April 2023 California Riverside Mission Reunion--A Delightful Reminiscence!

Mission reunions can be enlightening, magnificent, wonderful, delightful, heartwarming, happy, spectacular, and nostalgic. Our California Riverside Mission reunion on Friday, March 31 was all that and much, much more!

 Several RMs from the mission—Olivia Longshore, Maxlin Chase, Shaunté (Harris) Guymon, Britney (Shunn) Peterson, Hannah Morgan, Sadie (Giles) Hallsted, Cassidy (Kaiser) Esquea, Spencer Royce, and Haden Loveridge—began planning at the end of January 2023. They wanted a simple yet marvelous reunion.

 So, they got right to it. Britney began the social media blitz while Shaunté gathered up people who wanted to bring something to eat. Olivia, Maxlin, and Cassidy began working on the program and photo presentation, Spencer and Haden decided to work on set up and clean up while Hannah Morgan and Meg Glancy worked on decorations and a photo spot for photos.

Soon, the mission reunion was in full planning mode with bi-weekly Sunday evening meetings via Zoom to follow up, share ideas, and create a memorable event for everyone.

 Finally, the time arrived. Everyone came together to set up, decorate, arrange, and clean! By 5:30 p.m., everything was in place, and people began to trickle in.

 

The trickle turned into a gush, and the gym began to fill up, and the chatting and reminiscing and laughing and greetings emerged with a heavy dose of hugs (abrazos) and greetings.

 It was just a delight to see everyone!

 Joanne and I were asked to say a few words, which turned into more than a few words. How can you just surface feed when you have some of the greatest missionaries/RMs on the planet earth gather in the chapel for—hopefully—some words of wisdom?

 Joanne spoke about the importance of keeping covenants. I shared thoughts about “defining moments” in our lives, and that those defining moments can be such pivotal points in our lives.

Some people classified the program as “a return to zone conferences,” “a spiritual uplift,” “just what I needed to hear,” “opportunity to be with my best friends in the mission,” “fun and delightful evening.” For us, it was truly uplifting and heartwarming to look in the eyes of those who were there and see growth and development.

 We were treated by incredible musical numbers from Kylie Linton and Nick Rowe. We could have listened to even more since we have a mega-talented mission—from juggling to singing to playing to dancing to painting, and to a host of other wonderful talents.

Once we said “Amen,” we all trundled back to the cultural hall with a bit of lingering longer in the chapel and the foyer to catch up with those wonderful young men and women who served so faithfully in the California Riverside Mission.

 

We went well beyond our scheduled time, but everyone wanted to say one last thing to one last person and then another “last person.” Soon, though, it was over, all cleaned, and everyone leaving in cars to all parts and home.

 As Joanne and I traveled our 1.4 miles home, we were somber, humbled by the wonderful evening that we had with our mission family. We loved being there. We loved talking to people although we did not get to talk to everyone. We thoroughly enjoyed the entire evening! It was such an incredible reminiscence of times past, present happenings, and things to come!

We hope you know that we love each and every one of you and pray for you daily. We look forward to seeing soon. Please stay in touch!

* Note: If you want to see more pictures, please go to Sister Shirley's Facebook page! Thanks to Sister Shirley for taking most of these pictures. 

The Big Sunset Court HOA Trimming and Cutting Project!

Who says 55+ people cannot do big trimming and cutting projects?

For three Saturdays, our little band from the Sunset Court HOA with some help from family and neighbors pulled off a feat that still leaves many of us with our heads shaking. We trimmed, cut, climbed trees, clipped, sawed, and dragged limbs and branches from several trees around the HOA. Some of them had not been trimmed in over 15 years.

Limbs and branches sprouting from places they shouldn’t have been were removed and tossed into a huge bin provided by the City of Provo. To fit so many limbs and branches in the bins, we had to recut and stamp them down.

 

Led by the HOA Board consisting of Debbie Weatherhead, Charlene Christensen, John Rawlings, George Biesinger, and Darrel Hammon, we all accomplished many things:

• 3 full Saturdays in a row.
• 100’s of woman/man/children hours.
• 60 trees trimmed.
• 2 dead trees completely cut down (Thanks, John!)
• 3 bins heaping with branches, limbs, and leaves.
• 14 out of 37 households participated in the work.
• 3 of those households had family members come participate.
• 2 families from surrounding neighborhoods participated.
• 80+—the age of the oldest participant.
• 6—the age of the youngest participant.
• 1 person fell off a ladder. No injuries.
• 20,000+ steps in one day for many participants hauling branches and limbs from the cutting spots to the bin.
• 1 blackeye (actually more green and yellow) from a limb reaching out and causing a major cut over the eyebrow.
• Several cutting and trimming tools were used.
• Janese's nice Gorilla wagon was put to good use.
• Several back and shoulder aches, sore toes, and a host of other “health-related issues.”
• Muscles used (maybe even abused) and stretched more than in many previous years.
• A few admonitions from children and grandchildren for working so hard “at such an age….”
• Approximately $30,000+ saved.
• Numerous memories that will be indelibly etched in our minds and bodies.

We are sure that people driving by and watching us hack and saw and cut limbs and haul and drag the trimmings from large and small trees were amazed or awed by the power and strength in “more mature people” working their astute trimming skills. Or they may have thought, “What is wrong with these people?”

Nonetheless, we persevered three Saturdays and other days during the week and performed a mighty work. We are proud of all of you!

Thanks to the City of Provo, particularly Skyler, for bringing three different bins and picking up three full bins of natural waste to be used in mulch in the summer.

We thank all of you who participated! You were—and continue to be—amazing in everything that you do!

 It was a big project that created unity and solidarity and saving the HOA money!

Cannot wait until next year! Stay tuned for Round 2!

Finding and Feeling the Christmas Spirit

Finding and Feeling the Christmas Spirit
Darrel L. Hammon
December 22, 2022

It’s three days before Christmas, and there is a chill in the air, snow on the ground with a potential of snow next week after Christmas, and our tree has been up and decorated since just after Thanksgiving.

 This past week I visited with someone who told me that they did not feel the Christmas spirit and asked how they could feel it. For me, the Christmas spirit has come in a variety of ways. I can say, though, that some years, it was more challenging to feel the Christmas spirit, but it came in some way.

Let me suggest five ways although there are so many, many more. Some of them may help you as you ponder Christmas to ultimately find and feel the Christmas spirit.

Think of others before you think of yourself.

Isn’t Christmas about giving and being with others? I have noticed that people like themselves a lot, spending time just being on the phones and in their rooms alone, not necessarily wanting to associate with other people. While I understand that feeling to some degree, I sincerely believe that to capture the Christmas spirit, we must climb out of our shells a bit, maybe more than a bit, and think of others, maybe take your family, friends, and/or neighbors something. Giving isn’t always about buying or making something, although that is a nice thing to do. It’s about the very act of going beyond and extending yourselves in ways that you do not normally do and then continuing that practice for the rest of the year.

Go out and play in the snow.
This is a challenging one for those of you who live in places where there is no snow. For me, I grew up in eastern Idaho, and, more often than not, we had lots of snow, usually new snow on Christmas morning. My Christmas spirit comes when I walk out to fresh snow in the yard or the field, plop down, and make a snow angel. As I get older, it becomes increasingly more challenging, trying to get up without ruining the angel, but if you do it right, you can look back at the perfect snow angel and remember the heavenly host singing songs of joy when Christ was born in Bethlehem. If you don’t have snow, you cannot look at pictures that have snow in them or even paint a snowy scene.

 Sit in front of the Christmas tree, contemplate each ornament, and think of what each one means to you.
I love doing this. We really do not have bulbs from the store on the tree. Joanne, my dear wife, has made many of the ornaments we have. We have a picture of children when they were young. As we have traveled, we have purchased ornaments from that particular country or place. Some of the ornaments were given to us as gifts through the years. Every one of them has a story, and we like to relive the sacred story every Christmas. Often, as we look at each ornament, reminisce where it came from, or who gave it to us, we shed tears of joy and happiness, remembering how some of them came to be.

Read the Christmas story through the eyes of Luke in the New Testament (see Luke 2:1-20).
Few things touch my heart more than reading about the babe in Bethlehem, the shepherds watching their flocks by night, the angel arriving with his good tidings, the heavenly host praising God and singing, the humble shepherds rushing to see the new-born babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. The moment they arrived, these humble shepherds knew it was their Lord, Jesus Christ, and they were more than willing to glorify and praise God for all that they had seen and heard. That Christmas story has such great power!

Watch Christmas Videos
When you think of this you may think of all the Hallmark movies. While those may inject a bit of the Christmas spirit, I am talking videos about the sacred Christmas story—how Mary talked to an angel who foretold of the birth of Jesus, how the shepherds came to the manger and witnessed this great event, and how the three wise men came with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. You can go here to see a couple of them:

 "The Christ Child" (My favorite) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXWoKi5x3lw 

“The Nativity” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2012-11-2500-the-nativity?lang=eng;

 “Angel foretells of Christ’s birth to Mary” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2011-10-0002-an-angel-foretells-christs-birth-to-mary?lang=eng

 

Write about your best Christmas memory.
I don’t know about you, but we have had some incredible Christmas memories. One I remember was when I was younger, we had to do chores before we could open presents. On our way outside, we detoured through the living room where the tree and all the presents were. Outside, we noticed sleigh tracks coming off the roof of our house, skidding across our yard on the fresh snow, and then disappearing. My brothers and I just looked at each other, much surprised. Even to this day, I do not know how they came to be. I can only imagine that Santa had come, flown to the top of our house, dropped down into our house through the chimney, and then raced off without a word. The key to remembering these memories and keeping them alive is reaching out to those who were in the memory and talking about the role they played in the memory and what it meant to you.

These five ways to spark the Christmas spirit in you may have helped you conjure up even more, so write them down, relive them, and let the Christmas spirit well up within you, especially now during this Christmas season but also for the rest of the year.

I believe the Christmas spirit can be within us always—if we allow it and remember it’s a wonderful and refreshing feeling.

Merry Christmas to all!