Building up the Kingdom of God on the Earth

This week in Come, Follow Me, we have been reading about going up from Babylon unto Zion, reading the parables in Matt 25, etc. As I prepared my thoughts to share in this talk, I felt to share something from my youth.

There was an occasion where I did not magnify two callings when I was about 17 or 18 years of age. I was asked to sort out cupboards on the stage of the Krugersdorp chapel, and to coach the volleyball team. My family lived some 17 km from the chapel and I did not spend a great deal of time in the chapel other than with my family. And there was not much going on in volleyball. I often wondered why the Bishop extended those callings to me - was he just trying to keep me out of mischief? As I recall, I was released from those callings when I left for the army or for my mission.

I grew up in a family where I remember us reading the scriptures together every day, praying every morning and evening and asking a blessing on the food at every meal. We had Family Home Evening every week and on the first Sunday of the month. Church was held on Sunday morning and evening, with MIA on Tuesday night, Relief Society and Primary on weekdays, and regular activities and service projects, building chapels, carting bricks and sand, gardening, cleaning windows, camping, hiking, and so much more.

I remember sitting in the Carletonville chapel at age about 9 years, listening to Elder Boyd K Packer, an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ who was there to dedicate the chapel, saying to civic leaders who were present that the Saints that they saw in that congregation would be 'part of the solution and not part of the problem'. That resonated with me and I wanted to have that mindset - well, I hope that I live up to that mindset!

We started this sacrament meeting with the hymn #249 'Called to Serve'. For some 36 years I was a public servant. I was a chef in the army, a laboratory technician in the Tygerberg Medical School, a gardener, scientist, botanist, record keeper, education officer, technologist, and had leadership roles in IT, health and safety, and other things, and I served in several other roles at South African National Biodiversity Institute. I served in other places outside of the public service sector. I served for two years as a missionary, plus a year with Sally as a BYU Pathway missionary. During all of my youth and adult life I served as class president or secretary, branch president, quorum president, district/branch/stake/ward clerk, teacher, ward mission leader, and in various roles as leader/administrator/teacher, bishop, stake patriarch, ministering.. In all of these roles I was serving and not being served. I loved hearing King Charles say during his coronation that he is there as King of Great Britain to serve and not to be served. 

I often had my mother remind me that saving money was better than earning more because money saved has already been taxed and tithed. I appreciate my experience with ecology, especially plants that are the source of life as primary producers in the web of life. We, and all life on Earth survive because of the presence of plants. I was happy to be able to build Zion by paying tithes and offerings and to build South Africa by paying taxes. The more that I earned, the more tithes and taxes I was able to contribute for building up the Kingdom of God on the Earth and for building our dear land South Africa.

I also think of several times that people were not sure that they wanted to be sealed to family members, or to be associated with certain people, because they had bad feelings towards them. I reassured them that if they and those family members or associates were welcomed into the Celestial Kingdom, then they would be Celestial beings! Would we not want to be with Celestial beings? I always encourage people to work on becoming a Celestial being and trying to inspire others to become Celestial beings.

We lived in the Krugersdorp branch and ward - it included people living and working at Rand Leases Gold Mine, Randfontein, Magaliesberg, Rustenburg, and many far flung places. I remember someone not having transport arranged for a Sunday morning. In those days of the 1960s we did not have the easy communication of cell phones or e-mails, and so he left home very early and walked about 31 km to the Kugersdorp Town Hall where we met, and he was early for priesthood meeting at 9 am. My family gave him a ride back home after Church that day. 

When Sally and I lived in Nelspruit with our two oldest children, we had members who arrived from Sabie about 60 km away, Sabie Sands Nature Reserve about 110 km away, and Barberton about 43 km away. I home taught branch members, travelling some 16 km, 60 km and 43 km each way each month. 

We had a brother in Panorama Ward who, when living in Baragwanath years before, had walked some 16 km to the Ramah chapel. Many people in the Eastern Cape and other rural areas walk great distances to attend church every Sunday. The Saviour and His disciples walked great distances from Nazareth to Jerusalem, Cana, Bethlehem, Galilee, and so forth. Would Jesus have arrived too late to prepare the sacrament or to be in good time before the meetings were due to start? Will we follow His example?

The Lord is my shepherd. I love Psalm 23. He cares for us. He asks us to care for the sheep of His fold. We agreed to it before we were born. We were reserved to be born in these latter days with so many wonderful blessings - and with every wonderful blessing comes challenges that refine us to make us better in building Zion in 2025. I pray that we will rise to our potential and be what the Lord wants us to be in building up the Kingdom of God on the Earth. May we specifically be builders and not wreckers.

If we had faith, repented, were baptised and received the gift of the holy ghost, then we have been cleansed. But if we do not continue on the covenant path, or if we sin because we're promised free forgiveness, we have left the covenant path - we are not keeping our covenant. We need to remember that Jesus Christ said that of those to whom much is given, much is required. (Luke 12:48) He also said that 'I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.' (Doctrine and Covenants 82:10) I have a special testimony that everyone will be blessed for all of the good that they did, but they cannot be given credit for anything that they neglected to do when they could have done it! Blessings withheld are not punishment, but are failure on our part.

The words of Jesus Christ in the 4 gospels tell us very clearly that being born of the water and of the spirit are not just once off, but continually, for as long as we live, especially serving regularly in the Temple on behalf of others, and each week as we partake of the sacrament. We have covenanted to not just be consuming, but producing, not just receiving, but giving, not just demanding, but supplying. We learned to not be burying, but doubling or magnifying or multiplying that which is given to us according to our several ability. (Matt 25, Alma 5)

We are to be shepherds, united, a fruitful bough. (John 15, 17. Matt 5 to 7, 3 Ne 12 to 15, Ez 34:2,31, Ps 23)

By entering into a covenant with our Father in Heaven, we are committing to being servants, sacrificing. We agreed to come to this mortal experience in order to serve the Lord and His children, facing opposition in all things, but learning to rise and shine despite the darkness around us, being like those tiny fireflies that are so delightfully visible in the dark.

No individual, family, community, nation, or Zion can be sustainable without everyone serving and working to the extent that he or she is able. Even if not in the chapel every Sunday, we can be as active as Elder Michael Cziesla's Oma who taught her family the gospel, the scriptures, the hymns, so that her son could recognise the name of her church when they moved to a new city and he saw one of the chapels. (Oct 2025 General Conference). Sometimes we have seasons in our lives where we are less capable than we might be at other times - we were all babies, some of us will become handicapped, less capable, dependent on the service of others. But we will be acknowledged for what we did when we could, not condemned for what we did not do when we were less capable.

I love to consider how a family member magnified his small talent.  He lived to nearly age 80. He worked as a Hospital Porter at Red Cross Memorial Children's Hospital and Somerset Hospital for about 50 years. He also served in Boy Scouts and St Johns Ambulance Service. All of the time he was as someone of about age 12 years, possibly due to his mother having had a fall that damaged his brain before he was born. He touched hearts and lives as he wheeled patients about. I am grateful to have had him as part of my life because I learned so much from him.

I have known people who are deaf, blind, have cerebral palsy, birth defects, defects resulting from accidents, wars, illnesses, cancers, dementia, sometimes consequences of doing good to others (like contracting HIV or COVID because of serving someone they did not know was infected). They have been productive regardless of their circumstances.

Are we leaven, salt, light, or combinations of two or all three? Leaven is like yeast, those tiny cells that are dispersed throughout the dough and as they respire they produce gas that makes the bread rise. Small and simple things do amazing things. Fireflies that we are seeing at the moment are 3 mm long and the source of the light is about 1 mm, and yet we see it very distinctly in the dark, even at a distance of several metres. Salt is also small and simple, and yet it adds flavour, cleansing, healing, melting ice. We can do amazing things, even when we are small and simple, or when we do small and simple good things.

Elder Godoy quoted President James E. Faust who stated, “It has been said that this church does not necessarily attract great people but more often makes ordinary people great.”

My one sister once told me one year after she had helped typing the financial report that our father paid more tithing than anyone in the ward. Our family had few luxuries. I had to mow the lawns, prune trees, grow vegetables, clean house, cook, grind wheat, grow vegetables. My mother made fudge, Turkish delight, etc to contribute to supporting my older brother on mission. I sewed on buttons, darned socks. We lived by the adage 'Fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.' Sally and I still do. I recently reversed a shirt collar so that the shirt can serve me well for a few more years.

I had sacrament bread in my tooth last week until after the sacrament meeting. I have not hurried to have the tooth fixed since at the moment we are using money particularly carefully and our medical aid has run out. I have often wondered what Adam's teeth were like? What about Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jesus, Peter, James John, Moses, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young? What were their beds like, their food, or their joints, or arthritis, or any kind of malady? Do I have to have everything perfect in my life when such forebears put up with less than perfect lives?

In Come, Follow Me this week we have been reading about preparing for the Second Coming. The parable of the talents, the ten virgins, and so much that the Saviour taught is preparing us for when we will report to the Father on what we did with the talents that He gave to us, with the callings that we magnified, with how fruitful we were, multiplying, replenishing, subduing, and having dominion over all that He entrusted to us.

In 1 Ne 7 we read about how Lehi sent his sons to fetch the family of Ishmael as the Lord wanted that they 'should take daughters to wife, that they might raise up seed unto the Lord in the land of promise.' The focus was not on companionship, attraction, or sexual gratification, but on human capital development. In so many instances in my lifetime I have had friends who would be very able to rear great future leaders, but who chose to have no children because they did not want to bring them up in this wicked world, or they did not want the inconvenience or burden or expense of raising children. They could have been part of the solution to the problem, but chose to bury their talent.  In many cases it is like NIMBY (Not in my back yard). 'The world needs leaders, but let others provide them and I'll sit and moan and criticise when they are less than perfect.'

Let me address the children and youth that one day might extend callings to leaders in decades to come. When you call someone to serve, you might use a list of questions that I used years ago about their family, their talents, their interests, their commitments, their career, testimony of the Gospel, time and availability. After such an exploratory interview you will feel if it is appropriate to extend the call because you know from the Spirit that it is right, and you can comfortably say that the Lord wants them to serve in that specific way. If you do not feel that the call is right for them at this time, thank them for the chat and they might have no idea why you had the chat. 

Remember that we are not running a kraal, but growing sheep and setting up a safe and functional kraal for the sheep to be wonderfully productive. I was astounded one day when a sister came up to me and told me that when I had called her to serve as the Primary president in Mowbray Branch several decades before that, she had felt that she was the last person that would ever serve as a Primary president. But, she said that the calling changed her life and it prepared her for serving in the smaller George branch while living in Plettenberg Bay. Let us not second-guess the Lord when He prompts us to call the least likely person to serve as Primary president, or teacher, or secretary. Let us remember the other hymn #270 that we sang 'I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord'.

There are basically two kinds of farmers. One kind grows animals quickly to let them become big and then they slaughter or sell them for meat. The other kind nurtures the sheep or cows or animals for long-term harvest of milk, wool, or other products. Similarly, some grow grain or annual crops that they sell every year, and others nurture trees that will bear fruits for many decades or centuries. The difference is between capital gains and cash flow. The Lord wants us to nurture His children so that they will produce long-term products as fruitful boughs on the true vine that is described in John 15.

My mother taught me many wonderful things. One thing that she often quoted was 'It takes the effort of every blade of grass to keep the meadow green.' She also often reminded us that 'The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence'. In my many months in the Namib Desert, I have come to appreciate those concepts. There is always wonderful grass in the desert - but most of the time we do not see it. It is dried out detritus blowing about, providing food for lizards, insects, and other animals that need food. The very small seeds are always being blown about in the wind and are widely dispersed. John Acocks said that it rains every year in the Karoo, but it takes seven years to get back to your farm. It might be more than 7 years before it rains on any specific part of the Namib Desert, but when it does rain, that seed quickly germinates and puts down its roots and grows beautiful green leaves and produces seed for the next few years. The seed is all about, even if we cannot see it because it is so tiny and mixed in with the grains of sand. But, it is there! On one occasion I was amazed to see the dunes that are always just big red sand dunes, but on this occasion they looked like amazing green pastures! When we got close and had a bird's-eye view, we saw a lot of sand between the blades of grass, but at that angle where I first saw it, all that I could see was the delightful green grass 'on the other side of the fence'.

I am so grateful for my experiences in nature. I mentioned how plants are primary producers and they provide food for you and for me, for cattle, sheep, and all consumers. Every living thing depends on those primary producers for oxygen and for nutrition, and they have great value for medicinal and other uses. The Lord wants you and me to be primary producers, not just consumers. He wants us to supply and not just demand. He wants us to 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.' Gen 1:28. Let us always be part of the solution and not part of the problem, to help those around us to rise to greatness, to let our light so shine before men, that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven. Matt 5:16. Let us add flavour, zest, cleansing and healing as salt.

Brothers and sisters, may we follow the Saviour's example. Let us rise to any callings that the Lord sends our way. He is preparing us for our divine potential. That potential is not just simple things in mortality, but preparing us to be worthy to be entrusted with all that the Father has, and that is not just every thing, but He wants to be able to trust us with all power and knowledge as well. We need to raise our vision to think Celestial and not just to be like teenagers who have Friday night as their long-term view. He wants to be able to say to each and every one of us 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.' 

May we follow the Saviour's example and be as He said ''And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.' (Mark 10:44), is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Talk by Les Powrie in Milnerton Ward, Bellville South Africa Stake, 23 November 2025

Signing petitions - do something, do more

Can you help me out by signing this petition?

https://c.org/6bkZYgM8cG

This is a request that I received this morning.

There is a frequent threat to safety on the N2 in Cape Town,
especially between the Airport and Somerset West

Of course, far more important than petitions like this is to stress the importance of teaching correct principles so that all people in our community and country will govern themselves. 

Petitions like this are like speed bumps. They compel everyone to obey at that spot, that time, including the law-abiding citizens who would be driving responsibly there and everywhere anyway. They compel emergency vehicles to arrive later for emergency response. Every bus, city, police or military vehicle is impacted. But that speed bump does not teach the disobedient to be the opposite of disobedient. 

Our Constitution stresses Equal Responsibility and Equal Rights. I don't think that Equal Responsibility is ever stressed. Is it ever taught? Do our leaders ever remind children, youth, and adults that they are responsible for providing for the equal rights of every citizen? We all need to respect every citizen, extending dignity,  equality, freedom, and socio-economic rights (like health, water, education) to President and street-sweeper, doctor and nurse, adult and child, male and female, to vote responsibly, and to pay taxes to majestic it possible for the leaders to provide all that is needed for those Equal Rights. 

You and I are responsible for making our land the most beautiful and wonderful place that we expect it to be.

Les Powrie, 9 Dec 2025.

Reflections on as deep a Temple and Garden of Eden experience as possible

It was special to be at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Cape Town South Africa Temple on Saturday 25 October 2025. The land was dedicated from the Temple and for each one of us who will spend time on it.

Sally and me turning the soil

My father particularly loved this picture of Jesus Christ.

I love to reflect on some significant things regarding this special site. 

We could see Lion's Head where the church work started in South Africa, and maybe in Africa as a whole in 1853. The journal of Elder William Holmes Walker

'On May 23rd we all went on the top of a mountain called The Lions Head, the guide for all approaching ships, to pray and council.
'We organized a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, composed of 3 members. Returning in the evening, we continued making every possible effort to get an
opening, in every direction.'

This site of the Temple would have been close to where these three missionaries walked very often. They may well have walked on the very spot where the Temple will stand.

I love Heavenly Father's sense of humour - across the Liesbeeck River from the Temple Grounds is Devil's Peak. But Pam Cerff pointed out that there are also views of Groote Schuur Hospital, a place of healing, and University of Cape Town, a place of learning. Then someone else pointed out that on the other side of Table Mountain are the Twelve Apostles. 

My father often said (and I love to repeat this ) that Kirstenbosch is part of the Garden of Eden that has remained intact, also in view beyond UCT. DNA studies show that human DNA traces back to southern Africa, and fossils show that stone age people were in the Dell at Kirstenbosch. We don't know if the Garden of Eden was one hectare or a million hectares, or what... Nice to dream about Adam and Eve maybe treading on the soil where the Cape Town South Africa Temple will stand . I love that when we leave Kirstenbosch through Gate 1 we go out from the east side into the lone and dreary world.

Ja well, no fine, I love Cape Town and all that we enjoy here. We look forward to having the Temple here! My first ancestor came here in 1806 when Britain took the Cape, and then formally moved here in 1820. My parents were married here in 1943. I moved here from the West Rand in 1981. And our original ancestors come from 'here', the Cradle of Humankind. What better place to live on Earth? And now we look forward to having a Temple here.

Miracles and blessings performed through the priesthood now

I was asked by someone yesterday to come and give him a priesthood blessing. He had injured himself and had an infected wound. It was a privilege, as always, to be the agent of the Lord, doing His will, doing for His disciples or children what He would do if He were present. That sounds daunting, but I am trying to improve in it. I think that I still have a long – a very long – way to go.

Just as Jesus ordained His apostles, seventies and other people to represent Him, He continues to guide the ordination of apostles, seventies, high priests, elders, bishops, priests, teachers, deacons, and leaders to represent Him today. Mark 3:14; Luke 6:12–16; John 15:16

I felt impressed to say things that I do not believe I have ever said in a blessing before. I promised that the natural healing processes would be done. I mentioned that it is a miracle that our bodies have so many wonderful natural processes provided. But, there are some things that need additional interventions such as surgery, antibiotics, prostheses, splints, and the like to heal or to supplement these natural healing processes.

Things that the Saviour might have healed by simply applying clay to the eyes, or casting out an evil spirit, might be resolved now by spectacles, cataract removal, medication, or things that were not available in 20 AD, so He used the priesthood. Now, in 2025 AD, He continues to inspire so many people to develop so many devices and interventions and procedures that give new hearts, kidneys, eyes, limbs, reduces the impacts of disorders, prevents illnesses, and so much more.

I also mentioned blessings promised through obedience and faithfulness.

We are promised, according to the oath and covenant of the priesthood in Doctrine and Covenants 84, ‘For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies.’ I realised one day as I pondered this, that it applies equally to sisters, children or youth, or anyone who does not hold a priesthood office. They can ‘obtain – or receive, or welcome – the priesthood when any elder in Israel or deacon or any holder of a priesthood office ministers to them.

I realised after my father passed away that he had been sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of his body such that we were not aware of his emphysema until his mission was fulfilled and then the Spirit stepped back and stopped sanctifying his body and he died very quickly. Similarly, my dear wife was able to be a healing influence for many people for more than two decades, even saving lives, and that sanctifying influence was apparently withdrawn, and suddenly she was no longer able to practice as a family doctor because of a disorder that she realises she had as a teenager, but it had not been diagnosed.

We can do, and need to do, what we can to look after our bodies – the temples of our spirits – and then the Lord will pour out blessings that we will not have room to receive them. He will rebuke the devourer for our sakes and bless the harvest of our fields, enlighten our minds, and bless our lives by providing our daily bread as manna in our unique wildernesses.

We need to magnify our callings, multiply our talents, sow our seeds. We can receive strength by being branches firmly attached to the true vine and being the fruitful branches mentioned in John 15 and our fruit will add glory to the True Vine. We can be as light to the nations, leaven in our loaf of family or community or congregation, and salt in our area of influence.

 

Some thoughts about moving from dependent to interdependent

I responded to a message from a friend that I have not seen for a few years, but with whom I have continued to share some messages that I hoped would be uplifting to him. I hope that this adaptation of my message may be meaningful to someone who reads this.

=============================

Good morning to you 😉

Haauw! This is turning out to be a long message in response to your long message 🙂 But hang in there…

It is really good to hear from you. I often see your videos on WhatsApp Status or Facebook and I remember well your involvement in [our congregation], and then COVID hit, and [your girlfriend] moved. I really missed seeing you. I have wanted to share the light of Christ with you and I am happy if some of that light has helped you to have a glimmer in the darkness that you have been experiencing. 

My friend is a very talented stuntman 

and I enjoy seeing him sharing his skills

You may have heard me share some insights that I have received over many years. I share several of those insights with friends like you in the hopes that the seeds that I sow will help someone to have a good harvest. I do not expect replies, but it is a delight when I do receive the occasional reply like this one from you 🙂 

I am now one of the Free Guided Walks guides at Kirstenbosch where I worked as an ecologist in the Kirstenbosch Research Centre up to the time that they 'put me out to pasture' to make place for the younger generation. I have continued to share some of my experience and skills with others since retiring, including the walks at Kirstenbosch - 'my garden', leading the Battle of Blaauwberg walks where I lead people on the battle grounds where the battle of 1806 led to British occupation to prevent Napoleon from occupying the Cape, and then the Cape becoming the Cape Colony in 1814, then the Union of South Africa in 1910, the Republic of South Africa in 1963, the democratic nation that we became in 1994, where sadly men with light skins like yours and mine have been treated as though we are not wanted amongst the 'Diverse People Uniting'... But we continue to sow seeds in the hopes that some will germinate, and some of those will germinate in good soil rather than by the wayside or be eaten by birds, and some of those roots will penetrate deeply enough to survive the next dry season, and grow tall enough to not be killed by fire, and become a tall tree that will produce thousands of seeds every year, most of which will be food or nutrition for tens or millions of other living organisms, and only a very small number will become trees themselves…

I will be starting the firefly walks in early November, the walks that stopped a few years ago. I love to share how we cannot see an ant walking on a tree twenty or so metres away, but if we walk to the tree we are almost certain to see one or many ants walking on that tree! Or a butterfly flying on the slopes of Table Mountain kilometres away, but if we walk to the mountain we will see tens or thousands of butterflies. But - that firefly, only about 3mm long, with the light being produced in just the last one or two segments of the abdomen - less than 1mm - will be visible in the dark at 20 metres. Or, walkers on the mountain with their headlamps that are smaller than a butterfly will be visible from kilometres away. In many ways you have been sharing your light with tens or millions of people on social media - and a very small percentage of people who were delighted by your antics will Like, and a very small number of those will Comment… But you delighted many more than that small minority 🙂 

This tiny insect is very visible in the dark!

A view of some fireflies between about 1 and 20 metres from the camera.

I hope that I am successful in sharing some light, or being that tiny cell called yeast in that tiny part of the bread dough where I respire and multiply to form more tiny cells, that will respire and multiply, and their respiring will produce the carbon dioxide gas that will cause the bread dough to rise and become that loaf that you enjoy with the beans.

My daughter and her family are currently living in a tent at a nearby Holiday Resort while they get themselves on their feet! We support them to some extent, but they need to become self-reliant and they are working on that. I shared something with their one daughter this morning while taking her to school that Jesus Christ was, at one stage, needing Mary and Joseph to change His nappies, and to feed Him, and teach Him to walk, to be a carpenter, to play with other children, and so forth. But He did not remain dependent - He became independent, and then He set a wonderful example of becoming interdependent - and I try to follow that example. I know that I still have a long way to go, but I do try. Some people were offended by what He said and did, calling Him a devil, a winebibber, and other demeaning things, but He still atoned for their sins. Someone needed to crucify Him to fulfil His mission - but I hope that I did not put up my hand to volunteer to do it, but someone had to! And He said 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do' and He atoned for their sins.

Can I share your message with the current stake president? You can approach the bishop in the area where you live, but it sounds like you might not be steadily in one ward area! But let the Lord call you to serve in His Kingdom, and receive assistance from the Fast Offering, and share your talents in turn, building children, youth, adults in multiplying their talents, magnifying their callings, and building Zion.  

A thought crosses my mind that I shared with my son-in-law that I mentioned is trying to get his family back on their feet. I also shared a similar thought with a baker who lost his job because of what sounds like an unkind action by his manager towards him and some other employees… You could go to a school like Tafelberg School that caters to students with a variety of learning difficulties. You can volunteer to teach stunts, activities that will build physical, mental and emotional strength for one or many students that might find that to be just the right thing for their future career. Then, if you demonstrate your value, they might allow you to contribute in meaningful ways and pay you for your time and contribution. 

A career like yours is not guaranteed to be wonderfully remunerating, but if it contributes to society, it is rewarding and fulfilling to you and maybe you can help others to get that reward and fulfilment. Sally's father was a professional actor and always advised people to choose very wisely before going on the stage! He would use Noel Coward's song 'Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington'. He survived reasonably by contributing to the stage, radio, TV, film, and One Man Shows in about the 1970s, performing in libraries in small and large towns all around South Africa (like Kakamas, Keimoes, and Kuruman) and in large cities such as in Artscape in Cape Town. Her mother was a musician who had more predictable and permanent employment playing the violin in the National Philharmonic Orchestra, but not every excellent violinist can be a lead violinist on NPO! And every lead violinist will not be lead violinist forever!

Don't lose hope! Let the Spirit guide! Most importantly, I encourage you to be part of building Zion and you will succeed in Zion. That yeast cell will not survive outside the dough that provides it with food that enables it to respire and divide and multiply and cause the dough to rise! 

I have known your adoptive family since I was a child, mourned with them when their daughter died, rejoiced with them when members of the family did well in so many careers, occupations, companies, organisations, sharing talents, skills and abilities to build their families, communities, and our nation - and Zion. I have not been aware of any stories about you, so you can be comforted knowing that the entire world does not know. Just continue to live worthily of the Lord's approval, remembering that He beholdeth not the countenance, but He looketh upon the heart.

You have heard me share my testimony - the Lord has told me, personally, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is His true and living church. I know that if you follow the same recipe that I followed, you will enjoy the same pudding that I enjoy every day. That does not mean that I never have hungry times, or indigestion, or poor health, or some other opposition - but we are told that there must needs be opposition in all things. I smile and reflect on how any doctor that I consult, or lawyer, or accountant, or stunt artist, got there by facing, coping with, hard work and labour, agonising over exams, practicals, oral exams, social pressures, and all sorts of difficulties that were part of getting their accreditation to serve me in the way that I engage them to serve me.

Why don't you join me at Kirstenbosch, or on the Battle of Blaauwberg walk to enjoy being with your brother, enjoy Heavenly Father's delightful Creation, and sommer to renew our brotherhood? We can chat and I'll give you dates when I will be there. I see so much possibility of exciting ways that you can use your particular talents, gifts or strengths to earn at least enough to be able to be fruitful, to multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have [some] dominion over it and be able to deliver it up with surplus to the Lord when He returns. You can have Him say 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things.'

Sorry for this very long reply to your long message 😉

I look forward to your response.

Your brother in the Gospel.

Les

Learn from others while overcoming our own faults

I just lost a note that I had compiled about the paragraph in Come, Follow Me because I made a mistake. Ever happen to you?

When people judge me, I hope that they will give as much attention to
the argument for the defence as they do to the argument for the prosecution!

Yesterday I met a young man who has moved to the Cape. He fixes or builds dams and there are more dams here than anywhere else in South Africa, so here he is. He is also involved in promoting aquaculture and hydroponics. I salute all those who try to use the talents that the Lord has given them to try and improve health and well-being. I believe that they will be blessed for every effort to 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.' (Gen 1:28) I sincerely believe that they - and I - will be given credit for the good that they or I do, and for the intent of our hearts when there is a question about any injuries or damages that arise through our imperfections.

I am saddened by those who find fault and contend with those who sincerely try to bless the lives of others because of very real injuries or challenges that a small proportion of the population may experience as a result of the good efforts of those who are trying to make a positive difference.

Those who offer alternative medicine or food often accuse those in normal agriculture or medicine of exploiting everyone, but they themselves charge high prices for their food or alternatives. Some even say that the prophet of God is wrong to use these products anywhere in the world.

I always encourage others to honestly consider that these people almost certainly do not intend to kill or maim or exploit, but honestly hope to improve the health and well-being of as many as they can, and the church leaders use those things all around the world to help Heavenly Father to improve the health and well-being of millions in all nations, kindreds, tongues and peoples. I wonder if the people challenging the farmers, manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and so forth by taking them to court, leading to very large penalties, that push up the prices of their research and development that causes their prices to be higher they would otherwise be.

Yes. Some will be negatively impacted. But I believe that Heavenly Father will bless and help those with good intent as they seek to improve. And He can bless and heal and reverse the negative impacts for those in the small minority who might be negatively impacted. Our support and efforts to help them to improve their efforts will be more in harmony with seeking to be one than any effort to destroy those who the Lord is helping to feed and heal the millions that are benefitted by their efforts.

We need to look inwards and try to do better in our own stewardships instead of looking for faults in others. We also need to help their efforts by bringing to their attention the concerns, but as constructive criticism and not in contention. We will be judged for our efforts and not the efforts of others.

I strongly encourage that we each 'Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:' (Matt 5:44-45)

Every doctor, lawyer, engineer, farmer, scientist, or any human will make mistakes in their best efforts. I love the way that Thomas Edison described his journey "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Let us look for and try to improve our own faults, learn from the imperfections of others, and lovingly help others to do better rather than always looking for their faults.

Brain or no brain... and agency, acting, or just sommer being acted upon

 

I was clearing aliens at Bothasig Fynbos Nature Reserve and found this black bag
with several items of litter lying around it.

I am sorry that I did not take a photo of what I saw at the time, but it clearly had been picked up outside the reserve, taken into the reserve, where things were then taken out of the bag and left lying around. There were some baby nappies (diapers), some popcorn, and other litter that had been in the bag, but now they were simply under the power of the the Cape Doctor - the wind.

Some person with a brain did this. 

Someone outside the reserve had placed his litter into this black bag. The person who picked up the bag then surrendered their control over the litter that they had taken out of the bag to the wind.

The wind has no brain. 

This human with a brain allowed the wind that has no brain to blow the litter wherever it listed to blow. This litter was then driven by the wind and tossed. The person evidently ate some of the things that had been in the bag, as unhygienic as that might have been since they had been together with the nappies that were in the bag!

I was in the reserve with three other volunteers. We were removing Port Jacksons (PJ), the common name for the species Acacia saligna. They are growing in the reserve and are highly invasive, although biological control is helping to reduce its invasive impact. We were removing seedlings of PJs that had been brought from Australia to the Cape in the mid 1800s for the purpose of stabilising sand dunes and for firewood. It has been somewhat useful for that, but has become an aggressive alien invasive species. 

A gall forming rust fungus (Uromycladium tepperianum) has been introduced as a biological control. This is a natural pest from the natural habitat of A. saligna that greatly reduces the densities of populations. This fungus has a negative impact on the PJWs, but it does not eliminate it. A biological control is very helpful in managing invasive species. It spreads naturally, attacks the target species, and has been very carefully tested to ensure that it will not impact negatively on any indigenous species. It then spreads and does its work, even when you and I are asleep. It does not kill the target species, but limits it and reduces its invasive potential.

I was saddened to see the number of items of litter, as well as seedlings of the PJWs. People who are employed by the City of Cape Town to maintain the reserve have not removed the litter or seedlings, even those seedlings and litter that are right next to indigenous plants that they have planted for restoration purposes, and that they water and care for. These employees have not removed these other problems right within reach. Volunteers do alien hacking with no financial reward - but we do get to enjoy nature, our wonderful natural environment, and we certainly get a lot of good exercise!

The failure of the employees to clear the litter and invasives makes me think of something that my mother often repeated to me - 'The world needs street sweepers. But, more importantly, the world needs excellent street sweepers.' 

I have reflected at length on this and other gems that she shared. One day I realised something of importance about streetsweepers. I find it very saddening that many people deliberately litter in order to make sure that there is work for the street sweepers to do. 

People with brains litter! 

But - what if everyone in our dear land were to be responsible and never litter? The Spirit reassured me that there would always be work for street sweepers because the trees would continue to drop their leaves. 

We, as human beings, have brains. We have the charge to 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth' (Genesis 1:28). Well, this black bag or litter may not be a 'living thing', but we are charged to replenish and subdue and have dominion over God's creation.

Well - let me consider two questions that I pondered as I cleared the aliens. Let me pose a question to every reader. 

Do you consider Evolution, natural selection, survival of the fittest, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life to be what led to the existence of all that we have in our amazing and beautiful and diverse and successful natural heritage that surrounds us? Then - when you die, what legacy do you want to leave? Do you want your friends and loved ones, when they formulate your epitaph or obituary, to commend you for contributing well to being part of the solution to the problems of society, or do you hope that they will express retribution for being part of the problems in society? You have a brain. Now is the time to lay the foundation for your obituary or epitaph.

Or - do you consider the God of Abraham, Heavenly Father, or some other 'force or power or influence' to be our God and the Creator of all that is wonderful in our natural heritage that surrounds us? If so, then the time will come that He will ask me - and you - what we did with the wonderful natural resources that He gave to us. 

He will not ask me what you did, but He will ask me what I did. 

I want to be able to say that I tried to be fruitful, to multiply what He has given to me and within the circle of my influence, that I tried to replenish, to subdued it, and tried to have righteous dominion over it. I hope that He will say 'Well, done, thou good and faithful servant'. I am far from perfect, but I do try to use my time, talents and resources to build up my family, community, and those with whom I come into contact.

I think back to what I heard as a little boy when Boyd K Packer spoke to civic leaders in Carletonville that we, as disciples of Jesus Christ, would be 'part of the solution and not part of the problem'. I am far from perfect, but I do hope that when I die my epitaph will mention more solutions than problems as my legacy. I hope that I may have an epitaph somewhat like that of Sir Christopher Wren (1632 - 1723) 'Reader, if you seek his memorial - look around you.' A similar epitaph '‘If ye seek his monument, look around you’ is a fitting one for the man whose vision and energy led to the establishment of Kirstenbosch' appears on the gravestone of HHW Pearson, the first director of Kirstenbosch. He died in the third year after the garden was established and beside a magnificent Atlas cedar overlooking the Cycad Amphitheatre and the Dell.