In The Shadow of My Savior Jesus Christ

Provo City Center Temple

I have a constant companion these days since Patsy died. It is my Savior, symbolically represented here. There are many times since her death that I have longed for her company, even as I am driving to various destinations, but particularly when I attend a temple session without her. Despite that, I still attend the temples in Utah as often as I can, since I draw so much inspiration and peace from the attempts.

Yesterday, I was in the Provo City Center Temple for an endowment session. I was officiating for an ancestor from Derbyshire, England, who was born in 1604. My ancestors emigrated from England, many bearing the scars, the wrath of mobs who smeared their bodies with tar and feathers, and the complete rejection of their company in their neighborhoods because they had joined the Mormons. James Munns, a grandfather in our family, was bent over the rest of his life from the beatings he sustained before leaving England. They emigrated to the empty desert valleys of Utah near what is today Lehi, Utah. They were part of the "sugar beet mission" in those days, barely eking out an existence. Fortunately for me, they survived and we are now thriving because of their sacrifice.

I am blessed with many temples throughout Utah, where I can choose which one to attend week to week. Patsy and I were ordinance workers in the Salt Lake Temple before it closed for renovations. That coincided with the discovery of a meningioma brain tumor that required surgery for removal in March, 2020. Of all the eventualities that could have happened to me, a brain tumor was remote in my thinking back then. 

Following my recovery, we were offered new positions as ordinance workers in the Jordan River Temple. We discussed it and decided together we would rather do the actual ordinance work for our ancestors instead. I have continued to carry on without her in that seminal work of the Restoration. Temple ordinance work was pre-eminent in the earliest days of this seventh dispensation. The Salt Lake Temple construction took 40 years to complete, but the pioneers persisted until it was finished. Such is our heritage in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. I am routinely reminded of the sacrifices of those ancestors who came here under Brigham Young's stewardship to settle these remote mountain valleys. I imagine to myself what their lives must have been like when I contemplate their existence in those formative days in Utah, even before it was accepted as a state into the United States of America. It's what motivates me to accomplish all I can in the temples for their blessing.

Right now, we are in what is all-too-familiar territory for us. We are lacking the critical moisture we need. It is a winter without snow that provides the life-giving water we will need in spring and summer. Our Utah Governor Spencer Cox has invited us to fast and pray this coming weekend for more snow. WHAT? Pray for God to mitigate the weather for our benefit? What a novel idea that is! It might even seem incomprehensible to those who are unfamiliar with our beliefs as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in these last days!

However, we believe we are children of a God who loves us unconditionally, and sent His Beloved Son Jesus Christ as a propitiation for sin by allowing His Atonement to be carried out by the most wicked people in His Son's generation on earth to effect His brutal crucifixion and burial in a borrowed tomb. Let this thought sink in for just a moment. Jesus Christ conquered sins for sinners yet unborn in His voluntary Atonement. All of us living on planet Earth today are in that category, aren't we?

As we have begun our Old Testament studies this year in Come, Follow Me curriculum, I am once again made aware of a long history of faithful followers of the Jehovah who was yet to come. No matter which dispensation in which we live, or have lived, or may yet live, the eternal Atonement of Jesus Christ remains the most obvious reality of God the Father's love for each of us, no matter what our present extremities might represent in suffering. Remember, He descended below them all!!

1 The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools shall have thee in derision, and hell shall rage against thee;

2 While the pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the virtuous, shall seek counsel, and authority, and blessings constantly from under thy hand.

3 And thy people shall never be turned against thee by the testimony of traitors.

4 And although their influence shall cast thee into trouble, and into bars and walls, thou shalt be had in honor; and but for a small moment and thy voice shall be more terrible in the midst of thine enemies than the fierce lion, because of thy righteousness; and thy God shall stand by thee forever and ever.

5 If thou art called to pass through tribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea;

6 If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb;

7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

8 The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

9 Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever. (D&C 122, from the Prophet Joseph's revelation in Liberty Jail as he sought comfort for himself and the suffering saints).

Yes, it is true we are in a drought this winter in Utah. I treasure the memory of Joseph Smith, who was suffering in Liberty Jail as few of us ever will through a torturous winter under different circumstances. It helps me to put into perspective what we are experiencing in our sequestered mountain home. 

Home Fireplace Always Works

Recently, my propane tank supplying fuel for my boiler ran empty and I had it refilled. Sadly, the boiler was not firing again after two cold nights. Fortunately, my home storage includes an ample supply of firewood for just such emergencies. I called for a technician to come and see if he could get it going again. He came in armed only with a screwdriver, and I escorted him into the crawl space where the boiler is located. He removed the front panels, then gently tapped the side of the housing for the pilot light with his screwdriver, and amazingly, the boiler fired off on its auto-ignition. As he had suspected, there was an air bubble that had developed in the line from the propane tank that was blocking the fuel from flowing into the boiler. Problem solved. His comment with a smile was, "I thought I might be able to solve it with my screwdriver." And he did! He was the master of the pilot light. I needed his help. Similarly, we worship the Master of the Weather and all of the Universe, and we need His help.

Dear Readers of this poor page, now hear this: The God of the Universe has made ample provisions for all of us, unworthy as we may be. When we exercise our faith, offer our prayers and fasting to Him, do not believe for one second that our appeals for help fall on deaf ears. 

I testify of the reality and the divinity of our Father in Heaven, His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, and the direction of the Holy Ghost, all three separate and distinct Beings anxious to bless and deliver all those who come and partake at the banquet table of Their offerings for us. . .

Even those humble Goates beet farmers from England who settled in Utah County near Lehi, Utah.

Well, One Out of Three Ain't Bad, Is It?

This Autumn season has featured prominently in my life this year: First, the World Series, followed by the Presidential Election, then the now-annual reintroduction of the local “Holy War” between the Utes and the Cougars. In all, they comprise three major events for my little household that I fully embraced.

                                                                             

Only problem for me was the Yankees lost to the Dodgers in five games, and last night the Utes fell in a dramatic comeback win to the Cougars 22-21 in the final seconds. 

President Donald J. Trump

However surprising as it was to half the country, President Donald J. Trump was re-elected to a second non-consecutive term in an Electoral College “landslide” as it was described by the pundits, coupled with a convincing popular vote total. I loved his choice of J.D. Vance as Vice-President. It was not even a close election.

So, Yankees and Utes fan that I am, two of those major events went down in flames. Now, mind you, I’m not describing myself as a Trumpster by any means, but I have to admit his victory salvaged a .333 batting average for me, and in baseball that’s good enough to get you into the Hall of Fame.

So I will claim a victory for America in Trump’s sweeping victory. I believe his forthcoming administration will prove providential for America in the coming four  years, especially when compared to the alternative of what might have been with a Harris/Walz ticket winning. 

Stunning to me was the fact that Kamala Harris did not out-poll Biden’s last election totals in 2020 in ONE SINGLE COUNTY in America. It was a complete refutation and rejection of her "candidacy." The much-ballyhooed so-called “Blue Wall” (seven historically Democratic states) ALL voted for Trump. She simply flunked the job interview with Americans who were voting against her. 

She has a radiant smile and the giggle to go with it, I’ll give her that, but seriously, she was little more than a tool of the party she represented and that was woefully inadequate this time around. Stunningly, she was an appointed surrogate for a badly declining Joe Biden whose mental acuity was displayed for all to see in the first debate against Trump, and she didn’t even have to seek votes among her party faithful to replace Biden on the ballots of all fifty states, as Trump did. It was an attempted “palace coup” and it failed miserably. 

Trump, on the other hand, is many questionable and dastardly things too but all his faults notwithstanding, America embraced their once-former leader with open arms given the obviously defective alternative. 

He answers literally to no one but himself. He’s a genuine all-American bad a**, and you can quote me on that. 

Even before the dust had settled on the election and before he has taken office, the leaders of the terrorist Hamas organization have signaled their desire for settling the war they started with Israel. Hopefully, that will prove a harbinger for other bad actors on the world stage to get in line with America’s wishes. 

One wonders if, and one hopes, Putin and Russia might follow suit in their ill-conceived incursion into Ukraine and seek for a cessation of those hostilities. Trump’s election will change the calculus of the war mongers in the world, but don’t be deceived into thinking war will suddenly go away. We’ll have war continually until the Savior comes again, for so it has been prophesied.

I have been a silent observer this time around in the national election, not signaling my intentions on my voting preferences, and I have joked when asked about it by saying I would write in Abraham Lincoln. 

Well, I can truthfully disclose now and forever on this page today that I voted (for the first time in my life) for a straight Republican ticket. I returned my ballot by mail to Wasatch County on the day I received it in the mail, and I can now claim my .333 batting average.

I didn’t strike out, and I can stoutly maintain as I did in my title that “one out of three ain’t bad, is it?”

Utah Ranked Best for Business

To the surprise of no one who lives here, Utah has once again been named "best" in something meaningful.  This week Forbes named Utah as "Best for Business and Careers."  That is no small achievement for five successive years of consecutive growth at a rate of 3.5%, faster than any state other than North Dakota.  We either ignored or never received the memo that this is the "worst recession since the Great Depression."  We've just been truckin' along despite it all.

At our weekly networking meeting, I remind the folks who come that if you're unemployed this is the best place in America to be unemployed.  The rate here is 7.8% in the latest data.  It's cold comfort, I know, if you're still unemployed, but Forbes is not wrong in their assessment.  The entrepreneurial spirit here is thriving and communicable.  Catch it!  I just spoke with an older couple today at a small business technology expo who decided to start their own social media marketing business because they figured they could do better on their own!

The article confirms the number one issue on voters' minds in this upcoming election is the economy and jobs.  We've seen what bloated government stimulus spending has failed to accomplish, paired with overbearing regulatory "reform" that has done little if nothing to reform but instead retard economic growth. 

Utah is leading the way in the parade of states, doing what it needs to do to attract new business and jobs to the state.  Utah lowered its corporate tax rate from 7% to 5% in 2008. The rate is now one of the lowest in the country. The regulatory climate is also pro-business, with the Pacific Research Institute rating Utah second-best in the regulatory component of its U.S. Economic Freedom Index.

Forbes quotes the Governor:  "We want to make sure we don't have any nonsensical regulations that inhibit the private sector from expanding and having a profitable bottom line," says Governor Gary Hebert.  That's my kind of candidate!  If the federal government can't get it right, you may rest assured the government in the State of Utah is in good hands and we will get it right.

The article cites several notable companies that are expanding into Utah, with more arriving every day.  Included in the Forbes list are Goldman Sachs, Adobe that bought Utah startup Omniture for $1.8 billion last year, Oracle and eBay.

The ranking looks at six analytics to come up with the winner:  costs, labor supply, regulatory environment, current economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life.

There is little doubt Utah must be doing something right, and we are.  This is a place where businesses can be born, grow and thrive.  Increasingly, other states struggling to survive in this economy would do well to take a page from Utah's book of firsts in recent years.

To those who are still unemployed, take heart and keep on trying. 

Remember, "The number of times that I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I fail and keep trying."

The job market here in Utah is better, unemployment rates are lower, and companies are hiring.  We are committed at the Employment Resource Center and the Monday morning Professional Placement Program to continue matching employment candidates with the employers who are offering jobs.  The numbers who used to attend our meeting a year ago averaged 170 to 180.  This year in recent months those numbers have dropped consistently and now average 90 to 100.  I tell folks each week that our program is the only place on earth where we can succeed when nobody shows up for a meeting!

I am always heartened by success stories from our candidates who find work.  I get e-mails each week documenting their successful searches for jobs.  I take no credit personally for what is happening.  Our staff provides the authenticity for their experience, since all are themselves job seekers who volunteer their time and talents to assist and teach others.  Each is a living example of someone who is living the law of consecration in reaching out to lift up the hands that hang down and to strengthen the feeble knees, when they themselves are in need.  It's a miracle for me to be able to observe how it works!  And we need more volunteer couples.  Talk to your bishops.

Here's another recent example from someone in my LinkedIn network:


Dear Elder Goates,


My wife found a job listing the other day for a Service Advisor at *** GMC in Ogden. This was not a job I had ever considered but we emailed my resume to the Service Manager and then I immediately drove up to introduce myself to him.

We had a short interview in which I used my "Me in 30." The Service Manager explained to me that he had two other potential candidates who had previous car dealership. It turned out that one candidate had lost his driver's license and the other had some prior criminal background. There is something to be said about living the gospel. I knew that I could pass a drug test and that there was nothing questionable in my past.

I followed up with the Service Manager on Wednesday and he explained that they were waiting for the background check to come back for them.

I got a call today from the Service Manager to inform me that the other guy could not pass the background check and he asked if I could start tomorrow. I explained that we had a truck coming from Las Vegas in the morning with all of our belongings.

He agreed to let me start first thing Monday. I drove up to Ogden today and signed their job offer and then took my drug test.

Elder Goates, thank you so much for your encouragement and the encouragement I have receieved from the LDS Job Placement program. This has been a great blessing in my life.

We are in the process of moving into a house this week and I have been praying and asking what to do and how are we going to be able to afford this house. The answer I kept getting was that everything was going to be okay and that we would be blessed. This job came just at the right time.

I wish I could get up on Monday and share with the group but I know you will understand.

Please share this with the group. There were times I got very discouraged and it was very hard. I kept trying and didn't give up. I volunteered to help others, and attended the temple. I know that I am very blessed for this.

I know that this is an inspired program but you have to have faith and keep trying.

Thank you again,

Service Advisor
*** GMC

* * *

Here's another:

Brother Goates, Brother *** here, one of your father's missionaries if you remember. Good news I found a job, worked at this company eight years ago, not a perfect job, so I am still looking, but two things, good I did not burn any bridges and networking works. I do have a brother in the ward that needs help with a resume. I would like to send him down and work with the brother with the balding head. Sorry, I have forgotten his name. If you could let me know I will pass it along to him. Thanks for all of your help, it really did help.


Brother ***

* * *

And another:

I found a job and started working 9/28/10. I would like to thank you for offering a wonderful program that really does help those of us looking for employment. I particularly found the 2 day workshop that helped with resumes and mock interviews to be very beneficial. It is also nice that you include those of us that are not LDS to participate.


Thank you, ***

* * *

As you can tell, there is ample evidence the employment situation in Utah is improving.  People are finding work.  Employers are hiring.  Not everyone is hanging their head in hopelessness.  I encourage all who are looking for employment to come and partake freely of the offering at the Employment Resource Center at Welfare Square and particularly professionals who may be tempted to think they can do it all by themselves because they've always been self-sustaining in the past.  This is a different economic world, and you need new tools to assist you in your search.  We have our finger on the pulse of what's happening.  Help is available.  Half the people who were placed along the Wasatch Front in 2009 were not members of the Church.  Those who do the work we suggest find the jobs, while the rest of the job seekers are still relying upon sending resumes into cyberspace for job postings that are quickly filled up with hundreds of competitors' resumes.

The two-day professional career workshop is indispensible to job seekers.  We teach it alternatively each week at night and during the day to accommodate job seekers who are unemployed and those who are underemployed.  The Spirit of the Holy Ghost attends each workshop.  It is a revelatory experience designed to pinpoint strengths, skills and weaknesses, and to hone and refine the ways in which the job candidates present themselves to prospective employers.  As the examples above illustrate, it works!

I am happy to assist with pointing anyone to all the available resources, if you e-mail me directly at "d goates at yahoo dot com" (you know what it really is and how to spell it, right?).

Test Your Religion IQ

I took this 15-question quiz tonight, created by the Pew Research folks.

Survey findings and full analysis are available at pewforum.org.

Take the quiz and see how you do.  I got 14 out of 15.  Missed the one about the Catholics' interpretation of the emblems of the sacrament.  I thought they gave up the transubstantiation doctrine.  Apparently not.

Give it a try.  Good luck.

Here's a "news flash."  Another study indicates Mormons are the most conservative religious group in the United States.

And in Utah, headquarters of the Mormon Church, it's no wonder Utah has earned the moniker as the "reddest" state in America.

So, the natural corollary (drum roll, please, can you guess?) -- Mormons rate President Obama with the lowest approval rating of any other religious group.

Utah Digging Out of Recession

The Associated Press August 24, 2010, 8:14AM ET

SALT LAKE CITY

Utah is adding jobs faster than it is losing them for the first time in several years, state economists said Monday.

Utah's unemployment rate remained steady at 7.2 percent in July amid signs the state is digging itself out of the recession.

Utah added 17,200 jobs over the past year, with the state work force expanding by 1.5 percent to 1.19 million jobs, according to the state Department of Workforce Services.

The recovery, however, is slow. And the unemployed are filing more than 2,000 jobless claims a week, double the historic average, said Mark Knold, chief economist of the Department of Workforce Services.

Those claims were as high as 5,000 a week at the start of 2009.

Signs of job growth are encouraging, although the survey data is subject to revision and could backslide, Knold said.

Utah is still playing catch-up. About 75,000 jobs have been removed from the state economy over the past three years, he said.

Three of Utah's economic sectors are still showing net job losses -- manufacturing, construction and government.

Knold said the construction sector could stabilize by year's end. Utah has lost a third of its construction jobs since July 2007, and it could take another 10 years before the state returns to the previous high mark in that industry, he said.

During the recession, Utah manufacturers scaled back employment by 4,100 positions to 20,000 -- the worst-hit industry in the state, Knold said.

Other employment sectors made modest gains over the past year.

The department said nearly 98,000 people in Utah were considered unemployed in July.

Utah's July unemployment rate was well below the national figure of 9.5 percent.

* * *

Now that school has begun and the fall season is upon us, we have a better handle on what the unemployment situation is.  I'm using the number of attendees at our Monday morning networking meeting as the gauge here.  Last January the room where we meet was filled to overflowing.  We were seeing around 175 -180 participants every Monday monring.  I have joked that we would only hold that meeting for as long as it took to get the numbers down to the size where we could meet in a phone booth.

The drop since January has been gratifying.  We've got the only job in the Church I know of where you succeed if no one shows up for the meeting. . .  For the last several months we have seen the number of participants decline to 70 or 80 each week.

Even when David Checketts was our featured speaker a couple of weeks ago and I expected to see some "ringers" who weren't really unemployed show up to hear him speak, the number only ticked up slightly to 95.  A year ago, David spoke to a standing-room-only audience in excess of 200.  His stake in New Canaan, Connecticut, had 120 heads of household out of work last year.  This year he reported that number is down to 10.  Despite what the gloomy national statistics are telling us, improvement is discernable and real but still slower than necessary.

Growth is slow because of government intervention.  Get government out of the way and the economy will take off.  Free markets hate uncertainty, and no one has injected more uncertainty into the equation more than the President of the United States and his majority leadership in both Houses of Congress.  Force feeding a fast diet of economic fat fueled by debt, sugar-filled programs, regulatory bills filled with new agencies designed to bypass Congressional oversight and debate, coupled with expanded entitlement spending has been disastrous.

Despite all that, there is significant evidence I can point to that Utah is leading the way out of this recession.  Because Utah's constitution mandates balancing the budget each year, businesses here are hiring, growing and defying the odds.  The growth is slow but discernable and sustainable despite the malaise in evidence in other parts of the country.

There, I delivered some good news.  And there's more. . .

It was reported earlier in the week that 14 Utah businesses are in this year's list of the Inc. 500's fastest growing companies, further evidence Utah is rising above the recession doldrums.  Funding Universe leads the way in Utah at number 34.  And what's the business model for Funding Universe you ask?  Matching angel investors with budding entrepreneurs and their startup businesses. 

Now if we can just reverse the disturbing effects of socialism, entitlements, bailouts and handouts, we'll progress even faster.

David Brooks wrote a thoughtful piece in the New York Times this morning comparing Germany's approach to the financial crisis with America's.  Under conservative leadership in Germany, notably German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany elected to spend significantly less on stimulus borrowing as a percentage of GNP, and their unemployment numbers are back down to pre-crisis levels.  Germany's economy is expanding right now at a blistering pace.  However, America's bloated experiment with massive debt and unbridled spending has frozen economic recovery by contrast.  Germany rejected the thinking of America's "best minds" on economics and has proven their case.  She has shown the example to America -- if you're the government, you can't borrow and spend your way out of a recession.  Hip, Hip, Hooray for capitalism, Ms. Merkel!!

Let's hope Americans have seen enough data to reverse course in November and follow the example of Germany.  I never thought those words would come out of my cyber pen, but there you go. . . America should take an economic lesson from Germany.   

Unthinkable. . . until now.