Friday, November 30, 2007
Ezra Taft Benson Experience Laying on of Hands in Blessing the Prophet
One day I was working in Reed Benson's office when we received a call from his brother Mark that it was important that we find Reed and bring him to Dr. Oaks office in Provo. Dennis Wardle and I asked at the Ancient Scripture department where Reed was teaching. We went over to the Jessie Knight Building just as he was finishing class and drove him over there. Reed went in the back with his brother to see about President Benson. Dennis explained to me as we sat with the church security man that President Benson was having serious trouble with cataracts on his eyes and was going gradually blind. Reed came out after about thirty minutes and explained to Dennis and me that President Benson had gone to Dr. Oaks thinking they would schedule the surgery at a later date but that after consultation both men discovered that their schedules worked for that very day. Even though it was not the regular thing that under usual conditions his father would have a priesthood blessing from his brethren but since they needed to do the operation then and there his father wanted a blessing from his sons. Reed told us that President Benson requested that Dennis and I join in the circle as well as Dr. Oaks. I was only an elder and felt a bit uncomfortable standing in for a living Prophet of God. Mark anointed him and pronounced a blessing for the sick and Reed the eldest son sealed the blessing. As Reed pronounced the blessing I made a promise to the Lord that if he needed part of my sight that President Benson could have it. I told the Lord that the Prophet needed it to run the church. I really didn't think the Lord would take me at my word but I offered it freely at the time. Almost immediately my eyesight diminished slightly. I never really had perfect eyesight but I noticed that I had lost some sight in my right eye. Particularly at night objects became dimmer. I doubt it was psychosomatic because I had my eyesight checked and it was a real sight loss. I really am not an overly fanatical Mormon but I did learn not to promise something unless you really don't mind the Lord taking you at your word and I was willing to give it for Ezra Taft Benson to serve the Lord in his office as President of the Church.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Ezra Taft Benson Experience Vision of the Savior
One day I was sitting in Reed Benson's office where I was working on the Teachings of Erza Taft Benson when the phone rang. I answered the phone. The caller asked me if Reed was there. I said no he isn't her right now. He asked who are you? I said I'm Frank Bruno. He said what do you do there? I said I'm compiling the Teachings of Erza Taft Benson. He said who is he? I said he is the prophet of God. He said that's me.
I thought that would be the end of the conversation. But he asked me what I had been doing. I said I was working on the missionary section in the teachings book. He asked me if I want to be a mission president. I was only around 30 so I said maybe not right now. He said don't worry you can be one in the future. I thought at the time that my mission president M. Russell Ballard who served on the mission committee thought I was a big screw up and that it was highly unlikely he would approve me even if President Benson suggested it so I said yeah maybe in a few years when I'm older you can have me called knowing it was highly unlikely. We talked about the Book of Mormon and its use in flooding the earth in missionary work. I asked him about his experience in the Mexico City Temple. I said you probably had a vision. He said that he had a strong impression. I then said to him I had an unusual dream the other night thinking he would want to share if he knew I had something similar.
I related to him how in my dream I went to the Salt Lake Temple and met the Savior. I was walking in the temple when I saw a sign that read the Quorum of Twelve Apostles over the door. I opened the door and I entered the room. The Savior was standing in the middle of the room. He looked towards the eleventh seat. I had a strong impression that I might one day sit in it if I proved worthy. He spoke saying follow me.
The scene transformed. We were standing in the doorway of a court room with a trial in session. Sitting on the stand was Satan giving testimony to a judge and jury. The twelve jurors were all Latter-Saints. Jesus turned to me and said he will get off you know. Even Latter-day Saints will believe his lies.
I said to President Benson I am sure you must have had an experience with the Savior like this in Mexico City when you received the flooding the earth vision. He said I didn't have anything quite as vivid as an experience as yours it was more a strong impression from the Spirit than a full vision. I knew I couldn't push it any farther since I didn't want to get him mad at me so I didn't say any more. He then concluded by saying "that was quite an experience" and then hung up.
A few months later on his actual birthday that we shared which was August 4 I went to see him. I visited him in his apartment in the Eagle Gate Apartment building before I took a job in Chattanooga Tennessee. I was told to write in my journal that President Benson prophesied that one day I would be a great leader in the Church serving as a bishop and a stake president. I wrote it down but I haven't been a bishop or a stake president.
A year before President Benson passed away I had a dream that his death wasn't far away. It was a very sad experience. I went and visited him and Sister Benson. They smiled and both took my hands in theirs. We all cried together. I left the room and as I went down the hall two Church security men came up to me and told me that both had passed away. I was very upset because I loved them both so much. When I spent fifteen days in their home when compiling their book I spent the time with them. One day I took out pictures of my daughter Genevieve and Gianina to show them. President Benson immediately became excited and asked if he could keep their pictures. He actually kept them on his study desk for months. Reed told me his dad enjoyed looking at their pictures and it made him happy. He would ask about me and my family sometimes.
Shortly after his death I had a final dream about him. He came to me and spoke to me. I knew he was dead in the dream because it was a very cold experience. I actually shivered when he came up to me on the street. The setting was grey and miserable the sky was overcast it was in late fall we were standing outside of the Church Administration building. He told me that he cared about me and appreciated what I had done for him and to remain faithful. I could tell it took him effort to visit me.
To me it doesn't matter if I am a bishop, stake president or that I occupy the eleventh seat in the Council of the Twelve what matters is that I have communed with the Church of the First Born. What also matters is that I served the Prophet of God to the best of my ability. I know that the teaching of Erza Taft Benson fulfilled his charge to lead people to Christ. I know there is a next life and that one day he and I will be friends. I loved him like a grandfather.
I thought that would be the end of the conversation. But he asked me what I had been doing. I said I was working on the missionary section in the teachings book. He asked me if I want to be a mission president. I was only around 30 so I said maybe not right now. He said don't worry you can be one in the future. I thought at the time that my mission president M. Russell Ballard who served on the mission committee thought I was a big screw up and that it was highly unlikely he would approve me even if President Benson suggested it so I said yeah maybe in a few years when I'm older you can have me called knowing it was highly unlikely. We talked about the Book of Mormon and its use in flooding the earth in missionary work. I asked him about his experience in the Mexico City Temple. I said you probably had a vision. He said that he had a strong impression. I then said to him I had an unusual dream the other night thinking he would want to share if he knew I had something similar.
I related to him how in my dream I went to the Salt Lake Temple and met the Savior. I was walking in the temple when I saw a sign that read the Quorum of Twelve Apostles over the door. I opened the door and I entered the room. The Savior was standing in the middle of the room. He looked towards the eleventh seat. I had a strong impression that I might one day sit in it if I proved worthy. He spoke saying follow me.
The scene transformed. We were standing in the doorway of a court room with a trial in session. Sitting on the stand was Satan giving testimony to a judge and jury. The twelve jurors were all Latter-Saints. Jesus turned to me and said he will get off you know. Even Latter-day Saints will believe his lies.
I said to President Benson I am sure you must have had an experience with the Savior like this in Mexico City when you received the flooding the earth vision. He said I didn't have anything quite as vivid as an experience as yours it was more a strong impression from the Spirit than a full vision. I knew I couldn't push it any farther since I didn't want to get him mad at me so I didn't say any more. He then concluded by saying "that was quite an experience" and then hung up.
A few months later on his actual birthday that we shared which was August 4 I went to see him. I visited him in his apartment in the Eagle Gate Apartment building before I took a job in Chattanooga Tennessee. I was told to write in my journal that President Benson prophesied that one day I would be a great leader in the Church serving as a bishop and a stake president. I wrote it down but I haven't been a bishop or a stake president.
A year before President Benson passed away I had a dream that his death wasn't far away. It was a very sad experience. I went and visited him and Sister Benson. They smiled and both took my hands in theirs. We all cried together. I left the room and as I went down the hall two Church security men came up to me and told me that both had passed away. I was very upset because I loved them both so much. When I spent fifteen days in their home when compiling their book I spent the time with them. One day I took out pictures of my daughter Genevieve and Gianina to show them. President Benson immediately became excited and asked if he could keep their pictures. He actually kept them on his study desk for months. Reed told me his dad enjoyed looking at their pictures and it made him happy. He would ask about me and my family sometimes.
Shortly after his death I had a final dream about him. He came to me and spoke to me. I knew he was dead in the dream because it was a very cold experience. I actually shivered when he came up to me on the street. The setting was grey and miserable the sky was overcast it was in late fall we were standing outside of the Church Administration building. He told me that he cared about me and appreciated what I had done for him and to remain faithful. I could tell it took him effort to visit me.
To me it doesn't matter if I am a bishop, stake president or that I occupy the eleventh seat in the Council of the Twelve what matters is that I have communed with the Church of the First Born. What also matters is that I served the Prophet of God to the best of my ability. I know that the teaching of Erza Taft Benson fulfilled his charge to lead people to Christ. I know there is a next life and that one day he and I will be friends. I loved him like a grandfather.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Missionaries and Retention: A Critical Analysis
John Dehlin has began an interesting series on his Mormon Story blog site that gives us a glimpse into the mission culture using virtual ethnography. Like a good ethnographer Dehlin appears to be sympathetic to many of his guests but like any good critical theorist he is using the information to show distortions in Mormonism. He covers missionary work in eleven podcasts/videocasts.
One of his guest podcasts is of Ted Lyon a former mission president from Chile tells his experiences of being mission president in Chile. He relates how when he arrived there as mission president he was concerned by missionaries who were baptizing converts after only teaching them two hours.
In post in response to Lyon I stated: "I really think it is a service that you have an actual mission president sharing his practical experiences. The problem of mass baptism and better preparing converts is an ongoing problem of the last thirty years. Hartman Rector did the same things in the San Diego Mission back in the 1970s. His missionaries baptized people in swimming pools on the same day they taught them.
I think the statistic of eleven percent [retention of converts] is not overly startling Marion G. Romney in a CR (Romney, Marion G. “Conversion.” IE 66 (1963):1065-67.) gave the conversion rate at around 16 percent where baptized at age of eight or later as a convert.
I agree we can do better at retention. I think that is a member function. I agree you need a commitment and that two hours is ridiculous amount of time before baptizing some one.
Kay Smith gives some interesting ideas also about conversion at http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/basic/gospel/Conversion_EOM.htm
Thanks it was a very candid presentation and got me to think about the quality of baptisms."
His experience is similar to the "Baseball Baptisms" that took place in the 1950s and 1960s that Mike Quinn chronicles in Sunstone. Dehlin experienced disillusionment himself when he was a missionary because of similar techniques in 1988. During the war in Argentina in the middle 1970s the missionaries there were baptizing people by the thousands. I doubt that as spread out as the missionaries were that they could have adequately prepared the members for baptism. I don't think it is a rare occurrence that in some places mission presidents baptize large amounts of people using unorthodox methods and many of the new converts are not prepared well for church membership.
David Stewart on his Cumorah site pushes the same type of agenda that he can answer how to retain "Retain 80-100% of new converts anywhere in the world." I read his suggestions but couldn't understand his rambling style well enough to see how implementing his techniques would change missionary effectiveness. His quoting of Prophets and scriptures is too general to be anything more than motivation.
These people are all good at finger-pointing, but none of them have given concrete suggestions on how to really improve retention. I will be discussing retention of converts in forthcoming posts.
One of his guest podcasts is of Ted Lyon a former mission president from Chile tells his experiences of being mission president in Chile. He relates how when he arrived there as mission president he was concerned by missionaries who were baptizing converts after only teaching them two hours.
In post in response to Lyon I stated: "I really think it is a service that you have an actual mission president sharing his practical experiences. The problem of mass baptism and better preparing converts is an ongoing problem of the last thirty years. Hartman Rector did the same things in the San Diego Mission back in the 1970s. His missionaries baptized people in swimming pools on the same day they taught them.
I think the statistic of eleven percent [retention of converts] is not overly startling Marion G. Romney in a CR (Romney, Marion G. “Conversion.” IE 66 (1963):1065-67.) gave the conversion rate at around 16 percent where baptized at age of eight or later as a convert.
I agree we can do better at retention. I think that is a member function. I agree you need a commitment and that two hours is ridiculous amount of time before baptizing some one.
Kay Smith gives some interesting ideas also about conversion at http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/basic/gospel/Conversion_EOM.htm
Thanks it was a very candid presentation and got me to think about the quality of baptisms."
His experience is similar to the "Baseball Baptisms" that took place in the 1950s and 1960s that Mike Quinn chronicles in Sunstone. Dehlin experienced disillusionment himself when he was a missionary because of similar techniques in 1988. During the war in Argentina in the middle 1970s the missionaries there were baptizing people by the thousands. I doubt that as spread out as the missionaries were that they could have adequately prepared the members for baptism. I don't think it is a rare occurrence that in some places mission presidents baptize large amounts of people using unorthodox methods and many of the new converts are not prepared well for church membership.
David Stewart on his Cumorah site pushes the same type of agenda that he can answer how to retain "Retain 80-100% of new converts anywhere in the world." I read his suggestions but couldn't understand his rambling style well enough to see how implementing his techniques would change missionary effectiveness. His quoting of Prophets and scriptures is too general to be anything more than motivation.
These people are all good at finger-pointing, but none of them have given concrete suggestions on how to really improve retention. I will be discussing retention of converts in forthcoming posts.
Letters from Missionaries--Rome, Italy
Sorry I didn't write last week the server was down at the free internet
place and I didn't really want to spend the time or money to go to the
other one. These last two weeks were really good. I gave a talk in
sacrament meeting about Patriarchal Blessings. We met two new investigators
who are sisters on the bus the other day. It was right after church so
we were all on the bus, six aniziani and us 2 sorelle. One of these
women sat next to me on the bus. I saw that she was sick and asked her if
everything was ok. She told me yes and it was weird because usually I
try to search for something that can introduce who I am or can break the
ice so I can try to share our message without it being annoying for
the person sitting next to me, because I have found that people are more
receptive this way. But with her I just opened my mouth and started to
tell her the story of Joseph Smith. Before she got off I gave her my
number and asked for hers. I told her I would call to see when we could
pass by. She called me exactly 1 hour later and told me that she was
sick and that she felt like there was something i could do for her. So I
told her about the priesthood and she asked us to come over that night.
When we got there her and her sister told us that they had both had
dreams the night before she had had a dream about the Aniziani with white
shirts and ties and name tags. She told me that when she was younger
some one cursed her with a evil spirit and she had been sick ever since.
I was like ok whatever... later that week we taught the second lesson.
The sister had read in the book of Mormon all the way to Mosiah. I told
them that if they believed that the priesthood had been restored that
they could receive a blessing and that if it was Gods will they could
receive a blessing of healing and if not physical healing then of
comfort. They came to church on Sunday but this lady was to sick to make it
through sacrament meeting so I asked our BML to give her a blessing. He
did. Nothing has happened though. So anyways it was random but they are
amazing and I know that if they keep reading and praying they will be
able to let the gospel change their lives. I think that Heavenly Father
is trying to teach me something about the Priesthood but maybe I just
am not getting it. Every time I teach about the restoration I want to
teach people about the blessing that they can have in their lives through
a prophet and through the restoration of the priesthood, so then I
think ok well do we use the priesthood to do... ok well blessings,
baptism, the holy ghost etc. I want them to see the priesthood in action in
their lives. So I though it would be good for them to get a blessing. But
then nothing really happened. Anyways I don't really know what I
learned from this..... But we have another appointment tonight and we will
see from that boa. Sometimes I really don't know what Heavenly Father
wants me to do. I mean these people were obviously sent straight to us for a
reason and God obviously prepared them with Dreams for crying out loud,
and she told me she knew that I could do something about her illness,
so I mean to me that screamed blessing, and then not so much. So I am
really not exactly sure what I am doing but I have a testimony that I am
a missionary for a reason and I just hope Heavenly Father can help me
not screw up too bad so that I don't mess up this situation that he has
given the opportunity to have. Thats about everything
place and I didn't really want to spend the time or money to go to the
other one. These last two weeks were really good. I gave a talk in
sacrament meeting about Patriarchal Blessings. We met two new investigators
who are sisters on the bus the other day. It was right after church so
we were all on the bus, six aniziani and us 2 sorelle. One of these
women sat next to me on the bus. I saw that she was sick and asked her if
everything was ok. She told me yes and it was weird because usually I
try to search for something that can introduce who I am or can break the
ice so I can try to share our message without it being annoying for
the person sitting next to me, because I have found that people are more
receptive this way. But with her I just opened my mouth and started to
tell her the story of Joseph Smith. Before she got off I gave her my
number and asked for hers. I told her I would call to see when we could
pass by. She called me exactly 1 hour later and told me that she was
sick and that she felt like there was something i could do for her. So I
told her about the priesthood and she asked us to come over that night.
When we got there her and her sister told us that they had both had
dreams the night before she had had a dream about the Aniziani with white
shirts and ties and name tags. She told me that when she was younger
some one cursed her with a evil spirit and she had been sick ever since.
I was like ok whatever... later that week we taught the second lesson.
The sister had read in the book of Mormon all the way to Mosiah. I told
them that if they believed that the priesthood had been restored that
they could receive a blessing and that if it was Gods will they could
receive a blessing of healing and if not physical healing then of
comfort. They came to church on Sunday but this lady was to sick to make it
through sacrament meeting so I asked our BML to give her a blessing. He
did. Nothing has happened though. So anyways it was random but they are
amazing and I know that if they keep reading and praying they will be
able to let the gospel change their lives. I think that Heavenly Father
is trying to teach me something about the Priesthood but maybe I just
am not getting it. Every time I teach about the restoration I want to
teach people about the blessing that they can have in their lives through
a prophet and through the restoration of the priesthood, so then I
think ok well do we use the priesthood to do... ok well blessings,
baptism, the holy ghost etc. I want them to see the priesthood in action in
their lives. So I though it would be good for them to get a blessing. But
then nothing really happened. Anyways I don't really know what I
learned from this..... But we have another appointment tonight and we will
see from that boa. Sometimes I really don't know what Heavenly Father
wants me to do. I mean these people were obviously sent straight to us for a
reason and God obviously prepared them with Dreams for crying out loud,
and she told me she knew that I could do something about her illness,
so I mean to me that screamed blessing, and then not so much. So I am
really not exactly sure what I am doing but I have a testimony that I am
a missionary for a reason and I just hope Heavenly Father can help me
not screw up too bad so that I don't mess up this situation that he has
given the opportunity to have. Thats about everything
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Tips on Being Successful Ward Mission Leader
I have always firmly believed that being successful in any calling in the LDS Church is based on first doing something in the calling and second following the instruction of church leaders. The third requirement is common sense.
In 1998 until 1999 I served as a Ward Mission Leader in Calexico, California in the Imperial Valley Stake. Our ward which took in Calexico, and a part of El Centro literally straddled the Mexico/U.S. border. We had a thousand members on the books who no longer lived there. An innovative thing that our Bishop did was to use full-time Elders as home teachers. We would assign them forty or fifty people a month that were missing. It was amazing the stories they would share during PEC about finding many lost members. Because they had been lost for a long time many had nonmember children or spouses. They became a great pool for teaching and consequently baptisms.
I have always enjoyed reading the handbooks that come with callings. I determined that I would read and follow the ward mission leader handbook faithfully. It talked about correlation. I actually held a monthly correlation with members from the Relief Society, Primary, Young Men's, Young Women's, and Elder's Quorum. We would discuss people the missionaries were working with and make assignments so if they had children they could attend activities. We would assign a specific family to them and arrange rides etc. We made sure to include this families in all our plans. We actually took off in our baptisms, having close to twenty-five when before we averaged one or two a year.
We had an usual practice also in this ward where all the leadership including counselors and secretaries showed up every Wednesday night and would go out in pair to visit the less active. We were able to pick up a lot of teaching appointments for the missionaries who worked with them later.
The only downside to the calling is that the missionaries expect you to drop everything and go out with them on exchanges, which was pretty demanding when you have eight children. We actually did a good job on exchanges we had a calendar and we made specific assignments so that every active priesthood holder had a monthly assignment. The Elder's Quorum covered Tuesdays and the High Priests covered Thursdays. It was actually quite successful as they soon learned to take the missionaries with them to their less active home teaching families to keep from having to track. The also were very dependable since they had set schedules. We actually ended up having enough men with set schedules to cover every night of the work week. I tried to do the same in another ward when I moved to Houston but they had an uproar since they were lazier.
Our ward went from being considered the Rock of Gibraltar to the top baptizing place in the San Diego Mission. I had gotten hold of a missionary and taught him the challenge by Alvin R. Dyer. The kid was a little extreme challenging and testifying even at the tire stores but he ended up with 78 baptism. Between my running the correlation and his dedication to take on home teaching assignments and challenging everyone he met to baptism we actually became to blossom as a ward.
One practical thing I learned from my calling was that you don't want to go beyond about four or five hours a week on the calling or your superiors such as ward and stake leaders will get nervous. Being an effective type of Mormon I tamed down and got along with the ward leaders. The bishop said I was the best ward mission leader he ever worked with in his whole church career. Honestly I knew I could have done more but there is a balance to everything.
In 1998 until 1999 I served as a Ward Mission Leader in Calexico, California in the Imperial Valley Stake. Our ward which took in Calexico, and a part of El Centro literally straddled the Mexico/U.S. border. We had a thousand members on the books who no longer lived there. An innovative thing that our Bishop did was to use full-time Elders as home teachers. We would assign them forty or fifty people a month that were missing. It was amazing the stories they would share during PEC about finding many lost members. Because they had been lost for a long time many had nonmember children or spouses. They became a great pool for teaching and consequently baptisms.
I have always enjoyed reading the handbooks that come with callings. I determined that I would read and follow the ward mission leader handbook faithfully. It talked about correlation. I actually held a monthly correlation with members from the Relief Society, Primary, Young Men's, Young Women's, and Elder's Quorum. We would discuss people the missionaries were working with and make assignments so if they had children they could attend activities. We would assign a specific family to them and arrange rides etc. We made sure to include this families in all our plans. We actually took off in our baptisms, having close to twenty-five when before we averaged one or two a year.
We had an usual practice also in this ward where all the leadership including counselors and secretaries showed up every Wednesday night and would go out in pair to visit the less active. We were able to pick up a lot of teaching appointments for the missionaries who worked with them later.
The only downside to the calling is that the missionaries expect you to drop everything and go out with them on exchanges, which was pretty demanding when you have eight children. We actually did a good job on exchanges we had a calendar and we made specific assignments so that every active priesthood holder had a monthly assignment. The Elder's Quorum covered Tuesdays and the High Priests covered Thursdays. It was actually quite successful as they soon learned to take the missionaries with them to their less active home teaching families to keep from having to track. The also were very dependable since they had set schedules. We actually ended up having enough men with set schedules to cover every night of the work week. I tried to do the same in another ward when I moved to Houston but they had an uproar since they were lazier.
Our ward went from being considered the Rock of Gibraltar to the top baptizing place in the San Diego Mission. I had gotten hold of a missionary and taught him the challenge by Alvin R. Dyer. The kid was a little extreme challenging and testifying even at the tire stores but he ended up with 78 baptism. Between my running the correlation and his dedication to take on home teaching assignments and challenging everyone he met to baptism we actually became to blossom as a ward.
One practical thing I learned from my calling was that you don't want to go beyond about four or five hours a week on the calling or your superiors such as ward and stake leaders will get nervous. Being an effective type of Mormon I tamed down and got along with the ward leaders. The bishop said I was the best ward mission leader he ever worked with in his whole church career. Honestly I knew I could have done more but there is a balance to everything.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Rainbow Discussions
When I served in the Canada Toronto Mission I always remember fondly that we used the rainbow discussions. In my field our mission president M. Russell Ballard was a stickler for us learning them one hundred percent word perfect. I remember I wasn't very good at memorization so this was a daunting task. If you didn't know them perfectly he assured us that we would never become a senior companion. I had been transferred to CTM from the Rome Italy Mission. My ward in N. Las Vegas was supposed to help me pay for my mission. I was a member one year and two months when I was called. I had saved about two thousand dollars but most of that was gone by the fourth month of my mission after clothes, suitcases, food, transportation to the LTM, etc. They were suppose to send me $160 a month. I actually got desperate about the six month when no money arrived. I couldn't even afford to eat. My companion Giorgo Dal Pozzo carried me for a few weeks but then my mission president contacted the missionary committee. He was a very generous guy whose family owned a shoe factory in Verona, Italy. He was also the most charismatic elder I ever met. He worked with me diligently on my rainbows every morning.
Thomas S. Monson felt impressed to transfer me up to Toronto where there were a million Italians. There were six Italian elders but one had become a mission assistant. I was assigned to ethnic areas around Toronto. I never got to work with any of the Italian elders as companions. When I was in Italy I passed off two discussions and the baptismal challenge. When I went to Canada I had to learn them in English which boggled my mind. I was depressed that I had been transferred and arrived in Canada at the end of winter in March 1976. I immediately got ill and suffered pneumonia like symptoms. My feet had holes in them from my cheap shoes rubbing on the backs. I was a physical and mental wreck.
No one ever worked with me on learning the discussions. My companions expected that since I was out seven months that I should just know them. After five months I just gave up. The straw that broke the camels back was when I was assigned the Elder I knew from Las Vegas that I mentioned in an earlier post. He screamed and hollered at me about learning them. To shut him up I buckled down and learned them all of them. I met with the assistant. We went through them and he picked random concepts and I gave them to him just about word perfect. He concluded the session and congratulated me on passing. As we began to leave he stopped and said oh I forgot give me this other concept. I choked and couldn't remember it. He told me you will just have to do it again in a few weeks.
I said to myself forget it, if that is the way you are going to be, I can stay a junior companion the rest of my mission. After that I never tried again. True to Ballard's word I remained a junior companion for two years. I always remember how Elder Andy Fredericks was given some slack his last two months and made a senior companion. I actually questioned the assistants who laughed in my face when I asked if they were going to let me be a senior companion. I heard Fredericks giving the discussions and it was worse than when I had failed. I knew down in my heart that they didn't really want to see me succeed or I would have passed earlier or been given mercy like Fredericks. It is amazing I guess that I had many people I worked with join the church since I was only a junior companion. Today I would have probably been a senior my first two months and possibly gone on to be a mission leader like my mission president in Italy kept telling me before I left there.
Thomas S. Monson felt impressed to transfer me up to Toronto where there were a million Italians. There were six Italian elders but one had become a mission assistant. I was assigned to ethnic areas around Toronto. I never got to work with any of the Italian elders as companions. When I was in Italy I passed off two discussions and the baptismal challenge. When I went to Canada I had to learn them in English which boggled my mind. I was depressed that I had been transferred and arrived in Canada at the end of winter in March 1976. I immediately got ill and suffered pneumonia like symptoms. My feet had holes in them from my cheap shoes rubbing on the backs. I was a physical and mental wreck.
No one ever worked with me on learning the discussions. My companions expected that since I was out seven months that I should just know them. After five months I just gave up. The straw that broke the camels back was when I was assigned the Elder I knew from Las Vegas that I mentioned in an earlier post. He screamed and hollered at me about learning them. To shut him up I buckled down and learned them all of them. I met with the assistant. We went through them and he picked random concepts and I gave them to him just about word perfect. He concluded the session and congratulated me on passing. As we began to leave he stopped and said oh I forgot give me this other concept. I choked and couldn't remember it. He told me you will just have to do it again in a few weeks.
I said to myself forget it, if that is the way you are going to be, I can stay a junior companion the rest of my mission. After that I never tried again. True to Ballard's word I remained a junior companion for two years. I always remember how Elder Andy Fredericks was given some slack his last two months and made a senior companion. I actually questioned the assistants who laughed in my face when I asked if they were going to let me be a senior companion. I heard Fredericks giving the discussions and it was worse than when I had failed. I knew down in my heart that they didn't really want to see me succeed or I would have passed earlier or been given mercy like Fredericks. It is amazing I guess that I had many people I worked with join the church since I was only a junior companion. Today I would have probably been a senior my first two months and possibly gone on to be a mission leader like my mission president in Italy kept telling me before I left there.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Missionary Dreams
The prophet in Joel 2: 28 says: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions."
Before I joined the church when I was sixteen I had a most unusual dream where I saw the prophet Isaiah writing upon a scroll. It was very vivid and in color. In our conversation together he told me that I would have all the knowledge of the world.Later when I joined the church and saw an artist's rendition of him he looked somewhat similar.
My dream was cut short by a large crashing sound. I lived off of Nellis Boulevard which was a busy road in North Las Vegas, Nevada. Our neighbor across the street parked his large flatbed rig there and for some reason three different vehicles hit it. This particular night a couple in a blue car plowed right underneath it. I went out to see if I could help but they needed the jaws of life to extract the guy whose legs were mangled.
That dream of Isaiah was the first I ever had of a religious nature. As a Roman Catholic kid growing up not too many people discussed that kind of thing and I sure didn't have religious experiences. A short time after my dream I went with my neighbor and his wife and kids to the First Southern Baptist Church in Boulder City, Nevada. It was a revival meeting. The pastor got up and preached a forceful sermon. I had a vision of Christ on the cross. I saw the dark clouds and his hanging there. I was so moved that I got up and made my pledge on July 4, 1972. They gave me a tiny Gideon New Testament with the date marked in it.
I joined the church in July 1974. I had an actual spiritual experience about the Book of Mormon. After having all seven missionary discussions in two days the only thing I remembered was the missionaries asked me to pray about it which I did about a week after completing the discussions. I turned down my television we had five in our house. I closed my eyes and asked Heavenly Father "Is it True?" As I began to open my eyes a tangible voice spoke to me out loud "The church of Jesus Christ is the Only True Church on the face of the earth. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and the Book of Mormon is the word of God." I called one of my non Mormon buddies and we discussed it. He told me I should do what I think is right. I told him I was going to get baptized in the LDS Church. He said then what are we waiting for. He came over and we drove over to the missionaries' house. They were home and freaked out that I wanted to be baptized then and there. One elder fought with me that he couldn't do it now. The other said Elder come here. They went inside and called their mission president. He spoke to me on the phone and convinced me to wait a week. Since I had time to think about it they asked who I wanted to do it. I said I wanted one of the Twelve Apostles. They told me I could have the stake president do it instead. I knew the stake president's son from school so I said I would have him do it.
The stake president James K. Seastrand liked me and encouraged me to go on a mission. He said I reminded him of his dear old dad who had joined the Church in Sweden. My ward bishopric didn't share his sentiments about me going on a mission. One of them told me he could help me save for a mission by hiring me like he did the other boys in the ward but he wasn't going to do that. I went to LDS employment and got a job as a janitor in a couple of places. In the six months before I went I saved about three thousand after I sold my 1968 Chevy Impala and my stereo. I got most of my stuff from Deseret Industries and two $39 suits from my non Mormon father. I was called on September 20, 1975 to the Rome, Italy Mission with the guarantee my ward would help me out when my money was gone for $160 a month.
My first week in Allen Hall in the Language Training Mission I had an unusual vision. My companion Dean Bono and I struggled to learn Italian. Dean was struggling with other things as well and ended up going home early. One day I got down by the side of my chair and pray to the Lord for help in learning my discussions. It was like a continuation of the earlier vision when I saw Christ on the cross but this time I saw him coming in glory at the time of the Second Coming. It actually lasted a few minutes and was quite detailed and graphic. It scared the crap out of me and I bailed out of the vision. I later had the experience I related about the two beings struggling over my very soul and my impressions when I transferred to Canada Toronto under M. Russell Ballard.
I have never considered myself overly spiritual or a kook. In fact now with the equivalent of three master degrees and a doctorate I would say I am a pretty rational person. I just seem to have religious dreams and visions. Since that time I have had a few more that I will relate in other posts concerning Christ, Joseph Smith, and other Prophets and Apostles. I have come to realize that I commune with the Church of the First Born which is a promise of the oath and covenant of the Priesthood.
I am no one of any consequence in the LDS Church so you can share without fear. I am not a dissident or an iron rodder either in fact if you wanted to put me in a camp you would call me a moderate Mormon. I am both liberal and conservative at the same time, it just depends on your mindset. If you have similar experiences that you want to share this site is the place to do it. It is a return to why I joined the Church thirty-three years ago. There is a place for all of us to lift one another. I always remember the charge Ezra Taft Benson gave me when he asked me to do his biography and teachings book which is to lead men and women to Christ. Please share your comments you might touch someone who doubts. BTW it is interesting that I ended up a librarian who is expert in technology with all the knowledge in the world at my fingertips.
Before I joined the church when I was sixteen I had a most unusual dream where I saw the prophet Isaiah writing upon a scroll. It was very vivid and in color. In our conversation together he told me that I would have all the knowledge of the world.Later when I joined the church and saw an artist's rendition of him he looked somewhat similar.
My dream was cut short by a large crashing sound. I lived off of Nellis Boulevard which was a busy road in North Las Vegas, Nevada. Our neighbor across the street parked his large flatbed rig there and for some reason three different vehicles hit it. This particular night a couple in a blue car plowed right underneath it. I went out to see if I could help but they needed the jaws of life to extract the guy whose legs were mangled.
That dream of Isaiah was the first I ever had of a religious nature. As a Roman Catholic kid growing up not too many people discussed that kind of thing and I sure didn't have religious experiences. A short time after my dream I went with my neighbor and his wife and kids to the First Southern Baptist Church in Boulder City, Nevada. It was a revival meeting. The pastor got up and preached a forceful sermon. I had a vision of Christ on the cross. I saw the dark clouds and his hanging there. I was so moved that I got up and made my pledge on July 4, 1972. They gave me a tiny Gideon New Testament with the date marked in it.
I joined the church in July 1974. I had an actual spiritual experience about the Book of Mormon. After having all seven missionary discussions in two days the only thing I remembered was the missionaries asked me to pray about it which I did about a week after completing the discussions. I turned down my television we had five in our house. I closed my eyes and asked Heavenly Father "Is it True?" As I began to open my eyes a tangible voice spoke to me out loud "The church of Jesus Christ is the Only True Church on the face of the earth. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and the Book of Mormon is the word of God." I called one of my non Mormon buddies and we discussed it. He told me I should do what I think is right. I told him I was going to get baptized in the LDS Church. He said then what are we waiting for. He came over and we drove over to the missionaries' house. They were home and freaked out that I wanted to be baptized then and there. One elder fought with me that he couldn't do it now. The other said Elder come here. They went inside and called their mission president. He spoke to me on the phone and convinced me to wait a week. Since I had time to think about it they asked who I wanted to do it. I said I wanted one of the Twelve Apostles. They told me I could have the stake president do it instead. I knew the stake president's son from school so I said I would have him do it.
The stake president James K. Seastrand liked me and encouraged me to go on a mission. He said I reminded him of his dear old dad who had joined the Church in Sweden. My ward bishopric didn't share his sentiments about me going on a mission. One of them told me he could help me save for a mission by hiring me like he did the other boys in the ward but he wasn't going to do that. I went to LDS employment and got a job as a janitor in a couple of places. In the six months before I went I saved about three thousand after I sold my 1968 Chevy Impala and my stereo. I got most of my stuff from Deseret Industries and two $39 suits from my non Mormon father. I was called on September 20, 1975 to the Rome, Italy Mission with the guarantee my ward would help me out when my money was gone for $160 a month.
My first week in Allen Hall in the Language Training Mission I had an unusual vision. My companion Dean Bono and I struggled to learn Italian. Dean was struggling with other things as well and ended up going home early. One day I got down by the side of my chair and pray to the Lord for help in learning my discussions. It was like a continuation of the earlier vision when I saw Christ on the cross but this time I saw him coming in glory at the time of the Second Coming. It actually lasted a few minutes and was quite detailed and graphic. It scared the crap out of me and I bailed out of the vision. I later had the experience I related about the two beings struggling over my very soul and my impressions when I transferred to Canada Toronto under M. Russell Ballard.
I have never considered myself overly spiritual or a kook. In fact now with the equivalent of three master degrees and a doctorate I would say I am a pretty rational person. I just seem to have religious dreams and visions. Since that time I have had a few more that I will relate in other posts concerning Christ, Joseph Smith, and other Prophets and Apostles. I have come to realize that I commune with the Church of the First Born which is a promise of the oath and covenant of the Priesthood.
I am no one of any consequence in the LDS Church so you can share without fear. I am not a dissident or an iron rodder either in fact if you wanted to put me in a camp you would call me a moderate Mormon. I am both liberal and conservative at the same time, it just depends on your mindset. If you have similar experiences that you want to share this site is the place to do it. It is a return to why I joined the Church thirty-three years ago. There is a place for all of us to lift one another. I always remember the charge Ezra Taft Benson gave me when he asked me to do his biography and teachings book which is to lead men and women to Christ. Please share your comments you might touch someone who doubts. BTW it is interesting that I ended up a librarian who is expert in technology with all the knowledge in the world at my fingertips.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Dear John Letters
When I was a missionary in the Canada Toronto Mission our mission president M. Russell Ballard pushed hard the Lock Your Heart talk by Spencer W. Kimball. One elder I served with had apparently locked his girl friend in. He was the worst missionary I ever served with. Every Monday on P-day he had special permission to call his girlfriend back in Las Vegas. He was a basket case all week long waiting for the next call. I actually knew him before my mission since he lived in my home stake in North Las Vegas. He wandered around all week and didn't really accomplish much. He liked to work me over saying things like my dad would fire you if you worked for our construction company or you are the laziest elder I ever saw. The funny thing was he was a very ineffective elder. I had better rapport with the few investigators I met while serving there. In the two or three months I served with him we never even came close to baptizing. I think it had something to do with his obsession with his girlfriend back home. I remember her quite well she and her sisters and cousins sang in our stake in a group called Rainbow's End. When he went on his mission they sang O That I Were an Angel. When I requested the same song they refused to sing it and substituted He That Hath Clean Hands. He would get so angry, when he would start on me, that the veins in his red neck would pop out. I thought at the time that he was going to have a heart attack in his twenties. Every Monday morning all he could think about or talk about was his girl friend back home and how he was going to marry her. I learned from him how not to be since I could see the effect of not having your mind single to the glory of God. I was hoping that he would get a Dear John letter so we could do the Lord's work but unfortunately that never happened. He eventually went home and married her. I think his hypertension got him and in his 30s he almost died. He actually mellowed out and was quite pleasant at mission reunions. I learned from watching him that fanaticism can be a negative thing. I realize now he was emotionally coping without his girlfriend.
He wasn't actually as bad as another elder I encountered from Cache Valley. This elder was the most trunky I ever saw in my life. Every day he was useless from about 10am until 2pm. All he could think about was whether his girlfriend who was the Cache County Diary Princess would write him. He affected Elders around him going on about how much he loved her, what a great girl she was, how beautiful she was. He companion was assigned to him because no one else could deal with him. The guy was really patient and pleasant. I would have to say he was a true Saint. Except one time he thought it would be funny if I wrote his companion's girlfriend. We got her address off one of his envelopes and I wrote her a letter. I told her I was in the same district and how I heard so many good things about her. Soon we started corresponding on a weekly basis. After about a month the other elder got fewer and fewer letters. I wasn't romantic with her but would tell her about how I and the other elders in my district were doing. She even sent me a photograph of herself. We became good friends. She was really a beautiful girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. I was never interested in her other than as someone to write. After a few weeks she met some returned missionary who she got serious with and my mission buddy got his dear john letter in the mail. It was an amazing transformation he wasn't even depressed for five minutes. He became a productive elder and served a good honorable mission. It is a shame that he spent the first several months as a total mess.
I also observed romance blossom right in the mission home. Our President really was fixated on one of his assistants. The guy looked like a football Adonis. He was 6'3" and had played linebacker at college before coming out. He had brown wavy hair and was a pleasant fellow. In every public gathering President Ballard bragged about him going on about how he was like one of the stripling warriors. He set him up to the rest of us as our example. It was infuriating because no matter what we did genetically very few of us looked like him. He wasn't any different than a dozen guys in our field including a couple of balding ones that were even nicer and just as dynamic and actually baptized more. Any one of us including myself could have produced the number of lessons and converts that he did. I never saw him do anything spectacular and I went on a couple of splits with him. But our president publicly and privately promoted him so that his own daughter became infatuated with him. I saw it coming whenever she looked at him. After he went home he married her within a few months. I always thought my mission president's own kids needed to read "Lock Your Heart." The assistant became a really go-getter in the business world after his mission and was too busy to even come to mission reunions. The only reason I could think of that he didn't come was he was angry at his father-in-law for setting him high on a pedestal or he was busy making a buck. I was disappointed that I didn't see him because I wanted to see how he really turned out. His wife was a beautiful and sweet woman. I would have liked to see their kids and if he went bald etc.
I am not sure "Locked Your Heart" helped anyone but those who would have already followed it, so it was like preaching to the choir. I never once had a problem with girls on my mission. Then of course I was a homely missionary with not much of a personality. I haven't really heard much from others on Dear John or Lock Your Heart but I bet there are better stories than I have shared. Success stories and failures. Please comment.
He wasn't actually as bad as another elder I encountered from Cache Valley. This elder was the most trunky I ever saw in my life. Every day he was useless from about 10am until 2pm. All he could think about was whether his girlfriend who was the Cache County Diary Princess would write him. He affected Elders around him going on about how much he loved her, what a great girl she was, how beautiful she was. He companion was assigned to him because no one else could deal with him. The guy was really patient and pleasant. I would have to say he was a true Saint. Except one time he thought it would be funny if I wrote his companion's girlfriend. We got her address off one of his envelopes and I wrote her a letter. I told her I was in the same district and how I heard so many good things about her. Soon we started corresponding on a weekly basis. After about a month the other elder got fewer and fewer letters. I wasn't romantic with her but would tell her about how I and the other elders in my district were doing. She even sent me a photograph of herself. We became good friends. She was really a beautiful girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. I was never interested in her other than as someone to write. After a few weeks she met some returned missionary who she got serious with and my mission buddy got his dear john letter in the mail. It was an amazing transformation he wasn't even depressed for five minutes. He became a productive elder and served a good honorable mission. It is a shame that he spent the first several months as a total mess.
I also observed romance blossom right in the mission home. Our President really was fixated on one of his assistants. The guy looked like a football Adonis. He was 6'3" and had played linebacker at college before coming out. He had brown wavy hair and was a pleasant fellow. In every public gathering President Ballard bragged about him going on about how he was like one of the stripling warriors. He set him up to the rest of us as our example. It was infuriating because no matter what we did genetically very few of us looked like him. He wasn't any different than a dozen guys in our field including a couple of balding ones that were even nicer and just as dynamic and actually baptized more. Any one of us including myself could have produced the number of lessons and converts that he did. I never saw him do anything spectacular and I went on a couple of splits with him. But our president publicly and privately promoted him so that his own daughter became infatuated with him. I saw it coming whenever she looked at him. After he went home he married her within a few months. I always thought my mission president's own kids needed to read "Lock Your Heart." The assistant became a really go-getter in the business world after his mission and was too busy to even come to mission reunions. The only reason I could think of that he didn't come was he was angry at his father-in-law for setting him high on a pedestal or he was busy making a buck. I was disappointed that I didn't see him because I wanted to see how he really turned out. His wife was a beautiful and sweet woman. I would have liked to see their kids and if he went bald etc.
I am not sure "Locked Your Heart" helped anyone but those who would have already followed it, so it was like preaching to the choir. I never once had a problem with girls on my mission. Then of course I was a homely missionary with not much of a personality. I haven't really heard much from others on Dear John or Lock Your Heart but I bet there are better stories than I have shared. Success stories and failures. Please comment.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Recipes for Missionaries
I didn't get much response when I shared my favorite recipe which was a little disappointing. I thought people would want to share. Being a good researcher I am including a few links to recipe sites until others get the spirit of sharing.
Fast and easy meals
Dinner in an Instant
Quick and Easy
Vegetarian
Mormon Favorites
Quick & Easy
Quick Meals for Busy
Yahoo Quick Meals
Simple Meals
17 Minute Meals
If you want to help please share some recipes that can be used in specific countries. I know we can do better. Post some meals to help missionaries and those having missionaries over out.
Fast and easy meals
Dinner in an Instant
Quick and Easy
Vegetarian
Mormon Favorites
Quick & Easy
Quick Meals for Busy
Yahoo Quick Meals
Simple Meals
17 Minute Meals
If you want to help please share some recipes that can be used in specific countries. I know we can do better. Post some meals to help missionaries and those having missionaries over out.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Are Women More Spiritual Than Men?
I went to LDS org to check out the assertion that BiV made this is what I found . . .
The gift of the Holy Ghost is conferred on both men and women. So are spiritual gifts. As Elder Bruce R. McConkie declared in Nauvoo at the dedication of the Monument to Women: “Where spiritual things are concerned, as pertaining to all of the gifts of the Spirit, with reference to the receipt of revelation, the gaining of testimonies, and the seeing of visions, in all matters that pertain to godliness and holiness and which are brought to pass as a result of personal righteousness in all these things men and women stand in a position of absolute equality before the Lord. He is no respecter of persons nor of sexes, and he blesses those men and those women who seek him and serve him and keep his commandments.” (BRM, Ensign, Jan. 1979, p. 61.)
McConkie feels that in spiritual matters men and women are equal. However there are many quotations that support the SS Teacher.
M. Russell Ballard, “Women of Righteousness,” Ensign, Apr 2002, 73 weighs in on the side of the SS Teacher:
Now, finally, I turn again to you dear sisters, you who have such a profound, innate spiritual ability to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. You need never wonder again if you have worth in the sight of the Lord and to the Brethren in the presiding councils of the Church. We love you. We cherish you. We respect you. Never doubt that your influence is absolutely vital to preserving the family and to assisting with the growth and spiritual vitality of the Church. This Church will not reach its foreordained destiny without you. We men simply cannot nurture as you nurture. Most of us don’t have the sensitivity—spiritual and otherwise—that by your eternal nature you inherently have. Your influence on families and with children, with youth, and with men is singular. You are natural-born nurturers. Because of these unusual gifts and talents, you are vital to taking the gospel to all the world, to demonstrating that there is joy in living the way the prophets have counseled us to live.
James E. Faust, “What It Means to Be a Daughter of God,” Ensign, Nov 1999, 100 also agrees with the SS Teacher.
As daughters of God, you cannot imagine the divine potential within each of you. Surely the secret citadel of women’s inner strength is spirituality. In this you equal and even surpass men, as you do in faith, morality, and commitment when truly converted to the gospel. You have “more trust in the Lord [and] more hope in his word.” This inner spiritual sense seems to give you a certain resilience to cope with sorrow, trouble, and uncertainty....
I wonder if you sisters can fully appreciate the innate gifts, blessings, and endowments you have simply because you are daughters of God.
James E. Faust, “The Voice of the Spirit,” Liahona, Sep 1995, 17, alludes to them being more spiritual.
Women are so richly endowed with the spiritual gifts about which Paul spoke: faith, hope, and charity (see 1 Cor. 13:13). Thus, part of their destiny is to exemplify the sublime womanly virtues as the nurturers, the teachers, and the refining influence so important for our families and the Church. Women are the enriching adornment of the race.
James E. Faust, “The Highest Place of Honor,” Ensign, May 1988, 36. It appears that Elder Faust is responsible for the the SS Teacher's viewpoint.
Surely the secret citadel of women’s inner strength is their spirituality. In this they equal and even surpass men, as they do in faith, morality, and commitment when truly converted to the gospel. They have “more trust in the Lord [and] more hope in his word” (“More Holiness Give Me,” Hymns, 1985, no. 131). This inner spiritual sense seems to give them a certain resilience to cope with sorrow, trouble, and uncertainty.
Margaret D. Nadauld, “The Joy of Womanhood,” Ensign, Nov 2000, 14–16. Even the Young Women's General President mirrors what President Faust says:
God sent women to earth with some qualities in extra capacity. In speaking to young women, President Faust observed that femininity “is the divine adornment of humanity. It finds expression in your … capacity to love, your spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength. It is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each … possesses it. Femininity is part of your inner beauty.”
Bruce C. Hafen and Marie K. Hafen, “Crossing Thresholds and Becoming Equal Partners,” Liahona, Aug 2007, 26–31, support the idea that women are superior.
The concept of interdependent, equal partners is well-grounded in the doctrine of the restored gospel. Eve was Adam’s “help meet” (Genesis 2:18). The original Hebrew for meet means that Eve was adequate for, or equal to, Adam. She wasn’t his servant or his subordinate. And the Hebrew for help in “help meet” is ezer, a term meaning that Eve drew on heavenly powers when she supplied their marriage with the spiritual instincts uniquely available to women as a gender gift.
As President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has said, men and women are by nature different, and while they share many basic human traits, the “virtues and attributes upon which perfection and exaltation depend come [more] naturally to a woman”( Boyd K. Packer, “For Time and All Eternity,” Ensign, Nov. 1993, 22). . .
Spouses need not perform the same functions to be equal. The woman’s innate spiritual instincts are like a moral magnet, pointing toward spiritual north—except when that magnet’s particles are scrambled out of order. The man’s presiding gift is the priesthood—except when he is not living the principles of righteousness. If the husband and the wife are wise, their counseling will be reciprocal: he will listen to the promptings of her inner spiritual compass just as she will listen to his righteous counsel.
And in an equal-partner marriage both also bring a spiritual maturity to their partnership, without regard to gender. Both have a conscience and the Holy Ghost to guide them. Both see family life as their most important work. Each also strives to become a fully rounded disciple of Jesus Christ—a complete spiritual being.
The final tally one for DW, six for SS Teacher.
The gift of the Holy Ghost is conferred on both men and women. So are spiritual gifts. As Elder Bruce R. McConkie declared in Nauvoo at the dedication of the Monument to Women: “Where spiritual things are concerned, as pertaining to all of the gifts of the Spirit, with reference to the receipt of revelation, the gaining of testimonies, and the seeing of visions, in all matters that pertain to godliness and holiness and which are brought to pass as a result of personal righteousness in all these things men and women stand in a position of absolute equality before the Lord. He is no respecter of persons nor of sexes, and he blesses those men and those women who seek him and serve him and keep his commandments.” (BRM, Ensign, Jan. 1979, p. 61.)
McConkie feels that in spiritual matters men and women are equal. However there are many quotations that support the SS Teacher.
M. Russell Ballard, “Women of Righteousness,” Ensign, Apr 2002, 73 weighs in on the side of the SS Teacher:
Now, finally, I turn again to you dear sisters, you who have such a profound, innate spiritual ability to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. You need never wonder again if you have worth in the sight of the Lord and to the Brethren in the presiding councils of the Church. We love you. We cherish you. We respect you. Never doubt that your influence is absolutely vital to preserving the family and to assisting with the growth and spiritual vitality of the Church. This Church will not reach its foreordained destiny without you. We men simply cannot nurture as you nurture. Most of us don’t have the sensitivity—spiritual and otherwise—that by your eternal nature you inherently have. Your influence on families and with children, with youth, and with men is singular. You are natural-born nurturers. Because of these unusual gifts and talents, you are vital to taking the gospel to all the world, to demonstrating that there is joy in living the way the prophets have counseled us to live.
James E. Faust, “What It Means to Be a Daughter of God,” Ensign, Nov 1999, 100 also agrees with the SS Teacher.
As daughters of God, you cannot imagine the divine potential within each of you. Surely the secret citadel of women’s inner strength is spirituality. In this you equal and even surpass men, as you do in faith, morality, and commitment when truly converted to the gospel. You have “more trust in the Lord [and] more hope in his word.” This inner spiritual sense seems to give you a certain resilience to cope with sorrow, trouble, and uncertainty....
I wonder if you sisters can fully appreciate the innate gifts, blessings, and endowments you have simply because you are daughters of God.
James E. Faust, “The Voice of the Spirit,” Liahona, Sep 1995, 17, alludes to them being more spiritual.
Women are so richly endowed with the spiritual gifts about which Paul spoke: faith, hope, and charity (see 1 Cor. 13:13). Thus, part of their destiny is to exemplify the sublime womanly virtues as the nurturers, the teachers, and the refining influence so important for our families and the Church. Women are the enriching adornment of the race.
James E. Faust, “The Highest Place of Honor,” Ensign, May 1988, 36. It appears that Elder Faust is responsible for the the SS Teacher's viewpoint.
Surely the secret citadel of women’s inner strength is their spirituality. In this they equal and even surpass men, as they do in faith, morality, and commitment when truly converted to the gospel. They have “more trust in the Lord [and] more hope in his word” (“More Holiness Give Me,” Hymns, 1985, no. 131). This inner spiritual sense seems to give them a certain resilience to cope with sorrow, trouble, and uncertainty.
Margaret D. Nadauld, “The Joy of Womanhood,” Ensign, Nov 2000, 14–16. Even the Young Women's General President mirrors what President Faust says:
God sent women to earth with some qualities in extra capacity. In speaking to young women, President Faust observed that femininity “is the divine adornment of humanity. It finds expression in your … capacity to love, your spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength. It is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each … possesses it. Femininity is part of your inner beauty.”
Bruce C. Hafen and Marie K. Hafen, “Crossing Thresholds and Becoming Equal Partners,” Liahona, Aug 2007, 26–31, support the idea that women are superior.
The concept of interdependent, equal partners is well-grounded in the doctrine of the restored gospel. Eve was Adam’s “help meet” (Genesis 2:18). The original Hebrew for meet means that Eve was adequate for, or equal to, Adam. She wasn’t his servant or his subordinate. And the Hebrew for help in “help meet” is ezer, a term meaning that Eve drew on heavenly powers when she supplied their marriage with the spiritual instincts uniquely available to women as a gender gift.
As President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has said, men and women are by nature different, and while they share many basic human traits, the “virtues and attributes upon which perfection and exaltation depend come [more] naturally to a woman”( Boyd K. Packer, “For Time and All Eternity,” Ensign, Nov. 1993, 22). . .
Spouses need not perform the same functions to be equal. The woman’s innate spiritual instincts are like a moral magnet, pointing toward spiritual north—except when that magnet’s particles are scrambled out of order. The man’s presiding gift is the priesthood—except when he is not living the principles of righteousness. If the husband and the wife are wise, their counseling will be reciprocal: he will listen to the promptings of her inner spiritual compass just as she will listen to his righteous counsel.
And in an equal-partner marriage both also bring a spiritual maturity to their partnership, without regard to gender. Both have a conscience and the Holy Ghost to guide them. Both see family life as their most important work. Each also strives to become a fully rounded disciple of Jesus Christ—a complete spiritual being.
The final tally one for DW, six for SS Teacher.
Laying on of Hands
There have been differing viewpoints about the sharing of spiritual experiences in the LDS Church. I view this web blog as a not only a way to spark discussion but personal snapshots in to the life of the blogger. I have been fearful in my life that I not be censored or found to be wanting by the authorities of the Church. The other day as I lay ill I got to to thinking that I can not live my life for my perceived acceptance by other people. I need to live my life for the acceptance of the Lord. I left the Catholic Church as a young man and was saved in the Baptist Church based on a spiritual experience. I also joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because of a spiritual manifestation at the age of nineteen. When I was twenty I went on a mission. When I was serving in the Canada Toronto Mission I was serving in Etobicoke with Harry Lodholm. We had a member family that we visited quite frequently the Milano family. Sister Milano was a nurse at a local hospital. She had two daughters one around fifteen and the other around twelve. I knew she has something the matter with her but I didn't know what it was. She was always a cheerful person so I thought whatever it was she couldn't be too sick. One day my companion and I went by and found out she was in the hospital. So went by to see her. When we went in to see her, she looked worse than I could imagine. She asked us for a priesthood blessing. She asked my companion to anoint her and me to administer. I think my companion was a bit shocked because I was the junior companion. I have always depended on the Spirit in my administration so I say the words that came into my mind. I bless her that she would leave the hospital and be able to attend to her family and set her business in order. My companion remarked to me after that was an unusual blessing. She gained enough strength to do just that. She went home and resumed her life. Later she told me that the doctors said she would never leave the hospital again and that she would die. I had no idea when I gave her the blessing that she was terminally ill. She spent a few months with her two daughters and eventually died. Even though she wasn't healed to recovery I learned that the Spirit will manifest to a priesthood holder what the Lord's will was for the person being healed.
I intend to share many of my different experiences. I feel the spiritual need to do so. If there any brave enough out there to share I am willing to have a sidebar on them since I believe they increase our faith by sharing them.
I intend to share many of my different experiences. I feel the spiritual need to do so. If there any brave enough out there to share I am willing to have a sidebar on them since I believe they increase our faith by sharing them.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Letters from Missionaries--Daejeon Korea
Gigi's letter made us laugh, please check out how she
spelled exaltation, I will probably regret saying that because I can't spell
either. anyhow I think it's way funny because also in our Korea there
is a 1000 won store which is equivalent to a dollar and sometimes it
has the best stuff ever. This last week we had an artist come up to us
on the street and tell us we had a light. We ask him if he believed in
ì‹ which is a higher being, he started to talk about how everyone
believed in so many different ì‹ that it was ridiculous and if God
existed he was only one God. That's when he said " And that is the reason
we need personal revelation" I know we were meant to meet him that
day. He called me two hours later and wanted to know when we could meet
and talk about the book I had given him. It was awesome. Sometimes I
struggle to have hope. Usually at that time I am thinking too far in
the future and not enjoying the moment. When I just let go and let
myself just be a tool no more and no less, then I find that God has a
perfect plan and he has set me in this sphere of influence to meet certain
people at certain times. I struggle against myself everyday. I want so
much to put everything of myself on the alter of God but I can feel
that I hold back. I want to let go of myself and my own desires and self
identity so that God can make me what he will. I have been trying to
define perfect for a while and I finally realized that me perception of
perfect is to completely do God's will. That includes mistakes, it
includes pain, it includes a personal Gethsemane, but it also includes
perfect moments like when as an investigator told us that she had felt the
spirit when she prayed the sky outside the view of her 13th floor
apartment turned pink and orange and we all looked and were quiet and
everything was exactly the way it was suppose to be. The spirit teaches us
God's will. I used to think I could earn the spirit if I was obedient
enough, if I worked hard enough, if I paid the price to know
God....but now I realize that it is there all along. Yes if we must, remove the
grime of the world....but the truth is these perfect moments of pain
and joy are just there if we recognize that God is with us. This week
as I thought about God and his plan something was taught to me, God
asked who will be my only begotten son? And he chose the savior. But I
think he would have chosen any one of us. But he only needed one. He
only needed one only begotten son. But he needed you Gigi, and mom, and
dad, he needed Flora, and Annika, Desi, Franni, and Michael, he needed
Nikita, and he needed a me too. We are the only ones that can do what
he planned for our lives. We are also his begotten and the only one who
can fulfill his plan.
spelled exaltation, I will probably regret saying that because I can't spell
either. anyhow I think it's way funny because also in our Korea there
is a 1000 won store which is equivalent to a dollar and sometimes it
has the best stuff ever. This last week we had an artist come up to us
on the street and tell us we had a light. We ask him if he believed in
ì‹ which is a higher being, he started to talk about how everyone
believed in so many different ì‹ that it was ridiculous and if God
existed he was only one God. That's when he said " And that is the reason
we need personal revelation" I know we were meant to meet him that
day. He called me two hours later and wanted to know when we could meet
and talk about the book I had given him. It was awesome. Sometimes I
struggle to have hope. Usually at that time I am thinking too far in
the future and not enjoying the moment. When I just let go and let
myself just be a tool no more and no less, then I find that God has a
perfect plan and he has set me in this sphere of influence to meet certain
people at certain times. I struggle against myself everyday. I want so
much to put everything of myself on the alter of God but I can feel
that I hold back. I want to let go of myself and my own desires and self
identity so that God can make me what he will. I have been trying to
define perfect for a while and I finally realized that me perception of
perfect is to completely do God's will. That includes mistakes, it
includes pain, it includes a personal Gethsemane, but it also includes
perfect moments like when as an investigator told us that she had felt the
spirit when she prayed the sky outside the view of her 13th floor
apartment turned pink and orange and we all looked and were quiet and
everything was exactly the way it was suppose to be. The spirit teaches us
God's will. I used to think I could earn the spirit if I was obedient
enough, if I worked hard enough, if I paid the price to know
God....but now I realize that it is there all along. Yes if we must, remove the
grime of the world....but the truth is these perfect moments of pain
and joy are just there if we recognize that God is with us. This week
as I thought about God and his plan something was taught to me, God
asked who will be my only begotten son? And he chose the savior. But I
think he would have chosen any one of us. But he only needed one. He
only needed one only begotten son. But he needed you Gigi, and mom, and
dad, he needed Flora, and Annika, Desi, Franni, and Michael, he needed
Nikita, and he needed a me too. We are the only ones that can do what
he planned for our lives. We are also his begotten and the only one who
can fulfill his plan.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Letters from Missionaries--Italy Rome
So I have had some really eventful couple of weeks and I cannot
believe that have already been training for 3 weeks. It seems like I just
took my last companion back to Rome. So in case I didn't already tell
everyone this I am now teaching English class entirely by myself and
completely in Italian so I have to explain the structure of English in Italian,
yeah as if it wasn't hard enough in English. lol no but I think that it
is actually helping me improve my English it is strange because now it
is three weeks without speaking English and when I read in English I
have to think really hard. Yeah strange I love it. My companion told me
that while I was dreaming the other night I was speaking in Italian and I
said Die, non scorigare, possiamo fare qualsiasi cosa andiamo avanti,
aka come on don't be discouraged we can do anything we need to press
forward. So yeah apparently in my dreams I am giving pep talks ahahahaha.
The power of positive thinking right!! This morning was my companion's
birthday and I put aside my dislike of all things birthday-related to
wake up early and cook her french toast and blow up balloons and wrap
some presents that I snook?? bo0a at our last trip to the one Euro store.
Yeah the idea of a dollar store exists even here. I don't know how we
existed before the Mondo tutto sotto un Euro. Today I bought my first pair
of contact lens, Apparently here you don't need to have a prescription
to buy them you just bring your glasses in and they tell you what you
wear and then you can buy then for like 6 euro, its way cool. My
companion convinced me to get them and is now teaching me how to put them in.
Ok enough for the random things that we have been doing. The work is
going really well, last week we decided to put our faith into practice
and to call allll of our investigators and invite them to all come to
gospel principles and then fast for them to alllll start progressing. We
had 5 investigators in gospel principles. What a huge miracle. More
then I have ever had before. I wanted to cry. We had a lesson about
exaltation and it was really good and the spirit was there so strong. Then
in sacrament meeting it was the Primary Program. All of the children
said there little parts and the CTR 7/8 class all drew pictures. One of
the little girls named Shantal who is getting ready to be baptised drew
a picture of all of the missionaries here. We are in 8, 6 anziani and 2
sorelle. I heard here before the meeting started practicing with her
mother. Her poor desperate mother trying so hard to help her finish
memorizing the words These are the missionaries who go out all over the
world preaching the word of God and bringing people unto Christ like me and
my mother. I remembered all those years that Mom helped us memorize
our lines and how we always wanted the longest part in the program lol. I
love that the Church uses the same programs all over the world to
strengthen the members. I understand now more than ever the importance to
not just go to church, but to be a part of the ward family and to serve
and let yourself be spiritually nurtured every single Sunday. I love
this branch here and all of the people who seek constantly to serve each
other and sacrifice so much for the gospel.
believe that have already been training for 3 weeks. It seems like I just
took my last companion back to Rome. So in case I didn't already tell
everyone this I am now teaching English class entirely by myself and
completely in Italian so I have to explain the structure of English in Italian,
yeah as if it wasn't hard enough in English. lol no but I think that it
is actually helping me improve my English it is strange because now it
is three weeks without speaking English and when I read in English I
have to think really hard. Yeah strange I love it. My companion told me
that while I was dreaming the other night I was speaking in Italian and I
said Die, non scorigare, possiamo fare qualsiasi cosa andiamo avanti,
aka come on don't be discouraged we can do anything we need to press
forward. So yeah apparently in my dreams I am giving pep talks ahahahaha.
The power of positive thinking right!! This morning was my companion's
birthday and I put aside my dislike of all things birthday-related to
wake up early and cook her french toast and blow up balloons and wrap
some presents that I snook?? bo0a at our last trip to the one Euro store.
Yeah the idea of a dollar store exists even here. I don't know how we
existed before the Mondo tutto sotto un Euro. Today I bought my first pair
of contact lens, Apparently here you don't need to have a prescription
to buy them you just bring your glasses in and they tell you what you
wear and then you can buy then for like 6 euro, its way cool. My
companion convinced me to get them and is now teaching me how to put them in.
Ok enough for the random things that we have been doing. The work is
going really well, last week we decided to put our faith into practice
and to call allll of our investigators and invite them to all come to
gospel principles and then fast for them to alllll start progressing. We
had 5 investigators in gospel principles. What a huge miracle. More
then I have ever had before. I wanted to cry. We had a lesson about
exaltation and it was really good and the spirit was there so strong. Then
in sacrament meeting it was the Primary Program. All of the children
said there little parts and the CTR 7/8 class all drew pictures. One of
the little girls named Shantal who is getting ready to be baptised drew
a picture of all of the missionaries here. We are in 8, 6 anziani and 2
sorelle. I heard here before the meeting started practicing with her
mother. Her poor desperate mother trying so hard to help her finish
memorizing the words These are the missionaries who go out all over the
world preaching the word of God and bringing people unto Christ like me and
my mother. I remembered all those years that Mom helped us memorize
our lines and how we always wanted the longest part in the program lol. I
love that the Church uses the same programs all over the world to
strengthen the members. I understand now more than ever the importance to
not just go to church, but to be a part of the ward family and to serve
and let yourself be spiritually nurtured every single Sunday. I love
this branch here and all of the people who seek constantly to serve each
other and sacrifice so much for the gospel.
Aspiring to Missionary Callings
This is a response to DW's post on Campaigning for Callings.
When I was a member of the church for one year I desired to do something good so I went on a mission. I was called to the Rome, Italy mission. As a missionary I desired to baptize thousands so I worked hard and fortunately was assigned my first area with an Italian companion who was very dynamic and successful at baptizing. In our mission it was very competitive we had a weekly published statistical booklet so everyone could see who were "the best missionaries." Every week for three months Del Pazzo/Bruno were first in discussions, placed book of mormons, baptisms. Every time I heard from my mission president he would say you will one day be my assistant. Due to some problems prior to my mission and the fact my ward did not send me money for four months I was unexpectedly transferred to the Toronto Canada mission. Even as I left in the air port my president said it was very sad that I wouldn't be his assistant.
When I arrived in Toronto Canada to serve under M. Russell Ballard the first thing I heard was what did you do to be sent here. You must have done something bad. I was treated different as though I was a failure rather than a success. I was treated by every companion as a screw up rather than as a faithful dedicated missionary.
Every leadership meeting Russell Ballard would tell us "if you keep your noses clean" you will all be bishops, stake presidents, mission presidents, and a few of you even general authorities. Even though I had problems with companions speculating about what my problems were and why they had to put up with a screw up like me I knew inside that I was not anything like what they said. I always thought Ballard would one day realize that I was one of his best.
On my mission I never once attained any position other than junior companion. Elder Ballard had a hard rule if you couldn't pass of the discussion one hundred percent word perfect you would live and die a junior companion.
I could never resolve in my mind how in one place I was to be a leader and in the other a loser. Elder Ballard equated position with righteousness. His missionary assistant even married his daughter.
After my mission I lived my life for many years with the thought if I was of any value I would have callings. I tried to serve the best I could whereever I lived. Whenever I would go to a Ballard reunion he would have everyone go around the room and tell what they were doing in the Church. Several in a few years were bishops. After ten years a few became members of high councils and stake presidency. After twenty years a few became mission presidents.
When I was 37 I was still an elder in the elder's quorum. I callings amounted to things such as financial secretary, ward clerk, elder's quorum secretary, and my highest calling Sunday School President. My wife read me Abraham 1 because I was so depressed that most men from my field were high priests and I was living and going to die as an elder. I always remembered Bruce R. McConkie's talk which priesthood leaders would throw in my face if I questioned why I was still only an elder.
I went to the Lord and prayed that I could be a great high priest like Jesus Christ. In Hebrews it said that if I wanted to be a joint heir with Christ I needed to be a great high priest. I moved to Indiana to do my doctorate degree before I was 40. I bore my testimony about my love for temple work and Ezra Taft Benson. The new called High Priest group leader who was a former bishop was so touched that he called me to be his second assistant. Now whenever I move into a ward they naturally think of me for some leadership calling. I have held callings like ward mission leader, high priest group leader, stake executive secretary, young men's presidency. There is nothing different about me other than the fact I am now a high priest.
If I could really aspire to a calling I wouldn't want to be a bishop or stake president or even general authority. I would want to be a stake patriarch so I could bless the lives of others. I would be a mission president again to show Russell Ballard that I can baptize thousands.
When I was young I actually assisted a Prophet of God in compiling his teachings book. As an elder I assisted in blessing Ezra Taft Benson when he had a cataract operation. He even prophesized and had me write in my journal that one day I would be a bishop and a stake president. On one occasion he told me I would be a mission president. I doubt as the years go by that I will be any of those things. I am now a short middle aged man with greying hair, high blood pressure and diabetes. I don't look like any of those things. About five years I had a catharsis I realized finally it didn't really matter where I served but how I served just like J. Reuben Clark said. Even if a prophet of God's prophesy doesn't come true I lived the best I could.
We can not all be leaders. In fact as the years roll by the chances are lessening. In a man's life he only has five to ten chances for any of those high powered positions. As I approach old age and possible death I am glad to just have held the priesthood.
When I was a member of the church for one year I desired to do something good so I went on a mission. I was called to the Rome, Italy mission. As a missionary I desired to baptize thousands so I worked hard and fortunately was assigned my first area with an Italian companion who was very dynamic and successful at baptizing. In our mission it was very competitive we had a weekly published statistical booklet so everyone could see who were "the best missionaries." Every week for three months Del Pazzo/Bruno were first in discussions, placed book of mormons, baptisms. Every time I heard from my mission president he would say you will one day be my assistant. Due to some problems prior to my mission and the fact my ward did not send me money for four months I was unexpectedly transferred to the Toronto Canada mission. Even as I left in the air port my president said it was very sad that I wouldn't be his assistant.
When I arrived in Toronto Canada to serve under M. Russell Ballard the first thing I heard was what did you do to be sent here. You must have done something bad. I was treated different as though I was a failure rather than a success. I was treated by every companion as a screw up rather than as a faithful dedicated missionary.
Every leadership meeting Russell Ballard would tell us "if you keep your noses clean" you will all be bishops, stake presidents, mission presidents, and a few of you even general authorities. Even though I had problems with companions speculating about what my problems were and why they had to put up with a screw up like me I knew inside that I was not anything like what they said. I always thought Ballard would one day realize that I was one of his best.
On my mission I never once attained any position other than junior companion. Elder Ballard had a hard rule if you couldn't pass of the discussion one hundred percent word perfect you would live and die a junior companion.
I could never resolve in my mind how in one place I was to be a leader and in the other a loser. Elder Ballard equated position with righteousness. His missionary assistant even married his daughter.
After my mission I lived my life for many years with the thought if I was of any value I would have callings. I tried to serve the best I could whereever I lived. Whenever I would go to a Ballard reunion he would have everyone go around the room and tell what they were doing in the Church. Several in a few years were bishops. After ten years a few became members of high councils and stake presidency. After twenty years a few became mission presidents.
When I was 37 I was still an elder in the elder's quorum. I callings amounted to things such as financial secretary, ward clerk, elder's quorum secretary, and my highest calling Sunday School President. My wife read me Abraham 1 because I was so depressed that most men from my field were high priests and I was living and going to die as an elder. I always remembered Bruce R. McConkie's talk which priesthood leaders would throw in my face if I questioned why I was still only an elder.
I went to the Lord and prayed that I could be a great high priest like Jesus Christ. In Hebrews it said that if I wanted to be a joint heir with Christ I needed to be a great high priest. I moved to Indiana to do my doctorate degree before I was 40. I bore my testimony about my love for temple work and Ezra Taft Benson. The new called High Priest group leader who was a former bishop was so touched that he called me to be his second assistant. Now whenever I move into a ward they naturally think of me for some leadership calling. I have held callings like ward mission leader, high priest group leader, stake executive secretary, young men's presidency. There is nothing different about me other than the fact I am now a high priest.
If I could really aspire to a calling I wouldn't want to be a bishop or stake president or even general authority. I would want to be a stake patriarch so I could bless the lives of others. I would be a mission president again to show Russell Ballard that I can baptize thousands.
When I was young I actually assisted a Prophet of God in compiling his teachings book. As an elder I assisted in blessing Ezra Taft Benson when he had a cataract operation. He even prophesized and had me write in my journal that one day I would be a bishop and a stake president. On one occasion he told me I would be a mission president. I doubt as the years go by that I will be any of those things. I am now a short middle aged man with greying hair, high blood pressure and diabetes. I don't look like any of those things. About five years I had a catharsis I realized finally it didn't really matter where I served but how I served just like J. Reuben Clark said. Even if a prophet of God's prophesy doesn't come true I lived the best I could.
We can not all be leaders. In fact as the years roll by the chances are lessening. In a man's life he only has five to ten chances for any of those high powered positions. As I approach old age and possible death I am glad to just have held the priesthood.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Missionary Meals with Families
I have been wondering lately about the whole practice of feeding missionaries. It is argued that it helps missionary work since families can give referrals. Many wards have it down to a fine art with a feeding calendar to sign up. I have not always found it a spiritual event to have the missionaries, particularly with seven daughters who are close to their age. Many times the missionaries have had to receive a subtle reminder from me or my wife for why they were there. I enjoyed their brief message and praying with them but many times the few referrals I gave them they screwed them up or didn't even follow up on them. A couple of times we had to push them to teach our friends. I would say out of the twenty or so times in the seven states I lived in that the missionaries did nothing more than eat food they didn't even enjoy. It didn't matter if I served steak, pizza, or Kentucky Fried Chicken. If I served meat sometimes I had a vegetarian or vice a versa. I had fewer than ten meal appointments my whole mission and I was involved in the baptism of more than forty people. I wonder what the perspective of others is about this practice is it a positive or negative thing or is it a mixture of both.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Missionary Recipes
Most missionaries have some dish that they consider their favorite. I had one that was quick to make and used ingredients that you can find in most countries including Italy, Canada and even Saudi Arabia. I call my dish Chinese Yum Yum: 1 can of bamboo shots, one can of water chestnuts, one onion, six eggs, two cups of rice, 1/2 cup of soy sauce. Cut up onion, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots. Put small amount of olive oil on bottom of pan. Add onion, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots. Cook until vegetables are dry on medium heat. In small bowl mix eggs with soy sauce and stir. After a few minutes add mixture scrambling the eggs in the pan. Put rice in pan and boil for ten minutes. I add three cups of water for two cups of rice. In less than twenty minutes you have a tasty dish. Keep rice separate and use in the morning with raisins and milk for breakfast. If there is any leftover mixture tastes better with a day in the fridge. Please share your favorite missionary recipe. I am looking for twenty or thirty so my daughters can expand their missionary meal selections. What is your favorite missionary dish and why?
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Couple Missions
I have been contemplating serving a mission when my youngest daughter turns eighteen in nine years. I moved to Saudi Arabia to save up since it is very expensive to serve a mission. Couple missionaries spend a lot more than the full-time elders as they must rent an apartment and keep up a car. I wonder if there are any older couples who would like to share with us how to prepare financially to serve. I have recently learned from Kevin Barney's posting for a missionary couple that there are several opportunities to serve in other capacities such as CES, Temple Missionaries, but I am more interested in a full-time regular couple proselyting mission. I always enjoyed the older couples who served in Canada Toronto when I was there in 1975-1977. Please share with us some suggestions.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Letters from Missionaries--Italy Rome
So wow this week was craziness. I have been thinking a lot about
missionary work and how I can just love love love love the people here. I mean
lets be honest it is not really that hard because they are amazing,
but there are certain experiences that test my lets just say Christ like
attributes. It is a totally different world serving with an Italian
because it is like being given a key into the understanding of a different
world. Every phrase, sarcasm, irony, humor, is explained to me and
expounded. It is amazing how much more difficult and yet easier it makes
the mission. Where as before once the door was closed and comments were
made inside when I am not actively listening I just don't hear, where as
my companion does. I never realized how many retarded things people
ay right after they close the door. I think my trainee hates to do
house. Don't worry I am doing everything I can to change her mind. But
something that my trainer taught me is that Satan really works hard on new missionaries. I initially didn't believe her and just thought that she was telling me that to make me feel better about myself. But oh just wait till you read my favorite story of what happened this week. I also learned from her that when people yell at you, if you are nice enough to them eventually they just shut up. So we were
talking to this lady because she looked lonely and she was just standing at
her door all alone like lots of vecchiette do. So we start talking and
she asks where we are from and of course I say America so she asks
what I am doing here and I say I am a missionary and I am here to share an
important message. Then I tell here that there is a prophet on the
earth today. She asks me what his name is and I tell her Gordon B. Hinckley.
She then says no ITS SATAN AND YOU ARE BOTH SATAN. Then I sweetly respond why would you say that to us. Then another lady who happened to be passing started yelling at us that we shouldn't try to fight with old ladies and that we should leave people to their own beliefs especially old people, I of course told her that we believed that our message was important for everyone but that if they were not interested we would be happy to leave and that I hoped that they would have a great day and that it was a pleasure to encounter them. At which point she finally stopped yelling. So the moral of this email is that the longer I am in the mission the more sure I am that Satan exists and as S. Mulas one of my favorite members here told us last week, it is not that Satan is very smart he has just been doing this for a long time and he is more Furbo (aka tricky) because we chose to be ridiculously stupid and not recognize the same tricks he has been using for pretty much ever. Every time someone tells me no, that this message doesn't serve anything, or that we shouldn't try to share our message, my testimony grows just a little. I hope I can help my poor trainee feel that... later that same day after two more fun incidents she stops me in the street and tells me.... to imagine the face of Gordon B. Hinckley waving his cane hello to members with his big ears and his goofy smile... then she exclaims HE DOESN'T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE SATAN, hello does he have horns, a tail, I don't think so. I know that there is a prophet on the earth today named GORDON B. HINCKLEY.
missionary work and how I can just love love love love the people here. I mean
lets be honest it is not really that hard because they are amazing,
but there are certain experiences that test my lets just say Christ like
attributes. It is a totally different world serving with an Italian
because it is like being given a key into the understanding of a different
world. Every phrase, sarcasm, irony, humor, is explained to me and
expounded. It is amazing how much more difficult and yet easier it makes
the mission. Where as before once the door was closed and comments were
made inside when I am not actively listening I just don't hear, where as
my companion does. I never realized how many retarded things people
ay right after they close the door. I think my trainee hates to do
house. Don't worry I am doing everything I can to change her mind. But
something that my trainer taught me is that Satan really works hard on new missionaries. I initially didn't believe her and just thought that she was telling me that to make me feel better about myself. But oh just wait till you read my favorite story of what happened this week. I also learned from her that when people yell at you, if you are nice enough to them eventually they just shut up. So we were
talking to this lady because she looked lonely and she was just standing at
her door all alone like lots of vecchiette do. So we start talking and
she asks where we are from and of course I say America so she asks
what I am doing here and I say I am a missionary and I am here to share an
important message. Then I tell here that there is a prophet on the
earth today. She asks me what his name is and I tell her Gordon B. Hinckley.
She then says no ITS SATAN AND YOU ARE BOTH SATAN. Then I sweetly respond why would you say that to us. Then another lady who happened to be passing started yelling at us that we shouldn't try to fight with old ladies and that we should leave people to their own beliefs especially old people, I of course told her that we believed that our message was important for everyone but that if they were not interested we would be happy to leave and that I hoped that they would have a great day and that it was a pleasure to encounter them. At which point she finally stopped yelling. So the moral of this email is that the longer I am in the mission the more sure I am that Satan exists and as S. Mulas one of my favorite members here told us last week, it is not that Satan is very smart he has just been doing this for a long time and he is more Furbo (aka tricky) because we chose to be ridiculously stupid and not recognize the same tricks he has been using for pretty much ever. Every time someone tells me no, that this message doesn't serve anything, or that we shouldn't try to share our message, my testimony grows just a little. I hope I can help my poor trainee feel that... later that same day after two more fun incidents she stops me in the street and tells me.... to imagine the face of Gordon B. Hinckley waving his cane hello to members with his big ears and his goofy smile... then she exclaims HE DOESN'T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE SATAN, hello does he have horns, a tail, I don't think so. I know that there is a prophet on the earth today named GORDON B. HINCKLEY.
Missionary Meme
Here's your chance to let everyone know about your missionary orientation.
Rules:
1. Answer the three missionary questions
2. Do the missionary activity and return and report!
3. Tag 5 of your friends.
Here are the questions:
1. Did you serve a mission, and where?
2. What was your best missionary experience?
3. Who is the most missionary-oriented leader you have ever had?
Missionary Activity:
Ask a random stranger if they have ever heard about the Mormon Church, and if they would like to know more (Golden Question)
I served a mission in Rome, Italy and later Canada, Toronto under M. Russell Ballard. My best missionary experience was playing ping pong with a family we later baptized. We played ping pong every time we visited them. They wouldn't listen to us unless we played the game first. They would listen to us for an hour for every hour we played with them! The most missionary-oriented leader I ever had was Russell Ballard. He emphasized having the Spirit and talking to everyone we met.
I talked to one of my colleagues from Great Britain on the bus about the Mormon Church. He was interested and kept asking me questions. Because we've been warned not to talk about the Church very much while we are here in Saudi Arabia, I answered him by saying, "If I could talk about religion in this country, I would say such-and-such."
Now it's your turn. I tag Bookslinger, BiV, Jim, Connor, fmh Lisa.
Rules:
1. Answer the three missionary questions
2. Do the missionary activity and return and report!
3. Tag 5 of your friends.
Here are the questions:
1. Did you serve a mission, and where?
2. What was your best missionary experience?
3. Who is the most missionary-oriented leader you have ever had?
Missionary Activity:
Ask a random stranger if they have ever heard about the Mormon Church, and if they would like to know more (Golden Question)
I served a mission in Rome, Italy and later Canada, Toronto under M. Russell Ballard. My best missionary experience was playing ping pong with a family we later baptized. We played ping pong every time we visited them. They wouldn't listen to us unless we played the game first. They would listen to us for an hour for every hour we played with them! The most missionary-oriented leader I ever had was Russell Ballard. He emphasized having the Spirit and talking to everyone we met.
I talked to one of my colleagues from Great Britain on the bus about the Mormon Church. He was interested and kept asking me questions. Because we've been warned not to talk about the Church very much while we are here in Saudi Arabia, I answered him by saying, "If I could talk about religion in this country, I would say such-and-such."
Now it's your turn. I tag Bookslinger, BiV, Jim, Connor, fmh Lisa.
Preach My Gospel Missionary Guide
When I went to my CTM Mission reunion last year in October, a couple of our former missionaries had been returning mission presidents. Elder Ballard had worked closely in the writing of the new missionary guide and had them pilot the program in their missions. They expressed great enthusiasm for the new guide and its content feeling it helped missionaries focus more on the Spirit in missionary service. I have the guide and feel all families should have one in order to use in Family Home Evenings with their children. I actually used the Gospel Essentials manual one year with my children for FHE. I won't allow one of my children to be baptized including at the age of eight without reading it. Fortunately I have gifted children who by eight could read the KJV or the Book of Mormon. Anyway how better to prepare a young man or young woman for a mission than discussing this spirtually powerful guide. I wonder if any return mission presidents or missionaries would like to share any experience or comments on Preach My Gospel.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Sleeping In
I received a comment on one of my posts about a mission president catching some missionaries sleeping. I know that most missionaries are very conscientious when it comes to keeping the mission rules. A few of them slip from time to time doing such things as reading a newspaper, watching a T.V. show, or playing video games. A companion and I actually baptized a whole family by playing ping pong with them every week. I felt a bit uncomfortable with it but I saw the benefits which I felt outweighed the negative. I actually think missionaries should be more creative in ways of bringing investigators into the church. I am not condoning wholesale mutiny or goofing off by breaking rules. I think you should obey the rules exactly. I learned on a mission it is easier to get forgiveness than permission but I was surprised at how easy it was to get permission if you would just ask. We had permission to play ping pong with this investigator family.
The biggest rule that plagues missionaries in my opinion is sleeping in. I could work twelve hours a day until nine p.m. without much effort but every morning for two years I struggled to get out of bed in the morning. My mission president was a devious sort he would send the District Leaders, Zone Leaders, and Assistants out on a quarterly basis to check up on us elders. They would come over on a pretense that they just wanted to have breakfast with us. That is how I caught on. When I saw orange juice or pancake mix in their hands I knew they had been sent. I actually had trouble getting up and usually slept in an extra ten or fifteen minutes for probably half my mission. Most of my more faithful companions used it as alone time. I wonder how many others suffered from mind over mattress. I wish I could say I always got up on time but that would be a lie. I would like to hear positive and other experiences about this pernicious practice.
The biggest rule that plagues missionaries in my opinion is sleeping in. I could work twelve hours a day until nine p.m. without much effort but every morning for two years I struggled to get out of bed in the morning. My mission president was a devious sort he would send the District Leaders, Zone Leaders, and Assistants out on a quarterly basis to check up on us elders. They would come over on a pretense that they just wanted to have breakfast with us. That is how I caught on. When I saw orange juice or pancake mix in their hands I knew they had been sent. I actually had trouble getting up and usually slept in an extra ten or fifteen minutes for probably half my mission. Most of my more faithful companions used it as alone time. I wonder how many others suffered from mind over mattress. I wish I could say I always got up on time but that would be a lie. I would like to hear positive and other experiences about this pernicious practice.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Mission President Discernment
My mission president used to claim he could look you in the eyes and discern what you had been doing. I never really remember him telling me anything I had been doing. One time one of my older companions who was close to thirty and had served in the Navy literally forced me to go to a drive-in movie the Swashbuckler. He actually grabbed me by the front of my shirt and held his fist in my face and told me I either went or he would pulverize me. I wasn't completely stupid and went because you are never suppose to leave your companion. A few weeks later being naive I turned myself in for sleeping late when asked about my worthiness to attend a special Hamilton Tiger Cats football game. My companion has no moral remorse about going to a movie where you could see some real body parts. The mission president did catch him and I have never told this story until now. An apocryphal tale was constantly told that our mission president one time called a movie theater and asked the cashier to call two elders in white shirts out of line to talk with him. Do any of you have stories of when your mission president discerned you doing something you didn't tell him about?
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Manifestations on Missions
When I was a missionary in Canada Toronto under Elder Ballard, we had some unusual happenings. Elder Clausen claimed he saw milk cartons floating around in his mission apartment. I thought he was joking but he insisted that they were renting an apartment from a spiritualist that had become possessed by an evil spirit. I always wondered if he and his companion were telling the truth. I do know our mission president had us use the priesthood and bless our missionary apartments. We would kneel down and stating our priesthood cast Satan out and bind him so he couldn't return. I wonder if any of you out there had any unusual happenings when you served a mission.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Letters from Missionaries--Italy Rome
We made a Halloween party in our English class last night, it was pretty fun, we did apple bobbing, pin the eye on the monster, face paint, masks, trick or treating, and made people mummies, the kids seemed to have a fun time. We also had a baptismal commitment last night. I still worry a lot sometimes about baptismal commitments, I always wonder if they really know what they are covenanting to when they decide to enter the waters of baptism. I have seen it go both ways here where inactivity is so prevalent. I just keep thinking that surely it can't hurt them to have been baptized if they had that desire to start this path. I guess I wonder a lot about what we can do to ruin our chances for salvation. In district meeting we talked about Alma 24:27 where is says that God works in many ways for the salvation of his people. If God knows everything that is going to happen anyways, then it seems that he might be able to weave a perfect personal plan for each of our lives, one that includes our mistakes but still leads us perfectly to Christ. We can of course violate it by turning our back and refusing to repent, but outside of that is there anything that we can truly do to destroy our salvation and calling or "being chosen"? We must in the eternal scheme become perfect, flawless and with out sin, but is there a synchonicity that our life lessons will circle back to us until we are able to sacrifice everything on the the alter, or tread our wine press alone? In our struggle for Godhood we must submit our complete will to the will of the father, but at the same time we must retain the power and individuality to then act a a God choosing Godlike things. The balances and intricacies of life are enough to make my head spin. Realizing this has caused me (although I still am engaged in fully understanding) more fully appreciate the song "Lead Kindly Light" Especially the part that says "Lead thou me on, I do not ask to see the distant scene, one step enough for me" I try to see and be led little by little, one revelation at a time. The truth is that the gospel is only as important as our desire and power to use it in our lives, Most things boil down to praying and recieving personal revelation for our little piece of Zion.
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