Baker Bunch Weekly Update - March 21, 2010

Hello Everybody,

We hope you are doing well. We have been very busy the last few weeks.

In February we had a great vacation to visit Adam and Mary. We went there to see their newborn son, Luke. Luke was born on December 23, 2009. Because of the earth quake in Haiti, the Air Force deployed Adam to the Caribbean to help with the relief. He left on Wednesday and we arrived Rapid City on Thursday. But we had a great time visiting with Mary and Luke.

We made it to Mt. Rushmore again. We bought a South Dakota flag to add to Gary’s flag collection. At work, he has a flag display of all the states that the family was born in. It includes, Missouri, Utah, Texas, Florida, Illinois, West Virginia, Guatemala, and now South Dakota.

Andrea

Andrea started her behind the wheel in driver’s ed. She will be taking her ACT test on April 28^th .

5K Run

While visiting Mary in South Dakota, Gary ran in the Chili Chilly 5K run. He had is personal best at 23:57.

Weekly Quote

Sometimes the most productive “point and click” application is that of pointing our finger at the power button and clicking our digital devices off.

Quote from Elder Dale G. Renlund Of the Seventy

Alma the Younger poses a series of questions to contemporaries of the people of Ammon that figuratively biopsy spiritually changed hearts. Alma asks, “If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?”8 He further asks if they have been sufficiently humble, free of pride and envy, and kind toward their fellowman.9 By honestly answering questions like these, we can correct early deviations from the strait and narrow path and keep our covenants with exactness.

In 1980 we moved as a family across the street from the hospital where I trained and worked. I worked every day, including Sundays. If I finished my Sunday work by 2:00 p.m., I could join my wife and daughter and drive to church for meetings that began at 2:30.

One Sunday late in my first year of training, I knew that I would likely finish by 2:00. I realized, however, that if I stayed in the hospital just a little longer, my wife and daughter would depart without me. I could then walk home and take a needed nap. I regret to say that I did just that. I waited until 2:15, walked home slowly, and lay down on the couch, hoping to nap. But I could not fall asleep. I was disturbed and concerned. I had always loved going to church. I wondered why on this day the fire of testimony and the zeal that I had previously felt were missing.

I did not have to think long. Because of my schedule, I had become casual with my prayers and scripture study. I would get up one morning, say my prayers, and go to work. Often day blended into night and into day again before I would return home late the following evening. I would then be so tired that I would fall asleep before saying a prayer or reading the scriptures. The next morning the process began again. The problem was that I was not doing the basic things I needed to do to keep my mightily changed heart from turning to stone.

I got off the couch, got on my knees, and pleaded with God for forgiveness. I promised my Heavenly Father that I would change. The next day I brought a Book of Mormon to the hospital. On my to-do list that day, and every day since, were two items: praying at least morning and evening and reading in the scriptures. Sometimes midnight would come, and I would have to quickly find a private place to pray. Some days my scripture study was brief. I also promised Heavenly Father that I would always try to get to church, even if I missed part of the meeting. Over the course of a few weeks, the zeal returned and the fire of testimony burned fiercely again. I promised to never again fall into the spiritual death trap of being casual about these seemingly small actions and thereby jeopardizing things of an eternal nature, regardless of circumstances.

Luke Adam Baker - February 13, 2010

We are having a great time in Rapid City, SD visiting with Mary (our daughter-in-law). Our son, Adam, has been deployed with the US Air Force to San Juan, PR to help with Haiti.

The video is of our grandson, Luke Adam Baker.