Not to mention a dedicated and conscientious home teacher and servant of all.

He's a good egg, for sure.

Ditto to all of the above, I don't know what is up as I don't see all of Ray's posts. But I see him as a very caring person, ie about his daughters/wife, hometeaching family, others who struggle in his ward, etc.
When you first used to post to the sister city, sometimes I would think you- as reflected in the posts I saw- just seemed silly. However, then you shared your deeper, truer side. You have a good way of writing and expressing things, and I am sorry I used to not get your initial posts.

There was something you recently posted here and I appreciated how well you said what you said.

The Lord is lucky to have you serving in your part of the world. We are lucky to have you here, sharing your humor and insights.

And it spreads Palmon: this past week I met someone named Pamela and I thought of you, "Pammy" and that thread where that name was borne!

ray- You have a good heart and I really appreciate your honesty. I enjoy your point of view and you share it with love.

So, what's going on? Is this something bigger than the usual, everyday, run-of-the-mill self doubt?

Or maybe roper's feeling a little overwhelmed/overemotional with school starting, etc...?


You have permission to cry on my shoulder (just this once)... just no runny noses, please.

-- Edited by Cocobeem at 07:28, 2007-08-27

Scouts... hubby's joy... I like what it does for the boys... I miss hubby when he is gone... I think love of the boys is probably the biggest asset. Hubby has a way of loving the ones that NOBODY seems to love...

Edited to finish my thought:  I has always seemed to ME that Ray does that too... 

-- Edited by PollyAnna at 12:58, 2007-08-27

Is Ray in mourning because he was called as scoutmaster? Of course, we don't know what that's like in our house! (And, if you have been called Ray, then your wife is a scoutmaster widow just like me). But if Ray needs some building up then I must say that he is a caring, spiritual giant. He has a wicked sense of humor similar to Cat's. (Maybe that's why they get along so well).
And, I have faith that he can accomplish anything he sets his mind to and he will do it well! From what I've seen on this forum (long before I joined even) Ray has an ability to be supportive of everyone, so we should be supportive of him in whatever he needs.

Hi all. Thanks Roper and everyone. You're very kind.

I spent this weekend at my friend's house of whom I mentioned that was having all sorts of issues with the Word of Wisdom. Someone called CPS and so the whole ward has been frantically helping them "gut" their house... It was both a very humbling and very decent chance for everyone to help.

I sometimes think after those sorts of experiences that spending time on message boards is something I do to avoid doing the actual business of the church... which is getting physically in the lives of others... I feel badly that I talk so much. I just want so much to share with others how great God really has been to me, but often it comes off as boasting, or just plain being obnoxious, but the language that I understand is often obnoxious...

So I decided this week to just take a break from Bountiful and Nauvoo for a week... See if I could do it, and then Roper goes and posts this, and Cat sent me an email... I've turned off most of the news too... I'm instead hoping to finish the New Testament this week during my commute... rather than listening to talk radio... :)

It's so easy to see the bad in others. To see their problems. But the scriptures tell us not just to be wary of bad things... but make us look at ourselves and see the good in others.

You are all so good. Keep trying. Don't give up. Try your best to look at every day as a great blessing from the Almighy... I know it is... I know by my faith...

I have just felt such gratitude lately. This morning when I woke up the family for family prayer, I told the girls, that we were going to do something more fun and better than going to Disneyland--or a trip to the beach, better than Candy, or eating a whole box of popsicles!!

WE were having our Family Prayer!!

I think sometimes we talk about our journey of faith. For so long I have sought to be unique, to find a path that is "mine". I have been thinking about things others have said here, and it occurs to me that my path is in the church, living the basic principles that inspired teachers and prophets have been counselling us to follow... I had to find this out for myself, but the path itself is not necessarily the one that others haven't taken either... and I'm okay with that.

I have felt to sing the song of Redeeming love that comes of learning of Christ--and I know that Christ is alive and well in the true and living church... the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

--Ray

PS> I wrote this about an experience I had in the temple early morning on Saturday...

Yesterday before heading to the neighbor's house to help them, I attended the really early morning temple session. As we got to the endowment room, they informed us that it would be a Samoan session. So they handed me a little white box and headphones! I thought, I probably don't need these... boy was I wrong... it was so easy to get lost without the constant guidance of a voice I understood. At one point when I wasn't paying attention I nearly made a fool of myself... hehe... Near the end I flipped the device from English to Spanish. I was surprised that I actually could follow that pretty easily. Mostly because I know the language of the ceremony well enough and Italian and Spanish are very similar (they didn't have a setting for Italian).

It was humbling to be there in the midst of an experience I loved but with it being in a language I didn't understand at all. It was so different from any latin based language. There was a woman--one of the helpers in the session--you could tell she was a cancer survivor, because of her hair and just how frail she was... she had her little head phones on too. The officiator likewise had them. They were all smiles. So positive, though they, like me, had no idea how to speak Samoan. She didn't look like the type of person who had even touched a computer or electronics, yet there was was grinning ear to ear with her headphones that took up nearly half her head--doing the service for those who had come to worship the Most High.

It just made me think about how we depend upon a simple thing like language. I was reminded of the humiliating experience of learning a language before... on my mission when I wanted so badly to share the gospel, but couldn't say a word of encouragement for the lack of language... We may have the best intentions, but without the words, we are so limited. Likewise we may want to make the world the best place, but without the language of God's love, we will never make a dent... then again maybe that's not the point... I thought about how my friend and his family was having so many problems, and it occurred to me that we are all learning to speak the Language of God... The Gospel and that in many ways we're all infants in this journey, trying to learn the language of true love--learning to love God and learning to love our fellow men.

Anyhow just some random thoughts... May God bless you in your own pursuits...


-- Edited by rayb at 13:28, 2007-08-27

Well, you take your week away from here Ray... you deserve it, it will do you good, and I know the feeling. Just next time, make sure you warn us in advance! That way we can all prep ourselves for going cold turkey on our raybies addiction, ya insensitive clod...

I'm admire Ray for taking some time off from this place. He probably deserves it. But, doggonit I'm starting to miss the pompous 'ole windbag. (Hey, Jen said it first).
I'm just as addicted as Cat now.