Total Solar Eclipse of 2017

Jared mission August 27, 2017

The eclipse was fun (August 21^st, 2017)!!  I got to spend the day with my family because the Bishop’s Storehouse was closed due to traffic issues from a lot of people coming to Oregon to see the totality of the Solar Eclipse of 2017!  We played games and watched the eclipse from our driveway.  Dad and Areah and David drove to Amity to see the full eclipse.  We saw about 99.7 % of it from the driveway.  The whole experience of it was very cool because it was my first, and probably my last one to see.  I could tell it got “dusky” outside, but it didn’t go completely dark.  We wore special eclipse glasses so we could look at the sun without hurting our eyes.  We were able to see the dancing shadows of the solar rays, and the half moon shadows through the trees. 

The storehouse is closed tomorrow so I will go in later to work at the DI.  I have been doing the same thing that I’ve done the other weeks.  I help fill and get ready food orders at the Bishop’s Storehouse and I pull and hang clothes to be sold at the DI.  I’ve met some new people at the storehouse and DI.  One friend works with me at the storehouse, then goes and works with me at the DI.  He is a Youth Service Missionary as well.  I haven’t had a chance to talk to him very much as we work in different departments at each place.  Hopefully I can get to know him better.  At the DI there is one new lady that works there and I have enjoyed getting to know her. 

I still enjoy working at the Family History Center on Tuesdays.  The people there are all very nice and it’s been pretty busy.  There have been a lot of people come in to do Family History.  There are a couple sets of Elders that come in to do their numbers (track how there areas are doing).  I like hearing the stories the people I work with tell about the troubles they have finding certain people, because sometimes they are on one census recorded under one name, and on another census recorded under another name, then all of a sudden they seem to disappear without a trace.  The people at the Family History Center do the best job they can of tracking down records of these people to connect them with their families.  I’m so glad I get the experience to work with them and learn from them!

I’m enjoying doing proxy work on Wednesdays at the Temple.  It may not be a direct line, but at least I’m connecting someone’s family together and that makes me feel good inside and it makes me happy to know that I am helping in the work of the Lord! 

I find it interesting that no matter where I’m reading in the Book of Mormon, or the Bible, that it talks about a small group of people being preserved by the Lord. Whether it’s Nephi in the Book of Mormon talking about his vision with the mixture of his seed and the seed of his Brethren (Laman and Lemuel), and how they were preserved to keep the promised land of America.  Or in the Old Testament talking about the Jews being invaded by Babylon and other countries, and being taken captive, and a small remnant of them being left to keep the land of Jerusalem, that was promised to them. 

I know as long as we are righteous, Christ will continue to help us and our leaders make the right decisions. 

Elder Markham