12-31-08
Dear Elder & Sister Hansen and all my kids away,
It was amazing to talk to all of you on Christmas. Elder Hansen, both Uncle F and Uncle R said your Spanish was very good, and Sister Hansen, Uncle R said that your Russian pronunciation sounded like a Russian speaking rather than an American speaking Russian.*
[My married daughters], thank you for the pictures of your sweet kids.
BYU Men’s Basketball is 11-1 with a win last night over Tulsa (in Oklahoma)1 (Tulsa’s home win streak was 28 before the loss). [They lost last week to Az. St. Sun Devils 75-76, with making a last second shot for the go ahead of 77-76, but the refs called that the shot was made after the clock had gone to “0:00”, so they lost by one point to a ranked team.]
On Sat. BYU hosts Unbeaten, #6 Nationally Ranked Wake Forrest, in Provo Utah, the highest ranked, non conference foe to ever play in the Marriot’s Center. BYU has a national leading “Home Win Steak” of 53, hope that they can make it 54. In the Tulsa game, Jackson Emery (the starting guard and former Missionary in the Mexico Leon Mission and buddy to Elder Hansen) had to leave the game early because of a head injury. After getting a rebound, Emery was slammed to the floor hitting his head. Team doctors said he would have no lasting symptoms from the injury.
Paul H and Charlie M have done some Tractor work for me this past week. We also did a row change with the 8 Stakes (every 2 years we take every body’s Quarterly Report, and take their Sacrament Meeting attendance and active Melchizedek Priesthood, and re-assign rows accordingly). Our Stake total remained at 40 rows but, because other Stakes changed (including Fresno North Stake picked up 5 rows for a total of 45), I always catch flack for it. Even Stakes that loose rows complain that they did not have enough taken away.
Madera I Ward has 4-1/2 rows now, and most Wards have 3 to 6 rows depending on their size. But as a youth in Chowchilla Branch, we had 14 rows!!! The Hansen Family had 4 rows!!! For picking we would go from sun up to sun down that first Sat. and then as soon as we got out of school each day during the next week, we would go down to the farm and pick until dark (I can remember at least once or twice my dad pulling the car to the end of the row to point the head lights down the row to finish picking a row, because we were so close to finishing and he could not stand the thought of leaving that little portion for another day). Then we would come back for a second Sat. – sun up to sun down. Then the next Monday (Labor Day) we would finish our rows at some point on that day, but that was not good enough for my dad, we had to go help some other poor saps, that were half dead and needed our help to finish their rows. I remember thinking in my simple, boyhood mind, “why doesn’t any body ever help us on our rows,… why is it that we are always the ones helping other people to finish their rows?” And maybe even expressing that a time or two.
Then in a couple of weeks, going down and helping roll up the raisin trays for several days (and you guessed it, when we finished our rows, we would help others finish their rows). Then in a week or two we would come for Boxing. We had the old vineyard wagons, and would pile them up with the old time 40 LBS wood “sweat boxes” (before we had the 1,000 LBS bins & bin trailers). That was the first time that I met Bernie P, he had on a white jump suit and I asked my dad why he “had on his Temple clothes at the farm?” My dad told me he worked with Bees, and that is what Bee workers wore (minus the gloves and hat with facial netting).
Plus a lot of my Christmas vacations were spent pruning, layering, putting in replacement stakes, and wrapping & tying canes. My dad taught me how to prune the vines when I was yet a boy, but I had to go to college and learn plant physiology to know why we prune the Thompson Seedless the way we do. All in all it was some of the best times that I had with my dad.
So when I hear murmuring about how over worked folks are at the Church Vineyard, I just smile and remember…
I was asked to share what I think of Christmas,… ever since I can recollect, from my earliest boyhood, I have been taught about Jesus Christ from my family, and Church (Primary & Jr. Sunday School). I always had a powerful feeling about Him, and sensed that He was a major force in my life. All that I am, and all that I ever would be, was because of Him. The story of His birth, the shepherds & angles, and the wise men bringing gifts, all created a magical, exciting time in the young life of a starry eyed little boy.
My parents would gather us around the fireplace on Christmas Eve, and my Dad would read the Christmas Story as found in Luke 2 & Matt.2 (to include the story of the Wise Men, as Luke does not mention them). It was here around the hearth in our home, with the warm glow of the fire light that The Christmas Story became part of me, as much a part of me as my name, or the color of my eyes & hair. This was the beginnings of my budding knowledge and testimony of the Savior. Then the next day, with symbolism from the gifts given by the Wise Men to the Baby Jesus, the King of Kings, we opened our presents. We were taught this same symbolism about Santa Claus (Saint Nicolas) with the gifts that he brought.
As time passed by, my feelings about, and my knowledge and testimony of the Son of God grew line upon line and precept upon precept, and continues to this day. But there was a quantum leap in that testimony that occurred close to my first Christmas in Australia while serving as a Missionary in Alice Springs, NT. After a life time of learning about, and ten months of teaching about the Savior and His restored gospel, I had an undeniable witness of our Lord, I truly came to know Him and what He has done for me, and all mankind. [See my letter about leaving Alice Springs, and going to Payneham.]
When I think of the Christmas story, I think of the faith of Joseph, to accept this woman heavy with child and take her on a donkey on this journey of 70 miles, find a place for her to give birth, in a place that they keep animals. That he would accept the duty of raising this child as his own.
I am in awe of Mary, her courage to be with child without officially being married, and risk being stoned to death! Her stamina and fortitude to ride that donkey 70 miles (several days travel) only to find there was no room for you anywhere except in a stable alongside animals; with no place to lay your baby except in a manger, where they feed the animals.
I wonder what it would have been like to be the shepherds in the fields and see the Angel, and hear his announcement of the Son of God that is born in Bethlehem. Then to see and hear the Multitude of Angels rejoicing this birth! Then to actually go and see the babe, and give honor to him, and praise him! What would that have been like?
I thrill at the Wise Men seeing the sign given, of a new star, and risking their lives traveling over deserts, mountains, rivers and lands swarming with bandits willing to kill for any amount of valuables. The joy they must have felt finally finding the “young child” in a “house”, “and fell down, and worshipped him”. Then they presented their 3 gifts of “gold, and frankincense, and myrrh”.2 [My father was always quick to point out that, we do not know how many Wise Men there really were, there may have been two, or there could have been 20, but they gave three gifts.] Those same Wise Men risked their lives again with the wrath of Herod when “they departed into their own country another way”, instead of reporting back to Herod as he had requested. The evil king was so wroth when he discovered that the wise men mocked him, that he “slew all the children… in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time… inquired of the wise men.” My heart aches for them and their mothers & families! This butchery did not end with children, but also included Zacharias the Priest and father of John the Baptist, who was slain “between the alter and the temple”, because he would not reveal the whereabouts of his son. He became the first Martyr of the Christian era(that is why John the Baptist was raised in the wilderness, they were hiding out to preserve their lives).
So many people died, or were willing to die, or risked death for Jesus to come into the world. It would make our Father’s gift to the earth of His Son all that more precious. Foreboding the Saviors own sacrifice at the end of his earthly Mission; Giving His own life as a ransom for our sakes, to make us clean and able to return to our Heavenly Father.
May we cherish this wondrous time of the year.
Love Jamie
*Some full names have been omitted
2. Matthew 2:11 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/2?lang=eng
