Oct. 30, 2016
Today I’m going
to write a little bit of a different letter.
There are many things I’ve been saving to include in my letter lately so
instead of writing down a log of what we did this week I’ll share the things
that I’ve been saving or thinking about.
First, when I was
in Kayla’s ward two weeks ago, a lady shared that when we go to our classes at
church, we need to be proactive as we go into the class. Instead of sitting down and bemoaning the
fact that no once sits by you, actively look for who you can sit by as you walk
in the door.
Second,
here is a spotlight that was written about me in our RS email. MINDY SANDERS -
Mindy serves as our Cub Committee Chairperson in the ward. She was the only
sibling out of 13 that wasn't born in a hospital. Instead she was born in a doctor’s
office in Snowflake. She played basketball and volleyball in high school and
her teams were the 3A AZ Champions her senior year. She also played the viola
and sang in choir. Her all time dream is to have all her kids happily married
in the temple and to grow old with her husband Chad (who serves as the 2nd
Counselor in the Bishopric). They met in college and were in the same Family
Home Evening Group. She was about to leave for her mission when he proposed.
Mindy's favorite book is Pride & Prejudice. She loves summer because she
can go swimming, hiking, floating down down the river and any other fun outdoor
activity. Costa Rica is her vacation spot and Mexican food is her favorite
food. Mindy loves serving! It is in her nature to help others. Her favorite
quote is from her Aunt Nertia, "Assume the best. Look for the
good"
Third,
this quote I read this week. "Excuses are easy to find; they spring
up as readily and plentifully as weeds by the wayside" (James E. Talmage,
Jesus the Christ, pg. 401).
Fourth, this thought written by my
niece Jewel.
A few years ago, I had
my first "wall of faith" experience--one where I was truly led to
doubt what I had always taken for granted as true. I had been reading
news articles and heard stories about a few different movements that I
originally dismissed as hogwash--complete apostasy, stirred up by angry
ex-members who just wanted to drag others down with them. I was prepared
to give these movements no further thought, until some friends of mine whose
opinions (and testimonies) I trusted implicitly started posting about these
movements on Facebook.
Feeling
curious, knowing these friends as active members (some of whom had served
missions), and wanting to have a truly open mind, I started reading these blog
posts, forums, and discussions. I spent a few weeks diving down this
rabbit hole until I realized that every time I left my computer or my phone
screen, I was feeling sick, anxious, and confused. I started mentally
criticizing things at church and in the temple that had never bothered me
before (many things that I had actually previously enjoyed and found
comforting). I realized that I was spending a disproportionate amount of
time reading these dissenting and angry voices, rather than on my typical
scripture study habits. …
During this time, I had
the opportunity to attend a General Women's Conference Session with some dear
friends of mine. It was my first time in the conference center, and as I
felt the strength and power of all of these righteous women, united in love and
compassion for the Savior and for each other, I was overwhelmed with joy.
I remember crying through the entire two-hour meeting and feeling
peaceful and content when it was over. The entire time, the thought kept
coming into my mind of what a contrast this was to the feelings I got from
other things I had been reading, discussing, and listening to. It was
literally the contrast of truth versus error. …
The significant
contrast of that memory helped me to realize that the distress these articles
were bringing me meant something, and I decided to lean more towards the peace
of the principles I needed to focus on at the time. I learned to trust my
instinct when clicking on a link, comment, or article, and have found that usually
within the first few lines of an article, I can tell whether something will be
good for me to read or not.
I was grateful for this
lesson, but thought little more of it until quite some time later, when I was
reading a verse in the Book of Mormon that struck me in a way I'd never thought
about before.
Moroni was a
war captain, chosen for his valor and integrity to lead his people (the
Nephites) against their enemies (the Lamanites). While I had always
enjoyed the chapters describing the victories and losses of this time period in
previous perusals, this time reading through, I found a significant amount of
symbolism (that had previously been entirely lost on me) by now reading it as a
person who sees herself currently at war with a powerful and tireless
adversary.
One part that
especially struck me was in Alma 55:31-32. At this point in the story,
the Nephites currently have a tenuous advantage, and the Lamanites are trying
to find ways to attack them that are a bit more subtle than previous attempts,
one of which is trying to poison their wine.
Moroni employs
what I always saw as a rather obvious bit of logic here--Mormon records that
"they would not partake of their wine, save they had first given to some
of the Lamanite prisoners. (32) And they were thus cautious that no poison
should be administered among them; for if their wine would poison a Lamanite it would also poison a Nephite;
and thus they did try all their liquors." (emphasis added)
Well, duh.
I remember always laughing about that little line there before (I mean,
it is rather
obvious), but this time the principle hit me powerfully and personally.
It doesn't
matter whether I see myself as a Lamanite or as a Nephite; poison is poison.
No matter how strong I think my testimony is, or how secure I feel in my
relationship with my Heavenly Father, if the Spirit is warning me not to ingest
some message of contention or some dissenting voice, I had better listen to it,
because I AM NOT IMMUNE. I am not infallible. It is possible for my
testimony to become weakened and corroded by the voices I read out of sheer
curiosity or the desire to appear "open-minded." I am affected
(probably more deeply than I know) by the messages I choose to take in, and
therefore I should take care in discerning what to allow into my mind and heart”
(http://jewelbusch.blogspot.com/2016/10/why-i-stay.html).
The last thing I’ll share today is part of a discussion we had during
our 5th Sunday lesson, about what we learned in Stake Conference
last weekend. We talked about how not
many young men in our stake are serving missions. Ninety one percent of the adults in our stake
have temple recommends, but only twenty to forty percent of the young men in
our stake are serving missions. And most
of those 18-25 year old young men who don’t serve are going inactive. I asked, how can we help our young men get
out on missions and/or stay active? We discussed
it for a long time, but came back to a thought that was given by President
Derrick at stake conference, which was also something that was discussed in
ward counsel back when I was on the ward counsel and that is this: they aren’t
going on missions and aren’t staying active because of weak gospel teaching and
modeling in the home. The place where
most members are lost from the covenant path and the cycle of being born,
getting baptized, getting endowed, getting married, having children is between
age 8 and the time they should be getting endowed. Elder Bednar said that people are lost at
that stage because of weak gospel teaching and modeling in the home. I know that there are cases where parents
have taught their children well, but their children use their agency to leave
the church and its teachings. However, I
agree that as parents we have a responsibility to take what we learn and church
and implement it in our homes. When we
don’t do that our children know it and their testimonies are damaged. We are in danger when we pick and choose
which things we will be obedient to and which ones we will ignore. Especially when our children know what is
taught and see us ignore it. Anyway, it
was a great discussion and I hope I can have strong gospel teachings and
modeling in my home.
Love,
Mindy
What are your thoughts on how to help get young men out on a mission?
