5 August 2018 - Sunday

5 August 2018 - Sunday

Today, we enjoyed a wonderful day of fasting and testimony and training.  Mom and I began our fast yesterday after lunch in Casper.  We were excited to have Elder LeGrand R. Curtis, Jr. and his wife here for a mission conference.  And we were not disappointed!  Unlike next week, (where we are scheduled to work the Visitors' Center during Sacrament, and miss the visit of Bishop Causse', of the Presiding Bishopric), we were able to experience, and attend, the training session for two hours after our Sacrament Meeting ended.

What was really fun for us is that we had been asked, last week, to give the opening and closing prayers in the Sacrament Meeting.  That is such a privilege to be the mouthpiece in such a setting!  After a great nights rest, we were up preparing for the morning activities.  We were ready to head for our 10:00am meeting at 8:45am so we started our day.  Mom and I have been available to hand out the Sacrament folders, so we picked them up and got to the Trek Center where our meetings are held.  

It is always a treat to talk to the senior missionaries who arrive early with us.  Elder Criddle and Elder Gilliland are both assigned to prepare the Sacrament.  They make sure those senior missionaries who are serving at the Visitors' Center on Sunday mornings get the Sacrament.  So we like talking with them and sometimes helping out where we can.  

As we were waiting for the senior missionaries to arrive so we could pass out the programs, Elder Curtis and his wife walked into the Trek Center.  It was just mom and me, and the wife of one of the mission presidency counselors.  The Curtis's were anxious to hear about us and our conversion stories that came up... We had about 10 minutes with them before people started arriving.  It pays to come early to your meetings!!

Now that we are well into the first week in August, it is very apparent that we are winding down in this mission.  The visitors are decreasing and the Sacrament attendance is moving below the 100 count.  Needless to say, the testimonies being shared are pretty emotional as the senior missionaries recount their trekking experiences over the last 60 days.  I jotted down two experiences that were shared during the testimony portion of our meeting;

First, not all senior missionaries have ancestors that were in either the Martin or the Willie Handcart companies.  Neither do they have ancestors in the Hunt or the Hodgetts Wagon companies, or any of the Rescuers.  However, as you may well imagine, we, as senior missionaries, have "adopted" so many of these precious pioneers into our families, who gave so much in our behalf!  We have been living and teaching each day, with the stories of these pioneers, that they are so real in our memories and that they just seem so much a part of our family.  I have mentioned quite a few pioneers in this blog this summer, and the missionary who shared this idea was very emotional about this adoption.

Second, a sister arrived in the mission field at Sixth Crossing with a Verizon phone.  There is no reception at Sixth Crossing for Verizon customers and definitely no internet.  While she was unpacking in her trailer, her Verizon phone rang.  It startled her!  She answered, and it was a dear friend who had left the Church with her husband after he had read anti-Mormon material on the internet.  She and her husband tried other churches but she so desperately wanted to come back to this Church.  Her husband had gotten a call from a ward member who wanted to come to their house that night and invite them back to Church.  She was so anxious about the meeting that she said a prayer and called her friend, in the mission field, and asked her to pray for that meeting to have a positive outcome.  When the senior missionary said that she and her husband would pray for her, the phone connection was lost.

One of our visitors shared his testimony as well,  He and his young family were traveling the historic sites and stopped here.  But his comments about some of the other places he had been, stuck in my mind.  He said that when they attended Church in another ward in another state, the comment was made, "welcome to God's Country".  This happened, again, in another ward hundreds of miles away, and all along, he thought he lived in God's Country on the east coast!  Here is my take on this; Where is God's country but with God's people!

To close our Sacrament Meeting, Elder Curtis was telling us about his call as a General Authority to the First Quorum of Seventy.  He was working in his legal office when the phone rang and President Eyring's Secretary asked if she could schedule a time with him, and Sister Curtis, to meet with President Eyring.  The date was set and the call as a General Authority was made.  When he walked into the Conference Center on the day he was sustained, he came into the building, and passed by one of the ushers, when he heard a very clear and distinct voice tell him, "I love him just as much as I love you".  He said he has never forgotten that fact that no matter where we serve, the Lord loves all of us equally!

During our training session, that was just for the senior missionaries, we had some very special thoughts and prayers offered on our behalf.  Sister Curtis began the training with asking us a question about the "patterns" we see in the Scriptures where God's people are asked to flee to Zion.  After some obvious answers,  we were asked the questions "why did they flee, and what miracles came about because they listened?  (Wouldn't this be a great Family Home Evening discussion!)

After some great discussion, she turned to Mosiah 24:8-22;

8 And now it came to pass that aAmulon began to exercise bauthority over Alma and his brethren, and began to persecute him, and cause that his children should persecute their children.

9 For Amulon knew Alma, that he had been aone of the king’s priests, and that it was he that believed the words of Abinadi and was driven out before the king, and therefore he was wroth with him; for he was subject to king Laman, yet he exercised authority over them, and put btasks upon them, and put ctask-masters over them.

10 And it came to pass that so great were their afflictions that they began to cry mightily to God.

11 And Amulon commanded them that they should stop their cries; and he aput guards over them to watch them, that whosoever should be found calling upon God should be put to death.

12 And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their ahearts to him; and he did know the bthoughts of their hearts.

13 And it acame to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up ​your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

14 And I will also ease the aburdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as bwitnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their cafflictions.

15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did astrengthen them that they could bear up their bburdenswith ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with cpatienceto all the will of the Lord.

16 And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.

17 And he said unto Alma: Thou shalt go before this people, and I will go awith thee and deliver this people out of bbondage.

18 Now it came to pass that Alma and his people in the night-time gathered their flocks together, and also of their grain; yea, even all the night-time were they gathering their flocks together.

19 And in the morning the Lord caused a adeep sleep to come upon the Lamanites, yea, and all their task-masters were in a profound sleep.

20 And Alma and his people departed into the wilderness; and when they had traveled all day they pitched their tents in a valley, and they called the valley Alma, because he led their way in the wilderness.

21 Yea, and in the valley of Alma they poured out their athanksto God because he had been merciful unto them, and eased their bburdens, and had delivered them out of bondage; for they were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it were the Lord their God.

22 And they gave athanks to God, yea, all their men and all their women and all their children that could speak lifted their voices in the praises of their God.

What was interesting, and to the point of this discussion, was that the people were faithful and obeyed the Lord, and He first made their burdens light.  He then led them out of captivity, because of their faith and their patience, by causing the "deep sleep" to come upon the Lamanites! 

But that is not all!  In the next verses, He got them off their knees, and put them back on track to get to their Zion, and put in their own personal efforts to be free from this bondage.  My take on this was that we do need the Lord's help in all that we do, but we need to be "active" participants!!

Elder Curtis has several ancestors whom he has researched to find their conversion stories.  He has enjoyed collecting these and I know many of our family members are collecting conversion stories of our own.  He went to Alma Chapter 37 and made this observation; 

 8 And now, it has hitherto been wisdom in God that these things should be preserved; for behold, athey have benlarged the memory of this people, yea, and convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the cknowledge of ​their God unto the salvation of their souls.

Take a look at the word "enlarge".  Can you imagine how we can enlarge our memories by studying out our ancestors, along with the great and marvelous people in the Scriptures!  It is like having these parallel experiences with the pioneers whom we have no direct connection, (at least we don't know that for sure, yet!), just by learning their stories.  Amy's talk took on a greater meaning to her several weeks ago, and to all of us, when Bob found Dougal Baird as one of the Handcart pioneers.  I have seen his name numerous times but never connected the dots until Bob shared that story about Agnes Baird Adamson!  Isn't that awesome!

Our job is not to let our family legacies die.  What may appear as a pioneer story for any one of our family members still has connections to the past and most certainly the future!  I think that this is my take-away from this mission, to not let our pioneer heritage stop with this generation.  Mom and I will have lots of stories to share, in person, as we return back home!

And Elder Curtis closed our meeting by letting us know that Seventies cannot leave blessings on groups of people like the Apostles.  But he did say that when he had his personal prayers this morning, he prayed for the senior missionaries, AND their families!  Now couple those prayers with each of us praying for each other!  Now, in my estimation, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish together in this family through our shared faith and love for the Gospel and for each other!!  Yes, it has been a great Sabbath Day!  How was yours?