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Show ommunity lews 2 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2008 - N E W S - Spanish Fork 280 North Main St. Spanish Fork, UT 84660 Lane Henderson Publisher Namon Bills Editor Dana Robinson . . Assoc. Editor The Spanish Fork News is published each Wednesday for $37.50 per year in area and $41.50 out of area by J-Mart, 280 North Main St., Spanish Fork Utah 84660. Email stories to cditor@spforknews.com Email ads to ads@spforkncws.com Call us at 794-4964 POSTMASTER Send address changes to Spanish Fork News 280 North Main St. Spanish Fork, Utah 84660 The entire content of this newspaper is Copyright© 2008 Spanish Fork News. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the editor or publisher. DEADLINES Weddings, anniversaries, missionaries, 1st birthdays, articles, photos, letters to the editor Friday, 12 p.m. Display advertising and classified advertising Friday, 12 p.m. Thoughts on a new year There and Back Again Shirlene R. Ottesen Happy 2008 to everyone! I was looking through some papers a few days ago and they were dated 2000. Do you remember all of the predictions about what could happen when we started the new century? There were all kinds of scenarios about what was going to happen to computers, electrical sources, and life in general as we knew it. But nothing happened and here we are eight years later. I always approach the beginning of a new year with some apprehension about what could happen in my life, the lives of my family, and the world in general. When I wrote these same thoughts at the beginning of 2007, I did not anticipate that I would begin this year as a "widow." I have never liked that word, but now it applies to me. All through our lives we are labeled and categorized. First we are babies, then toddlers, followed by the pre-teens, teenager, young married, middle age, senior citizen then elderly and somewhere along the way, when a spouse dies, we then become a "widow" or "widower." My grandma Roach was a widow for 27 years and my mother for 15 years. And I know there are people in our area who have lived alone much longer than that. It will be a change for me after being married for 53 years. A change in schedule, a change in thinking and planning. And now the process of taking his name See NEW YEAR • A3 \ Covering what matters most A Mormon and a Christian? Christianity a woman unknown outside her circle of family and friends — Mary Pittenger of Johnstown, Penn. Mary Pittenger is not Mormon; Recent political polemics have she's Catholic. She's also my adopted again raised the age-old question: grandmother. Even though she is not Mormon are Mormons Christians? This topic (and seems to have no intention of is important to me, because I am a Mormon..A new year, with new becoming such), Grandma Pittenger invites the Mormon resolutions, but still the same old always story. While my being a Mormon was missionaries into her house when never in doubt, apparently my being a they come by. She offers them something to eat, something to Christian is. drink. She makes sure they're taken What could possibly put my \•_ Christianity into question? I have care of. Of course, I can understand why one always been ready to argue 'til I was blue in the face that Mormons are should treat the Mormon missionaries Christians. In my mind, the clearly with kindness. I used to be one. Of Christian tenets of my religion could course Mormon missionaries should be treated well. never be in doubt. Then I found out she does the same But as I got thinking about things, thing when the Jehovah's Witnesses at this time of newness, I started to wonder if Christianity is not defined come by, even though she's not so much by the tenets of one's faith, Jehovah's Witness (and seems to have no intention of becoming such). as by the conduct of the faithful. She says it just Seems like the "He that hath-my commandments, Christian thing to do. • and keepeth them, he it is that loveth "And whosoever shall give to drink me..." (John 14:21) I will take as my paradigm of unto one of these little ones a cup of Namon Bills EDITOR cold water ...he shall in no wise lose his reward." (Mark 9:41) It seemed like the Christian thing to do. This was a new concept to me. As a missionary, I got into so many arguments with Jehovah's Witnesses (defending my faith by refusing to surrender even the least theological point). I would never have dreamt of inviting these "argumentative" people into my home! "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" (Matt. 7:3) I'm afraid my narrow-minded view of my own Christianity would have aligned me more closely with the Pharisees than the disciples. I've been Christian in word — in a multitude words, and what wonderful words! — but that may form the lion's share of my Christianity. And in the end, the words weren't worth so much. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21) In Jesus' teachings, the call to action is a repetitive theme. "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, arid doeth them, 1 will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock." (Matt. 7:24) Maybe my concept of Christianity needed to become more like Mary Pittenger's. Maybe it was less important that I convince someone of my creed than that I treat them with kindness. Maybe I wouldn't have such a tough time with people calling my Christianity into question if I actually were Christian — in the true sense of the word, defined not by persuasive talk, but by a "peaceable walk" (Moroni 7:4). "By this shall men know if ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:3) And so, in this new time of the year, I've decided on my new year's resolution. It's more of an experiment really — more than just being a Mormon, I'm going to try to be a Christian. The New Year and your health sure looks good!" Or, "I just love how I am so tired the garden, but I did not enjoy the work that was after walking up just one flight of stairs." So what required to obtain the reward. I never learned to went wrong? We still have the desire to look better, enjoy the journey. In the garden, I just endured the feel better, and have more energy. What causes us journey. I could never find the positives of working What happens from the time we set our New to lose sight of our goal? One of the reasons that in the garden, which others seem to find, such as Year's resolution of weight-loss until the point we don't obtain our goal is because we are missing enjoying the summer sunshine, taking time for when we don't obtain it? We all have the bright idea one important factor, and that is we don't enjoy the reflection, and being out in nature. — this.is,the year we are going to lose the weight journey along the way. We dread the actual work We all have neighbors and friends that will that we have been putting on for the past five, ten that it takes to obtain the goal. For example, if our run rain or shine. Why are they so diligent in or fifteen_years. Every year there are thousands of goal is to have better health, do we enjoy all that people that set the goal of losing weight. How many is required to have better health — healthy food, exercising? They have found the enjoyment of the journey. They are able to see past the tiredness and people actually lose the weight? What went wrong? proper rest and appropriate work-outs? We told ourselves that we were going to lose the 10 I used to dread a phrase that I would hear from the soreness that comes through physical activity - 20 extra pounds we had gained. Did the desire to my father, "learn to love to work." I can vividly and they are able to find the positives that make the lose weight go away? It is not likely that we woke remember the hot summer days when my parents journey satisfying. So this year don't make a goal up the next day and looked in the mirror and thought would make me work in the garden. I enjoyed to lose a set amount of weight, instead set a goal to to ourselves, "Man, that spare tire around my waist the fruits and vegetables that would come from learn to enjoy the journey. Joseph Webb GUEST EDITORIAL This year store water Keep to the list Ready Or Not Dawn Van Nosdol 'Tis the season for resolutions. Pull out last year's resolution list and dust it off, set it aside, get a new sheet of paper and write "Goals for 2008" on the top. Now I want you to write one thing and one thing only on it —"Get enough water stored for my family" (and don't forget your pets). This of course means that you will need to get your calculator out to figure out how much water you will need for everyone to stay hydrated. Remember the calculations? Of course you do! Two gallons of water per person, per day for a two week period. If you are still a little blurry in the head from celebrating, I'll help you. If you have a family of four you will need 112 gallons on hand. Before you gasp and think, "No way can I store that much!" — think again. That is only one 50gallon barrel, seven 7-gallon jugs and 25 2-liter bottles. That combination of water containers will actually be a tad more than you need, but as you can see, it is not difficult and it is life saving. If you don't want to do the math 1*11 do it for you. Besides, your time would be more productive if you spent it filling the water jugs up with nice, fresh, cool, clean water (I'm writing this as I am drinking a tall glass of nice, fresh, cool, clean water). Each person in your family needs to have 28 gallons of water on hand. It wouldn't hurt my feelings if you rounded that number up to 30, but for this purpose I'll figure out what you need based on the 28gallon figure. One person = 28 gallons, two people = 56 gallons, three people = 84 gallons, four people = 112 gallons, five people = 140 gallons, six people = 168 gallons, seven people = 196 gallons, eight people = 224 gallons, and so on and so on and so on. The larger families might want to invest in more 50gallon drums than most, but who would you withhold water from if you didn't have enough to go around? If you have enough water stored that won't even be a question that you will have to ask. Getting your water stored — now that is a resolution you want to keep! Do you still have your list of old resolutions? Good, set them aside for a few more minutes. Now, if you are an over-achiever, I want you to write one more resolution down, "Purchase a good water filter or the items to construct my own water filter". See? This year is going to be easier than ever to keep your resolutions! If you weren't lucky enough to have somebody love you enough to have already given you a water filter for Christmas, you will definitely want to make sure that you follow through with this one. Remember, you can get the plans for an efficient, yet cost effective, water filtration system on the Salem City website: HYPERLINK http://www.salemcity.com www.salemcity.com Now is when you will need yourold 2007-resolution list. At the bottom write in, "Purchase a generator and/or a safe alternative fuel source for the safety of my family". This way you can make sure that you have at least one thing you can accomplish on this list. Now put it in an envelope and seal it up and write, "Resolutions and Goals for 2009". After all, you were just going to have to repeat all of the goals from 2007 again in 2008, so give yourself a year off from trying to lose weight, exercising more and following a budget. This will end up being your first guiltfree year — all you have to do is store water and buy a waterfilter.You can do it! Ramblin' Roads Charla Zeeman Did you have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year? The Holidays can be a very disappointing time of year. It all depends on what you plan and how you want everything to work out. Then it depends on your feelings and how you handle disappointment or unfulfilled dreams. I don't handle either one very well, but I try. This year I had my Christmas shopping done by Dec. 19. My gifts were not wrapped by that time, but they were at the top of my to-do list. I wrapped the last present at 11:30 p.m. Dec. 24! That's an hour earlier than last year! I had decided that whatever was left on my to-do list fell into the 'oh-well, I meant to' file. And I did have some things for that huge file. Disappointments come in several ways. We know what we want for each person on our list, and sometimes we just can't do it. We know what we want from others, not just gifts, but behaviors and good deeds. We know how we want our day to go. We know whether we want a white Christmas or sunshine. If any of these things tum out differently, we are disappointed. To allay disappointments at any time of the year, I try to have alternate plans. I have alternate times to do what I wanted to do, if possible. I have alternative gifts I want to give. I put extra money in my budget to cover unforseen expenses. So what happens if all my plans fall through? Well, I hate to admit it, but I break down and have a good cry festival, a 'feel sorry for me' time, or I get angry and throw a fit over it. At these times I am not the perfect human — I am... who knows what I am? I'm totally out of control is what I am. My desires for this holiday time? Hmm, they seemed to be fairly simple. I wanted to have a gift for everyone who showed up on my doorstep with a gift for me. I wanted to do something which would make a difference to someone. I wanted to see my family. I wanted to be happv. I wanted to decorate my home for the holidays. So what did I accomplish? I did some things I haven't done before which brought me joy and would help someone else. I had gifts for everyone who came by. I saw my family. I was happy. I decorated my home. I prepared ahead for surprise guests. I did things for others way ahead of Christmas Day. I knew at least one of my children would come by. I was finished decorating early. As for the happy, I planned a myriad of things which alway make me happy to do if I was having a bad day. I made it through the holidays without a cry festival and I didn't get angry or throw a fit. I had about half my to-do list left over, but oh well, maybe next year. All my contingency plans seemed to work out really well, and I used a lot of them. |