Deseret, Cactus, & Texas: September 2014

Plagues

The recent Ebola plague certainly raises concern. Especially the story of Ebola victims coming back to life.

Is this the real Zombie virus?

I set out this weekend to find an isolated place in the mountains my family could escape to....

....in order to avoid the apocalypse with flies spreading Ebola.

D&C 29:
18 Wherefore, I the Lord God will send forth flies upon the face of the earth, which shall take hold of the inhabitants thereof, and shall eat their flesh, and shall cause maggots to come in upon them;

19 And their tongues shall be stayed that they shall not utter against me; and their flesh shall fall from off their bones, and their eyes from their sockets;

But what did I find?.....

Revelation 9:
3. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

They were everywhere tainting grass.

The locust must have caused the cattle to dry and shrivel up on their feet till they looked like flat metal signs.

The rancher of the flattened cows put a sign up to stop the dead from trespassing.

Ho do we escape the calamities? Help us Mitt Romney. You're our only hope.

Surviving the Odile

The picture below was from a storm that came Monday 9/8/14.

It arrived without warning and we couldn't leave our building because the streets were flooded.

This past week we had tropical storm Odile come through with much warning and screaming and gnashing of teeth. They sent us home early from work before it hit. These pictures represent what happened.

Yesterday we went to see the 100 Foot Journey. It was a good show for senior citizens.

We had this sight to see after the show.

The nest is empty...again

We are empty nesters again. Eric and Haley are starting their final (potentially) semester next week. The high councilman at church today spoke about a parrot his uncle got while serving in Vietnam.
The parrot had been around soldiers and had learned some salty language (the uncle was not an active member of the church). At some point, the uncle was transferred and asked his parents (the high councilman's grandparents) to take care of the parrot.

#@%&^

When the grandparents got it, it would repeat this salty language. The grandparents kept working with it and after a few years, the salt language was replaced by "one, two, buckle my shoe" and the the grandmother answering the phone and calling her husband for dinner. The grandparents have since passed away and the parrot is back with the uncle. The parrot still speaks the way it was taught by the grandparents.

Felicia and I pray that our children will always remember what they were taught when they are out on their own.

Elder Bruce McConkie said this at General Conference in 1984:

The Church is like a great caravan—organized, prepared, following an appointed course, with its captains of tens and captains of hundreds all in place.

What does it matter if a few barking dogs snap at the heels of the weary travelers? Or that predators claim those few who fall by the way? The caravan moves on.

Is there a ravine to cross, a miry mud hole to pull through, a steep grade to climb? So be it. The oxen are strong and the teamsters wise. The caravan moves on.

Are there storms that rage along the way, floods that wash away the bridges, deserts to cross, and rivers to ford? Such is life in this fallen sphere. The caravan moves on.

Ahead is the celestial city, the eternal Zion of our God, where all who maintain their position in the caravan shall find food and drink and rest. Thank God that the caravan moves on!

Garage Party

The much anticipated gathering to clean the garage took place. Below is the great orange R that Dad had made for our reunions. This picture will be all that remains of it.