040 Tuesday to Tuesday (Jan. 21-28, 2015)

Trip back into history time.  Some of my brothers and sisters may know this story a little differently. If so, they are free to help me rewrite it. My father, Billy (James William) Walton and his brothers and sister had a dog that died, and they were told to go bury it. When they came home, their mother, asked Billy how everything went. He told her that Wallace (his older brother) dug the grave, Sybil (his sister) sang, and he covered the grave. When she asked what Howard (youngest brother) did, he said that Howard cried. I always laugh when I think of this story. It makes my daddy seem like such a sweet boy.  Having grown up knowing my uncles and aunt, this story just typified their personalities.

Daddy would have been around 9-10 years old here.

Daddy loved dogs. Here he is with a black spaniel after mom and dad were first married.

                                                            

My mom doesn’t remember her mother very much. Mom was 8 when her mom died. When I asked what she could tell me about her mother, Verda, she says that everyone thought she was a wonderful person. She always gave people food when they came to her door. She was a hard worker. Mom was the oldest child in the family. Then Myrlan was born, Peggy was third, and Max was the baby.  Once when Mom had gone with Verda to pick some berries, Myrlan was a young child, and so mom had to take care of him. He was laying on a blanket, and mom wasn’t paying too much attention to him. He got bitten by a bug (I think he may have actually gotten stung by a bee). He began to cry like a banshee. Verda came down to find out what mom was doing to him, and she got a spanking because she wasn’t taking care of him like she had been told to do. 

Helen Louvene Dowell Walton as a baby.

Verda Evelyn Stewart, mother of Louvene.

Uncle Myrlan as a boy. Look at that old car.

When Verda passed away, it was several years before Granddaddy remarried. He married Blanche Finner. She was a wicked stepmother to mom, and she was always saying mean things to her. She told others that she didn’t care what happened to Vene (mom’s name was Louvene). She always felt that Louvene was trying to steal from her.  Consequently, mom never liked her stepmother.

Blanche, Linda (me), Granddaddy Dowell, and Anita

 Let’s get to the present.  On the 21^st, we finally got Victor to the genealogy library, and he lucked out big time. We found parents and grandparents. We didn’t have notes that he had made before so we started from scratch. He was so excited as we found each person. It was fun watching as he found names he didn’t have before.  From there, we took him to lunch. He ate like he hadn’t eaten in a while, and we got the feeling he was storing up for a couple of days. It’s not that he looks emaciated, he just looks like he could use a good meal. We had to get him back home before we started for Denise’s apartment to read scripture with her. It was a good day.

Thursday found us meeting with a nonmember at the North Stake Building for genealogy. The Missionaries had asked us to help them. It turned out to be a man we had worked with months ago. I realized very quickly that the man had actually been to the library by himself since we had last helped him set up his Family Search account. It was a fun meeting. The man really has no desire to take the Missionary lessons, and it’s up to him. However, he was reading the Book of Mormon. I asked him what he thought. He said he found it interesting. I can imagine he would.

As soon as possible, we went back to the apartment and spent the rest of the afternoon doing math problems. There are three big worksheets for each lesson, plus work online. I especially have to make sure I know how to do the work. Can you believe that they want to use 3.14159 for pi instead of the universal 3.14. This, of course, messes with the mines of those who can’t understand how the answer they are getting may be off when they use pi on excel which uses 3.14. Oh, well, it’s a math thing. I am amazed at how much I have to brush up on for some things and how other things just keep coming to me.

Friday found us back at Salvation Army. Last week we were sent off assured that we had finished the work. Obviously not! We worked through the morning and left for Denise’s. Of course, Timmy was there and took up most of our time. After that, we met with Jane Orne at her home. We began to organize our information for the summer festivals. We plan to have the Church presence at every festival this year. We ended up staying and having dinner with Jane, her husband, John, and her mother. It was a delightful meal. John reminds us so much of an old friend he has had for many years. It is odd how close they remind us of each other.  It was so cold that night. Getting into that car that had set out in the weather while we were inside made us realize how much we love our heated garage. 

Saturday found us heading to Wauwatosa to help build bat houses. Last year during the really harsh winter  they lost a lot of bats that eat a lot of mosquitoes in this water-filled area. One of the young men in the Wauwatosa Ward was finishing his Eagle project building these houses. It was really fun. They already had the wood cut, but there was a lot to do. There were about 20 people there, and it was being done in someone’s storage unit. It was cool there. The bats crawl up from the bottom into the box and then there are places they have hammered into the insides so the bats could hang on. Crazy, huh!  By 11:00, we realized there were so many people there that we weren’t needed.  We left and went to Denise’s to help her for a few minutes while she had her older children at her place.

Elder Bluth, Craig, and others painting the pieces.

Putting pieces together

Waiting for the paint to dry - see marks on pieces - for bats to hang onto

John Osmond (in Pathway with us) helping paint the houses.

Painting the places they made in the inside pieces for bats to hang from

Assembled house

Zac Calabro, Eagle Scout to be.

Sunday found us with a nice, cold day for Church. It is amazing that the Church which has such big rooms can be warm. I love it. We had a great service. When we got out, it was cold, cold. We hurried home and stayed in for the rest of the day. Our genealogies are coming along. We have a lot of names to be taken care of in the Temple.

Monday found us at the gym that morning. After we spent several hours studying, gym was late in the morning. That afternoon I was on the phone with one of the Pathway students. Do you know how long it can take to help someone with math on the phone. A longgggggggg time. She was so silly; laughing over things that she knows she got wrong and shouldn’t have. During this time, Elder Lenhard had lots of things he had to get done. The President has given him several things he has to do.

On Tuesday, we had a nonmember come to the genealogy library. We had gotten to know him at the gym. He worked for Harley Davidson for many years. He is disabled now and has a hard time getting around. However, his wife came to the library with him, and you would have thought he couldn’t move one muscle without her permission.  He is from West Virginia, and we have some family names in common. I’m not sure we can be connected, but he is a fun person. He was able to find some names, not as many as he was hoping, but we made some inroads.

We went to district meeting that afternoon. It was a good meeting, and these young men and women do a good job at bringing the Spirit into a meeting.  We enjoy learning from them.  That evening we met with some of the sisters in the Pathway group, and I helped tutor them. Craig was able to work in the genealogy library. Afterwards, we stopped by the Mission Office to check in and pick up some mail. It has been a good week.

Did I mention that this year I restarted the Book of Mormon on the first of January, and Elder Lenhard finished the last two books.  As I read the Book of Mormon, I pray to stay focused, pay attention to what is happening, and to understand what the Scriptures are trying to teach me. Every time I read the book, I find something new I haven’t seen before.  When Noah became King of the Nephites, he was really wicked. Those who served in his court were also wicked. realized that Alma was part of that court, and while I knew this before, I realized that he was wicked also. Yet, when the Prophet Abinadi came, the words he spake touched the heart of Alma and caused him to desire to repent and serve God the Father.  What an amazing story. A man listened to a Prophet of God and changed his life. That is what we do in this life. We listen and if we allow the Spirit to work with us, we repent because we desire a better life and eternity with our families. This brings us joy.

We are reading the New Testament together. There are such differences in the four Gospels. While we have read them in the past, we are taking the time to study and discuss the teachings. We have learned much this time around. 

Wisconsin is cold, but it keeps surprising us. One day it is cold, the next it is colder still. The snow builds up and then it hangs around. Too cold to melt, becomes black and icy on the sides of the road.  We are finding that if you have a good coat, the cold is easily kept out. Boots help also.

We are very grateful to serve the Lord in Wisconsin. These are the sons and daughters of Heavenly Father. We love getting to know and working with them. Only a couple of months of winter left.  Then it will turn warm again.  hahaha

Our final week for this Scripture in Moroni 10:3-5 - 

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should 
   read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the 
   creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in 

   the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, 

   having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

Elder and Sister Lenhard