Meeting a TRUE American Hero

As my wife and I were getting off the elevator a few minutes ago I spotted an elderly gentleman and his wife seated right next to the elevator banks with this around his neck:

I discreetly pointed him out to my wife, not wanting to interrupt him, but then I couldn't resist and had to go pay my respects. His name is Cpl. Hiroshi H. Miyamura, a Medal of Honor Recipient and WWII/Korean War Veteran. I told him what an honor it was to meet him and his wife and how grateful we are for his service and others like him. He was very gracious and allowed my wife to take this picture of the two of us:

Mr. Miyamura is from New Mexico and is also a first time attendee at the Republican National Convention. He told us that he wanted to make an appearance at the convention to tell people who he was voting for and why. He said we needed real American men to lead our country and that he was there to honor Sen. McCain's service in the military and encourage us to vote for him.

After chatting for a few minutes I walked away, with goosebumps running up and down my arms. It was such an honor to meet this man and personally thank him for his service to our country. After running our errands I had to run back up to the hotel room to look up Cpl. Miyamura's Citation. After reading it aloud to my wife I once again got chills. I would rather meet and visit with one of these authentic American heroes than a President of the United States. I couldn't wait for tonight to get this post put up on my blog. It is too exciting for me!

Here is Cpl. Miyamura's Medal of Honor Citation:

MIYAMURA, HIROSHI H.
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, Company H, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Taejon-ni, Korea, 24 and 25 April 1951. Entered service at: Gallup, N. Mex. Birth: Gallup, N. Mex. G.O. No.: 85, 4 November 1953. Citation: Cpl. Miyamura, a member of Company H, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. On the night of 24 April, Company H was occupying a defensive position when the enemy fanatically attacked threatening to overrun the position. Cpl. Miyamura, a machine gun squad leader, aware of the imminent danger to his men unhesitatingly jumped from his shelter wielding his bayonet in close hand-to-hand combat killing approximately 10 of the enemy. Returning to his position, he administered first aid to the wounded and directed their evacuation. As another savage assault hit the line, he manned his machine gun and delivered withering fire until his ammunition was expended. He ordered the squad to withdraw while he stayed behind to render the gun inoperative. He then bayoneted his way through infiltrated enemy soldiers to a second gun emplacement and assisted in its operation. When the intensity of the attack necessitated the withdrawal of the company Cpl. Miyamura ordered his men to fall back while he remained to cover their movement. He killed more than 50 of the enemy before his ammunition was depleted and he was severely wounded. He maintained his magnificent stand despite his painful wounds, continuing to repel the attack until his position was overrun. When last seen he was fighting ferociously against an overwhelming number of enemy soldiers. Cpl. Miyamura's indomitable heroism and consummate devotion to duty reflect the utmost glory on himself and uphold the illustrious traditions on the military service.

Convention-al Entertainment

We had some really cool experiences yesterday, starting with a reception for the Arizona/Minnessota Delegations at the Landmark Building across the street from our hotel. We heard opening comments from our State Party Chairman, Randy Pullen as well as our Secretary of State, Jan Brewer, and then from several "luminaries". Our speakers were:

Keeper of Banners addressing the Delgates

• Governor Tom Pawlenty - Governor of Minnesota


• Governor Jon Huntsman - Governor of Utah


• Senator Norm Coleman - (R) Minnesota


• Robert "Bud" McFarlane - Former National Security Advisor to President Reagan


• Ambassador John R. Bolton - Former US Ambassador to the United Nations


• Meg Whitman - Former President/CEO of eBay

I was especially excited to hear from Senator Coleman and Ambassador Bolton - two great Americans who have led the charge against the U.S. being involved with and taking orders from the UN.

Ambassador John Bolton and I (me engaging in a little hero worship)

Later that evening we ran over to the Minneapolis Convention Center for the Civic Convention. It was a blast! They had several displays on the presidency, including mock-ups of Air Force One, a large-scale model of the White House, two presidential limousines, and the most awesome collection of historic US Flags (not just replicas - these were the real deal!).

Me Achieving Nirvana

I thought I was going to go into sensory overload, and Dulcinea had to cool me down from spending too much dinero on campaign kitsch. We got some souvenirs for the kids (and for us) and walked until the bones in my feet started popping (it might be time to lose some weight). My favorite acquisitions were a copy of Barry Goldwater's The Conscience of a Conservative and a baseball cap from the USS John S. McCain - a destroyer named after Sen. McCain's father and grandfather that is currently depolyed in the Persian Gulf.

We have been interacting with delegates from all over the country, and have made some great friends. There are so many good people here. It gives me a lot of excitement and hope for this election cycle.

The First Lady and I returning to D.C. after bringing peace to the Middle East

All in all, a great day. I am looking forward to some actual political action today when the convention officially kicks off.

Tell the Joint Chiefs that the bombing of Iran starts NOW - not five minutes from now! And get that little crap-head Putin on the phone - I'm about to open a can of whoop and pour it all over his sorry hide.

Greetings from St. Paul Minnesota!!!

Just a quick post to update you on our trip to Minneapolis-St. Paul for the Republican National Convention. We made it safe and sound to our destination yesterday evening and are staying in the fabulous St. Paul hotel just a stone's throw away from the Excel Center and the Mississippi River. It is awesome to be here with Dulcinea and we are enjoying each other's company sans children. (Thanks for taking care of our little ones Mom!)

I will be posting throughout the week - mostly on my Adams and Jefferson Blog as well as a blog for the Arizona Republic (more information on that to follow). My blog posts will be almost entirely political in nature, because I don't think I will have time to make two entries each day and I have some obligations for political commentaries. For the tourist perspective of our journey, please check out Dulcinea's Blog.In the meantime, here are three pictures of our journey so far.

Dulcinea and I in the Sky Harbor Airport

The Welcome Sign at the Minneapolis Airport

A View of the Mississippi River from our hotel room window.

McCain-Palin '08!!!

New Adventures

The last few weeks have been interesting ones. I have spent two Sundays with my family, sitting on the bench with them and pretty much spending the entire day with them. I thought it would feel real weird, but it feels like I never left. (OK - not having meetings all day long did feel a little weird) Watching Bro. Griner on the stand is cool and it is neat to look back on the bishopric as an experience that I have had in my life.

I am now serving as Secretary in the Stake Young Men's Presidency and am real excited about the opportunities this calling will give me to learn and grow. We have a fantastic presidency, and I will learn a lot from each one of them. This is going to be great!

I was also called to be one of the two Gospel Doctrine teachers in our ward and gave my first lesson this past Sunday. I have always wanted to serve as a Gospel Doctrine teacher, so I am going to enjoy this and learn a lot in the process (we've got a great class).

Day after tomorrow my wife and I fly out to Minneapolis-St. Paul for the Republican National Convention. I was elected as an alternate delegate earlier this year and am in awe about this opportunity to see and participate in one of America's greatest political events. It is also going to be really cool to spend a full week with my wife. I'm sure we'll miss the kids, but we have never spent more than three consecutive days with just the two of us since we were married almost 14 years ago (including our honeymoon). It is going to be like one giant, enormous date with Dulcinea! Cool!!!

Patriot Guard Mission

Yesterday I rode with other Patriot Guard Riders as part of an honor guard escorting a fallen Marine to his final rest. It was an emotional, moving event and I was grateful for the opportunity to participate in rendering honors to a local hero. Standing in the blistering heat for 4+ hours made me reflect on what the last few months of this Marine's life were like and the discomfort he endured in Afghanistan so that I could be free and safe here in the States. I couldn't help but imagine what it was like for his parents when they received the news that their son was gone. My heart was completely full of gratitude for this wonderful young man, his family, and the brave men and women who are still in the fight over there "in the sandbox."

When I got home last night, I held my own son close and thanked God for Lance Corporal Juan Lopez-Castañeda and his parents. As a father I would be proud to have my son serve, but I don't know if I could bear to lose him. My heart goes out to the Lopez-Castañeda family.

God Bless our military and their family members!


For a short video on yesterday's ride click on the following link:

http://www.azfamily.com/video/?z=y&nvid=275051

For information on the Patriot Guard Riders go to:

www.patriotguard.org

An end and a beginning

My four and a half years in the bishopric of the Cornerstone Ward concluded this afternoon. Karl Griner was called into the bishopric to replace me and he will do an absolutely fantastic job of it. I am excited for him and his family as they begin serving in this sacred calling.

One of the greatest joys of this calling is the association with the other members of the bishopric. The bonds of fellowship in that group are sacred and powerful. There are a lot of things I am going to miss about this calling, but far and away the biggest thing I'll miss is the brotherhood. I am grateful that I can still associate with these great men but I recognize that things will be different now and I am sad about that.

Most of the feelings I have had today are too personal and too sacred to share on this blog, but it reminds me of other times when I have left a calling I have loved to move on to a different sphere of service.

At the conclusion of my mission, when I was experiencing some of the same feelings I have right now, I got an insight into a scripture that had puzzled me for years. In Alma 29:1-3, 6 it says:

1 O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the ^atrump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

2 Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and ^acome unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.

3 But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.

6 Now, seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to ^aperform the work to which I have been called?

I couldn't understand why Alma considered it a sin to desire to declare the gospel with angelic zeal. But then I realized it was because he desired something more than the calling he had, and that he should be content and grateful for the privilege to serve.

I am grateful for the time I had to serve in the bishopric. The time I had was more than I deserved and I was richly blessed far beyond any contributions which I may have made during this stage of my life.

I am especially grateful to Bishop Lindblom and Bishop Huber for their kindness and consideration to me and my family during our service together. I learned so much from them both. They are outstanding men of God, and I am better for having served with them. I have a deep and abiding love for both of them that will be with me for the rest of my life. I am also profoundly grateful for the wonderful friendship I have established with Jon Albright. I have always come away from our conversations uplifted and enlightened.

Above all else I am grateful to my sweet wife and our children who have supported, encouraged, loved, and prayed for me during this time. The main reason I received this calling was because of the magnificent woman I am married to. Thanks Dulcinea!

And now a new stage of my life begins. Next week I return to the bench with my sweet family to enjoy our sacrament meetings together. I also begin a calling that will take me outside of my comfort zone, create new associations to enjoy, and bless my family in new and exciting ways. It is so great to be involved in this work!

Finding Silence in the Kingdom of Noise

In The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis makes an interesting observation about noise in a fictional letter between a senior devil and a new tempter:

"Music and silence - how I detest them both! How thankful we should be that ever since Our Father entered Hell ... no square inch of infernal space and no moment of infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces, but all has been occupied by Noise - Noise, that grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile - Noise which alone defends us from silly qualms, despairing scruples and impossible desires. We will make the whole universe a noise in the end. We have already made great strides in this direction as regards the Earth. The melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the end. But I admit we are not yet loud enough, or anywhere like it."

Noise - as described above, is more than just a loud cacophony of discordant sounds. It is all thoughts and distractions which make it impossible for us to hear the sweeter and more important melodies of life that constantly surround us. This noise is found in many forms and, interestingly enough, assumes the quality of being noise not so much by the sound it makes as much as by the setting it is found in. What might be beautiful and uplifting in one setting becomes noise in another.

In my own life, several examples come to mind. When I have been surrounded by unsettling circumstances, listening to classical music or hymns calms me down and helps restore a sense of peace in my life. If I am trying to study something or read my scriptures, the same music that calms me down distracts me and makes it impossible to get the in depth knowledge I am seeking. I also enjoy watching movies and find that they relax me, but if I watch a movie on Saturday night it makes keeping my thoughts focused on spiritual things almost impossible on Sunday.

For some time now I have been bothered by the effect that noise has in my life and the way that it seems to invade my thoughts regardless of where I am or what I am doing. This morning a song that I haven't heard in years suddenly started playing in my mind and I have had a devil of a time getting it to shut up! It is not a bad song, it just isn't what I want to be hearing in my head on Sunday. A couple of weeks ago I had a similar experience in the Temple. An innocuous song I had heard earlier in the day kept playing over and over in my mind when I should have been focused on where I was and what I was doing.

One of the more insidious aspects of noise is that it becomes addicting. Whenever I get into a car I turn on the radio. When I get home either the kids are already watching TV or I turn it on myself. In my office I like to have music playing in the background. If a newspaper or magazine shows up in my office I have a hard time focusing until I have read them. The experiences of distraction I have had seem to illustrate just how consistently I allow noise to be a part of my surroundings.

All of this seems innocent enough, but what is it costing me? When noise becomes my natural environment, I struggle to hear the whisperings of the spirit. If I favor noise to human interaction, I am missing out on the conversations and experiences that will bind me closer to my family. And, the more immersed I am in noise, the more my inner core becomes attuned to the frequencies of the world. When I stop to think about all this I am convinced that noise is one of the many subtle tools that Satan uses to create distance between us and our Heavenly Father.

All of us are like the soundboard of a piano, reverberating and amplifying the sounds that we are associated with. By putting ourselves in close proximity to our Heavenly Father in our thoughts, actions, and surroundings, we can tune ourselves to the appropriate heavenly pitch we are meant to echo and reflect. Fortunately for us, these divine influences surround us every bit as much as the noise does. The difference is that we must be properly tuned to hear and experience them. Once we learn to identify these uplifting influences they can become so powerful that they eliminate the distractions of worldly noise. (The difference between the sounds of Heaven and the sounds of Hell are that one relies on true power and the other on volume.)

To be properly tuned we need to recognize the role of noise in our everyday life and eliminate its influence as much as possible. This doesn't mean that we can never listen to our favorite music or watch movies again (unless they drive the Spirit away by their very nature). It means recognizing when these influences become noise and then being prudent with our time and resources. The natural result of this exercise will be to fill our time with worthwhile activities that are more in line with what our Heavenly Father wants for us, and this is the second half of the solution. These worthwhile activities will expose us to heaven's sounds and make them easier to hear and recognize.

If we do not eliminate noise from our life we risk becoming as Laman and Lemuel who were described as "past feeling". On the other hand, as we eliminate noise we will begin to recognize that our Heavenly Father is not an absent parent. He is always there for us, as long as we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand. We will then join the ranks of those who realize that "every bush is aflame with the light of God, but only those with eyes to see take off their shoes."