We got to go to the first family reunion of the summer last Monday. Valor got back from his trip to Missouri on Sunday with his cousin and good friend, all in one piece. I am so grateful! It takes a lot of faith for a mother to let her son go on a road trip with other 18 year olds and no parents.  We picked him up on the way in Provo at his workplace so I got to see where he works, in south Provo at the old Novell campus. We then drove up Hobble Creek Canyon to connect with the clan of my mother-in-law’s brother, the John Levi Hilton family. John L. Hilton has passed away, but he left a tremendous legacy of testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and a beautiful family. He studied the Book of Mormon and showed, with his unique analysis of “word print” studies, that “it is statistically indefensible to propose Joseph Smith or Oliver Cowdery or Solomon Spaulding as the author of the 30,000 words from the Book of Mormon manuscript texts attributed to Nephi₁ and Alma.”

Here’s a video by him about wordprints.

Now he has a grandson and namesake, John L. Hilton III, who teaches and writes about the gospel, especially for youth. See http://johnhiltoniii.com. He has some free stuff on there, check the free downloads tab and the ppoint, for powerpoints, tab. Here’s a video by him and his wife on motherhood in the Old Testament. He was not at the reunion because he is in China doing something exciting.

Here’s a link to a free PDF of a book by him, a guide to boy-girl relationships for LDS youth.

Here’s a link to an excerpt from his book about evidences for the Book of Mormon.

My little kids found this super fun dirt slide on the side of a hill tucked behind trees. They got so dirty! They were having so much fun I didn’t want to tear them away, so we stayed until it was dark and were the last ones to leave. That’s why the picture at the top of this post is so dark. 

We had lots of fun on the way home as Valor told us about his trip to Missouri. Honor, my 14 year old, serenaded us with Tim Hawkins songs, including this one, “Life on a Diet.” Honor has always had a knack for remembering lyrics, tunes and having a great sense of comedy. He can entertain us for hours.