A promise of an eternal marriage for LGBTQ+ individuals - well, for anyone

I was thinking as I prayed this morning about what I wrote to someone who had shared his concerns about eternal marriage since he feels attraction for men rather than for any girl that he has dated with a real desire to marry according to God's plan. He desired to marry as God expected him to do, but his dates simply did not fill him with the joy that he was hoping to receive. I referred him to my blog post written some 8 years ago in 2014! But this morning I felt as I prayed that I should add some more thoughts.

The newlyweds on the steps of the Salt Lake Temple in 1981

I love the journey of discovery depicted in Fiddler on the Roof when Tevye and Golda discover that they love each other after years of being in an arranged marriage. I think that there is a really important lesson in this. It suggests to my mind that attraction is not as important in marriage as is commitment, friendship, companionship, love.

I love my neighbour as myself - male and female. What I do know is that I am devoted to my wife of more than 40 years. I chose her after dating many young ladies, without being very affectionate with any one of them, not holding hands, kissing or embracing, but developing and feeling friendship. After many dates I identified some characteristics that appealed to me and some that I rather hoped that my wife would not have! 

I slowly came to the realisation that one friend had many characteristics that made me feel really comfortable when I was with her, and that I desired to be in her company whenever she came from medical school in Cape Town where her father lived to visit her mother who lived close to Johannesburg. I lived near Johannesburg and had met her there before she went to study nearly 1500 km (about 900 miles) away. It took me about 5 years, and a cancelled engagement before I realised that my friendship with her was actually something that I would describe as love and that I would really like to have her by my side for eternity. 

Whenever I could, I would spend time with Sally. I recall walking in the hills near her home in Krugersdorp and telling her about the cabbage tree Cussonia panniculata, and her thinking there were painted rocks, but that it was actually lichen on the rocks. She went with me on the back of my scooter to play badminton with me, and I remember her holding on to me as we went around corners - I enjoyed that 😉. She went with me to have a fondue dinner with friends before we went to participate in a Spring Sing or something in a ward activity. I drove her to her home before she left to return to Cape Town and I would give her a priesthood blessing for the start of a new academic year. We went ice skating - and we held hands on the ice because neither of us is particularly stable on the ice 😉. During one drive to take her home my old car's radiator hose burst and I had to tape it up, then drive with lots of spray on the windscreen and very frequent stops to refill the radiator. I was once delighted to have her approach me during the interval of a dramatic presentation, I think it was Saturday's Warrior, and it was unexpected and such a joy to see her there.

I would write to Sally twice in the first year and that increased to several times each year and she would write back immediately and make sure that it got in the mail the next morning. She would eagerly look in the mailbox every day hoping for a letter from me. Some of my letters were saddening to her as I talked of going out with other girls, and one particularly hurtful when I became engaged to someone else, the only one to which she did not reply immediately. She so wished for very regular letters that would delight her, but I did not write as often as she hoped and not always as delightful a message as she hoped.

I once asked Sally if she could spare time at the weekend to take a friend around the Cape and when she said that she could, that was put in place. She recalls wondering - very hopefully - when my brother fetched her, if that friend might just be me - and it was 😉. We sat in her old Morris 1100 on Tafelberg Road, looking out over Cape Town in the evening, and the wind whipped the wiper blade off the windscreen and disturbed our special time enjoying each other's company. We dozed off on the rocks of Noordhoek beach and got a bit more sun that we might have intended. I stayed at her home one of the nights and got to meet her father. We had a very brief embrace at the airport before I left to return home and just a few weeks later I asked her father if I could marry her and it was good that I was not a total stranger to him! And so, we prepared so very slowly for the wonderful 40 years that we have been married and eternity that we look ahead to devoted to each other. Our marriage was based more on friendship than on courtship, and I highly recommend that to others. but Sally wishes that there had been a little more affection during our long courtship... 

So, I left Johannesburg and moved to the Fairest Cape to marry my Fairest Bride in 1981.

I eventually developed the courage and determination to ask her to go with me to the Temple in Salt Lake City. She reckons that I did not propose to her, or ask her to marry me, but that I simply asked her to go travelling to the Temple with me! I guess I blew it, but she was gracious enough to agree to go with me once I assured her that I wanted her to marry me. She is my best friend, my precious eternal pal and partner. 

Heavenly Father has helped Sally and me to have a wonderful marriage despite the abundant challenges of mortality. I know that He will help each and any one of you to have a wonderful marriage according to His plans for you. All we need is a broken heart and a contrite spirit to accept His will for us.

This past week we have read in Come, Follow Me about Abraham and Sarah who were married for decades and desired children, but none came. Then in their nineties they were promised a son with posterity as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sands on the seashore - in other words, one ought not consider trying to number them! Then, in a devastating interview, God challenged Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice in a burnt offering - and possibly Sarah was also involved - and Abraham evidently did not question, argue, debate, or search for reasons to not do such a difficult thing despite the logic that would scream to not do it! This week we are pondering how Abraham arranged a marriage for his son Isaac, so it would not surprise me if Abraham's marriage to Sarai had been an arranged marriage. I was impressed this morning by the talk referenced in Come, Follow Me, given in 2015 by Elder Christofferson. What struck me the most is how the thoughts that I share in this blog are in harmony with what he taught. For example, he quotes “Marriage is more than your love for each other."

To anyone reading these thoughts of mine, whether in a loving and happy marriage, feeling same gender attraction, feeling confused about marriage, being wary of marriage, or whatever, I unreservedly offer a promise of a wonderful heavenly marriage if one looks beyond attraction and tries to keep an eternal perspective on marriage as being more than just a temporal union of two people who love each other, as lovely as that is in and of itself. The Saviour pleaded in John 17 for us to be one, and I suggest that maybe sometimes that includes being one flesh, but always means seeking to have a Zion spirit in our homes. Rather than simply thinking of being attracted to one another, we can focus on home being a bit of heaven on Earth, Zion-like, despite the shortcomings, weaknesses and failings of self and partner.

I am still far from competent in this regard, but I propose that it is important to never let any attraction - to man or woman, sport, politics, entertainment, work, or anything - undermine that focus on home being a bit of heaven on earth. Strive for celestial marriage rather than simply marriage. As you do this, you will find that the most delightful thing that you can ever imagine is to consider being one with each other for eternity because you are one with each other in time. In essence, as Dallin H Oaks said, "Concentrate on [getting to the Celestial Kingdom]. If you get there, all of it will be more wonderful than you can imagine."

I suggest that if I were presently at that stage of life where I was looking for an eternal marriage partner, it would be best for me to offer to God a broken heart and contrite spirit, asking Him what marriage He wants for me rather than insisting that I know what marriage I need and want! Like Abraham might have had all sorts of arguments against the instruction to offer his son as a sacrifice after Abraham had been offered as a sacrifice by his own father, and after Abraham had been promised that Isaac would be the father of innumerable posterity, and that God must therefore wake up and realise the folly of the command that He was giving! I need to not argue, debate, or look for reasons to not follow God's will - those will be so easy to find, especially with Google in 2022! It might even have been a relief to have lived in a culture where one's parents arranged one's marriage! I need to simply have a broken heart and  a contrite spirit and follow exactly what the Spirit guides me to do and then walk, as it were, into the water carrying the ark of the covenant and anticipating that the waters will part as they did for the priests in Joshua 3:14 - 17. Wonderful blessings flow as we step forward in faith with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

I felt impressed add more thoughts that you might be interested in reading. See 

A 'Homeless debate' on social media - US or THEM - which am I?

Some thoughts regarding love and same gender attraction

Thy will be done on Earth - as it is in heaven

Every time that we had assembly at school, I think it was once each week, we would all recite together -

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

I have often reflected on that, and I frequently review the words of the prayer that Jesus of Nazareth taught to His disciples, saying to them 'After this manner therefore pray ye:'

I frequently go through that prayer, phrase by phrase, as I reflect on its relevance and meaning in my life, and I sometimes use that as the skeleton for my prayer, hallowing His name by reflecting on all of the things for which I am thankful. I then ask for those things that I need, like daily bread, forgiveness, compassion, deliverance from evil, harm, danger, ill health, and unpleasant things that are so prevalent about me. I then acknowledge His kingdom, power and glory, and His invitation for me to be part of that work, kingdom, power and glory. I reflect on the Saviour addressing His father, and reminding us that His Father is our Father, making us of the household of God, heirs, joint heirs with Christ, inviting us to be one with Him as He is one with His Father.

Regarding that phrase 'Thy will be done on Earth as it is is Heaven', I often ask that I can be part of Him bringing about His will, being and doing things in harmony with His will. The last thing that I want is to be acting in opposition to His will. I may not be the ideal instrument in the hands of the creator, the artist, the master, but I hope that I can help Him to produce some things of worth and beauty.

'Thy will be done on Earth' - Is there any part of Earth that is exempted? Any country, continent or island? Is there any group of people exempted? Is there any single person that is exempted? I think that this is the most all-inclusive concept.

I marvel at the thought of how absolutely wonderful this world would be if every single person simply lived the Ten Commandments written by the Lord on stone and given to Moses. How much more glorious would the world be if everyone followed the higher law shared in the Sermon on the Mount in the 5th, 6th and 7th chapters of Matthew in the New Testament, during which He gave this Lord's Prayer as we now call it?

I hope that each and every one of us will pray with real intent that the will of God will be done on Earth as it is in heaven, and then go forth and live according to His will so that His will can be done, at least in our little parts of Earth, as it is in Heaven.

I was interested to read in my journal from 1979

I was interested to read in my journal from 18 November 1979 - and I found the following.

'Just recently Gerald Wiffen challenged us in his Sunday School class to pray to find out if Joseph Smith was a prophet. Well, on several occasions I have done this in the last few years, but never feel a burning in my bosom. This time, though, last week, on Tuesday or Wednesday, I began the day on my knees praying aloud and pleading for a witness.

'What concerns me is that I do not want to be looking for a sign, and am not sure if this is not what I am indeed seeking. Well, after over an hour of thus pleading and feeling empty, for I have heard it said that once, having received a witness about something, we receive no more witness - we must live on that experience. So, I begged for a re-witness, re-confirmation, but felt nothing.

'After this long time of pleading, I said that if I received no answer, did I quit living the Gospel? and I simply could not do this. I explained that I know of no better way, this gospel makes sense to me, and I just cannot deny that I believe it to be true. I explained this, and then I began to feel the warmth in me. Then the re-assurance came. So, I have committed to live the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and if this is wrong, which I cannot conceive it to be, I must ask for God to intercede in my life as He did for Saul of Tarsus and for Alma the Younger, because to the best of my ability, and with my most noble and righteous intent, I will work to build this, what I believe to be the kingdom of God on Earth. I have committed to promote this work.

'If the gospel is not true, I can only accept it to mean that, either God does not live, or else He does not have a church on the Earth. I cannot accept either of these options, because I believe that I have had a spiritual witness, and while I do not have a perfect knowledge, but only a faith, I can only trust that this faith is well founded.'

I had visited Gerald and Marie a few times in Panorama Ward in Cape Town. I had not remembered Gerald teaching me, but there you are! I hope that his testimony burns at least as strongly as mine did back in 1979 when I wrote thi, and evidently his testimony burned strongly then.

Sumerian tablets - are they in harmony with the writings of Abraham and Moses?

Some time ago, while working in the garden, I listened to something about Sumerian tablets. I had also listened to other reports about ancient civilizations and subjects. My thoughts were turned to my readings of the Bible, Qur'an, several of the works of Charles Darwin and other valuable and interesting books as I listened. I found a wonderful harmony between each of these - a reminder to me that there is one story of the creation and early history of man that has been passed on through generations in different groups of descendents of Adam and Eve who have changed the story according to their traditions and cultures. My impression was that there is a common thread in each of the accounts, and I can see the basic harmony with the account of the creation as told by Abraham who lived about 2000 years after the fall of Adam and the start of mortality. Abraham lived about 2000 years before Jesus Christ, and we live about 2000 years after Jesus Christ. Adam lived for nearly half of the time between Adam and Abraham, and many patriarchs who would have faithfully recounted the stories lived to ripe old ages and would have shared the more true accounts with their descendents who would listen. We are told in the Book of Moses that there was a book of remembrance kept in the language of Adam, so I am confident that there is a reliable source of the true story.

The world as a whole have the account of creation as given by Moses who lived about 500 years after Abraham. We know that Abraham had taught the Egyptians of the creation, history, astronomy, and versions of the same stories would have been recounted in all civilizations before and after the time of Abraham.

It is not surprising to me that there are many versions of the same story. If we look at our own history, there are many versions told in official sources and newspapers of the same events. There is a common element to each story, but each account differs. There are some fictional and non-fictional accounts including research tomes, historical novels, fantasies, and representations of facts that add embellishments to the simple stories. I would not be surprised of some of the differences in ancient records are similar in their telling about the stories.

There is one God who does know the actual facts, and each of us can look at whatever version of the story we have and ask that one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, what we need to take from the account that we read in order to be faithful followers of His plan for us. He will help us to have insights to guide us in our individual understanding of the fundamental principles. It is not likely that He will give to each and every person an individual audience to hear the full story, especially if we fail to do what we can easily do to find what is readily available to us to read and ponder, then to pray for confirmation or guidance. 

We are able, particularly in the year 2020, to gain access to the alternative accounts of the story and not rely only on the one with which we grew up if there is more truth available. The interpretation of what we read is guided by the spirit of God with which each of us was born. The Spirit will guide the honest reader to the most reliable account of the story of the creation and the plan of life and salvation. If the reader lets God lead him or her to truth, God will lead, because He wants us to know Him. I was impressed that the Qur'an advises the reader to read the Torah - and I understand this advice because the Qur'an talks about Abraham, Adam, David, Aaron, Noah, Solomon, Jesus, Mary, John, Zechariah, and other biblical characters, but does not give as much detail as is in the Old Testament and New Testament.

I have conducted the experiment that millions have conducted and I have come to know God. I have studied the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price containing the books of Abraham and Moses, Doctrine and Covenants and other words of modern representatives of that God who spoke to man from the days of Adam and continues to do so today. I have learned about these scriptures, and have come to know them rather than simply knowing about them. I have come to know God rather than simply knowing about Him. 

I have come to know personally that, if any person will do the will of the Father, she or he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or if they are simply the stories of men. I have knocked and the door has been opened. I have done my seeking and I have found. I have asked and I have received. I know you can too.

Let Him In

I have come to know that simply being exposed to facts does not make the difference. The children of Israel personally experienced the sea parting and themselves walking on dry ground, they saw the pillar of fire and the cloud, they were eating the manna, and yet they hankered for the flesh pots of Egypt because they were not switched on to trying to do the will of Jehovah. Laman and Lemuel had seen an angel, felt the shock when Nephi touched them, but were failing to do the will of the Father and just said that God did not make such things known to them. The citizens of Jerusalem saw Jesus of Nazareth, but some cried out 'Crucify him!' while others followed Him.

There is an abundance of fascinating information available, like decoding the Exodus, and other speculations and deductions relating to the stories told in the Old Testament. I have been edified considering many descriptions given by people of their research into these ancient events and accounts. 

The main thing is to go to the source of the scriptures - if they are true, as I am confident that they are - then there is a Heavenly Father who loves His children and will want to manifest Himself to those who diligently seek Him. But it does not help drinking from the water downstream after many people have paddled and done other unmentionable things in the water before it reaches you when the God who revealed His word is waiting to speak directly to and guide you and you can enjoy the perfect living water right at its source.

Remember what you know before just believing what others tell you ...

I was given a lot to think about when my brother Tim posted something on Facebook on 12 Nov 2018.

 

I see the image may not display because it contained text. It was the great pyramid with its geographical coordinates. I am trying again, this time with a cropped picture as well...

It gives:
Speed of light: 299 792 458 m/2
Coordinates of the Great Pyramid of Giza 29.9792458°N
COINCIDENCE?
His comment was 'Not in billions of years is this by chance........'

I posted the comment:

That depends... The pyramid spans about 29.97817°N to 29.98019°N, One of about 20200 points with 7 decimal place, each about 7 mm apart, along the approximately 150 m stretch from the northern to southern edges of the pyramid is indeed 29.9792458°N. That point is about 10758 out of about 20200, so reasonably close to the middle of the pyramid. It is TRULY REMARKABLE, but you have to have real faith in the precision of the surveyors of about 4578 years ago to think that they calculated the speed of light and plonked the pyramid on the ground at precisely that point to match that great number :-). This requires just about the same amount of faith as those have who believe that the millions of species in the world are the result of natural selection and the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life rather than the work of an intelligent God :-). But thanks for giving me something to think about :-)

I thought a lot about that.

The pyramid was built around 2580 to 2560 BC.

The speed of light was first considered about 1676 AD, and postulated by Albert Einstein in 1905 AD.

One has to ask why it was decided that a circle can be divided into 360 degrees, and that the Earth must span from 90°S to 90°N rather than any other number of degrees.

Then - the second is based on 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 hours in a day - instead of some other numbers for seconds, minutes and hours.

The length of a metre is defined based on the length of a path traveled by light in a vacuum - instead of some other number like foot or yard or mile or something else.

These decisions and postulations put the pyramid close to 29.97817°N.

When I teach the process of georeferencing, or assigning geographical coordinates to record where museum or herbarium specimens were collected, I teach that one should not use more than 5 decimal places, nor less, because 5 decimal places puts one appropriately within 1 metre of the determined place, and using more decimal places adds false precision. So, I would have georeferenced a specimen of a bird or lizard with 'the Great Pyramid of Giza' as its location at about 31.13425°N, 29.97925°E, with a confidence of about 150 m representing the radius of a circle surrounding and including all four corners of the pyramid. If it had been a plant, then I would have given it within about 300 m or even 1000 m from the centre of the pyramid. Something like a bird or lizard can be 1000 m from the pyramid and can feasibly move onto the centre of the pyramid, whereas a plant is pretty much stuck in one place from the time of germination to its death, and is not likely to have been growing on the pyramid itself, and looking at aerial photography or satellite imagery shows the nearest visible vegetation at about 300 m from the pyramid.

My GPS is good to about 5 m - and I have benefited from that precision by locating a small plant ten days after recording its locality with my simple GPS, so I know. To get less than 1 cm precision in 2018 requires using a Differential GPS, costing many thousands of Rands or hundreds of Dollars.

What prompted the pyramid consulting engineers to place their pyramid precisely there? Perhaps an all-wise, loving, gracious and merciful God prompted them about 4600 years ago so that this picture would be posted on Facebook in November 2018 so that I would think about the question and saying to me 'It's OK, Les. I am here' :-).

Hopefully my comments will prompt you to search your thoughts and remember what you know.

So - think.... remember.... ponder.... dare I say pray?....

Do our spiritual muscles also ache when exercised after a long break?

Yesterday I exercised after six weeks of not specifically exercising.

I have spent a wonderful break with family and at the Temple, and I did walk and bend and lift and climb, but I did not do specific exercises that worked the muscles and heart. Then I did my normal 20 to 30 minutes of stretching, bending, running and lifting and today my muscles are letting me know all about it. Not too serious, but definitely aware of these muscles, especially in my legs and back.

This set me wondering as to whether someone who has not been exercising their faith might feel some pain and discomfort when doing some spiritual exercise such as pondering, scripture study, pondering the scriptures, or starting some form of spiritual activity? I suspect that the feeling of remorse about sins of omission or of commission, feelings of guilt or uncleanness, or anything else prompted by our conscience might give us similar discomfort, reminding us of those 'spirit muscles' and we may be tempted to complain and stop exercising. But, just as with physical exercise, it is important to continue exercising, and gradually, but determinedly, increase the pace and frequency of the exercise to get the spiritual heart pumping in a healthy manner and to improve the spiritual muscle tone and decrease the spiritual fat.

If you have been neglecting your spiritual exercise, or are feeling those discomforts from sudden exercise, I encourage you to exercise well and press forward with with a steadfastness in Christ, and persevere. The gain will definitely outweigh the pain.

My parents' stories of their conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

My father Charles Kenneth Powrie 

Born 5 November, 1921 in Lydenburg, Transvaal (Mpumalanga), South Africa

New horizons were there to conquer a year later in the form of an offer of a job by a former shipmate who asked me to move to Johannesburg to join the firm of Stanley Motors, Limited. This I accepted and -in 1946 we moved to Krugersdorp and here we found happiness and joy in building a home and in rearing our two children. Timothy was born here in 1947.

This was a strange, quiet life which seemed to be the calm before the storm. Finally in May, 1950 the change came, quietly and determinedly, when two young Americans knocked on our door with the offer of a message of great importance. My wife, Philippa, as though moved by some unforeseen force, invited these young Elders from Utah and Idaho to come inside whilst the week's wash-for a growing family became of secondary importance.

Mother led the way in this new intellectual exercise, whilst father tagged along in somewhat polite boredom, bred of post experiences which had resulted in such religious excursions. They had provided nothing more than a temporary distraction ending in on obscure wilderness. This time, however, it seemed different, as mother's arguments (given to her so strongly by her mother) appeared to be losing ground in the face of truth which was irrefutable. This resulted in talk of baptism and then why not both of us taking the step? On the 10th of September, 1950 we entered the waters of baptism at old Ramah to join what we now know to be the only true Church and Kingdom of God here upon the earth. We shall always remember with affection the four missionaries who spent time and effort in our conversion, Elders E. Mauary Payne, Parry D. Harrison, Farrell J. Roberts and Dean D. Baxter. Thus started the new life in a Church which, in its temporal appointments, showed very little sign of being the one and only Church of Jesus Christ, for we met in dingy halls and other humble surroundings in limited numbers and with very inadequate facilities. However, the true sweet spirit was there to guide us as we, like infants, crawled, then toddled, then stood upright and walked with our heads high yet humbled by the testimonies which we felt growing within our hearts.

The wisdom of the Lord in prompting growth and testimony through activity soon became manifest in my being called to one assignment after another - branch clerk, branch teacher, counsellor in the Krugersdorp Branch Presidency and then, after having been a member of the Church for just over seven years, the staggering and humbling call to serve as the Transvaal District President. This call in itself was one of the highlights of my life. The day as Transvaal District Conference, 13th April, 1958. We had returned home between sessions and, during that time, received a call from the District President, Brother I.C. Louw, requesting that we come in early. We duly arrived and were ushered into the presence of the Mission President Glen G. Fisher and President Louw, who dropped what I described in my diary as “the bombshell”. I had anticipated some call or another but certainly did not think of a position as the District President! Philippa and I looked at one another in astonishment, but the spirit whispered to us that we could do nothing but accept this high and wonderful calling. We appreciated the sobering honour and I was set apart by President Fisher that he admonished me to recall the promise given to Nephi of old that the Lord would not do anything save he would open the way for them to accomplish that which they had been commanded to do. This had the effect of helping me to recognize the promptings of the spirit in this calling and has been a blessing and a testimony. I have felt my inadequacy fall away in the face of the strength and guidance of the spirit which has helped me to do many things beyond myself and has indeed brought the treasures of Heaven into my life in this great service to the Lord.

The years have rolled by and our family has been increased in that three other precious souls have been brought to us namely, Jane in 1950, Leslie in 1954 and Ronald in 1959. These three children, sent to us during the course of membership in the Church, have all by strange coincidence been born on the 23^rd of their respective months - an honour we felt indeed to be thus matched in some small way with our prophet Joseph Smith, born 23^rd December.

The Church is our life. We have found the answers to every problem in service and in this association with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Recently we celebrated our twenty-fifth anniversary of our wedding day, and Philippa and I are able to bear witness to the fact that the sweeter years are here with us now because of the fact that we have attempted to mould our rebellious, stubborn lives, and the lives of our children, to the restored Gospel. We know without any doubt whatsoever, that these Gospel principles hold the key to that happiness and joy which is the heritage of children of men here upon the earth.

We hope and pray that we may continue to serve in this Kingdom and that-we shall be able to enjoy such precious experiences as we have in the more recent years, in having our eldest daughter, Judy, serve an honourable mission in South Africa. Currently our son, Timothy, is serving a mission in the British South Mission, thus bringing the Gospel to others as we had it brought to us.

Our next goal in life is to visit the House of the Lord as a family, to be sealed thus for time and all eternity. With the blessing of the Lord and with our ability to work in this direction also, we hope to achieve this in July, 1969. We pray that this will lead us to be able to serve better in the future and thus repay our Father in Heaven in some small measure for the great and glorious blessings which he has showered upon us over the years.

My mother Beatrice Philippa Dryden Dymond Powrie

Born 26th September, 1917, Mossel Bay,  Cape Province (Western Cape), South Africa

When Judy was nineteen months old, we moved to Krugersdorp, Transvaal, and Timothy was born there on the 2^nd August, 1947 and we decided that our family was complete!

In May 1950 a friend of mine asked me “Have the Mormon Missionaries called on you yet?” I replied that they had not.

“Well, when they do, you must ask them in just to listen to their lovely accents - you don't have to listen to what they say!”

Meanwhile the Church of England Padre had called on me just a short while before that and during our, discussion I had said “But I don't believe that,” or “I don't believe that either”. He challenged me to do the thing which prepared me to receive and accept the gospel when the missionaries presented it to me. He said “Forget what you don't believe and read the Bible to find out what you do believe. Write out a list of the things that you do believe.” I did just this, reading the New Testament, and my list started with 1. I do believe there is a God. 2. I do believe that Jesus is the Christ. 3. I do believe the Bible to be the Word of God.

This surprised me because my mother had studied and passed on to me Theosophy, Yogi-ism, School of Truth, Unity Church of Christianity, etc. She believed that every time the earth needed a Saviour, one would be supplied and that Jesus Christ was only one of many. Also, she far from accepted the Bible to be special word of God, although she quoted from it so often.

The spiritual climate created by my reading the Bible and writing the list of beliefs – I regret that space does not permit me to tell of some of the fancy and very interesting ideas that came into my mind on, the subject! – was just the perfect one for the reception of the message brought by the Missionaries. When they knocked on our door I said “Oh yes, I've heard about you, come right in.”

We joined the church three months later; I, because I knew that it was true, and therefore was duty-bound to support it, and Ken, so he says, to keep me company. Elder Payne, in his last two Months of mission said that he had never lost his temper with any other investigator, but he used to get really mad with me for arguing in favour of reincarnation. In the end he said, “Pray about it,” and I did, because I knew I was right and I wanted to prove him wrong! The answer came to me one morning in a vivid flash of light inside my brain, “either you must believe in reincarnation or you must believe in resurrection – you cannot believe in both.” I investigated the two ideas and decided that I believed the Bible, so I accepted resurrection, and joined the church.

My mother taught me the Law of Tithing, in principle, although as far as I know she never paid tithing herself. A month before we were baptized, when the Missionaries, who were staying with us paid their first month's rent, I said to my husband, “Now can we start paying tithing?” I believed that tithing was the Lord's due, although it still did not seem to matter to me which church we paid it through, so we have been paying tithing ever since, for one month longer than our membership.

We also decided to have a larger family – Elder Harrison said I was still young enough to have four more, but that fourth one has never come. Eleven months later Jane was born on 23^rd August, 1951. Leslie followed on 23^rd February 1954 and Ronald on 23^rd January, 1959 - we began to wonder if the “23^rd” has any special significance for us!

Citation:

Extracted from their autobiograhical entries in a collection of Autobiograhical Sketches.

Wright, Evan P (Editor). 1969. Autobiograhical Sketches - South African Mission - 1969. South African Mission, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Johannesburg, South Africa

Imperfection, hypocrisy

When is imperfection acceptable, understandable, justifiable, tolerable?

 Sometimes we see a bug and are not aware of the flaws. Then we look at another perspective and we see that we are looking at a rather unique insect. In this case, instead of six legs that are typical of an insect, this one has only five.

But I suspect that this bug did not choose to have five legs! Our choices are what make us what we are.

I have heard that there are people that refuse to go to hospitals because hospitals are supposed to make people well, but are of no value because they are full of unwell people. The very reason for going to a hospital is to become well, and it is foolish to condemn a hospital for having unwell people in it! If it is helping to improve the state of well-being of patients then it is achieving its purpose. There will be no shortage of people who are unwell, and hospitals will always be occupied by people who are unwell.

Indeed, it is very possible for one patient to infect a fellow patient, health care professional, or an innocent visitor. One can easily go away from a hospital with a bug that he or she did not have when entering the hospital. But I laud the efforts of people who care for unwell people and wish them well in their efforts. On the whole, people leave hospitals better for having been there.

I was told recently about someone who found some imperfection in an individual - a hypocrite - and feels that the entire Church is to be condemned as being imperfect because it has one member who is a hypocrite. 

I have often thought of our perceptions. 

Today we sustained three new Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. Elders Ronald A. Rasband, Gary E. Stevenson and Dale G. Renlund. I have no hesitation in saying that each of them is imperfect. Two of them inferred it themselves!

So - do we condemn the entire Church because three, or fifteen, or 100, or 500, or 5 million of them, or each and every one of them is imperfect?

In 1973 I received a personal witness from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself declaring that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true and living church upon the face of the Earth 'with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually—For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;'

I leave that ending with the semi-colon because the reader would benefit from reading the context of the extract from Doctrine and Covenants 1.

I suppose it is reasonable that people would judge a church by its leaders. One prominent church leader criticized his leaders. He boldly declared them to be hypocrites! He also drove people out of the temple! He also spoke judgmental words of his close associates and others. He was strongly criticized for many of his actions, most particularly because he was accused of blasphemy. Jesus Christ is that leader. The Jewish faith was the only true and living faith. He was devout in His faith. But He did criticize the leaders, the Scribes and Pharisees, telling them that they were hypocrites. He did drive people out of the Temple with a whip. He did reprove Peter and others for their lack of faith and other weaknesses. He, who declared that we must love our enemies, do good to them that despitefully use us, He it was who did these things. If a person is looking for faults, I daresay he will very easily interpret these actions as failings and hypocritical!

Peter denied Christ three times before the cock crowed on the morning of the Christ's last day of mortality. He went fishing rather than leading the saints following the crucifixion. His state of conversion was challenged when he was told 'when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren'. Would we refuse to accept that church because Peter was quite apparently a hypocrite?

Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ - now is that not extreme! Do we deny the entire church because it had one of its top leaders who was such an extremely bad person - a hypocrite?

Ananias and his wife Sapphira lied to the apostles about freewill offerings that they had made. Hypocrisy!

Yes - if one is looking for faults, he or she will find them!

But equally, if one is looking for good, there is abundant good to be found. 

My father once said that he was so glad that he did not have to judge someone who had erred, but could leave that to the bishop. He did not have to be burdened with being a Judge in Israel. Sometimes we look at things that people do and assess them in one way without knowing what is in the heart. We may condemn them for gross imperfection - for hypocrisy. And we are probably absolutely right! They probably are imperfect. And so am I. And so is the reader, and every person, especially those who condemn the conduct of anyone else.

The true Church of God is likely to always have less than perfect people in it - it is the hospital for sick souls. It is there to make bad men good, and good men better. It will always have an abundance of spiritually unwell people to help to improve.

But the challenge to the reader is to judge where we can affect some change. I cannot bring about change in anyone else. But I can bring about change in myself. My responsibility is to assess my own performance relative to divinely appointed standards of performance and work to improve myself. I need to strive to be better each day than I was the day before. I can be so busy working on myself that I really do not have time to judge and condemn others because I will be all too conscious of the beam in my eye that is causing me to not see clearly the mote in the other person's eye.

The Lord Jesus Christ did declare that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true and living church upon the face of the Earth 'with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually—For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;' He made it very clear that He cannot look upon my weaknesses with the least degree of allowance. 

I must clean up my act! My act! Not someone else's imperfections. My act. I have so far to go before I think I'll be worthy of hearing those blessed affirming words 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant'. I am trying! But I know all too well that I am not at that stage as yet. 

Please clean up your own act. But, in the meantime, ask God the Eternal Father, with a sincere heart and real intent if the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints is the only true and living Church on the face of the Earth, and if He is indeed well pleased with it. And if He says that it is, then do something about making and keeping covenants with Him by being baptised by His authorized ministers, and pressing forward toward Temple covenants, then enduring faithfully to the end, even receiving the greatest of all gifts of God, Eternal life.

So, to answer my question. Imperfections are a part of Mortality. They have always been, and will always be. That does not make them alright, acceptable, justifiable. 

The Lord cannot look upon sin with the last degree of allowance. We all have imperfections. But if we choose to act in imperfect ways, then we sin. Ignorance is not sin. Little children are innocent doing things in ignorance. But I suggest that anyone able to read this blog is likely to be able to discern between good and evil. If we choose evil, we sin. That is never acceptable, understandable, tolerable, excusable, justifiable, allowable. We are in Mortality to learn to choose good and to not choose evil. That was what Adam and Eve learned in the Garden of Eden. That is what we learned early in life. We have to continually refine our ability to make right choices. To think as God thinks, choose as He chooses, act as he acts. Then we will be continually refined and redeemed by the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, enabling us to more effectively refine our ways to become more god-like.

I bear my solemn witness that Jesus Christ does live, and has declared this to be His only true and living Church.

Does this scenario describe you?

Imagine you are at home on a Sunday afternoon - a typical Sunday. The time is about 3 pm. Which of the following would you most likely be doing?

• Sleeping
• Reading a novel
• Reading a magazine like a TV guide
• Reading the newspaper
• Watching sport or something like that on TV
• Listening to loud music
• TV is on for the children to watch whatever is being broadcast
• Vacuuming the house
• Washing the dishes
• Preparing a meal
• Reading the Ensign, New Era, Friend or Liahona
• Reading the material for priesthood, Relief Society, Sunday School or other participation in Church
• Doing family history or FamilySearch Indexing
• Reading the scriptures
• Watching Mormon Messages, Bible Videos or something from LDS.org
• Pondering and praying what you are studying

What is your normal kind of activity on a Sunday?

What is the spirit like in your home? Is it the kind of spirit described by the statement 'Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.'? Would an angel want to linger in your home if he or she stopped by?

Now imagine that there is a knock at the door. You are not expecting anyone. Who could it be?

Who would you most dearly like to have standing at your door? Who would you feel the most blessed or honoured to have visit with you on this Sunday afternoon?

• Your grade 7 teacher
• Your last school principal
• The mayor of your city
• The president of your national parliament
• A childhood friend
• The one relative of yours that you most dearly love - mother, father, husband or wife (who may have left the house without keys and so is locked out), child, grandparent, or whoever is most dear to you
• Your home teachers or visiting teachers
• Your bishop
• Your Stake president
• Your Area president
• An Apostle of the Lord
• The president of the Church
• An angel from Heaven
• The Lord Jesus Christ, or God, the Eternal Father

Peeping through the peep hole of your front door, and seeing that it is the Lord Jesus Christ, do you throw open the door and welcome Him with open arms and invite Him into your lounge?

I was thinking this morning about the scriptures and one that I often ponder and wonder how well I live it is Doctrine and Covenants 20:68-69 about the duty of members after they are baptised. Does my home have the kind of spirit that a home does where there is a 'godly walk and conversation, ...works and faith agreeable to the holy scriptures—walking in holiness before the Lord.'? Am I doing my duty? How well am I doing in it?

The Sabbath is the Lord's day, not mine. Am I honouring it and living it as he would have me live it?

In thinking about how I would receive Him if He knocked at the door, remembering what He said as John recorded in Revelation 3:20 'Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.' Are we eager to have Him enter our homes on a Sunday afternoon, or at any time?

My thoughts also turned to Doctrine and Covenants 84: 35-38 where we read:

 35 And also all they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord;
 36 For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me;
 37 And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father;
 38 And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him.

If it is a visiting teacher, home teacher, bishop or any other servant - do we receive him or her with open arms and treat him or her with equal honour and respect as we would the Lord Himself? Are we ready to receive the Father as we receive His servants?

I hope and pray that when representatives of the Lord visit, that our members could have the spirit in their homes so that the home feels like a Temple when we enter. I hope that someone who enters my home, even if it could be just one person, might just feel that it is a holy place. I hope that I am ready to open the door to the Saviour when he knocks, and welcome Him in to sup with me, and I with Him.

Some thoughts regarding love and same gender attraction

I don’t often speak out on the subject of same gender attraction, but following yet another defence of homosexuality by a friend whose son is gay, and whose returned missionary friend had just declared that he is gay, I have felt the need to stop putting off doing so. I recognise that someone may take out of context some of the things I say, but that is their problem. I trust that in context these words are in full harmony with the Gospel.

This is me on my honeymoon in 1981, I think this was in Disneyland in Los Angeles 

where we went after going from Cape Town to Salt Lake City to be sealed in the Temple

I still love my wife who is my dearest friend. 

We are delighted to have a wonderful family of 5 children and 10 grandchildren (Feb 2022).

To start with, I feel that it is essential to stress that love is a divine characteristic, and that we are commanded to love.

We are commanded to ‘love the Lord thy God with all of our heart, and with all your soul’ (Deuteronomy 13:3), and ‘with all thy mind, and with all thy strength’ (Mark 12:30). That is pretty deep.

We are commanded to ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’ (Luke10:27). That, too is pretty deep.

We are commanded to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).

Young women are to be taught ‘to love their husbands, to love their children’ (Titus 2:4).

So I am commanded to love my neighbour, and that includes male and female. I am commanded to love my children and I do indeed love them – I adore them. I am not quite that good about loving some of my neighbours. Some are really not that lovable.

So – there is little confusion about the fact that love for all is part of what God wants us to have. Love is a divine nature, God is love (1 John 1:8) and as we become like Him we need to learn to love.

I learned a lot as a parent, reading in chapter 4 of A Parent's Guide about interpersonal relationships.

• ‘Courteous relationships are the basis of civilized behavior’, and are appropriate between friends, neighbours, strangers, even towards enemies. Imagine what the world would be like if we all treated every other person with courtesy?
• ‘Affection is natural and is mostly associated with family relations’. This is more intense than courtesy, but it includes courtesy. Shaking hands would be courteous, holding hands would be affectionate.
• ‘Intimate relationships are deeper and longer lasting than others and are more intense. Within such relationships are very strong emotions.’ Intimacy includes affection and courtesy. Intimacy is appropriate within a marriage relationship, but certainly not appropriate between strangers.

This is where the philosophies of the world make this so very blurred. They equate love with intimacy, or they treat intimacy or sex as synonyms of love. But love, properly expressed, would never be selfish or lustful.

Someone said that the sex scene in the movie Titanic was alright because ‘they were so much in love’. But where is the ‘so much in love’ in the case of a couple having sex when high on drugs, or when emotions run away with two colleagues in an inappropriate situation together, or with the soldiers raping the women of the village that they invaded? The ‘so much in love’ was with sex as an object and not with love for the other person. It was ‘so much in love’ with lust and not love for the other son or daughter of God involved.

I love my children, but if I were to jump into bed with them, that would not be love, but lust. The same goes for incestuous relationships with parents, siblings, or any other family members. It is absolutely appropriate for men to love men and women to love women, but that does not make it appropriate to jump into bed with someone. Love in the divine way of loving would actually mean the direct opposite of such inappropriate sexual relationships. Love would defend the virtue of another, not rob others of ‘that which was most dear and precious above all things, which is chastity and virtue’ (Mormon 9:9).

As the world synonymises love and lust, so they say that an appropriate way of expressing love is to have sexual relationships. But love is a divine characteristic, and lust is a carnal, sensual and devilish (Mosiah16:3) characteristic, very appealing to the natural man or woman. And so Satan lulls anyone willing to give in to the natural man into carnal security. The tragedy is that as it is so appealing to the natural man, they become effectively shut out from the presence of God. (Moses 6:49)

God would have us love our enemies – he loves His enemies. But His enemies certainly do not love God. So, let me end off with this quote from Mosiah 3:19. ‘For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.’

It is important to note that some, maybe all, of those who have same gender attraction may be simply feeling the love that Heavenly Father intends for us to have. There are people who are very active in proselyting the Gay Rights movement who try to persuade the person that it is a sexual attraction. But, just as it is sinful to act on lustful desires to have sexual relations with a member of the opposite sex outside of marriage, and because it is contrary to the eternal plan of eternal marriage in which man and woman are married for eternity, it is sinful to extend the love for anyone into sexual relations outside of marriage. The sin is not in feeling love – that is good. The sin is in committing sexual sin outside of marriage. It is important to note that homosexual behaviour can be forgiven through sincere repentance (Handbook 2: Administering the Church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 21.4.6). The key is to have an understanding of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the process of repentance, and the purpose of our mortal life as our opportunity to learn to become like our Heavenly parents.

I hope and pray that you will carefully ponder these things and then ask God the Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, if these things are not true. I am absolutely confident that he will manifest the truth of it to you through the power of the Holy Ghost. Love is a divine nature, and would never allow lustful behaviour which would destroy that very divine love in hetero-sexual, homo-sexual, or any relationships. 

I felt impressed add more thoughts that you might be interested in reading. See 

'A promise of an eternal marriage for LGBTQ+ individuals - well, for anyone'.

A 'Homeless debate' on social media - US or THEM - which am I?

Weeping and joy in the School of Mortality

Talk given by Les Powrie, Panorama Ward, Cape Town South Africa, 29 December 2013.

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday. I started off telling about the painting that I did of the ship in stormy seas. 

I pointed out that one of the stormy seas in my life is that I cannot undo the fact that I painted the masts in front of the sails instead of behind the sails. 

That always bugs me - but it is a mistake that I made and it is there for all to see. But more importantly, it is a reminder that a calm sea never produced a good captain. I reflected on how we sent our children out to school where we knew that things would not always be pleasant. There were lessons to be learned and these were essential. But there would be unpleasant things about being at school - many rough seas - stress, panic, exams, trials, proving, testing, peer pressure, unreasonable people, unpleasant discipline, punishments both fair and unfair, hormone issues, and so forth. We had a bigger long term view that you might have had - we dreamed of an outcome where our children would become educated, able to achieve some greatness, develop talents, achieve greater potential, even do better than their parents (because that is progress), and become responsible adults. I am sure that most of the time those were not uppermost in the minds of our children. 

Heavenly Father introduced his first two children into a school as well and left them there to learn their lessons. The first lesson that they needed to learn was to recognise the knowledge of good and evil. He gave them a beautiful garden with abundant fruits, flowers, animals and all to please the eye and to gladden the heart, to name them, to tend them and take care of them. But they were told that while they could eat of the fruit of any tree in the garden, they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day they ate thereof they would surely die. We don’t know how many days or months or years they enjoyed garden before they did partake of the fruit, but they, in their innocent states, were beguiled by Satan. They needed to have a knowledge of good and evil in order to become like their Father in Heaven, and the only way that they could have that was to transgress and partake of the fruit of the tree and thus gain knowledge – even wisdom. He had this outcome in mind, but they could not comprehend the outcome, especially when first placed in the garden. His view of the outcome was, and is for us, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, and for us to have joy now and in the eternities. We read some important principles in this regard in 2 Nephi 2: 14-29.

I shared a journal entry that I wrote some weeks ago: Did we have knowledge of good and evil before we received mortal bodies? I was listening to elder Bednar's April 2013 talk WE BELIEVE IN BEING CHASTE (https://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/05/we-believe-in-being-chaste?lang=eng) and how 'Simply stated, there are lessons we must learn and experiences we must have, as the scriptures describe, “according to the flesh”'.

I was wondering if Satan has knowledge of good and evil, or if he only knows about it? Is it just like book-learning or theory to him, but with no practical experience it is actually not knowledge to him, so he is not like the Gods, knowing good and evil? I never thought about that before. I often think how he seems to be really dim continually trying to thwart God’s plan, but maybe he actually does lack a lot of savvy! Imagine millennia of fighting a war in which you remain ignorant of the central issue!

Similarly, we instruct our children – ‘do not put your hand on the stove’, not to make life miserable for them, but so that they do not injure themselves. They need to have some experience that helps them to realise that there is great benefit to learning from their parent’s instructions and injunctions. So, we might heat the stove so that it is very uncomfortable to touch, but not hot enough to cause injury, and then let them learn from touching that so that. Otherwise they might touch the stove when we are not looking at a time that it is hot enough to cause really serious injury. We also instruct them to not walk on a hot road in bare feet, but did not fully appreciate the wisdom until we had experienced the consequences. 

Similarly, Adam and Eve would not have learned to distinguish good from evil if they were constantly diverted from partaking of the tree, constantly reminded to not partake, or if the tree were kept out of their reach. That would remain ‘book learning’ or theory and the lesson never really become learned. They had to learn the lesson that obedience is essential, and that we need to choose good (and eternal life) rather than evil (or eternal damnation).

So, in our school of mortality, exams last for hours but the graduation and qualification remain forever. In Psalm 30:5 we read that weeping may endure for the night but joy cometh in the morning. Elder Holland gave a talk in 1999 in which he talked about Jesus Christ as the high priest of good things to come. He said “Every one of us has times when we need to know things will get better. Moroni spoke of it in the Book of Mormon as “hope for a better world.” For emotional health and spiritual stamina, everyone needs to be able to look forward to some respite, to something pleasant and renewing and hopeful, whether that blessing be near at hand or still some distance ahead. It is enough just to know we can get there, that however measured or far away, there is the promise of “good things to come.””. In Hebrews 5:6-10 we read that even Christ, though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things that he suffered.

I shared examples from an article in the December 2013 New Era ‘When Good Things Happen to Others and Bad Things Happen to You’. As Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught, “Envy is a mistake that just keeps on giving. Obviously we suffer a little when some misfortune befalls us, but envy requires us to suffer all good fortune that befalls everyone we know! What a bright prospect that is—downing another quart of pickle juice every time anyone around you has a happy moment!”1 I related two examples from the article about tough lessons, but the benefits that come from them. One about a girl in the school tennis team, but where the rules changed in her senior year where she had to try out again for the team and was not automatically included. She worked really hard to prepare for the trials but she did not make the team.

“I felt like my heart was breaking. I’d worked for an entire year to make my goals a reality. I was also embarrassed. I was angry. Why didn’t my coach give me a fair chance? Why didn’t Heavenly Father help him choose not to cut me from the team?

“Struggling to overcome the hurt led me to think about the sorrows of the Savior. He spent His entire ministry in the service of His neighbors, yet He was despised by many of these same people (see Isaiah 53:3–5). Although He was the only person who did not need forgiveness, He willingly suffered the anguish of all sin. With His stripes to rescue me from death, how could I resent the small injustices in life? The miracle of the Atonement beckoned to me, urging me to seek the merciful Son.”

Then there was a missionary in Malaysia who was biking home with his companion one night when a truck rising on the wrong side of the road struck him. Jeremy broke multiple bones, his aorta was torn, his lung collapsed, his brain swelled, and he contracted pneumonia. In short, he should have died.

But time after time, little miracles occurred and he not only survived but also continued to heal. Even so, the recovery was long and painful. “And there will be trials for the rest of my life,” Jeremy says. It would have been easy for Jeremy to wonder why something like that could happen to him, especially when he was serving a mission. But turning to the Savior taught him many things.
“Because of what I learned, I can bear witness that our Savior suffered for all of our trials. As we humbly and faithfully endure our trials, we can be filled with a new spiritual strength—the strength that we will need to endure to the end, the strength that we will need to obtain our exaltation.”

There was the brother who sat listening to members criticising the leaders who sent the Willie and Handcart companies off to face a severe winter. After some time he stood and said:

“I was in that company and my wife was in it. . . . We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? . . . [We] came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.

“I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it. . . . I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.

“Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company.”

The desired outcome for us is to sit with the noble and great ones in the eternal realms. But, would one feel comfortable sitting with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Nephi, Joseph Smith, members of the Martin or Willie Handcart companies, and others as peers if we got there easily whilst they endured great tribulation in the courses that they travelled? 

Our learning experiences taking many different forms. I shared something shared by elder Loren C. Dunn in 1974. He said of his father: 

‘While we were growing up in a small community, my father saw the need for my brother and me to learn the principle of work. As a result, he put us to work on a small farm on the edge of town where he had been raised. He ran the local newspaper, so he could not spend much time with us except early in the morning and in the evening. That was quite a responsibility for two young teenagers, and sometimes we made mistakes. Our small farm was surrounded by other farms, and one of the farmers went in to see my father one day to tell him the things he thought we were doing wrong. My father listened to him carefully and then said, “Jim, you don’t understand. You see, I’m raising boys and not cows.” After my father’s death, Jim told us his story. How grateful I was for a father who decided to raise boys, and not cows. In spite of the mistakes, we learned how to work on that little farm, and I guess, although they didn’t say it in so many words, we always knew we were more important to Mother and Father than the cows or, for that matter, anything else.’ 

Some lessons are learned at our mother’s knee, like Joseph Fielding Smith shared “I was trained at my mother’s knee to love the Prophet Joseph Smith and to love my Redeemer.’ - and how he taught his son in a gentle but powerful way.

“Reyn confided that he had had a cigarette in his mouth only once in his life, and then for only a fleeting moment. It occurred when he was a student at the Roosevelt Junior High School in Salt Lake City. [The school’s] entrance was on a quiet side street that had very little vehicular traffic. On this day, Reyn had just walked out of the front entrance of the school with a friend who smoked who urged him, as he had often done, to ‘just try one.’ On this occasion, the friend succeeded. Reyn took one of the cigarettes and lit up. A few puffs later, who should pull up at the curb in his car but Reyn’s father. Rolling down the window, Elder Smith said to his astounded son, ‘Reynolds, I want to talk to you tonight after dinner’ and drove off. Reyn reported, ‘When my father called me Reynolds, I knew he meant business.’ Elder Smith let Reyn stew in his guilt the rest of the afternoon and during the evening meal, when he had surprisingly little to say. Afterward, seated uncomfortably in his father’s study, … Reynolds faced judgment. What he received was merely a kindly, loving lecture about the evils of ‘that filthy habit’ and a reminder of who he was and how his conduct reflected on the whole family. It ended with the request that Reyn promise he would never again put a cigarette in his mouth. Reyn took the pledge. ‘It never happened again,’ he said. Through all the intervening years, including a stint in the United States Navy during World War II where smoking was endemic, he honored the commitment made to his father.”

We need to learn to consider our blessings – to ponder them in our hearts, to count the blessings to help to recognise the joys in between the weeping. In my experience the times of calm seas are far greater than the times of rough seas. But the real learning comes during those shorter times with rough seas.

I was given a video for Christmas ‘The secrets of Jonathan Sperry’. This is not an LDS movie, but great for teaching about missionary work. One of the things that Jonathan teaches to a twelve-year old boy who thinks that the Bible is full of restrictions is that the commandments are good. He says ‘Do you want someone to steal from you?’ to which the boy says he does not want that, so Jonathan says that then the commandment tol not steal is kind of a good thing. Similarly, do you want someone lying to you? So ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness is kind of a good thing’.

So - in the outcomes that Heavenly Father wants for us in this school of mortality, just as we send our children out into the schools of the world, so we are here in this school to learn. We want mortal success for our children, Heavenly Father wants us to have immortality and eternal life. The tests are brief in time, and even more brief when measured against eternity. May we have ourselves built on the sure foundation of Christ as we read in Helaman5:12 

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty
storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. 

Then, when the stormy seas pound and beat about us we can stand firm. May we remember that 'man is, that he might have joy' (2 Nephi 2:26)

May we become great captains because of the experiences that we have on our stormy seas in this school of mortality, and may we enjoy mostly calm seas!

PS. I can make the painting look good in digital form, but not on the original painting.

I also thought of a saying on a calendar that Judy gave to me when I was a youth. 'Men, like rivers, become crooked when they follow the path of least resistance'. I reckon this fits well in this topic.