We Thank Ye O God for a Prophet

"As a new presidency, we want to begin with the end in mind. For this reason, we're speaking to you today from a temple. The end for which each of us strives is to be endowed with power in a house of the Lord, sealed as families, faithful to covenants made in a temple that qualify us for the greatest gift of God, that of eternal life. The ordinances of the temple and the covenants you make there are key to strengthening your life, your marriage and family, and your ability to resist the attacks of the adversary. Your worship in the temple and your service there for your ancestors will bless you with increased personal revelation and peace and will fortify your commitment to stay on the covenant path." 

New First Presidency of the Church, January 16, 2018

Soon after the funeral of President Thomas S. Monson, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was reorganized and Russell M. Nelson was ordained as the President. This ushered in a new chapter in the history of The Church.  As most of us do, we speculated on who might be in the next First Presidency.  The ordination of Russell M. Nelson was no surprise but the choice of counselors was.  As I listened to the announcement it made total sense to me.  I have learned long ago that the Lord knows so much more than I do.  

I remember many years ago, when two vacancies remained open in the Quorum of the Twelve for over a year.  I wondered then, why doesn't the Lord put one of the existing General Authorities into the Quorum of the Twelve to help the work move forward.  Then the next two apostles were called, Russell M. Nelson and Dallin H. Oaks, neither of whom were General Authorities at the time.  Each had specific earthly responsibilities that needed to be completed before their calling was to come.  I learned at that point to never question the timing of actions in the Church.  Now they sit as the President and the first counselor in the First Presidency after sitting beside each other for almost 34 years in the Quorum of the Twelve. 

We were thrilled to see our friend and neighbor, Elder Spencer L. Condie in the televised coverage of the establishment of the new First Presidency.  Elder Condie is a member of our ward and we have grown quite fond of his insights and humor.  It happens that Elder Condie wrote a biography of Elder Nelson 15 years ago.  We are excited to hear a fireside from Elder Condie next week on this very subject.

Elder Condie, discussing President Russell M. Nelson

Since the day before the announcement of the new First Presidency, Debbie and I made a commitment to listen to and study all of the conference talks by President Russell M. Nelson.  Generally we listen to a few talks in the morning while running or biking at the gym.  Often when we drive, we take the opportunity to listen to the next talk in our sequence.  Up until now we have listened and studied the first 36 talks from President Nelson, from 1984 to 2001.  We have learned to understand him more in depth and we have received our witnesses of his calling as the President of the Church.

Studying his talks in this way has reminded us of his unique ability to emphasize the workings of the human body into so many of his addresses.  As a surgeon, he has insights that most of us do not even consider.   He also often refers to hidden meanings from the Greek and Hebrew text as he explores gospel topics in a more in-depth way.   In these first 36 talks, he has addressed almost any topic for which we might need counsel.  His understanding of the role of a prophet has been reiterated as he has served under 5 different prophets while in the Quorum of the Twelve.  The study of his talks has brought many, many new insights into our hearts and minds.  We are using his talk on the Canker of Contention  from April 1989 in our next extended family home evening discussion.  It is a classic on this topic.  As we have completed more than half of the way through this journey of sacred utterances, we can clearly say "We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet".

Continuing on our Purpose while back home

We have spent the past month continuing to focus on our primary purpose back home, our Family.  This includes strengthening our children and grandchildren and continuing on our Family History and Temple Work for our ancestors and relatives.

Birthdays

We seem to be always celebrating someone's birthday.  The photos below are from some of the birthday celebrations in the past month.  We celebrated Cherish's 10th birthday with her, but somehow did not get any photos.  We also connected to Sabrina, our oldest granddaughter on her 20th birthday.  She is at the University of Oklahoma, so the contact was only by text, but we did receive a response.

With Arianna on her 4th birthday

Tiare with her 4th Birthday Cake 

Ashton with his 7th Birthday Cake and his brother Dawson

Other Family Activities

We were also able to finally connect with our son Abe.  After months of efforts, we finally connected and I was able to spend an hour with him.  He has since come to our condo on a few occasions and we have been pleased to strengthen our relationship with him.  We have also been able to help him in tracking down old 401K plans from previous employers.  This is a new skill that I will have to add to my resume.

Tom with Abe, after years of being disconnected

Our family visits included one more visit to Hyrum to experience a real snow storm, our first since returning home.

Seeing the Elk at Hardware Ranch on a snowy January morning with Jared and his two daughters.

Some of the nearly 200 Elk that we saw

Watching a large screen movie with Ellie and Olivia while their parents went to the temple.  We were using our new portable projector that does an excellent job of projecting large images on the wall.

We participated in many parties and family get togethers including our first Family Home Evening of the year, which was presented in a "council" to decide how to get together during the year.   All were able to give their input which has inspired activities for several months.

The following photos are from our kids that were at Arianna's birthday party.  It is always fun to see cousins together and sisters raising their own families.

Three granddaughters together, Addisyn, Aria and Arianna

Gina and Pollyanna with their youngest children, Hudson and Paisley

We were able to support some of Camila's children in their activities, including Caide gaining a new Karate belt and Isake playing Junior Jazz basketball.

Caide receiving his Blue belt

Also receiving a kick to the mid section

Isake dribbling the ball, he also shoots pretty well

In our visits to Camila we started to play different memory games with her to assess how well she is doing and to see how much we are truly able to help her progress.

Helping Camila to match different animals of the sea

A later visit to Camila with Ben, her ability with the memory game was much better this visit

We had a nice visit with Gina and Danny with their children after visiting the Provo City Center temple.  We facilitated the first Finance Course lesson with them also.

With Addisyn, Hudson and Danny

Our next Grandchild Date was with little Jacob, one of our six year old grandsons.  We went to the Living Planet Aquarium which was a wonderful experience, everything that we could ever ask for.  We love this little guy and feel like this fulfilled our purpose of strengthening our relationships with him.  We also quite enjoyed it ourselves.  The next two "dates" will be a "movie with our soon to be 13 year old granddaughter" and a visit to Disney on Ice with our 10 year old granddaughter.

Jacob's favorite part of the Aquarium is the Penguins.  They put on quite a show for all of us.

A selfie before entering the 3D movie

Babysitting three grandchildren for 5 days:

While our daughter Beckie and her husband were on a cruise, we tended their three children for 5 of the days.  They were absolutely wonderful kids and we had a wonderful time together.  They helped show us what is right about the children of today and give us hope for the future.  This included participating in a home school day at Classic Fun Center, theater classes, helping in service in our ward and enjoying our stair/chair lift in our home.    After an action packed week however, we were ready to be empty nesters again.

Abbie and Mckenzie with their mustaches, made from their hair put in braids

Kaleb jumping at the Fun Center

Everyone together eating lunch at the Classic Fun Center

Enjoying the projector, even after we finished our movie

Many trips on the chair lift.  This one, Kaleb is giving a ride to Abbie with the remote control

Going through a car wash, a first for the kids

Kaleb helping the High Priests set up for a funeral the next day

Perhaps the most significant day of our time with them was on Valentine's Day.  It was filled with special time together and highlighted by significant service to others.  They were angels as we did service together this day. 

Decoring Valentine Cookies to give to all of our home teaching and visiting teaching families and others

Sharing Valentine cards and cookies with Camila

Visiting one of our sisters that we home teach.  They all loved seeing our grandchildren.

Valentine cards and roses for Debbie, from all of us

Debbie's famous Valentine meatloaf, potatoes mashed by McKenzie

Results from our Photo Shoot:

We received our photos back from the Photo Shoot that we did in December with Tom's mother, brothers and sisters-in-law.  We think they turned out pretty well.  We took advantage of the sitting to get un updated photo of us also.

Tom's Mom with her living sons and daughter in laws

Tom's mom with her living sons

Un updated photo of Tom and Debbie

Fixing things at home:

One of our major accomplishments was to get our cuckoo clock working again.  As I looked for someone to fix our clock which has not been working for several years, I found some instructions for repairing cuckoo clocks.  I followed the instructions and was able to get it working!  Now it cuckoos each hour at the same time that my retirement clock plays the Westminster chimes. 

Cuckoo clock on an improvised Cuckoo clock stand, so I could make the repairs from the back .

Renewing acquaintances:

Last night we finally were able to get together once again with Elder Richard Cook and Elder John Carmack.  We loved our years when I worked with them with the Perpetual Education Fund.  Last night we joined with them and Shirley Carmack at a dinner of the Cannon/Hinckley Church History Society.  Sweet memories were revisited and friendships renewed.  They are now in their late 80s but are as productive and alert as ever.

With Elder Richard Cook and Elder John and Shirley Carmack

Self-Reliance Groups:

We continue to hold the Finance Self-Reliance group meetings with our own children.  This has been very rewarding as we not only discuss finances but also have very meaningful discussions about the gospel.  Due to scheduling conflicts we are holding 4 or 5 separate self-reliance classes each week.  That means 10 hours a week to this priority.  It takes our time, but it is time very well spent and invested.

On February 8, we were asked to present our mission experiences to the Singles of the our stake.  It was a wonderful moment together as we shared Self-Reliance principles, success stories and miracles that we experienced.  When we have these opportunities, all the special memories of our mission come back.  We are thankful to have these opportunities.  We also make sure we follow the counsel of Elder De Feo to always testify of the Savior's hand in our mission.

We were also asked to start self-reliance groups with the young missionaries at Welfare Square.  So each Tuesday morning we spent an hour with them going through the My Foundation principles.  We just finished lesson number 3.  These are young missionaries who are not able to serve in traditional missions but work at Welfare Square for the time of their missions.  They start each day with a devotional.  On Tuesdays that time is spent with the Self-Reliance classes.  We divide them into two different groups and we each facilitate the smaller groups.

Debbie with her group of missionaries 

Tom with his group of missionaries

Family History and Temple Work:

We believe that our greatest accomplishments are to do the work for our ancestors in the temples.  We have been able to get many of our siblings, mother, children and grandchildren involved in this great work.  Several are putting our finds from our mission into Family Search.  We continue to catalogue those images that we brought home with us and to find new ones through resources available to us at home.

Marriage information found on what we hope is Debbie's 5th great grandfather, Johann Gabriel Heinrich Möller.  We found this at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.  We will try to confirm this on our upcoming trip back to Germany.

As the Family History work continues, we are also doing as many temple ordinances as possible.  We have shared names with cousins, siblings and our own children and grandchildren to get this important work done.  In this process, our primary temple to visit for now is the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, only 10 minutes from our home.  However, we have been able to visit other temples in the process in this past month.

Salt Lake Temple with our grandchildren, Katelyn and Joseph who did baptisms for the dead for their own relatives

Our fist endowment session in the Brigham City Temple

Our first visit to the Provo City Center Temple

 Additional Learnings:

This brings us back to our purpose.  It is not only to serve our families on earth and our ancestors, but to also grow closer to our Heavenly Father.  Our service helps us greatly in this purpose.  Our study sessions and worship services also help significantly.  Insights have come from President Russel M. Nelson, ward members and the Holy Ghost.  A few thoughts that have been helpful to us follow:

Growing into obedience of principles
From a priesthood lesson comment from emeritus General Authority Elder Keith Edwards.  He taught us that the Quorum of the Twelve have chosen to teach correct principles about the Sabbath and then let each member grow into those principles.  I received a strong witness from the Holy Ghost about this principle.  I have spent too much effort teaching practices instead of principles and holding others to my standards of living those principles.  I hope that I will allow others to grow on their own. This becomes much more meaningful and effective for them.  That same week we heard a testimony from one of our children about growing into the law of tithing.  It fit exactly under this pattern.  This obviously fits with Joseph Smith's declaration that he teaches the members of the Church correct principles and let's them govern themselves.  I have probably been too hard headed to understand this principle before, but this month I have finally understood.

Seeking Holiness
Once again, this came from our ward and a priesthood lesson about seeking holiness.  Our good bishop gave a wonderful talk about defining the core of our ward.  As he covered many thoughts, he centered his comments on the fact that the majority of the members of our ward are not seeking for riches on this earth but have dedicated their efforts to seek the treasures of heaven.  I thought that so well described what we have seen in our ward.  Most are retired, almost all are actively trying to serve others and are no longer chasing the treasures of the world.  As we studied seeking holiness in our priesthood meeting, I saw the following from the Bible Dictionary on Holiness.  "The value of worship in the eyes of God depends upon the personal character of the worshipper."  Once again, we should not overemphasize the practices or ceremonial ordinances required, but pursue the change in our hearts, our attitudes and our character.  Those practices should help us along the way, but the end result should not be in doing the practices but in acquiring the character of Christ.

Inspirational quotes from some of the talks of President Russell M. Nelson

• As you prayerfully develop self-mastery, desires of the flesh may be subdued
• The surest step toward joy in the morning is virtue in the evening
• How is it possible to achieve the "impossible"? learn and obey the teachings of God.  From the holy scriptures, heaven-sent lift will be found for heaven-sent duties.
• His peace is personal.  But that spirit of inner peace is driven away by contention.
• In partnership with God, [a mother's] divine mission is to help spirits live and souls be lifted.
• Honors bestowed upon me by men could not approach the inner peace provided by sealings performed in the house of the Lord.
• I believe that in the pursuit of education, individual desire is more influential than institution, and personal faith more forceful than faculty.
• The Lord hides His wisdom from no one: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God."
• [Priesthood] is not conferred for honor, but for a ministry of service.
• Divine doctrines cannot be squeezed into compact molds to make them fit fashionable patterns of the day.
• Only the comprehension of the true Fatherhood of God can bring full appreciation of the true brotherhood of man.  That understanding inspires desire to build bridges of cooperation instead of walls of segregation.
• Perhaps the greatest example of vicarious work for the dead is the Master himself.  He gave his life as a vicarious atonement, that all who die shall live again and have life everlasting.  He did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
• Some allow their allegiance to God and His kingdom to slip below that of other interests in life. They have not yet determined which way they face.
• Even though our Creator endowed us with this incredible power, He consigned a counterbalancing gift to our bodies.  It is the blessing of aging, with visible reminders that we are mortal beings destined one day to leave this "frail existence."
• An enduring marriage results when both husband and wife regard their union as one of the two most important commitments they will ever make.  The other commitment of everlasting consequence is to the Lord.
• The highest ordinances in the house of the Lord are received by husband and wife together and equally - or not at all!
• When you read the Book of Mormon concentrate on the principal figure in the book - from its first chapter to the last - the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God.
• Few find the way because they ignore the divine road map provided by the Lord.  An even more serious mistake is to ignore the Maker of the map.
• As you ponder and pray about doctrinal principles, the Holy Ghost will speak to your mind and your heart.  From events portrayed in the scriptures, new insights will come and principles relevant to your situation will distill upon your heart.
• Time for scripture study requires a schedule that will be honored.  Otherwise, blessings that matter most will be at the mercy of thins that matter least.

This morning we listened to a talk from President Nelson that ties so well into the comments that we used to begin this blog post.  He spoke of the blessings of the temple and made the following statements:

• Each temple ordinance is not just a ritual to go through, it is an act of solemn promising.
• When we choose to deny ourselves of all ungodliness, we lose nothing of value and gain the glory of eternal life.  Covenants do not hold us down; they elevate us beyond the limits of our own power and perspective.

We testify that the Lord has been speaking through President Nelson for many years.  As we ponder his life and his words and follow his counsel, we certainly will be blessed.