THOUGHT: “The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of
giving, not only of our substance but of ourselves, and I thank my Heavenly
Father that I belong to such an organization that has been so instructed.”
President George Albert Smith
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- Thursday, Oct 25th
at 7pm. Meet at Sarah H's home for an evening of more “Things that
Matter Most”.
We will be visiting the Genealogy Center across the Stake Center to do
Family, Search, Learn to Index and more. If you haven't log in to lds.org,
Sarah will teach you how. If you just want to come and visit, you are welcomed
to do so.
- Mark your calender for “Circled
in His Footsteps”, Thursday, November 29th at 6:30 pm at
the A Frame Church across the street. There we will enjoy a Christmas
Dinner and Special Photo Presentation of the Holy Land by Amy N.
- November 6th at 8:30 pm
at the Stake Center – Stake Employment Net Working Meeting.
BIRTHDAYS: Amy R – Oct. 25th; McKenna R
– Oct 25th; Gail B – Oct. 25th.
Prayers for Robby, who hurt her back and for
Lindsey H's baby.
Our lesson this morning was from the George
Albert Smith, # 20 - “Temporal Salvation for Ourselves and Others”,
presented by Pat Heaton. One of my favorite people, Sister Xiong Lee Lee,
made this flower for me. If anybody understand temporal salvation, it is Sister
Lee and her daughters. Some day we should just give them the time to share with
us their story. They are a real inspiration for me. I am also grateful for
Carol's prayer.
I became aware of this doctrine when I was about
12 years old. It was the Christmas season and my father had been in the
hospital and would continue to be for a while. One night there was a knock on
the door and there stood three men, the Bishop and his counselors each had a
large brown grocery bag, filled to the top. They brought them in and put them
on the table. As mother started unloading the sacks, she thank them. I don't
remember for sure whether there was a turkey or a ham, but I do remember that
there was Christmas candy and nuts. This was my first inkling of the principle
of temporal salvation. It is a lesson that I have never forgotten. Throughout
my life I was been able to be both the giver and the receiver. It is dear and
near to my heart. I read the lesson only once, them briefly another time,
because tears would come to my eyes. I hope to get through this lesson with the
help of the Lord.
George Albert Smith became President
of the Church a World War II was ending. The war had left many nations
devastated, and thousands of people were without food and other necessities. In
a general conference address, President Smith described their plight and urged
the Saints to help relieve their suffering: “They are all [God's] children.
They need us; they need not only our moral support and our religious teaching,
but they need food and clothing and bedding and help of all kinds because, in
many cases, they haven't anything left. If you could see some of the letters
that come into our office from some of the poor people over there, it would
wring your heats. People who have been taken away from their homes with the
idea that they were going to be allowed to settle elsewhere, and all of a
sudden deserted, and then when they returned to their homes, found them
pillaged and robbed of what they had—everything--and left helpless, with no
place to go.”
Can you you imagine what he had to deal with. It
was a very difficult time in people's lives and in the world.
President David O. McKay and President Spencer
W. Kimball both said almost the identical thing. President Kimball said that
you could not teach about spiritual things when the belly is empty. The mind
cannot grasp spiritual thing when people are starving to death.
“Because the Church had been in the practice of
storing food for many years, it was prepared to help in these circumstances.
Efforts to provide such help began near the end of 1945, when President Smith
went to Washington, D>C>, to make arrangements with the president of the
United States, Harry S Truman, to send food and clothing to Europe. During
their meeting President Truman said, “We will be glad to help you in any way
we can....How long will it take you to get this ready?” President Smith
surprised him by replying: “It's all ready....We [have been] building
elevators and filling them with grain, and increasing our flocks and our herds,
and now what we need is the cars, and the ships in order to send considerable
food, clothing and bedding to the people of Europe who are in distress. We have
an organization in the Church [the Relief Society] that has over two thousand
homemade quilts ready.”
President Smith reported to the Saints that as a
result of these shipments, “many people received warm clothing and bedding and
food without any delay. Just as fast as we could get cars and ships, we had
what was necessary to send to Europe.”
Almost 15 years earlier, Elder Smith, then a
member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, addressed the Relief Society
during another time of desperate need—the Great Depression. He taught that
helping those in need goes beyond providing temporal assistance; it also
requires true kindness and charity:
“There never has been a time, in my judgment,
when kindness was needed more than now. These are the days when people's souls
are being tried, and when their hearts are being wrung. These are the days when
many are facing hunger and distress even among the Latter-day Saints...
This is so interesting, the thing about growing
herds and flocks. The Church is very wealthy in many respect. One day I was
talking to someone from North Dakota and I ask what do you do there? He said
that he runs the Church Cattle farms. And at another time my daughter and I
were at Disney World and met an LDS couple. They managed all the Pecan farms in
California for the Church. The Church owns much land.
President Smith said: “...I
believe our Heavenly Father is giving us our opportunity for development....We
will discover now whether the love the Savior said should be in our hearts is
among us.”
Is it really here? What is meant for the
development of our character?
Comment: To become more Christlike.
Yes, we can truly say amen to the Bishop's talk.
Being the recipient can humble us.
Melissa Bar: When I was young,
there was a family in our ward who was really struggling. My mom put me in the
car and I remember how exciting I felt that I was the only one she was taking
She put some money in an envelope and she said to me, this is a secret, you are
not to tell anybody. I want you to go put this on the porch, ring the door
bell, and make sure that so one sees you. She said that they needed it and they
had extra they could give. When I got back in the car, I felt so good. I have
never forgotten that feeling I had. I decided that when I grew up I would do it
again.
You can still remember the incident and the
emotion.
Whitney N: This particular Christmas, all the adults in
the family decided they would pitch in whatever money they could and help
someone else. The joy that we felt was better than opening some random gift. It
was so much better.
Laurie A: I have never felt such love as in this ward as
my husband fights cancer. The teachers came and weeded the back yard before my
son came home from his mission. The home teachers mow the lawn and take the
trash can out to the curb. It had made me want to be more like that. When my
time of receiving is over, I'll be more aware and do more. It has mean so much
to me.
President Smith is right. There is development
of character as we give.
I have an example of where I wanted to be more.
While living in Las Vegas, some time after my husband passed away, a very dear
friend of mine and her family, the Bishop got very sick with hepatitis. I went
over to help one day and she said no, Pat, yo have 8 children at home I can't
allow you to do that. Well, she told all the ward members the same thing so no
one went to help except a neighbor who was Catholic. She said to her,, “I'll
take care of you and if I get sick, you can take care of me.” That is what I
should have done. That Catholic woman taught me a very good lesson.
President Smith: “We are living
in perilous times. The scriptures are being fulfilled, and as it appears to me
this is the particular time when, if it were possible, the very elect would be
deceived. It is remarkable how easy it is for those who desire to advance their
financial interests in the world to find a treason for setting aside the plain
teachings of the Lord with reference to our lives.”
We have been counseled to living within our
means. In a Regional Conference at the Marriott Center, President Hinckley said
that as he was on his way to the conference, he noticed all the cars that he
passed were huge. Do we all need these. We do have more children in Utah and
with the law requiring seat belts for all, it is the only way to transport our
children. The question is 'Do we keep our eye single to the Lord and not go
beyond our own need?
My sister and I were having lunch in Park City
and there was a group of about 8 women from New York. They had taken 3 months'
vacation to see the United States. They traveled in a van seeing different
states and cities. One asked my sister. What is it with Utah people? We have
traveled all over the country and never have we seen such large homes as in
Utah. Even the average person have big homes. Why? I don't think we know how
affluent we are. But it is also interesting that Utah is known for bankruptcy.
The have the highest number of bankruptcy. It's an interesting thing. Are we
living within our means.?
President Smith: “...This people
have been advised to conserve their energies and their means. We have been
taught by those whom the Lord has raised up to instruct us that we should live
within our income, that we should not follow the fashions of the world and
expend as rapidly and even more rapidly than we can earn the money that comes
into our hand, to take care of ourselves and our families.”
Then he goes on to tell the fable of the Ant and
the Grasshopper. “He, the ant, harvests his supplies when they are available
and stores them up against the day when it would not be possible to obtain
them. The result is that his larder is usually well stocked. The grasshopper, a
much larger insect, does not operate that way. He does not lay up anything in
store for hard times, but depends upon providence to provide him what he needs,
and the result is that most grasshoppers starve to death.”
We need to be industrious, work hard and need to
save for days ahead. I have spent hours, as a child, watching ants, because in
kindergarten, we were taught about ants. It's true that everything we need to
learn, we learned in kindergarten.
“Our Heavenly Father...said long, long ago there
were idlers in Zion...and he said, “He that is idle shall not eat the bread
nor wear the garments of the laborer.” I am assuming that he did not mean
those who cannot find employment, and who are legitimately trying to take care
of themselves. I am assuming that he referred to the habit some people get into
of leaning upon their neighbor...
In view of political ideas in the world, we can
see that happening. He goes on to say “I feel that there has been no
justification given to any man in this world to feel that he can depend on
somebody else to provide him a livelihood. I did not feel when I was a child
that somebody would be compelled to provide me a means of living. The Lord gave
me intelligence. He directed that I should work, and I began to work when I was
twelve years of age, and I found joy in it, and have earned my living and
helped others during more than fifty years.
Entitlement means a person who doesn't want to
work but wants things from those who do work. We do have unemployment in the
Church and in the United States. It does affect members who want to work.
Society doesn't realize what LDS member know. That like in the Book of Mormon
tells us. Economic prosperity is directly related to righteousness. It scares
me that in this nation, no mention is made between that and righteousness. If
Mitt Romney would say that, people would laugh. I am grateful for missionary
work, because conversion to the gospel is the answer to prosperity, whether
individually or nationally. I wish that society would understand this. Someday
they will understand. In 3rd Nephi, after the Savior was here, they
lived for 200 years, the law of consecration. It was a miracle. Our nation is
about 2036 years old from the time of George Washington until now. They lived
the law for 200 years. Imagine what society would be like if we all lived the
teachings of Jesus Christ.
Four times will the law have been lived. Where concern
with temporal salvation of everyone else is the goal. I used to think, only
four times, and now I say, really, four times? It's remarkable. First was the
City of Enoch, the City of Salem (Jerusalem) during Melchizedek's time, the
Nephites after Christ's time. So few times. I am looking forward to the second
coming of the Savior when we'll do it.
Jacob, the 2nd and 3rd
chapters tells us to seek for riches with an eye single to the glory of God. To
better the lives of other people. We are told to covet the gifts of the spirit.
“Now, my brethren and sisters, we have both rich
and poor in our organizations. If we are poor, we can be worthy just as the
Lord indicates here. We can be pure I hart and do our best, and he will not
permit those who do their best to suffer for the necessities of life among the
people who are in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
“I hope we are not going to become bitter
because some men and women are well-to-do If we are well-to-do, I hope we are
not going to be self-centered and unconscious of the needs of our Father's
other children. If we are better off than they are, we ought to be real
brothers and sisters, not make-believe. Our desires should be to develop in
this world such an organization that others, seeing our good works would be
constrained to glorify the name of our Heavenly Father...
“We must not fall into the bad habits of other
people. We must not get into the frame of mind that we will take what the other
man has. Refer back to the ten commandments and you will find one short
paragraph, “Thou shalt not covet.”
“We must not get into that frame of mind. Others
may do that, but if we have the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our
hearts, we will not be deceived in that regard.”
The gift of generosity is a gift of the spirit.
It is a state of our heart, a state of mind, a state of being.
The widow's mite is a good example. She had only
one mite and she gave it all. It is a condition of the heart. We need to covet
that gift.
In what ways has Heavenly Father made it easy
for us to give and contribute?
Melissa B: In tithing and offerings.
Yes, we pay 10% and know that 100% of it will go
where it is needed. The church has made it so easy for us to give.
What if the government would ask each family to
give 10%, then people could go down the list and say I want to contribute so
much for building roads, so much for this or that. If the government ran the
nation like the Church, it would be so much better.
In closing I would like to compare 1945 to now.
Think of technology we have now. Think facebook, twitter, computers. President
Smith said, “We are becoming so wrapped up with the world that we forget the
people who are suffering that we could help, in many cases.” That has
become second place to technology in the world. Do some soul searching. Follow
the counsel of the Bishop. Desire to have generous hearts. Seek actively those
who need help. The Bishop now who needs help. Ask him.
Next week's lesson will be a Conference lesson “The
Merciful Obtain Mercy” by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Have a great week.
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