48TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Linda & Norm enjoying dinner together

There have been several family milestones during the first six and a half months of our mission including the birth of a new granddaughter and the deaths of a few relatives and close friends. Now we can add to that short list of personal events our 48th wedding anniversary, which occurred and was quietly observed on March 14th.

Our accomplishment of 48 years of marriage was recognized and applauded by our fellow missionaries during the lunch break of a two-day specialized training session on our special day. Later that evening, Linda and I went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants a few miles from our apartment.

Although we are physically separated from our family and friends during this 18 month period of dedicated Church service in Baltimore, life continues on a day to day basis without interruption for both us and our loved ones. Reflecting upon these past 48 years, we have much for which to be grateful. We have been allowed by a loving Father in Heaven to be the parents of 8 wonderful sons and daughters as well as the grandparents of 19 grandchildren (plus another one that is due to be born later this year). We have been blessed to be affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for most of our adult lives, having been baptized in November 1967. Our children and their spouses together with their children are all active members of the Church.

How different our lives might have been without the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. In this troubled world full of contention, wars, and political unrest together with the constant attacks upon the family and the sacred God-ordained nature of marriage between a man and a woman, Linda and I have been sustained by our Savior's love and comforted by the powerful and positive influence of the Holy Ghost.

                                                            SWEET IS THE WORK
                                                            Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

                                                    Sweet is the work, my God, my King,

                                                    To praise thy name, give thanks and sing,

                                                    To show thy love by morning light,

                                                    And talk of all they truths at night.

                                                
                                                    Sweet is the day of sacred rest.

                                                    Nor mortal care shall seize my breast.

                                                    Oh may my heart in tune be found,

                                                    Like David's harp of solemn sound!

                                                   
                                                    My heart shall triumph in my Lord

                                                    And bless his works and bless his word.

                                                    Thy works of grace, how bright they shine!

                                                    How deep thy counsels, how divine!

                                                   
                                                    But, oh what triumph shall I raise

                                                    To thy dear name through endless days,

                                                    When in the realms of joy I see

                                                    Thy face in full felicity!