We have a prophet through whom the Lord can deliver us

I shared this with my family this morning.

As I prayed this morning I realised that we do not need to buy 5 litre bottles of water, at least not those who have stored water.

What we shall do is to use stored water for washing and flushing, then wash the bottle, and replace the stored water with fresh water, then put the bottle under a bed as drinking water.

In HIRA (Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment) the first management or intervention option is avoidance, and second is replacement. This is what we can do without increasing our consumption of municipal water, by replacing it so that we can accumulate fresh stored water.

So, we have turned off the taps to the cisterns and use stored or rainwater to refill the cistern after flushing.

We disconnected the washing machine from the tap and use rainwater or stored water.

Then we can store fresh water with clear conscience.

Following this revelatory experience and being comforted by the Spirit, I turned to my daily scripture reading, and the first verse that I read was 2 Nephi 3:9.

And he shall be great like unto Moses, whom I have said I would raise up unto you, to deliver my people, O house of Israel.

Here is a note I made in my study journal.

After pondering our very serious drought in Cape Town in January 2018, and advising my family on how we have been blessed because of following the prophet's counsel to store food and water, this was the first verse that I read as I turned to my daily scripture study. We do indeed have a prophet through whom the Lord can deliver us.

Are we not blessed for having heeded the Lord's anointed all these years? Some of our stored water has been there for more than twenty years and may not be used confidently for drinking.

Another thought I had as I prayed is to use 5 litre fruit juice containers as water dispensers in the bathrooms and kitchen. But I can't think when last I saw one? If you see any, please collect them so that we can wash them to reuse as water dispensers.

Paul Kruger shared a video clip of a 2 litre cold drink bottle with a hole in it and pipe fitted, then a slight press of the bottle releases a bit of water, or loosening the cap releases a flow of water. That will work. Rather like the water feeders for budgies or hamsters as negative pressure prevents water from leaking out and positive pressure releases water.

Most people, left to themselves, are happy and content

I gained an interesting insight one day driving slowly in peak hour traffic on the N1. There was a team of men working on the side of the road. I believe that is was when they were erecting street lights in about 2014, and one big, hulking man in his work overall was skipping merrily along.    

   

I realised that most people, left to themselves, are happy and content.    

   

It is very easy to persuade one that he is unfortunate because he lacks something that another has - that will always be the case. Or that he is entitled to something. Or that he has rights that others should ensure.    

   

It is not easy to persuade one, though, that he must meet the needs of others, or ensure those same rights for others, or share what he has with others.    

   

This entitlement is one of the biggest maladies that we face in the world, and South Africa is an excellent example of the malady. Donald Trump elected US president, Jacob Zuma giving State of the Nation address in South Africa, BREXIT in Britain, and so forth. 2016 and 2017 are proving to be remarkable years.

Coincidentally, I wrote this on Friday morning 11 Feb 2017, and on Friday evening I heard an interesting quote on a business radio programme. 'Comparison is the thief of joy'.

A question for our youth, and others.

I am sometimes phoned and am told that someone has put me as a referral on his or her CV, hoping for employment because I was their mentor, colleague, or bishop. 

Sometimes I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending them for employment, sometimes I have grave misgivings about doing so! 

Now, the preamble to the question: 

A prospective employer phones me. She asks about a young candidate, Jimmy or Jenny, who has applied for employment and wants to work for what they describe as their dream company.

The prospective employer has to decide between this young person and someone who is honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, who does good to all people, seeks after that which is virtuous, lovely, of God report and praiseworthy (does that sound familiar?) and is really dependable, innovative, proactive, polite, punctual, loyal. 

First question:

Would I have no hesitation in recommending you if you were this young candidate? 

Second question: 
If you were the prospective employer who phoned me, and I described yourself to yourself. Would you want me to lie about you?  Would you employ you? Would you regret employing you rather than the other candidate because I recommended you? 

You are now preparing for a bishop, teacher, friend or colleague to be your referral. Prospective employers do phone for referrals. Live the 13th Article of Faith and develop other good virtues in yourself. Be that! Then I, and other referees, would be delighted to recommend you!

I would love to have no hesitation in recommending you if I had the impression that you genuinely strive to live these virtues. I would guess that you are not as yet prefect in them, but I would believe that you would continue to strive to live them.

Some thoughts about a question to me on the beach near Kwesani

Thanks, Rohan, for this picture of weird clouds.

This morning, storm clouds from my study window.

And the rain gauge which measured 9 mm for 07:00 to 07:00.

WeatherSA had forecast 80% chance of 10 mm for City of Cape Town.

As we face a tremendous storm in the Cape of Storms, my mind is turned again to a question asked a few days ago by a colleague from the Kwelera National Botanical Garden as we stood on the beach near Kwesani. He asked me about my thoughts regarding creation and evolution.

I don't know what prompted his question, but I shared some thoughts about the many questions that evolution has never answered for me, and that creation can be the only answer. Like, who keeps the celestial clock wound? Who keeps topping up the gas bottle? Who helps the flimsy little insect species to survive despite the individual that I see caught on a raindrop clearly not being 'the fittest'? What were the levels of radioactivity millions of half-lives ago? How is the distance between the Earth, the Sun and all other celestial bodies constant so that day lengths and year lengths seem to have been consistent for thousands of years? These fiery suns, without some intelligent governing force or power or influence, must be constantly losing mass as they emit infinite quantities of solar energy, and the planets that must be constantly gaining mass as they absorb small proportions of the solar energy emitted by their suns.

I failed to go beyond the academic and intellectual in answering the question. 

The reality is that I know about evolution, and I know about creation, but far more importantly, I know the Creator. I know that Heavenly Father lives, loves us, is merciful to us.

 

I apologise for not giving this piece of essential evidence to my friend. I sent it to him this morning. And I give it to you.

I hope that you can learn to know the Creator instead of only knowing about him. It is essential to read His word - not what people say about His word. Read the Torah, Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, or the Qur'an. It is essential to speak to Him through prayer so that He can speak to you through His holy scriptures. Sometimes He will give you something that He has not already spoken through the prophets, but most of His answers have already been given. We just need to discover them in the scriptures. Prayerfully read with a question in mind and you will find answers. Not many of us are like Saul of Tarsus, Zeezrom, or Alma the younger who will be called to repentance on some road to Damascus or Zarahemla or in the land of Ammonihah. Rather get to know the creator without having to spend days in eternal torment or anguish because of being harrowed up by the memory of our sins.

Surgery on a toe to remove ganglion and fuse a joint

The question is - would I do it again?

In about 2008-2009 I had a ganglion on the second toe of my right foot. This was uncomfortable and
I had to wear a corn plaster when doing field work in Phalaborwa because the ganglion was continually chafed in my shoes or boots. I then had the ganglion surgically removed and after the healing I was fine for many years.

But then a ganglion formed again on the same joint, and a short while later on the equivalent joint of the left foot. I put up with this for a while, but it would become inflamed at times and burst at times, and it was not something that I could continue to live with.

I consulted an orthopaedic surgeon who recommended surgical removal of the ganglion, and that because this is a sign of the onset of osteo-arthritis, that it was likely that I would have repeated ganglion formation unless the cartilage and capsule for the joint were removed. He would put in a wire to fuse the joint and then I should have no more ganglion formation in those joints.

I pondered this and acknowledged that something had to be done and that the ganglion was a serious impediment to my normal functioning and the amount of walking that I routinely do. So I agreed to the surgery and on 19 July the joints were removed and the recovery proceeded. I was booked off work for six weeks, but was able to work much of the time at home for the first weeks, and once I could drive again I returned early to work. I missed the walking that I often did, parking at the administration buildings and walking about 500 m each way to and from my office.

The pictures are on 31 December (5.5 months) on the left and 22 Feb (7 months) on the right. 

It is now more than six months and I am not particularly aware of the surgery to the toes. The joints are not really obviously missed because the toes do not bend that much anyway. But there is not denying that they are different.

I have pondered what might have precipitated the ganglion formation and wondered if in some way it might have been due to irritation from the strops (surfer's web sandals) that I have been wearing for a few years. The surgeon was not sure that there was any real cause other than aging.

It was quite amusing when we went to vote shortly after the surgery and Sally was told by one young lady that I should return to the car and they would come to me for me to cast my vote. She indicated that I was an amputee! Well, I was not up to standing in the queue, but amputee is rather an extreme label 😉

Some reflections on blessings that my family has had at the Temple

My family has visited the Johannesburg Temple every year, I believe, since it opened thirty years ago. Our annual holiday would be to visit family in the Johannesburg area so that we could attend the Temple. We drove the N1 between Cape Town and Johannesburg year after year, and usually stayed with my wife Sally's mother Margaret Burns in Pretoria so that we could enjoy the Temple. But it did usually mean that one of us could attend at a time because we usually had one small child, then two, three, four and five. Sally was often breastfeeding. So it was a real blessing to us when we were able to stay in Patron Housing when that opened. What a difference that made! It was possible then for Sally to attend the Temple each day because I could take turns babysitting while she served, and we could change so that she could breastfeed or babysit while I participated in ordinances. We could enjoy the Spirit of the Temple in a way never before possible. As the children grew and the older ones could look after the younger, we could attend together more often.

We have found it a great blessing when we attended with other ward members and different people could take turns caring for children allowing parents that otherwise would not be able to participate, to enjoy the blessings of the Temple. We would make sure that all children were cared for so that as many adults as possible could be in the Temple participating in baptisms, initiatory, endowment or sealing ordinances as frequently as possible. Travelling from Cape Town, this was always a wonderful blessing.

I remember last December babysitting my 6 grandchildren and the children of a son-in-law’s sister. This sister and her husband, bishop and sister Ferrett of Fish Hoek ward, had the most remarkable visit that they had ever had because they were able to attend together for the first time since their own sealing. All of this was possible because we were at Parton Housing, the families in the family rooms, although the Ferretts were staying with her brother in Vereeniging and not in Patron Housing. I read to them and then took them into the Temple garden, and when they became a little rowdy in the Temple garden I took them exploring in the gardens at Enduleni, looking for fairies and wild animals. But Amanda Ferrett had apparently not had a good Temple experience before, and this was a real turning point for her, blessed by Patron Housing.

For me, I felt as reverent and blessed a Temple Spirit having the children in the Temple garden enabling parents to be inside together as serving inside. I looked after the two children of my counsellor in the bishopric so that he and his wife could attend and endowment session together. I served as an ordinance worker from December 1995 to September 2013. It had been a blessing to be able to bring members of my own ward or stake through the veil, or to officiate in my own children’s endowments. I would participate in at least one endowment session, carefully observing for anything that appeared to be different before mentioning to the Shift Coordinator that I was available should I be needed in any way, and asking if I needed to know anything that might have changed. It was wonderful being able to serve in that way. I was saddened when told that because more than three months passed between some of my visits I could no longer officiate. Serving the children in the garden so that their parents could sit together in and endowment was also wonderful although in a very different way.

Each of our children was born in the covenant because Sally and I had been sealed in Salt Lake Temple immediately after our marriage in 1981. It was such a wonderful blessing after years with no Temple in South Africa to be able to frequently visit the Johannesburg Temple, and such an increased blessing when Patron Housing was available. We hope that the Temple managers can find a way to enable families to serve in the house of the Lord in the way that Sally and I have been able to do by making it possible for them to use the family rooms, although we do understand that it should be on the proviso that they always have proper care for each and every child.

Breast feeding mothers are blessed with the flexibility that the husband can attend a session while she is feeding and the father can care for them for the other session while the mother attends. This is possible because they have a room in which the mother can feed in private. Ward groups add to the flexibility, enabling parents to serve together where they might otherwise not be able to do so.

People, left to themselves, are happy and content

Interesting insight that I gained one day driving slowly in peak hour traffic on the N1. There was a team of men working on the side of the road. They were probably erecting street lights in about 2014, and one big, hulking man was skipping merrily along.    

   

I realised that most people, left to themselves, are happy and content.    

   

It is very easy to persuade one that he is unfortunate because he lacks something that another has - it will always be the case that someone has more of something than we have. Or that he is entitled to something. Or that he has rights that others should ensure. We need to recognise that we, in turn, have more of some things than others have, or are better in some ways than others. I remember my mother pointing out that the goat herder on the mountains can almost certainly speak more languages than I can.

   

It is not easy to persuade one, though, that he must meet the needs of others, or ensure those same rights for others, or share what he has with others.    

   

This entitlement is one of the biggest maladies that we face in the world, and South Africa is an excellent example of the malady. Donald Trump elected US president, Jacob Zuma giving State of the Nation address in South Africa, BREXIT in Britain, and so forth. 2016 and 2017 are proving to be remarkable years.

Coincidentally, I wrote this on Friday morning 11 Feb 2017, and on that evening I heard an interesting quote on a business radio programme. 'Comparison is the thief of joy'.