the journal
In Benld, Illinois there was one game in town that actually paid well. And there was one player: Al Capone. I'm told it's Croatian beer that make Croatian men so charismatic and Croatian women so beautiful. Al Capone seemed to agree. In Benld, a coal mining town just outside Chicago, not every coal mine was what it seemed. Capone's crime syndicate hired th[...]
George was a mighty proud man, not willing to take sass from anyone. He never lost that streak of pride, but he discovered there were some things more important. On a Saturday night in Jacksonville, Florida (1942), George was out looking for a good time for himself when he walked into a dance. He was now a sailor in the Navy, was earning steady pay and had[...]
None of us has a clear understanding of the impact of our choices on a daily basis until, one day, the sum total of millions of choices puts us in the place and time to do something immediately significant. George had found life in the Navy to suit him fine. He was safe and warm, fed and rowdy. He was doing work he was proud of. On the deck of the aircraft[...]
When George Papa, Sr. was finally ready to commit to God, he wasn’t going to let much stand in his way. George and my grandmother, with her parents and their first baby boy, were so excited to take the long bus ride from Snowflake, Arizona to Salt Lake City, Utah to be endowed and sealed as a family in the temple. The couple had moved from Florida where t[...]
To say George was rough around the edges would be merely scratching the surface. He had smoothed some of his rough corners but was still a mighty proud man—except when it came to God. To his God, he was submissive and he listened when God spoke. When George left Chicago for the last time, it was very difficult for his family to understand his choices. The[...]
Arizona became the source of George's new relationships, new traditions and a new outlook on what life meant. For George, the most important priority would be his family. Every year in Joe's City, Arizona there was a tradition for a town picnic down in Chevelon Canyon. The canyon had a large stream that ran through it. Shaded and cool, it was the perfect pl[...]
We can't always help our family members the way we want to. Sometimes the relationship is not where it needs to be, sometimes they aren't ready for our help. Sometimes we don't know what to do. I want to be close enough to the Spirit that when there is something I can do, I'll know it. George and Beatrice were blessed with five rowdy boys. My grandmother wa[...]
There is a power in receiving a blessing from someone you know well and who knows you well. It is a declaration that Christ's power is close, available and personal. My parents had married after less than five dates and a two week engagement, the vast majority of which my mother spent on a camping trip with her family, while my father was in Boot Camp in an[...]