THE MIRACLE OF BIRTH

This was a very exciting week for Jill and I and our family.  Bonnie and Landon finally had their “rainbow” baby….born on May 8^th…..7 lbs. 2 oz….Oliver Dennis Blodgett.  He is our 38^th grandchild, along with 3 great-grandchildren.  We love them all so much and are looking forward to seeing them all again. I would also like to wish all the Mother's reading this Blog today that I am grateful for all that you do for the children that have been given to you from a loving Heavenly Father. They are now in your care and keeping.....God has entrusted you to raise them and love them. And you are doing great.....HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY !!!

 Anytime I go through an experience like the birth of a baby, it gets me thinking about life….our purpose here on earth…..where did we come from, why are we here, and where do we go after we die. Those are questions we ask ourselves when we attend funerals.... questions about life after death.  But how many times do we think about life before birth….especially when we see and hold a beautiful little baby in our arms? Some people are hard pressed to believe extraordinary things. Is birth extraordinary? From his talk at BYU, Lawrence Corbridge said, "while it is understandable that we may all be challenged by the extraordinary, i.e. walking on water, multiplying bread and fish, raising the dead, and the visitation of angels.....we shouldn't be....because ordinary things are actually more phenomenal. The most phenomenal occurrences of all time and eternity, the most amazing wonders, the most outstanding developments are the most common. Is there anything greater than those ordinary realities? No. Nothing else even comes close. You can't begin to imagine, much less describe anything greater than what already is. In light of what is....nothing else should surprise us. It should be easy to believe that with God, all things are possible. The healing of the withered hand is not nearly as amazing as the existence of the hand in the first place. If it exists, then it follows that it can certainly be fixed if broken. The greater event is not in its healing, but in its creation. More phenomenal than the resurrection, is birth. The greater wonder is not that life having once existed could come back to life again, but that it ever exists at all. More amazing that the dead be raised, is that we live at all. A silent heart that beats again is not nearly amazing as the heart that beats within your breast right now". The birth of a little baby may seem ordinary, but it is a miracle..... and everything about our birth and our existence is what is phenomenal. Life is truly amazing....and the gift of life has been given to each of us from a loving Heavenly Father.

When I was a young missionary over 50 years ago, we showed the film “Man’s Search for Happiness” almost weekly to those interested in hearing what we had to say and about our message of the restored church.   It was produced by the church for the New York City World’s Fair in 1964.  It was not a long film, but it proposed the same questions I mention above about life before birth, our purpose on earth, and what happens after we die.  I loved the message and I loved introducing it to people.  Even today, it remains one of the most beautiful doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  We do believe we lived before we came to earth and it was our choice to come here.  The apostle Boyd K. Packer said, “There is no way to make sense out of life without a knowledge of the doctrine of premortal life.  When we understand about life before birth, then things fit together and make sense”.  From the film Man’s Search for Happiness, the following poem from William Wordsworth was highlighted: 

“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; the soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting and cometh from afar; not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness, but trailing clouds of glory do we come,

From God, who is our home”

Looking at pictures of baby Oliver once again reminds me that we came from a heavenly home. The most fundamental truth of our premortal existence is our identity.  We lived as spirit children of Heavenly Parents.  We are not just abstract concepts or “possibilities”,  or even “mistakes”.  We are individual beings with personalities, talents, and a divine nature.  The Proclamation to the World on the Family was issued by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve in 1995 and says the following:  “In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life.  The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave”.  I love that idea and the doctrine….which makes absolutely sense to me. 

As I have mentioned many times in this Blog over the last year, we are living around people that do not have much from a worldly standpoint.  Many of them are living in poverty and most are living in very poor and humbles circumstances. But they are happy. Why?  Because they have hope in Jesus Christ and what the future can bring to them.  The members of the church here understand the Plan of Happiness.  It is what gives them hope for a better day. They do believe they came from a premortal existence, accepted the Plan of Happiness, came to earth to receive a physical body, be tested, and see it they could find the gospel of Jesus Christ and return to live with our Heavenly Father. They have found what they came to earth to find.  They are happy.  They know that families can be together forever.  And so do I….without a doubt.

The pictures below begin with a new life….baby Oliver and his two young sisters loving him and excited to be able to play with him.  Evelyn said, “Mom, is this real?”  There are pictures of our missionaries at more training meetings, and we have pictures of the Kaaen’s, who will be leaving us in a few days.  We will miss them. The other senior couples asked us to say a few words at our last “Break the Fast”….so I guess Evelyn.... it is getting “real” for Jill and I as our days are numbered as to when we go home.  We had the opportunity to do some baptisms in the temple with Gilbert…. and another family whose dad works at the US Embassy….the Argyle’s.  I was “John the Baptist” for all three of them.  It was a nice experience and a very good day….especially for Gilbert....our new convert of two months. 

Life goes on.  We have about three weeks left of this wonderful experience we have had here in Ghana….a time in my life on earth that I will never forget.

I am grateful that I am having the privilege of growing another day or two older and spending the later years of my life here on a mission in Ghana. What a privilege it has been for us to be here and what a wonderful church that has given us this opportunity. I love this church.  I love our Savior and His doctrine.  I love the Plan of Happiness.  I know this little baby Oliver came from a Heavenly home and he has so much to look forward to with the experiences he is about to go through here on earth....and how thankful he will be someday that he was born into a family with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Oliver Dennis Blodgett. Born May 8, 2026. 7 lbs. 2 ounces.

Evelyn and Hazel now have something new to play with....and oh..... how they will.

Great missionaries.

Elder and Sister Kaaen. No one has come forward yet to replace Sister Kaaen so she is showing Jill some of her new duties and responsibilities with regard to health issues of the missionaries.

Elder Cid.....one of our favorites as He served as one of the "tech elders" in the office and we got to know him very well. He's from Chile.

The Crowley's in the middle picture just arrived as YSA missionaries from Draper, Utah.

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Another day at the office and fixing breakfast for the missionaries.

One more time to give some words of wisdom.....this time at "break the fast" to the other senior couples. What a blessing it was for us to get to know the 40-50 couples serving in this area.

The Kaaen's leave tomorrow. We will follow in three weeks.

They were great leaders and examples to the missionaries and they will be missed.

Ben and Wendy De Hoyas from Provo, Utah. Ben was one of our pickleball players for the last year....sometimes 3-5 times each and every week. They are leaving in two weeks.

This little guy moved as I took the picture, but his Mom was so proud of him she wanted me to take his picture.

And then I had another Mom wanting her little guy's picture taken.

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The choirs here are amazing here.....I have never heard anything like it.

This was a pool party to say goodbye to the Kaaen's and Blodgett's. Most do not swim.

This was good day with Gilbert and the Argyle kids, along with Brother Mensah at the Temple. We went with Gilbert and this couple from America, whose dad works for the Dept. of Defense at the US Embassy, showed up and did some baptisms with us.

He is an extraordinary young man and we are so blessed to have met him and introduce him to the gospel of Jesus Christ. His future is bright and it might include a mission.

This is the jersey of the Ghanaian national soccer team.....Gilbert had one that was too big....and the one I had was too small.....so we swapped jerseys.