Dear Grandchildren,
To say that I was moved doesn’t cut it. Rather, I actually began to tear up when we began our sacrament service this morning because I could see two parties on my laptop screen in distant cities who had joined us by Skype. For the first time, they had joined us visually and orally for a church service. And it was wonderful. Partly, it was a matter of a couple of YVs who understand the electronics world making things happen. Partly, it had to do with our surroundings — in a building with a good wifi connection. With the laptop acting as a camera focused on the speaker’s podium and sacrament table, and with my iPhone acting as a microphone, the effort to fold these people into our meeting succeeded. And I was thrilled. In one case, one person joined us and, in another, eight joined us, including children. We were nine in our physical room where the broadcast originated, including a couple of investigators. The grand total was eighteen.
"But Hey," you will say, "didn’t you write about this kind of hookup last August, promising distant branch members that they would be a part of a sacrament meeting soon?" Ahhhh. Welllll. Yessss. I did write such a thing. The upshot is that you can’t accuse old Brown of moving too rapidly and getting things out of whack. No sireee. Just wait. And wait. And wait. Eventually, it will happen just as I promised. As you can tell, I am most pleased that it did.
Grandma will probably say something, if not a lot, about the noise from the last couple of evenings around here. She noticed signs a week or so ago about some kind of celebration in the area, a celebration of shopping for the Season. Friday, the 18th, came. In the morning, one of the small streets by us was completely closed and the local police were hustling cars off the sides of the roadway. Workers had begun to build some sort of long platform that looked suspiciously like a fashion show runway. Merchants were moving some of their store items outside onto tables under canopies. At one end of our street other workers set up a bandstand complete with waving spotlights and big speakers. Oh, yeah. And then came the music. Not in the soft, reverent tones of Christmas, but in the loud, gyrating rhythms of rock and roll and other such music. (I don’t think of some kinds of music as real music; I heard some of that too.) The banging and wailing lasted well into the night. I took a half sleeping pill and finally went to sleep. Last evening, Saturday, it happened all over again except that the fashion show runway moved to another nearby street and the music began all over again — from about 4:30 until after midnight. Again, I took a pill. When I awoke in the middle of the night, I could hear workmen outside taking down the fashion runway and the bandstand. They pounded and pounded and pounded some more. But the bandstands and such things are all gone now. I am feeling much better about tonight.
Yes, Christmas is coming. Yes, I see decorations all around us in store fronts. Yes, people are buying gifts. Yes, we are going to host a branch Christmas party. But it is sure hard to gather the right items for celebrating as we would like, especially savory foods. We have visited a bunch of stores, small and large, looking for the Christmas foods that we enjoy. Mostly, they are not in those stores. That is not to say that the foods which appeal to the taste buds of our neighbors aren't in the stores. They obviously are. And they are wonderfully fine. I am talking about things like turkey and pumpkin, rice crispies (for rice crispy squares) and chex cereals (for chex mix), and a variety of beans for Grandma's three-bean salad. But my complaints are not yet at the pitch of a whine. Whatever happens during the next couple of weeks will surely mean that I have to watch my diet during January and February. As a Jewish acquaintance said to me once about the Jewish holidays in September and October, "It's dangerous time of year," especially if you don't want to gain weight.
You all doubtless know that Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, comes upon us in two days. We are expecting temperatures in the low 60s. Summer can’t be too far behind. Happy Winter Solstice!
I love you and pray for each of you.
Grandpa Brown
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