A Giant Among Men

out of respect for the living and to protect their privacy, I have eliminated all last names and any places from the program.

Today was Cecil's funeral. He was 86. To me he was family. He and his family immediately adopted us when we first moved here, and treated our family with such love. They were among the first friends we made. I will miss him.

He was one of the first people we met when we moved to this town. He was the Bishop of the Ward we which we live. Our community is predominately LDS, and a Ward is a congregation consisting of around 500 people who live within certain boundary lines.

He was a kind, soft-spoken and great man. I was called by him to serve as a Counselor to the Primary President, then about a year later, I was called to serve as the Primary President . The Bishop was released while I was still serving as the President. I felt so strongly to put him and his wife, Ava, in the nursery. It is for the little ones from ages 18 months to three years. Cecil and Ava served as the Nursery leaders. They were the perfect couple for the spot. She baked cookies and gave the five minute lesson and he held the children on his lap and played his harmonica. The children called them Grandma and Grandpa. My son got to be in that nursery, and I felt so lucky. I knew he would not have any trauma in the Nursery because Grandma and Grandpa Losee were there each week.

Cecil's eight children participated in the funeral. I loved each of their talks. They spoke of how he was such a great example as a father and leader of their home. He worked hard, but also played hard. They had wonderful memories of their childhood. He took them fishing after helping with the chores. He took them water skiing on the boat.

I can remember Cecil serving in the neighborhood. He was always raking leaves, picking up trash and taking the blind man next door to Church. Every spring, he would be out with his burner, cleaning up the dead tumble weeds in the ditches. He had a shovel and would dig the puncture weeds and haul them to the dump. He loved everyone. But he especially took care of the widows and widowers. Once when raking leaves for everyone in the neighborhood, he asked my widow neighbor across the street if she wanted her leaves raked. Being fiercely independent, she thanked him then responded that she had a mower that picked them up. This was one of those INDUSTRIAL SIZED rider mowers with a monster bag on the back. She showed Cecil her wonderful mower (which she even used to vacuum up the leaves in the gutter in front of her house and the neighboring houses) and he took one look and said: "Oh, in that case, would you mind going down the street to Ruby's house and doing hers as well?"

He and his wife were called to serve a full time Mission to Nauvoo Illinois where the Temple was being reconstructed. A web site was set up with a live web camera focused on the Temple construction site. I would click onto that camera every day and watch the progress as the Temple was built. It was such fun to watch the construction and think of Elder & Sister Losee working there and watching it in real time. Toward the end of Losee's mission, the Temple was completed and Nauvoo Temple hosted an open house before they dedicated it a House of the Lord. The local News stations sent reporters there to interview people in the town. I remember one day listening to the news in the background while I worked, when I heard a familiar voice. It was Ava's in her typical way saying, "I think it is so exciting!" I quickly looked up, but the station had gone to a commercial. You can't miss her voice and when the commercial was over, sure enough, there she was being interviewed.

My sister decided to travel back there, and I got a ride with her, her husband and my mom. We got to see the brand new temple inside and out. Then we went to find them. After asking around, we found him. He was dressed in pioneer period costume. He told us that Ava was sick, and asked if would we come and help give her a blessing. Since my brother-in-law holds the Priesthood, he and Elder Losee laid their hands on her head and blessed her to get well.

The Visitor's Center usually had a little play at the end of each day called Sunset on the Mississippi. But this day was stormy and they canceled it. I was disappointed. After they completed their mission and got home, Cecil invited me to come to their house. They remembered that I had missed the Sunset on the Mississippi play and offered to show me a video of it. So I got to see it after all. That is typical of Cecil and Ava. They are always thinking of others.

He has left a wonderful legacy. His children are all wonderful human beings and as one said in his talk, "Dad taught us good habits and standards." I feel lucky enough to be friends with several of his children and am richer because of it.

Cecil has left behind a sweet wife, eight children, 49 grand children and 51 great grand children.

In World War II, he was a gunner in a B-52 bomber. One of his mates said he was sure the Pearly Gates were swung wide open when Cecil died and a myriad of angels were waiting there to greet him. I really believe that.

God be with you 'til we meet again, Cecil. You are one of Heavenly Father's choicest Servants.

~a

Finding Faith

note: The following is from my notes I took at Women's Workshop held at our Stake. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I wanted to add these notes to my blog for my own reference, because it was a spiritually growing day in my life.

Today was a Women's Conference at our Church. We had three classes offered in a two hour period. This meant we could choose two out of the three. There were guest speakers for the classes, two of which were our local doctor and a former State Representative. The third works at Deseret Book in Salt Lake. She was our guest speaker last year, and was invited back to give a workshop. She also was asked to suggest a main speaker for the conclusion. She chose this wonderful woman named Chris who is blind.

Chris began by asking us to think of how the Spirit teaches us, how Christ communicates with us. She also told us to think of a problem in our lives that we have today. Then she told us her story.

Then she told us how her doctor discovered the tumors in her eyes when she was 7 months old. The medical terms were Bilateral Retinoma Blastoma. The specialist they went to see walked in with no compassion and basically told the parents that they may as well get used to the fact that their daughter would never see, and that one eye was going to be removed tomorrow and the other one radiated. Stunned and feeling darkness, the parents decided to get a second opinion. They found a different hospital who decided to radiate both eyes instead. It saved some of her sight, but she had limited vision.

As she grew, her temples did not because of the radiation which gave her head an hour-glass shape. She interjected that all women want an hour-glass shape. She did, but not necessarily where it is. She prefers it in her waistline, which she didn't get she said laughingly.

When she was 8 they discovered another tumor, this one in her right eye, and even after the surgery to remove it, she completely lost sight in that eye. They told her it was only swelling from the surgery and it wouldn't go away. But it didn't. Her left eye was the one the doctor would have removed, leaving her completely blind at a very young age.

She remembers the turning point in her life then. As she listened, she realized all this would not go away, she would always have a misshapen head, she would never see out of that eye again, she couldn't do the things she wanted to do. Her first reaction was "why me?" It was a turning point in her life, and she did the thing she says she was best at. She threw a huge temper tantrum right there in the doctor's office hallway.

Her mother just held her and loved her, all the while praying for the Spirit to tell her what to tell her daughter. When Chris was reduced to tears and sobs, her mother whispered into her ear. This wise mother told her that she could choose how to react to this tragedy. She could be bitter, or she could take these problems to Heavenly Father.

Chris took this to heart and went right upstairs to her bedroom and poured her heart out. She remembers receiving a very specific answer that Jesus Christ would help her. She said this is a great experience for an eight year old.

Then she skips ahead to five years ago. She noticed the limited vision began to close in and fade. She went to doctor after doctor. None of them could find a solution or a reason. Then one day, she felt the Spirit tell her specifically to get a CT Scan. The doctors wouldn't listen. One even told her it was the dry environment, and she should move to Hawaii. She said laughingly she would happily have done that if insurance would pay for that. But soon thereafter she had to be hospitalized for a splitting headache. The CT Scan showed nothing.

Here she interjected with her great humor, that, well, yes it showed she had a brain, but it didn't show why it was hurting so much. After a second CT Scan, the doctor told her to take the CT Scan to an Ophthalmologist, that there was something in the eye socket. It revealed two things: another tumor and air bubbles in her brain. They had been caused by the lining over her brain had been weakened by all the radiation. This was causing the pain, but the cancer meant they needed to remove that eye, or this time it would take her life.

Her mother had taken her to the doctor and asked her what she wanted to do. She felt bitterness returning. She was married, she had children. She asked her mom to take her to Temple Square. They walked to the Christus statue. She remembers standing there, wanting to feel Christ's arms around her. She just stood there and cried and cried. As she stood there, she remembered a scripture. John 14:27 which says,"Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." She felt the Spirit and realized she must trust Heavenly Father. This moment, she felt was a turning point in her life, and thus a holy one.

She asked her mom to take her across the square to the Temple. There she stood, looking up at those tall granite walls, and she prayed. She thought of her husband and children, and how this would affect them. She prayed for her eyesight, and in the same sentence, she uttered,"thy will be done" and asked that the two somehow be brought together. She realized then that it was not Heavenly Father's will that her eyesight be restored. She didn't know why, but she realized what must be done. She gave her will over to Heavenly Father, and that moment in her life became a holy one.

That next Monday in the prep room, the perky nurse came in with a Sharpie. She was to write "YES" with the Sharpie on the eye the doctor was to remove. She said she couldn't do it. Finally, her husband did it for her.
Again she interjected that she fantasizes about writing on his face with a Sharpie while he is sleeping.
People would say to her, "you're so strong! The Lord doesn't give you any more than you can handle." She said these words didn't make her feel better, they were like a knife in the heart. She needed strength and felt like she had none. She said these things happen so you can turn to Christ. Two things to remember are these:
There is Grace available to you. He will give you an enabling power and bless you with strength.
There is Hope. Put your hope in Jesus Christ.
She knows the blindness won't last forever, and her "hour-glass figure" won't last forever
With hope cometh faith. It is the anchor to goodness for man. This world is hard, but there is a better world, the world to come, on the right hand of God.
But there is hope in this life as well. There is joy. At one time, she thought she would never smile or laugh again.
She has found that laughter has always been the better part of life. She has found humor in her situation. Then to give examples, she told a few funny stories.
The first one was in the hallway in Church. A well-meaning woman stopped her and asked if she was teaching her children sign language. "Why would I do that?" she queried. The woman answered, "So you can communicate with them."
Kids ask her, how do you drive? She answered that she used her white cane, and when she hit something that meant to slow down and find her way around it. It seemed to make sense to the children. She explained that she has never been able to drive and has never driven, and added legally.
She told of how the Bishop had asked her to give the closing prayer. As she anticipated this, she decided to use her cane, because if she had asked her husband to take her, he would have had to bring the baby, then the four-year old would not want to be left alone on the bench, and would have come up with them. She really didn't want to cause a scene. But when he announced that she would say the prayer, he also told the congregation that a deacon would help her to the front. She said that unless you are taught, it is hard to guide a blind person. They shuffled to the front then he left her about three feet away from the lectern. She began to find her way, and in a panic, the Bishop and his counselor both jumped up and guided her to the lecturn, one on each side.
she told us, "Now after all that, I'm supposed to pray?"
She said, Each of us has sadness in our lives, so we can turn to Jesus Christ and turn ourselves over to Jesus Christ. There is healing available in Jesus Christ. We can become holier because of hard times. We must go to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to become Holier.

I hope this is helpful to anyone reading it. It has been to me.
God Bless
~a

Amazing weekend Part 2

note: I am sorry for the hast putting this video together. But if I don't publish this soon, it will be really old news. I may come back and edit and add more video when I have more time. And I may not.

I mentioned before in Part 1 that we attended a ceremony in the nearby Ward house. This is the building that Thomas S. Monson started. My daughter lived in his Ward for about a year, then she moved a block down the street and was in another ward, but the same building and Stake for another year.

President Monson had served as Bishop and Stake President in this Stake. The plan was to have a modest ceremony, open a time capsule and replace it with another. They were advised to make sure and find it before the ceremony, and they started about a month ago. And as they looked for the old capsule, they couldn't find it. They found a place they thought it was after studying the history and documents on the building. They opened it and found a cinder block. They thought they had found it, but when they pulled the cinder block out, the only thing sitting there was another cinder block. They tried to get the x-ray machine from University of Utah to come look, but it was in Canada, for some reason and was broken besides. They will continue to look as soon as the x-ray machine gets back to Utah.

In the new capsule was, among the current books we are using in Church, the most recent Church Magazines, Relief Society Manuel, Church News, Deseret News papers, and other stuff was a Stake Roster. D2 and SIL2 are listed in that roster. So 50 years from now, they will have to attend the ceremony. They will be almost 80 by then. . . whew! like the commercial says, "Life comes at ya fast!"



This was the weekend we moved D2, SIL2 and their two children to Denver. The men had driven the moving van, our car and their car and had left at the early hour of 5:30. We met at D2's apartment at 7 and walked up the hill to the church. We got there by 7:15 and were surprised to find only about 20 people standing around. There was a breakfast being prepared in the parking lot and a few chairs set up by the place where the time capsule was supposed to be. There was a lectern with a microphone in front of the 10 or so chairs. I was amazed that word hadn't gotten out more, or maybe the people were complacent. But by 7:30, the appointed time, all of a sudden the crowd grew to about 150 or so.



President Monson arrived with his sweet wife, Frances. They made their way to the front, shaking hands and being so cordial.
They had an opening song, which was, of course, "We Thank Thee, Oh God, for a Prophet", we had an opening prayer and the ceremony began.
They told of how they couldn't find the old time capsule, but they had done some research and found some things and pictures that they knew were in the capsule, from historic records. Then President Monson spoke.
He is in his 80's now, so he was only in his 30's when he was a Stake President. He remembered their old building had looked out at a cow pasture, and he remembered as a boy how he thought he learned more from the cows than he did from the teachers. He loved the view, but when the Stake grew too large, he realized it was time to construct a new building. He was involved in the purchasing of the plot, in the planning of the building and the actual building of it. He recruited people, whether or not they were active in the Church at the time or not. He would ask them, "which days can you come? Tuesday and Thursday after work, or Saturday? I will be there along side you on the days you choose." And he was there.
He spoke of the old-timers. He spoke of his calling as a Mission President to Canada. He spoke of his home teacher who was there at the ceremony. How would it be to be his home teacher? Wow, that's all I can say.
He told the children here today to put this day in their diaries and come back in 50 years.
He said, "the attitude determines the altitude". We are beneficiaries of other people's work.
I held D2's new baby and she took care of her two-year old son. We made sure both got to shake his hand. We also spoke to his sweet wife.


Then we ate breakfast and headed back down the hill to continue with the cleaning and moving.
It was amazing and yet very sweet to see the Prophet, shake his hand and feel his spirit. He is such a kind man.
Here he speaks of recruiting people to help build the building.