Things I hope you will teach my grandchildren

I have been pondering lately about relationships, concerned that I fulfill my obligations and act appropriately. Some relationships are covenant relationships involving the Lord and perhaps we have no relationship with another person without involving either the Lord or Satan. I am still pondering that question, but that is another topic. One important relationship is that with our leaders in the Church. Although perhaps it is not a covenant relationship involving the Lord and accompanied by an ordinance in the same sense as a sealing relationship to a spouse, child or parent, it does in some sense involve all of those elements, albeit temporarily. It certainly does involve the Lord and the sustaining vote could be considered an ordinance of sorts. It is without question a vitally important relationship. This applies to local leaders as well as the general authorities. Many have lost their membership in the Church for not correctly understanding and fulfilling the terms of this relationship. My current thoughts on this relationship are summarized in the following.

It is as if the Lord says to us: “I have chosen this man. He is not perfect but I have confidence in him that he will do my will. I will speak through him and I want you to accept what he says as if I had said it. Though his words may not be polished and his grammar may not be perfect, the ideas that he expresses are the ideas that I have revealed to him by my spirit. If you, too, are in tune with that spirit, you will understand what he is trying to say and you will know that it is from me and that it is the truth. Since he is mortal and not perfect and he has his agency, he may fall. If he does, I will remove him from his place so that he will not lead you astray. It is neither your place nor your prerogative to correct him or reject him or try to remove him. I have called him and I will remove him if it becomes necessary or I will release him when he has finished his work. He is a man who is learning and growing like yourself, but I will give him special help while he is in this calling so that he can do what is required of him. It is your duty to follow him and sustain him as long as he remains in this calling.”

Brothers

This is a picture of my Grandfather Wilkinson and two of his brothers, Percy Newton and Harold Herbert.  They are listed on the back in the order of  Stephen Robert Wells, Harold Herbert, and Percy Newton so I am assuming that is in left to right order.  That matches with their relative ages as well.

Letter

For those who are interested, I have re-scanned and re-posted the letter from Delbert L. Stapley. You can now click on it and get a legible image. For those interested in the relationship he descended from the 5th child of Charles Stapley Sr, Thomas Stapley and we descended from the 2nd child Charles Stapley Jr. so he and my Grandmother Wilkinson had a common great grandfather. I guess that makes them 2nd cousins.

Things I hope you will teach my grandchildren

I was asked to substitute in the Valiant B class in primary last week. The lesson was on 3 Nephi chapter 17. One of the points brought out in the lesson was that Christ perceived that the Nephites did not understand all that he had told them so he asked them to go home and “ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow” (Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 17:3). The boys were to understand that they should follow the same pattern when they did not understand something in the scriptures. I had to try to explain what ponder meant and that praying without first pondering would not be nearly as effective.

I find it interesting and helpful to explore the etymology of words, especially when it is obvious that the author has carefully chosen them to convey some nuance of meaning or when they are inspired as in this case. As Janet pointed out some years ago in Gospel ‘Doctrine class, ponder comes from the same root as pound as in weight. It has the connotation of assessing the importance or value of something. It involves critically thinking about and weighing the importance of an idea. I think in today’s society we have too little opportunity for pondering. I like to ponder as I am involved in some activity that does not require my full mental concentration. There used to be many more of those activities in the days when there were not so many labor saving appliances. What few opportunities we have today, we tend to fill with other distractions, like i-pods, etc.

I think it is important to make time for pondering. Instead of listening to the i-pod while mowing the lawn or doing the dishes, or cleaning the house, take time to ponder occasionally. Think of a scripture or a gospel topic you do not fully understand or that interests you and mull it over in your mind (mull from M.E. mullyn "grind to powder, pulverize,", divide it up into small pieces and examine it carefully). Then go back and re-read it and pray about it.

Letter

Sorry that letter didn't work out very well. I will try to figure out how to make it legible.

Elder Stapley

Elder Stapley was a member of the Quorum of the 12 from October 1950 till his death in 1978. He was called to the quorum of the 12 by George Albert Smith while in the elevator at the Hotel Utah. He filled the vacancy left by George F. Richards. The vacancy left when he died was filled by Elder James E. Faust. I remember when he came to preside over our stake conference in Grand Junction one time when I was a young kid, and my Dad took me up to meet him after one of the sessions. The following is a letter he wrote to my Grandmother responding to a question she had about genealogy. This is a link to a short biographical sketch which gives the story of his call.

The Aussies

 

Our Stapley ancestors came to Utah via Australia.  They emigrated from the area around Rolvenden, Kent, England to Australia in search of better opportunities.  While there, they were converted through the efforts of William Hyde and other missionaries and eventually emigrated to southern Utah through southern California.  Members of the family married into both the Lawrence and Bringhurst families.  Mary Janet Stapley was the wife of William Augustus Bringhurst and they are the parents of my grandmother Wilkinson.  These top two pictures are of  Charles Stapley Jr. and Sarah Parkinson, parents of Mary Janet Stapley and the bottom two are of Charles Stapley Sr. and Sarah Bryant, parents of Charles Stapley Jr.   One of their descendents, Delbert L. Stapley,  was a member of the Quorum of the 12 in the 50s when I was growing up.  

Blue Norther

For those of you wondering what a blue norther is, it's a Texas term. This link is to the weather notebook with a definition. Maybe this one didn't fully qualify technically but it was close.

White Christmas?

This is about as close as we're likely to get.
Since Suzanne won't get her own blog started or post on mine, I am posting these on her behalf. These pictures were taken in front of the Distribution Center at about noon today. We had a record high for the date yesterday and then a "blue norther" blew in over night and brought snow to the Hill Country and sleet to far north San Antonio. We got thunderstorms at our house.

Children of SRW & Veda Wilkinson

  

These are the children of S.R. and Veda Wilkinson as young adults.  Top Wells and Sibyl; Bottom Willard and Winifred