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Issue
9
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NUA 1997 Yearend Report
Liz Engstrom |
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by Elizabeth Engstrom Our first meeting of 1997 was held held March 9 in Eugene, Oregon, at the home of Elizabeth Engstrom. Elections were held for the positions of Vice President and Secretary, Bruce Porter retaining his presidency and Pat Murnin remaining as Treasurer. Liz Engstrom was elected VP and Janet Nilsen was elected Treasurer. Many new readers and those uninformed about IUA attended, one man from as far away as Spokane. We had a wonderful pot luck and spent the afternoon in spirited discussion. The next meeting took place as a coming-together of all readers July 20 in Cascadia State Park, a magnificent site. Janet Nilsen did a superb job coordinating the event in this inspirational setting. The URANTIA Foundation helped by mailing our flyers to their entire Northwest mailing list. Politics were set aside as believers came together to eat, play, commune and enjoy meeting each other and sharing fruits of the spirit. People came from as far away as southern Utah, San Diego and Washington state. Many who had been reading in seclusion discovered study groups in their area. It was at the business meeting that preceded this inspirational event that Bruce Porter, having accepted the Presidency of the USUA, stepped down as NUA President and Liz Engstrom took over, MC taking her place as Vice President. The Prison Project, an unofficial NUA endeavor, continued to place books in prisons. From the time of its inception in March, 1997, we have placed a Urantia Book in every federal institution in this country, and covered every correctional facility in eight states. This continues to be a project that transcends politics, and money comes in from all states, regions and even foreign countries. Over 260 books were placed in 1997. The goal is to place a book in every correctional facility in this country by the end of March, 1998. Our final meeting for 1997 was held at Pat Murnin’s home in Portland on October 19. Most of the business of the day centered around plans for 1998: accommodating Tonia Baney’s visit in March, and scheduling a two-day campout/picnic at Cascadia Park again next July. New readers from Washington came to this meeting, and the Father’s work was perpetuated, despite the fact that we were all overly fascinated by Pat’s pet piranha and its feeding habits. Membership remained a steady twenty-two members over the course of the year, losing one and gaining another. Our newsletter, edited by MC, continues to be, in my humble opinion, one of the finest in the world, full of news, opinion, humor and insight. Our treasury ended the year with a positive balance, after taking care of all expenses and donating two hundred dollars to the Foundation’s translation fund as well as donating two hundred dollars to the USUA. In all, it has been my pleasure to serve the revelation for a portion of this year as Vice President, and then as President. I believe the Northwest Urantia Association has made a difference in healing the rift in the Urantia movement, and we will continue to do so, as one of our top priorities in carrying the message of our Father’s love. In faith and love, Liz Engstrom
by Leonard Ablieter As the title suggests this article has a twofold purpose. To start with, I want to add another account to the series we began some time ago of how The URANTIA Book entered the life of one of our members—mine—and then I want to use this event to demonstrate, if in but a small way, how important it is to keep the Book free from becoming a Christian document. I was already a few years into (early) retirement when The URANTIA Book crossed my path. Growing up in an areligious household in a largely areligious society—Germany in the time before and during WW II—left me without any real religious convictions for most of my life. It also left me without any religious baggage to dispose of. Yet, there always were questions in my heart and mind and occasional urges and longings. The questions resulted in my dabbling in various religions, including Buddhism, Taoism, Mormonism and yes, even traditional Christianity. None of this was even slightly satisfying and none resulted in a desire for more profound pursuit. In fact, at one point it lead to the perusal of an ‘atheist manifesto’ which, needless to say, proved even less satisfactory. The urges and longings were harder to ignore but seemed to serve mainly to instill a sense of beauty, beauty of both the abstract and the physical. At times this led to thoughts of Pantheism, but it did not take hold. So life went on, dominated largely by career interests and demands, and God remained a mystery and Christ an interesting historical figure at best. Erich Von Daeniken’s Chariots of the Gods seemed to open up a new avenue, one that was especially appealing to the intellect: the gods were alien astronauts who had visited the Earth at various times. A book by a NASA official, Josef F. Blumrich, which analyzes Ezekiel’s accounts of certain of his visions, served to reinforce the alien visitor theory and lend it further credibility. But then in his later books Von Daeniken went too far in his claims and credibility was lost. Then came reincarnation, chaos theory and finally the ultimate intellectual challenge, quantum mechanics. Paradoxically this seemed to open a real door, not to anything specific but rather to something intangible, even tenuous, a reality or realities beyond what we could touch and see, but nevertheless something more than the world I knew. A world beyond the world of Newton. And this door was opened by hard science, something one could believe in. Into this state of affairs came a woman who visited with me in California from Florida for four days to interview whether she wanted to crew for me on my sailboat. We had an intense intellectual weekend listening to and discussing classical music, chaos theory and quantum physics. We decided not to go cruising together but before she left Karen told me about this book she thought I’d be real interested in. She hadn’t read all of it but it was different and I would definitely find it fascinating. Well, she left and that was that. A year later I was in Florida visiting with my cousin and I thought to give Karen a call. She lived in Key West and I had never been there and I had heard it was a nice place to visit. Karen was home, so I rented a car and visited with her. Again lots of discussion and then she pulled this big book off the shelf and put it down between us saying that this was the book she’d mentioned to me in California the year before. I got all excited at the prospect of discovering some new horizons, grabbed the book and read the cover jacket: Central and Superuniverses, great, I thought; The Local Universe, interesting; History of URANTIA, that’s Earth, she told me; good, might be something new and different; then PART IV, The Life and Teachings of Jesus, and all the excitement drained away and was replaced by I-should-have-known disappointment. Without opening the book I laid it back down and said: "I don’t want to read this. This is not what I’m looking for", sad at what I perceived as another dead end. Quickly Karen reassured me that this was not the kind of book I apparently thought it was and that she was positive that I would find it of value. She dug around for a while producing some kind of order form which she gave me saying that with it I could get the book directly from Chicago at a discount. I took the form and put it into my backpack. It was several months before I came across it again and finally decided to send in my order, and sure enough, a couple of weeks or so later the big blue book arrived. The URANTIA Book. And it had over 2000 pages, had a bear of a Foreword and still had that Part IV that bothered me. So on the shelf it went. Finally I decided that I had bought the book, that I trusted Karen’s judgement and that I had nothing to lose but an investment in time by reading it. After having read the Foreword and maybe the first two Papers I again checked the number of pages. Then I calculated that if I read 10 pages a day, five days a week, taking weekends off, I’d be able to finish the entire book in less than a year. That seemed to be an acceptable pro-position and then and there I went for it. I had no expectations. I cleared my mind of any preconceived ideas and just read one page after another. Part IV was way down the road and I was prepared to let it take care of itself when the time came. In the meantime there were new worlds to discover, concepts that stretched the mind beyond anything I had encountered before and historical information of endless fascination. I approached the book on an entirely intellectual level, the only level I was capable of at the time. And I was continuously rewarded by how per-fectly The URANTIA Book communicated with me on this level. A day came when I caught myself starting on a third Paper after already having finished two in the same sitting. That was a minor revelation in itself and I put the Book down, resolving that if I was going to get the most out of this reading it probably would be a good idea to limit myself to no more than two Papers in one day. This is what I did, and in due course I arrived at Part IV. I felt sorry that Parts I-III were behind me. They had completely grasped my imagination and I could not imagine how Part IV could possibly be nearly as interesting or exciting. But I went on, maintaining a 3–5 Papers a week regimen until the end. And when I had finished I was able to accept the reality of Christ Michael, on an intellectual level. I have since read The URANTIA Book again, front to back, cover to cover, in addition to studying different Papers independently. And an interesting thing happened. While the first reading was purely on an intellectual level, and albeit fully satisfying at the time, an ever more profound emotional element entered into the second reading. As a result an entirely new perspective arose, out of understanding grew the beginnings of knowing, out of belief the first seedlings faith, and out of intellectual acceptance the early stirrings of religious experience. And Parts I-III became Prelude to Part IV. I could have subtitled this article …or How I Found Jesus, but that would have missed the point, which is—as I hope this account demonstrates—that I had great difficulty initially even to bring myself to open The URANTIA Book, let alone read or study it, all because of a simple, innocent, in the context necessary reference to Jesus on the outside of the jacket. Had this book been presented to me in a traditional Christian context I doubt if I would have touched it, and who knows how much longer my search for meaning would have lasted or where it might have taken me. And I am not alone. There are many more like me, too many. And then there is the whole non-Christian world… Let me conclude with three quotes which I will cite without comment, letting them speak for themselves:
To Readers of the URANTIA Book, The Trustees of URANTIA Foundation are pleased to announce the apppointment of Gard Jameson and Mo Siegel to the Board of Trustees. Mr. Jameson has been a reader of The URANTIA Book for 26 years and is a Certified Public Accountant, Financial Planner, and Internal Auditor. Married with two children and living in Las Vegas, Nevada, he is currently a member of the General Council of the Fellowship and serves as the Chair of its Fraternal Relations Committee. He brings with him extensive experience in that he has served as a trustee on numerous boards of non-profit organizations. Mr. Siegel has been a reader of The URANTIA Book since 1968 and currently serves as the Vice President of the Fellowship. Married with five children and living in Boulder, Colorado, he is the Chairman of the Board of Celestial Seasonings Tea Company and President of the Jesusonian Foundation. Mr. Siegel has also had extensive experience as a trustee on the boards of both profit and non-profit organizations. These new Trustees are devoted to the revelation and have a long history of being involved in service projects. In becoming Trustees of URANTIA Foundation, Mr. Siegel and Mr. Jameson will resign their executive positions, while retaining their Fellowship membership, and will apply for membership in the International URANTIA Association, a worldwide fraternal group, formed to assist the URANTIA Foundation in disseminating the teachings of The URANTIA Book to the peoples of the world. Although the appointment of Mr. Jameson and Mr. Siegel may come as a surprise to many readers, the Trustees, by electing these two gentlemen, are exhibiting their commitment to healing the wounds of the past and to making their policy of unity among all readers and reader groups a reality. As Trustees, and in the tradition of the 24 individuals who have preceded them, Mr. Siegel and Mr. Jameson commit themselves to upholding the "Declaration of Trust creating URANTIA Foundation." Since 1992 the Trustees have established policies which ensure that no one Trustee can have a disproportionate influence on the operation of the Foundation. The Trustees are committed to the preservation and dissemination of the revelation. Richard Keeler, President of URANTIA Foundation said, "May we join with our Heavenly Father, with our Creator Son, and with our brothers and sisters—seen and unseen—to participate in patient cooperation and selfless service to our young movement. May we all be so saturated with the love, truth, and goodness of God that all persons coming into contact with us will know from our behavior that we are truth seekers and spiritual explorers, dedicated to the supernal task of doing the will of our Heavenly Father." The appointments of Mr. Jameson and Mr. Siegel come at an important time in the history of URANTIA Foundation. In 1996, a process was begun at the Nashville conference to involve readers in assisting the Foundation Trustees in developing a "strategic plan" which sets forth goals for the future. Since the 1996 conference research was conducted in cooperation with several hundred readers from a variety of reader groups to develop the basic themes of the plan's objectives. In March, July, and November of 1997, readers helped to complete the plan. One of the main objectives of the plan is to effect the gradual and deliberate process of translating the book into many languages. Other objectives relate to maximizing for potential readers worldwide, the accessibility to The URANTIA Book and to related fraternal groups. A further analysis of the strategic plan research resulted in a clearer knowledge of reader concerns, namely: the rendering of service to reader groups and to readers who want information and who want contact with other readers; the protection of the copyright and marks; the perpetual preservation of the original text; the wide distribution of the book; the publication of study aids; and the dissemination of the revelation through attraction rather than invasive promotion. With the appointment of Mr. Siegel and Mr. Jameson to the Board of Trustees, we believe that the URANTIA Foundation, the International URANTIA Association, the Fellowship, and other reader groups are making a positive, evolutionary step forward. We are confident that together, we can move forward into the twenty-first century, and that together—with respect for one another’s knowledge, experience, and opinions—we can be about our Father’s business in the spirit of peace, unity, patient cooperation, and selfless service. We are told about the Superuniverse Conciliators (who are becoming arbiter-teachers):
The Trustees and staff of URANTIA Foundation would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for being so patient during these difficult times. The support you have shown the URANTIA Foundation during the past and present is much appreciated. We have a tremendous job to do together. The dissemination of the URANTIA teachings is an enormous piece of work, and as you all know, the laborers are few. We need each and every personality who is devoted to the spreading of the URANTIA teachings to join us in this work. Do we want future generations to look back at us and ask, "Why couldn’t they get along?" Let’s remember what Jesus said about the Strange Preacher: "….that he who is not against us is for us." [The URANTIA Book p.1764.3] Somehow we must find ways to be unified in our goal to disseminate these teachings to the world, or the world will have to wait again for the glorified teachings of Jesus to be spread to all peoples. Therefore we are going forward to meet others in an aggressively positive manner with the faith that our Father will assist us in our work. This is what we have been trying to do with the Fellowship negotiations and what we will continue to do with IUA and the readership at large. We feel that one way we can facilitate healing and unity is to follow our Master’s attitude by "turning the other cheek." We call on all our IUA members to join us in this work, and to find other like minds to work together on projects that will assist this great revelation. The Trustees of URANTIA Foundation announce their new policy on Unity following this message. We trust that all of you who so clearly heard the call to service by joining the IUA, will now join us again with all your hearts and souls, to assist us as we travel together to do our Father’s work. Sincerely,
During the first quarterly meeting of 1998 the Trustees of URANTIA Foundation developed a policy of support for unity of all readers and reader groups involved in the dissemination of the teachings of The URANTIA Book to the peoples of the world. Formerly, URANTIA Foundation has not had a publicly stated policy on this subject. The Trustees feel that it is imperative to the growth of this revelation that all readers work towards the same goal, unified in purpose, and diversified in means; that URANTIA Foundation supports those who want to disseminate the teachings, as long as the principles follow those within The URANTIA Book, and are not distorted, nor represent a negative view of the URANTIA Papers. URANTIA Foundation calls on all readers and groups to work together in cooperation to solve the many challenges ahead. The Trustees know that we as a group will not succeed in our mission if we are divided. We call on all who are involved to look inward and find the courage and energy to accomplish this great challenge of unity within a spirit of fraternal affection and intelligent cooperation. The higher a creature’s education, the more respect he has for the knowledge, experience, and opinions of others. [278.3] —The Trustees of URANTIA Foundation
Dear members of the General Council, We would like to take this opportunity to share some ideas with you that we hope will be of mutual concern. Much has transpired over the last 10 years, and we have all struggled with the difficulties of division. In order to facilitate the spread of the 5th epochal revelation, it is desirable that we strive for unity of spirit. In the final analysis, those whom we seek to reach will look at the fruits of our movement. What they see will greatly influence the degree of their interest in the revelation. We think the larger consideration of our undertaking, with its far-reaching consequences, should eclipse any misunderstandings, or actions that grew out of these misunderstandings. The great mission that we are privileged to be involved with together has eternal import. We propose to open a dialogue, with the goal of establishing understandings that will allow us to cooperate with each other. This cooperation would allow us to maximize our resources in spreading the 5th epochal revelation. Acts of cooperation have already occurred. IUA members worked with Fellowship on its conference in Vancouver, Canada. Recently, a gathering in Portland Oregon was hosted as a joint effort between IUA and the Fellowship affiliated readers. We think such efforts can be the beginning of even more cooperation and coordination in the future. We plan to have a conference June 25th through 29th, 1998 at Glen Ivy, a spiritual retreat north of San Diego, California. Our conference theme, "Unity without Uniformity", was chosen with these ideas in mind. It is our sincere hope that as many of you as possible can attend and participate. We can each contribute in different ways to the realization of the Supreme. The best way to heal the wounds of misunderstanding and mistrust is to expose them to the brilliant light of our Father’s love. We hope we can join together this summer, and on many future occasions.
by Liz Engstrom I was asked the other day, "Do you think Jesus cares about the copyright?" I’m not sure how I responded off the cuff, but I’ve been thinking about that question ever since. And this is what I think: I think Jesus cares how we react to everything in our lives. Life is full of challenges, but they’re generally not survival-based challenges, like getting caught in an avalanche of snow and hiking forty miles for help. They’re more along the type of challenges that press upon our fears. When I’m confronted with some incident that I deem to be unfair, my animal nature is quick to respond. I flare up. I yell, scream, cry. Or I reason and persuade. Or I accept and move on. Always my choice. My freewill choice. The URANTIA Book continually discusses the mortal "struggle." I think it’s the struggle against conflict. If conflict is evil, and free will is fraught with evil potential, then most likely it’s our option to engage in the conflict or accept situations as they are. If we accept life on life’s terms, then there is no struggle, and there is no evil. We’re not going to change the copyright situation, we’re not going to change our neighbor’s attitude, we’re not going to change the traffic situation in town. But by refusing to engage in the struggle, we’ve risen above it, we’ve accepted the challenge to grow into people who have tamed the beast, we have accepted the stimulus to growth that potential conflict always presents, we have taken one more step toward leading a sincere life of love, ministry and mercy. Does that mean we’re supposed to sit on the couch and watch television all day? Hardly. That doesn’t accomplish God’s will, either. Remember Abraham’s covenant with Melchizedek. God agrees to do everything. (Including providing growth-stimulus from the most unlikely places at the most inconvenient times.) Man just agrees to believe in God and follow his instructions. Do I think Jesus cares about the copyright? I believe he cares what we do with the issue. Do we engage in name calling? Do we become angry and harbor resentments? Do we pack together in righteous indignation and look down upon our fellows because of their opinions? Jesus is a personal friend, and I don’t think he takes sides. I think he cares what each of us do individually with regard to that situation and every other situation that comes up, whether it be with an ex-spouse, an employer, an employee or the utility company. Situations continue to arise. That’s what this life is all about. And our task is simply to meet each situation with the same love, mercy and compassion for each individual that Jesus would show were he in our place. Simple. But hardly easy.
...by Joy Brandt For me, the neatest thing about Portland, Oregon’s very first "conference" was the willingness with which everyone chipped in to help pull it off. A mere six weeks away from the date when my friend Matthew Block would be visiting me in Portland, I proposed to members of my study group that we hold a "mini-conference" so people in the area could hear about his research on "human sources of the Urantia Book." A committee quickly formed from our study group members, and soon we were in the midst of hosting an actual conference. MC squeezed a story into his issue of NW URANTIAN which was just days from going to press, and helped us put together a mailing list. Pat Maloy found a place to hold it, and also spent hours designing the flier. David Glass offered to be the second speaker (you can’t have a conference with just one speaker!) and Laureen Oskochil volunteered to host a potluck brunch at her place for the second day of the conference, and she also made signs for the day of the conference. We realized we needed a second day when we discovered there were people coming from Washington, Idaho and southern Oregon. Pat Murnin found a restaurant that would serve a reasonably priced dinner to our group, and he and Laureen also handled conference registration. Several Portlanders offered their homes for overnight guests. The day of the conference, Laureen and Pat Maloy made sure there were plenty of snacks for folks, and Mike D’Ambrosia was a quiet but important helper in setting up and breaking down the facilities. I feel overwhelmed with gratitude and love toward my fellow Portland UB readers, all of whom offered their hearty support, energy and time to pull this off on such short notice. About 55 Urantia Book readers came from as far away as Blaine, Washington, Idaho and southern Oregon to Portland’s very first Urantia conference which was held November 15–16, 1997. Pamla Knight started the day with some harp music, and Esther Wood opened the conference with a beautiful prayer. David Glass then spoke about the physical aspects of the grand universe. After a short break, Matthew Block discussed his research on "human resources" of The Urantia Book. After the conference, about 25 people went to dinner together up the street, and about half that group decided to continue socializing after dinner at a local brewery. On Sunday, some 30 people met at Laureen’s for a wonderful potluck brunch and more social time together. One of the wonderful side lights of the conference was the unity among the non-uniform readers of the Urantia Book. For example, Bruce Porter, President of the U.S. Urantia Association and Janet Farrington, President of the Fellowship, met privately on Sunday morning to share ideas and get to know each other better. Members of IUA, the Fellowship, and the Teaching Mission were all enjoying each other throughout the two day event. All in all, I think everyone agreed that it was a wonderful conference! . . . by David Glass Saturday, November 15, 1997 was an eventful day in Portland in that it was the date of a mini-conference which attracted URANTIA Book readers from as far away as Seattle and Idaho. Matthew Block, former professional worker at the office of the Fellowship in Chicago, was giving a presentation in California when he was invited by Joy Brandt to come to Portland to give his presentation here. The meeting was in a large hall at the Paulist Center in Southeast Portland. (This room is used for meetings of an AA group each weekday. I pointed out that it was still being used by AA: "Ascending Agondonters.") The arrangements for the hall were made by Pat Maloy. I was first on the program, following a welcome by Joy. I spoke on "The Universe As We Now Know It." Next was our guest of honor, Matthew, who gave a fascinating presentation on his long-term research project to locate the human authors who were the sources of some of the humanly conceived and expressed statements which were adopted by the revelators. Matthew intends to write a book relating his discoveries. Following the gathering, many attenders went to Saigon Kitchen for an oriental meal and lively fellowship. At least one longtime reader unknown to us showed up. Everyone enjoyed seeing friends again and making new ones. Dear fellow members of the IUA, We who serve as the Governing Board of the United States Urantia Association wish to applaud the courage and vision of the Trustees in their appointment of Gard Jameson and Mo Seigel as new Trustees of the Urantia Foundation. Both of these men have devoted their lives to furthering the Fifth Epochal Revelation. They have now committed themselves to upholding the "Declaration of Trust", and are becoming members of the IUA. We welcome them into the IUA, and look forward to joining hands with them in the important work at hand. The fact that we have witnessed such struggle in mind and emotion among those within this movement speaks to the tremendous loyalty and passion of everyone involved. This loyalty is an admirable quality, notwithstanding that it has torn a rift in our common goal to bring the Urantia Revelation to the world. We suggest that none has acted in anyway other than what they thought was best at the time. It would be a shortsighted victory that would relegate a great number of our brothers and sisters to the sidelines because of their loyalty to their highest vision. Through growth our positions and attitudes change, and there is an increasing appreciation for other points of view. We have all grown, and we now need to embrace the Truth of our highest common vision and move forward. We will not all agree on methods to disseminate the Fifth Epochal Revelation. It is wise leadership that not only allows for lack of uniformity, but also embraces it, even into the highest levels of leadership. The Board of Trustees is enlivened by the diversity now represented. For it is through our spiritual unity, not our intellectual uniformity, that we will accomplish great things. "The religion of the spirit does not demand uniformity of intellectual views, only unity of spirit feeling." [1732:02] We feel that the continued reconciliation of all genuine proponents of the Fifth Epochal Revelation should proceed. While we know that the wisdom of implementing steps in this direction is not apparent to everyone, let us exercise faith in the ultimate triumph of Truth in these sincere efforts. Let us support those who have exercised courage in the pursuit of spiritual brotherhood. May we join together in the effort to spread throughout the world the ideals put forth in the Fifth Epochal Revelation, knowing that this will be difficult, if not impossible, if we do not first implement these ideals within our own movement. We are one in Spirit. May that be exemplified in our actions, so others will be attracted by our spiritual fragrance, rather than repelled by our lack of unity. Yours in Service,
Well here we go with another year. It’s hard to believe that it’s been three years since we first chartered the NUA. That was in May of 1995. At this time we have a balance of $200.06. We have already paid the rental fee on the hall at St. Philip Neri. The rental price of the hall was $100. We also will have some expenses for refreshments for the meeting. That figure is unknown at this time, but it should be around $40. We will be asking for a donation at the door so I think we will be able to recoup our expenses for the meeting and then some. We also will have the expense of the printing and mailing of this newsletter, so as you can see we are riding on the edge financially. Since we were chartered in May our fiscal year goes from May to May. That means that dues for 1998 are due on May 1st. That should pull our heads back above the water line again. There are also some members that are still behind in last year’s dues. If you are confused where you are with it contact me at the meeting. See you all on March 22nd. God bless, The science content of The URANTIA Book has been part of why I believe the book to be true. In my case it is just as important as the spiritual and philosophical elements, no more and no less. My strongest area in science is biology/natural history, and it is here that I have been the most impressed. What the revelation has to say about such things have always rung very true to me, and solves a number of puzzles that I doubt could have been solved by non-revelatory means (the origins of the various human races being one example). What the book has to say fits and explains the data better than anything else I know. I also feel similarly about what the UB has to say about other areas of science, but since my knowledge of these fields isn’t as good, its impact on me isn’t as great. —Carl Ramm, Anchorage, Alaska Thanks much to everyone who contributed. You make this possible. Special thanks to my wife, Helen, a non-reader, who has been very patient. This issue took longer than usual to make. I finally acquired a scanner and had to deal with new software: Adobe PageMaker and PhotoShop. I had been using Microsoft Publisher in previous issues. Plenty to learn ahead—by trial and error, by doing, is how it goes. Big changes in the air, with the new trustees, the seen and unseen working things out. Oh what fun it is to ride Urantia. Daily we walk along Eternity Avenue. It’s a long walk home. Surprises abound. Outside, pearls of rain clinging to branches and leafbuds. Dropping at random. —Mario, Portland
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