Church – Page 28 – Letters from Home

A Book for the New Year

I never considered that reading the gospel of Mark would be a perfect way to bring in the New Year. It is so good at showing how to prioritize reflection and people despite being busy…even busy doing worthy things.

I read Mark 5 with the kids yesterday after school and asked them what they thought about a question I was pondering. Jesus told the man from whom he had cast out devils to go and tell his friends about it. Most of the time, Jesus tells people to keep the miracle of healing a private experience. (People can’t help telling, though.) Why was this man asked to share?

I didn’t expect an answer. In fact, I hadn’t found a satisfactory answer for myself. However, before we moved to the next verses, Timothy had a thought. He told us that Jesus knew that he would be surrounded by crowds of people asking him to heal them, but he was most willing to heal those with spiritual problems.

There you go. The Savior dealt with problems of crowd control, but he wanted it known that he was available to those who sought to be healed spiritually. That is what he was chosen to do from the beginning, and it’s still his work now. I believe it’s what he loves to do.

Ways to be a missionary

I’m typing this list for myself today and I thought I’d share because I don’t have any happy photos of the kids to show. (School has begun.) This is a list of 98 scripture references about being an effective missionary that I have found in my study during the past few months. I’ve included summaries, personal interpretations, and annotations of these scriptures. You may learn something else from looking up the references.

Alma 8:32: Preach and prophesy according to the spirit and power that the Lord has given you.
Alma 7:24: See that you have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.
Alma 7:23: Be humble, meek, submissive, and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; temperate in all things; diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.
Alma 6:8: [Preach] according to revelation and the spirit of prophecy, according to the testimony of Jesus Christ
Alma 6:6: Join with the Church in fasting and mighty prayer for those who know not God.
Alma 6:5: Be liberal (share) unto all
Alma 5:62: Speak by way of invitation.
Alma 5:49: Preach unto all
Alma 5:48: Bear testimony of Jesus Christ.
Alma 5:46: Fast and pray to know for yourself by the Holy Spirit what is true.
Alma 4:19: Bear pure testimony
Alma 1:21: Do not persecute others.
D&C 133:57: Reason in plainness and simplicity.
Mosiah 27:35: Publish all things that you have seen.
Mosiah 27:37: Publish peace, good tidings of good; declare that the Lord reigns
Mosiah 23:18: Watch over one another and nourish others with righteous acts and words.
Mosiah 23:14: Be a trustworthy teacher by being a man or woman of God and keep the commandments.
D&C 124:4: Write in the spirit of meekness by the power of the Holy Ghost.
D&C 123:17: Cheerfully do all in our power and be assured that God will help and save.
D&C 121:45: Be full of charity towards all; have virtuous thoughts continually; then you will have confidence and and understanding of doctrine
D&C 121:26: Receive knowledge through the Holy Spirit.
D&C 115:5: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations;
D&C 112:28: Purify your hearts, then go to all the world and preach the gospel to everyone.
D&C 112:10: Be humble and the Lord will lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.
D&C 112:4: Let your heart be of good cheer; bear record of the Lord’s name.
Mosiah 15:16: Publish peace.
D&C 108:7: Strengthen others in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, in all your doings.
D&C 101:16: Be still and know that I am God.
D&C 100:7: Declare in Christ’s name with solemnity and meekness.
D&C 100:6: Remember that it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.
D&C 100:5: Speak the thoughts that the Lord shall put in your hearts.
D&C 98:16: Proclaim peace, seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children.
D&C 98:1: Fear not, let your hearts be comforted, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks.
D&C 90:24: Search diligently, pray always, and be believing; walk uprightly
D&C 90: Be not ashamed or confounded; avoid pride; Set in order your house; keep slothfulness and uncleanness far from you.
D&C 90:15: Study and learn, become acquainted with all good books, and languages, tongues, and people.
Enos: Pray, labor in faith and diligence for others
Enos 1:9: Feel a desire for the welfare of others and pour our your whole soul unto God for them.
D&C 88:124: Cease to be idle, unclean; cease to find fault with one another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to bed early, arise early.
D&C 88:123: Love one another; do not covet; learn to impart (teach, give) as the gospel requires.
D&C 88:119: Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; establish a house of prayer, fasting, faith, learning, glory, order, a house of God.
D&C 88:118: Seek diligently and teach words of wisdom; seek out of the best books; seek learning by study and by faith.
D&C 88:84: Prepare the saints for the hour of judgment which is to come.
D&C 88:84: labor diligently that you may be perfected in your ministry.
D&C 88:81: Testify and warn the people; it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor.
D&C 88:77-78: Teach the doctrine of the kingdom. Be instructed in theory, principle, doctrine, law of the Gospel; of many subjects… so you may be prepared share and fulfill the mission the Lord has for you.
D&C 88:74: organize yourselves, prepare yourselves, sanctify yourselves, purify your hearts.
D&C 84:106: Strengthen those who are weak in meekness.
D&C 84:85: Don’t take thought beforehand what to say, but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life; it shall be given to you in the very hour that portion that shall be given..
D&C 84:80: Be faithful and you will not be weary in mind and you will be watched over.
D&C 84:73: Do not boast of things that you have received; Do not share the most sacred experiences you have with everyone.
D&C 84: 61: Be steadfast and solemn in mind and be prayerful; Bear testimony to the world of the things that are communicated to you by the Spirit.
2 Nephi 33:1: Speak by the power of the Holy Ghost and it will be carried to the hearts of others.
D&C 81:5: Stand in the office you have in the church; succor the weak; lift up the hands that hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.
D&C 80:3: Preach to all; it mattereth not where, for ye cannot go amiss.
D&C 80:1: Preach the gospel to every creature that cometh under the sound of your voice.
D&C 79: The Comforter will teach you the truth and the way you should go.
2 Nephi 32:9: Pray always and not faint; ye must not perform anything unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ.
2 Nephi 32:5: Enter the way, receive the Holy Ghost; it will show you all things what ye should do.
2 Nephi 32:3: Speak the words of Christ; feast upon the words of Christ; the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.
2 Nephi 31:14: Through the power of the Holy Ghost, you can speak the tongue of angels.
D&C 75: 4: Lift up your voice as with the sound of a trump proclaiming truth according to the revelations and commandments of the Lord.
2 Nephi 25:26: Talk of Christ; rejoice in Christ; preach of Christ; prophesy of Christ; write according to our prophecies.
2 Nephi 25:23: Labor diligently to write, to persuade others to believe in Christ and his grace.
2 Nephi 25:4: Delight in plainness, that others may learn.
D&C 71:6: To him that receiveth the gospel shall be given more, even power.
D&C 68:3: Speak as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost.
2 Nephi 22:4: Declare [the Lord’s] doings among the people.
D&C 63:64: Speak of sacred things with care, and by constraint of the Spirit. Receive the Spirit through prayer.
D&C 63:44: The Lord allows us to use our wisdom to make choices in how we will do things.
D&C 62:5: The Lord isn’t going to tell you everything you should do; Do what seems good to you; be faithful and declare glad tidings.
D&C 62:8: Do according to your judgment and the directions of the Spirit.
D&C 60:14: Proclaim the gospel not in haste, neither in wrath nor with strife.
D&C 60:13: Do not idle away your time; do not bury your talents that they are not known.
D&C 60:8: Preach the word not in haste.
D&C 60:7: Declare with loud voices, without wrath or doubting.
1 Nephi 11:22-23: Seek the love of God in your heart; it is joyous to the soul.
D&C 50: 21-22: Preach by the Spirit of truth; those who preach and receive will be edified and rejoice together if the Spirit is present.
2 Nephi 3:20: Use simple words.
D&C 43:34-35: Treasure up truth in your hearts, let the solemnities of eternity rest upon your minds; Be sober. Keep all commandments.
D&C 43:20: Lift up your voice and spare not, teaching all. Prepare for the Second Coming.
D&C 43:16: Be taught from on high. Sanctify yourselves and be endowed with power. (Attend the temple and receive temple ordinances.)
D&C 43:8: Instruct and edify one another.
D&C 42:16: Lift up voices by the Comforter, ye shall speak and prophesy as seemeth me good;
D&C 42:12: Teach the principles of [the] gospel, which are in the Bible and the Book of Mormon.
D&C 38:41: Warn neighbor with mildness and meekness.
D&C 11:21: Seek first to obtain the Lord’s word before declaring it.
D&C 11:12: Put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good–yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit.
D&C 11:7: Seek not for riches but for wisdom.
D&C 12:8: No one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope and charity, being temperate in all things.
D&C 26:1: Let your time be devoted to the studying of the scriptures, and to preaching.
D&C 24:10: Do not suppose that [you] can say enough in [the Lord’s] cause.
D&C 28:16: Open your mouth at all times, declaring gospel with the sound of rejoicing.
D&C 30:11: Ever open your mouth in the Lord’s cause; do not fear what man can do.
D&C 30:6: Be afflicted in all [your neighbor’s] afflictions. (Sympathetic, sustaining)
D&C 31:9: Be patient in afflictions; revile not against those that revile. Govern your house in meekness, and be steadfast.
D&C 32:1: Declare the gospel and learn of Christ, be meek and lowly in heart.
D&C 33:2: Lift up your voices as with the sound of a trump.

The year-end photo swap

1-DSC_5419-001 — Photo by Matt Sanchez: Polar bear challenge at the Weber

I’m trying to compile pictures for 2014 and I’m relying on lots of sources to do it. There has been a big exchange of photos among my sisters, a brother, and friends. These are some of my favorite finds this month.

1-IMG_1888 — Photo by Susan Vaughn: Mark’s room

1-IMG_1080 — Photo by Dean Brockbank: This was the most harrowing event of the year (more than rappelling and Angel’s Landing). Boys are sprung at each other in this human rubber band contraption.

1-IMG_1120 — Photo by Dean Brockbank: Youth Conference

1-IMG_0599-001 — Tubing at youth conference

by an — photo by Andrea Donaldsen: Les Miserables at Jordan High (our kids are in the pit!)

1-Sarah 4 — Photo by Sarah Hainsworth: Thanksgiving at Spring Lake

1-sarah 3 — Photo by Sarah Hainsworth: Thanksgiving at Spring Lake

A few of my questions

1-IMG_20141109_132214 — I don’t have a picture to go with this post, but some of you come to the blog for the pictures. This is how I do not look today. This is when I had just won my third beauty pageant… or was it my fourth? 😉

I am finishing my reading of the Doctrine in Covenants in the next few days. I decided to read with a few questions in mind. In my study of the Book of Mormon I am focusing on other questions. Here are my D&C questions:

Topic: Missionary work

Am I called to the work?
How can I share the gospel?
What are some words of encouragement as I do this?

Topic: Priesthood: What are the differences between…?

Priesthood keys
Priesthood power
Priesthood authority

Wow. I have found some beautiful answers. I have found many answers. I read the D&C this time using the Gospel Library app on my phone and tagged the verses that apply to these questions. I am not very technical, and I was pleasantly surprised on Sunday to see that all of my annotations and tags are saved on my lds.org account so I can access them on my computer and print them, etc.

It’s funny how we think we know everything when we are young. The older I get, the more I see that I have to learn and the more I want to study. Is this what they call the beginning of wisdom?

A Must See #SharetheGift

What I learned at the Christmas devotional

My favorite lines from the First Presidency Christmas Devotional were spoken by President Henry B. Eyring. He spoke about Light. He began by talking about the angels who appeared to the shepherds who then visited the baby Jesus.

They were drawn on that sacred night to go to the Savior. What they saw with their physical eyes in the stable was a tiny baby. What they went to verify was visible only through spiritual feelings. We know that the Light of Christ is an influence we can recognize by its effects.

The Savior said, “For behold, it is I that speak. Behold, I am the light which shineth in darkness and by my power I give these words unto thee. Now verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good. Yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously. This is my Spirit. Verily, verily I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy.” (D&C 11:11-13, emphasis added) (I transcribed this by hand because the text wasn’t available. Hopefully I got it right.)

This was a good message for me. Although I only have the symbols of the Savior around me, I can still see Him with spiritual eyes. I love the scripture President Eyring used to tell us how to accomplish this. I learned that if we want to have a spiritual experience at Christmas, the Spirit of Christmas leads us to act, not just in tangible ways, but in the way we think of others. It is a call to be gentle in our appraisal of others. It is this kind of giving that will bring us the joy we hope to have at Christmas.

I’m focusing on being generous in my thoughts. This means I am giving everyone the benefit of the doubt in my mind and words. I’m avoiding criticism and negativity. It’s a simple formula to help me see beyond the well-intentioned busy-ness of Christmas.

What stood out to you in this quote? What are you doing to embrace the season?

We’ve had some good times

Photo from K. Nelson from Girls Camp 2014 (Can you spot the trained ballerina? That’s Paige.)

We celebrate Paige today because she received her Young Womanhood Recognition award by the Bishop in church. It’s another milestone in the hastening end of her days of “growing up”. That little rubied medallion signifies hundreds of hours of service, study, development of talents, and faith. We are so very proud of her.

We gathered to celebrate my niece Kaitlyn’s baptism on Saturday. There are many sweet things about the baptism of a child. I watch the younger siblings and cousins who look forward to their own baptism days. They watch so intently. They are curious! Some press their faces against the glass to be as close as possible. I am touched by the witnesses, who are often the grandfathers. Their job is solemn, but it must feel like the job is icing on the cake. The grandmothers are shiny in their bright jackets and full smiles. They often share their wisdom in a message about baptism or the Holy Ghost and in whispered words during hugs. There is usually a stressed-out mother, thinking of details, to whom the major part of the child’s gospel learning has fallen. The importance of the day settles deeply in a mother’s heart. All of this surrounds two people dressed in white. The tender father helps the child step into the water, offers a prayer, and carefully lowers the child under the water. It’s simple. It’s sacred. Kaitlyn’s special day had all of these elements, but her little light made it unique and her own. I smile when I think how lovely Kaitlyn looked and behaved. Congratulations!

It still looks like Christmas time because the light of winter is unmistakable, but there is no sparkly snow. Timothy pines for some and worries that there won’t be snow to make forts on his birthday in a few weeks. A white Christmas IS the ideal now. Something I have learned from living in several different places is that you can love wherever you live, and it’s possible to love different climates. We have!

For some entertainment on Saturday night we pulled out the home movies of Christmases past. “We’ve had some good times,” Richard said.

Yes, my dear, we have.

Marriage

This week President Henry B. Eyring represented our Church at the Vatican at a colloquium discussing traditional families.

I took notes as I listened to his 13-minute address. Despite current trends of the breakdown of families, he explained how there is hope to make things better. It begins with individuals, living righteous principles, such as holding family prayer, and the tradition passes to the next generation and then the next, growing stronger with each generation. He spoke a great deal about his wife and how they met and how she has helped him in his life.

Here are some of the words he said about his marriage:

I realize now that we grew into one, slowly lifting and shaping each other year after year. As we absorbed strength from each other, it did not diminish our personal gifts. Our differences combined as if they were designed to create a better whole. Rather than dividing us, our differences bound us together. Above all, our unique abilities allowed us to become partners with God…

Now, for my own thoughts on this. What have I learned about family life this week? It can be explained with a little story.

I came home late one night this week. I had missed dinner and family time. It makes me sad when I need to be away during the precious hours that we can be home together. I felt alienated as I walked into the kitchen and saw that the dinner I had prepared was now eaten and everyone was engaged in homework and other activities. But I didn’t get far into the kitchen before Richard and Mark ran upstairs to me and welcomed me home and gave me big hugs. That made me so happy. I’m convinced that successful marriages and families are built on very simple but consistent things. In this case, it was a warm welcome home.

The Miracles of Song and the Courage of Youth

This is my dad and his family as they sent him off on a mission. I’m not sure what’s going on behind those stoic faces. Dread? Sadness? Bewilderment? Not ready for the camera?

My dad joined the Church when he was 17 years old. His family was not religious, but he had a few friends who were instrumental in his conversion. There was the neighbor who gave the family a Book of Mormon which sat on a shelf for years until my dad read it clandestinely in his room while throwing a basketball against the wall to avoid suspicion. There were some darling girls who invited him to early morning seminary, which he attended faithfully, learning the Old Testament. And then there was the Oakland Temple Pageant. His friends took him there and when the choir of 500 youth voices sang The Spirit of God, his heart was deeply touched. He had found the source of peace in a time of real upheaval. It was the late 1960’s in the Bay Area.

My dad’s story of hearing all of those young men and young women singing is best heard in person, and I am sure I am leaving out details. However, I believe that it was one of the sacred events that changed the course of his life.

It’s my dad’s story, but it’s also a part of my story. If those kids hadn’t shared their love of the gospel…if they hadn’t sung their hearts out… if he hadn’t had the Book of Mormon in his home… if he hadn’t been courageous and decided to be baptized, he wouldn’t have met my mom and I wouldn’t be here.

I believe in the miracles of music and the courage of youth.

As I sing in this choir with 300 kids ages 12-18, I am having a powerful experience.There are songs that I still cannot sing the whole way through without stopping for tears.

I hope someone in the audience will be touched by this music. I know that music can change lives.

*Butler Middle School is actually on 2700 E.

Concert black

Timothy had his first band concert this week. Bravo! He and his band did an excellent job. I am so proud of Timothy, but not enough to let him keep my black music stand in his room where he practices. This week I carefully reclaimed my stand and left my old silver one in its place. Someday you’ll get a nice black stand, Timothy. But we’ve got to pay for that trombone first.

This next week I’ll probably see our older kids wearing concert black every day. Recently, the orchestra director for Les Miserables had a moment of panic when he realized that they had only two pianists for the show when they really needed three. Paige was recruited to play. When the kids practice their songs on the piano, I sing along. One minute I’m Eponine and the next I’m Enjolras. Ha!

With all of the show business going on with the church musical and Les Miserables, I’m taking this day to do a super amount of laundry, shop, and prepare mentally for what’s ahead next week.

I’ve got my housework pearls on. It’s go time.