Blown away and 77° in Cape Verde

Right now it is 77° Fahrenheit outside on a Sunday afternoon in Cape Verde.  We have discovered that this is the perfect place to visit during the winter months.  We left Frankfurt on Wednesday afternoon, arriving in Lisbon, Portugal three hours later.  After a five hour layover we continued on to Praia, Cape Verde, arriving a little after midnight Cape Verde time and 2:00 am,  Frankfurt time.  We were able to get to a hotel and finally sleep without any major difficulties.  The next day we spent time with our SRS manager, Lucilino Mendonça, as we visited a few businesses and spent time preparing for activities that will be occurring later on our trip.  The photo below was taken in the waiting room of the one of the businesses.  The waiting room is like an outdoor patio, with this banana tree growing.  We had a very nice visit with this company which provides a human resource service for many small companies, including being the legal employer for over 200 employees.  It may be my favorite waiting room that I have ever seen.  It generally only rains here during the month of August, so this works really well.

That night we took another flight to the island of São Vicente, city of Mindelo.  This will be our home for the next week (Thursday night until the next Thursday morning).  Here we will start the "Jobs Initiative" which we continue in several other islands in the next two weeks.  When we got off of the plane, we were met with incredible gusts of wind.  We believe that they were actually moving the airplane.  Those gusts of wind have continued until today.  They seem to be slowing down and according to forecasts should be gone within the next day or two.

Well we continued onto our hotel, had a dinner and got some sleep.   Below is my dinner plate, when I ordered a "Grouper" fish. You get the entire fish, bones, head and all.

 This city is somewhat small, only 88,000 inhabitants and the streets are wonderfully clean.  There is a comfortable feeling of peace and community. We can walk to most locations.  When we did take a taxi to the stake center, it cost the equivalent of US $2.00. The next day, after working with our SRS manager, James Tavares, we had a few moments to take some photos outside of our hotel. 

View over the bay at sunset

Very unique tree across the street from our hotel

Sister Rueckert with a view of the park across the street and the edge of the bay.

Lonny and Glenda Adams, former self-reliance missionaries in South Africa, were to meet us that night in Mindelo.  They are offering their services, as specialists in this Job Initiative.  Unfortunately, their flight from Lisbon, Portugal left late and they missed their connection between two islands.  So we didn't see them until Saturday morning.  After taking two days to get here, they suffered the dismay of being stuck in the elevator as they were going to their room at the hotel.  It only lasted a few minutes, but we felt really bad for them.  Later that day we went with them to a small grocery store to buy some food that we can eat in our hotel rooms.  I found there a very unique shopping cart. As you can see in the photo below, it is like a small hand basket, but it has wheels on one end.  So you can roll it along the floor and still lift it by the handle.  Sometimes you find really unique things as you visit new places.  Brother and Sister Adams are the couple int he photo below with Sister Rueckert.

We were able to have a wonderful meeting with the Stake Presidency in Mindelo Saturday afternoon as we learned of their challenges and concerns.  We loved their  interest in and support of the Self-Reliance Initiative.  They have the distinction of having the most participants registered on-line in My Path Devotionals in all of Europe with 232.  Almost 200 of those attended devotionals since January 31 of this year.  It was good to understand their feedback before we begin the priesthood training later today.  Later on we met with James and the Adams in his office and continued our preparations for the Jobs Initiative.  During that time we were able to be there while some new converts were baptized.

This morning we attended our Church meetings in one of the wards in Mindelo.  I was very impressed.  The talks in sacrament meeting were excellent.  Both Sunday School and Priesthood meetings were taught with excellent lessons.  There are many returned missionaries in these wards who provide great leadership and service.  Also many new converts and investigators.  The missionaries are working hard and are effective.  I am amazed at the power of young missionaries as they love the people, especially their investigators.  We saw one new member being confirmed and four new ordinations to the Aaronic Priesthood.  The sacrament meeting was full and all meetings had great participation.  This may be far from the center of the Church, but I feel like the Church is in good hands and the future is bright for Cape Verde.  Below is just a photo that I took of many of the people in the foyer after Church meetings, including a young missionary next to Sister Rueckert.

Well, we just got back from the stake leadership training meeting.  In my opinion, it went very well.  Of the five wards in the city, four of the bishops were there, most with a counselor and a self-reliance specialist.  The missing bishop was out of town and we will meet with him later this week, although his ward specialist was in attendance.  We also had the full stake presidency and the stake self-reliance specialist.  I shared most of the doctrine and the self-reliance process.  James and Lonny Adams did most of the sharing of the jobs initiative emphasis.  The leaders seemed very involved, had great questions and discussion.  At the end of the 2 hour meeting, it felt like we were all together with clear roles and direction.  It felt unified.  I know that the Lord was with us.  This is just a start, but what we have set in process should bless the lives of the 300+ members that they have identified as looking for work within this stake.

One egg says it all!

This is an egg that we bought at the Easter Market in Frankfurt yesterday, I will use it as my theme for the week. First we bought it at the Easter Market, a large market specializing in Easter.  The eggshell was died red and than the color was etched off to create the design and the message.  It becomes meaningful because we bought it on the day that we were celebrating Valentine's Day, the day before February 14, which is the Sabbath.  The third message of this egg is the mixture of German and English.  The word "Ei" in German means egg, but it is pronounced as an English "I".  So literally it means Egg Love You, but of course we read it as I Love You.

It has been a productive and enjoyable week in Frankfurt, Germany.  We have been busy preparing for a two week  trip to Cape Verde and Portugal.  We will be leaving on Wednesday of this week.  We will update more about this trip when we are experiencing it.  We have also expanded our role of Missionary Contact Couple to include 5 senior couples that are serving in the Eastern European countries but who have an assignment from their mission president to work with Self-Reliance within their mission. It has been great to talk to missionaries serving in Greece, Romania, Albania and Bosnia this week.  They are amazing missionaries that are dedicated to serving the Lord.  The challenges that the Church faces in these countries can be overwhelming, but with faith, these missionaries move forward making a significant difference. 

There are many things that add to our joy as we serve in Frankfurt, Germany and we would like to share some of the uniqueness of this beautiful part of the world.  One of our favorites is the view of the skyline of Frankfurt from our apartment.  The following is a photo we took on a clear night this week.  It's not as good as seeing it in person, but it is still a beautiful site.

Also this week, during our German language class, we saw this beautiful rainbow after the rain of the day had stopped.  The rainbow is over the apartment building where we live.

In Germany, Valentine's is not such a major holiday as in the U.S.  Probably only 30% of the people celebrate.  However, we did, since we have the privilege of serving together. We are not only missionary companions but also each other's "Valentine".  It was a little different, but we did manage to find some roses and chocolate and the egg that I showed above, at a much better price than we would pay in the U.S. during this time of year.

Some of the decorations that Sister Rueckert made for Valentines

For our Valentine's dinner, we had reservations at the Chicago Meatpackers, a restaurant in Frankfurt that serves American food, especially beef.  We had perhaps the best ribs that we have ever eaten.  They were wonderful! This restaurant even had free parking right next door.  It finished off a wonderful Valentines celebration, which we completed before the official Valentine's Day.

Hard to see but the wall in the restaurant has "Chicago" stuff

During the day we visited the Easter Market.  These are held all over Germany.  This one was held inside an old monastery.  Entrance fees are minimal and there are many people selling easter eggs and decorations, food, etc.  The following are a few photos that we took:

Front door with the Easter Market advertisement

Our Easter Bunny bread.  Tasted good!

Our purchases for the day, Easter Market and Valentines combined

Spiritual insight of the week:

I wanted to share what I had learned in my study of 2 Nephi chapter 2.  I have always heard the controversy of why did God ask Adam and Eve to obey conflicting commandments.  Recently I read Elder Gerald N. Lund's summary of what President Howard W. Hunter taught as follows:

Lehi makes five important points as to why the Fall happened and how it helps the Lord fulfill his divine plan of redemption (See 2 Nephi 2).

1. Opposition is necessary for man's progression (v. 11)
2. The Lord set up opposing choices (v. 15)
3. He gave man his agency (v. 16)
4. In order to make that agency operative, both choices had to be enticing (v. 16 and also D&C 29:39)
5. God allowed Satan to operate in the Garden and in this world to allow the negative option to be enticing in opposition to the positive one.

This helped me to understand that even though Adam and Eve had not yet eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Our Heavenly Father already set up the two choices in a way that Adam could be "enticed" and experience the law of opposition, which was necessary for man's progression.  

What I find out over and over again, is that those things that I don't understand are because of my lack of understanding, not because there are errors in the doctrine or the gospel.  I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and love to have my understanding expanded as I study the scriptures and the words of latter day prophets.

Three firsts in Frankfurt: Area Presidency Mtg., Zone Conference and Städl Art Museum

Another week in Frankfurt and it turned out wonderful!  Our preparation of the prior week was not in vain.  We had an incredible meeting with our Area Presidency on Tuesday.  Our presentation went well and the Area Presidency had a lot of interest and questions.  We feel like we have made a clear step forward in understanding.  The Area Presidency asked for a one sentence summary of what we do so that they can  better respond to questions from priesthood leaders.  We have kicked this around for the last few days.  This morning, after pondering, Sister Rueckert came up with the following excellent sentence that just flowed into her mind.  It may be helpful to others that may not understand completely our role.

"The Self-Reliance initiative is Priesthood led and provides tools, materials and a group process that enables people to act towards their goal of temporal & spiritual self-reliance."

It is wonderful to know how well the Spirit helps us in our work.

In fact, we had a lot of interface with the Area Presidency this week as well as leadership from Salt Lake City.  On Monday, we had an Area wide devotional with Elder Paul Johnson, first counselor in the Area Presidency.  He shared with all of us the recent efforts of the Area Presidency in training the stake presidents throughout the Area.  It always helps us to understand their perspective and direction so that we can make sure we are supportive of these, our priesthood leaders.  For this devotional, Sister Rueckert was the pianist, including beautiful prelude music.  At the last moment I was asked to lead the music, which I did at Sister Rueckert's surprise.

As I mentioned earlier, we had a wonderful meeting with the full Area Presidency on Tuesday.  On Wednesday, we had a missionary zone conference and Elder Timothy Dyches, second counselor in the Area Presidency addressed us on D&C section 4.  On Thursday, we had our monthly meeting with  the Area Self-Reliance Committee, which is presided by Elder Dyches.  Four days and four opportunities to hear from our Area Presidency.  Add to that on Wednesday afternoon when we participated in a regional video conference with our headquarters team, which included Elder Robert C. Gay and Elder Joseph Sitati.   We always love hearing from these brethren whom we consider our friends.  So it was a full week of opportunities to learn from those who have been called by the Lord to lead us.

As noted, on Wednesday we had our first missionary zone conference.  It was with all of the senior couples who serve the Europe Area.   Elder Dyches addressed us, as did Elder and Sister Castleton, who will be finishing their mission in the next month.  We also heard from Elder Mills, who is our zone leader.  Each of them spoke on different verses from D&C Section 4.  We also had a special musical number with an ensemble of ten missionaries, including Sister Rueckert.  We were well fed spiritually and then had a wonderful lunch prepared by some Portuguese sisters that live in Frankfurt. The following is a photo taken at the zone conference.  It is a pretty amazing group, we are very much enjoying our association with these wonderful senior missionaries.

On Saturday, we decided to venture out in the city of Frankfurt.  We visited the Städl Museum, which is the largest art museum in Germany.  We ended up spending over 4 hours there and had to finish up to leave before they closed.  It was a beautiful day and a wonderful visit.  Below is Sister Rueckert in front of the museum.

We started on the top floor of the museum which included art from 1300 to 1800.  There was a clear theme, as most of these works of art were created for Churches or Castles during the renaissance period. I come to a realization that being an artist was a busy profession, as many of the magnificent pieces of art were for altar pieces int the many churches.  Each was specifically commissioned to be painted with specific content.  Most took several years to pain and are exquisite in detail and beauty.  One of the artists of this time stated that the purpose of art was to promote Christianity.  Most of the art was centered on our Savior, his virgin mother or other religious scenes.  There was a feeling of sacredness and respect on this floor.  Below you will see a few photos of art on this floor, including a couple large pieces that were painted specifically for this museum in the early 1800s.

Three pieces of art that would have been on the sides of the altars.  The first is  a lady holding the impression of the Savior on a cloth, the second is Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus, the third is the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and a dove representing the Holy Ghost.  The uniqueness of this artist is that he was able to make things look 3 dimensional.  The painting on the right looks very much like a sculpture, but it is not.

Samson and Delilah by Rembrandt, painted in his early career when he was only 30 years old.

Painted very specifically for this Museum, depicting the more secular community on the left and the religious community on the right, all worshipping the Virgin Mary and her infant son, the Savior.

This one was painted to offset the above photo, which was considered a Catholic view.  This one showed one of the reformers under trial and was considered a protestant painting to balance the religious preference in Germany.

As we moved from the top floor to the more recent paintings, we were able to see a clear change in the style and focus of the artists.  Religious paintings stopped being prevalent and the focus was more on portraits and landscapes and political messages.  The feeling wasn't the same.  Certainly it didn't feel sacred.   This floor included a few pieces from Picasso.

 As we ventured to the basement, we entered into the modern art display, post World War II.  Some didn't really appear to be art to us (see the left) while some did get better, albeit with questionable meaning.

This week's Scriptural Insights:

Today I finished my study of Mosiah 3:19.  I have studied this scripture  and all the chains of scriptures that come out of the references to it for the past month.  I consider it to be an amazing scripture and I have learned so much in my study.  The strength and result of this process is consistent with President Spencer W. Kimball's following statement:

"I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away.  If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns."

My notes and references go on for pages, but perhaps I can summarize with the following short reference to some of the scriptural terms:

For the natural man is an enemy to God

• the devil has power over them
• they receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God
• but to be spiritually minded is life and peace

and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit

• yielding their hearts unto God
• where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty

and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord

• put off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ
• then is his grace sufficient for you
• calling upon God he received strength
• But I [Jesus] have prayed for thee
• Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a might change in us
• Neither can any natural man abide the presence of God

and becometh as a child, submissive,

• whoso repenteth as a little child, Behold, for such I have laid down my life
• ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along
• I have fed you with milk, and not with meat, For ye are yet carnal
• ponder upon the things which I have said, prepare your minds, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth
• strong meat belongeth to them who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil
• God will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance
• Counsel with the Lord in all they doings
• Draw near unto me
• God knows thy thoughts and the intents of they heart
• Be thou humble

humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord teeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

An "egg"cellent preparation week in the office, Saturday at Marburg and the impressions of the Holy Ghost

There are a lot of differences in lifestyle and culture in Germany.  One is the total use of the metric system.  We know that is the case in most locations outside of the U.S., but Germany has taken it to a new extreme.  Take a look at the carton of eggs and tell me what is metric about it.

Hopefully you identified it.  You do not buy eggs by the dozen but by the ten.  However, we must say that we love the eggs here.  They have bright yokes and are very delicious.

Anyway we have had a wonderful week, staying in Germany.  It has been a week of preparation for:

• An upcoming jobs initiative in Cape Verde (Last few weeks in February)
• A presentation to the Area Presidency about our Self-Reliance reporting (this Tuesday)
• Our monthly meeting with our managers (tomorrow)
• For our Fifth Sunday lesson in our international ward about Self-Reliance (today)
• For our monthly Area Self-Reliance Committee meeting (Thursday of this week).

(By the way, we felt really good about our fifth Sunday lesson today.  We were able to feel the spirit as we shared spiritual truths and testimony.  Our prayers were answered.)

Add to that, we got registered officially to stay in Germany as missionaries, got a membership in a "Costco" like store and on Friday we had the official annual cleanup day in the office.  This happens once a year when everyone in the office is to clean out old files, storage boxes and all of the offices.

After so much preparation, we felt it was time to take a preparation day in Germany.  On Friday night we ventured downtown to a Japanese restaurant and found that we actually understood some of the items on the menu.  We work hard on our German in the evenings and these are the moments that we start at least recognizing a few words.

On Saturday, we went with Elder and Sister Jensen, a missionary couple that we met in the MTC and arrived in Frankfurt the same day that we did.  They are serving a mission for legal counsel in the Area office.  The following is a photo with them and us inside of Saint Elizabeth's Church in Marburg, Germany.  Marburg is a little over an hour north of Frankfurt.  It is one of the oldest cities that did not have significant destruction during World War I and II.  It was a cold and rainy day as we traveled, but the impressive sights and good company made it worthwhile.

The Church of St. Elizabeth in Marburg was built between 1235 and 1283 over the site of the grave of St. Elizabeth  It is the first church  built in a purely Gothic style.  Let me share with you the story of Elizabeth, which we found fascinating:

Elizabeth, daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary, was born in 1207 and at the age of four came to Thuringia in order to be brought up together with her future husband, the son of the count of Thuringia.  When she was fourteen they were married and very soon had three children, but she became a widow at the age of only 21 when her husband, count Ludwig IV of Thuringia, died on a crusade.  She left the splendid court of the Wartburg and chose to live in poverty in Marburg, where she founded a hospital with a chapel dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi.  She spent the rest of her life caring for the needy, in accordance with the words of Jesus: "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine you did for me." (Matthew 25:40).

After her death in 1231, at the age of 24, pilgrimages to her grave began so that in 1232 a bigger church had to be built.  In 1235, after Elizabeth had been canonized by the Pope, the foundation of the present church was laid under the patronage of the Teutonic Order of Knights.  The Church is full of a canopy over her grave, relics, stain glass windows and many statues and a triptych which sows real scenes from the life and death of Elizabeth.  That is the backdrop of our photo above.    Other photos follow:

Sister Rueckert in front of the High Altar and the beautiful stain glass windows behind.

Stain Glass windows depicting the life and service of Elizabeth

The Golden Shrine was designed in 1240 for the relics of St. Elizabeth.  It is made of gilded silver and copper, richly decorated with precious stones.

Front of the Church

Back of the Church

Elder and Sister Rueckert behind the Church

After visiting the Church we were also able to visit the Castle of the Landgrave.  It was first built around 1000 AD and is situated at the top of the city.  We were especially impressed to learn that Martin Luther and other reformers met in this castle in October 1529 at the Marburg Colloquy.  The Marburg Colloquy was a meeting at Marburg Castle which attempted to solve a disputation between Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli over the Real Presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper.  

Outside photo of the Castle

Photo of a smaller model to show the overall castle area

Painting hanging in the castle which depicts the Colloquy of Marburg, with Martin Luther and the other reformers

Elder and Sister Rueckert outside the castle overlooking the city (rainy and windy)

One of my insights from my personal study this week has to do with the impressions of the Holy Ghost.  I felt that the words of President Boyd K. Packer describe so well how delicately the Holy Ghost communicates to us.

"We cannot express spiritual knowledge in words alone.  We can, however, with words show another how to prepare for the reception of the Spirit.  The Spirit itself will help. 'For when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.' (2 Nephi 33:1).

Then when we have a spiritual communication, we can say within ourselves, this is it!  This is what is meant by those words in the revelation,  Thereafter, if they are carefully chosen, words are adequate for teaching about spiritual things.

We do not have the words (even the scriptures do not have words) which perfectly describe the Spirit.  The scriptures generally use the word voice, which does not exactly fit.  These delicate, refined spiritual communications are not seen with our eyes, nor heard with our ears.  And even though it is described as a voice, it is a voice that one feels more than one hears. . .

Should an angel appear and converse with you, neither you nor he would be confined to corporeal sight or sound in order to communicate.  For there is that spiritual process, described by the Prophet Joseph Smith, by which pure intelligence can flow into our minds and we can know what we need to know without either the drudgery of study or the passage of time, for it is revelation."

The Shroud of Turin, Seminar in Italy and thoughts about the scriptures

Last Friday we had a "P morning" while in the city of Torino (Turin), Italy.  That morning we spent an hour going through the museum of the Shroud of Turin.  The Shroud of Turin is a length of linen cloth bearing the image of a man that is believed by some Christians to be the burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth.  The interesting thing is that there are marks and signs of a human body that have been transferred to the cloth.  Some believe that it occurred with a type of unique heat process that may have occurred at the time of the resurrection.  While the transfer of the images to the cloth cannot be explained, the identifications with Jesus of Nazareth are very interesting.  It includes blood stains at the places that are identified with his side, the wrist that would have been against the cloth and the bottom foot. It also shows lacerations on the head and the back.

There have been several conflicting scientific tests and a confusing history prior to the 1300s.  However, since a few years after that,  this cloth has been held in Turin.  It has withstood a fire and a flood and has suffered some damage.  It has been put up for public display periodically and has significant photographs with special abilities taken over the years.  The last public display was last year.  Right now it is in safekeeping in the cathedral in the city.  The museum shows many of the photographs and features a copy that is displayed.  Although there are differing views, we found it to be quite interesting.  We were impressed and had a very enjoyable tour.  If it is true or not does not change our faith in the Savior, but the concept is fascinating.  Some of the photos follow:

Elder and Sister Rueckert in the chapel where the copy of the Shroud of Turin is displayed.  The original is currently being preserved and is not available for public display at this time.  See a close up of the Shroud in the photo below:

You can see on the cloth, the imprint of a man with his arms folded in front of him and his legs brought together at the feet.  This is on the left side.  The right side shows the back side of the same man.  This impression on the cloth also includes blood spots around the feet, the wrist and the side, where the Savior would have had his side lanced.  There is also specks of blood on the forehead and on the back part of the head and shoulders.  The impression appears to have come from some type of radiation type transfer that cannot be explained.  Those who believe that this is from Jesus of Nazareth believe that this occurred when he became resurrected.  The larger light spots are where cloth was added behind the cloth to cover holes caused by the heat of a fire, so ignore the bigger spots, which are man made and pay attention to the lighter impressions.  Special cameras and negatives of the cloth show the impressions in a much more noticeable way.

Hologram created from the images on the Shroud.  This shows better what impressions are on the cloth.

As we were leaving from the airport in Germany, we had an opportunity to share our first pass along card with someone who was helping us through airport security.  He noticed our badges and started talking to us.  Having the badge on makes sharing the gospel even easier!  On our way to Italy on Thursday, we flew over the Swiss Alps.  It was quite a sight as we saw the snow covered mountain peaks poking out of the clouds.  The following are a few photos that we took out of the plane.  They show a little bit of the amazing view that we had:

The reason for our visit to Torino (Turin) was to participate in a My Path Devotional on Thursday evening.  Of course this was all in Italian, but we understand the process and were able to understand quite a bit of what was occurring.  There were almost 40 people there, including leaders and about 24 joined Self-Reliance Groups.  This was totally done by a church service missionary couple which has been called as the Stake Self-Reliance Specialists for the Alessandria, Italy Stake.  We were impressed with their commitment as they handled it from the beginning to the end.  They were also supported by other committee members, including the Stake Presidency counselor and the agent bishop.  This devotional was for three of the wards that live in Torino.  Once, the devotional was over, we checked into a local hotel.

My Path Devotional in Torino, Italy

The next morning we spent some time in the museum (see above) and then we met with a member with a small business idea for lunch and then continued onto Milan.  In Milan we worked for a few hours and checked into a hotel that night.  The travel time with our manager, Ether, is always valuable as we are able to discuss many aspects of the self-reliance work in Italy while traveling.

The main purpose of our visit was a seminar of all self-reliance specialists and chairmen of  the self-reliance committees (counselors in stake presidency) in Italy.  It started on Saturday at noon and went until Sunday afternoon.  Sister Rueckert and I each made presentations on Saturday, along with Ether and our Italy Self-Reliance missionary couple.    The spiritual thought on Saturday and all of the Sunday discussions on doctrine were made by several of the participants.  On Sunday our session began with a wonderful message from Elder De Feo, the Area Seventy for Italy, on Self-Reliance.  He shared some scriptural insights and thoughts that were new to us, but very meaningful and inspirational.  We feel that all that participated should be returning to their homes, instructed and edified.  Hopefully this is a new beginning for Self-Reliance in Italy as they now have all of their materials available in Italian and the stakes and districts were all represented.

Previous to this trip we continued in our daily routine, which includes time for exercise, scripture study and language study.  We have found this missionary routine to be very helpful and helps us to learn and grow.  During our study this week, I found several insights about the study of the scriptures.  I wanted to share a few of the quotes that touched my soul while I studied Lehi's dream of the Tree of Life and the rod of iron.   They have helped me to be more diligent in my scripture study.   I hope that they can be helpful for any others who read this:

From President Spencer W. Kimball: "I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away.  If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns".  I have heard this quote many times, I love it.  It always reminds me of the importance of "immersing" ourselves in the scriptures.

From Elder David A. Bednar:  "It is significant that the second group pressed forward with faith and commitment.  They also had the added blessing of the rod of iron, and they were clinging to it!  However, as they were confronted with persecution and adversity, they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost.  Even with faith, commitment, and the word of God, this group eventually was lost - perhaps because they only periodically read or studied or searched the scriptures.  Clinging to the rod of iron suggest to me only occasional 'bursts' of study or irregular dipping rather than consistent, ongoing immersion in the word of God. In verse 30 we read about a third group of people who pressed forward 'continually holding fast to the rod of iron until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree.'  The key phrase in this verse is continually holding fast to the rod of iron."

President Ezra Taft Benson: "[Lehi] saw that if people would hold fast to that rod, they could avoid the rivers of filthiness, stay away from the forbidden paths, stop from wandering in the strange roads that lead to destruction . . . [It] has the power to fortify the Saints and arm them with the Spirit so they can resist evil, hold fast to the good, and find joy in this life".

May each of us be more diligent to continually hold fast to the iron rod, immersing ourselves in the scriptures, so that we can resist evil and find joy in this life!