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Stories: carta del Presidente Ogden 13-08-2004

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carta del Presidente Ogden 13-08-2004 07 Sep 2004
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
Ivan Enrique Mendez Segura Send Email
 
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