These things are important...

During the Sunday morning session of General Conference, President Monson (President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) quoted from the first letter my family received from my father after several years Missing in Action in the Vietnam War. He quoted this portion of my father's advice to his family: "These are important: temple marriage, mission, college. Press on. Set goals, write history, take pictures twice a year." This is inspired counsel, which I have tried to follow. I would like to add that even though he was only permitted to write six short lines on this form letter, rather than write a brief greeting such as "Dear Family", he took the precious space to write out each of our names: "Dear Marjorie, Cameron, Heather, Warren, Holly, Heidi". That has always impressed upon me that he loved and remembered each of us.

Portions of this letter were published in a Church News article for which our family was interviewed, and then again after my father's return in a June 1973 article. Here is a link to that article:

http://tinyurl.com/4b723u

This letter was also mentioned in a Church Family Home Evening manual lesson:

http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/daily/fhe/building_family.html