Missionary Parents and the Work of the Kingdom

My parents just got there mission call to the Germany Alpine mission. My Dad served in the Austria, Vienna mission back in the 60's so I'm excited for him to get to go back to Austria. The mission covers Austria, southern Germany and parts of Switzerland. They won't be in Switzerland because the Swiss government no longer allows foreign missionaries. I hadn't heard that! [Insert Swiss ridicule here.]

My parents are signed up to serve for 1 year and then can extend if they feel like they should. I remember when I first thought about my parents serving a mission I felt a little sad about them missing out on events in the lives of their grandchildren. But now I'm just excited. It think this is just what every older LDS  couple needs to shake up their marriage and do something that can bring them together in new ways. In fact, Taliatha and I are going to set up our own mission fund so we can go together.

Speaking of missions, I would like to add that I have finally reached the point in my life where I feel more spiritually alive and engaged in the work than I did as a full time missionary. I don't say this to brag about how great I am, but because it is so exciting for me and I hope my excitement is a little contagious. Priesthood service in the gospel is where it's at. I love my farm and other interests, but serving the Lord is rewarding in a much more satisfying way.

At our ward conference in January our stake president challenged our ward to be ready to divide within 1 year. I am on the high council and am assigned to my home ward. I am actively working with our bishopric to reactivate men in the ward and help our new convert men make it to the temple. We've already seen one unlikely reactivation and an incredible conversion.

Manly Manly Jed

Untitled from Jed Wells on Vimeo.

I'm proud of you, Glimglom. We're all proud of you.

Lars-Erik Larsson

I just put this on Facebook, but in the spirit of Brandie's last post I posted it here so you guys know just how awesome it is. This is The Winter's Tale by Lars-Erik Larsson. I heard it on our classical station out in NC a few years ago and it's stuck with me ever since as a real favorite. It's short but truly sublime--or whatever great adjective you want to use. You can thank me later.

My Brightest Diamond

This song kills me.

Ah Snap! This is cool.

(HT: Coyote Blog)

For the Love of Manufacturing

Next time you hear someone complain about the decline of the manufacturing sector in the US send them here. Total manufacturing output in the US has not gone down. We make more stuff than we ever have. We just make more for less. That's usually considered progress but for some reason manufacturing is a hallowed profession that is considered different from others. That's not just on the Left either, as the linked article shows.

Here's one of the best graphs (among many) from the linked blog:

Credit Ratings of Each State

Gil sent me this:

It reminds of me of the AAA ratings that were on bundled mortgages even though when you looked inside at the individual mortgages there was a lot of junk. To me this is more evidence for why most spending (especially social programs like medicare, medicaid and social security) should be done at the state and not the federal level. States can't print money and hide bad debt as well as the federal government. If they make too many poor fiscal choices their citizens will just leave and the state will have to restructure through bankruptcy. At the federal level, inflation can just make our debts all "disappear" over time.