let’s roll

Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I have benefited from the wisdom in a number of your posts over the years. I appreciate your well and fence metaphors. My experience after having lived in Wards in seven different states and one foreign country is that my perception of the depth of the well has varied in each congregation. In some places I found the well so deep and productive that I was often able to drink my fill. In other places I spent most of my time with my spiritual shovel, trying to help make the well deeper and more productive, finding that such efforts often had their own reward. I can’t speak to fences. I’m not one who notices fences even if others make efforts to make sure everyone acknowledges and stays within their metaphorical boundaries. Better, I believe, to be guided by Deity, regardless of where that guidance leads and whose fences might be breached. Wishing you Godspeed in your journey.

In most cases, I doubt judges ever see the letters. While in law school (in the ‘80’s)I interned in the AG’s office for a couple of years and for part of that time worked with Adult Probation and Parole which, at that time, prepared Presentencing Reports for judges. My understanding was that any correspondence sent to a judge’s chambers was forwarded, unopened, to APP for review. APP would evaluate what portion of that correspondence, if any, would be included in the report. In my experience in preparing roughly 50 PRs, there were letters submitted by Bishops in 3 or 4 of those. We chose not to include any text from any of those but included a reference to the letter in a list of submitted character reference letters. The letters were returned to the judges chambers with a copy kept by APP. I also received a few phone calls from Bishops. My recollection of those calls was that in each case the Bishop indicated that the convict’s family had requested the Bishop reach out. I suspect all of those calls were made first to the judge’s chambers, with the judge’s staff then directing them to APP. I would listen and let the Bishop know that I was sure the family would be grateful that he reached out. I handled those as I did the letters. The call was listed in the report but no detail was included.

Agreed, with the caveat that, as with many things, there is the genuine and the counterfeit. We do well not to let the latter dissuade us from belief in the former.

Elvis is offended that he wasn’t included in the picture.

very enthusiastic and excited infatuation about someone or something. "moviegoers went gaga over Harry Potter"

There’s a golf ball up there that would provide evidence…🙂. Frankly, I have no problem believing there was a moon landing in 1969. I do struggle with the characterization of another moon landing nearly 60 years later as some marvel of science. There are some more practical reasons for going back that I think have been largely ignored, supplanted by lots of space gaga.

Just in time. 😉

AFTER ALL What does it mean that His grace will save after all that I can do. Does He stand aside and watch me try til I ultimately fail And once I’m spent I stand aside to watch His strength prevail? Or will He lift me from the very start Do we strive, labor, and weep together, and not apart Perhaps after all, all that I can do is ask in faith that He abide with me To hasten my conversion from who I am to who I want to be

Most of the Venezuelans I’ve spoken to are living in Peru or were visiting Peru while living in Bolivia, Columbia or Ecuador. Many of the Venezuelans I’ve spoken to in the U.S. are relatives of the Venezuelans I met in Peru. Part of my role in Peru was tracking the Church properties in Venezuela that were taken by the Venezuelan government, including being briefed by lawyers in Venezuela regarding political/government affairs in that country.

Millions of Venezuelans disagree with you. I’ve had a chance to speak with scores of them. They’re not rebels with muskets but they are as hungry for self determination as the colonists were and have pined for U.S. intervention for years. They welcome U.S. involvement to augment their quest for self determination via a functioning democracy. Since they haven’t seen any benefits from their countries natural resources for years, they welcome U.S. oil company investments to modernize and monetize those resources, knowing that such investment isn’t certain because of the history of instability of capitalism in Venezuela. While your outlook is filled with a long list of horrible what ifs, Venezuelans see, for the first time in many years, a reason to hope for a better day for themselves and their country. The next step for many of them is to see sufficient evidence of stability, civil and economic, to make moving back home a wise decision and most agree that the only way that will happen is with some level of continuing U.S. involvement.

Maybe you can read up on it and let me know why you think the motivations of the French were so morally pristine.

Lucky for us the French didn’t feel the same way.

Condolences to you and your family Navidad. Having an adult son who is profoundly autistic (non-verbal), I feel a kinship with you and an acute sense of your loss. Because our son’s cognitive disability is such that he is unable to make informed decisions and is thus not accountable for his actions, he has not been baptized. I know you have close ties to the LDS community in your area so you may already be familiar with that tenet of the LDS faith, and not being aware of the severity of your son’s autism, don’t know whether it would apply in his case. My heart mourns with you.

The windows of heaven opening for tithe payers, like the glory of God being made manifest in the lives of those with physical or mental challenges, can occur in a variety of ways. We do well to be open to His omniscient will on how those blessings manifest themselves, thereby learning to recognize and benefit from His will, rather than expecting our will to be done.

Are there 10, 20 or 1,000 angels dancing on the head of that pin? Wait, is that a pin or a thumbtack? Just trying to cool the temperature a bit. Carry on everyone, you all seem to be intrigued by the dialogue.