GET BACK HOME!

"Get back.  Get back. Get back to where you once belonged!  Get back home..." These lyrics blared from my stereo the other day as I busily cleaned my kitchen.  As I caught myself singing along, my thoughts began to wander internally… the song mentions two characters that have left home for different reasons, and have found that sometimes the world tempts us to leave a place of security with promise of great things,  but doesn't always deliver!  Immediately my thoughts turned to my sixth graders at school and I began to think about their plights to fit in with friends, or find someone to listen to them, find a place to belong.  Social circles are an interesting breed, and you can't force true friendship or belonging, but one thing I have seen is that if someone is looking, there are friends out there that can make you feel like you belong.  I witness everyday and am a true believer that all anyone in this life really needs is to belong!  We all have an inherent need to love and be loved by someone.  So it becomes ever important that we open our hearts to find, or be those that make us feel at home. This of course led me to think about the circles to which I have "belonged" over the years.

One such circle would be my family. I was so lucky to grow up her in St. Johns. I grew up with 4 brothers and a sister.  I am grateful for the best friends I found in the early years of my life. We lived in a modest home that didn't always give each of us the room we thought we needed, but I wouldn't trade the memories for anything. Yes we fought and teased, but I always knew I had a place at home.  My mom had created in our family room, a book cupboard.  It was filled with so many cool titles. I can remember pulling out a stack of books that I planned to read during my mom's instituted "quiet time".  I remember how calm and settled I always felt in that room as I laid on my belly by the big window and read and read away many Sunday afternoons.  That was another "sense of belonging" I recall.  These friends in the cupboards could cheer me up any day.  I still feel a warmth come over me and can picture vividly several of my favorite books.

Another place felt I belonged was my neighborhood.  Such awesome neighbors I had.  Ken Raban lived straight across the street from me.  Often he would beckon my sister and I over to his door and offer us a choice of treat from his BRACHS candy bag.  He would tell us stories and jokes and always let us walk up and down his cool fence(every now and again I have the urge to stop there and see if I can still make it up and down it!)  Mrs. Anna Herring, another dear neighbor, would spend spring and summers working in her flowers and would always stop her work to visit with me whenever I ventured across the street to her house.  She had been my kindergarten teacher and I loved her with all my heart because she had always shown me kindness and took time to listen to a small girl.  Murray Patterson lived across from our house as well for several years.  We would go over and play with his son.  He had a cool swing in his back yard and would push any of us neighbor kids in it.  We would squeal with delight as he pushed us so high(He lives in a different house today, but still has a cool swing that I see many kids have access to).  Another neighbor was Marja Hansen, who was my music teacher in school.  She has one of the loudest voices I have ever heard, both singing and yelling.  Her daughter Phyllis would play with us in the neighborhood and always bring us cookies that her mom had baked.  We would play in their yard, sometimes for hours.  Tag, or a game we called "Statues" and hide-n-seek were some of our favorites. The kids in our neighborhood would often play in our field out back, with all my dad's cool tools (I'm sure he loved that!)  or in our tree house-correction- two story tree house in our back yard!  It was awesome!  Many times we'd play in our sand box, or even in the street and ride our bikes around the block. Fun times! BUT...At dusk, no matter where we were in the neighborhood, we'd know it was time to go home when we heard Mrs. Hansen's voice bellow through the street, "Phyllis, come home!"  It was sort of like our neighborhood signal, like the "Batman signal" but in voice, alerting us that we needed to get back home before dark.  I felt so safe in that little neighborhood.

Such great memories I have of places I once "belonged".  Some people say you can never go back and maybe its true.  But I believe you can show honor to those people, places and circles by going forward to create similar environments.  Places and groups that can make our kids and grandkids feel like they belong somewhere. So get inspired!  Make a book cupboard, pump up your bike tires for a ride, teach someone about your garden, share a treat!  Just find a way to "get back to where you once belonged"; It will do your heart some good, and will make you and this wonderful town in which we live, nothing but happy!

Kirstin Udall

Change...

Recently, the bank branch in St. Johns closed. It was an unsettling event for most people. I am not qualified to discuss the economic impacts that an event like that will have on our town, but I think I am qualified to discuss how resilient the town is and why at the end of the day, in my opinion our town will keep on moving along, without skipping a beat, just as it has for more than a hundred years.

To someone unfamiliar with the town, a quick look at a map of the area might indicate that geographically, St. Johns isn’t on the way to anywhere!   There are more efficient and aesthetically pleasing ways to travel in just about any direction, than to venture through St.Johns!  There are no interstates to shuttle the masses, no metropolitan attractions to drive commerce, and no obvious natural draws to speak of…

To those who call our town home now, or who have ever called our town home, nothing could be further from the truth.  Our secret is that we believe St. Johns is on the way to everywhere,in fact, it may even sit right in the middle of the universe!  So to adequately understand how this little, unassuming community will carry on despite the loss of the bank, I’ll ask you to consider a few things that I believe form the underpinnings of this community.

First, consider those who you know that have left our little town to defend our nation and returned. From the Great War all the way through to the current conflict we are engaged in.  Consider those who left and did not return. Their sacrifice was complete.By virtue of the sacrifices of those men and women, the bar of expectation and greatness was set high for the rest of us to aspire to.  

Next, consider the farmers and ranchers who for generations have survived year to year in a place where water is scarce and conditions are often less than favorable for cattle and crops. Their toughness and grit are what brought, and continue to bring them and their families back season after season to face the uncertainty and make a go of it.

Finally, consider the teachers in our schools who also, for generations have prepared the youth of this town to rise to the highest levels in society. They prepared us and expected us to go out into the world and not be a drain on society; they expect us to contribute in whatever capacity we can aspire to.  Our schools have contributed significantly to the highest levels of state and federal government, to global industry, religion and the arts. Our teachers showed us that it is better to be part of something bigger than ourselves, and that we can always do hard things.

So, the bank left…  It wasn’t the first business to go, and it probably won’t be the last! As sure as they go, more will come.  In St. Johns, that really isn’t what matters anyway.  The town’s strength is its people; Industrious, hardworking people who have always found, and will continue to find ways to survive and adapt and keep moving forward.

Doug Patterson

A Cowboy's Prayer

I always knew that I wanted to live in St. Johns. Growing up I would hear classmates tell me how they couldn’t wait to leave town and do other things. In my mind there wasn’t any other place that I wanted to live. All the good times having bon fires out at section 5, jumping off the dock at Patterson’s Pond, going spotlighting out east, the list could go on and on.  

My family first came to St. Johns in the late 1800’s. They were directed to settle this area by Brigham Young. Our family still owns the land that they stayed their first nights here in St. Johns. The examples of my family members have had a positive impact in the way I live my life.

Some of the greatest examples to me are my Grandpa and Grandma Heap. They have always shown me the right way to live my life. In High School I worked for them every day on the ranch after school and on Saturdays. There would be many times that I would get to their house early, before we could set out to work, we always would read scriptures and say prayers. As a teenager this impacted my life tremendously. After my grandmother passed away I was very fortunate to spend a lot of time with my grandpa. In the few months before my mission there were not too many days that we weren’t together. I have never met a more optimistic person in my life. He has always been faithful to the gospel. There are not many things that I would rather do, than spend time with him pushing cattle or riding fence. Even though my Grandmother was not there anymore, we would still read scriptures and say prayers before we went to work.

Late this last fall we were short some cattle on the ranch south of Alpine Arizona. Grandpa Heap called me early in the morning and asked if I would go up and look for the cattle that we were missing. I have never been able to tell my grandfather no. He told me that he knew I would find them. I had my doubts. We had already ridden the ranch several times looking for these cattle and we were not finding any sign. So I loaded up my horse and I set out.  On my way up to Alpine, I kept having this feeling, like I wasn’t alone, or that I knew that I had help. It was a strange, but also a comforting feeling. I got to the ranch and I said a little prayer asking for help. I decided to go to Campbell pasture and start there. The roads were slick with mud, snow and ice. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get too far with the pickup and trailer but I felt like I should keep going a little farther. I kept going and I came up on a pickup that was stuck in the mud. I could see a lady and three kids standing near the truck. I stopped and asked if I could help. She told me that her husband and son were hunting they had gotten stuck and left to go look for some elk. I was still hooked up to a trailer, so I carefully drove around the truck and found a spot that I could un-hook the trailer. The husband and son had returned when I got back to their truck. I then pulled their truck out and I asked them to take my number and if they saw any cattle to please call me.  I then continued on my way searching for the cattle. About an hour later I got a text telling me that the hunter had seen some cattle. I couldn’t believe it. I found where the hunter had seen the cattle and I was able to get the cattle to the corral, and with some help from my beautiful wife and my Dad we got them back to St. Johns.

Later that evening I was thinking about the day and how blessed I was to have such great examples in my life. I knew that I had help that day. I knew when my Grandpa had said his morning prayers he prayed for me to find the cattle. I also thought about the blessing of being able to live in a great town like St. Johns. A place where I get to do the things that I love. A place where I can raise my children surrounded by a family of faith and dedication to our Savior Jesus Christ!

Trent Hancock

"Mommy, I need you."

“Mommy I need you,” this is a phrase I have heard over and over this past week. My two year old Paislee has not been feeling well and has needed more attention than usual.  There were countless times this last week where she just wanted to be held or rocked. This was challenging at times because my 6 month old Kinlee was also sick and needed extra care and attention.  Each time Paislee came up to me and told me “I need you” I did my best to try and take care of her.  As I sat there holding her and rocking her many thoughts came into my mind.  We all have different times in our lives where we “need” and depend on others.  I thought of the lady who I visit teach who  just had surgery and needed a blessing, and the Mother who was with her sick baby in the hospital and needed help for her family at home.  

One thing that I find very interesting is how easy it is to ask for help for others but not for ourselves. Because we all think that we have to be “Superman” and do everything ourselves we often don’t reach out to others when we need help, or if we do we wait until the last possible minute when we finally come to the realization that we can’t do it on our own.  A few weeks ago I took part in a relief society lesson where we discussed this very thing as it pertained to our Heavenly Father.  Often times we think that something may be too small or simple to talk to him about when the truth is he wants to hear from us.  President  Dieter F. Uchtdorf said “God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small planet who lives for a brief season—He sees you as His child. He sees you as the being you are capable and designed to become. He wants you to know that you matter to Him.”  So, if we matter so much to him why is it that we are so hesitant to call upon him when we need help?

This weekend I had the opportunity to spend the weekend with my brother David . We were discussing this very thing when he told me the following story;  

“Last week I was working in a room above our garage.   My wife and I are expecting our fourth child, so we decided to make the space above our garage into a bedroom.  For whatever reason, when I work, my tools just “disappear”.  I will set a tool down and when I go back to get it a second later it is gone.   I don’t know why, but it seems I spend a lot of time looking for tools.  I am sure that everyone has experienced the intense frustration that comes with looking for something that should be very easy to find (think of the people that look all over for their glasses and eventually find that they are wearing them). 

I was hanging sheetrock, and somehow I lost my sheetrock knife.  I looked everywhere for that knife.  My progress on the room was halted, and I was frustrated.  As I continued to circle the room, looking everywhere my frustration turned to anger and eventually my anger turned to rage.  I must have spent at least 20 minutes looking for that knife.  It had literally “disappeared”. 

I found myself ready to give up.  Then it occurred to me.  I have prayed numerous times to find things that are lost and I have never been let down.  I bowed my head and said a prayer.  When I opened my eyes I saw a tool belt that I had been wearing earlier.  I immediately remembered putting the knife in the pouch and found it right away. 

I felt ridiculous.  I had invested so much time and energy (I was really mad) in a fruitless search when all I had to do was ask my Heavenly Father for help.”

We continued our discussion and talked about how kids never hesitate to ask for even the smallest things, and they trust that their requests will be answered.  We can all learn from the example that they set for us.  Our Heavenly Father wants us to ask.  He wants to answer, but we have to ask.  I am reminded of the picture by Warner Sallma titled “ Christ at Heart’s Door”, in this picture if you look closely you will find there is no door knob.  This indicates that we must take it upon ourselves to open the door and let him in, or in other words we must reach out to him when we “need” him.  Just as my 2 year old knows I will be there whenever she needs me I know that Heavenly Father is there for each of us in our time of need.  All we have to do is ask and he will always be there willing to help us.

Candice Bond