Spotlight on Bruce Hersh.  Bruce Hersh was born in 1947 in Dargerton Utah (near Price) that was built specifically for WWII and had the largest school in Utah. It was a raucous town where stabbings and shootings were not uncommon. But neither Dargerton nor the school are still in existence. The town was built to get high quality coal needed to make steel for battleship gun barrels, many of which were sunk in Pearl Harbor. Bruce’s father was a miner in Carbon County and died in a mining accident. Bruce spent his youth on a cattle ranch with his grandpa who taught him to drive cattle and sheep. He also learned how to cook over a fire, and to this day makes the best baked beans, BBQ country ribs, Dutch oven chicken, and Dutch oven apple desserts. He graduated from East Carbon High School and went to College of Eastern Utah and the University of Utah. Bruce had an incredible knack for envisioning new ways for department stores to display and sell merchandize. He quickly worked his way up in management at Grand Central department store and the craft store that eventually became Michaels.  He also brought innovative ideas and huge sales increases to one of the largest companies in Rexburg, Idaho. While there, he taught in the Primary, Young Mens and Elders quorum, where he served in the presidency for many years.  Bruce moved to Mountain Green in 2008 and feels so fortunate to live here. He lives here with his wife Mari, her son Chris, and grandson Martigen (Marty).  He has always found it helpful to set spiritual, physical, social, and temporal goals. “Dreams are the fuel that drive the wheels of reality. To accomplish dreams, convert them to goals.” Bruce’s strengths include innovation, imagination, creativity, leadership, vision, and an ability to get things done. In his early days, Bruce played the trumpet and guitar and formed a band in college. He has written many songs and poems. Now he is an impressive Cowboy Poet. He’s written poems about the mine disaster that took his father’s life, the birth of Christ, wounded warriors, and many other topics. One poem goes like this: “This day the king was born, with nothing did he come, no chariot or golden braid, a gift made free, that all might be, and live eternally.” Another poem says, “I believe in things that are soft, that give when the fall is great, in words of kind saying, and in children on bended knee praying.” Bruce likes to think of himself as the old cowboy that lives on Sierra!

Learning Together. This Sunday’s lesson will be taught by Brother Dave Loughton based on Elder Gary Anderson’s conference address entitled, “Nourishing and Bearing Your Testimony.” Elder Anderson invites us to seek opportunities to bear our testimonies in word and in deed.

Missionary Moment.  Over the past three weeks Ann and I have been attending a class provided by the stake on missions for seniors. We have both been impressed with the wide range of options that seniors can request for missionary service and with how easy it is to search an extensive database for opportunities. Our last class will be tonight. If you are at all curious about the available opportunities, go to seniormissionary.churchofjesuschrist.org. Time commitment ranges from 4 hours per week to full-time. Service can include opportunities such as giving tours of church facilities, providing clerical support from home, helping to feed the hungry, working in the church history department and much, much more. Time commitments range from 6 to 24 months. Costs begin at $0 and there are missions for seniors that can be served from your current home or as far away as the other side of the globe. If navigating the interface on the Senior Missionary web sited doesn’t come natural to you, give me a call and Ann and I would be happy to come to your home and show you the ropes. My number is 208-720-6522.  Ann and I have had the goal to serve a senior mission since the earliest days of our marriage. We feel blessed beyond expression to be at this place in our lives and are so thankful to our Heavenly Father that this amazing opportunity is available to us. Are there things we are nervous or unsure about? Sure, but we have faith in Christ as well as sufficient life experience to know that the most rewarding and blessing-filled adventures we have enjoyed were proceeded by a few butterflies in the stomach. We can’t wait for what comes next! Sam Gappmayer. Ward Mission Leader

Blast from the Past: Guess Who?  Answer: Bowen Gines