Finding peace in the big cities (Church in London and Paris)

Another trip abroad and another chance to go to church on Sunday. This time we included 3 of our

Hyde Park Ward

girls on this trip. This was the first time that my daughters have left the country and attending church in a foreign land is something they really wanted to do.

Our first Sunday was right off the 11 hour flight from the US to London. We drove from the airport to downtown London. I knew that Sunday’s in London where pretty quiet and we could easily drive downtown, find a place to park and enjoy some of the museums and parks on a nice quiet Sunday. Our first stop was a Hotel near Hyde Park. Although we were not staying in downtown London, we found a Marriott near Hyde Park to change our clothes from the long flight from the US. It was nice to get some clean clothes on and get ready for church.

Church started at 10am and we had enough time to change, eat and find the church. It was an interesting ward. It was the Hyde Park ward and consisted mostly of older people and college students from Queen’s College or study abroad programs from BYU. The church was also a visitor center and was swarming with missionaries which is always great to see. We talked to several people that were there like us, tourist traveling in the area. We even saw one of Paige’s mom’s friends from Southern California that was there traveling. Small world we live in.

Notre Dame

The following week we were in Paris. We found a church that was walking distance from the famous Notre Dame Cathedral. I had told the girls about an Easter Mass that Paige and I saw a couple years ago and   how incredible it was. So the girls wanted to attend a Mass in Notre Dame while we were there. We decided to attend the 8:30am Morning Mass in French. They have a 10:30am Mass (Gregorian Mass) that I think is in Latin, which would have been really cool. But we had tickets to the Louvre at 11am so we decided to attend the early Mass and then go to our church down the street at 9:30am.

Rose Window NotreDame

First I have to say the best time to visit Notre Dame is first thing in the morning. You get to feel the reverence of the place because the number of people mulling around and making noise is much less than the normally crowded afternoon. With very few people and fairly quiet, I could actually feel the importance and reverence of this magnificent cathedral. Even if you aren’t religious or spiritual you would be able to feel something for this building. I could feel the over 800 years of religious worship where millions of people have
worshipped thru the centuries. What a great experience and one that I hope my girls never forget.

After a great experience at Notre Dame, we headed to our church for sacrament meeting. This was an interesting experience. Since Paris is a huge tourist destination, the sacrament meeting was held in the chapel and the overflow room. The overflow room had a TV with a live feed from the Chapel. In the overflow room everything was translated into English from the missionaries.

Paris France Ward

It made the meeting interesting as I think there was probably more English speakers in the overflow than French speakers in the chapel. Singing the hymns in English and French at the same time was amusing, as well as the harmonizing melody sung to different words. We kept in sync most of the time, but there were some awkward moments when one group finished before the other.  We met several people from all over the world that had traveled to Paris to see the sites.

DWP

A Friend, a Parent and Mission Presidents

Serving together forms bonds between people that draw them closer together that last for years. These bonds are typically found in fellow soldiers.  I have not served in war or even in the military; So I cannot understand or even fathom the bond that these soldiers feel one with another. But this last week I got a small glimpse of that feeling form the bonds I have created in serving with others in my church.

A Friend

I had the opportunity to serve with Loren Dalton, (Now President Dalton) in Tracy, California over 20 years ago. There I served as an Elder's Quorum President for the newly called Bishop Dalton. 

A Mormon Bishop is a volunteer position in the Church that is in charge of a congregation of about 300 church members. They are responsible for the spiritual and physical needs of the congregation. An Elder's quorum president works with the Bishop as well as others and is focused on families whose parents are typically between the age of 18 - 45 to 50 years old. 

So back to my story. A worked with Bishop Dalton for about 2 years and enjoyed the friendship that we built working together. Recently I was traveling in Sao Paulo Brazil and found out that Bishop Dalton had been called to be a Mission President in Sao Paulo Interlagos Mission. 

Mission Presidents are asked to serve for 3 years. During the 3 years they take their families and leave behind work and their livelihoods and live in the mission. Mission Presidents are in charge of about 200 missionaries in a geographical area.

It was great meeting with President Dalton and his wife, and after 20 years we had a lot of catching up to do. We talked about kids, families, careers and the ups and downs of life. I was most excited to hear what mission life was like and we talked about how their mission has changed their lives and strengthened their testimonies of Christ and his work. It was great to spend an evening with them. I was impressed at how much the Dalton's cared for their missionaries in the mission. They helped their missionaries through tough times at home, person trials and triumphs during their missions. 

This was somewhat self serving for me because my son Jacob was called to serve in that same mission starting in June. The Dalton's will be leaving before Jacob actually arrives in the mission :(.

In part of our conversation President Dalton asked me who my mission president was 28 years ago when I served in Brazil. I mentioned it was President Paulo Grahl. To my surprise he knew President Grahl and told me he was serving as the President of the Mission Training Center in Sao Paulo. He told me I had to go see him.

A Parent

It might be strange for people that have not served a mission to understand the strong bond that missionaries have with their mission presidents. As a missionary you write a weekly letter to the president of the mission telling them how things are going. Some weeks the letters are just complaining about the work other weeks sharing great experiences. This is your direct line to the president. Additional about every 2-3 months you get to have a 1 on 1 interview with the president to talk about things going on in the mission. The President and his wife quickly become the your leaders/parents for those two years. It is a special bond. One that, as I would soon find out, last a life time.

I took President Dalton's advise and went to the MTC to visit President and Sister Grahl. My missionary parents from almost 30 years ago. When I arrived at the MTC I did not realize, something I would find out later, that this was the day that new missionaries arrived to start their 6 week training in Sao Paulo. So President Grahl was busy working with these new missionaries. I patiently waited for outside of the gates of the MTC to see if they would let me in. About 20 minutes later, a slightly grayer, slightly heavier, man walked out of the MTC. We recognized each other immediately and almost like a scene from a movie we ran up and gave each other a big hug.

I was quickly transported to 28 years earlier when this great man hugged me for the first time, a lost and confused missionary in the Brasilia Brasil airport after a 15 hour trip from California to Brazil to start my mission. All of the feelings of two years of working with this great man came back. The shared experiences, the good and the bad. His great big bear hug is what transported my so quickly back. It was a strong loving hug that a parent gives to a child after years of being away.

I felt like I needed to give him a report about my life, my family, my career, my service in the church. I wanted him to be proud of me. The good kind of proud. We got to talk briefly about our mission time together and I got a great tour of the MTC. Again self serving because Jacob would be living in the MTC in Sao Paulo for about 6 weeks while he is learning Portuguese. I mentioned this to President Grahl and he was excited to have one of his "Filhos" have a child server under him. The first from the United States that would be serving in Sao Paulo.

Next President Grahl surprised Sister Grahl who at the time was talking to the new missionaries about what she always talked to us about. Cleanliness and Obedience. Brings back memories of several missionary conferences where she taught us the importance of having clean apartments and keeping the mission rules.  She took about 30 seconds and remembered my name. I was floored. I could not imagine that someone would remember me so well even after white hair and about 60 lbs. What a great couple of hours I got to spend with my Mission Mom and Dad.

Mission Presidents

Many people don't really understand the value that a mission president has on the lives of the Elders and Sisters that server under them. This last week I got a small glimpse into what Mission Presidents do and the impact they have had on my life. I cannot wait for my son Jacob to form those kind of lasting bonds with his mission president in the next couple of years.

DWP

Revisiting a Ward in Sao Paulo

Another week of travel another visit to another church in a foreign land. This time I had the
opportunity to attend church in a ward I visited just under two years ago in Sao Paulo. (Indianapolis Ward). The ward has grown quite a bit and there were some people that actually remembered me. It was fun to see how the ward has changed and to talk to people that remembered me.

Like every time I visit I noticed that everything is very much the same and different. First it was great to hear the hymns in Portuguese again. Brought back memories of my mission and how I played the piano (not very well) in many of my areas because no one else could play. When the sacrament meeting started about 1/3 of the seats were filled. By the end of Sacrament meeting it was filled. This brought back memories as well. :) Another thing I noticed was I was the
only one with white hair. (insert old man jokes here.) This reminded me of toward the end of my mission when my parents came to pick me up I was surprise at how fair skinned they were and my mom's blond hair really stood out. I guess I had not looked in a mirror for two years.

This trip has more meaning this year because my son was just called to serve his mission in this part of the world. This ward is in his mission (a geographical area that missionaries serve). I talked to some of the other missionaries that are here and got a feel for the area. Tips of the trade to pass on to Jacob.

After Church I headed over to the Sao Paulo Interlagos Mission Home. This is the central office for the mission and I took some pictures and a couple of videos to share with my son Jacob. I ran into a couple more people that work in the mission office. Brother and Sister Loveless. They work in the office a handle logistics and care and feeding of the missionaries. They knew that Jacob was coming and even told me the date that he was going to arrive Aug 8th, after spending 6 weeks in the Mission Training Center in a different part of Sao Paulo (about 45 minutes away).

There is a Stake building next to the mission office so I went inside to see what it was like and talk to more missionaries. When I walked in I could hear the primary children singing. It was a beautiful sound and reminded me of my primary class I team teach with my wife every Sunday. I miss those kids this week. I also found a bulleten board that listed the missionaries from the stake. They had missionaries serving all over the world. Including the US, Europe, Central and South America. I sometimes forget that other parents in other countries are missing their children as they serve in other countries as well.

I look forward to hearing weekly from Jacob when he is on his mission and to see the pictures of this beautiful place.

DWP

Check out my videos from Sao Paulo Here

Church in Andorra Branch in Spain

When I travel I always try to go to church on Sundays. I have always found interesting people in all of my travels. It is also fun to see how this global church is so much the same no matter where I travel with some of the small differences. In my latest travels I got to attend church in Andorra. Andorra is a small country in the middle of the Pyrenees. The Andorran Branch was very unique in its own special way. This time I got to experience this with my wife and one of my sons, Dallin, that just got home from his Mission to Denver Colorado.

First the Andorra Branch is not in the country of Andorra but in Spain, specifically in a little town, Lleida. The Branch actually covers all of Andorra and several small towns and villages in the Northern part of Spain. We met the Branch President and his Wife, President and Sister Fower and two young men missionaries (Elders). The missionary couple are from Utah and this is their second mission. Their previous mission was to South Africa.  They have been out in this mission for 3 months. They have been called to help revitalize this little branch in the Lord's vineyard. The Branch has about 25-30 active members and would have more coming except for the long distances some people have to travel to come to church.. The Branch used to meet in Andorra but many of the Spanish members did not have passports to get across the border to Andorra each Sunday. So they switched the meeting place to Spain. According to President Fower, the plan is to strengthen this Branch and then get things happening in Andorra as well.

President and Sister Fower are doing great work for this fledgling branch. They actually live in a small farm house that the branch members come and help with gardening and take care of chickens. The Fowers bought the farm to help teach the members to be more self sufficient.  You can tell that the members absolutely enjoy working with the Fowers.

Sacrament meeting was great and we could really feel the spirit. Even though we don't speak spanish we could understand most of what was being said.  It is great to hear the saints sing the hymns as well. We did our best to sing in spanish and I am sure we helped contribute to this small branches music that day. At the beginning of the meeting, the branch president announced the program and over the pulpit asked Dallin, in Spanish, if he would get up and bare his testimony as one of the talks. For some reason we could understand everything and Dallin agreed. Dallin did a great job.

Overall, another great Sunday in a foreign land. As always the familiarity of Church always brings comfort and new friends.

DWP

Manti Pageant - A lost art of american history

We recently had the opportunity to take my kids to the Manti Pageant. This is a pageant as dictionary.com explains it: "a public entertainment consisting of a procession of people in elaborate, colorful costumes, or an outdoor performance of a historical scene." Manti has been the home of the Mormon Miracle Pageant for 50 years. This small town in central Utah, population of about 3300 people, swells to over 18,000 people for the pageant each night for two weeks except for Sunday and Monday. They estimate over 150,000 people come each year to see the free pageant. It typically starts at 9:30pm and ends at 11pm. You should probably have a hotel in one of the bigger towns near by or expect to sit in traffic for about 2 hours to get back to Provo, UT.

The Pageant this year was special because it was the 50th anniversary, happening right there on Temple hill. It was a wonderful evening. One of the things you notice when it gets dark is how many stars are visible. Being from a "light polluted" city in California, we don't get to see all of the stars that we could see in Manti. It was hard not to look at the beautiful night sky and ponder all the great things we have been given in this life.

That is part of the allure of the pageant, the setting. The pageant is held outside at the base of
the small hill that the magnificent Manti Temple sits. The temple is the backdrop to the stage that looks about the size of a football field. The pageant starts when it is dark. There are some spectacular fire effects and lighting that help tell the story of how the people settled the area. It is a wonderful story of how their faith, courage, passion, and drive led them to central Utah and how they built their Zion in Sanpete County.

This pageant has special meaning to me and my family as my family comes from this area. They came to settle in Sanpete county in the 1880's following the Latter-day Saints across the plains from Norway and Wales. They settled in this area and raised their families there. I still have many cousins that live in the area. One of my cousins was key in putting the pageant on this year.

One of the most moving moments was when the Angel Moroni is standing on top of the west tower of the temple (This is actually a person standing there all dressed in white, most LDS temples have a statute on the temple, but this is one that does not have the Angel Moroni on the top of its spire). It is a highlight of the pageant. The Angel Moroni standing on the spire of the temple,was the only thing lit up, when a shooting star streaked across the sky, right over his head. That was just an added bonus to a wonderful evening with my kids.

So if you ever want a great night out, with some fun and inspiring entertainment, check out a historical pageant near you. You might be surprised how entertaining and knowledgeable, they can be.

• https://www.lds.org/locations/pageants
• https://www.facebook.com/MantiPageant
• https://www.facebook.com/HillCumorahPageant
• https://www.facebook.com/NauvooPageant
• https://www.facebook.com/CastleValleyPageant
• https://www.facebook.com/ClarkstonPageant
• https://www.facebook.com/MesaEasterPageant

DWP

Church in Taipei Taiwan

In my travels I have the opportunity to see lots of different things. One of my favorite things is to

attend church on Sundays in the countries I travel. This last week I was in Taipei Taiwan. I do my best to find an English speaking ward so I can at least understand what is being said. And that is typically fairly easy in large cities through out the world. And Taipei was no different. The Taipei Ward is an English speaking ward and right next the the Taipei temple. So I hopped in a taxi and went to church.

One common thing I find in these expat wards is typically a little bit older ward with diplomats and expat executives attending the ward. This ward was very similar, but I did find a large youth program, larger than I have seen in most expat wards. I especially found a large number of young women in this ward compared to young men. I thought, wouldn't be nice if I had some of my boys with me on this trip. :)

One thing I found in this ward was that it was very reverent. Which is a nice change from my ward which is very loud during sacrament meeting (we have a large primary and 2 nurseries, :) ) I also noticed that much like my ward they loved to sing. I always enjoy wards that love to sing. It brings a nice spirit into the meetings.

Being Mother's day the meeting talks were all about Mothers and their roles in society. A family spoke as this was their last week in the ward before they moved back to the States. All of the talks were very good and reminded me how important a good mother (which I am privileged to have) to society. One of the best phrases in the talks was given by the 16 year old daughter that spoke. "If at first you don't succeed, do what you mother told you." I had to right that down it was so funny and os true. Look for something from Daisy Blossom about that in the future.



I then spent sometime after church walking around the temple grounds and took some video and pictures for Austin (my nephew) and Daniel (my brother) who both served in Taipei on their missions.

One of the best things about Mother's day for Mormon families is we get to talk to our kids that are missions on Mother's day. So, even though it was on Monday morning in Taipei I got to talk to Dallin via Skype on Mother's day. Something I always look forward to no matter where I am in the world.

DWP

Attending Church on Vacation: Aruba

Everyone needs a vacation! We all need a break from the busy lives that we lead. A chance to rejuvenate. Get away from all of our responsibilities. Pretend if only for a moment that there aren't science fair projects to get done, bills to pay, kids to run from music lessons to sport practices, deadlines at work.... My wife and I actually do a really good job disconnecting from the "Normal" world that we live in when we are on vacation. One of the things we don't take a vacation from is our religion.

Benefits of Church on Vacation

Okay, I know you are thinking this is going to be preachy, but many that know us know that our religion is part of who we are. So one of the things we always do is go to church on Sunday. Not only do we get a spiritual booster shot, we get to enjoy the company of people in the place we are visiting. Because we have something in common with these people, our belief in Jesus Christ and his Gospel, we quickly make friends and have something to share. We have never had a bad experience doing this. Just the opposite. Many times we have found some connection, albeit sometimes a very distant connection with someone there.

Finding the Church in Aruba

There are great resources on LDS tools, the meeting house locator (https://www.lds.org/maps/meetinghouses/)  to find where churches are and when they hold church. So if you have a smart phone or even a computer, you can quickly find out where and when church is held. You can also find out what language the meetings are held in. This was very handy in Aruba because they speak 4 languages on the small island. Papiamento, Dutch, English, and Spanish.  We had two choices. A branch in Oranjestad (Spanish/Papiamento) or in San Nicolas (English). We chose the English speaking branch in the town of San Nicolas. It was about a 20 minute drive from our hotel in Oranjestad. 

Strange looks from the tourist

We got dressed in our Sunday best and headed down from our hotel room through the lobby. A lobby filled with vacationers in their swimsuits and beach gear ready for another sunny day on the beach. To say we had strange looks from people is an understatement. We had several questions from people on where we were going. Many people asked us where the wedding was being held. We just mentioned that we where headed to Church. You should have seen their looks. Some were  "good for you", others gave a look of confusion. Anyway, we used it as a small missionary moment. We hopped in the car and headed south on the 10 mile drive to the other side of the island. It was another beautiful day in Aruba.

Every Branch has its own Culture

Every time we have gone to church on vacation we always find something unique and special about the wards or branches that we go to. The San Nicolas Aruba branch was no different. We walked into a branch building which we quickly learned used to be a house at one time. It is a cute building that you could tell had several great branch activities and you could feel a closeness of the members of the branch. We looked at pictures on the the wall of their branch activities, baptisms and a missionary plaque of a missionary recently sent out from the branch to the Paris France mission.  We took our seats in the makeshift chapel which was mostly just chairs (enough for 40 people) in what used to be a family room in the house.

Before the Sacrament meeting started, we were greeted by the branch president, several other members of the branch and the missionaries. Of course we have a soft spot for the missionaries because Dallin is out on his mission. They were a very friendly congregation and we felt right at home. We also met another couple that were there on vacation as well. They where from Utah and were there on a get away from life just like us. (Great minds think alike).

Bi-lingual Church

The San Nicolas Aruba Branch is an interesting branch because their meetings are in English and Spanish. We found this out from talking to the missionaries. They told us that Sacrament meeting would be in English and Spanish. All of the announcements would be given in both languages and then there would be a Spanish talk and an English talk. The Elders and some members of the ward would translate to people that only spoke one or the other languages. Most people in Aruba speak 3 or more languages so the only translating I saw being down was to us on the other couple there from Utah.

Music Loud and Reverent

Anytime you go to another ward or branch you always find a big difference in the musicality of the congregation. We have been in some wards that sang so quietly you could only hear the organ, others you could not hear the organ at all. As we started the first hymn we were shocked at how loud this small branch of 30 people sang. It was awe-inspiring. When they sang the hymns you felt they really meant what they sang. It was loud yet reverent at the same time. You could really feel the closeness and spirituality of the branch. What would it be like if all of the wards/branches in the Church sang like this small branch in Aruba, with conviction, reverence and volume.

The music was also sung in both English and Spanish at the same time. So they always annouced the hymns numbers in Spanish and English. It was very interesting hearing the hymns sung in two languages at the same time.

Surprise connection

With every trip Paige and I take we always find some kind of connection. This of course is even
more prevalent at church. Well we found that there is an Elder Sheppard (Paige's maiden name) in Aruba. It is such a small name in the Church so they started looking at how they are related. They did not find a connection but of course being true Sheppards they hit it off great.

What a great trip and a great experience. I can't wait for our next trip and to find new people to talk to and learn more about how the Gospel is influencing their lives.

DWP

PS.
This trip inspired Paige to create a new product for her shop. Daisy Blossom Creations.

Characteristics of Hate

This last week I began teaching the history of Zeniff and his people in the book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. One of the interesting comparisons between the Nephites and the Lamanites is the profound hate that the Lamanites have toward the Nephites. The hate was so strong that it was passed down from generation to generation. So I asked my seminary kids how could so much hate be passed down for so many years. We came up with some interesting characteristics. 

First we saw that the Lamanites were "Quick to take offence". It was almost like they were looking for reasons to be take offense. We see the same sorts of things today in our society. Some of the kids mentioned many racial tension can point to this one characteristic. Easy to take offense. The kid that pointed this out happen to be multiracial. He was frustrated with people from both of his races that took offense to everything. Then one of the girls in class mentioned that they have fallen into this satanic trap as well. When they took offense from a friend when no offense was meant. Destroying their friendship.

Second we saw that the Lamanites "held on to anger". They wanted to be angry at the Nephites and they held on to that anger for over 500 years. Sound familiar to the world today. Just think about the middle east. Thousands of years of anger. To the point that they want thrive on anger and hate.

Third, the Lamanites blamed the Nephites for everything. Check out Mosiah 10:12-18. The Lamanites were "wroth" (intensely angry) with the Nephites about everything. Even good things that happen to the Lamanites, they still found a reason to hate them. Reading through the reasons it is almost comical. In today's venacular we call it being a victim. When we become victims and blame everyone else for what is going wrong in our lives we fall into this characteristic. It fuels anger and hatred, and slowly destroys our spirit.

Lastly, the Lamanites refused to forgive. You can see something in someone's countenance when they carry a grudge with people. They have a demeanor of anger. We all recognize it in other people all of the time. We sometimes miss it in ourselves.

So how do we avoid these characteristics Elder Halstrom said in an article in the Ensign 

“If you feel you have been wronged—by anyone (a family member, a friend, another member of the Church, a Church leader, a business associate) or by anything (the death of a loved one, health problems, a financial reversal, abuse, addictions)—deal with the matter directly and with all the strength you have. … And, without delay, turn to the Lord. Exercise all of the faith you have in Him. Let Him share your burden. Allow His grace to lighten your load. … Never let an earthly circumstance disable you spiritually” (“Turn to the Lord,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2010, 80).

Something I think we all need to watch out for in our individual lives.

DWP