My Egyptian Friend

As I have been watching the news unfold in Egypt I have been praying for the safety of my Facebook friend who lives in Cairo. I want to share my story about him with anyone who may be reading because I think it is special, at least to me.

Sometime last year, around April or May, I "liked" a page on Facebook where they send you pictures of LDS temples randomly through the month. One of the first pictures I saw was a beautiful shot of the Manti Temple taken from the cemetery at the foot of Temple Hill. This is a special cemetery to me because one of my ancestors is buried there. I thought the visual idea of the cemetery headstones and the temple was very fitting. There were only a few comments so I clicked on them to see what people were saying. It was the typical "I love this picture" type of comments, but one really stood out. His name was Adam Smith, and he said he didn't know this building but got such a warm feeling when he saw it, and he would like to know more if anyone would be kind enough to send him any information. It was evident from his sentence structure and word choice that he was not from the United States, although his English was very good. I continued to read comments thinking that surely someone would comment on his comment, but no one did. I went back to his comment and clicked on his name, which sent me to his Facebook wall. From what I saw there I assumed that he had just started up his Facebook account because there wasn't much there, and very few friends. I noticed he listed his home as Cairo, Egypt. That was a shocker!

I left him a message on his wall, offering to answer any questions I could about the building and the church it belongs to. He wrote back in just a few minutes, saying he didn't know what to even ask but wanted to know about that building, and that no one else had responded to his request for information. Then he added, "Just let me pray for a bit and then I will know what to ask." (Paraphrasing from what I recall.) In our next exchange I asked him if he had a Bible, which he said he did, but it was in Arabic, which he speaks along with English. He did look up lds.org on the internet but couldn't find any church near him in "this desert I live in." He then proceeded to tell him how much he wanted to leave the area and get to some place safer. That is when my warning signs took over. "If he asks for money, I'm gone!" But he never did, not even suggesting any such thing.

He continued asking questions about the church, asking several every day. He soon started posting links to church videos, and asking for a Book of Mormon. During this time his friend list was growing a bit each day, as he added more LDS friends that were beginning to respond to the questions he posted on his wall. He was just yearning for information about the church.

During the next month he told me in private messages that he would be in danger if anyone found his conversations about an American church, that his believes were so different from the Muslims in his country. He admitted that his name was not really "Adam Smith" but that he had made that name up because he sounded American, and perhaps it would be not followed by the authorities in his area. He gave me his real name, and his national number "so if you have need to find me you might be able to." Here is a quote from one of his messages:

i tried to have the political asylum to usa to feel safe when i change my dogmatic background but no body care in embassy with me cause im just normal one from 75 milinos people live in egypt so i have to be someone vip or politician or bussiness man so im losing the hope day after day. by the way happy happy birth day

I was still worrying about him asking for help and was ready to step back if he did, but he never has.

He has asked so many questions about the church, some very funny ones. One day he wanted to talk to the modern prophets and tell them they need a temple in Egypt so the people could go there to pray. He said he couldn't find their email addresses on lds.org so he wanted to me send him a list of their email addresses. I explain that would not be possible, but I was sure they wanted a temple there as well. Many times he mentioned that one day he would love to be in an LDS temple to pray. He continued to post links to LDS pictures, videos, and music. Along with music like Frank Sinatra! He just seems like a very special guy that want to learn. He wanted to know if Mormons believed in send flowers to people because he heard we did not. I told him not to let my husband know because he always sends me flowers! He responded with laughing saying how could he be so unbelieving when God created beautiful flowers of course his people would give them to each other.

Sometime during the summer we were finally able to get a Book of Mormon to him, which he loves reading. He commented several times on how special he "felt" when he read that book. Then in October all communications from him stopped. In December he returned and said that he had spent two month in jail for his "dogmatic' believes. He had a terrible time but didn't share what had happened.

You can find his Facebook page from my facebook page. He is listed as one of my friends. I am really concerned for his safety. I can envision him as one of those early church pioneers that the Lord places in areas to plant the seed of the gospel. I hope that he can continue to learn about the church, and someday be able to enter the temple to pray.

Another Year Older.....

It was Dallas's birthday on Tuesday. I got up early and wrote a note on his facebook wall, but didn't get something written here. It was a busy morning and time just got away from me. The rest of the day was just as busy. I didn't mean to 'forget' his special day, but my mind can only do so many things in a day any more. I hope he had a very happy birthday. Please don't take it personal that I didn't write a public happy birthday. In reality, it seems like just a few weeks ago since your last birthday! Time is just flying by too quickly. Happy birthday to Dallas.

Answers to Silent Prayers Or...

Our First Adventure of the Year!.....Or.......Many other titles.

We spent the day just doing absolutely nothing. What a great day. We didn't even eat breakfast until it was time for lunch. (That way you only have to have two meals instead of three.) We watched the parade, and a few football games, thought of taking down the Christmas tree but didn't until after our "adventure." I did spent some time in the den doing some paper work and signed up for a school site which required me to use my debit card, so I knew that my wallet was in the den at one point of the day. And that lead to part of our adventure. I actually even spent some time in the kitchen making out a menu for the month, including a shopping list. I'm sure the menu won't be followed, but it was a start. And also part of our big adventure.

I started getting ready to go to the grocery store (aka Food Ranch). When I stepped back into the living room my wonderful husband suggested we take a ride up the canyon to see the lake and the snow up there. I thought it sounded great, so we grabbed our coats and headed out. The drive was beautiful. We even needed our sunglasses because of the reflection off the snow. Straight Canyon was cold, and we watched the temperature go lower and lower. When we got to Joes Valley we saw only one lonely fisherman sitting on the ice just before we reached the first boat ramp. We hadn't passed very many other vehicles along the way at all. As we drove around the turn by Lowry Water I always look in the tall dead trees to see if there are any eagles. There was a huge one! It was then that I realized I had thought about getting our camera but I hadn't followed that still, small voice and had left home without it. It was a huge bird, probably the biggest we had ever seen. We drove on around the lake and I realized I did have a camera on my phone, which I had never used, so I got out my phone and went about trying to figure out how to use it. We drove toward the Marina, but at the intersection to Seeley Creek the road had not been plowed so we turned around and headed back home. As we neared the place where the bird was in the tree, we slowed down and thought of trying to take a picture because the bird was still in the tree. Of course, the phone camera didn't zoom in, but I wanted a picture anyway, just to see if the camera worked. We tried to roll down the window, but it wouldn't go down. We hoped it was frozen and not broken like it had been earlier this year. I opened the door just a bit so I could avoid taking the picture through the window, but it was too cold to step out, so I closed the door and took the picture through the rolled-up window. Couldn't see the bird in the tree, but got a nice picture of the mountain across the lake.

As we drove home we came to Paul Peacock's home and had to stop because of a truck in the middle of the road. We soon found out the truck was stopped so the occupant could wait for a huge buck to cross the road. He almost didn't make the first jump up the mountain, but we watched as it climbed on up the mountain. It was a huge buck, over 5 points, big and beautiful! Again, didn't get the camera out fast enough, and the phone camera wouldn't have gotten the majesty of that animal.

I mentioned that we needed to go to the grocery store and, of course, I had to make a pit stop as well, so we headed home. At home we gathered up the shopping list, and since I thought I had taken my wallet to the car when we first left home, we went back to the car. But I couldn't find my wallet out there in the car, so we went back to the house to look for it. We walked back through the house and couldn't find a wallet. I thought back through the day and remembered I had it in the den, went there, but no wallet. We looked high and low, searched the house and the car, but no wallet. It wasn't like it could be buried anywhere (Ok, in my house, it could have been!) I remembered placing it on the piano when Garth suggested we go for a ride, but it wasn't there. I couldn't remember actually taking it to the car so I wasn't sure it was ever there, but we checked around in the car. (We did find the insurance cards Garth had misplaced.) We were both getting to the point that we were wondering where in the world it could be. We walked back through our drive and knew that we hadn't gotten out anywhere.....then I remembered that I had opened up my door to take a picture, but I never stepped out of the car. That was the only place where a door was opened until we got home in our driveway. That was the only place we hadn't looked.

So....back up the canyon to the only place that we could imagine that wallet to be. In order for it to have fallen out of the car, it would have had to have been on my lap when I opened the door, and I didn't remember it there. All the way up Straight Canyon I thought of someone stopping and picking it up. I knew there weren't many people on that road, and anyone who was on the road was probably from Emery County and they are all nice people. They would bring the wallet home to me, wouldn't they? There wasn't any money in it, but there was my bank card (with my monthly salary that had just been deposited into my bank account). My insurance cards were there, and two of my medical debit cards...and my drivers license,...and my temple recommend....I'm sure someone would bring it back to me, wouldn't they? Silent prayers were said all the way up the canyon. I would be lost without my wallet. I'm always telling my girls to keep their things in their wallets and keep their wallets where they can find them....and here I had lost mine. It was getting to be 5:00 and we knew there wouldn't be much more sunlight, so we were in a hurry. And again, near Paul Peacock's, a deer ran across the road........Garth pushed on the brakes, and missed it....a silent prayer answered....
The rest of the trip was uneventful. We passed a few vehicles heading back down and I wondered if each one was bringing my wallet back to me. Again, we rounded the turn around Lowry Water and slowed down, looking for the exact spot where we stopped to take that picture. There, sitting nice and happy on the side of the snow drift, was my black wallet. A bit frozen, but not hurt at all. What a blessing! I have never been so happy to see something in a long time. It is so strange that it fell out at all. I didn't open the door very wide, didn't step out, didn't even lean over. I'm just so glad we found it!

On our way back down the canyon, the big buck had come back down the mountain and was in Paul's yard. I think we will go back up tomorrow around 5:00 and see if we can get a good picture with our good camera this time. And I'll leave my wallet at home.

Rose Parade

Sitting here with the Rose Parade on the TV reminded me of one special time watching the parade. I don't know how old I was,just that I wasn't a teenager because in my mind I was more like 10 or 12. I had spent New Year's Eve at Grandma Olsen's. I don't know why I was there. Perhaps it was one of those years that Mom and Dad had a party at their house, or they were going somewhere else, or whatever. Or maybe I just wanted to go to Grandma's for the night. I don't remember spending any other night there, but perhaps I did, but I do remember that one night. We went to bed early and I was cold in the big guest bed. Grandma gave me an extra quilt and I snuggled down deep in the covers. In the morning we watched the parade after eating breakfast. She sat in her chair by the window, and I was in the chair across the room. We cracked nuts and watched the parade. Grandma loved every float and would say "How bee-u-ti-ful" as only Grandma Olsen could say. She told me about the time she went to the Rose Parade with the group of ladies that would sometimes go on trips together, headed by Edra McNeil...boy that brings back memories, doesn't it? She loved going places when she was able to get around, and she enjoyed going with "the ladies". Every time the Rose Parade comes on I think back to that magical morning sitting with my Grandma and enjoying her company. I don't know why I didn't take advantage of it more often. I guess with my own bed just a block away the overnight stays at Grandma's weren't so special at that time. I would love to do it today. A simple memory of watching a parade and cracking nuts can stay with a person a long time. I hope I can make those kinds of memories for my grandchildren. For now, I'll enjoy the parade and taking down our small Christmas tree, along with getting our house back in order for this new year.
I hope everyone has a great year.....