaps be able to post pictures of both the old and new dwelling places. I am excited to dedicate another home, just as I did with this place. I am grateful to have been raised in a home where that happened every time we moved. It has definitely made a difference in my life. Well, that's all for now. More to come as time and circumstances allow. All the best until I write again!

Report on the General Women's Meeting

Hello, all! Just posting about the latest in Church and personal news. On a personal note, we are still working towards moving day on Wednesday. Today was our last Sunday in our current ward. It was a very emotional experience for me. I was surprised that Amy and I were again not released from our callings today. I did find out, however, that our ward clerk, Brother Kurt Walker, who was one of the two I had trained to substitute for me in recording the Sacrament Meeting (the other was the Executive Secretary, Logan Day, who is a good friend of Joanna and Lyle and was my home teaching companion for a time while in the ward), had been asked to take over my duties in recording and editing the Sacrament Meetings and burning them on to disks for the homebound. So I turned over the recording device and the wires with it to him today. Tonight if time allows, or tomorrow, I will be contacting Brother Walker via e-mail and turning over to him all my files of Sacrament Meetings and all the notes to the homebound members that I have written. He will stop by and pick up the other supplies (CDs and CD sleeves) sometime this week. Going to Elders' Quorum was very difficult today. I commented a lot during my last meeting with these good friends. And I volunteered to give the closing prayer, invoking the blessings of the Lord upon these good brethren. And so passed our final Sunday in our current ward. Our first Sunday in the new ward will be the week after general conference. In the meantime, moving day is Wednesday. My parents have pledged to help as much as they are able to. Amy's brother Troy has consented to help, as has my brother Neal, and both are bringing trucks on Wednesday to help us move the big stuff. Neal will bring his wife Sammi to help as well, and he even said his little daughter Sage, whom they will pick up midday Wednesday, was good at helping with moving things. I am grateful they are raising her to be a helpful young lady, but I can't help wondering how much help a 2 or 3 year old can be. No offense intended, of course. We may even be able to move some of the smaller stuff into our new place on Tuesday night. But Wednesday's the big moving day. My Elders' Quorum is on call to help us if we need them. We hope to be able to move everything that needs moving on Wednesday with only one trip, but that remains to be seen.

That being said, it's time for a brief Church News update. The General Women's meeting was held last night, as I said. I touched briefly on that meeting in my last post but wanted to give a more detailed summary of who spoke and what was said. The Deseret News gave a good report on the meeting. You can read that at this link. In summary, Sister Rosemary M. Wixom, Primary General President, talked about discovering the divine identity and purpose each individual has. Linda S. Reeves, Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, spoke about recognizing and claiming the blessings that come from the making and keeping of sacred covenants, through baptism, the Sacrament, and temple worship. Sister Carole F. McConkie, First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, spoke of the righteous cause for which we are here on earth to serve. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a parable of a young lady visiting her great aunt and discovering the reasons for her aunt's happiness. The Church website gave excellent summaries of these address, which can be found by following this link.

Now all that remains is to wait for this next weekend. I am always excited about General Conference, but this go round I am especially anticipating it not just to see how right my predictions for changes in general church leadership and the speaking order I put together are, but also to hear the messages from all those who will speak, especially our 15 prophets, seers, and revelators, three of whom will be newly called to their positions. And that's aside from any other major announcements, such as more temples or other items like unto that. I will be particularly looking forward to President Monson's remarks, whether he speaks just a couple of times or gives his traditional four addresses. You can be sure to count on my report of all general conference proceedings here on this blog as time and circumstances allow. In the meantime, this week will mark a move for us. And that will include finding a new pharmacy. I will keep you updated on all the good stuff as time and circumstances allow me to do so. Until I write again, all the best!

Personal/Church News

I am posting today for some very exciting reasons. First, regarding our personal lives, we signed the papers and handed over the money for the trailer in Orem on Friday. So, effective Tuesday night after the current occupant vacates it, we will be able to starting moving in. We may not get much done then, however, so the major day to move stuff will be Wednesday.

Amy's brother Troy has agreed to help us, as he is the only one of Amy's brothers who is physically able to handle moving stuff. He will bring a truck with a trailer so we can have that to move stuff in. I have also spoken to my parents, who will do what they can. At my mom's suggestion, I checked with my brother Neal to see if he would be available to help us move some of the heavy stuff on Wednesday. He said we could count on his and his wife Sammi's help on that day. He will also be checking at work this week to see if he can rustle us up any spare boxes they have lying around, and he will be bringing his in-law's truck to help cart stuff. I told him we had been thinking of renting a U-Haul moving truck, but he said, "James, you know you can count on us to be there, and I'm sure I can get my in-laws to lend us their truck, so why would you go to the expense of renting a U-Haul?" I am grateful for his support. I'm glad we have people nearby who can help us.

In so many ways though, I can't help feeling very guilty about the fact that I physically can't handle helping to move some of the bigger, heavier stuff. Deep down, I know it's not my fault I'm unable to assist my own family in moving our stuff. It's just the hand I was dealt. But a little voice in my head keeps screaming at me that I should be able to help out and that it is my fault I am not able to. I guess I just have to learn that it really is something that's out of my control. But it's times like this I wish I had been born healthy and strong and that I could do more and take the load and dependency off the backs of those who will have to do what I am not able to. Don't worry about me getting to feel too guilty, however. None of my family or Amy's family holds it against me that I have to rely on them to do things I cannot. And because I am not able to do them, I should be grateful there are those who can assist us with things like this.

All going well, this will be our last Sunday in the American Fork 21st Ward, American Fork East Stake, and our first Sunday in the new ward will be October 11. It was harder than I thought it would be to let everyone in the ward know. I couldn't hold back the tears as I made the announcement last Sunday. Some stopped us after Church to say how much they would miss us. We will miss this stake as well. But I take comfort in knowing that, ASAP, we will be back in this stake, perhaps with a couple or a few children in tow. That's not an announcement, by the way. We are actually hoping that we might have better success starting our family in a place that's ours, where the only noisy neighbors are outside our trailer.

We are very excited to be moving in to our new place, which with we can do whatever we want, as long as we don't violate the park rules. We found out that the park management are Hispanic. It will be interesting to see what the cultural makeup of the park is.

In the meantime, on the Church News front, I failed to mention that Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was in Philadelphia last week at the World Meeting of Families, attended by many of the world's religions. Elder Christofferson, with the help of two LDS families in the area, gave a presentation on the importance of the family, and why the Church supports traditional marriage and families. He did very well, from what I've read about it. For more on what he and the families said, please see this article.

When I read about that, I thought, that must be the reason Elder Scott's funeral was scheduled for Monday. The other 11 apostles surely want Elder Christofferson back so he can speak at Elder Scott's funeral (Elder Scott was Elder Christofferson's mission president).

I think I am correct in what I wrote in the previous post about who will likely speak at Elder Scott's funeral. But either way, we'll find out on Monday.

Here's an interesting tidbit of temple news. Yesterday (Saturday), site clearing was held for the Rio de Janeiro Temple site. That temple has not had a groundbreaking date officially announced, but if they are doing that, then an announcement about a near future groundbreaking is imminent. And also, it appears that the temple to be built in Port-au-Prince Haiti is in the design process. Not sure how close they are to announcing a site for that temple, but it is something. No other noticeable activity in temple construction is happening.

The General Women's meeting happened tonight. I watched it live. It was a great meeting. Amy missed half of it because she was out doing errands, but we are going to rewatch it probably tomorrow. All of the speakers I had projected spoke, except that Sister McConkie and Sister Reeves were flip-flopped from the order I had predicted. Additionally. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke instead of President Thomas S. Monson.

President Monson looked all  right tonight, but many feel he's at the beginning of the end of his life. I certainly hope not. I have been hoping that he will live a good long time. Whether he does or not, we can rest assured that the Lord's pattern of succession is such that the Church will always have the leadership of apostles and prophets. The Lord can build up the Church faster than Satan can tear it down. And we have the scriptural promise that the fulness of the everlasting gospel will never again be taken from the earth.

The bigger question in my mind is, how many times, if at all, will President Monson speak to us next weekend? I'm hoping he'll be able to give his traditional 4 talks, but, if nothing else, I anticipate he will at least speak twice, once on Saturday and once on Sunday.

I am hoping he will be well enough to announce and lead off in the sustaining of President Russell Marion Nelson as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the three new apostles, whomever they may be. If he can't, though, I'm sure they'll either move the Sustaining of Church Officers to the Saturday morning session to end the speculation, or have either President Eyring or President Uchtdorf lead off in sustaining the changes to the Quorum of the Twelve's leadership and membership at the commencement of the Saturday Morning Session. We will have to see.

If nothing else, I hope President Monson can at least speak during the Saturday Priesthood and Sunday Morning sessions to give his keynote addresses. I will keep you posted on all that good stuff as I hear about it.

Well, the hour is late, and I must be getting up in a few hours to make it to our 11 am Church block, so I will close now. Until I post again, all the best!