Current Lesson No. Eleven

Our Family Deployment to The Great American Eclipse

After-Action Reports – After military operations an “After-Action Report” is required.  In my lesson entitled “The Greatest Show on Earth” I promoted the idea of getting on the path of totality of the Great American Eclipse.  Sue and I, along with 29 of our children and grandchildren, did that.  This is an After-Action Report of our family’s experience on E-Day (eclipse day) – 21 August 2017.

 

Larry and Sue with their grandchildren.

 

Assignments –The following appointments were made and executed with precision:

  • Sue performed superbly as Chief Supply and Mess Officer.  This was no surprise having lead many successful family deployments for almost 50 years 
  • Daughters Sarah, Christine, Katie, Sydney and Chantele as Logistics Officers exhibited exemplary skill in successfully managing their husbands and children with no current evidence of PST (post-traumatic stress)
  • Sons John, Michael, Josh, Jeff, and Scott as family Transportation Officers demonstrated great efficiency and courage with threatening traffic jams, especially on the return leg of the deployment
  • I was the Information and Planning Officer

Encampment –Two large student apartments in Rexburg were rented.  John’s family stayed nearby in Rigby. The apartment complex had cordon off a large grassy area which allowed for lawn chairs, games, and a place to meet informed astronomers who taught us and let us look through their telescopes.  

Weather – In any deployment weather is a significant factor, but in this deployment just an overcast sky would have been disastrous.  Fortunately, on E-Day the weather was perfect without a cloud in the sky.    

Execution and Response – The eclipse unfolded as expected, but we had not expected our response:

  • 10:15:39 Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) – First Contact (when the moon first touches the sun).  Over the next hour or so the moon increasingly ate away at the sun.  Excitement steadily grew as it became noticeably darker and colder.  Shadows of tree leaves formed crescents.  The colors of a sunrise/sunset could be seen for 360 degrees around the horizon
  • 11:33:12 MDT – Second Contact (the beginning of totality).  When we took off our eclipse glasses we could then see the sun’s corona, solar flares, and Baily’s Beads.  People cheered, and both laughed and cried with delight.  Venus, the evening star, could be seen high in the sky   
  • 11:35:30 MDT – Third Contact (the end of totality).  In Rexburg the total eclipse lasted 2 minutes and 18 seconds which was a once in a life-time experience, never to be forgotten.  
  • 12:58:22 MDT – Fourth Contact (the end of the eclipse).  The eclipse retreated in the same magnificent, but opposite way, of how it had advanced.

Two diamond rings – On E-Day our family had two exciting experiences concerning diamond rings:   

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  1. There is a diamond ring that is part of all total solar eclipses.  It takes place at both the Second Contact and at the Third Contact.  The ring is represented by the sun’s corona, and the diamond is a momentary bright flash of light.  This is a spectacular phenomenon which is caused as the sun glimpses through the craters on the moon’s edge as the total eclipse begins and ends.
  2. The second diamond ring is rarely part of a total solar eclipse.  It represents something that is far more important than one momentary burst of light.  This diamond ring can shine with increasing brilliance for eternity.  As the Baily’s Beads were fading our granddaughter, Hannah Lunt, was presented with a diamond ring by our soon to be grandson Jordan Anderson.  They will always remember that two diamond rings were part of this most remarkable E-Day.

Lessons learned from our family’s deployment to the Great American Eclipse –

  1. A total solar eclipse affirms the doctrine taught in my lesson entitled “All Things Bear Witness of a Supreme Creator”.
  2. A total solar eclipse is fulfillment of the word of the Lord when He said to us: “And again, verily I say unto you, God hath given a law unto all things, by which they move in their times and their seasons; And their courses are fixed, even the courses of the heavens and the earth, which comprehend the earth and all the planets.  And they give light to each other in their times and in their seasons, in their minutes, in their hours, in their days, in their weeks, in their months, in their years…The earth rolls upon her wings, and the sun giveth his light by day, and the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also give their light, as they roll upon their wings in their glory, in the midst of the power of God” (D&C 88:42-45).
  3. We had to be prepared with eclipse glasses to protect our eyes against the brightness of the sun.  The Prophet Joseph Smith, describing the Lord appearance in the Kirtland Temple, said, “his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun” (D&C 110:3).  How much more then will we have to prepare so that in a coming day we can be invited into the presence of the Lord and behold His countenance?  We should make this preparation the central part of each day of our lives.