Author Archives: Millennial Star Editors

Guest Post: Finding Silence in the Kingdom of Noise

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M* is pleased to welcome guest blogger E. Paul Whetten, who has graciously agreed to share a few posts with our readers.

E. Paul Whetten was raised in the Mormon Colonies in Mexico and is the oldest son of Edward R. and Gayle DeWitt Whetten. He is married to the former Sally Goodman of Mesa, Arizona, and they are the parents of 6 children. He currently serves as a counselor in the Young Men’s presidency of his stake and as a Gospel Doctrine Teacher in his ward. He has been a nursery leader, temple worker, young men’s leader, elder’s quorum president and counselor in a bishopric. From 1992-1994 Paul served as a missionary in the Chile, Viña del Mar Mission.

Paul is active in his community, serving as a member of several educational and political boards as well as being a guest presenter on American History for local schools and civic organizations in Arizona.

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:

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Guest Post: Mindset: It’s more important than gear or skills.

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M* is pleased to present the first in a series of guest posts from Bo Smith on emergency preparedness, focusing on information Bo describes as “…what matters most’, to use the Covey-ism.”

Bo describes himself as, “A crackpot fundamentalist living in a small compound with his four wives and fifteen children. His hobbies include collecting ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, amateur pharmacology, shade tree gunsmithing, and yelling at passersby whilst wearing sandwich board signs revealing the end of the world. He resides in Murray, Utah.”

You can read more of Bo at his personal blog.

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Guest Post: Missionaries served God and country in WWII

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M* is pleased to share the following guest post from Brother Alfred Gunn.

Brother Gunn serves on the Gig Harbor Stake Public Affairs Council and in that capacity writes a monthly religion column for his local paper, The Peninsula Gateway. Be sure to check the “Worth Reading” section for links to Brother Gunn’s articles.

Three years ago I stood at the foot of Brazil’s iconic statue of Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado Rock overlooking Rio de Janeiro-a magnificent representation of the resurrected Christ, arms outstretched, the marks of atoning sacrifice in his hands.

In my tour group was Barlow Briggs, then a spry 86 years old, who had been a Mormon missionary in Brazil as a young man. He recalled how one Sunday after church he and his companion rode the Corcovado train up to admire the statue, erected only 10 years before. The next day, he said, bold newspaper headlines announced “War in the Pacific.” Pearl Harbor had been bombed that Sunday.

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M* welcomes Marsha Ward!

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After a careful criminal background check with local law-enforcement (you can’t be too careful these days), we have determined that Marsha is indeed not a criminal, but rather the newest M* permablogger.

From her personal web site:

 Marsha Ward was born in the sleepy little town of Phoenix, Arizona, and grew up with chickens, citrus trees, and lots of room to roam. An avowed “tomboy,” Marsha began telling stories at a very early age, regaling her neighborhood chums with her tales over homemade sugar cookies. Visits to her cousins on their ranch and listening to her father’s stories of homesteading in Old Mexico and in the Tucson area reinforced Marsha’s love of 19th Century Western history.

After fifty+ years in the city, Marsha now makes her home in a tiny hamlet under Central Arizona’s magnificent Mogollon Rim. When she is not writing, she loves to spoil her grandchildren, travel, give talks, meet readers, and sign books.

Homemade sugar cookies will be passed out in the foyer immediately following the seminar on “How not to break a window with a flashlight“. 🙂

Welcome, Marsha!!