God Bless This Great Country In Our Time Of Need

The following is from the Dedicatory Prayer of the Los Angeles California Temple given by President David O. McKay 11 March 1956.

We are grateful for this land of America, “choice above all other lands.” The freedom vouchsafed by the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees to every man the right to worship Thee in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience, made possible the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. O Father, may the American people not forget Thee! Help us to see the greatness of this country and to minimize its weaknesses. We express gratitude for the right of the people to resort to the ballot, and for freedom to meet in legislative halls to settle problems and disputes without fear of coercion of dictators, secret police, or slave camps. Help people everywhere to sense more clearly that government exists for the protection of the individual—not the individual for the government.

This is our home away from home.
It has been our privilege to serve in this temple since March 4, 1987.
Serving the Lord has become our life not only in this beautiful House of the Lord but in all we do. Our service in the temple has included, serving in the following positions over the past 21 years.
Ordinance Workers, Baptistery Supervisors, Trainers, June as shift coordinator and the Assistant to two of the Temple Matrons Shelia Packard and Charlene Sorenson. Bill as a sealer for the past 20 years and the Second Counselor in the Temple Presidency to President LaVon Heber Packard and First Counselor to President Nile Alma Sorenson. Our service has been highlighted by serving in the Nauvoo Illinois Temple during the months of April 2004 through October 2004. The Nauvoo service was like the frosting on the cake. As in the Los Angeles Temple, we have served with and associated with the greatest people anyone could associate with.
As a Sealer I have had the privilege to Seal about 1,000 couples (marriage). Many of these couples had been married for "time, and until death do ye part." A temple sealing for couples and their children is for "time and all Eternity." We as Latter-day Saints believe that marriage should be for the Eternities not until death do ye part. Families are and should be Eternal.
I received the Authority to seal from President Ezra Taft Benson under delegated authority to Elder Boyd K. Packer a member of the Twelve Apostles on December 10, 1988. That authority gave me the Sealing powers and authority to seal for the living and the dead in the Los Angeles, California Temple.
As it states in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 2:17. "And Behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."
We, as a couple, are happy and grateful for the blessings we received. We were blessed to retire at the age of 57 and dedicate the balance of our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ for the building up of His Kingdom here on the earth.

The Flagpole

The Flag Pole Story

As you can determine by the looks of our home we are not pretentious people.
We live in a quiet, respectful neighborhood. Our home is small and very comfortable for the two of us. It is a Grandma, Grandpa type home.
We have one bedroom, office, sewing room, living room, family room, laundry room , two bathrooms and a kitchen. When people come to stay we have 148 suites at the Hilton Hotel a few blocks away for guests.
We are of the conservative persuasion and not of any political party because they are too liberal for us. We were Republicans but that party became the same as the Democrats and we are left without a party.
I served in the US Navy during part of WWII as a Radarman aboard the USS Sacramento in the Pacific Theater of war.
We have shown our patriotism by flying the US flag at our homes for many years.
You can see we have a 20’ flag pole in our yard. We have the flag high up because we have had the misfortune of having four flags stolen from our previous small flagpole.
This flagpole allows us to fly the flag all the time day and night. We have a spotlight on the flag at night. It is high enough so it cannot be stolen.
You would think in our neighborhood we would not have this problem. In today’s world it seems not to matter where you live. There is someone who will do there best to disturb the peaceful way of life.
May our country’s flag fly high and bright as we go through these difficult times. Are you flying your flag?