Rasmania 101: A few days in St. George

Gunnar James Green
Baptized on
October 13, 2018

As you can see from the picture, we were able to witness the baptism of Gunnar James Green into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. We are so proud of you, Gunnar, for this decision that will affect your whole life. Stay true to the covenants you have made with your Heavenly Father and it will bring you much happiness and many blessings.

Gunnar let me choose which picture I wanted, and I couldn't resist this one because it shows his little personality. A friend of Adrienne's offered to do a photo shoot of Gunnar for his baptism and there were many to choose from.

Roy and I had a busy and wonderful week down in St. George. We stayed with Gloria and Mike Toomey (Roy's aunt and uncle). They moved from Amelia Island, Florida just a few months ago and are enjoying the dry weather and they especially appreciate living away from the hurricanes this season. The last hurricane put a tree through their roof and they are grateful not to go through that worry again.
They were gracious and wonderful hosts and we enjoyed our time with them. We attended 4 plays:
Matilda, Prince of Egypt, Liar (in Cedar City), and Cinderella. Prince of Egypt (about Moses) was the best, hands down. It was spectacular when Tuachan used their water features at the end of the show for the parting of the Red Sea. It was a powerful show that really made me think about how Moses might have felt while fulfilling his prophetic calling.
Our original tickets were for next week, but when an unplanned business trip materialized, Roy changed all the tickets. After they were all changed we were reminded about Gunnar's baptism, so we had to change the Saturday night play to Wednesday night. We also forgot that Gloria had bought tickets to go to Prince of Egypt with us (I guess they spent a fortune getting closing night tickets, so she wasn't willing to trade in her seats, so they will go next week as planned). The changes cost us $50 which is better than being out the total of all the tickets combined. It also enabled us to add the Cedar City play because the Shakespeare festival is now officially over. Friday was busy and tiring because we woke up in St. George, drove to Cedar City for the matinee, returned to St. George for Cinderella, (we fit in the 45 minute hike right before the play) then drove back to Cedar City so we'd be an hour closer to home for the Saturday morning drive to make it to Gunnar's baptism on time.

Rhode Runner near Gloria's home

Gloria, Mike, Catharine and Roy in front of the
St. George Tabernacle

Roy and Catharine--we managed to get one hike in while we were in St. George.

I learned a lot teaching DUP for the first time this past week. I taught about the Wilford Woodruff family. I was able to get through the story of WW's 5th great grandfather, his father, and much of WW's story, too. However, I ran out of time before I got to the wive's stories (he had 5--and 33 children). His 5th great grandfather's name was John Lothrop. He was a minister for the Church of England. He left the church when he realized he did not believe in the doctrines that were being taught and took some followers with him. They were all arrested by an opposing bishop. After a while, all were released but John, who was deemed to dangerous to release. He was able to leave to attend to his dying wife by promising that he would return to prison when he could. True to his word, he returned after his wife died, but in so doing he left his children destitute. They finally appealed to the bishop to release their father. His heart was somewhat softened, and he released him on condition that he leave the country and never return. He took his children and 32 of his followers and went to America where he settled among the Puritans where he was accepted and loved. He was also the 5th great grandfather to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. It was interesting to see how the Lord worked with a righteous man preparing for the restoration of the gospel many generations previous to these men who were so pivotal in the work. I was told that I could continue my lesson when I teach next time, which is great because I'll already be mostly prepared.

Dan and Jieun went to Boston this week for Jieun's mother's wedding. He sent a few pictures: