Robert writes home #28 May 6, 1993
May 6, 1993
Dear Mother,
We're doing pretty well.Megan got asked to the Merced Junior prom by a boy from church in Merced. She seems pretty elated by the whole thing.
Charlie's baseball season is over. He'll graduate in less than a month.
Sam is doing pretty well. He enjoys school alot. We are having some trouble getting our watermelons to sprout. It's been a cool spring. We replanted again last night.
Did you know that we are raising a lamb on a bottle? He is really fun. He was abandoned by his mother out in our pasture and Johnnie gave him to us. He's black and we named him (by popular vote) Bill. We take him in the truck with us when we go out in the field and he follows us like a dog (even better...Duke is too tired to follow very far. He just lays down and watches us go.) You've heard of Dodge Ram trucks? We have a truck tam that dodges. He's really fun. Charlie feeds him morning and night. Sam feeds him mid day when he gets home from school.
We haven't heard from Pete for a couple of weeks. His last letter said he might get transferred, so I suspect that he did. He's supposed to call his mother on Mother's Day, so we're hoping for a call tomorrow.
Melinda came home for a three day visit. She brought her boy, Tyler. It was really nice having her and getting acquainted with Tyler. She sewed a prom dress for Meg while she was here.
I'm really pleased with the genealogy progress in the ward. Janet and I took Lula Jackson to the temple last Friday and we went through for her family file names. We've had four families do temple work for their own ancestors so far.
[More details in a letter to Magdalene during the same time period:
I don't know what will become of our plans for a trip to Utah in June. I've had a little decline in health lately. Nothing serious but I have just been feeling dizzy and tired alot. The Dr. thought that it might be the medicines so he changed my dosage. It might be helping alittle. I'm still having the problem with building too many red blood cells. He said that wasn't the usual occurrence with a transplant but that it happens fairly often. They control it either with medicines (the one in question) or with phlebotomies (drawing blood off at the blood bank) it's too bad they can't use my blood for transfusions. My main problem with a trip is that sitting for along time is hard on me. My feet swell when I do. We've scheduled Meg to fly with Morris travel in case we don't make it. As you probably know, whey have very economical fairs ($120 round trip from S.J. to Oakland and then pick her up. The driving distance to the airport X2 is over half the distance to Utah.
PS Pete called today for Mother's Day. I asked him about Tillie and Norman Dunn. He said they were just introduced as new missionaries in his ward today. What a surprize! His address is: Elder Hans P. Miller, 7335 De Lanaudiere #201, Montreal, Quebec H2E 1Y3, Canada]
Love,
Robert
P.S. I'm enclosing a little essay.
Charity is like a throw to the base that the runner is running towards.
I was watching my son's baseball game the other day. He was playing third baseman when the batter hit a hard ground ball to him. It was the kind of a hit that he had practiced for and worried about fumbling. He ran forward with a quick response, scooped the ball perfectly, aware that the runner was heading for home plate from third, he threw the ball hard to the catcher thinking to throw low to the catcher so he wouldn't have to reach far to put the runner out. Unfortunately, the throw was too low and a little wild. The runner scored. The batter got on base. The perfect catch of the hard hit line drive to third was of little significance because he didn't follow it with a good throw to the catcher.
There's an analogy to be drawn here. In our lives charity is alot like the throw to the base to put the runner out. the apostle Paul said, in 1 Corinthians 13 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, I am become s sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. and though I have the gift of Prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and thought I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing..." If you don't couple your good works and accomplishments with charity, it doesn't work in terms of the long range outcome.
Too often I find myself not thinking about desiring the welfare of the people affected by the actions I'm involved in when I do things, and until I can get that frame of mind in all my actions, I doubt if I'm a candidate to live in a celestial society.
Dear Mother,
We're doing pretty well.Megan got asked to the Merced Junior prom by a boy from church in Merced. She seems pretty elated by the whole thing.
Charlie's baseball season is over. He'll graduate in less than a month.
Sam is doing pretty well. He enjoys school alot. We are having some trouble getting our watermelons to sprout. It's been a cool spring. We replanted again last night.
Did you know that we are raising a lamb on a bottle? He is really fun. He was abandoned by his mother out in our pasture and Johnnie gave him to us. He's black and we named him (by popular vote) Bill. We take him in the truck with us when we go out in the field and he follows us like a dog (even better...Duke is too tired to follow very far. He just lays down and watches us go.) You've heard of Dodge Ram trucks? We have a truck tam that dodges. He's really fun. Charlie feeds him morning and night. Sam feeds him mid day when he gets home from school.
We haven't heard from Pete for a couple of weeks. His last letter said he might get transferred, so I suspect that he did. He's supposed to call his mother on Mother's Day, so we're hoping for a call tomorrow.
Melinda came home for a three day visit. She brought her boy, Tyler. It was really nice having her and getting acquainted with Tyler. She sewed a prom dress for Meg while she was here.
I'm really pleased with the genealogy progress in the ward. Janet and I took Lula Jackson to the temple last Friday and we went through for her family file names. We've had four families do temple work for their own ancestors so far.
[More details in a letter to Magdalene during the same time period:
I don't know what will become of our plans for a trip to Utah in June. I've had a little decline in health lately. Nothing serious but I have just been feeling dizzy and tired alot. The Dr. thought that it might be the medicines so he changed my dosage. It might be helping alittle. I'm still having the problem with building too many red blood cells. He said that wasn't the usual occurrence with a transplant but that it happens fairly often. They control it either with medicines (the one in question) or with phlebotomies (drawing blood off at the blood bank) it's too bad they can't use my blood for transfusions. My main problem with a trip is that sitting for along time is hard on me. My feet swell when I do. We've scheduled Meg to fly with Morris travel in case we don't make it. As you probably know, whey have very economical fairs ($120 round trip from S.J. to Oakland and then pick her up. The driving distance to the airport X2 is over half the distance to Utah.
PS Pete called today for Mother's Day. I asked him about Tillie and Norman Dunn. He said they were just introduced as new missionaries in his ward today. What a surprize! His address is: Elder Hans P. Miller, 7335 De Lanaudiere #201, Montreal, Quebec H2E 1Y3, Canada]
Love,
Robert
P.S. I'm enclosing a little essay.
Charity is like a throw to the base that the runner is running towards.
I was watching my son's baseball game the other day. He was playing third baseman when the batter hit a hard ground ball to him. It was the kind of a hit that he had practiced for and worried about fumbling. He ran forward with a quick response, scooped the ball perfectly, aware that the runner was heading for home plate from third, he threw the ball hard to the catcher thinking to throw low to the catcher so he wouldn't have to reach far to put the runner out. Unfortunately, the throw was too low and a little wild. The runner scored. The batter got on base. The perfect catch of the hard hit line drive to third was of little significance because he didn't follow it with a good throw to the catcher.
There's an analogy to be drawn here. In our lives charity is alot like the throw to the base to put the runner out. the apostle Paul said, in 1 Corinthians 13 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, I am become s sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. and though I have the gift of Prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and thought I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing..." If you don't couple your good works and accomplishments with charity, it doesn't work in terms of the long range outcome.
Too often I find myself not thinking about desiring the welfare of the people affected by the actions I'm involved in when I do things, and until I can get that frame of mind in all my actions, I doubt if I'm a candidate to live in a celestial society.
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