Week 74: Plane & Simple

It was a "plane" ole week for us here in Washington. There's a man here in our ward in University Place who is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force. He is a C-17 pilot and trains other pilots here at the McChord Air Force Base. We see these massive cargo planes fly over all the time.  Elder Hadlock has been wanting to get up close to one of these planes. Brother Meyers agreed to take us on a little tour one afternoon this week.

It was very interesting. They can carry a lot of equipment, supplies, vehicles, and/or passengers in these planes. Very versatile. The only photos that we were allowed to take were inside the cockpit. The other photos here are images off the internet.

Side note: Brother Meyers and his family are new members of the Church. They were sealed together as a family just a few months ago. Wonderful family.  

Shot of Mt Rainer from Air Force Base

Then on Saturday we, the Harwoods, and the Foulgers drove to Mukilteo, Washington where we toured the Boeing Airplane Factory. You'd have to see this place to believe it; very fascinating. They build big planes -- such as the 747's 777's, and the new 787 Dreamliner. The building covers 98.3 acres -- largest building by volume in the world. Airplane science, engineering, etc. is mind-boggling enough. But this building, it's crane system, manufacturing system is an engineering marvel on it's own. It was a worthwhile trip for sure.

Elders preparing to go bowling for P-Day -- a simple pleasure

So that's the "plane" story. Now the simple. One afternoon this week, the AP's were in the office for a minute. We happened to be talking about how beneficial a mission is to a young person's growth and development and preparation for the future. I made some statement like, "If nothing else, missionaries are brought to their knees, and they learn to rely on Jesus Christ and the Atonement. They come to know the source of true strength."  Anyway, one of the AP's said something like, "No, if nothing else, it's taught me what I need to do on a daily basis so that I don't have to be forced to my knees in humility. I've learned that SIMPLE things like daily scripture study, sincere prayer, following the rules help keep me humble and prepared. It's not as fun to be compelled to be humble."

Anyway, Elder Sutton reminded me of an important principle: The small and simple things really are important and most essential. We complicate things.  We "look beyond the mark." We look for some "grand" event to make us happy. It's taking care of simple, little things that make a big difference.  I know my best days are when I read the scriptures, give thought to my prayers, try to be nice, and just live as Jesus taught.

Just one more simple thought to share -- a link to a short video called First Things First that was shown in our Stake Conference which was cute and poignant. I invite any who read this blog to view the video at:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-06-1140-first-things-first?lang=eng

Well, that's it for us this week. Life is good. May we all just Keep Moving Forward.