Letter to the Class

Elders, We are a particular people, set apart to be something greater together than alone. The word Saint means anointed or set apart. When we take on the name of the person who set us apart. When we are asked to have faith, to repent, to renew covenants, and follow the Spirit, it's not confinement, this is true freedom.  Think of the shape of a tree. At the base is a foundation with nourishment, and yes, it's in the dark (kind of like how we are in mortality now, eh). In that foundation, we are reaching up for light and nourishment. When we break up the soil, it's a glorious thing. You cannot go back after you have received new light and knowledge. Then there is the trunk. The rules are streamlined and understanding that there is fruit coming and it is exciting and expected. At this stage, young buds and leaves are reaching for the light for nourishment. The exciting moment that any day you could share the sweetness arrives with anticipation. Then there's the fruit. A ...

Trial and comfort are opposites. Both are needed. By their contrast you appreciate the other. An example would be the blazing hot sun is desired when you experience a blinding snow storm. Still, both are appreciated because of the other.  Jesus knows your trials and comforts. He's been through it all; warmth of the Gospel and friendship and grueling pain of loss and betrayal. But in knowing both, He, the Savior of the world knows so much more fully, your experience. He has taught the gospel and watched as the rich joy blessed the lives of the new saints.  Go to the vision of Joseph. He suffered hardship as a husband and father. Just because he saw God doesn't mean things were light for him. God doesn't play favorites ( Acts 10:34-35 and Romans 2:11). If you are struggling, it's an opportunity to see joy, exercise faith, and learn repentance and loyalty to our Father in Heaven. Coming into adulthood we experience bad companions, bad jobs or bosses, bad weather, sickness ...

Elders, Pestilence Plague War and Death are the four horsemen of Apocalypse. Revelation of John chapter 6 give quite a bit of detail. They say these beings have swords, bows and crowns. He (John) talks of their colors and smells. It talks of how these angels will reign with blood and horror. This is not what I wish to talk about. I don't want to read to much into what these four do to us on a world level but an individual level; in a spiritual level. You are sons of God and children of the Most High (Psalms 82:6) and Satan that great lier knows it. When I look at the horsemen I consider how Satan can get past my armor of God. Yes he can beat it off me (war) but he is cunning. He would rather have you take it off. Plague you with  a flood of questions you have no answer for. Bug (pestilence) you about the mysteries of God that you are not prevy to. He wants that bug to get under your armor, be it doubt or fear. This messes with your joy, your faith and hope. He wants you to cease ch...

It is interesting that the Lord gave different levels of talents and when he came He, the Master, did no comparison from one server to another. Each servent was interviewed individually and,yes, they doubled their increase but five plus five is ten and two plus two is four. The second man didn't even match his fellow, yet they were judged on their own effort and not on the the efforts of others. With that judgement will we be reviewed. The Master will be what you perceive Him to be.  At times we think that the Lord will take from us what is invested. Yes He took from the unprofitable servent by He wanted it to be invested and appreciated. When we stretch and take risks with our faith, our charity, our joy, it will grow to tremendous levels.  In life we are asked to stretch, straighten and strengthen. We do the Lord's will over and over, still He asks for more and that's not because He is selfish but that he is thinking of us; understands us. We have talents that the Lord ga...

  The coin had the countenance of the government or of the weakness of men. Who or what has the countenance of God? Genesis says God made man in his image and likeness. While we are in His likeness or countenance, like the other side of the coin is His countenance upon us. Do we let it be part of us? Like a coin, do we beat the image of the King of heaven and earth? Do we reflect the image of a Zion people? Look at a coin from your pocket. Men of valor are reflected on one side and buildings of marvelous work are on the other side. A coin experiences a lot of heat and pressure to become what it is. Do we experience the same and if so what pressures do we allow and what pressures do we resist? We are shaped daily by our experiences. Going on a mission, going to the temple or church forges us into who we are becoming. We resist sin, temptation and enticing of the devil. We seek places that make the Lord shine through us. Our testimony is constantly becoming harder and more unmovable ...

Brothers and sisters,  Sorry I missed last week so some of last week will be blurred with this week. First, this week, it seemed that the people needed, after hearing the gospel, the name of the church. When I say Disney what do you think of? Hamburgers? Cars? Nope! Rides and movies, that's what comes to mind. Now say the name of His church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  What images come to mind? Prophets, seekers, and revelations? Scriptures? Temples? Conference? Great! Now we have an image; what else did Jesus need us to do? We look like Christ's church. What next? We need to act like His church. Like anything else we need to be and not just look like Christ's church. Our actions, speech, and thoughts need to reflect the words of Christ.  Let's ask a new question. What does the Gospel mean to you? What do you do to show Christ in your countenance? Do you study the scriptures and pray; volunteer your time?  What drives, and motivates you on your ...

image Brothers and sisters, We are asked to be awake for the gospel and help others to awaken . So much was revealed in the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants. President Uchtdorf and Carol M Stephens warned us not to be asleep in the restoration. The things that section opened out eyes to tell us to be constantly vigilant. We should be studying and praying; teaching and fasting; constantly mindful of what the Lord wants us to learn.  I know life is messy and when we tell our stories it's different each time. The stories we tell are personal to each audience but because it is messy we gain different insights each time our stories and testimonies are told. The first vision is an example of Joseph's experience with the Lord and our Father in Heaven. Some naysayers want to say the testimony is proof of a false church or something like this. Not so. If we look at the four gospels, though told by four inspired men, they bring out moments in the Savior's life...

image Brothers and sisters,  The dream of Nebakanezer is on where revelation happened first and Interpretation second. Daniel was told, "Tell me my dream and then it's interpretation." We are in a world where we are asked to privately interpret the scriptures one verse at a time, having to know the book, chapter and verse. How about knowing the scriptures as God knows them. Jesus didn't quote chapter and verse but the words and intents of the verse from revelation. The Spirit works with us on a individual bases and collectively as a church through prophets so that scriptures can have a fist full of meanings that apply to us as God children but also in those quiet moments as a child of God. The hymn says, "I stand all amazed at the love Jesus proffer me." Do you know what that means? The term proffer vs offer, is a subtle one. One, I hold the offering and you take it (offer), the other I put the offering in your hand (proffer) an you either accept...

image Brothers and sisters, It's the Christmas season and the same time of year when my family celebrates my son's birthday. My son was born in Virginia when we lived there. My wife at the time had wonderful friends who marveled at the faith, hope, and charity she exhibited with joy in her countenance. She impressed her non-LDS friends with her knowledge of the scriptures and willingness to watch and teach her friend's children at their own church. My wife, Shelly, shared her time and talents with her Baptist friends in their church as it was a place for the children to play and the faithful Baptists to gather on a Wednesday.  Shelly spent time with the children while her friends would listen to a sermon by a preacher in the next room. She would share the blessing of the Old Testament with the children, and I learned how the children would pull themselves away from the tots and playground to hear her stories of Daniel, Noah, and Jonah, just to name a few. When t...

image Brothers and sisters, We are asked to invite the Spirit, entice the Spirit, and persuade others to do good because we know the Spirit, because it's from God (Moroni 7:13). Some times it seems like it is asking us to row in a storm with title waves in a canoe or kayak. Hang on. Others see your strength and go from mocking it to admiring it to wanting it to. Moroni spent his life reflecting on the Spirit that his dad had and saw how it changed others. Then when he became a adult no one wanted what he wanted. Yeah it was rough but he cleaved to that Spirit, to that message. When we are asked to cleave and lay hold (or sieze), your not just grabbing it but using it and sharing it (Moroni 7:28). Part of me I thought of the word siege, where we surround the desire and close in on it. Well, when that's the Spirit, he can be slippery and we don't want it to leave and our imperfections get in the way. What can we do to keep him in our lives? The relationship you ha...

image “As a great Christian writer (George MacDonald) pointed out,” Lewis references, “every father is pleased at the baby's first attempt to walk: no father would be satisfied with anything less than a firm, free, manly walk in a grown-up son. In the same way, he said, 'God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.”   We cannot just start and expect the start of a journey and think that it is the end just because you left heavens door and say, "yep done." In two talks by Elder Utdorff I found that the darkest times is when we shine the brightest . Moroni was alone for a long time attempting to finish his father's work. He had no idea how it was going to end or who would read his father's work. All he had was faith that the message of the Book of Mormon would get to the listener that needed it. Should he had seen how the message was going to rest a thousand plus years or would written in his home language and that language was going to be lost and u...

Neal A Maxwell has told us, “God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability” (“It's Service, Not Status, That Counts,” Ensign July 1975). Moroni was worried about his weakness when he said... "Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing; for Lord thou hast made us mighty in word by faith, but thou hast not made us mighty in writing; for thou hast made all this people that they could speak much, because of the Holy Ghost which thou hast given them;  And thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands. Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared, for thou madest him that the things which he wrote were mighty even as thou art, unto the overpowering of man to read them. Thou hast also made our words powerful and great, even that we cannot write them; wherefore, ...

image Faith and Reason CS Lewis wrote... "In getting a dog out of a trap, in extracting a thorn from a child’s finger, in teaching a boy to swim or rescuing one who can’t, in getting a frightened beginner over a nasty place on the mountain, the one fatal obstacle may be their distrust.... We ask them to believe that what is painful will relieve their pain, and that which looks dangerous is their only safety. We ask them to accept apparent impossibilities: that moving the paw farther back into the trap is the way to get it out—that hurting the finger very much more will stop the finger from hurting, that water which is obviously permeable will resist and support the body… that to go higher and onto an exposed ledge is the way not to fall." God asks that we use our faith to combat the reason that incorporates our fear to cause that internal wrestle, do we trust God or our senses? Martin Harris wrestled with his faith and he taught proof over and over again but it wa...