Good afternoon from London. Activity in the Mission Office is on the increase. We did have an interesting call on Thursday about noon from the Geneva Switzerland Mission President. He had a missionary stranded at Heathrow airport as transatlantic flights were all cancelled a few days due to the spray of Iceland volcanic ash. The MP had told the Elder to go to a specific bus stop in Terminal 5 of the airport and wait. We were able to sent the APs with a car and pick him up. Missionaries do stand out, even in a crowd. He is to leave today (Saturday) at 1 PM for his home in Dallax, Texas. I gave him money and we have an extra space in the AP's flat for him to stay. Only in the Church is such a worldwide network available. The missionary only had to wait about 1 hour from the time we got the message to his being picked up. Flash!! Update 1: We just found out that the flights are all canceled until Tuesday due to the ash over the Atlantic and northern Europe. This elder's Mom is probably going nuts!! Sunday: Now we have an elder returning home to Canada from a mission in Kenya & he is also stranded in London by the volcano. Today in church over 18 high priests were visiting at Hyde Park Ward...All stranded in London by the volcano in Iceland. We also have a missionary who is being released a few weeks early so that he can have surgery at home in the U.S.A. He also is "stranded". Church Travel in SLC is working overtime to adjust, schedule and reschedule travel for missionaries all around the globe. They are amazing!
I was reading some literature from the "Church of God" a group that claims to have maintained a thread back to the ancient church of Christ. I was interested in there description of the travels of the early apostles. We know so very little and they had a series that assembles every bit of knowledge, mostly tradition, of how far traveled the early apostles were as they were sent to the lost tribes of Israel. They claim Thomas was in India and China. Paul in France and England. Peter in England. John in Romania and many into the areas of Armenia and northern Syria and around the Black Sea. It was interesting. I wonder, what the truth really is. We hear the traditions of Paul coming to England as well as Joseph of Arimethia. It is documented that Augustine came and founded a site in Canterbury, but that is much later in the third or fourth century. Understanding the reformation and things happening in England that lead to the founding of America and religious freedom and the great strength that came to the Church in the 1840-1870 period, we know the blood of Israel was and is here. I was surprised to learn that in 1850 there were more members of the Church in England (about 30,000) than in the United States (about 28,000). Most members of the church up until recently had genealogical lines that went to England. I and Portia are no exception. All of our early American lines in the 1600-1700 all originate in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). And now we are here and learning the culture and seeing (in a very small part) the motherland. We do note how many of the customs and traditions that were in our families, and even the food and recipes, are of British origin. It is a small but wonderful world.
President Patch told of an interesting missionary account. In Norwich (pronounced Nor' ich) a teenage non-member boy was invited to participate in a church youth choir by his Mormon friend. He and his Mormon friend sang in the school choir together. He noticed that they always began the choir practices with prayer. Just before the performance in their final practice the choir director asked that they kneel in prayer. The young man felt something and remarked to his friend, "do you feel this way when you go to church?" He began going to church, took the missionary discussions and was baptized. He and his Mormon friend had invited a teacher from their school to the performance. She felt the spirit and started coming to church. She accepted the missionaries and was soon baptized. Her baptism was performed by the young man who joined the church earlier and had been given the priesthood. The Lord does get His work done and it is done by the Spirit. Our challenge is to stay close and learn to pray for the Spirit and then listen and act upon those quiet impressions.
President Patch told of an interesting missionary account. In Norwich (pronounced Nor' ich) a teenage non-member boy was invited to participate in a church youth choir by his Mormon friend. He and his Mormon friend sang in the school choir together. He noticed that they always began the choir practices with prayer. Just before the performance in their final practice the choir director asked that they kneel in prayer. The young man felt something and remarked to his friend, "do you feel this way when you go to church?" He began going to church, took the missionary discussions and was baptized. He and his Mormon friend had invited a teacher from their school to the performance. She felt the spirit and started coming to church. She accepted the missionaries and was soon baptized. Her baptism was performed by the young man who joined the church earlier and had been given the priesthood. The Lord does get His work done and it is done by the Spirit. Our challenge is to stay close and learn to pray for the Spirit and then listen and act upon those quiet impressions.
Portia and I were invited to speak in Sacrament Meeting this morning. We've added the texts of our talks here below in this issue of the Blog.
[1] Sister Hawley Talk -- BLESSINGS OF MISSIONARY SERVICE, Sacrament Meeting Talk, Hyde Park Ward, 18 April 2010:
Last Sunday the idea came into my mind to think about what I might say about the blessings of missionary service when we give our homecoming talks many months from now. On Monday Bishop Naugle telephoned to ask us to speak today. To me this is an example of how the Lord prepares us to receive blessings!
Elder Hawley and I are from Orem, Utah in the United States. We’ve been married for almost 43 years. We have five children and 14 grandchildren. Four of our children have served missions, and somewhere in the middle of our 43 years we started to talk and plan and dream about serving a couples’ mission together. When Elder Hawley retired we began to put our plans and preparations into action. Like most couples we had some curiosity about where we would be sent and what we might be asked to do, but we were excited to serve together.
I was nervous, but once we’d submitted our papers all my nervousness disappeared, and in its place came a sweet peace and confidence born of the Spirit that all would be well. We knew that the Lord knew we were willing to serve, and that we were safe in His hands. The Lord directs for our good the efforts and decisions of those in the missionary department: our talents, interests, abilities, personal preferences and concerns, finances, health, and other important factors, when decisions about mission calls are made.
Our specific call is as the office couple for the England London Mission, and although some of our daily assignments may be repeated, no two days are alike, and every day is an adventure and a blessing. The young missionaries make what we do worth it. We are humbled by their faithful service, cheered by their smiles and their handshakes, and blessed by their dedication, enthusiasm, and testimonies.
One of the first blessings we received was the location of the call—all of my ancestors and half of my husband’s ancestry are from the UK. We are literally walking where our ancestors walked. The second blessing was the assignment – we have the skills and life experiences needed to do the work required in the mission office, and perhaps more importantly, because of the need & usefulness of those skills we can support the mission president, all the missionaries, and the purposes of the Lord in the Church today here in this mission.
What we add to any task is our own spiritual motivation to do the best we can do with whatever we are asked to do. We pray for the ability and clarity to hear the promptings of the Spirit. We want to bless others through the small things we do each day. We are consecrating ourselves and all we are and have to the Lord as we serve Him and His children, and He does the rest. Yes, there are challenges and changes, but there are also opportunities and experiences we would never receive otherwise. I know that our Savior and our Heavenly Father know who we are. They prepare all of us so that opportunities to serve are presented to us.
Another blessing is that we feel this is one of the defining moments in our lives. We want to be busy and productive and to make positive contributions. We see the promises spoken of in our setting-apart blessings coming to pass. We have immersed ourselves in this shared goal. There are spiritual high moments in each day. We feel valued, energized, and useful. We are developing a greater capacity for work and for sacrifice. We give encouragement to others, we try to lighten their burdens, and there is purpose to our service. Principles of the gospel such as charity and humility and patience have more meaning for us. We are being tempered. We may be older, but we are better. We are willing to make greater sacrifices as our love for our Savior grows. We depend on and trust in Him and in our Heavenly Father more. We cherish the gift and companionship of the Holy Ghost. We are acquiring a deeper capacity in loving each other. We smile and laugh a lot in the sharing. We hold hands wherever we go and especially when we pray together. We cherish the making of new memories together. Our love is deeper, richer, more committed, and we value each other more than ever before. We also want to support and serve each other more.
Both of our parents served different types of missions as couples, and Elder Hawley’s brother and his wife are currently serving a CES mission in Tonga. Other friends who’ve served have been our example, and when we decided to serve, still others have made the decision to go on missions also. Our children and grandchildren tell us we are good examples for them. Our example to serve now shows our children that we believe what we taught them about serving the Lord in the mission field. We also want to be a positive example for our grandchildren who are forming their own goals for missionary service. What we do as couple missionaries has multi-generational blessings.
[1] Ana [Mexico]: My dad, who was not a member, paid for most of my mission. I remember making a list of people who I taught and who were baptized. The list totaled 100 people. After I returned home from the mission field I got very good jobs. My brother got baptized and went on a mission and was married in the temple. One of his sons was just married in the temple, and another son is being married this July. My brother’s third son just returned from his mission, and using his talents won first prize for a short film made for the local television company. Another non-member brother of mine gave money to help my nephews on their missions. . I have made dear friends through being a missionary. Many blessings came and still come to me every day. Even though I am not married I feel happy every day. There is purpose in my life. I never run out of money, although I’ve not been working consistently due to some health problems. One of the most important blessings I have is my testimony, and although some of my family are not members we have an increased unity between us as brothers and sisters.
[2] Elder/Sister Wilson, Temple Missionaries, Montevideo Uruguay Temple:
“We have had a chance to help teach the gospel, participate in baptisms, and most of all embrace the temple’s sacred ordinances like we never had before, and never would have had without this tender missionary experience. We are more eternal as a couple, and testify that families are celestial. We have felt others’ presence through the sacred veil of the temple, and testify that those who have passed before us are truly – literally – only a whisper away.”
[3] Rob, Australia Melbourne Mission: “There was a single mother in Shepparton. She was less active. She was in a very difficult financial situation and she needed to use every penny she had each month. We asked her to start again to pay her tithing. She told us through a tear-drenched face that she only gets $330.00 a month to live on. And to pay $33.00 in tithing would mean she couldn’t pay one of her bills. We had read the scripture which asks us to “prove Him”, and we asked her if she would be willing to exercise her faith and test the Lord so as to see if He would bless her. We promised her through the influence of the Spirit that her needs would be met, and the Lord would take care of her. And if not, we would pay the difference. She reluctantly agreed. We returned on a later visit and asked how she and her son had been. She smiled and again began to cry as she told us how the month had progressed. In the end she had $33.00 left over -- $33.00 after she had purchased groceries, paid her rent, utilities and fuel expenses. $33.00 of money to spare. She could not explain how it was accomplished after so many years of not having enough. We saw in her a brighter testimony. She paid her tithing from that point on. And we later learned that her situation continued to improve: she was able to marry a good L.D.S. man who instantly upgraded her standard of living because of his employment. Great blessings come to those who, if they exercise a modicum of faith to live the principles, the Lord has established He will bless them.” “. . . that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
A few verses in Doctrine and Covenants 104:2, 33, 38, and 42 touch me deeply:
[2] “With promise immutable and unchangeable, that inasmuch as those whom I commanded were faithful they should be blessed with a multiplicity of blessings;
[33] “And, inasmuch as they are faithful, I will multiply blessings upon them and their seed after them, even a multiplicity of blessings.
[38] “And inasmuch as he is faithful, I will multiply a multiplicity of blessings upon him.
[42] “And inasmuch as he is faithful in keeping my commandments, which I have given unto him, I will multiply blessings upon him and his seed after him, even a multiplicity of blessings.”
Both Elder Hawley and I have been immeasurably blessed with physical and spiritual gifts throughout our lives. I know that the Lord is pleased with our desires to be obedient and to heed the call to serve missions. The Savior said, “Freely ye have received; freely give.” And through our service and from our love and gratitude, we try to give back in some small measure for what we have been given. And in return the Lord blesses us not once but with an ongoing, sweet, loving, tender multiplicity of blessings. I so testify . . . In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
[2] Elder Hawley's Talk --
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
From Preach My Gospel, pg 1, my purpose as a missionary:
“Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.”
Most of us here in the congregation have made these first steps in “coming unto Christ”. We have faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement. We have repented and we were willing to be baptized. We have received the gift of the Holy Ghost. And now we are in the process of enduring to the end. We are learning how to “endure joyfully to the end” as Pres. Uchdorf stated. Oct CR 2009.
In 3rd Nephi 12:19 it reads:
"And behold, I have given you the law and the commandments of my Father, that ye shall believe in me, and that ye shall repent of your sins, and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit."
In the Old Testament, the children of Israel were taught to bring the firstlings of their flock unto the Priest to be offered as a sacrifice unto the Lord upon the alter. Blood Sacrifices ended with the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ. After Jesus Christ, we are commanded to bring sacrifices unto the Lord. And what sacrifice is commanded?
From D and C 59:8 we read this in conjunction with keeping the Sabbath day,
"Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit."
2 Ne 2:7
"Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered."
So, what is a broken heart and a contrite spirit? And how does one maintain such an attitude or state of being?
From Joseph Fielding Smith, CR, October 1941, p. 93:
"What is a broken heart? One that is humble, one that is touched by the Spirit of the Lord, and which is willing to abide in all the covenants and the obligations which the Gospel entails. . . . Every baptized person who has fully repented, who comes into the Church with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, has made a covenant to continue with that broken heart, with that contrite spirit, which means a repentant spirit."
A broken heart is a humble heart and a humble heart is one that understands who God is, and that they are a child of God and that they are dependent upon God for everything they have and are. The air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink. The earth and everything that is in it is the Lord’s. Even our bodies are gifts from God. We can do little without that which he has given us. The very energy generated from the physiological processes of our bodies that enables us to live and move, comes from God.
Understanding this dependent relationship between God and ourselves helps us to keep God in our thoughts in proper relationship and helps us root out pride, which is the opposite of humility. From President Ezra Taft Benson, CR Apr 1989, Beware of Pride:
"Pride is a sin that can readily be seen in others but is rarely admitted in ourselves. Most of us consider pride to be a sin of those on the top, such as the rich and the learned, looking down at the rest of us. (See 2 Ne. 9:42.) There is, however, a far more common ailment among us—and that is pride from the bottom looking up. It is manifest in so many ways, such as faultfinding, gossiping, backbiting, murmuring, living beyond our means, envying, coveting, withholding gratitude and praise that might lift another, and being unforgiving and jealous."
So, to remain humble and have a broken heart, we must avoid PRIDE. President Benson noted that pride is the great stumbling block to Zion. Avoiding pride is one of the great messages of the Book of Mormon. It is one of our greatest challenges. We live in a world surrounded by pride. Pride is even touted by the World as a virtue as we look to the rich and famous with envy and acceptance. Our task is to remain humble. Neither looking from above, nor looking up from the below, but accepting our worth and remembering our potential and beginning to see ourselves as God sees us.
A broken heart also connotes “brokenness” or an incompleteness and we are broken and unable, incapable of attaining. It is the realization that we cannot do it ourselves. We cannot rely upon the arm of flesh. How many times have we tried to do it ourselves and failed and then coming to the Lord and it seems to “all work out” as President Gordon B. Hinckley counseled us in the Ensign, Feb 2006, Put Your Trust in God. If we work with the Lord, it all “works together for our good, if we endure it well”. (D&C 121). Finally, it is coming to the realization that we can only be saved through the blood and sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. “With His Stripes we are healed” Isa. 53:5, and we are “cleansed and made white through his blood” Alma 5:27 and not our efforts.
Contrition is sorrow for sins and a willingness to follow the will and commandments of our Father in Heaven. The word contrite, in the original Greek, means “to be ground to powder”.
"A potter formed a statue and admired its beauty. He fired it in his kiln to finish his beautiful piece, but after the heat, cracks appeared from excess water and impurities in the clay. He took the figure into a back room and with a hammer broke it to pieces and pounded it to powder to be reconstituted with water into clay that it might be reformed."
In this way of contrition, we allow ourselves to be remodeled and reformed after the Master Potter’s hand. It is His will not ours that is important. It is “thy will be done, not mine”. This is the rehabilitation of our heart and our will and a purpose for our continuing repentance. It is the process of being born again. It learning to live celestial laws, so that we are capable of living as He lives in the celestial kingdom.
"A broken heart and contrite spirit is synonymous with godly sorrow for sin and a complete submission to the will of God.
Christ often said, "Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever" (Moses 4:2).
Mary's response to Gabriel's announcement that she is to bear the child of God: "Be it unto me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38).
Samuels response to the Lord was “Here am I” 1 Sam 3:4"
Again, a broken heart is humility and a contrite spirit is being repentant and willing to obey and to submit to every commandment of God. As we come each Sunday to renew our covenant of baptism by partaking of the sacrament, we are to come with broken hearts and contrite spirits as our offering to the Lord. Each week He will accept this offering and fortify us with the Holy Ghost to our sanctification, to the end that we are step by step being perfected and made more holy. We promise in the sacrament prayer to “take upon (ourselves) the name of (His) Son, and always remember Him, and keep his commandments which he has given (us)” and He promises, “that (we) may always have His spirit to be with (us).”
We have begun the process of coming unto Christ and we are to continue on this “straight and narrow way”. We are to walk with broken hearts and contrite spirits to the end of our mortal lives. This condition of humility and contrition will then become part of who we are. Christ kept a broken heart and contrite spirit throughout His mortality. He has these qualities today and will have them forever. They are part of who He is. They are innate in His character. We, however, remain in the process of becoming like him and in the process of attaining permanently a broken heart and a contrite spirit. This is attained by working day by day and week by week to be humble and submissive to God.
Moroni 10:32, 33
That we might all be able to maintain broken hearts and contrite spirits and overcome our pride and our willfulness is my desire. That our broken hearts and contrite spirits become our regular, ongoing offering to the Lord as we continue to “come unto Christ” is my prayer, in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Second Update: Iceland
Some meteorologists believe it will be at least 5 days and perhaps into the following week before air travel can be resumed. Traffic controllers are working on new routes and new ways to use the air space available.
Third Update: ELM We got another stranded elder, one on his way home from Kenya to Calgary, Canada. Both stranded missionaries + our own elder who needs surgery were able to get onto flights home yesterday, Friday. All English airports were open and up and running at full speed on Wednesday, 21 April 2010. When we gave our talks on the 18th there were 18 high priests "stranded" in London that Don counted in priesthood meeting, with some at least of their wives in Relief Society. We met two couples we would like to know better, plus we spoke with a stranded American Airlines pilot who also was there.
What do experiences/occurrances like this teach us? Show us? Something to ponder and consider....
Third Update: ELM We got another stranded elder, one on his way home from Kenya to Calgary, Canada. Both stranded missionaries + our own elder who needs surgery were able to get onto flights home yesterday, Friday. All English airports were open and up and running at full speed on Wednesday, 21 April 2010. When we gave our talks on the 18th there were 18 high priests "stranded" in London that Don counted in priesthood meeting, with some at least of their wives in Relief Society. We met two couples we would like to know better, plus we spoke with a stranded American Airlines pilot who also was there.
What do experiences/occurrances like this teach us? Show us? Something to ponder and consider....
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