July 11, 2011

The Family Blog

It was probably a busy week for everyone so I have a contribution from Grant and the rest of the Wisconsin Haws Family. Please continue to see us news to share. It surely make the blog a fun way to keep up with each other. I am also attaching a letter that Melanie sent to Mom and me. It is very good.

Grant's News

This week Grant started working at Hudson's, which is a restaurant here in Marshfield, down by the train tracks. After two weeks of bumming around the house and being bored, it was a nice change of pace. The most fun he had all week was Saturday night at work he dropped some dishes and as they fell he tried to catch them. They ended shattering in his hand and sliced his finger open, a half inch deep. Grant had to have a coworker take him to get stitches. Luckily, he only needed three. Otherwise, he spent the rest of his week working on the garden and finishing reading Gone With the Wind and read the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and is now reading Tina Fey's Bossypants.


The Wisconsin Haws Family

We are completing the final paperwork to move Angela's remains from Dallas to Marshfield. I know that will bring a sense of relief to Mom and me. We have not be able to decorate her grave for years. Angela holds a very special place in Mom's heart. Each of you are new and dear to Mom. She loves you very much. Please know that Mom loves you.

Logan's team has continued to do very well. They won tonight 5-0. Last week that lost to a very good team from Stevens Point. Their record this year is 6-2. Logan continues to plan and talk about his trip out to see Jeff and Julie in early August. It should be really good.

Emily has continued to enjoy a generally relaxing summer. She has worked at Chips while also doing fun things with her many friends. She is especially enamored with a music program on Mac computers called Garage Band. She has become a very keen musician and is writing some original pieces.

Lanette (and Mom, Logan and me) attended a special celebration in Neillsville this weekend. Lanette stayed until late in the evening. She had a great time. And of course was able to hold some babies. She continues to attend school but will be finishing up in about 2 weeks. She is looking forward to sleeping in.

Mom and I invited the Lane's over for Sunday dinner. It was a lot of fun. Brother Lane and I are working on a project together and it gave us time to work out some details. Mom has been painting the porch. It is almost finished. We are waiting for a favorable weather forecast before the porch is finished off.

I am had the opportunity to work a bit more on family history. I invite each of you to consider going on my site and adding your personal information or better yet to start your own site and link into mine. It is amazing to go back hundreds of years. It is especially meaningful to see the names of individuals that you may have done the temple work for and realize that they are real people that lived lives amazingly similar to our own.

To enter on my site and view was is available your should do the following;

go to www.new.familysearch.org

in the sign in site enter the username: rmhaws

for the password email me and I would be happy to give it to you. You can then go to the me and my family tab. You will find your name. From there you will be able to go back generations. Most of the lines go back at least to the 17th century. Some go back even further.

HERE IS THE LETTER FROM MELANIE

Hey Bob and Kellie,
Brother Stewart came over to home teach us the other night and read us this article that his wifes cousin wrote to a editor from a newspaper in Utah. He wrote this because there were many people in Utah telling others to leave the LDS church, his response to this is in the attachment.
Anyways I really liked what he wrote and I think you will agree also.
Love,
Melanie



Quit the Church?
In a local newspaper in Provo, Utah, there had been an ongoing series of articles written by
individuals who wanted to persuade LDS Church members to leave the Church. In
response to the highly critical and spirited remarks, a local member wrote this rebuttal:

Editor:

I have been thinking of quitting the Mormon Church. Yes, if I can, I am going to get even
with that church. As soon as I can find another church that teaches about the Gathering of
the House of Israel; the return of the Ten Tribes and their mission; the return of the Jews
to Palestine and why, and how they are going to build the temple; the building of temples
and what to do with them; the mission of Elias, the prophet, as predicted by Malachi; the
method for the salvation of the people that died at the time of Noah in the flood; the origin of the American Indian; the complete explanation of why Jesus of Nazareth had to have a mortal other but not a mortal father; the explanation of the three degrees of glory (three heavens) as mentioned by Paul; the complete explanation of why Elias and Moses did not die but had to be translated (since they both lived before the resurrection was introduced by Christ); the restoration of the gospel by modern revelation as promised by Peter and Paul and Jesus himself; the belief in eternal marriage and the family, and the knowledge and the place to seal for eternity; that teaches abstinence from all harmful drugs and foods ; and that sells the best fire insurance policy on earth, for the last days, for only a 10th of my income.
Yes sir, as soon as I can find another church that teaches all that, or even half as much, I
will say good-bye to this Mormon Church. The church that I am looking for must also be
able to motivate 50,000+ youth, and adults, for the first, second or third time, to leave their
homes for two years at their own expense and go to far-away places to teach and preach
without salary. It must be able to call, on a frosty day, some 5 or 6 thousand professors,
students, lawyers, doctors, judges, policemen, businessmen, housewives and children to go
and pick apples at 6 a.m. It must be able to call meetings and get the attention for
two hours of more than 150,000 men. Yes, it must also teach and show why salvation is
assured for children who die before eight years of age.
Mr. Editor, could you help me find a church that teaches all that and more than hundreds
of other doctrines and principles, which I have no room to mention here, and which brings
solace and comfort to the soul; peace, hope, and salvation to mankind, and above all, that
answers the key questions that all the great philosophers have asked; questions
and answers that explain the meaning of life, the purpose of death, suffering and pain; the
absolute need for a Redeemer and the marvelous plan conceived and executed by Jesus
Christ the Savior?
Yes, as soon as I find another church that teaches that, and also that has the organization
and the powers to make that teaching effective, I am going to quit the Mormon Church.
For I should not tolerate that "they" should change a few words in the Book of Mormoneven
if those changes simply improve the grammar and the syntax of the verses-for, after
all, don't you think the Divine Church should employ angels as bookmakers, and clerks, to
do all the chores on earth?
Don't you think, Mr. Editor, that, the Divine Church should also have prophets that don't
get sick and don't get old and die, and certainly, that don't make a goof here and there.
No, sir! A Divine Church should be so divine that only perfect people should belong to it,
and only perfect people should run it. As a matter of fact, the Church should be so perfect
that it should not even be here on earth! So, I repeat, if any one of the kind readers of this
imperfect letter knows about another church that teaches and does as much for mankind
as the Mormon Church, please let me know. And please do it soon, because my turn to go
to the cannery is coming up. Also, "they" want my last son (the fifth one) to go away for
two years and again, I have to pay for all that. And I also know that they expect me to go
to the farm to prune trees, and I have heard that our ward is going to be divided again, and
it is our side that must build the new chapel. And also, someone the other day had the gall
of suggesting that my wife and I get ready to go on a second mission, and when you come
back, they said, you can volunteer as a temple worker.
Boy, these Mormons don't leave you alone for a minute. And what do I get for all that, I
asked? "Well," they said, "for one, you can look forward to a funeral service at no
charge!"... Do you think you can help me to find another church?
Thomas D. Clark