Whenever I read a blog or website - I like to know a little about the person.
My name is Rob Ficiur (pronounced: feature)
I grew up in Lethbridge, Alberta. For the last 16 years we have lived an hour east of Lethbridge in Bow Island.
My mother’s ancestors (Bly, Rasmussen, Bennett) have been in the church for generations; as far back as Navuoo. (When I was in Nauvoo I saw the home site of my great great great grandfather John Bell Bennet).
My Father joined the church as a convert in 1999.
I served in the New York Rochester Mission. The people in the big wards and small branches taught me so much about what is was to live the gospel.
My wife (Jane) and I have six children and two grand children. As parents we have been through nursery, primary, young men, young women, scouts, seminary, missionary training center farewells, wedding and being a long distance grand parent. (I would say more here about my kids – but as we still have teenagers – any mention of them would cause such embarrassment to their lives).
For the past 19 years I have been a teacher at a Hutterite Colony School. Teaching in a one room, multi-graded classroom has been a wonderful career. For those that know the Hutterite people, they are the kindest more giving people in the world. For the last twelve years I have written / edited the Hutterite Teachers Newsletter. This quarterly newsletter shares teaching ideas with Colony Teachers across North America.
My favorite time of the school day is Novel time. We take half an hour and I read to the students. Through reading time world events have come alive for us: early pioneer struggles, lives of Native Canadians. The events of Frank Slide (Alberta) came alive as we read a historical fiction novel on that subject. The Chinese student riots of 1989 came alive when we read Forbidden City.
As my children grew up, I wanted Church History to come alive to them. There have been many wonderful church history books written; however as I tried to read these to my young children the story line was too adult for them. In 2003 I began writing a Church History novel for younger readers. In 2005 my first novel: Time Travelers in Church History: Trouble in Palmyra was published by Covenant Books. The goal of this book was to write a historically accurate book that would make 1820 Palmyra New York come alive for young readers. I have talked to kids of all ages (from 12 to 70 years old) who enjoyed the book (a great grandmother said “It is a page turner”)
In May 2007 my second novel: Time Travelers in Church History: Rescue the Prophet was published. This novel is set in September 1830 a few months after the church was organized. In this novel the readers will get to meet Oliver Cowdery, Emma Smith, Martin Harris and his wife. Many times I wonder if a book is historically accurate. This novel was originally set in June of 1830. When we realized that Joseph and Emma lived in Harmony, Pennsylvania at that time we moved the date of the novel to September. (That small of a change took more work than the reader will ever know.) The bottom line is we took great care to have everything as accurate as our historic notes allow.
I have also been doing some writing and editting on an LDS canadian website:
www.latterdaycanada.com
2 comments:
Good to see you blogging...
I found a Wonderful site on Isaiah!
http://www.isaiahexplained.com/
The site has free lessons on every chapter.
Very well done and in the author’s own voice.
Every Isaiah Chapter has the Analytical Commentary of Isaiah. Enjoy this personable verse-by-verse commentary of Isaiah by well-known Hebrew scholar Avraham Gileadi.
“Dr. Gileadi is the only LDS scholar I know of who is thoroughly competent to teach the words of Isaiah”—Professor Hugh Nibley, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. (1. 6. 2003)
“It is my testimony that this man has been brought forward and trained at this time to help those inside the Church into Isaiah, and those outside the Church, Jew and Gentile, through Isaiah into the Church” —Arthur Henry King, author, former BYU professor and London
Temple President.
“Dr. Gileadi has achieved a major breakthrough in the investigation of a book of such complexity and importance as the Book of Isaiah”—Professor David Noel Freedman, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
“Dr. Gileadi’s work will render obsolete almost all the speculations of Isaiah scholars over the last one hundred years . . . enabling scholarship to proceed along an entirely new line . . . opening new avenues of approach for others to follow”—Professor Roland K. Harrison, Wycliffe College, Toronto, Canada.
“Only one who is truly at home not only with the Hebrew but with the ancient manner of biblical thought could have produced such an insightful and ground-breaking book”—Professor S. Douglas Waterhouse, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan.
“Avraham Gileadi’s unsealing of the Book of Isaiah will forever change people’s
understanding of Judeo-Christian religion, lifting it to heights hitherto known only to prophets and saints”—Arie Noot, corporate executive, Edmond, Oklahoma.
“Isaiah Decoded is a huge breakthrough for the seeker of truth—Jew, Christian, Moslem, and agnostic. From an ancient writing, Gileadi has brought to light eternal truths about the nature of God and our relationship to him that have lain buried for centuries in the dust of time”—Guy Wins, fifth-generation Jewish diamond dealer from Antwerp, Belgium.
“Gileadi is the only scholar I know who has been able to express the Jewish expectation of the Messiah in relation to the life and mission of Jesus of Nazareth”—Daniel Rona, Israeli tour guide, Jerusalem, Israel.
“Dr. Gileadi has clearly demonstrated his mastery of the Book of Isaiah and of the scholarly literature dealing with it”—Professor Ronald Youngblood, Bethel Theological Seminary, San Diego, California.
“Avraham Gileadi’s books and tapes take the casual observer of Isaiah’s words and transform him into an enlightened and lifelong student of the Word of God”—Allan and Nancy Pratt, LDS mission president, Toulouse, France.
“Dr. Gileadi has awakened a whole new depth of my understanding of Isaiah’s prophetic message. His books and tapes illuminate the urgent relevance of Isaiah’s writings to our own day”—Becky Douglas, supervisor and sponsor of three orphanages in India, Atlanta, Georgia.
“Dr. Gileadi’s translation [of the Book of Isaiah] is clear and smooth, allowing the reader to appreciate the power and beauty of Isaiah as conveyed in the Hebrew original”—Professor Herbert M. Wolf, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois.
“Gileadi has uncovered an amazing message written in a divine code by the prophet–poet Isaiah. This will give comfort, hope, and joy to masses of people as they cope with the perplexing events now unfolding before their eyes”—Fenton Tobler, thirty years elementary school principle, Las Vegas, Nevada.
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