WHAT HAPPENED TO FATHERS’ DAY?

JUNE 21, 2010 Monday

This morning we called Sam, and he picked up the phone and said, “Happy Fathers’ Day from the United States.” What a surprise! We’d forgotten all about it. We had a good chat with him. He’s at Travis AFB getting lasik surgery this week. I also talked to Marjorie. She’s in the rehab center and doing well. We called Jamie for her birthday, and she said Jared is going to work for half a day on Monday over there, so he must be feeling pretty good.
Tonight we had Family Home Evening here. I made cinnamon rolls, and Sister Robinson brought juice and some little meat pies and sausage rolls that were pretty good. She had just bought them at the store. It was to start at 6:30, and Raphael, one of our aboriginal members, showed up at 4:30 announcing he was “a little bit early.” So he came in and had dinner with us. I was just finishing up stuff for the lesson, so Orson set out stuff for sandwiches. We got a chance to ask him about some of the aboriginal culture that was interesting. Before the white folks came, aboriginals would put a person’s dead body up high on a framework like a tall bed. They would leave the body there. Now they have to bury bodies in cemeteries because he said, “No one would like the stink.” Before, they would just pack up and leave the area.
There’s a young kid, Caleb, who’s 13 or so, who lives in the neighborhood and was friends with the elders. He dropped by this afternoon, so we invited him to FHE. He came back at 5:30. He and Raphael (Raffey for short) entertained each other with a deck of cards for a while. Then we put in a Living Scriptures video of “Nephi & the Brass Plates.” Raffey seemed to enjoy it. Caleb kept on messing around with the cards. Sister Eastland showed up. We were surprised because she’d told us she probably wouldn’t come when we took her the invitation last night. Carolyn Shires, a Beehive, who lives in the area, came and also the Robinsons. So we had 10 of us here.
I gave a lesson from the FHE manual, “Commandments, A Gift from a Loving Father.” Orson had made a game of the names of the presidents of the church and when they had served. Then we ate. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We’d printed some assignments (opening prayer, scripture, etc.) on some balloons and had folks pull them out of a box. Caleb ended up with the closing prayer. He chose not to do that—not surprising since he’s never heard the lessons or been to church. But, we can count tonight as a “Lesson with Member Present” because he came. It’s kind of funny how you become very aware of that kind of stuff after you’ve been out a while. It turned out to be a fun night, and I sure am tired.