Blessed Abundantly by Following the Prophet

Two years ago, we completed our mission in Europe. Soon after we returned, Russell M. Nelson was sustained as the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. At the end of the April 2018 general conference he stated: "Our message to the world is simple and sincere: we invite all of God’s children on both sides of the veil to come unto their Savior, receive the blessings of the holy temple, have enduring joy, and qualify for eternal life."  We have tried to make that invitation our priority. President Nelson has revealed "adjustments" that have helped us to minister better to our family and in our community. We have been blessed to truly learn the gospel by embracing the new Come Follow Me curriculum.

I wanted to focus a little bit on the wonderful journey we have had this year learning from the New Testament in Come Follow Me. Our time studying the life of the Savior while studying the gospels was edifying and included our trip to Israel. It didn't seem like anything could improve on the significant personal revelations that we received during those first six months of the year. However, we have been blown away with all the increased learning we have had while studying the remainder of the New Testament, especially the epistles of Paul. I had read them many times, but never really studied them. As we diligently followed the outline of Come Follow Me and followed up with additional resources, these amazing epistles have come alive for us. Through the example, teachings and witness of Paul, I feel like I have learned so much more about my Savior and His plan and doctrine. I will be forever grateful for this experience.

While studying the epistles of Paul, each week we receive significant learnings and light beyond what we had previously understood. Each comes with commitments that I must keep to continue on my eternal progression. The following is a quick list of some of these learnings and commitments.

• Becoming a "Cheerful Giver". This has helped me to serve in our Home Owners Association with a better attitude. (2 Corinthians 8-13)
• Focusing on being more Holy. I love the emphasis on the hymn "More Holiness Give Me". I know that the phrases of this hymn are individual steps that I must follow to become "holier". (1 and 2 Thessalonians)
• Let "joy" be my motivation as I encounter difficult challenges, following the example of Jesus Christ. This is a major learning to better understand how to practice charity, the pure love of Christ. (Philippians and Colossians)
• The understanding of forgiveness and the example of Paul in his letter to Philemon. This was very powerful. (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon)
• The insights of "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation". This taught me about the true problem of the Israelites in the wilderness. They would not trust the Lord to guide them in their battles. Their fear overtook their faith.  We must trust in the Lord in all of our doings, especially in his promises! (Hebrews l-6)

That leads me to the past two weeks of study of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The following comes from my journal:

"We recently finished our studies of Hebrews over the past two weeks. I have been amazingly edified by many new insights and clearer understanding. Several have been mentioned in our Come Follow Me group postings. However, I want to include some additional comments from my journal

However the highlight to all this study was the first two verses of Hebrews 12 which have become some of my very favorite verses of scripture:

1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I know that after all the witnesses that I have received I need to lay aside every weight of sin and “run with patience the race that is set before us”. That is my need, “to run the race that is set before me”, not comparing it to any other, my own personal race. And I must do it looking to my Savior who is “ the author and finisher of our faith.” This has become my favorite title of My Savior for I know that my faith is in the plan of my Heavenly Father and My Savior, they are the authors of my faith. However, after all that I can do, in addition to all that I can do, the finisher of my faith is My Savior. That tells me that I cannot finish my race, but He can. I love that imagery and perfect description of “grace”.

Then the description that President Nelson focused on three years ago, that the Savior “endured the cross” “for the joy that was set before him”. This phrase has opened my mind to the strength and motivation of Our Savior as He suffered for our sins and afflictions. It was because He in His perfect charity saw our joys that we would experience through His atonement and that gave Him purpose in His sacrifice. This is best described in a President Nelson’s words, “And what was the joy that was set before Him? Surely it included the joy of cleansing, healing, and strengthening us; the joy of paying for the sins of all who would repent; the joy of making it possible for you and me to return home—clean and worthy—to live with our Heavenly Parents and families.”

Impact from our Self-Reliance mission:

We just completed two years since we returned from our mission to Germany. We still cherish relationships with the missionaries that we served with. Every six months we have a missionary reunion. This photo was from our reunion in October. These are great people and we all love getting together. We always have plenty of good food and even better conversation.

This reunion included missionaries from the Europe Area from the years of 2013 to 2018

We also continue to serve as self-reliance facilitators. We just finished two more groups. One was the self-reliance group that we facilitated at Welfare Square with the Church Service missionaries. They were taught in three different groups, those that worked at the Storehouse, the Dairy and the Cannery. Debbie and I facilitated the Cannery and the Dairy Zones, while Elder and Sister Miller facilitated the Storehouse Zone. We met every Monday morning at 8:15 am, covering one of the My Foundation lessons until 9:15 am. These missionaries have many different abilities. Some have significant handicaps, but all have strong spirits. We have grown to love these missionaries and learned much from them. The photo below is from our last day of the 12 week course with their graduation certificates.

Welfae Square Church Service Missionaries with their graduation certificates

We also completed our fourth Personal Finance Self-Reliance course for our ward. We hold the class at our home around our kitchen table. We have developed amazing relationships with each of these dear ward members. We also have found that every time we go through this course, we improve our own personal finances. Some principles and habits take time to put into practice. This photo below is missing the husband of one of the sisters (see his magnifying glass on the table) in one of our last classes. Our service project was to go and do an endowment session, lunch and a sealing session together as a class. It was a wonderful project!!

Our class, mission Tom Allen in the photo

Putting our Family up on the wall:

We have been working on our new family photo and finally getting it up on the wall. We ordered a custom print and framing of the photo so that it would be big enough to see the different individuals. We also updated all of the family photos of our children, printing out new ones that were taken at our reunion. Once this was all done, we tackled getting it up on the wall. Since we had chose to put it above our staircase, the logistics got pretty complicated. Finally we broke down and bought a new ladder that was adjustable to work on the staircase to finish the job. Photos show the process and the finished project.

Ladder on the stairs so we could put the photos on the wall

We were pretty happy with the final result.  We will be showing this off to others for quite a while.  We don't know if it will ever get updated again

In addition to putting our family on the wall, we continue to cherish the experiences we have individually with many of our family members.  I (Tom) have had many opportunities to spend quite a bit of individual time with some of my children.  They have allowed me to be part of their lives.  Many of them have limitations that came from their birth circumstances, but their hearts are good.  I have been able to work with Ben to help him work on his stated priority to help the poor and the needy.  His heart is so good and he has taught me so much.  Moroni has allowed me to be involved in his finances.  He loves his daughter and makes many sacrifices to be the best father that he can be.  We have seen miracles from Heavenly Father as he has been able to overcome significant financial challenges in his life.  As I visit with Camila and ponder her vey difficult health challenges, I have learned to see her a little bit like my Heavenly Father does and it fills my soul with love for her.

We also have several of our children and grandchildren who have chosen different paths in life than we would have chosen.  However, we have learned to love them and their partners for who they are and the goodness of their hearts.  As we get to know them better, our love for them increases.  Just in the last 48 hours we have had visits with several of them and we have felt their love and respect for us while we are able to give unconditional love to them.  We must continue to work on this, but we feel that we are learning to love as the Savior loves.

Family History and Temple Work:

This is an ongoing emphasis for us and many individuals helps us in this process.  My mother puts information that we have gathered into Family Search every day.  Debbie and I add whatever we are able to in the time we have available.  We have wonderful individuals, relatives, neighbors and friends who are constantly helping perform the proxy work for our dear ancestors and relatives.  Quarterly we hold sealing sessions with our siblings to do some of the sealing ordinances for our relatives. 

On October 26, we had one more of these special sealing sessions with my brothers and spouses.  I will share this amazing experience in the words that I wrote in my journal that night.

"Family temple sealing session. 20 couples and 53 children to parent sealings. Started with 8 of us, then Beckie and Rob and Sara had to leave after 40 minutes. Dave had to leave an hour later. We finished with Jim, Debbie and I and my mother. This was only possible due to the new policy change to allow women to serve as witnesses. What a blessing that change was for us.  

We still had 5 daughters and 9 couple sealings unfinished, but completed so many sealings. All 20 couples included direct great . . . grandfathers. 17 included great . . . grandmothers. Most children sealings belonged to these couples. The sealer struggled mightily with the pronunciation of the German names. However at the end, as I listened to the last few blessings in the couple sealing, I was overcome with feelings of gratitude for the blessings that were made available during those two hours to our dear ancestors. 

As I ponder where we have been able to obtain each of these names and the previous temple work done for each of them, my heart is full of gratitude to be part of this work to gather Israel on both sides of the veil. I know this is certainly part of my foreordained mission on this earth and I rejoice in the resources and opportunities that have been made available for me to assist in this great work."

The temple ordinances completed that day, October 26.

My comments above about my foreordained mission was part of personal revelation that I received in our Come Follow Me Study in the early part of October in the Book of Ephesians.  The following are some of my notes from that lesson:

September 30–October 13. Ephesians

“For the Perfecting of the Saints”

As I have studied predestination vs. foreordination, I read the talk from President Eyring with Debbie. He talked about us being foreordained at this time of the world to do this essential family history work. I have felt this before, but as I read the paragraph above, I knew that this is one of my foreordained responsibilities. 

"Many of your ancestors did not receive those ordinances. But in the providence of God, you did. And God knew that you would feel drawn to your ancestors in love and that you would have the technology necessary to identify them. He also knew that you would live in a time when access to holy temples, where the ordinances can be performed, would be greater than ever in history. And He knew that He could trust you to accomplish this work in behalf of your ancestors."

Halloween:

One of our best family activities each year is our Halloween party. This year was very special, because our granddaughter McKenzie took charge of the party and we were able to just participate and enjoy. This was part of a YoungWomen's project for her Young Women's Medallion before the end of the year.

McKenzie, in charge, Harry Potter style

Debbie put a lot of time in making our costumes for the party. This was accomplished with some purchases and modifications. We thought it turned out really well. We dressed up as Germans.

The German costumes looking pretty authentic

One thing that makes this party really fun is the involvement of the different families and their own costumes. The following are photos of many of the families from the party or on Halloween Day.

Jared and his family as unicorns

Beckie's kids with a Harry Potter twist and Batman

Jamie's kids in a different style for each of them.  Cousin Tiancom is in the middle of this photo also.

Gina's family were the Incredibles

Kari's family included her grandchild with her parents

Pollyanna and her daughters

Four cousins together, included Tiare and Arianna who were not in the previous photos

River and Adriane and their kids came over to our house on Halloween night, dressed as wolves

Birthdays:

Photos of a few of the birthday celebrations of our grandchildren this past month:

Asher blowing out his cake, turning nine

Asher opening his card and present (dinosaur came from the parents)

Natalia turning twelve

McKenzie turning twelve

Caide, turning 17

Other Grandchildren activities:

Katelyn's choir sang at the tabernacle with 7 other high schools to celebrate Veteran's Day

Abbie celebrating her accomplishments in Activity Days

Isake playing in the championship game for his football league

We visited Ammon at his home for his birthday and enjoyed time with his little son, Tommy.  It was good to spend time with him in his environment.  It was especially good to see Ammon being a good dad, including putting Tommy to bed and cleaning up after him.  What a joy! The photo below exemplifies the special relationship they have, seeing their shoes lined up by each other on their carpet.

Shoes from Ammon and Tommy

And let us not be weary in well doing . . .

One of the many scriptures that have left an impression on my heart during our Come Follow Me study this year is in Galatians 6:9-10, "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.  As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith."  Since our last blog post nearly two months ago, we have worked to follow this counsel as we go about our day to day living, trying to do good to all men with a good attitude, "for God loveth a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7).  There were no major events or accomplishments, but we have found joy in our lives, especially in our daily study of the gospel and in our efforts to serve or minister to our family and others.

Family Photos

The following photos reflects that type of effort.  It started with our Family Reunion photos on July 30 and then we had added to them photos taken of several of our family members that were not able to be at the family reunion.  After several photos and adjustments to the photos with our photographer, we came up with these final results.  We have now ordered a large copy of this group photo to be on our wall in our home, perhaps the last family photo we take.  It includes most of our posterity, allowing agency in those who chose to participate or not.  It includes 39 of our 40 grandchildren at the time and our first great grandchild.  In total we had 69 in the photo, including my mother.  We were only missing 5 individuals.  That has required being not "weary in well doing".

Final Updated photo of our Posterity

We also updated photos of our children and our grandchildren from the same reunion with the photo editing as follows:

15 of our children with their parents.  This includes our foreign exchange daughter, Giovanna.

Debbie and I with 39 grandchildren and one great grandchild

Special Reencounter with a dear friend after 45 years

I recently received a pleasant surprise when I received a Facebook Friend Request from Michael Johnson.  Mike was probably my closest friend right before my first mission, while we were both working at Der Wienerschnitzel.  Mike looked me up and we entered into contact immediately.  The next night he spent the evening with us catching up on old times.  Soon after my mission, Mike enntered the army and we lost contact with each other (1974). That was 45 years ago.

Mike Johnson was always an amazing person.  He has an uncanny ability to listen with total love, always caring about others. He would always make you feel special.  I have often used him as a positive example on how to make friends and serve others.  As we got together again, Mike was that very same amazing person.  He wanted to know everything about my life, my mother's life and our family for the past 45 years.  Finally we were able to prevail on him to tell us a little about his past 45 years.  He has lived an amazing life of his own, ending up being a camera man for the CNN News Bureau in Moscow, Russia.  He told us many amazing stories as he covered all of the involvement of the iron curtain coming down, following Mikhail Gorbachev during these world changing years.  This included being in some very dangerous and life threatening situations.  It was a wonderful and entertaining night together.  

However, you cannot cover 45 years in one evening.  So Mike is coming back over to eat a true Wienerschnitzel meal with us this week.  We want to hear the last 25 years of his life, including 15 years of working in Hollywood and living in Thailand for the past 4 years.

With my dear friend Mike Johnson, the flowers behind are what he brought as he arrived, typical Mike Johnson style

Come Follow Me Study

One of the primary activities in our daily lives is the study of the gospel, especially using the Come Follow Me curriculum.  We have individually strived to follow the outline of the curriculum, answering all individual questions and reviewing the additional resources.  Each night, we share with each other what we have learned and study other resources from the Sunday School manual. The pondering that accompanies this process has facilitated some pretty amazing personal revelation.  

We wondered if this would be more difficult after we had finished the four gospels and Acts.  However, as we have "not been weary in well doing" this revelatory experience has continued in the epistles of Paul that we have studied the past two months.  The following are some examples of our learning.  I am including detailed writings from my journal and study journal about each of these at the end of this blog.

• An increased understanding of the importance of the resurrection
• Promptings on how to be a "cheerful giver"
• Specific focus of doing "good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith"
• An inspired understanding of one of my foreordained responsibilities in this life

We have also enjoyed watching General Conference and then using that as our Come Follow Me focus the following week.  Each of these talks are full of inspiration and revealed truths.  Studying the words of our living prophets and Church leaders is a great source of personal revelation for each of us.  We also enjoyed a very meaningful stake conference the week previous to General Conference.  A primary focus of that conference was the Come Follow Me study program.  

We know that this is inspired of our Heavenly Father.  In General Conference we were reminded that President Russell M. Nelson had told us “The adversary is increasing his attacks on faith and upon us and our families at an exponential rate. To survive spiritually, we need counterstrategies and proactive plans” and then “As you diligently work to remodel your home into a center of gospel learning, … the influence of the adversary in your life and in your home will decrease"

Family History and Temple Work

We find great joy in serving in the temple as ordinance workers and also participating as patrons for temple ordinances for our ancestors.  When we have open time, we seek out additional names of our ancestors for whom we can perform ordinances.  I have focused my efforts recently on some of the empty spots on my 13 generation fan chart below. 

13 Generation Fan Chart beginning with my grandfather, born in Germany

I have been pleased to receive spiritual guidance in identifying additional ancestors in my direct line and using the several resources that we have been blessed with to research effectively. As I have prayed for guidance, thoughts and impressions come to me and individuals are found in my research.

Debbie's focus has been on entering family tree information that we have found on Family Search microfilm images for the region where her great grandfather was born.  See the image below.  Debbie's efforts have been to read and interpret this image and put all of the information into Family Search.

Hubschmann Family Tree

As we have been able to identify many more deceased relatives, we once again were able to take our grandchildren to the temple to perform baptisms for these relatives.  We did this on October 4, 2019, just two days after the change to allow women and youth to be witnesses for the baptisms.  This allowed Debbie and one grandchild to witness many of these baptisms, which included over 40 Hubschmanns or spouses and 12 additional direct ancestors that Tom had been able to identify.  This gave us great joy as we were able to continue the gathering of Israel "on both sides of the veil".

Many Hubschmann relatives and 12 direct ancestors

A selfie with our grandchildren in front of the temple

Finally, on October 13 we were able to have a temple sealing session with Debbie's siblings.  We scheduled a double session since there were so many to do.  We still didn't finish them all, but completed 22 couple sealings and 44 children sealed to their parents.  We were also able to benefit from the new policy allowing women to be witnesses in the sealing ordinances, since we only had 5 of us there, three men and two women.  However, that allowed us to always have two witnesses of either gender while children where sealed to parents.  These were possible due to incredible participation by living members of the Moeller family in acting as proxy for the preliminary ordinances of baptism, confirmation, initiatory and endowment.  This is a wonderful feeling to participate in seeing these families sealed together for eternity.

Serving in our Community and with Self-Reliance

We continue to have opportunities to serve in our community.  Debbie was appointed as the Camp Captain for the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Temple View Camp.  They had their first meeting this past month, focusing on the theme of trains, due to the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the railroad this year.  Debbie is learning much and is able to serve with other dedicated ladies.  Their opening social was a success with three new members joining and a few Daughters coming back after a short absence.  Debbie enjoys being part of those whose purpose is to honor our pioneer heritage.

Decorated tables for the opening social, with train tracks and signs on each table

Debbie with several of the other officers before their first activity

Tom continues to serve with the Cornerstone Condominium Home Owners Association.  Besides major needs that often occur, his ongoing duty is changing light bulbs for nearly 600 outdoor lights.  The photos below shows Tom changing one of the lights and his car that doubles as a carrier for a ladder to facilitate this process.

Changing burned out light bulbs, a never ending task

Our Toyota Corolla doubles as a truck with the window open

I (Tom) was asked to give a fifth Sunday lesson in June on finances in our ward.  As part of the lesson, the bishop asked me to cover a little about Trusts and Funeral planning due to the unique nature of our ward.  At the end, the bishop asked me to organize additional events to help those members who had asked for more information in preparing their trusts and planning for their funerals.  We had a funeral director in our ward, so that was easy, but I didn't know who had the expertise to lead a discussion about trusts.  That week, while serving in the temple, my shift coordinator stopped to talk to me for a minute.  I commented that he seemed to be always serving in the temple.  He said that he did not serve on Thursdays and Fridays because he had to work.  In that discussion, I learned that he was a trust attorney.  He agreed to lead a discussion in our ward a few weeks later.  The Lord certainly does provide the means for us to accomplish that which we are asked to do.  We have also subsequently updated my mother's trust and created our own trust.

Scott Jenkins, my temple shift coordinator, facilitating a trust discussion for ward members

Ron Broomhead, member of our ward, facilitating a funeral planning discussion for our ward members

We also were able to start one more self-reliance finance class for our ward.  We love getting to know these great members as we facilitate this class in our home.  We also returned to Welfare Square to facilitate the Self-Reliance My Foundation course for the young Church Service Missionaries that serve there.  Many of these missionaries have different disabilities, but they serve with dedication.  They are inspiring to us.  Each of these groups will complete their twelve week course next month.

We have three groups at Welfare Square, zones for the Dairy, the Cannery and the Bishop's Storehouse.  Debbie and I facilitate one of the groups, while the Senior Missionary couple facilitates the third group.

I also just completed a Finance Self-Reliance Course with our son Benjamin.  As part of that course, Ben set a goal to do more service for the homeless and hungry.  Together, we volunteered at the Rescue Mission which turned out to be a good experience for both of us.

Ben, ready to serve food to the homeless, a little before they came down to eat

New Babies in our Posterity and their Blessings

The past two months have given us several opportunities to celebrate our newborn grandchildren and great granddaughter.  We were able to participate in the blessings of our two new grandchildren, Own Elliot Digerness and Emily Jane Digerness.  We were also able to have our great granddaughter with us on Labor Day and were able to take a five generation photo.  Photos follow:

Daniel with his son Son on his blessing day (September 1)

Dan, Amy and Owen, Jared, Melanie and Emily on Owen's blessing day

Jared, Melanie and Emily on Emily's blessing day (October 13)

Five Generations, Marceline, Braden (Father), Kari (Grandma), Debbie (Great Grandma) and  Goldia (Great, Great Grandma) on Labor Day

On a side note, at Owen's reveal party in March, his parents asked everyone to guess when he would be born.  As his grandfather, I was able to select the exact date of his birth, July 23, 2019.  I was rewarded with the prize for the correct guess.

Tom Rueckert's name on July 23, 2019

Prize for the correct guess

Birthday Celebrations
 As is our tradition, we are able to celebrate birthdays with our children and grandchildren.  Photos of those celebrations in Utah follow.  We also celebrated 3 grandchildren birthdays long distance with our grandchildren in Pennsylvania.

Our grandson Tommy with his mother and other relatives on his first birthday.  His birthday party was in the theme of a Mexican TV show.  It also showed in Brazil under the name of "Chaves"

Tommy enjoying on of his birthday books

Joshua on his 13th birthday

Addie on her 5th Birthday

Addie blowing out the candle on the cake held by her dad

Braden celebrating his 20th birthday

Kaleb on his 6th birthday and his Bugopedia Book

Kaleb enjoying his book with his Oma

Great Grandma with Joshua and Addie celebrating September Birthdays during our family gathering

Other Grandchildren Events:

Arianna at her dance fund raiser

Oma reading to Aria and Paisley while tending

Joseph receiving his Star Rank in the Boy Scouts

Joshua receiving merit badges at the same Court of Honor

Katelyn working at Zupas, site of our Friday night date

Dinner at our September Family Home Evening

Great Grandma Rueckert with her youngest Great Grandchild, Emily

 A few random photos

I have spent all summer growing my garden in "grow boxes" on our Patio.  This is a photo taken several weeks ago, while I was harvesting one of our cucumbers.  We have enjoyed months of cherry tomatoes and quite a few cucumbers.  We have even enjoyed a few cantaloupes.  We have had some full size tomatoes and our pepper plants are finally growing peppers.  It is a race between the peppers and a killing frost.

As we came home tonight, we saw this beautiful view of the Jordan River Temple and a full moon from our neighborhood.  What a beautiful sight!  This is one of the many things that we love about living where we do.

Some of the revelatory experiences that I have experienced in the past several weeks in my study of the Come Follow Me curriculum

From my personal journal on September 4, 2019

It is late but I must right down some impressions that I have received today. My desire is to follow the counsel of Elder Scott (see last week’s Come Follow Me study) to gain all that I can or should receive in promptings and personal revelation from my Father in Heaven. 

Today in Come Follow Me Debbie and I studied 1 Corinthians 15 and the topic of the resurrection of our Savior.  Apparently some of the Saints at Corinth were teaching that there would be no resurrection of the dead.  Chapter 15 is Paul’s response to the Corinthians on the subject of the resurrection. 

The first assignment in Come Follow Me was as follows: “As you read Paul’s response in 1 Corinthians 15, take a moment to ponder how your life would be different if you did not believe in the Resurrection. How has it blessed you?”

My summarized response was “Because of the resurrection, I have hope and am not “most miserable”.  The meaning of life is tied to the eternities. I believe my thinking and priorities would be more inward if I didn’t believe in the resurrection.  The resurrection, as a fulfillment of scripture also gives validity to scriptural prophecies and principles.  As Paul said, my faith would be vain and I would remain in my sins. For as in Adam all die and we would remain thus without the Savior’s resurrection.”

The next question was as follows:”What blessings will come to you because Jesus Christ was resurrected? (see 2 Nephi 9:6–19; Alma 40:19–23; Doctrine and Covenants 93:33–34).”  I reviewed these scriptures and highlighted some answers.

The last question was “What does the phrase “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain” mean to you? (verse 17).”

My answer follows:

My faith in the Savior and the plan of salvation is based on the resurrection and atonement of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer. Without a Redeemer, the plan of salvation is void and my faith is vain. 

This had gotten my thinking going, but my thoughts were still quite normal to my life’s understanding. 

Then tonight Debbie and I shared our study together as we normally do, our conclusions although differing, were still consistent with each other. 

Then we went to the Sunday School lesson and reviewed their ideas and questions which suggested an exercise similar to what we had done. It then led us to a quote from Elder D. Todd Christofferson as follows:

“Significance of the Resurrection.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson taught:

“Consider for a moment the significance of the Resurrection in resolving once and for all the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth and the great philosophical contests and questions of life. If Jesus was in fact literally resurrected, it necessarily follows that He is a divine being. No mere mortal has the power in himself to come to life again after dying. Because He was resurrected, Jesus cannot have been only a carpenter, a teacher, a rabbi, or a prophet. Because He was resurrected, Jesus had to have been a God, even the Only Begotten Son of the Father.

“Therefore, what He taught is true; God cannot lie.

“Therefore, He was the Creator of the earth, as He said.

“Therefore, heaven and hell are real, as He taught.

“Therefore, there is a world of spirits, which He visited after His death.

“Therefore, He will come again, as the angels said, and ‘reign personally upon the earth.’

“Therefore, there is a resurrection and a final judgment for all” (“The Resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2014, 113).”

We then proceeded to read his entire talk on The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, including rereading this powerful quote. I am detailing the process to remember for myself and also to show how the Spirit can work on us after we have been pondering a subject extensively. 

As we read this talk, I was highlighting many of the thoughts and the Holy Ghost expanded my view and understanding. The following are the quotes that I highlighted. I would recommend a complete read and study of this amazing talk.

“A crushing sense of defeat and despair enveloped His disciples as Jesus suffered and died on the cross and His body was placed lifeless in the tomb. Despite what the Savior had repeatedly said of His death and subsequent rising again, they had not understood. The dark afternoon of His Crucifixion, however, was soon followed by the joyous morning of His Resurrection. But that joy came only as the disciples became eyewitnesses of the Resurrection, for even the declaration of angels that He had risen was at first incomprehensible—it was something so totally unprecedented.”

I realized that the world never even remotely understood the concept of the resurrection. They had seen many key individuals, kings, rulers, prophets, etc. each live significant lives and then die. This concept was totally foreign to each of them, including the apostles. It had never happened before!

Elder Christofferson then reviewed the events of the resurrection and the slow to understand responses from those who were close to him. This included Mary Magdalene and the apostles. 

They were are slow to believe. However through multiple appearances, eating food, returning again (for Thomas), giving detailed instructions to his apostles over the next 40 days in Galilee, they became special witnesses of the Savior and His resurrection. Paul eventually became one of these. 

Again from Elder Christofferson, quoting Joseph Smith:

“Did the Lord in reality die and rise again? Yes. “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.””

Why is this so important?  Back to my study earlier in the day, the blessings of the Resurrection and how life would be different if there were no resurrection.  Some of these are well summarized by the following thoughts from Elder Christofferson:

“In the words of Elder Neal A. Maxwell: “Christ’s victory over death ended the human predicament. Now there are only personal predicaments, and from these too we may be rescued by following the teachings of him who rescued us from general extinction.”

Having satisfied the demands of justice, Christ now steps into the place of justice; or we might say He is justice, just as He is love. Likewise, besides being a “perfect, just God,” He is a perfect, merciful God. Thus, the Savior makes all things right. No injustice in mortality is permanent, even death, for He restores life again. No injury, disability, betrayal, or abuse goes uncompensated in the end because of His ultimate justice and mercy.”

“As the prophesied birth of Jesus drew near, there were those among the ancient Nephite and Lamanite peoples who believed, though most doubted. In due course, the sign of His birth arrived—a day and a night and a day without darkness—and all knew. Even so today, some believe in the literal Resurrection of Christ, and many doubt or disbelieve. But some know. In due course, all will see and all will know; indeed, “every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess before him.””

I know that in our day, most do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Because of His resurrection, the Plan of Salvation is in place for each of us. Without His resurrection we have nothing and no hope for a better life. 

I realized tonight that there is more than just the atonement and the resurrection which are infinite in scope and beyond our mortal understanding. Our Savior was resurrected, something that had never been done before or since. He appeared to many and repeatedly to His chosen witnesses so that they could bear witness to the world. This is the basis of the gospel plan. 

His physical resurrection and appearance to so many witnesses has given hope to millions that we can live with Him again. He is the way that we can get from our weakness and our mortal existence to our eternal home. 

I learned earlier in the year that the temple is the way to connect mortality to our immortal home. The temple starts in a telestial state and teaches us how to move into a terrestrial state and prepare to enter into the o Resende of the Lord. It is a very specific path identified that we can follow. The Savior becomes that very same connection to our Heavenly Father. He is that path and the way through which we can return home, because of his resurrection and everything that comes with it. 

The witness of those ancient apostles and our current apostles, is the core message that must be taught and testified to the world. Paul was very clear about it in 1 Corinthians 15 and our apostles, like Elder Christofferson, are very clear today. 

Tonight it became so crystal clear as the the Holy Ghost witnessed this truth to my soul. In my life, I have always believed in the Savior and his plan, but I believe that I kept my understanding small, perhaps so I could more easily get my arms around it. This limited thinking has limited my understanding and my blessings from the atonement of Jesus Christ. 

I am so thankful for the witness that I now have of the Resurrection of the Savior and the meaning of that resurrection in God’s eternal p,an as noted above. I am thankful for the witness of the Holy Ghost of all that I have studied and pondered today. I pray that I will never be the same again, but that my understanding and witness of the resurrection will stay with me and grow even more. I have a great desire to share this. I will start with a Facebook post tomorrow. 

I know that my words are weak and cannot begin to express the joy that I am feeling. I will continue to ponder and add to my understanding. 

From September 16–22  2 Corinthians 8–13

“God Loveth a Cheerful Giver”

2 Corinthians 9:7 ​Every man according as he ​​​purposeth​ in his heart, ​so let him give;​ not ​​​grudgingly​, or of necessity: for God loveth a ​​​cheerful​ ​​​giver​.

​​​8 ​And God ​is​ able to make all ​​​grace​ abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all ​things,​ may abound to every good work:

You might pray for guidance about what you can do to bless someone in need. Be sure to record any impressions you receive and act on them.

As I ponder and pray how to bless others in need, I feel guided to continue our focus on “ministering” Tuesdays. This day, we generally do not go to the temple and can focus on receiving and giving ministering visits to neighbors and family members. This would include magnifying my role in the HOA with a “cheerful heart”, solving problems in our neighborhood, without procrastination. I also feel a need to follow through with the idea of serving with Ben in a soup kitchen or other volunteer opportunity for his benefit and mine also. 

From September 23–29.  Galatians

“Walk in the Spirit”

Perhaps you are trying to walk in the Spirit, but it doesn’t seem like your efforts are bearing the promised fruit. Read Galatians 6:7–10 (often referred to as the law of the harvest). What message do you feel the Lord has for you in these verses? 

To not be weary in well doing. Some who have felt judged by me will need much time, especially when they do not allow interaction at this time.  But “in due season we will reap”.  When the moments are right for them I must be strong in my meekness and love.  I should focus more efforts on those who “are of the household of faith”.

 I have felt this as we reach out to our teenage grandchildren. We should reach out in a way that will strengthen those who are on the covenant path and invite others, but not diminish our efforts to those of the household of faith. This should guide our efforts for our teenager activity week next summer. 

Galatians 6:7 ​Be not ​​​deceived​; God is not ​​​mocked​: for whatsoever a man ​​​soweth​, that shall he also ​​​reap​.

​​​8 ​For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

​​​9 ​And let us not be ​​​weary​ in well doing: for in due season we shall ​​​reap​, if we faint not.

​​​10 ​As we have therefore opportunity, let us do ​​​good​ unto all ​men,​ especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

From September 30–October 13. Ephesians

“For the Perfecting of the Saints”

Many of your ancestors did not receive those ordinances. But in the providence of God, you did. And God knew that you would feel drawn to your ancestors in love and that you would have the technology necessary to identify them. He also knew that you would live in a time when access to holy temples, where the ordinances can be performed, would be greater than ever in history. And He knew that He could trust you to accomplish this work in behalf of your ancestors.

As I have studied predestination vs. foreordination, I read the talk from President Eyring with Debbie. He talked about us being foreordained at this time of the world to do this essential family history work. I have felt this before, but as I read the paragraph above, I knew that this is one of my foreordained responsibilities.