Murray Ceff's Blog

I must be getting old. I see photos of myself and I look old. I see myself in the mirror and I look old. I find it more difficult physically to do things that were once easy. I forget to do things, and sometimes I do things twice, forgetting that I've already done it! Heck, I am only 57. It's all down hill from here. I can't imagine what it must be like to be in your eighties! One of the ironic things about the way I feel, is that I am actually in pretty good shape for 57. Sort of average in my peer group though, the guys that I hang out with, and the girl I have been blessed to live with for the last 18 years. We are all pretty active, exercising regularly, eating good food in moderation, not drinking or any other unhealthy vice like that. When I tell some people that I went surfing in the morning  before work at 7.00am and then kite surfing after work for a couple of hours they sort of look at me like I am a bit crazy. Most of those types look way older than they actual

Ordain Women - How would it work? I am wondering if anyone in the OW network has stopped to think about how things would actually work in the Church if a revelation ever was received that lead to a change in the way things are currently managed in the Church. I am not pretending to be any great authority on Church organization or doctrine, and I am certainly not a great writer on these sorts of things. I simply want to ask questions. If you have all the answers, well that’s great. So let me ask some questions of you. How would this work? With regard to ordinations - do you want women to receive the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods? Would we start ordaining 12 year old girls to be Deacons, 14 year olds to become teachers and 16 year olds to become priests? Who would get to pass the sacrament? Boys one week, girls the next, or perhaps would should mix it up? What about preparing and blessing the sacrament? Would we have the girls prepare it one week and the boys pass

I had originally intended to write a post titled What Would Bruce Do, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought that the things that Bruce did were amazing and they should be documented, at least from my perspective. I am not sure if Bruce Walshe kept a journal. He was so busy with everything else I don't know how he possibly could have had time to do that as well. But maybe he did. He was so obedient to the counsel of our Church leaders that he most likely did, and I am sure it would make an interesting read. I don't know much about Bruces' early life. I didn't meet him until I was 24 years old (32 years ago) and he would have been 28. He was a convert to the Church in his early 20's and I was a convert at 24. He was found by i n 1976 Elder David Young and Elder Jeff Gillette when they felt impressed to go tracting in a Graves St in Essendon within the Glenroy Ward boundaries. I was found by missionaries when they tracted the street that I lived in, i

Bruce leading from the front, pulling the cart. A couple of years ago on the Trek. The following post is by Adam Roberts, my first guest blogger. Not quite a Mormon Aussie Bloke, we will call him a Kiwi Mormon Aussie Bloke, that'll do! Murray has inspired me to put a few words to cyberspace. His invitation was to close friends and family which may result in a quite a few doing the same because Bruce made everyone feel like a close friend. He was the man who had a smile and a twinkle in his eye for everyone. When I think about Geelong Ward, Bruce Walshe is always the first person to come to mind. He was the Bishop when I first moved over from New Zealand with my family. Swept back silver hair almost like wings attached the side of his head, piercing blue eyes and a smile that that was always on the verge of a chuckle. I wasn ’ t long in the ward when Bruce felt I needed a bit of coaching in the Bishopric. Murray “ Muzz ” Ceff was his other counsellor and I saw a love and

Bruce Walshe b.  22/08/1953 d.13/03/2014 at Bell's Beach I am going to write a few posts here, hopefully over the next couple of days, just to try to explain to everyone a few things that have transpired over the last few days and how it has affected me and others. Please contribute to the conversation, either here on this blog or on Facebook. I really want those closest to Bruce and those he loved the most, his family, to contribute too. It may be hard, but it will help. Writing stuff down helps get it out of your head a bit. It's great therapy. I should do it more. This post is simply titled "What happened Thursday 13 March 2014". Many of you want to know step by step what could have happened to take Bruce from us so suddenly, with little warning, so unexpectedly and so sadly. Another post will be WWBD - "What Would Bruce Do". Another one "Why we surf (and do other crazy things)". Another one might be "Why we believe what we believe&q

I was going so well for a while there, writing regularly here, a new form of journal, for all the world to see just how good I was at journal writing. Well, it seems that this form of journal has gone the way of all other forms of journal. Starts with a bang, off and running, only to wimp out half way around the track and not keep going! Knowing that I am not the only one in this predicament could be a comforting thought, but it's not really. We can all be guilty together can't we? Truth is that I love reading and over the last year or two I have read some long books that have taken up loads of time. First there was Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman. That took me ages to read, not because it was hard to read - it wasn't - but just because it was soooo  long, and my available time is not that great. Then I read Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, a classic of French literature. Most people know it as a musical. The book is so much better. It's a very long book,

Thought I hit the publish button on this ages ago! Calgary April 2013 Tuesday 9th April Picked up at airport by the Spackmans. Sr Beth Spackman waiting for me inside the airport and 91 year old Grant sitting at the wheel of the Mercedes waiting for us to get in the car. Did a little shopping on the way home. Had an easy afternoon sitting at home (I did go for a good walk though) and then went to dinner at Bills Peking House not far away.  Beautiful food! Got back to the house in Bron Beck Drive and the Beazers were there waiting for us. Can't remember what we did for the evening,  but was probably just sitting around chatting. Wednesday. Beazers took me to the Biggest Bass Pro shop in Canada. Very impressive!  See photos and video to see how impressive! Stopped by Costco and bought more pizza for lunch as Darren and Verena didn't think the Spackmans had enough to feed their tribe. The intention was to go swimming after lunch but we dawdled a bit and the ne