Stories: carta del Presidente Ogden 13-08-2004
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| Hoy mando carta a los ex-misioneros de habla inglesa. Lo siento que no tengo
tiempo de traducirla en espanol, asique en vez de no comunicarme nada con
los queridos ex-misioneros latinos - les envio la misma carta para que por
lo menos algunos puedan leerla, y los que han dejado de practicar su ingles
tendran que luchar una hora para entender algo de lo que escribo. Otra
ocasion tratare de escribir una vez mas en el idioma celestial.
³Epistle General from DKO² Update on the Ogden family August 2004
My mother, Joyce Chambers Ogden, fulfilled one of her life-long dreams
at the end of April this year by taking all her children and their spouses
(16 of us) on a week¹s cruise along the western coast of Mexico (Puerto
Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas), in the second biggest cruise ship
in the world. It was a memorable adventure and priceless bonding
opportunity for the family.
While we were in the middle of that cruise, Grandpa Hunter who¹s lived
with us for more than a decade pass away quietly in his living room
downstairs, leaving our little granny, his wife of many years and nearly 90
years of age, without a companion for a time. That caused a little change
of lifestyle in our home.
Sister Ogden and I continue to teach religion classes at BYU here in
Provo. I like rotating through the various courses: last year I taught
Doctrine and Covenants, this summer Pearl of Great Price and the Writings of
Isaiah, this fall Book of Mormon, plus an honors course on the Life and
Teachings of Jesus (the Gospels) and an honors course on Jerusalem, the
Eternal City. Marcia will teach two classes of Book of Mormon, one for
returned missionaries and the other for international students literally
from all over the world.
I continue to serve in the Provo Temple as an ordinance worker for five
hours every Saturday morning, including working with all the Latinos who
come for an 8 am Spanish session. Occasionally in the Temple I¹ll have a few
minutes that I can sit down and read from the scriptures. The other day I
came upon Psalm 128:6, which mentions two things that are important to me:
³thou shalt see thy children¹s children, and peace upon Israel.²
I love biographies, especially of great people, and some of the greatest
have been leaders in the Lord¹s Church. In past years I¹ve read biographies
of Orson Hyde, Heber C. Kimball, Spencer W. Kimball, Gordon B. Hinckley, and
not so long ago The Bruce R. McConkie Story. This week I finished the
biography of Mark E. Petersen, and now I¹m reading the biography of Howard
W. Hunter. I¹m going to order the biographies of Ezra Taft Benson, Neal A.
Maxwell, and Russell M. Nelson all of whom have inspired me.
I gave eight lectures recently at BYU-Idaho¹s Education Week in Rexburg.
A funny thing happened in one of my lectures, the one on ³strict obedience.²
I always start that class with a question: Who would we consider a
³prophetess² in our modern dispensation? The usual answer for years has
been Eliza R. Snow. In my estimation, the great poetess and Church leader
is definitely one of the top candidates for such a designation. (And upon
that suggestion I go on to remind the students of some of the well known and
greatly loved hymns she wrote: ³O My Father,² ³Behold the Great Redeemer
Die,² ³Truth Reflects Upon Our Senses,² and ³How Great the Wisdom and the
Love² and how in that last hymn she wrote ³by strict obedience Jesus won
the prize . . .² and then I teach that principle.) Well. I asked the
hundred people in my lecture in Rexburg the same question who would we
consider a prophetess, and a couple of them simultaneously called out ³Sheri
Dew!² We all laughed, but we all knew that Sister Snow now has a serious
rival to that honorific title. [That was reconfirmed two weeks later in one
of my BYU religion classes when the same question was posed and I once again
heard the same acclamation: Sheri Dew!] I think that¹s terrific. Sheri has
certainly won the respect of the members of the Church. She really is an
extraordinary writer, speaker, and leader.
I thought Sheri might enjoy the above paragraph, so I sent it to her via
e-mail. She replied: ³I don't know whether to smile, laugh out loud, or run
in horror at this story! [grin] Just goes to show how poor judgment some of
our young adults have. Thanks for sharing this, though. What it really does
is put me on alert that I better not mess up and disappoint all of these
young adult men and women whom I love so much. All my best. Sheri²
As they say, there¹s nothing so constant as change. Dramatic changes
keep happening in our world. ³Know Your Religion² lectures have been
discontinued. I have enjoyed being out and about with the Saints for more
than 14 years, but no more. The Department of Travel Study has also been
discontinued, after more than 50 years of taking people all over the world,
especially to the Holy Land. BYU Television is a marvelous new substitute
for those other things we¹ve been doing, and it¹s very successfully reaching
out to millions, inspiring them with positive, uplifting programming.
Our daughter Sara is finishing a second bachelor¹s degree in theater at
Southern Utah University and will be working professionally the next two
months helping stage manage the play ³Singin¹ in the Rain² at Tuacahn in St.
George. Daniel, our big 25-year-old redhead, is working fulltime
translating Arabic documents for the U.S. military off their secret
Internet. He was planning to go to Egypt with BYU¹s Arabic department to
continue improving his Arabic but just got orders to be deployed to Iraq for
a year. He doesn¹t actually mind going to Iraq because he¹ll have
opportunity (just as in Egypt) to use his language skills with the natives.
In Iraq he¹ll probably be doing translating work, just like he¹s doing now
in Utah, although probably not in such comfortable circumstances as in Utah
Valley. Elizabeth, our only married one, is going to provide her parents
with a grandson in November. We¹re excited for her, because we¹ve seen for
many years now that she¹s naturally inclined to mothering. She¹ll be a good
one. She will have plenty to do when he comes, like her husband Dan will
have plenty to do as he starts next month in BYU¹s law school. Our younger
son, Joseph, continues to give his parents opportunity to develop the
God-like qualities of patience and long-suffering. We refuse to give up
hope for him; we trust in the promises of the Covenant.
We also trust that all of you are living up to your privileges, that you
are true and faithful to the commandments especially to pray sincerely
every day, to study from the Lord¹s words every day, to serve other people
(so they, as well as you, can be happy), and to go regularly and frequently
to worship in the House of the Lord, which will keep your priorities
straight and protect you in this increasingly downward-spiraling world.
Love and blessings. DKO |
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