It Is Time to CHOP CHOP!

I went to the Provo Temple last night.  It is the temple we are assigned to until the Payson one is completed!  At which time, you, all of my friends and family, are invited to the dedication  and party at our house afterwards :0  (See you then)!

However, back to the Provo Temple.  Throughout these next couple of paragraphs, it is imperative to remember that IT is the crux of this entire post!  However, we must start in a far away place.....high school.

My parents and my adopted parents (the Christensen's)  were excellent at teaching us how to work.  Their  escapades were many and opportunities abounded.  Today we we will focus on ROLLING TREES, my part-time, high school employment.  DON'T JUDGE.

If this conversation is to continue, I must briefly educate you!  In Idaho, we still believe in logging  (like chopping down trees for man's use :) So, after the trees are chopped down, the Forest Service would go in and plant tree seedlings.  These tree seedlings are very delicate.  They are stored in an ice cache until the day before they are ready to  be planted. At which time, Papa Joe, would dig into the ice cache with the back hoe, hit a tunnel, and Jay, Renn, Paul, Chris....would pull out massive boxes of trees.  The trees were then taken to a small warehouse consisting of barrels of burlap, tables, and a conveyor belt down the middle.

Within this warehouse, were two sets of people.  The Counters!  and The Wrappers!  If you were really talented, you got to be a wrapper:)  Just kidding Ernie! (kind of)!  The counters stood at the front of the warehouse, counting bundles of 25 trees, aligning their root collars, and sending them down the conveyor belt.  The rollers stood at the back of the warehouse.  Their job was to grab a wet, nasty burlap out of the the barrel, grab two bundles of trees off the conveyor belt, align their root collars, cut the roots to a certain length, and proceed to roll up the bundle, sealing it with a big rusty nail.

Paul, at the end of the conveyor belt, would then gather all bundles, and set them in the cold storage room, where the next day they would be retrieved to be planted.

The job would start right after school and end....well, when you got done.  Some nights, we rolled 50,000 trees.  Some nights we rolled 90,000! I bold that, just to make sure you know that was a feat of nature in itself. It was those nights that hold the memory that was brought to my mind as I sat in the temple last night.

Around 70,00 trees, life looked BLEAK!  We were TIRED, HUNGRY, and no amount of root beer barrels were going to ease our anxious desire to GO TO BED!

As soon as we felt like faking sick, a whispering started in the ranks!  Beginning at the head of counter's table (Bob)!  you would hear the faint sounds of "it's time to chop chop!"  Before you know it, the rollers were bombarded with bundles of trees!   Just when we were the very most tired, we were not going to be outdone by the counters, so it was also time for us to CHOP CHOP!  20,000 trees had never been counted so fast. All to the humming whisper of a conveyor belt and CHOP CHOP!  To this day, every tree roller knows  what it means to CHOP CHOP!

I  LOVED  this job!   I was surrounded by family!  Blood and Not Blood.  Believe me when I tell you that you cannot spend months with someone dressed in  grossly enormous bright yellow rain gear, smelling like a combination of dirt and formaldehyde and not become deeply emotionally connected :)

Now...Remember the crux of the story...The Provo temple.   I walked up to the doors of the temple last night, feeling like I had just physically rolled 70,000 trees.  Emotionally, I was weighed down to the tune of ISIS,corruption,and hopelessness on all accounts of what we call Public news!  I was ready to relax.  That is not what happened.

This temple is a MACHINE!   PEOPLE EVERY WHERE!  Everyone quietly hurrying off to an assignment. Lest you get visions of irreverence, stop your self there.  If there is such a picture as a SACRED URGENCY,  picture that!

At one point, I had to wait.  And as I waited, I listened!  There was a HUM of words.  The hum seemed to grow and the feeling I got seemed to intensify.  I felt  RIGHT THEN  and THERE as if I finally knew what it meant that the "WORK IS HASTENING!"  It is through the Power Of God on earth!  Through Covenants!  Through righteous messengers (on both sides of the veil)  that the bleakness will lose its clenching grip. 

Strangely, I whispered to myself, (which I do quite often) "I get it now."  I also felt Papa Joe there, and then the memory of ROLLING TREES.  The feelings and thoughts all seemed  to converge with a message from my dad.  I get it dad! Like never before, it is time to CHOP  CHOP!