All Bets Are Off

    As a young boy, I somehow reached the conclusion, probably from my mother, that betting was wrong.  Betting is of course when one wagers some money or possession on the outcome of a game or the correctness of an issue.  People are supposed to earn their way in this world by true effort and good deeds.  From an early age, I only allowed myself to engage in a so called “Gentlemans’s Bet” wherein it was agreed that an outcome did not result in any change in some possession.
    I recall a time as a schoolboy when one Spring playing marbles became the major recess pastime.  Although I could shoot these shiney glass objects pretty well and having a big collection seemed admirable, I would not enter into any contest where “keepsies” was involved, that is where the winner got to keep anyones’ marbles that they shot out of the ring.  
    At a broader level at one time there seemed to be a cultural prohibition against sport-related betting, relating back to the example of the Chicago Black Sox scandal, This is where a prominent and talented baseball player, Joe Jackson and eight others, were banned for life from playing in the majors.  They were accused of losing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds on purpose in exchange for money from a gambling syndicate led by an organized crime figure.  This gambling intrusion distracted from the purity and fairness of the competition and was thought by baseball leaders and also probably the majority of citizens to detract from the purity and enjoyment of America’s favorite pastime.
    In my own value development I came to see any material earthly resource as ultimately belonging to Heavenly Father, with myself as a steward of these gifts, and generally if not earned by my own effort is not a worthy acquisition.  Seemingly, this prohibited trying to add to my possessions through any kind of gambling.
    And anyway, responding to organized gambling is a very bad bet.  How much of the money that is wagered with gambling sponsors is returned to the betters?  Obviously less than 100% because the costs of running the organization is an administrative overhead expense that has to be subtracted from the amount of total amount of money involved in the betting transaction and available to pay off the winners.  Thus the whole gambling transaction has to be set up in a way that on the average of something like only 90% or 80% or maybe even less of the original amount wagered can be returned as payoffs.  While there may be higher payoffs to some at some point, that law of averages dictates eventually that most gamblers will be losers.
    Regarding sports betting, I am troubled and concerned that the leaders of major sports leagues in this country have opened a Pandora’s box of potential troubles.  In recent months, they seemed to have made Las Vegas and betting an integral part of being a fan of their teams and openly advertise sports-betting on their broadcasts of games on national TV.  I hope that in our family, we can continue to love and support good, clean sports competition but also fully avoid the corrupting trap of sports betting.

Temple and Family History Organization in a Ward and Stake

Problem
    Volunteering and serving as a consultant at a FamilySearch Center and serving as a ward family history consultant for a number of years has given me a perspective from which I have determined that some major difficulties exist in many wards and stakes in our response to the mandate to perform temple and family history work.  While the sample of my experience may be somewhat limited, yet as I interact with a number of individuals who have ward and stake callings in regard to this work, and I hear of their struggles and see recurring patterns that seem to be problematic.
    It appears that general membership of the Church may not fully understand the new and greater responsibilities placed upon Elders Quorum and Relief Society presidencies by the Church, to provide the primary ward leadership for temple and family history work (Handbook 25.2.2).  There may be a tendency to continue to look instead to the ward Bishopric for leadership and specific direction for temple and family history efforts in the ward.  Secondly, individuals who occupy Elders and Relief Society functions that affect temple and history work may not fully understand the importance of their roles and responsibility to provide leadership for temple and family history matters.  While in some respects, we all are responsible for every facet and feature of the work of the Lord, there have been recent changes in the degree of responsibility in the ward organization.  One change is that the direct responsibility and supervision by the ward Bishop and Bishopric for certain Melchizedek Priesthood functions has been reduced, for matters relating to temple and family history work (and similarly missionary work).  With the creation of a single Melchizedek Priesthood organization at the ward level, the Elders Quorum, this quorum leadership now has been given a primary responsibility in the ward for leading in these specific higher priesthood efforts (see D & C 84:19-20).  We see in this move by the Church to create important Melchizedek priesthood function councils at the ward level (and perhaps also the stake and area levels) a replication of the apostolic Executive Committees for such things as Temple and Family History and for Missionary Work at the general church level.  And perhaps the most major change of all is the elevation of the Relief Society Presidency to near equal responsibility and joint leadership status with the Elders Presidency for these ward level efforts.  The risk in the lack of these new understandings may well be fragmentation of ward efforts in these areas, or failure to give sufficient attention or emphasis to this work, both of which would seem to weaken the effort of the ward in these areas.  There is an interconnectedness of responsibilities that seems to require a broad consensus in order for members to successfully carry out goals, policies, and procedures in the local levels of the Church.
    To optimize the temple and family history work in a ward, it would seem helpful for the following to be on the same page:
    –The Elders President and his designated Counselor
    –The Relief Society President and her designated Counselor
    –The Ward Temple and Family History Leader
    And to a lesser degree (but still vital):
    –Family History Consultants and members of the ward temple and family history committee
    –Members of the Ward Council, including the bishopric and also youth leaders.
    Another challenge to consider is how a ward temple and family history leader should operate in this context.  The Handbook of Instructions identifies an individual ward calling of a Temple and Family History Leader.  This assignment  may be filled by a counselor in the Elders Quorum Presidency or another Melchizedek Priesthood holder.  Four persons are involved in the decision as to whom to call to that position.  According to the Church Handbook of Instructions, the Bishop and Stake President determine which option to follow (Elders counselor or other person), and also the Elders and Relief Society Presidents are to give input as the individual to be called.  The call is to be issued by a member of the bishopric and sustained in Sacrament meeting, and the setting apart performed by a member of the Bishopric.  Even though this is a ward leadership calling, the immediate supervision of this Temple and Family History Leader is by the Elders Quorum and Relief Society presidencies and particularly the Elders Counselor assigned to “help lead temple and family history in the ward” (Handbook 8.2.2, 8.2.4, 9.2.4).  I might suggest that a reason for the call of this person by the Bishopric rather than it being a call within the Elders Quorum is that the work cuts across the major responsibilities of two ward organizations, Elders and Relief Society.  
    When this calling is made, it seems critical that the individual must be clearly informed and understand the requirement for him to accept his primary supervision to be from the Elders and Relief Society Presidencies and to promote his directing of the work through them.  If he or others assume that he answers organizationally to the person issuing the call or any other individual who is not a part of the Elders or Relief Society presidencies, the needed unity and cooperation for this work within the ward will likely suffer.  Also, as holding a significant Melchizedek Priesthhood calling, it goes without saying that the ward temple and family history leader should not carry other assignments that interfere with his being present in Elders Quorum meetings regularly to teach and promote his special mission.  Also the efforts of a ward temple and family history leader will probably work best and reflect the leadership of the Relief Society and Elders Quorum if he is included regularly in correlation meetings of these two presidencies, especially prior to his scheduled appearances with the Ward Council, in order to be able to present a well-considered and united position to the rest of the ward leaders.   
    We are seeing a number of persons with temple and family history leader callings functioning largely in isolation.  Sometimes these persons may make the choice to operate in isolation or unilaterally.  Unilateral actions by a person who is in such a directing role is inconsistent with the order of the Church, and in the long run will not get the job done because success requires the commitment of many persons acting unitedly.  This is particularly the case if the temple and family history leader in a ward does not want to take direction from or seek intense involvement of the Elders Quorum and Relief Society leadership as being his supervising authorities.
    A second reason for this isolation of the temple and family history leader may result from a lack of understanding or training of either the temple and family history leader and/or of the leaders of the Elders Quorum or Relief Society, so that they do not understand or are indifferent to their important shared responsibilities in the ward for providing leadership for temple and family history work or are holding on to “the old way of doing things”.
    Here are some added suggestions that might help in overcoming these problems.


1. Calling of a new ward temple and family history leader
    The person issuing the call should make it very clear that the new leader knows that in this calling he needs to support and represent the Elders Quorum and Relief Society Presidencies as they are asked to “lead the day to day temple and family history efforts in the ward” (Handbook 25.2.2) and that his immediate file leader is a specified Elders Quorum Counselor.  Some individuals have suggested that the Elders President (and even the Relief Society President) attend these calling interviews and be the person(s) to provide instruction on the duties and organizational relationships for the new assignment.  Or alternatively, to schedule and hold a separate meeting with the four of them and the new leader, to discuss how it works and to "hand off" the Temple and Family History leader to the EQ and RS presidents (or counselors).

2. Oversight of ward Elders Quorums and Relief Society Presidencies
    The problem of a lack of Elders Quorum leadership for temple and family history work might be cured by focused attention to this potential problem by members of the Stake High Council who are assigned to oversee and support the specific ward Elders quorum presidencies (Handbook 25.3.3)
    – Training Elders Quorum Presidencies on their roles and responsibilities for temple and family history work
    – More specific training for the Quorum counselor who is assigned to temple and family history work (especially where some other man is the temple and family history chair).
    –Specific suggestions as to how the presidency could involve a ward temple and family history leader in their discussions and planning, how to structure regular correlational meetings and contacts with the leader and how to use quorum meetings and resources to promote temple and family history work.  
    The Stake Relief Society Presidency might fill a similar oversight and training role with ward Relief Society leaders (Handbook 25.3.4)
    The High Councilors and Stake Relief Society leaders might be assisted in this by stake temple and family history consultants, who are part of a stake committee on temple and family history work (Handbook 25.3.5)
    Another approach to training that has been used successfully by some stakes is for the stake temple and family history leadership persons to schedule a monthly training time, in this case on a Sunday afternoon once a month, at the local FamilySearch Center, inviting all the ward temple and family history leaders, ward consultants, and members of ward temple and family history committees to attend.  These meetings might present a mix of formal family history research training and discussion of problems and ideas for organizing and promoting this work in the wards and stake.  This might provide an alternative (or supplement) to the correlation meeting suggested below in item 4, plus have the added benefit of familiarizing all these persons with the local Center and its resources.

3. Creation of a stake temple and family history committee with persons of specific expertise in this work
    These persons might be deployed to help with training of ward Elders Quorum and Relief Society Presidencies, Temple and Family History Leaders, and Temple and Family History Consultants.  This committee might also focus on integrating and the optimal use of family history resources of the wards, the stake and the local FamilySearch Center.

4. Stake High Councilor Over Temple and Family History Work Correlation Meeting with Ward Temple and Family History Work Leaders
    It has been suggested that coordination and commitment to temple and family history work, on the part of both ward and of stake leaders, might be facilitated by the High Councilor over temple and family history work holding a meeting periodically, perhaps every three to six months, with the ward temple and family history chairmen.  Purposes would include providing information on stake initiatives and other resources, receiving feedback and considering solutions to temple and family history issues and problems, and to train and motivate these leaders, etc.
    The High Councilor should seek specific information about:
    –What is the nature of the working relationships that exist in the wards between the temple and family history leaders and their ward Elders quorum and Relief Society leadership?
    –Are the ward temple and family history committees fully staffed and meeting regularly, probably monthly?
    –Do the wards each have a temple and family history plan that it is following conscientiously?  Do these plans include actions to be carried out by all ward functions, including the Young Men, the Young Women, Primary, and representing a broad consensus and commitment across the entire ward?
    –Are there enough consultants in the wards?  Do they need more training?  Does the ward meet its assignment for consultants serving with the local FamilySearch Center?
    –Are the formal resources for training consultants adequate and being utilized?
    –Is the ward making effective use of the local FamilySearch Center resources?

5. For all temple and family history callings, ward, stake, and FamilySearch Center workers
    The feelings of isolation reported by some workers might be partly alleviated if when called, the leader emphasizes the interrelatedness of all the family history resources, in the ward, stake and FamilySearch Center.  Ward calls might direct the recipient to stake and Center for training, and potentially to their support of Center activities and staffing needs.
    
REL: rev. May 20, 2024

Established, Rooted, Grounded, and Settled– Supporting Scriptures for the Lewis Family Creed

    The original Lewis Family Creed in full form: Raise up the foundation of many generations. We seek successive generations of grandparents, parents, and children who are grounded, rooted, settled, and established (Ephesians 3:16-19) in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and sealed in His Holy Temple.
    Shorter version: We seek successive generations of grandparents, parents, and children who are grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and sealed in His Holy Temple

24 We ask thee, Holy Father, to establish the people that shall worship, and honorably hold a name and standing in this thy house, to all generations and for eternity; (D&C 109:24)

16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,  (Ephesians 3:16-17)

22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; (Colossians 1:22-23)

6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7)

12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13)

16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)

10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (1 Peter 5:10)

Recording oral history interviews

     There is a wealth of insights available in the experiences and memories of older family members, that will evaporate when they are dead.  Performing and recording oral interviews can provide wonderful family history records.  Young persons may be especially adept at doing oral history interviews.
    Preparation:
1. Find a set of oral history questions that will be appropriate.  Attached are some possible sets of oral interview questions.  There are a number of web sites and books that suggest additional options.  You may also write and add your own questions.  When interviewing, be prepared to ask more detailed questions that occur to you as a discussion goes forward.
2. Obtain audio recording equipment with the possibility of recording at least a one hour interview.
3. Plan to transcribe the interview and also save the recording, to preserve the voice of the interviewee.  There are free on-line tools that can assist with the transcription.

Family Connection to New Movie Hero

    Wendy and I were thrilled and inspired by the new movie “Escape from Germany,” and were especially touched by the fact that we are relatively close relatives of the missionary hero of the film, Norman Seibold (FS ID: KWCB-J56).  We learned in the movie that his wife was Ruby Davenport (FS ID: KWZM-7XP).  She and I are 2nd cousins once removed, both descended from Edward Wilcox Davenport and his wife Clarissa Crapo.  They were married in the Salt Lake Temple,  9 February 1940, the parents of 6 children, and lived in Southern Idaho.
    Death announcement “Mormon Hero”
    “Norman Seibold, who helped his fellow Mormon missionaries leave Germany in 1939 as the Nazi threat grew, died Friday. He was 88.
    “As the Nazis were setting their sights on Poland, Seibold decided to find the stranded missionaries in Germany and get them out.
    “Seibold went to train stations and employed a common signal, whistling the first five notes of the Mormon hymn, "Do What Is Right."
    “Any missionaries on hand would gather around him. In five days he rounded up all 85 in the country and evacuated them.
    “In 1956, Seibold moved to Rupert, ID, where he managed Imperial Produce Co. From 1962 to 1982, he managed the Minidoka Stake Welfare Farm, and from 1983 to 1995, he was a Minidoka County commissioner.” (Grand Rapids Press, The (MI)/4 December 2003)
    Here is an excerpt about their life from my Aunt Dorothy’s Davenports Ancestry in America, written by Ruby herself (pp. 154-155).
    “Late in the year 1939 I met Norman Seibold, a recently returned missionary who had come to Parker to operate a grocery store.
    “Norman and his parents moved to Newdale soon after his birth and his father established a grocery business. After attending Ricks College, he graduated from the University of Utah in business and accounting. He was all-conference guard for two years while playing football for the U. of U. After graduation he filled a mission in West Germany.
    “A few months after our marriage we moved to Idaho Falls where Norman operated a meat market in one of the grocery stores. Then, during the war years we lived in Newdale where my husband was engaged in farming. Later we lived in the Idaho Falls area where he managed different meat markets.
    “In the spring of 1950 we bought a grocery store in St. Anthony which we operated for six years. During that time one of our newborn babies died of virus pneumonia when she was just two days old.
    “In 1956 we moved to Rupert where Norman went to work for Imperial Produce Co., managing their potato shipping plant and farming operations. This is where he is employed at the present time (1962)”.

A Shout-out to the Mothers and Fathers in our Family

    We have just passed the time each year when we celebrate good motherhood and good fatherhood.  So I say “A big positive shout-out, my praise and thanks, to the magnificent mothers and fathers in our Lewis family.”  You are doing so very well in establishing and maintaining strong, loving and united homes in which our family members thrive, feel the bonds of love and their own exceptional worth and value, and are inspired to achieve their highest potential.
    In a recent article by Jenet Erickson, she notes “If we were asked to design a system for making sure that children’s... needs were met, we would probably come up with something quite similar to the two-parent ideal... [There is]...something powerful in the design—mother and father—devoted to something larger than themselves, nurturing the children their love brought into being... The ideal context for [their] development was a married mother and father parenting together.”
    I loved Jenet’s detailed description of a mother-infant relation and of the relative differences in the mothering and fathering relationships with the children:
    “I recently sat beside a new mother. Her infant, just six weeks old, was still struggling to nurse and bottle-feed. His utter dependence struck me. He gazed directly into his mother’s face, locking his eyes on hers. In spite of seeming to have literally no real capacities, it was clear that he recognized her. She was his entire world. For a second, his mouth broke into a smile, and I watched her exhaustion give way to radiance.
    “Like all infants, his primary task was to search out a face—wired to seek the one whose heartbeat and smell and voice he already intimately knew, whose blood and organs and bones built his. His fetal cells will circulate in her body long after he has grown into adulthood. The bond they were primed to form is an intuitive extension of their biological connection.  
    “For the next year of his life, they will communicate through emotions, eye to eye, body to body. She will regulate his inner world by intuitively synchronizing herself with his inner state, then upregulating the emotion, doing what he cannot yet do for himself. In the process, their bond of emotional communication will lay the foundations for his emotional awareness, personality, self-regulation, and capacity for intimacy.
    “He will also connect with Dad, especially as he becomes a toddler. Their bond will look different, more playful, and physical. When Mom holds a ball in front of him, she might describe its color and shape; when Dad takes it, he is more likely to play with it, maybe even bop him on the head with it. Mom and Dad will do much of the same things—nurture, guide, teach, feed—but they will also offer distinct orientations. Dad will be more likely to encourage independence and risk taking; Mom more likely to build assurance and emotional understanding, the one he will go to for comfort. She’ll likely correct his behavior more often, but when Dad corrects, he will hold the line, enforcing boundaries and communicating authority. Dad is the one he will rough house with while he learns how to handle strong emotions and relate to others in regulated ways. But Mom is likely the one he will want to talk to about his day.
    “Together, they will offer him a fuller and more complete understanding of himself and the world and how he can navigate its complexity with assurance and capacity. When he calls out “Dad,” the voice that responds will assure him that needed protection, guidance, and help are close. His call for “Mom” will bring a different, also essential, form of soul-nourishing protection, help, and guidance.
    “There is something irreplaceable in this complementary design...”
(“How Parents and Children Benefit from Fidelity to One Another,” Jenet Erickson, PublicSquare Magazine, June 12, 2024, https://publicsquaremag.org)
    I have written more about the nature and importance of the father-child relationship  (See Chapter 18 “Some thoughts about Male-Female Marital Roles and Relationships” in The Higher Law, the Temple, and Families, pp 109-121).  For additional study, I also strongly recommend a pair of chapters in Bruce Hafen’s book Covenant Hearts, #18 The Moral Influence of Women, and #19 The Moral Influence of Men.  
    God bless you all. 

Binding Persons to a Large Organization--Strategies for a Ward

     How can we best help individual persons people feel a part of a large organization, to bind them or give them a sense of belonging to that organization, particularly if that organization is new to them or they initially do not feel part of it?  Some psychologists have taught that this happens best as persons build a number of close individual relationships with other persons in that organization and that this relationship building happens best in small intimate group settings or one on one interactions that occur in connection with or sponsored by the larger organization.
    How might this insight apply in connection with feelings about our own wards in the Church of Jesus Christ?  This might especially be of concern when people move to a new residence, or if persons are naturally shy or reserved, or we have major ward boundary changes, or for persons who are relatively “less active” in the Church, or not even members of the Church but live in Utah neighborhoods.  This emotional connectivity seems to occur naturally and progressively over time for persons who serve in Church presidencies, bishoprics, and other small leadership groups, and perhaps also when effective ministering exists and when interviews with Church leaders are experienced regularly.  But the question still remains for many–what can we do further to help facilitate other persons in our ward area in forming these friendships and close relationships with many more people and thus contribute to their greater feelings of attachment to the ward and the Church?  Specifically, what are ways a ward could structure small group gatherings that facilitate the forming of more of these closer relationships and thus bind ward members more closely to the ward and by extension, the Church and also their Savior?
    Here are some ideas:
– Plan small neighborhood street parties/breakfasts/barbecues (best at a sub-ward level, perhaps 12-15 homes at most)
– Organize small (3-4 couples max) temple (endowment or sealing) groups, with dessert at someone’s home after, (with an expectation of rotating group members on a schedule).
– Create small dinner (including games or visiting time) groups (3 or 4 couples), who rotate perhaps monthly hosting at each of the member homes (also group membership changed often, perhaps after one or two rotations).
– Organize family history writing/FS memories group (4 or 5 persons) small, who share/report their writings and records about their own family.
– Organize church-house cleaning groups
– Organize neighborhood service groups (yard clean-up, assist move-ins and move-outs, help elderly/widows/handicapped, cannery assignments)
– Call/assign Relief Society/Elders Quorum Activities Committees (4 or 5 persons each).  In their work, they could sponsor both ward wide events, but also promote activities of interest to smaller subsets, and be the organizers/assigners of participants and lead persons for these small group activities.  Here are some small subset group possibilities: health and exercise groups (walking, jogging, swimming, aerobics, weight-loss), sports and recreation (basketball shooting, pickleball, attending BYU games together, fishing, camping), young mothers’ group (sewing, meal planning, family finances, playground visits), book reading, classic movies, gardening, quilting.
    Possible references to committees and small working groups in Handbook:
Missionary coordination 23.4    8.2.3
Temple and family history coordination 25.2.7   25.2.2
Young single adults support 14.1.2.2
Activities   RS 9.2.1.3      EQ 8.2.1.3    Ward 20.2.1
Young women preparation for RS 9.4
Teaching prospective Elders    8.4
Service to people in need   9.2.2.2   9.3.4   22.6.2    8.3.5   8.2.2.2

Two-way Impact of Temples

    There is great spiritual benefit, even personal transformation, for individual saints in participating regularly in the house of the Lord, as Joseph Smith prayed to the Father at the Kirtland Temple dedication, that “all people... may feel thy power, ...may grow up in thee, ...may receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost, ...and be prepared to receive every needful thing” (D&C 109:13-15).  In the temple ceremonies, we are taught, make covenants, and given reminders of the very principles and laws that define the pathway to celestial life.
     The temple can also contribute mightily to a sense of Zion-like community cohesion, as taught by President Nelson, that in the temple, “age, nationality, language—even position in the Church—are of secondary significance… All sit side by side and are considered equal in the eyes of the Lord. Through a democracy of dress, temple attendance reminds us that ‘God is no respecter of persons” ("Prepare for the Blessings of the Temple", October 2010 General Conference).  Temple-going Latter-day Saints have forged bonds of community connection through group temple trips, both for adults and youths, by attending temple sessions together in our wards and stakes, through service alongside other members of the community as temple workers, and through assisting with each other’s family research and ordinance work for ancestors. In fact, the Lord stated a communal purpose for the building of temples “for the gathering together of my saints, that they might worship me” (D&C 115:8).
    See also: "The Audacity of Temples" by Dan Ellsworth, Public Square Magazine (publicsquaremag.org, February 19, 2024) 

Temple Garments and the Sacrament

     Here is some recent instruction from President Nelson on our temple garments and their worshipfulness:

        Wherever your personal ‘closet’ may be…plan to have a period of private time in that setting to prepare, to ponder, and to pray.
        Prior to doing so, you will have clothed yourself with the garment of the holy priesthood. This may seem little more than a routine step in preparing for the day.  However, as you clothe yourself in this holy garment please think about the temple.  Specifically, I invite you to reflect upon those moments when you stand at the veil of the temple.
        I want you to know what the Apostle Paul taught about the veil of the temple [in Hebrews, chapter 10, starting at verse 19].  Your garment is symbolic of the veil (of the temple); the veil is symbolic of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when you put on your garment, you may feel that you are truly putting upon yourself the very sacred symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ — His life, His ministry and His mission, which was to atone for every daughter and son of God.
        Each day when you clothe yourself once again with the holy garment, you may ponder about all he has done for you and for all people who would ever live. You may also reflect upon the great privileges that come to those who learn how to draw upon the powers of heaven.
        Our garments are a shield and protection for us both physically and spiritually. They protect us from the fiery darts of the adversary, which may be aimed at us and our loved ones during the day. And, very simply, wearing the garment faithfully and respectfully gives us greater access to the mercy, protection, strength and power of our Savior Jesus Christ.  (https://www.thechurchnews.com/2022/6/28/23218768/president-nelson-sacrament-meeting-for-new-mission-leaders-time-with-the-lord)

    The wearing of our temple garments is sacramental.  The garment contain reminders of Christ and his sacrifice for us.  Likewise, it serves to help us remember our commitment to eternal temple covenants.  This is especially true in our emulating and acquiring the virtues and characteristics of our Savior, Jesus Christ, so that we might live with him again in the Celestial Kingdom (endowment).  Also in being faithful to and strengthening the bonds of our eternal relationships with the persons in this life that we love the very most– our spouses, our children, and other family members (sealings).  Additionally, wearing the temple garments promises to help us claim life-long protection against temptations and the powers of evil.
    Here is a comparison of the promises and blessings as we partake of the sacramental emblems and as we wear and honor our temple garments:
1. SACRAMENT:
       PROMISES MADE:
    To always remember Christ and His atoning sacrifice
    To take upon oneself Christ’s name (to be His disciple and spiritual child)
    To keep His commandments
      PROMISES RECEIVED: To always have the Spirit with us
      WHEN TO REMEMBER: Particularly at sacrament meeting, but remember always
2. WEARING TEMPLE GARMENTS:
      PROMISES MADE:
    To wear the garment throughout one’s life
    To always remember Christ and His atoning sacrifice, and His ultimate position in this life
    To keep God’s commandments, to recognize one’s need for constant spiritual nourishment
    To be faithful to one’s temple covenants (becoming like Christ, sealing to loved ones)
      PROMISES RECEIVED: Life-long protection from the power of Satan
      WHEN TO REMEMBER: Particularly after a period of personal reflection and prayer, while dressing each day, while putting on clean garments (also, be respectful, don’t stand on dirty garment or leave on floor), but remember always.

Ministering to the Ministers

     Just as the process of ministering starts with making regular (ideally monthly or even more often) contacts and visits with assigned persons or families, so also ministering to the ministers absolutely requires regular accountability contacts.  The Church Handbook says “at least quarterly” for a formal accountability meeting, but perhaps contacts happening more often, such as a monthly phone call.
        “Anything new about your families/sisters that I need to know?”
        “What has happened with _______ issue or problem?”
        “How are you feeling about your relationship with them?”
        “Have you visited them recently/over the past month?”
    As an aside, it might be helpful if brothers and sisters with ministering assignments in a ward might be expected to be the first line of defense, the primary persons who are expected to provide ministering efforts to members with needs.  We have a tradition of wonderful bishops, relief society presidents, and priesthood leaders who reach out to help ward members.  But in the promotion of all ward members to become strong in ministering, it might be wise when a ministering leader hears of a new problem in the life of a member, to resist making a contact themselves, but rather to start by calling their assigned ministering person and suggesting that they follow up and report back with what they have learned.  It might be discouraging and almost embarrassing to learn from a Church leader the details of problems being experienced on the part of someone to whom they are assigned be the Church to be the minister.  These kinds of problems may be the very opportunity that a person needs to master the ministering process and to build ministering relationships.
    Just as Church families might often interpret the failure of an assigned minister to make visits as evidence that the person does not care for them, so also the failure of a leader to schedule and conduct quality accountability interviews at least quarterly might well be also interpreted negatively.  Either the leader does not care for the assigned minister or else he or she does not care for how the ministering program is being carried out, that effective ministering is not important.
    Based upon my experiences, I believe that quality ministering accountability interviews should be:
    1) Held regularly, no less often that quarterly.  This could be at the church, at the leader’s home, or the minister’s home
    2) Scheduled by a secretarial person
    3) Planned for at least 15-20 minutes
    4) Opened and closed with prayer
    5) Leader takes notes, copy could be shared
    6) Focus on needs of family/persons, ministering goals, strengthening the ministering relationship, the companionship, the ability of the ministers to serve this family/sister.
    Overall, making ministering assignments is only the beginning of overseeing ministering.  The goal is create effective, committed, and loving ministers and to bless every family/sister in the ward.

President Richard Barker’s System for High Quality Home Teaching
(Robert Lewis, written in 2019)
    We moved to a new home in Taylorsville, Utah in 1969, and three weeks later I was called as Elders President in our new ward.  I discovered that the Stake President, Richard Barker, had a very serious and elaborate strategy for generating high quality home teaching in his stake.  We had over 100 families assigned to our quorum.  Under this program, we achieved nearly 100% of families visited each month and I believe had a relatively high level of quality ministering relationships and ward unity.  
    In President Barker’s vision, he established a role division between stake and ward leadership.  Stake leaders would be concerned about making sure that all families were visited regularly (as per D&C 20:47/51).  Ward leaders were to be concerned about meeting the specific needs of persons and families (see Moroni 6:4).  Here are details:
    1) Home teachers averaged about four families each.  In the quorum presidency, we divided the supervision of about 30 home teaching pairs into three districts of about 10 each.
    2) The stake took most of the responsibility for overseeing that all home visits were made.
    a) Every weekend of the month, at about 9 pm on Saturday, I received a call from the High Councilor assigned to our ward, in which I was expected to report on which families assigned to my quorum had already been visited.  He had a current copy of a list of all our families and checked off the ones I reported.  In order to make that report, I and my counselors needed to have made contact, probably earlier in the day or week, with all the senior home teachers we supervised to get information about the status of their visits to their families.
    b) Early on Sunday morning there was a meeting in which these High Counselors reported the month’s home visit progress to President Barker.
    c) This process continued weekly until the full month’s visit report was made.
    d) The stake goal was 100% of families visited.  Occasionally, our Quorum Presidency made these visits as a back up.
    3) Members of our Quorum Presidency were expected to conduct an accountability interview with each Home Teaching pair or senior companion monthly.
    a) We generally did these on about the second Sunday, before or after Church, at the churchhouse.
    b) Our quorum secretary arranged the appointments.
    c) We allocated about 15 minutes time for each interview.
    d) Contents of the interview included prayer, discussion of needs of the families, and  identifying goals for work with each family and actions the home teachers planned to take to reach these goals.
    e) We had a small pre-carboned form that the member of the presidency used to take notes on needs, goals and action plans, and shared a copy with the home teachers.
    f) Follow-up meetings, of course, included discussion of progress on goals and plans.
    g) The stake required a report at the end of each month on accountability interviews conducted and expected 100% compliance.
    4) Our Quorum Presidency met monthly with the Bishopric to discuss the needs of our families and the strategies for filling these needs, with an emphasis on the quality of the visiting and ministering to our families.
    a) This meeting was usually held mid-month.
    b) It would typically last at least an hour.
    c) It was separate from administrative meetings such as ward council.
    5) We were instructed and tried to minimize failure by home teachers.  We recognized that some home teachers had capabilities and limits different than others, and would not be as successful with so many families.  “It looks like in your situation right now having only two assigned families will work best.”  We also recognized that almost every family knew the expectation of at least a monthly visit by their home teachers, and possibly would interpret the lack of visits as not caring, making a ministering relationship more difficult to achieve.   Therefore we did not allow the lack of visiting of a family to continue more than a couple of months, but would reassign these families and give different home teachers a fresh start for building the desired rapport with their assigned families.
    6) I found the atmosphere for working with home teachers under this arrangement comfortable and satisfying.  We were able to counsel home teachers and see them grow.  It seemed to help create a climate in the ward that was positive and supportive.
    I wonder if we might learn something about how to successfully implement the new ministering effort from President Barker's program?

Our Wonderful Bodies Testify of God, from President Nelson

    It was the study of medicine that convinced me that God was real. The more I learned about the human body, the more I realized that only  a Divine Being could have created something so magnificent...
    As scientists, we do not know how two cells unite to form an embryo or how primitive cells differentiate to become a beating heart or a thinking brain.  We just know that they do so according to a pattern established by our Heavenly Father.
    For example, consider the jewel that is the human heart–a compression pump so remarkable that its power and durability is almost beyond comprehension.  This tremendous organ pumps enough fluid every day to fill the equivalent of a 2,000-gallon railroad tank-car.  Your heat has four tiny valves that open and close 100,000 times a day, over 36 million times a year, without any effort on your part.
    These valves are soft and billowy as a parachute, yet as tough as sinew.  Unless altered by disease, heart valve are so rugged that they can stand this wear and tear for decades.  No man-made material developed this far can be flexed so frequently and for so long without breaking or wearing out.
    One of the biggest problems researchers working to develop the first artificial hearts encountered was to find a material that could be folded and unfolded many times a day, day after day, without ultimate fatigue and fracture.  The heart does enough mechanical work to life a 150-pound person from the street up to the top of the empire State Building every day.  Yet in so doing, it consumes minute amounts of energy.
    At the crest of the heart is an electrical transmitting center that send signals down specific special circuits that cause the muscle fibers to contract together with a synchronized response that would be the envy of any conductor of a symphony orchestra.
    The first artificial heart-lung machine we made occupied many square feet of space.  The pump that our Creator made occupies a space about the size of your fist and does not need to be plugged into an electrical outlet.  The power to our heart is provided, not by battery or cord, nor by compressed air or be nuclear energy, but by a process known only to God.
    Consider other properties of the body.  The human brain with its countless combinations of recording, memory, storage, and retrieval systems serves as the headquarters for one’s personality, character, and knowledge.  The brain’s capacity appears to be unlimited.  The more it si stimulated and challenged, the more it seems able to do.  The more we memorize music, equations, data, poetry, scriptures, and famous sayings, the more our capacity for memorizing and retaining information increases.
    What about our eyes?  I remember the day when I heard about a new camera that could autoregulate light and shutter speed settings.  At that time, that advancement in technology seemed remarkable.  Then I stood in front of a mirror, flashed a beam into my eye, and observed a brisk constriction of a perfectly round pupil.  My eye responded instantly to regulate the intensity of light that could pass through a self-focusing lens to reach the sensitive retina in the back of the eye.  We each own two “cameras,” if you will, and when they function properly, they are finer than any camera that you can buy.
    Then consider the body’s remarkable ability to reproduce.  Twenty-three chromosomes from both the father and the mother unite to make one cell.  These chromosomes contain thousands of genes.  A mavelous process of genetic coding is established by which all of the basic human characteristics of the unborn child are determined, and thus a new DNA complex is formed.  Approximately twenty-two days after these two germ cells unite, a little heart begins to beat.  At twenty-six days, the circulation of blood begins.  Cells multiply and divide, some being differentiated to become eyes that see or ears that hear, while still others are destined to become fingers, toes and legs.  The ability of the body to reproduce is magnificent and begins with conception.
    The body also has the ability to protect itself from disease.  I’ll never forget watching some children drinking water that ran down the sidewalk in front of our home.  The water carried mud from a neighbor’s garden.  I suppose the number of germs they ingested was incalculable, but not one child became ill.  The defense mechanisms of their bodies protected them.
    I could go on and on.  We could discuss the bodies capacity to autoregulate on an almost infinite number of variables, beginning with temperature.  We could explore the skin, which protects us against both extreme heat and cold, the ears, bones, adrenal glands, kidneys, lungs, and so on.
    Perhaps most remarkably, the body has the power to heal.  Broken bones heal.  Wounds heal.  Incisions and lacerations heal.  A leak in the respiratory system will heal itself, whereas circulation systems outside the body do not have this power...
    Our mortal bodies are literally gifts from God.  
(Russell M.Nelson, “Heart of the Matter,” 128-131, Deseret Book, 2023)

Two Personal Mottos

 Here are two personal mottos that I follow and try to live by:

1. Make good things happen

I will live in a world of action, not talk or reflection.  I will only promote things of positive value.

2. I read to learn, I write to think.

I have determined that I am a visual learner and I need the written word to really understand ideas.  I use writing to fully express my thoughts and conclusions.

The New Religion of Progress

     Early in my college time at BYU (perhaps about 1956), I took a religion class from Henry Nicholes on world religions where he taught a concept that I have not forgotton.  Dr. Nicholes was an old but highly respected chemistry professor.  He taught us that the communist movement of those times had a lot of characteristics of a religion, even though it claimed to be atheistic and to dislike religions.  He pointed to the fact that Communism seemingly had prophets (leaders who should be revered and followed without question, Marx, Engels, etc.), scriptures (writings to be accepted without question, such as Das Capital), dogma (basic doctrine to be followed) and a belief system requiring a faith commitment of its followers.  Its dogma included belief that it was inevitable that the proletariat (working class persons) would rise in rebellion against their masters (capitalists) and establish their own ideal or utopian system of government (with a dictatorship of the proletariat), including the collective ownership and management of all vehicles of production/business/sources of wealth, in which all of the workers of the world would share its benefits.  Communist Party members were like converts and were brought into associations (cells) with other disciples, to spread the faith.
    What really sold me on the idea that communism was a pseudo-religion was the faith commitment that there exists some kind of higher power or rule or law of human nature that drives human societies to create a certain type of government, in this case, a “dictatorship of the proletariat,” for all workers to share in a utopean dream.  The “arc of history bends” in a particular direction.
    In an op-ed piece published by the Deseret News, BYU-I history professor Hyrum Lewis (no relation) finds applications in current political thinking of this same kind of magical thinking, having characteristics of religious faith, that there is some overarching power that drives political and societal trends in particular ways.  You might think that he goes too far to make his point, yet I think there is some validity in his argument.  Here it is.
                                 Op-ed: Latter-day Saints — Beware the False God of 'History'
“If man stops believing in God, he will start believing in anything.” — attributed to G.K. Chesterton
    The Judeo-Christian tradition has many prohibitions against idolatry but few against atheism.  Perhaps early theists understood that humans are homo religious — religious beings by nature who will always seek out an object of worship.  Joshua did not say, “Choose you this day whether you will serve,” but, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.”  According to novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “If a man rejects God, he will have to worship an idol of wood, gold, or ideas.”  Since we all need meaning and higher purpose in our lives, there is no way out of worship, there is only a choice of what to worship (something even evolutionary biologists are now acknowledging).
    In our current society, worship of the Judeo-Christian God is being replaced by the worship of a “God of History,” the deity of the “Religion of Progress.”  This religion permeates our culture, largely shapes public discourse, and has a major impact on popular thinking.  It can be summarized in a three-part creed:
    1. History is unfolding in a pre-determined direction
    2. The enlightened know what that direction is
    3. That direction is good
    In the past, the Religion of Progress was embodied in movements and theories such as Marxism, fascism, and Hegelianism; today it is alive and well on both sides of our political spectrum.  The “left” pays overt homage to the God of History with the “progressive” label, while many on the “right” believe history inevitably points to peace and prosperity under the free market or to universal democracy through American military intervention.  In the Religion of Progress, History is an omnipotent, omnipresent force that acts in and through all things, and will bring eventual salvation to society.  The “arc of history,” we are often told, “bends towards justice.”
    But unlike other deities, the God of History makes few demands; just make sure you’re “on the right side of history.”  Individuals can’t change the God of History’s doings, they can only align themselves with his will, thereby proving themselves to be among the elect.
    For most versions of the Religion of Progress, another sign of virtue is powerlessness.  This view replaces the mistaken 19th century imperialist maxim — “might makes right” — with the opposite but equally mistaken maxim — “might makes wrong.”  People who belong to historically powerful or advantaged groups — males, whites, the wealthy, Americans, [REL: Jews] — are often viewed as inherently evil by virtue of their perceived position of privilege, while anyone who belongs to a historically disadvantaged group — women, racial minorities, the poor, inhabitants of the Third World [REL: indigenous populations, LGBT people, obese persons, the list keeps getting longer--this notion is sometimes labeled "Identity Politics"] — are righteous by virtue of their perceived lack of power.  Being born into “privilege” is the Religion of Progress equivalent of original sin.
    Those willing to approach the question of power rationally rather than dogmatically realize that belonging to a group does not, in itself, confer any moral standing on someone — there are good and bad people in all groups — but the God of History denies agency.  People are saved either through identification with an oppressed group or through identification with the Religion of Progress — being on the right side of history.
    Like most religious believers, history worshippers don’t arrive at their beliefs through rational inquiry, but through a faith commitment.  The doctrines of the Religion of Progress are final, absolute and closed to further discussion. Just as Christians don’t question the will of Christ, history worshippers don’t question the will of history.  Since those disagreeing with any of these dogmas are clearly “on the wrong side of history,” they are not to be engaged and debated, but marginalized and silenced.
    Since young adults are particularly given to religious zeal, it’s understandable that the most fanatical history worshippers would be found on college campuses.  The high priests of the Religion of Progress (the faculty) convert and instruct their acolytes (students) in seminaries (classrooms) and then turn them loose to stop anyone from polluting the church (university) with blasphemy (dissenting ideas).  You can’t debate God (history), you can only shut down those who oppose his will.
    Accordingly, Charles Murray, Heather Macdonald, Christina Hoff Sommers, Bret Weinstein and others who dissent from the Religion of Progress are heretics to be driven from the temple — by violence if needs be.  The same religious zeal that led Puritans to persecute innocents as witches in 1690s Salem is leading students to persecute innocents as heretics today.  The problem with colleges is not — as is commonly believed — that they have become secularized; the problem is that they have become temples of a new religion.
    History worship is attractive and growing for two primary reasons: permissiveness and popularity.  As a matter of doctrine, the Religion of Progress denies human agency and therefore absolves people of responsibility for their actions.  Since virtue comes from being on the “right side of history,” rather than from repentance, adherents to the Religion of Progress can freely indulge in substance abuse, sexual promiscuity and general hedonism.  Anyone who condemns such behavior is clearly an opponent of the Religion of Progress and can be accordingly dismissed as, “intolerant,” “bigoted,” “reactionary,” “racist,” “sexist,” “fascist,” “imperialist,” etc.  This gives history worshippers a sense of moral superiority to go along with their hedonism.
    The Religion of Progress is not only false but also dangerous.  The great bulwark of religious freedom in America has been pluralism, but history worship is approaching dominant status and we increasingly see it imposing itself on society.  People who dare “defy history” (by, say, opposing same-sex marriage) have been harassed, threatened, persecuted and fired from jobs.  God’s will must be enforced, they believe, and once a majority concurs, religious freedom will be subject to majority whims.
    Since it does not acknowledge itself as a faith, history worship poses dangers that other religions do not.  History worshippers, seeing themselves as the enlightened vanguard for a better world rather than the religious zealots they are, feel justified in oppressing and silencing those who disagree.  While other religions are subject to legal constraints, such as the separation of church and state which (rightly) denies them public funding, we are all compelled to subsidize the Religion of Progress through taxation (e.g., public funding of universities, media and art).
    Because the Religion of Progress combines the authority of reason with the zealotry and dogmatism of faith, we should all be concerned about its growth.  History worship threatens to make our society less rational, more politicized and, ultimately, less free.  (Hyrum Lewis, Deseret News Aug 22, 2017)

    Although he focuses primarily of the political left, there is some reason to believe that the political rights has also erred in the direction of believing that there is an inevitability about some of its hopes, such as, if we could just get rid of that dictator Saddam Hussain, the people of Iraq would quickly move to an American style democracy and freedom.
    I would like to add something to Hyrum Lewises three-part creed for the Religion of Progress.  I think for some there may be a fourth part, and I see this in some of the anger and frustration on the left.      4. Persons who are enlightened about the Religion of Progress are ordained and entitled to rule.
    Somehow this reminds me of Laman and Lemuel in the Book of Mormon “For behold, your fathers did wrong their brethren, insomuch that they did rob them of their right to the government when it rightly belonged unto them. (Alma 54:17)    Is there somehow a sense of entitlement among some of the progressive politicians in America, given their enlightment about the Religion of Progress, that they were robbed of their rightful position to lead our country in 2016?  Does this possibly help explain the frustration and anger on the left to be denied the Presidency of our country in 2016 and their obsessive focus on non-cooperation and removal of our current president.
[Robert Lewis--Written in 2017]

Ideal Church Arrangements

     For the last two years in our Come Follow Me curriculum, we’ve been studying scriptures about peoples who had less than ideal Church arrangements.  
    The Old Testament Church as an Aaronic Priesthood Church.  It lacked the Melchizedek Priesthood, except for prophets specifically called for their own lifetime, but without the higher Melchizedek ordinances and prophetic succession (see D&C 84:19-27, Hebrews 7) .  
    The New Testament church was an immature or “Kirtland” church made up of new converts, who were drawn to the new religion, but seemed easily swayed by competing ideas and contention.  It had the same challenges as the restored church in its first few years in our day.  A pattern for succession for overall church leadership (see Acts 1) was initiated but not sustained, perhaps partly due to distance, persecution, lack of communication resources in that day, the killing of the apostolic leadership, but also because of divisions and rebellions within the church itself (see Noel B. Reynolds, Early Christians in Disarray, 2005, FARMS, Mosiah 27:13).
    While leading the saints toward the mountain west, Brigham Young was said to have given his assessment of the restoration, “If the Church’s enemies will leave us alone until we have raised a generation in the Church, it will last forever.” (This is a recollection of mine.  I do not have a further source.)
    What do we have in the mature Church today?
1. A organizational pattern in the succession of the presidency and leadership of the Church which provides for a continuation of prophetic and apostolic leadership, and is sustained by Church membership across the whole general body of the Church who are supportive of this pattern of leadership.
2. Stakes and temples, to provide and unify, gather, and provide higher level priesthood instruction and ordinances to members in their local geographic area.   We might characterize these gatherings as localized mini-Zions.

Building the Third Temple

Here is a Jewish write-up that temple going Latter-day Saints might find interesting, especially that statement that "prophets are in short supply."

 Why Haven’t Jews Rebuilt the Temple Yet?
By Yehuda Shurpinon, from the website Chabad.org  
    For thousands of years, Jews have yearned and prayed for the rebuilding of the Holy Temple.  Now, finally, Israel is in Jewish hands again.  Why don’t I see the rabbinic leaders in Israel spearheading a building campaign?
    Before We Begin
    As anyone who has been to Israel knows, the country is nothing short of a modern-day miracle.  At the same time, there are very real political and security issues—issues that get even more heated when there is any discussion about the Temple Mount, let alone actually building anything there.  That being the case, this entire conversation is purely theoretical, with no relation to the current sociopolitical state of affairs. [REL:The current site contains an Islamic structure, The Dome of the Rock.  Its removal would undoubtedly cause the start of a holy war against the country of Israel.]  Additionally, there is much rabbinic debate surrounding the building of the Third Temple.  To keep things short and simple, we’ll just touch on some of the issues that may be involved.
    Who Must Build?
    When discussing the question of rebuilding the Temple, it is important to keep in mind that, in general, this mitzvah is not an individual obligation, like the mitzvot of tefillin or Shabbat.  Rather, it is a communal obligation.  The obligation to rebuild the Temple may apply only when the majority of the Jewish nation resides in Israel, which currently is not the case.  In addition, it may apply only when there is a Jewish king or prophet.
    How to Build?
    Even if we’re not obligated, should we build the Temple anyway, restoring God’s home one earth?  Truthfully, we don’t even know how to construct it.  The dimensions of the Third Temple are somewhat described in the book of Ezekiel, but the interpretation of many verses is subject to debate.  In fact, when it came time to build the Second Temple, the Jews built it according to the dimensions of the First Temple, and included only certain aspects that are explicitly stated in Ezekiel.  It is only the third and final Temple that will be built entirely according to the prophecy of Ezekiel.
    Perhaps the most challenging aspect of all is the placement of the altar, which must be in a very specific location, as the verse states, “This is the altar for the burnt offerings of Israel.”  According to tradition, the altar is to be placed on the exact spot from which the earth to create Adam was taken and where he later offered sacrifices to God, and where Abraham built the altar to sacrifice Isaac.  The altar’s location is so essential that when they built the Second Temple, they needed three prophets to vouch for the location they had planned.  Accordingly, we’d need at least one prophet to help us in our construction project, and prophets seem to be in short supply nowadays.
    Who Can Go There?
    Assuming that somehow we did get the exact dimensions figured out, there is still one big issue: It is forbidden to enter the Temple area in a state of ritual impurity.  The only way to become ritually pure is with the ashes of a red heifer, which presents its own set of challenges.
    HR Woes
    The Temple was (and will be) staffed by kohanim, descendants of Aaron through a direct line of males.  In order for a kohen to actually work in the Holy Temple, his genealogy would need to be verified with certainty, a test very few of today’s kohanim would pass.  Additionally, they would need to wear the priestly garments, made of materials such as threads dyed with the special techeilet (blue) dye, and a selection of precious stones for the high priest’s breastplate—but the specifics of both are a matter of great debate.
    So How Is It Going to Happen?
    As for how the Temple will ultimately get rebuilt, it is a matter of dispute between the classic commentators.  Maimonides teaches that the Temple will be built by Messiah himself, and in fact its construction will be one of the signs that he is indeed the Messiah.  One of the Messiah’s first orders of business will be to use his spirit of prophecy to discern who is a priest, as well as the tribal affiliation of each Israelite.  Additionally, we will have the ashes of the red heifer to purify those who are impure.  Others are of the opinion that in the messianic era, the Temple will descend ready-built from heaven.
    So Is There Nothing We Can Do?
    Despite the above complications, without even lifting a trowel, we can actually fulfill the mitzvah of building God’s home.  How so?  Our sages tells us that after God revealed the dimensions of the future Temple to the prophet Ezekiel, Ezekiel turned to God and asked, “Why should I tell this to the Jewish people, if they are in exile and will not build the Temple now?  Let me wait until they are redeemed, and then I will tell them this prophecy.”
    God replied: “Just because My children are in exile, should there be no building of My house?!  Learning about the description of My house is as great as the building of it.  Go and tell the Jewish people to occupy themselves in learning about the Temple, and in that merit I will consider it as if they engaged in building it.”
    Based on this, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, strongly encouraged learning the laws of the Holy Temple, especially during the period known as the “Three Weeks,” during which we mourn the destruction of the Temple.  For through this learning, not only do we fulfill the commandment to build the Holy Temple (even during the exile), but we actually weaken the concept of its destruction—and we ultimately merit its  rebuilding with the coming of the messianic era, may it be speedily in our days.

"Having a baby is the greatest joy in the world"

    The actress Lindsay Lohan made a new post on Instagram, following the birth of her new baby.  Here is commentary by Kylee Griswold August 10, 2023 on a blog on thefederalist.com.
    Lindsay states “I am so proud of what this body was able to accomplish during these months of pregnancy and now, recovery.  Having a baby is the greatest joy in the world!”
    Good on Lohan for stating what should be obvious both biologically and socially... Bringing new life into the world and cultivating a family is one of life’s fullest joys.  While most celebrities try to convince themselves and the watching world that the path to success is paved with abortion, it’s always refreshing to hear the true message that embracing what our bodies were designed to do brings the utmost fulfillment.
    Women have a totally unique... ability to incubate a human life from the moment of conception and then labor through the intense task of bringing that whole new person into the outside world.  Ladies literally create families and communities and nations — all with the insane power that is our bodies.  Oh, you made partner?  That’s nice.  She made people!
    How did multiple generations get duped into thinking our uteruses gave us the raw end of the deal? That’s what happens when you convince yourself and the rest of your sex that C-section scars are less admirable than C-suites and that managing a household is lame compared to managing a marketing department.
    Radical feminists don’t just lie about what babies do to careers, though.  They resent what babies do to bodies:  Goodbye, hourglass.  Hello, saggy, puffy, human burp cloth.  Ever notice how “body positivity” feminists love obesity but loathe the idea of a little baby weight?
    ...But there’s nothing ugly or unhealthy about a postpartum body.  Lohan gets this right, too, showing off her new figure because it’s really about “what this body was able to accomplish” — and that’s something to be proud of.

Part of a Life Summary

     Robert was raised in a small farming and logging community in Washington state at the foot of the beautiful snow-capped Mt. Adams.  His father, Clarence Lewis, was born in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia and as a small boy came west as his parents migrated to Washington State.  His mother, Hazel Davenport Lewis, was from a family whose ancestors had been early converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Utah pioneers, and who had left their homes in the Logan, Utah area to establish a large lumbering enterprise in Hood River, Oregon.
    Robert came from two separate religious traditions.  His evangelical Christian background introduced the value of the Bible, the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, and being a disciple of Jesus Christ.   Early in his life he also gained a conviction that the Book of Mormon was true and found no reason to deviate from faith in the Bible, the Ten Commandments, and the Golden Rule, but in fact found his faith and commitment to Christian discipleship enhanced and confirmed through the Book of Mormon and Latter-day Saint teachings.  When he was an older teen he was able to be baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints.  He was a dedicated student of the scriptures and especially the Book of Mormon.  He served as a missionary in the North Central States Mission, the majority of the time in the Province of Manitoba, Canada.  He served in many Church assignments, including Bishop of the Taylorsville Gardens 2nd Ward in Taylorsville UT.  He worked for a number of years with Church programs for persons who were Vietnamese refugees.  With his wife Wendy, he served a senior mission in Raleigh North Carolina.  He served as a temple ordinance worker in the Jordan River, Provo, and Payson temples, and loved to study and perform the temple ordinances.
    He became interested in family history research through the influence of his Aunt Dorothy when he enrolled at Brigham Young University as a young men and began a life-long study of his Lewis and Agee ancestors, which eventuated in the publishing of 20 volumes of research findings about these people and many hours performing their temple work.  After retirement, he volunteered many hours of service as a consultant at the Spanish Fork FamilySearch Center and also taught classes about family history book publishing and organizing effective family history work in LDS wards and stakes.
    Robert was a registered scout leader for over 40 years, and loved the association with the young men and the Utah outdoors and lakes and mountains.  He worked with almost every age group, Scouts, Varsity, Exploring/Venturing, and was the leader of an eleven year old scout patrol and advisor to a Venturing Officers Association until close to his 80th birthday.  He gave service at the district and council levels and on a advisory committee to the Church’s general Young Mens organization.  He was a co-leader for many years of a popular yearly youth training camp, E2/Priests Leadership Conference, in the Taylorsville Utah area.  With his son Matthew, he maintained for many years a popular website, LDSScouting.org, which emphasized helps to leaders of the older boy scouting programs.
    From his early youth, Robert was attracted to music.  In high school he played trumpet and other brass instruments in the band and sang in the choir.  During his college years, he studied voice and sang with BYU Mens Chorus.  Over the years he participated in ward choirs and directed a choir for a time. He also sang with small groups or soloed for church occasions.  He was self-taught on the piano and guitar and had an interest in folk music from the South and from the early Church.  He composed a number of songs for his children and family.
    He also participated in sports and in exercise throughout his life.  He played football, basketball, and baseball in high school, and team sports when available in his wards.  He jogged and walked and tried to keep fit.  He followed Cougar and (to a degree) Ute sports, the Red Sox and the Rockies.
    Robert was valedictorian in his high school and acquired Bachelors and Masters degrees in psychology from BYU and Master and Doctor of Social Work degrees from the University of Utah.  He spent his entire working career with the Utah Department of Social Services, largely with Family Services, in administrative positions, doing planning, research and evaluation work, with a focus on social work manpower utilization, and service integration and effectiveness.  He did pioneering research on home-based services to strengthen neglectful families.  In the last years of his service he led a project to computerize child welfare management and reporting for the state.  He also had an adjunct teaching appointment at the U of U School of Social Work for a time.
    Above all, Robert loved his family.  He was privileged to marry two wonderful women...

A Notable and Significant Increase in the Church’s Missionary Numbers

     Recently, I have heard a lot of pessimistic reports about religious faith in our country such as: “In this negative world, church attendance has plunged, intolerance of traditional religious values has skyrocketed, and Christians have been dragged into court for their faithfulness — many into the court of public opinion, if not an actual courtroom.”
    I have heard some of the same pessimism and negativism and worry in recent conversations with members of the Church of Jesus Christ, especially about the current activity and faithfulness of the youth of the Church.  But, a recent news article provided a differing and much more positive view.  (Deseret News article,  June 28, 2023, “The number of Latter-day Saint missionaries is rising rapidly”)
    I was thrilled and excited by Elder Quentin L. Cook’s press announcement that     “Despite fewer missionary-age Latter-day Saints, the Church has seen an increase in the number of full-time missionaries from 56,000 at the end of 2021 to 68,000 [this month]. And we really do feel like we’ll exceed 72,000 by the end of the year,” Elder Cook added.
    “And so, with fewer available, more are going out,” he continued. “If you look at the youth, their activity rate is higher than it has been. So they have responded in a wonderful way to the clarion call of a Prophet — both in his April 2022 general conference address and in his invitation as president of the Church for youth to gather Israel on both sides of the veil.”
    “...young people who are signing up to go on missions ... in higher numbers, and higher percentages, than previous generations, Elder Cook said.
    According to research by professor Justin Dyer at Brigham Young University, “the most recent generation [in this country], overall, places less importance on religion and attends religious services less frequently than previous generations. However, this does not hold for youth of some denominations, including Latter-day Saints, where attitudes among the recent generations... are on par with or actually more favorable to religion than some earlier generations.”
    This contradicts the popular notion of young people being less beholden to faith.  “In comparing the generations when they were high school seniors, millennial Latter-day Saint youth feel religion is more important than all other generations.”
    Professor Dyer concludes that this trend is “notable and significant.”
    As Elder Marcus B. Nash, a General Authority Seventy and the executive director of the church’s missionary department, concluded, “There’s just something going on, and I don’t know how to explain it other than the prophet spoke in April 2022, and this rising generation — that he teaches us was held in reserve — [is] responding.”
    I am excited and proud of the youths in our family who are part of this trend.

Sacrament Meeting talk

 Sacrament Meeting talk, February 26, 2023
    I was raised in a tiny farming-logging community in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state.  My family was split on the subject of religion.  My father had been born in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia, and his parents had migrated to the Northwest when his was a tiny boy.  His father’s family, the Lewises, were not very religious.  His mother came from a Primative Baptist tradition, a religion common in the South, which had a strong Calvinist leaning.  My mother was from an Latter-day Saint family that had migrated from Utah some years before to satisfy her grandfather’s entrepreneurial ambitions to build a large logging, lumbering business.  My parents had married during the early days of the great depression and we lived on a small farm on which my father eeked out a living with odd jobs and a little dairy operation.
    The nearest branch of the LDS church was in Hood River, Oregon, at least an hour and half or so drive over bad mountain roads and we did not have the cars or money to make the trip.  Plus my mother didn’t drive.  We attended the only church nearby, a small non-denominational Sunday school, loosely connected to the Presbyterians, having a Bible emphasis.
    When I was about 7 years old, something happened that had very significant effect on my life.  My mother had a subscription to one of the Church magazines and saw a note that Deseret Book was republishing a little book for children about the Book of Mormon that William A. Morton had written many years before and that her mother had read to her when she was little.  It was called “Mother Stories From the Book of Mormon.”  She felt that she needed help in exposing my little sister and I to the beliefs of her family’s church.  She wrote to her father who had retired and relocated to Utah.  She asked if he would buy a copy and send it to her, which he did.  
    I remember a day when I was sitting beside my mother, leaning against her arm, as she read to my little sister and me these Book of Mormon stories.  At one point she paused and said the Lord has promised that He will testify through the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon and the gospel are true.  She asked if we had ever felt such promptings of the Holy Ghost.  I started to say, “No, I don’t think I have ever felt any of these things” when the most unusual feeling came over me.
    A warmness and excitement came into my heart and breast that I had never felt before and I felt a sort of thrill go up and down my spine.  I came to recognize there feelings as being like those described by the two disciples of the Lord in Luke 24:32, “did not our hearts within us burn?”  
    Seven years old.  I had a witness of the Spirit and my own conviction that the Book of Mormon was true.  
    I looked forward to when I would have my eighth birthday and could be baptized, but it didn’t happen.  My father maintained that my sister and I could join the Church when we were grown and could decide for ourselves.  My 9th birthday passed.  In my nightly prayers, I asked to be able to be baptized, but still nothing happened.  
    Years went by.  When I reached early high school age, a school teacher who I greatly admired and who was a committed churchman, asked me if I would like to be baptized in the Presbyterian Church.  I thanked him, but said “No.  I intend, when I can, to be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
    The Church grew closer to us.  Hood River became a ward and they were blessed to be able to build a Utah-type ward house.  A Sunday school and then a branch was established in White Salmon, a hour drive away, which we attended once or twice a year.  The branch president assigned himself as our home teacher.  He started to make monthly visits.  At age 15 when I started to have summer jobs with local farmers, I paid him my tithing.
    The day after I graduated from high school, President Burles showed up at our house.  He had an invitation for us.  He said that the branch had reserved the Hood River baptismal font for a branch baptismal service next Saturday at 5 pm.  Would my sister and I like to come and be baptized?  My mother somehow got approval from my dad, and we made the drive and were baptized.  I was 17.  It was so wonderful.  I recall that for a week or so it seemed like I was walking in the air without my feet touching the ground.
    I was a pretty good student and had been looking at attending college.  I had a scholarship offer from Washington State.  As soon as I had been baptized, the Spirit began to whisper strongly that I needed to go to school where I could learn more about being a member of the Church.  So I dropped plans to attend Reed College, Lewis and Clark, or Washington State, and came to BYU.  There I learned much more about our religion and especially I increased my appreciation and understanding of the Book of Mormon.
    Next, I began to have a strong sense of gratitude and that I needed to return something back to my Heavenly Father.  I determined to serve a mission.  As a young, new, Naive and inexperienced missionary serving in Minnesota and Manitoba, Canada, I had a couple of experiences that suggested that among ordinary members of our Church at that time there were some problems in our usage of the Book of Mormon and other modern scripture.  I recall my experienced companion teaching a Plan of Salvation lesson, and he apologized to the investigator for using modern scripture to teach about our premortal existence, as if our modern scriptures were inferior to or inappropriate to teach our doctrines to non-members.  
    Shortly after that, a second new missionary experience occurred as we met a Protestant man who asked sort of loaded question about what our Church believed about salvation by grace.  My experienced companion responded that we believed that we will all be resurrected through the grace of Christ but we have to earn our salvation.  I quietly thought, “But what about forgiveness?”  Through this and other experiences I concluded that there was a time in the Church when ordinary members often had a shallow understanding of the work of Christ and of his atonement.  Sometimes this understanding seemed to based more on staking out a position different than beliefs of other churches as opposed to the real, true doctrines contained in our Latter-day scriptures.  For example, professor Robert Millet tells a story when as a teenager growing up in the Bible-belt South, he asked his father who was at the time a Latter-day Saint Branch President whether we believed in the grace of Christ.  His dad said “No.”  Brother Millet then ask asked “Why not?”  And the answer was “Because they do.”
    Just after that time, there was a wonderful prophetic correction that in my opinion has made a very significant correction in and through the use and study of the Book of Mormon in the Church.  In the 1986 General Conference, the then prophet of the Lord, Ezra Taft Benson, recalled verses from a 1832  revelation in section 84: “And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation.  And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all.  And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon...” (D&C 84: 54-57)
    President Benson stated his long standing belief that the Church was still under some condemnation for taking the Book of Mormon too lightly.  He announced that the Lord had revealed to him the need to reemphasize the Book of Mormon.  This was the time that the Church began to emphasize the four year cycle of the study of all the Latter-Day Saint scriptures in our Church meetings, seminary and institutes.  President Benson also gave the challenge, which our President Nelson has repeated, “Nothing opens the heavens quite like ... daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon...”

    I believe that especially since that 1986 challenge from our prophet, the church as a whole has made significant progress in its utilization and study of the Book of Mormon.  The Book of Mormon also has become much more central in our missionary teaching efforts.  Ordinary members also have gained a much greater appreciation for Christ and a fuller understanding of his atonement and how to access its blessings.
    I am grateful that, first, the Book of Mormon provide a strong spiritual witness to me, and to us all, that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and that our Church is the restored Church of Jesus Christ, and second, that the Book of Mormon is the greatest scriptural witness that Jesus Christ is our Savior.  It is extremely Christ-centered.  Or as a pair of Catholic scholars concluded after they studied the Book of Mormon, “It has a very high Christology.”  Our mission president in Raleigh North Carolina challenged his missionaries to read from a clean copy of the Book of Mormon and mark every reference to the Savior.  Our missionaries found that they needed to mark almost every page in the entire book.
    The Book of Mormon is the best of all sources in this world for learning the doctrines of Christ’s atonement.  We have been taught that the 1st principles of the gospel are faith and repentance.  Read Alma 32 to really know about faith and how to grow it. “But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life.”
    What about repentance?  When I was called as bishop, one of the first things I noticed was that there was a cabinet in the Bishops office with several copies of a book by Pres Kimball, which prior Bishops had purchased to give to persons who had come to their office to confess serious sins and seek forgiveness.  I found a preference for using the Book of Mormon to teach this process.  The repentant Alma the younger in Alma 36, in the midst of his extreme feelings of guilt, recalled his father’s teachings about Christ’s atonement and prayed, “O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me...”  And at that very moment, he reported “when I thought this, I could remember my pains [of guilt] no more... And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain...”
    Lehi described the very purpose of our lives: “men are that they have joy”
    Even the sacred and exalting doctrines of the temple are found in the teachings of Jacob and King Benjamin and Christ himself when he taught them at the temple in Bountiful, recorded in 3rd Nephi.
    The several blessings for us of the atonement of Christ are described in great detail:
    The Resurrection in Alma 40: “The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.”
    Redemption from sin 3 Nephi 27: “[The Savior says] whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world.”
    Strengthening blessings, Alma 7: “[Christ] will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”
    Perfecting blessings: “Come unto Christ, that ye may be perfected in him” “what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am”...and  “that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we may be like him...”
    I testify that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and is truly foundational for our faith in Christ and his restored gospel.  In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen

Easter Message

 Easter Message by Robert Lewis,
April 17 Taylorsville Gardens Ward Sacrament Meeting talk.

    When Bro. Stone asked me to prepare this talk, he pointed me toward an address by Pres. Nelson two years ago in April conference, “Hear Him,” in which he presented a proclamation by the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles entitled  “The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: A Bicentennial Proclamation to the World.”  This proclamation was issued at the time which marked the 200 year anniversary of the visit of the Father and the Son to Joseph Smith, calling Joseph as the prophet of the Restoration, the beginning the work of this dispensation in which all gospel keys and powers would be restored in order to gather scattered Israel in preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  
    Also as a part of this restoration process, this month is also the 192nd anniversary on April 6th of the re-establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ on this earth.
    So April is a great month of celebrations.
    Of even more significance and giving us even more reason for celebration, this is the very week of the Hebrew holiday of Passover, which was also the time at which our Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered, was crucified, died, and rose from the dead, working out the centerpiece of the whole gospel plan, the atonement, enabling what Alma called, the “great plan of happiness” (Alma 42:10) to be fully effective and fully available to all of us.
    Happiness.  Joy.
    In lives which are often filled with misery, anxiety, loss and grief, pain, weakness, failure, betrayal, guilt, conflict, the power and blessing and joy of the atonement of Christ shines through.  In fact, Father Lehi in the Book of Mormon concludes that the purpose of our whole earthly existence, the primary objective of the whole gospel plan and its atonement, is joy:  “Men are that they might have joy” he said. (2 Nephi 2:25)
    Happiness.  Joy.  
    Let’s look further at joy in our existence through the lens of the marvelous atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ, which were are celebrating this very Easter day.  Several Church authorities and authors have suggested that there are at least four major blessings that derive from the atonement of Jesus Christ.  These are the resurrection, forgivenesss, strengthening, perfecting.  Let us consider the happiness and joys that come through each of these blessings:
    First, the joys of the blessing of Resurrection: All human kind will suffer physical death, but Christ broke the bands of death, the restrictions and limitations of death, to provide the blessing of the resurrection.  I am grateful for the present joys of a physical body and the prospect of having this body and physical capability eternally through the blessing of the universal resurrection provided by our Savior.  For me there was joy in running, of playing in a good basketball game, in putting on a backpack and hiking in the High Uintas with my scouts when I was scoutmaster, for the joy of seeing the God of Nature’s beautiful creations, flowers, birds and animals, mountains, streams, lakes, sunsets.  
    There is joy in hearing great music.  Many years ago, as a young, newly baptized Latter-day Saint from a distant place, I had the joy of singing in a choir for General Conference.   I also was especially joyful when as a young member of a BYU choir performing Handel’s Messiah, I was taught about the atonement, while singing the frivolous and lightminded “all we like sheep have gone astray-uh-aye-aye” immediately followed by the somber, dissonant  and agonizing “and the Lord has laid on him the iniquities of us all.”
    I am grateful for the joys of human relationships, of marriage, of family, of children, of grandchildren, of hugs, thank yous, of seeing others’ growth and progress and I am grateful for Christ’s  “loosening of the bands of death” (Alma 7:12) with the prospect of all these bodily joys continuing forever and ever and in a heavenly environment, through the resurrection and other blessings of the atonement.
    Second, the joys of the blessing of Forgiveness:  I am grateful for the joy of having the Spirit return after I have sorrowed and made a decision to repent.  I am grateful for peace of conscience, for the joy of having guilt pardoned and washed away.  I am grateful for the wonderful joy of having resolved a problem with another person and restored a damaged relationship that I have harmed by my own mistake.  I am grateful for the joy of a heart changing.  I am grateful for the joy I feel when I am clean before the Lord.  I feel joy when I have carried out some duty to the best of my ability.  I feel joy when I have passed some test successfully, such as reporting to the bishop about my tithing status each year, or renewing my temple recommend, or taking the sacrament with a clean feeling and with gratitude that I can somehow be counted as a disciple of Jesus Christ, along with all of you.  
    I am grateful for the joy of anticipating an eventual reunion with my Heavenly Parents, through the redeeming and forgiving power of the atonement of Christ.
    Third, I am grateful for the Strengthening joys of the atonement, the promised succoring for my pains and infirmities and sickness promised by Alma in the Book of Mormon.  Alma says, speaking of Christ, 11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
12 ... he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.  (Alma 7:11-12).
   Succor meaning relief or support in times of distress or affliction.  
    My afflictions and infirmaties may arise from my own weaknesses and mistakes, or from others’ actions, or simply be from the nature of this fallen world, the co-mingling of evil and good in the experiences of this world, but I am grateful that through the atonement of Christ and the gifts of his Holy Spirit, that there are means provided, even joys, in enduring and overcoming the hard things of this life.
    I recall an experience I had as a young father.   With my first wife, JoAnn, we were expecting a baby.  He was born, a beautiful little boy, whom we named Michael.  We brought him home, but he did not seem to be thriving.  JoAnn determined to take him back to our Dr.  I went to work at my office in downtown Salt Lake.  Midmorning, I received a call from JoAnn, saying “meet me at Primary Children’s Hospital.  Michael has serious heart problems.”
    At the hospital we learned that the problems with Michael’s heart were congenital and his very life was threatened.  The doctors wanted to operate the very next morning to bring at least partial relief.  JoAnn wanted to stay with him through the night, and felt the need to return home before that to get cleaned up and prepare for the night.  She suggested that I go home to be with the our older kids and then return to the hospital early evening while she went home to make preparations to stay the night.
    So I went home midafternoon.  My mind was in such turmoil and my heart was heavy with worry.  The older kids were OK so I decided a walk around the block might be helpful.  When I was about half way around the block, I had a strange experience.  Something in my heart had changed.  My mind was still registered the shock and worry and agony, but in my heart I was at peace.  “God knows and is in charge and things will work according to plan.”  
    I thought, “How can this be?  My mind is still in turmoil, but my heart is at peace.”  I experienced such a strong sense of spiritual support and strengthening and succor which continued, and allowed me to function and be a strength to my family in the challenging days and years that followed.
    Finally, I am grateful for the joys associated with the Perfecting power of the atonement, the joys of progressively mastering the divine nature, potentially of becoming like our Savior:
“Beloved now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)  Also, “...that when he (Christ) shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may be purified, even as he is pure.” (Moroni 7:48)
    I am grateful for the joy of learning to appreciate Christ’s virtues and perfections as a example.
    I am grateful for the joy of being chastened and stretched by the Spirit so I can improve.
    I am grateful for the joy of feeling the call of the temple and to feel God’s love in the temple, the joy of learning to worship God in the temple.
    I am joyful through the temple to deepen my understanding of the higher laws of the gospel, the Savior’s perfecting and sanctifying laws, those that define and reflect divine nature that I need to emulate and acquire.
    I am grateful through the temple to enjoy a greater sense of His hope for me, to feel He knows me personally, to somehow feel the Savior’s embrace, and the evidences of His sacrifice for me.
    I feel an incomprehensible joy in contemplating eternal companionship and relations with those persons I have learned on earth to love the most.
“And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy.” (D&C 130:2)
    With all my heart I testify of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ restored in our day and the power of his atonement to bless us as we follow him.  In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.