Letter to the Class

Image Brothers and sisters, we feel that the story of Moses could start with the words of Thomas Paine with some minor editing. "These are the times that try men’s souls; the summer soldier [and saint] and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his [people and his God]; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny [and slavery], like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." (Edits in brackets with profound respect for Paine and all of his work.) The second book of Moses is called "The Names" among the Jews, instead of Exodus, as it recants the names of those involved in changing the lives of the Hebrew people, Israel's people. For four hundred years, Israel was living in Egypt and went from fellow citizens to slaves. Little by little their freedom was taken and it would take a miracle to fr

Image   Brothers and sisters,  Zaphnath-Paaneah, who is this? This was Joseph's Egyptian name. It means Savior of the World. Joseph was put through highs and lows that molded his character. He was betrayed or forgotten by his family, his employer, and friends in prison. He could have been a dangerous man but he modeled his life after his Master, the Savior, El Shaddai (God Almighty). And though his life is a shadow of the Savior (you can read more here ), we want to focus on Joseph's ability to forgive and more importantly our responsibility to forgive. The scriptures say " all these things will give thee experience " (D&C 122:3). You and we will be asked to go through rough times that even Jacob or Israel thought were rough. Jacob, his father, didn't see the end from the beginning. It wasn't until he learned that Joseph was alive, that Simeon was well, and that all his experiences were for his good that he was well with life. At the end of the

image   Brothers and Sisters,  Joseph of Egypt had highs and lows. Second to his father's house, then enslaved, second to Potipher's house, then and imprisoned, then second to Pharoh. Joseph's life reflected two things, righteous life with direction and good leadership with the Lord's help, and secondly, his life was the similitude of the Savior. See, Joseph and Christ are a son second to only the father. Next, because he is our Savior, all redemption like the bread and water of life is through Him like bread was through Joseph. Next because Israel and his children turned to their savior Joseph they and all the family lived, much like we the children turn to our Savior and live. They were given prosperity, polarity, and priesthood, more on that next week though... Our point, this week is that our lives have ups and downs; highs and lows. Joseph was a good kid, a good young adult, and finally husband and father. He, like his father, grandfather, and great gra

image Jacob, who is known for being a trickster, was blessed and left with his father's blessing and brother's birthright. He is thought to beguile his blind father and his hungry brother but it was not so. When we impulsively sacrifice spiritual things for things of the flesh we are bound to suffer. His father was blind by temporal things too and should of known of the inspiation of his sweetheart. There are some cool similarities in the reading this last week between Jacob and us. First, it talks about when Jacob left, he had the Lord's blessing both to and from Bethel (translated to House of God). We also left the Lord’s house to come to earth and we strive to return there after this life. Next, it was interesting that Jacob came to a strange land (like all of us to earth) to people to who we will be related to. Jacob was related to his wife and family as we are related to our families. Just like Jacob we then marry in this strange land and wrestle with the L