Time to Blog again. I will be blogging again. I had stopped, and was just doing facebook. But I'm back, because I have thoughts and pictures to share!

A "love" story you never yet heard about President Kimball...

Let me tell you a story. In April of 1996 I was a sister missionary in the MTC, learning Dutch and preparing to travel to Holland, the home of my ancestors. One Sunday our zone was gathered together for sacrament meeting--I can still see the room in my mind. We sat and absorbed the talks and testimonies of our zone's branch presidency--three kind and wonderful men who took the time to be there for us and counsel with us every week. The first counselor began to speak--he was a tall, dignified, somewhat reserved elderly man. As it is often said, I don't recall what he said, but I do recall the feeling I had (and where I was sitting in the room... ;)

As he spoke, the image of President Kimball kept coming to my mind. He was not speaking of the deceased prophet, he didn't mention him at all, nor ever had he, but the image and thought of Pres. Kimball persisted. It was as if the prophet were standing right next to him. Before entering the MTC, I had read one of Kimball's books, and so I recognized the particular sense of his personality, though I had never met the man. The spiritual sensation was particularly strong and utterly persistent. Even when this branch presidency member finished speaking and sat down, I could sense Pres. Kimball every time I just looked at him. In fact, just thinking back on the situation, I can still remotely sense it.

I thought to myself, "this is very odd...why am I sensing this..."

When the sacrament meeting came to an end, I thought I should say something to this man about my sensation. I felt silly and embarrassed though, because it was such an off-the-wall sensation, and maybe I was just imaging things...and I felt embarrassed because I was a shy young girl and he was a very dignified, restrained older man. However! I just forced myself to do it, thankfully, otherwise I would not have a story to tell.

When I finally shyly told him that I continually sensed Pres. Kimball whenever I looked at him, a very shocked expression immediately fell upon him, like he had just seen something fantastical-- and a teary mist sprung to his eyes. Suddenly, he was no longer restrained. Still seeming shocked, he told me that he had been Pres. Kimball's personal secretary for many years, and had served the prophet in that position up until his death. He spoke to me about the prophet.

Sometime during the ensuing week, the branch presidency returned one evening for a personal interview with each of the missionaries, and the first counselor spoke with me. I was struggling a lot that day (I think I was very homesick, and I was physically sick and fatigued all the time while in the MTC), and wanted to have a priesthood blessing. I explained this to him, but said I felt slightly insecure and uncomfortable asking for one, since I had already had a blessing fairly recently. Then the subject of President Kimball came to the fore. This Branch Counselor told me I should absolutely never feel that way--absolutely never be hesitant or feel ashamed in any way to ask for as much spiritual assistance as I needed. He then told me that during the last years of Pres. Kimball's life, when he was suffering from very ill health, the prophet asked for and received hundreds of priesthood blessings, many administered by this man himself.

Hundreds.
I felt astounded.

Not much more needs to be said...I think the inherent lessons are obvious. Over the years this experience occasionally comes to my mind, as it has lately. It still amazes, impresses and teaches me. As Pres. Kimball exemplified, there is no end to the help the Lord will give us. Sometimes we hold back from doing challenging things in life--although it may be something we really want, and perhaps even something the Lord expects of us--we hold back because the challenge, commitment, or prospective situation just seems too hard or too overwhelming. But as the prophet demonstrated, we can jump in, survive and prevail if we ask for enough spiritual help. And sometimes "enough" is a whole lot. And humility is certainly an ingredient---being humble enough to enter into and embrace our weakness for a time, asking for and accepting a mountain of help.

The "love" part of the story could be viewed as Pres. Kimball's love for, and comfort level with the Lord. However, today I'm thinking of the love this man, Pres. Kimball's secretary, had for his dear friend the prophet--his love for the man he supported and served through many years. It occurs to me now how beautiful it is that the two of them--these two friends and companions--had become permanent parts of one another. So much so that when I saw one, I sensed the other--without any prior knowledge of their connection.

That is a beautiful love and devotion. One unhindered by the frost of death. The friend, the companion he grew to love, strongly lingered with him still.

Spencer Kodaly Music School

I have not posted for so long! I had an extremely busy semester that left me a bit breathless. I started a new job as an editor at BYU, and I kept my neurons very active in graduate counterpoint and 19th-century music classes. I made the final decision to pursue a Ph.D. in Music Composition and Theory, which is a great accomplishment (coming to a decision, I mean). It has taken me a long time to decide which direction is best for a Ph.D. So I've been spending as much time as I can composing music.

I'm starting to teach my 2, almost 3-year old nephew Joseph organ lessons. He is advanced for his age, so he will be able to start on a very basic level. He talks about organs and Bach every single day. I am going to do a Kodaly-based music class this spring/summer for my nieces and nephews, and it will be a very good class, for ages 2-6. I might split it up into two classes; 2-3, and 4-6. We will do music and movement, learn to read rhythms, learn to sing perfectly in tune, and learn about composers. I have a lot of training in this area, I am Kodaly-certified, studied with world experts, and taught hundreds of children over a period of several years. If someone else who's not related would really like to be involved, then they are welcome to come. Or even if they just want to observe the teaching method. I will charge some money, but it won't be expensive. (I am back in school full-time, so struggling student and all of that). So far those invited are Joseph Sharp, Isaac, Caleb, Cameron, Emma and Madeleine Spencer, and Adam and Andrew Hirsch. And of course Dylan, Joseph and Jacob Spencer if they were here! We will have a little performance for parents at the end of class, and get T-shirts and other learning equipment to keep at home. Again, if anyone else is interested, they may join the Spencer Kodaly Music School. Just email me. It will be fun and we will be learning a lot.

State of the Family Address:
A personal history of Our Personal History

Once upon a time, in a strange land far, far away, many missionaries labored with very little success. They have been laboring now in this land for almost 150 years, and never have they experienced much success. But one day, as the story is told, two young missionaries in this land began visiting a poverty-stricken family who did not even have enough shoes for all of their children to own a pair. The missionaries were good, and taught the Gospel as they do...and the old, shoeless Dutch family resisted change, as they do. Still, the missionaries continued to visit, to prod and to gently persuade. And as it goes, no commitments came.

But then this story takes a bend; in the throes of desparation (a condition so very well-known to all Dutch missionaries past and present) a brilliant deal was struck. The Dutch father proposed the baptism of himself and his family if the missionaries would buy pairs of shoes for the children. Well, that sounded win/win! The missionaries agreed, and the rest is history.....the history of my family and yours. Those family members were our first Dutch ancestors to join the Church in Holland. Sound a little strange? Well, dear reader, it is. Nevertheless, out of small, highly questionable beginnings, very great things have come to pass. Read on...

I love accomplishing temple work for my ancestors. I consider this to be perhaps the greatest responsibility I have in my life (and one we all have, naturally). In the first place, without the Dutch/German language skills I gained on my full-time mission, I would not have been able to do the work for my family, my Dutch maternal grandparents having immigrated from the Netherlands to the United States in 1948. My paternal grandfather was pure Swedish, and his wife is pure Danish. Hence, we have no American ancestors at all, and all the research to be done is in Dutch, German, Danish or Swedish. I have worked very hard on my language skills, but have also been blessed with the gift of tongues in order to do this work. It is my extremely sincere hope and prayer that some other family members, perhaps nieces or nephews, will be able to carry on the work when I'm gone--that they will learn the language(s) and have the Spirit of Elijah and testimony to pick up where I will have left off. I'm praying for someone(s) to pop up that I can train--so the baton can be passed on and not drop dead. Ach, bitte!

I work on my maternal Grandparents (Dutch) side exclusively---which contains some German and Belgian lines as well. My great Aunt Willi Van Weezup, Grandpa Flink's sister, began the work; she recently died, but before she died I received a paper copy of all her work. She and her husband, John Van Weezup, spent their lives in a career working for the Family History Library in SLC. They were the Church's Dutch experts for several decades, and the Church sent them out to microfilm records in the Netherlands and many other places---they were employees for the Church rather than missionaries (we have other relative who held important leadership positions in Genealogical Societies in Holland and the US---our family has perhaps one of the largest bodies of accomplished temple work of any Church members of Dutch descent). My sweet little Dutch great-aunt Willi did tremendous work with the help of her husband John---she researched and performed the work for at least 2,000 of her (our) ancestors. A great accomplishment--much harder in those days than it is today! I have expanded her work and added 4,000 more ancestors (have almost completed the temple work for all of those). I hope that she is able to look at this from "the next world" and is happy to see her work expanded. Many thousands are also done on Grandma Flink's side--Great-grandpa Riebeek was president of the Genealogical Society of the Netherlands. My personal goal is to take care that I submit work for 20,000 individuals by the time I die, with 8,000 of these individuals having ordinances completed by me and my family and close friends (the other 12,000 submitted to the temple). This may seem huge, but it's very do-able if I live to be 85-90. Good to have goals! Perhaps at some point I will move on to some Swedish and Danish ancestors. Don't know yet--just try to follow feeling as I get them. Thanks to those early twentieth-century missionaries and their shoe deal, great and marvelous things are coming to pass.

It is my conviction and knowledge that millions and millions of those who have lived on this Earth have accepted the Gospel and are simply waiting very anxiously to have their ordinance work done in Temples. And when we do this work for them, they are strongly empowered to bless us in a very personal way. If any person is struggling greatly in any aspect of their lives, they should turn themselves to this work, and their problems will melt away like snow before the Spring sun. Or at least the problem will be greatly diminshed. Countless miracles have happened to me as a result of this work. I am glad to see that some family members have this same testimony, and are faithful with the work, and I hope that many more will catch "genealogy fever", and take full advantage of this great oppurtunity and great responsibility that we have. Please "experiment on the word" in regard to this commandment. You won't regret it, and it will change your life in ways you didn't imagine.

Many, many of our ancestors took a very active part in the Protestant Reformation. We have at least 100 direct ancestors that were protestant ministers in Holland and Germany. We have many scholars, academics, writers, painters and professional musicians coming down through some of these lines, along with thousands of poor laborers in other lines. Perhaps I'll write some little blogs about interesting individuals in the family tree.

We have been working hard on a family named "Broedelet" who is French-Belgian, Wallonian, in origin (they became Protestants and immigrated to Utrecht, Netherlands for religious tolerance). Did you ever wonder where that strange brother Tom came from? His French intellectual flair came from the Broedelets. Did you ever wonder where the family's artistic, musical, reading/writing disposition came from? The Broedelets. They were a highly accomplished and well-known family in Dutch History, including several important Dutch authors and painters. We will accomplish the temple work for everyone in the entire world who has ever held the name Broedelet since 1500! The broedelets are almost finished, with just a few left....

Now we will be moving on to help our German ancestors, who lived generally in "Ostfriesland", a province found in the north-west corner of modern Germany. They spoke "Low German" in that region, which could be described as 60% Dutch and 40% German. Also of note; most Spencer grandchildren have loads of German blood, since almost all of the spouses to my siblings have lots of German blood. So as a group we have a great responsibility to our German ancestors. Then there is some of that Scottish/Irish thrown in there (Tom, Warren, Michelle and Robin's families), but I'm afraid I can't help there!

Whoever you are, discover the fascinating story of your ancestors---they are watching you and waiting for all of us. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Waiting is hard (something I'm well-acquainted with). If we solve their problems, they'll solve ours. They are around us every day, and we can feel their presence quite tangibly and regularly if we seek for that. Temple work brings us to a spiritual neavou achievable by no other means. This is the only extensive soap-boxed subject you'll ever hear from me. I hope this message was somewhat interesting, and that you recognize the humor in paragraph 1 (though it's a true story through and through!).

OLYMPIC THOUGHTS

A couple thoughts on the Beijing olympics....I felt true joy when I heard Pres. Bush interviewed in Beijing and he talked quite extensively about his efforts to convince the Chinese President (0r whatever his title is) to recognize all the underground Christian churches in the country. He said "I pressed the point everytime I talked with him". I love that he wasn't in the least bit shy or hesitant to push for religious freedom with the Chinese leader. I know that some of my readers don't like the President very much, but he did some very good work over there, and I know the Lord is working hard to turn China into a better place, so that the Restored Gospel can be preached there, and also so that the people can simply have a better life. The Lord works in his own way, and it's interesting to see how that is unfolding in China.

And on a very different note, aren't those male gymnasts cute? I love watching gymnastics....if I had an "alternate" life or 2 or 3, I'd love to learn to leap into the sky like that. Watching always inspires me to whip myself into shape!

Exercise, please

I'm into exercising lately. I used to jog a lot...but...not in the last three years....
So now my routine is playing basketball and doing strengthening exercises at home. It's better than nothing. The hard part is that no one wants to play basketball anymore. Sad. Hopefully they will get into it again soon. I work on lots of posture type exercises because I have chronic headaches, and these exercises have helped a lot. I learned them from my doctor. The other thing I wish I could do a lot is dance---like folk dance. I'm enrolling in a folk dance class in the fall, which will be fun. But when I try to get other people to learn folk dances with me, they just are not quite as excited about it as I am.....I want to learn Irish dancing, that would be fun. By the way, I have no talent for dancing, but I like it.

Joseph and Bach: Soul Mates



This is Joseph, and this is Bach. Joseph is my nephew and the older brother of "Baby Trina". He is almost 2 years and 4 months old. He has always loved music, and began his musical life by playing the trombone. He is able to produce various tones and use the slide while marching; it's quite an impressive sight. Recently Joseph discovered that he loves pipe organs, and he talks about "organ pipes" every day. Naturally, he also loves J.S. Bach as well. He also talks about Bach every day. He knows that Bach got into a little duel with his sword as a young man, and so Joseph like to talk about 'going to castles to fight dragons with Bach'. When Joseph creates his own music out of household items, as all kids like to do, he calls it "Bach music."

He asked me many times if he could see some pipe organs, so I finally planned a trip for him and his 4-year-old nephew Adam, who is a beautiful singer, to visit some pipe organs at BYU. The highlight of the trip for Joseph was visiting my friend Doug Bush in his office with his "big organ". Joseph took his opportunity to meet Bro. Bush very seriously, and became very excited. So the two were introduced, and Joseph got to listen to Doug play, and examine his first real pipe organ. Joseph was overwhelmed with all the organ pictures on the walls, and was very excited when he saw the very large picture of Bach in the room. Upon seeing it, he yelled out, "that's Bach!". Adam also enjoyed the trip. Later he said to me, "that was a fun place. I got to hear the organ, and see how you play it." Adam also played "hot cross buns" on the organ a number of times. Every day now, Joseph asks me if I'll take him back. Joseph get's a little confused though, and sometimes he thinks that Doug is Bach himself...




This is Adam with his older brother Andrew--Adam was three here. Adam great love is singing, and he has an extraordinary voice. He recently composed a song called, "I love you", and another called "don't cry". His eyelashes are 'to die for', and make many women jealous. He already turns the heads of little girls and old ladies, and everyone in between. And his spirit is as beautiful as his beaming face and silver voice--he is very warm and loving.

I love Food! Episode I: Asian food
Asian food is probably my favorite cuisine, though it's hard to say that, since I love all good food :) One of my goals is to learn to cook all my favorite dishes. I love Thai, Indian, Korean and Japanese cuisines, in that order. So far I have lots of cookbooks with lots of amazing pictures, but that's as far as I've gotten. I love to cook, but not as a solitary activity, I like to do it as a group activity, with friends or family. The first thing I'd like to learn is Bibimpop, my beloved Korean dish, pictured here. Featured below are some more of my favorite asian dishes. In order of appearance, they are: , spring rolls, pad thai, curry dish, miso soup, Tom yum gong (a wonderful Thai soup), and sushi (I love it when I'm in the mood for it). Then a a lovely boiled egg creation: a baby chick! Last but not least is Mango sticky rice dessert (must try this)