Mormon Myths or Rumors.

It just dawned on me that someone reading this blog may not be LDS (a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). For those of you wondering about some things you may have heard about the Church, I offer some (often tongue-in-cheek) explanations.

TIP OF THE DAY: Members of the Church prefer to be called "LDS" (which stands for Latter-day Saint), as in, "Oh, you're from Utah, are you LDS?" "Mormon" is a label given in the early days of the Church because of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. In the 1800's, if someone called you a Mormon, it was usually in an offensive way (bad word). TIP OF THE DAY: Members of the Church prefer to be called "LDS" (which stands for Latter-day Saint), as in, "Oh, you're from Utah, are you LDS?" "Mormon" is a label given in the early days of the Church because of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. In the 1800's, if someone called you a Mormon, it was often in an offensive way (bad word). Well, in modern times, because of the ignorance of some misinformed persons, it can still be used in a derogatory or discriminatory manner.

Myths or Rumors:

1. Mormon's have horns: Check out any person's head who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You will NOT find any horns and, no, they are not retractable if there were any. You may want to ask permission first, though, as Mormon's do have rabies.

2. Mormon's have rabies: Just in case you are unknowledgeable enough to believe every weird thing you hear about Mormons is true and fail to ever check out the facts--they don't have rabies and most Mormons don't bite.

3. Mormon men have many wives: One wife is enough for any LDS man. Mormons manage quite nicely, thank you, with one wife and one husband and sometimes LOTS of children. A good number of the productive Mormon moms look like they've had no children, since, on average, Mormons have a tendency to look healthy, attractive, and not down-trodden in any way. In fact, you'll often see authentic smiles of joy as these women keep track of those many mini Mormons scurrying around doing all the normal things children do. You will also see that these same moms are like any other mom. They can look as worn out as anyone and not have smiles of joy. After all, it IS a lot of work to be a mom and Mormons are normal humans like everyone else.

4. Look Out for the Mormon Missionaries!: Why? They can't hurt you or hypnotize you into being a "follower". Telling people to look out for them is like saying, "Look out for those Christians who are spreading God's dangerous word that might bring marvelous changes into your life?"

Mormon missionaries are simply young men and women, and some senior adults, dedicating two years of their life (paying their own way) to take the message of Christ's atonement and resurrection to all the ends of the earth. Mormon missionaries are focused on one purpose--to bring souls unto Christ. They are doing the Lord's work to assist Him in reaching His goal as recorded in Moses 1:29: "For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."

A Mormon missionary brings people the gospel message, as taught by Jesus Christ. They give people the opportunity to hear a true account of the restoration of all things in these last days. The original Church that Christ founded is again established as promised in the Bible and Book of Mormon. This means God has once again given priesthood authority to men on earth to perform the sacred ordinances, such as baptism (by water) and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost(baptism by fire), for people wishing to take the first step to enter into the strait and narrow gate on the path to eternal life (read Acts 19). It is the only way to return to our Heavenly Father and live with Him and, his beloved son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. As He has said, "Let him who has ears let him hear." (Mark 4, 9, 23; Mark 8:18; Luke 8:8)

Mormon missionaries may seem extremely exuberant in their desire to bring their wondrous message to people, but they are not into force, manipulation, or deception. They carry only the message of faith, hope, and joy for all mankind. All people have the choice to listen or to reject. The promise is found in the Book of Mormon, the ONLY book with a promise that you can know the truth of it through the Holy Ghost. The promise is written by an ancient prophet named Moroni, just before he buried the sacred records, written on gold plates by prophets living on the American continent: Moroni 10:3, 4, 5:

3 "Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that we shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that you would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."

Now, what is so scary about that?

How best to treat the Mormon missionaries (they always come in twos with name tags on) when they show up at your door? Smile, invite them to give you their message, take any gifts they offer you, and promise them you will honestly take the time to search, ponder, and pray to find out for yourself the truth sent from God. It is either true or it is not. What harm is there in finding out for yourself?

So, what sets Mormon Missionaries apart from those caring and earnest other missionaries in the world trying to bring the word of Christ to all? They all have a message they truly believe will save mankind. The difference is the Mormon Missionary will bring you another witness that Jesus Christ lives. The message is, as Paul Harvey used to say, “. . . the rest of the story.”

I think I'll give up on the myth thing. It is impossible to address them all and new ones spring up constantly. People will believe what they choose and if they have not ears to hear, or eyes to see, no amount of evidence will convince them otherwise. Besides, everyone should check out anything they read or hear at the original source (including this blog); in this case, the Bible and The Book of Mormon.

Quote From Page-a-Day e-mail

Information collected on the subject of religion is worthless. Religion is, to the very end, something that you must verify for yourself through actual practice.
-Soko Morinaga

Have a New Year Revolution

 And a little child shall lead them.  2 Nephi 21:6

A little girl stood up in Sacrament meeting today and said she had made a "New Year's revolution" to go without two meals on fast Sunday. She said that as she suffered with hunger pains today it suddenly dawned on her she was helping hungry little children in the world. She said she then thought of how much more pain Jesus Christ suffered as he bled from every pore in Gethsemane.

She concluded with, "I have a testimony that fasting is good, so that is why my New Year's revolution is to fast and put up with a little pain to help the hungry boys and girls and other people in the world."

A Truly Happy New Year Remembering Him

As we wish one another a good 2010, I want to share a thought posted on a bulletin board at home. Written simply on a 3 X 5 card is the word "REMEMBER." This word was extracted from a quote by Hans Christian Anderson, which reads as follows: "Time is so fleeting that if we do not remember God and learn of him in our youth, age may find us incapable of thinking of him."

To me, being capable of remembering God means not letting a day go by where I do not think of all the blessings He has given me and remember to express my gratitude daily. It means relying on Him for strength when I face a trial and not trying to handle everything by myself. It means I will not make it inconvenient to remember Him.

As any good scout would say, from this day forth, I will strive to be more humble, teachable, and obedient. I believe this should improve my attitude and lessen the chance that the things Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ ask me to do will be inconvenient. That sounds like it shouldn't be too hard being on a mission and staying focused entirely on spiritual things, you say? Ha! Being too caught up in day-to-day tasks at home or on a mission can easily find me falling into a repetitious cycle of prayer and scripture study that taking the time for seems inconvenient. I know I cannot remember Him, learn from Him, or keep the Spirit with me when merely doing these tasks in a redundant manner. Knowing is easy and doing takes work. Ugh, being human is sooooo hard sometimes!

The thought of the things of God seeming inconvenient brings to mind our experience on the mission at Ft. Benning with the soldiers and with one person we taught when she asked us to take a video about the Savior to her home.

Each Sunday we taught one of the lessons from Preach My Gospel. Many soldiers would gain a personal witness of the truth of The Book of Mormon often in the first lesson. They would be all fired up with wanting to be baptized through the next couple of lessons, but when we got to the fourth lesson entitled "The Commandments," the fires of exuberance for the gospel began to cool quickly. Why was this so? Because that is the lesson where the commandments are reviewed and the soldiers would discover some stumbling blocks they weren't quite ready to accept--the Word of Wisdom, the principle of tithing, and chastity were the three that seemed the most difficult for them to accept. These things were an inconvenience to their present way of life. Some said they were still young and needed to party a little longer and then they would settle down to church going. Some never made the commitment to Heavenly Father to always remember the Savior and keep His commandments through baptism before they left for Iraq or Afghanistan, and some never came back.

The soldiers were not the only ones who discovered becoming a member of Jesus Christ's Church inconvenient. There was a wonderful older African American woman who had a spiritual experience before our first visit with her. She described a dream in which the town sheriff told her to read Acts 19. After we had taught the first lesson, she told us about her dream and asked us if we could help her understand it. We didn't know what the message was until we looked up the scripture and read it with her (Acts 19:2-6). It is about baptism and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, all done by the proper priesthood authority given by God to perform His ordinances here on earth.

This good sister had the Spirit witness to her that she had received God's truth, but was she baptized? No. It was inconvenient for her. Her little church in the neighborhood was like home. The members were like family. She didn't want to risk raising the ire of her preacher against her. There certainly was an inconvenience getting to an LDS ward to attend. She had no means of transportation and could barely walk. This dear woman could barely see to read and even with the large print edition of The Book of Mormon, she read very slowly. Yes, there were some inconveniences. She told us to keep coming back because she "didn't want to miss the mark." How sad. All because of God's true path being inconvenient she has missed the mark for now. Maybe in the future she will "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," as recorded in the Bible, Philippians 3:14.

Finding God's "lifestyle" inconvenient for the modern fast-paced lifestyle (so much to do, so little time) is not uncommon. I admit to feeling resentful at times because the Church asked something of me that wasn't convenient to do at the moment. There's that stage of "having to go to church" when others are free to do what they want on Sunday. There's those times when it seems people needing help schedule their crisis when I am most busy. Why doesn't that happen when there is nothing else to do? Oh, Satan, you sneaky devil, why do you put such thoughts in my head and why do I listen?

Yes, a life without structured religious observance or obligations to serve others is perceived as an easier life to live in this temporary earth existence, but is it at the expense of eternal life? Will I deceive myself into selling my soul, so to speak, for a mess of pottage? Heaven forbid! Okay, I know St. Mark (8:36) records that Jesus Christ said, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" All right already. I am convinced having the whole world will not solve my problems or bring me true happiness. Therefore, I will strive not to feel inconvenienced in the Lord's work. Please give me an "amen" to that. I need all the help I can get.

Unselfish Service for Peace

Today, as I sat in the truck waiting for a parking space in the Ogden Temple parking lot, I watched a woman hobbling along in what looked like a great amount of pain. Her swollen legs were wrapped in pressure bandages and she paused every few steps, grimaced, then gritted her teeth and push on across the expanse of the lot. When she was within hearing range, I rolled my window down and asked if she was heading for her car. She pointed to the last parking space near where I'd stopped to wait. I commented on her dedication in being at the temple when she was in obvious discomfort. She smiled and said, "It is the only place I can go to get peace."

I have often wondered how so many older people, some barely able to walk or move, find the energy to serve in the temple either as workers or patrons. Some have been there as regular as clockwork, serving quietly, hardly noticed by anyone year after year after year. Perhaps their blessing is peace in knowing that there is nothing so great as service to others with no thought of reward. Giving someone the opportunity to accept the gospel is the most lovely and precious of gifts. All it may cost for some folks is inconvenience, discomfort, and pushing through great pain.

Then, there is me--much healthier than they, arguing with myself as to whether I had the time to go to the temple today in the midst of the pressure of the long list of holiday to dos. Obviously, by being so caught up in the hustle and bustle of busyness, I missed the fact that the number one "to do" for Christmastime would be to go to the temple where one can be as close to the Prince of Peace as possible--doing His work. Unfortunately, as I was congratulating myself for giving a great Christmas present to the person for whom I had done the temple work, I failed to realize how much I've been given and how little He asks in return.

Launching February 8, 2010

It isn't going to to be hard to leave the cold, but the snow is soooo beautiful! I will miss that in England. Snow is such a gift this time of year because it transforms the dried out weeds, brown undergrowth, naked shrubs, and bare ground into a wonderland that sparkles in the sun and gleams when moonlight touches it. There won't be snow like that where we are going, though I suppose all the green in England won't be hard to get used to. I do know we need to take warm clothing because the dampness chills one to the bone. Georgia was like that as well, but this time I won't have Cailin mail me my long wool coat since I'll be wearing it. I plan to wear all the heavy stuff to lighten the baggage load. I am being very scientific about luggage and clothes weight. It remains to be seen if I'll survive living out of two suitcases for 18 months!

Ercell and I are going back to our ancestral roots, with his grandfather coming from Carlisle (which is in our mission) and my great, great grandmother from somewhere in Yorkshire (which is east of our mission boundaries). We hope preparation days allow for a wee bit of exploring in the graveyards. Across the way, in Ireland are more of my family roots, and some in Scotland, which borders the mission.

Another missionary couple getting ready for their mission in Barcelona, Spain (Hadleys) sent us a check list to prepare for missionary service. Number one suggestions for preparation guidelines suggest that we "spend as much time together as husband and wife as possible to help you adjust to missionary life." I didn't know we spent any of our time together other than as husband and wife.
Maybe it means we need to practice getting along in close quarters, but if we decide to be in the same room too long here at home we may drive one another crazy. We are both the type who needs elbow room and personal space. Putting two would-be hermits together in a room together for a long period of time is dangerous without that mantel of the missionary calling. From past experience, it seems once we are set apart, we know we are representing someone other than ourselves and we will be a bit more "inspired" to help things work out in a tiny flat. Having the name of our Savior on our tags almost 24-7 (no, we don't sleep in our name tags) is a very positive motivator. We learned that in Georgia as we learned to live in a small two bedroom apartment. One bedroom was used for an office and the computer allowed for a retreat to home and family and escape from the present surroundings. We may not have such luxury in England. I expect prayers answered will take care of any issues we may encounter. I figured out that people praying for the missionaries' welfare actually do not realize that a good portion of prayers for their safety, success, and sanity is applied to working with companions. LOL!

I have decided this blog will be as honest as possible about adjusting and dealing with the challenges of a couple's mission, but I expect there will be much more about the marvelous blessings and experiences we enjoy for being willing to go where He wants us to go. Overcoming challenges, discouragement, trials, and our human frailties is just part of life that perhaps magnified a bit in the fishbowl environment of a mission. I wouldn't trade the experience for a cruise around the world or for the luxury of kicking back in retirement and lulling away the days. Yes, as some once said, we plan to use up our lives serving our Father in Heaven. Pray for us and help us stay on track, okay?