President Hinckley Died Today

I can’t tell you how sad I was to hear this. He was called as a prophet right before I began my mission. My mission was a critical time for me. I gained a testimony while in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) and really started to understand the power the Gospel of Jesus Christ has to change lives.

President Hinckley was instrumental in helping me understand that. It seemed like every talk he gave had specific and powerful meaning in my life.

For example, in April of 1997, I was serving as a missionary in Prunedale, CA (pop. 10,000 at the time). One of the things we do as missionaries is work with people who have stopped coming to church. I remember this talk, given in General Conference in April 1997. In it, President Hinckley discusses a failure he had in keeping in contact with one of the people he baptized who subsequently went inactive and died without coming back to the Church. Here’s a quote:

“He died a few months ago. His wife wrote me to inform me of this. She said, “You were the best friend he ever had.”

Tears coursed my cheeks when I read that letter. I knew I had failed. Perhaps if I had been there to pick him up when he was first knocked down, he might have made a different thing of his life. I think I could have helped him then. I think I could have dressed the wound from which he suffered. I have only one comfort: I tried. I have only one sorrow: I failed.”

Read the whole talk. It’s amazing. What came out of that talk? This:

“Every [convert] needs three things: a friend, a responsibility, and nurturing with “the good word of God” (Moro. 6:4). It is our duty and opportunity to provide these things.”

I can tell you that is still quoted by every ward mission leader in this Church today.

It’s the same with just about every aspect of my life. Whether I’m thinking about church or work or my family or any number of things, I’m surprised (even now as I type this) how much he’s influenced me.

If I’ve lost my temper with Heidi or been more overbearing than I should be, I always remember Sis. Hinckley talking about how President Hinckley never raised his voice to her and always made sure she felt free to do what she wanted to do. In her own words:

“I am very grateful for a husband who always lets me do my own thing. . . . He never insists that I do anything his way, or any way for that matter. From the very beginning he gave me space and let me fly. What a man!“

I wish the same could be said about me.

I’m currently studying for the GMAT because I’d like to get an MBA, starting this fall. Why did I decide this? My brother-in-law had said he was going to. He has a great job and already provides well for his family. I had criticized his goal for a while saying it would take him out of the home unnecessarily. Why did I change my mind? I remembered this quote from President Hinckley:

“It is so important that you young men and you young women get all of the education that you can. The Lord has said very plainly that His people are to gain knowledge of countries and kingdoms and of things of the world through the process of education, even by study and by faith.”

I’m not exaggerating when I say all it took was remembering that quote for me to realize I was wrong, apologize to my brother-in-law and put my efforts towards grad school.

Those are just a few of the ways President Hinckley has influenced me throughout my life. He once said:

“Each of us has a small field to cultivate. While so doing, we must never lose sight of the greater picture, the large composite of the divine destiny of this work. It was given us by God our Eternal Father, and each of us has a part to play in the weaving of its magnificent tapestry.“

As I ponder the past 13 years that he’s presided over this Church, I realize he’s played a huge role in how I weave the tapestry of my life. Because of his influence, my life is sweeter, my tapestry, more beautiful.

President Hinckley, you have truly shown me how to faithfully live the gospel of Jesus Christ. thanks so much for working so hard to be that influence in my life.

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Word of Wisdom 1, Coffee-Drinkers 0

A new study is out that shows that coffee and other caffeinated drinks can double the risk of miscarriage. You can read the article here.

It’s interesting that the focus of the article is on coffee, but the quote below says “caffeinated drinks”:

“Pregnant women who have two or more cups of caffeinated drinks a day have twice the risk of having a miscarriage than those who avoid caffeine, suggests a new study.”

Another great quote:

“To me, the safe dose is zero. If you really have to drink coffee, try to limit it to one cup or at the most two cups.”

Also, the score in the title should probably be more like Word of Wisdom 33,094,230,948, Coffee-drinkers -2,390,847,987

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Finally! Definitive Proof…

…that Native Americans are descendants of the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon.

You know that song of ours that goes through the books in the Book of Mormon? You know, “first and second books of Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni”…? Do you know what tune that is?

“One little, two little, three little Indians, four little, five little, six little Indians…”

If that’s not irrefutable, I don’t know what is.

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Okay, Seriously, WTH (heck) Christopher Hitchens?!

A few weeks ago, there was an article in Slate that (no surprise) attempts to paint Mormonism as started by a fraud. It’s breathtaking in it’s inaccuracies and downright obvious bias.

Here are my thoughts (I highlighted only some of the things I found ridiculous):

Lephi

• He mentions a prophet in the Book of Mormon named Lephi. Okay, there’s Nephi and there’s Lehi. The FIRST PAGE of the Book of Mormon makes this clear. Strong evidence of thorough research.

Joseph Smith

• He claims Joseph Smith refused to show the plates to anybody. Unfortunately for Mr. Hitchens, the testimony of the 3 and 8 witnesses printed in the front of every Book of Mormon out there proves this to be completely untrue.
• He also claims that Joseph Smith was illiterate. Wow, he must have had a tough time writing letters from Liberty Jail, becoming an expert in Hebrew and writing the Doctrine & Covenants without the ability to read or write.
• Right after claiming Joseph Smith is illiterate, Hitchens then accuses Joseph of plagiarizing. How is an illiterate person going to A) Know from what source to plagiarize and B) Know what to plagiarize from that source?
• He additionally claims that we defend his actions as not being fraudulent because a poor and illiterate man couldn’t have committed such complicated fraud. Again, no Mormon claims Joseph Smith is illiterate. In fact, I believe he’s probably one of the most intelligent men who ever lived.
• Then he mentions Joseph’s violent end without mentioning that it was done by a mob in complete violation of his civil rights, due process and pretty much every principle the nation was founded on.

Other

• He calls Martin Harris, a wealthy farmer and landowner, luckless.
• Finally, he claims, and I must quote this:
  

  “Every week, at special ceremonies in Mormon temples, the congregations meet and are given a certain quota of names of the departed to “pray in” to their church”.

  I’m not lying when I say this is his description of baptisms of the dead. I struggle to think of a more perverted description of a sacred ordinance than that.

I know Slate has never been renown for more than being entertainment, as opposed to a source of real news, but this excerpt descends below entertainment into thoughtless name calling and rumor-mongering. Perhaps they’ll be excerpting the National Enquirer next.

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Shirts or Skins?

So, I’ve had an interesting issue come up twice now and I thought I’d solicit your opinions. In my previous ward, I played basketball quite a bit. At the beginning of one game the referees noticed that the white jerseys we had looked like the other teams white jerseys and thought they would have a difficult time telling the two teams apart (never mind the fact that if there was a dispute, we would be happy to clarify). Their solution was to have our team take off our undershirts and just wear the jersey.

Well, this presented a conundrum to me.

You see, I was wearing garments. I was told when I took out my endowments that I should never wear the garment bottom without the top and vice-versa. Easy solution, right? Take off the top and the bottom.

Not so fast.

I had been giving temple recommend interviews recently and one of the things we were asked to read was about when we should wear the garment. Basically, we shouldn’t take the garment off at a time when it might reasonably be worn.

I felt like the garment could reasonably be worn.

So, I told the refs I wouldn’t take off my undershirt. “Why,” they asked.

“I’m wearing garments”.

“Oh, it’s fine,” said one ref (with whom I had previously served on the high council).

I definitely didn’t feel right about it. I knew I should either refuse to take it off or just go home.

I caved and took off my shirt and my garment top.

I played pretty poorly that game (no surprise) and felt terrible about that decision. I felt like I had caved under pressure and chosen the wrong path. Well, I told myself, if it ever happens again, I’ll know what to do.

It happened again this past Thanksgiving.

My brothers-in-law were playing basketball at a school in the town we were vacationing in. One of them had hurt his foot, so I stepped in and took his place. He had been on the skins team, so I should have taken my shirt off. I realized that I had my garments on. My experience before came flooding back and I felt that nervous tension creep up. Would I explain my dilemma to them? What would they say? I think they were all mormons, so they probably would have understood.

I chose to say nothing.

I donned the jersey they threw me and left my shirts on. They hemmed and hawed uncomfortably until one guy decided to switch to skins.

So, I chose the right. What happened? I played the best basketball of my life. I scored 15 points in the first game (out of 21) and 12 in the second. I stole the ball about half the time and never ran out of breath.

Okay, that’s a lie. I sucked. I did score the first basket in each of the first two games, but that was about it. It’s hard to run in jeans and shoes that are hurting your feet. Plus, we were at high altitude instead of the sea level I’m used to. Plus, I suck at basketball, which was the only real problem.

But, I still did what I felt was right and I felt good about that.

Incidentally, it occurred to me as I’m writing this that the guy who switched from shirts to skins was probably an endowed member. I wonder if he took off his garment top to switch teams.

Shoot!

So, what do you think? Is it okay to take your garment top off when playing basketball?

[poll=2]

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