LDS Charities

ldscharities.org

Go to ldscharities.org and get a feel for our assignments - they are varied, exciting, heart warming, needed and so inspiring.  

The District

The man on my right is Elder Walker.  He is the new director for humanitarian services in the Pacific so we will work a lot with him over the next two years.  The man on my left is going to Vietnam and he and his wife are really nervous about being in a communist country.

This is our District at the MTC
The two Elders on each side are our trainers - they were great.  Elder Colby on the right, Elder Davis on the left.  I'm standing next to Elder John Edwards - his wife Debbie, then Elder Curtis and his wife in the purple sweater.  Sister Murary in the white sweater.  The Edwards are going to our old mission in Samoa.  We are excited for them.

Jessica & kids joined us on Sunday at the MTC

Sunday morning at the MTC

Super Tuesday

Today, May 21, 2019 - our oldest grandson Carson Scott had his missionary papers sent to Salt Lake for a mission call.  We all wait in great anticipation to see where he will be called to serve.  We are very excited and proud of this fine young man.  All 16 of his cousins are making their guess as to where he will go serve.  We shall all know soon.
Carson is the oldest of the Great Grandchildren on the Saunders side of the family and he is the oldest of the Grandchildren so he has carried a heavy load of responsibility in being a good example and leading out.  We are grateful that he is up to the task.
As Wendy and I are in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) now getting trained before we leave for Fiji we see over 1200 young missionaries each day as they go to their classes, studying the language they will use in amazing language labs, at the cafeteria, and visiting together in all areas of the MTC grounds.  We can't help but think of our grandchildren that are approaching the age of mission application.  We see all these young boys and girls and we are inspired by how happy and excited they are to be on a mission.  They are excited about where they are going and are just so pleasant and nice to visit with.
We have nieces and nephews also that are coming of the age to go on missions and we are happy and excited for them.

On our Way - To MTC.

Had to get some Fijian money before we left.  They have beautiful money, Wendy said "I don't want to spend any of this cause it's too pretty".  The Fijian dollar is $1.61 for every Canadian dollar.   We are hoping the Fijian dollar goes a long way - it will be interesting to see how items and food compare in Fiji.

 We spent the morning finalizing every little thing before we leave and then had time to say good bye to our friends Ray & Sally Pyne ( they are renting our place while we are gone, we love them). Chuck and Sandra then took us to the Airport in Victoria to head to Provo Utah for the start of our training and adventure in Fiji.

Randy & Julie Keyes going to Fiji - they are from our Ward in Victoria - they will serve in self reliance while we will be in Humanitarian Services.

We took a stroll to the BYU bookstore and met up with a famous Cougar so we just had to get a picture together, hehe.  It was good to go for a nice long walk.  BYU of course has a beautiful campus and it's nice to stroll around and see the campus and the great buildings and feel the nice feeling of the wonderful institution of learning the Church has built over the years. 

 Our home away from home for the next two weeks here at the MTC.  They have very nice apartments for the Senior Couples and all your needs are taken care of.  We have a very busy schedule starting tomorrow morning with Church, District meetings, Devotionals, Films and of course Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.  Monday is our official check-in day at 10am and from that point on the week is very busy. 

Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve taught:
 “Going on a mission teaches you to live the law of consecration. It may be the only time in your life when you can give to the Lord all your time, talents, and resources. In return, the Lord will bless you with HisSpirit to be with you. He will be close to you and strengthen you”

This is a picture of my first mission in 1970-71.  My mission President was Wm. L. Nicholes and his wife Honey Nicholes.  I served in the California East Mission with some of the best missionaries and today we still spend time together because our hearts were knit together thru the service we gave as young missionaries.  





















Wendy and I then served in Samoa 2014-15 for our first Sr. Couples mission.
Our Mission President was Reid Tolman and his wife Deb Tolman and they are dear friends of ours forever.  We had the best time together serving the people of Samoa.



Now we are off to Fiji on a Humanitarian Services Mission.  
2019-2021  We are very excited and we have potentially 5 grandchildren that could leave while we are gone.  Carson Scott, Spencer Saunders, Audrey Saunders, Eli Burton, Cole Saunders - That is very exciting for our family.

Last Minute Details - hehe

 Monday May 6th - Wendy, Chuck and I played the Bear Mountain Championship course before we left on our mission.  It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day and we had a great time.  We played with Len Barrie Sr.  - his son the hockey player developed the Bear Mountain resort - long story. 

Quote of the Day :

When messengers are sent to minister to the inhabitants of this earth, they are not strangers, but from the ranks of our kindred, friends, and fellow-beings and fellow-servants. The ancient prophets who died were those who came to visit their fellow creatures upon the earth … In like manner our fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters and friends who have passed away from this earth, having been faithful, and worthy to enjoy these rights and privileges, may have a mission given them to visit their relatives and friends upon the earth again, bringing from the divine Presence messages of love, of warning, or reproof and instruction, to those whom they had learned to love in the flesh.

Joseph F. Smith

More "How Tall are you" pics

We got home to Victoria and were able to spend time with Chuck & Sandra and family.  All these kids are growing so fast.  Spencer and Cole will be on missions by the time we return so it will be a 3-4 year separation from these great boys.

"Interesting Story I thought you might all might enjoy"

Twenty years ago, in Nashville, Tennessee, during the first week of January, 1996, more than 4,000 baseball coaches descended upon the Opryland Hotel for the 52nd annual ABCA's convention.
One name kept resurfacing, always with the same sentiment — “John Scolinos is here? Oh, man, worth every penny of my airfare.”
Who is John Scolinos, I wondered.  No matter; I was just happy to be there.
In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching career that began in 1948.  He shuffled to the stage to an impressive standing ovation, wearing dark polyester pants, a light blue shirt, and a string around his neck from which home plate hung — a full-sized, stark-white home plate.

Seriously, I wondered, who is this guy?

After speaking for twenty-five minutes, not once mentioning the prop hanging around his neck, Coach Scolinos appeared to notice the snickering among some of the coaches.  Even those who knew Coach Scolinos had to wonder exactly where he was going with this, or if he had simply forgotten about home plate since he’d gotten on stage.  Then, finally …

“You’re probably all wondering why I’m wearing home plate around my neck,” he said, his voice growing irascible.  I laughed along with the others, acknowledging the possibility.  “I may be old, but I’m not crazy.  The reason I stand before you today is to share with you baseball people what I’ve learned in my life, what I’ve learned about home plate in my 78 years.”  

Several hands went up when Scolinos asked how many Little League coaches were in the room.  “Do you know how wide home plate is in Little League?”
After a pause, someone offered, “Seventeen inches?”, more of a question than answer.

  “That’s right,” he said.  “How about in Babe Ruth’s day?  Any Babe Ruth coaches in the house?” Another long pause.
“Seventeen inches?” a guess from another reluctant coach.

           “That’s right,” said Scolinos.  “Now, how many high school coaches do we have in the room?”  Hundreds of hands shot up, as the pattern began to appear.  “How wide is home plate in high school baseball?”
“Seventeen inches,” they said, sounding more confident.
“You’re right!” Scolinos barked.  “And you college coaches, how wide is home plate in college?”

“Seventeen inches!” we said, in unison.

           “Any Minor League coaches here?  How wide is home plate in pro ball?”............“Seventeen inches!”
“RIGHT!  And in the Major Leagues, how wide home plate is in the Major Leagues?
“Seventeen inches!”

           “SEV-EN-TEEN INCHES!” he confirmed, his voice bellowing off the walls.  “And what do they do with a Big League pitcher who can’t throw the ball over seventeen inches?”  Pause.  “They send him to Pocatello !” he hollered, drawing raucous laughter.  “What they don’t do is this: they don’t say, ‘Ah, that’s okay, Jimmy.  If you can’t hit a seventeen-inch target?  We’ll make it eighteen inches or nineteen inches.  We’ll make it twenty inches so you have a better chance of hitting it.  If you can’t hit that, let us know so we can make it wider still, say twenty-five inches.'”  

Pause.  “Coaches… what do we do when your best player shows up late to practice? or when our team rules forbid facial hair and a guy shows up unshaven?  What if he gets caught drinking?  Do we hold him accountable?  Or do we change the rules to fit him?  Do we widen home plate? "

The chuckles gradually faded as four thousand coaches grew quiet, the fog lifting as the old coach’s message began to unfold.  He turned the plate toward himself and, using a Sharpie, began to draw something.  When he turned it toward the crowd, point up, a house was revealed, complete with a freshly drawn door and two windows.  “This is the problem in our homes today.  With our marriages, with the way we parent our kids.  With our discipline.

We don’t teach accountability to our kids, and there is no consequence for failing to meet standards.  We just widen the plate!”

          Pause.  Then, to the point at the top of the house he added a small American flag.  “This is the problem in our schools today.  The quality of our education is going downhill fast and teachers have been stripped of the tools they need to be successful, and to educate and discipline our young people.  We are allowing others to widen home plate!  Where is that getting us?”

           Silence.  He replaced the flag with a Cross.  “And this is the problem in the Church, where powerful people in positions of authority have taken advantage of young children, only to have such an atrocity swept under the rug for years.  Our church leaders are widening home plate for themselves!  And we allow it.”

           “And the same is true with our government.  Our so-called representatives make rules for us that don’t apply to themselves. They take bribes from lobbyists and foreign countries.  They no longer serve us.  And we allow them to widen home plate! We see our country falling into a dark abyss while we just watch.”

           I was amazed.  At a baseball convention where I expected to learn something about curve balls and bunting and how to run better practices, I had learned something far more valuable. 

From an old man with home plate strung around his neck, I had learned something about life, about myself, about my own weaknesses and about my responsibilities as a leader.  I had to hold myself and others accountable to that which I knew to be right, lest our families, our faith, and our society continue down an undesirable path.

“If I am lucky,” Coach Scolinos concluded, “you will remember one thing from this old coach today.  It is this: "If we fail to hold ourselves to a higher standard, a standard of what we know to be right; if we fail to hold our spouses and our children to the same standards, if we are unwilling or unable to provide a consequence when they do not meet the standard; and if our schools & churches & our government fail to hold themselves accountable to those they serve, there is but one thing to look forward to …”
With that, he held home plate in front of his chest, turned it around, and revealed its dark black backside, “…We have dark days ahead!.”

And this my friends is what our country has become and what is wrong with it today, and now go out there and fix it!

          "Don't widen the plate."