Always arriving nice and early to church, I helped
Leah (and Oliver – ‘no, that’s not the way we do it . . .’ ) in setting out the
chairs for Primary. By now, I’ve almost got the whole thing figured out on my
own (well, according to me anyway – though this belief is not shared by Ollie!),
then off to a joint Relief Society/Priesthood session. It was humorous that we
sat there as ladies for a good long time when eventually our RS president got
up to the mike and said we were waiting for the men to arrive to get started,
as we were having a joint meeting. (RS is held in the chapel – Gospel Doctrine
in the cultural hall.) I guess there had been confusion (on someone’s part –
not naming names here) on exactly what was happening this morning in the first
hour.
The bishop soon took charge, as the men and boys
filtered in, reminding us first of all about next weekend’s general conference broadcasts,
and encouraging us to partake of all we could and to attend at the church house
whenever possible. He also announced the meeting tonight for the women’s Relief
Society General Session at 7. Darn, we had somehow not given that event enough
priority in our minds, as we had scheduled a Skyping time with the Grands via
Scott at that very time. Boo – gotta change it again!
In his remarks the Bishop – that same silly man at
last night’s ward get-together – proceeded to give us a thoughtful and deep spiritual
message, as did Timmy’s dad, Brother Amison, first counselor, following the
Bishop’s remarks. He began by referencing Luke, chapter 15, where each of the
parables he cited is talking about missing ‘something’ – of course, symbolizing
‘someone.’ In verse :4 (the ratio is 1 of 100), in :8 (1 of 10), and lastly in
:11-13 (it is 1 of 2). Interestingly, I had never made that connection before.
He went on to speak of our baptismal covenant to ‘succor the weak, lift up the
hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees’ (D&C 81:5) of our
brethren and sisters in the gospel – as well as those who have not yet discovered
our eternal affiliation. He said that none of us are exempt from any of the
potential situations that have lead them away, thinking that we could/would
never be in their shoes – lost for whatever period of time, for whatever
reason.
Satan knows our strengths, and he knows our
weaknesses. The Lost Sheep, that member, never intended to stray. The Lord’s
church implies a full set. How can we be happy if part of us is missing? We
cannot be saved alone. We are all good at procrastinating, but when it comes to
saving souls, we don’t have the time. What is the object and design of
God’s/our existence? To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
The Bishop questioned, ‘which of you cannot look around and recall that you
have not seen so-and-so for a month, 12 months, for several years? Where are
they now? What has come into their path to call them away? And of course,
lastly, what can we do about it?! With this he encouraged us to give our own Visiting
and Home Teaching commitments serious consideration as it fits into this equation.
In Sunday School we considered the account of the
people who travelled all night long to be in the presence of the Saviour, the day
following his first his appearance near the temple in the Book of Mormon
chronicle. He asked, what amount of money or goods would we be willing to give
up in order to do/procure something that was of great value to us? He gave the
instance of his desire to be a part of the Olympics – an opportunity that may or
may not be a once in a lifetime chance. He ended up forking over a great deal
of money for travel and tickets, but was SO grateful that he’d been able to
accomplish that goal. (Kind of like me; those had been my very feelings exactly
surrounding the 2012 Olympics in London. I just wanted to be there, to be a
part of history, just as I had been in the midst of it in Salt Lake City ten
years earlier.) When the teacher considered all he went through to attain this
desire, he wondered honestly if he would be willing to do the same in order to
demonstrate his devotion to the gospel. How much would each of us be willing to
sacrifice in order to show our devotion to our God? A really significant
question for each of us to ask ourselves.
Brother Amison and his wife also told a related
personal story. They had just been to France (that was that week when Timmy was
staying with the Wards – these are his parents) on holiday. The day they
arrived they found did not have a combination for getting into a locked box they
needed in order to retrieve the key into their scheduled accommodations. Sister
Amison recounted in great detail the ordeal they had gone through, how
discouraging and disheartening the many long, grueling hours, calls and
attempts it had taken, until finally, at last, the messages they had gotten to
their children which resulted in them locating the combination. The moral: our
search to reach our Father’s kingdom, and the corresponding heartache we may
experience if we find we have lost the combination that permits us to enter. What
is it worth to us? Immeasureable!
After the opening song, prayer and sacrament,
Brother Amison announced that first in sacrament meeting we would have two very
nervous speakers – this was a young Indian mother and her 10-year old son.
Neither had spoken before in sacrament meeting, and both did a wonderful job.
Their topic was ‘be doers of the word, not hearers only,’ – one pertinent idea being
that coming to church, consistently, gives us the chance to reassess our lives
each week. Bishop De Sous (sou – as in French money, implying a small coin of little value), the
other speaker (Man, it was his day!), began by saying that he had come prepared
with a lovely talk. And then, looking over at the sister missionaries,
pronounced that they had spoiled it all!
. . . by passing on to him a letter from their ecclesiastical leader,
the Birmingham Mission president, the contents of which he felt he must now
share with us. The majority of the contents were taken from the thoughts of
President Monson, concerning our responsibility to give an extra push in
regards to missionary efforts – very similar to the remarks he had already
shared with us earlier in Sunday School. He called upon us, as we usually
entreat the Lord in regards to missionary work, to ramp up our efforts and ask
for specific blessings we would like the Lord to provide, and to further aid
the missionaries by making ourselves available to go out with them in splits
whenever they ask us to lend a hand. A copy of the letter, addressed from the
Birmingham England Mission, located in Sutton Coldfield, north and east of
Birmingham, was available for every family. He asked us further to consecrate
our fast, the week after General Conference, to the success of the missionaries
in our area of the Lord’s vineyard of the world.
[As both the stake president and one of his counselors - President Segal, a magnificent Asian gentleman - are in our ward, they sit on the stand if they are present during sacrament meeting. This week the bishop asked Josh, an exceptionally tall new deacon, to stand so he could be acknowledged and accepted as a rightful Aaronic priesthood bearer. I wish I could repeat exactly the words the bishop used, as what he says is very clever (often humorous): he congratulated President Segal on this momentous occasion - he finally had another priesthood holder in the home. A tender moment, as this was the caboose, after four glorious daughters (you should just see the mother in the family!) - he was unable to disguise a befitting dab to the eye.]
[As both the stake president and one of his counselors - President Segal, a magnificent Asian gentleman - are in our ward, they sit on the stand if they are present during sacrament meeting. This week the bishop asked Josh, an exceptionally tall new deacon, to stand so he could be acknowledged and accepted as a rightful Aaronic priesthood bearer. I wish I could repeat exactly the words the bishop used, as what he says is very clever (often humorous): he congratulated President Segal on this momentous occasion - he finally had another priesthood holder in the home. A tender moment, as this was the caboose, after four glorious daughters (you should just see the mother in the family!) - he was unable to disguise a befitting dab to the eye.]
Following church, one of our several sets of
Elders brought a Chinese investigator to the Wards’ for a bring-investigators-
to-visit-members-in-their-homes kind of occasion. We ate chicken divan, curry
style, and chatted a lot. ‘Heidi’ (here for a short period of study at the university,
married and with a 15-year old son) has just a few barriers to overcome before
she enters into the waters of baptism – for starters, she must come to believe
in a Father in Heaven (she told us such religious tenants are taught as myths
in her country), and then, a Saviour, and then a modern-day prophet, and then .
. . on and on. What a lovely woman she
was, very beautiful, kind and thoughtful.
Following dinner, we, women, returned back to the
stake center, our church building, (Heidi joined with us, as she lives very
near there in Harborne. We had also picked up Janet, one of Leah’s counselors,
who lives very close to Leah.) to view the General Relief Society Meeting (New
terminology? Have I heard it called that before?) of General Conference that began
at 7p (that you all had already enjoyed 19 hours previously). The stake RS
president pronounced that we were the very first stake (namely, the Birmingham
Stake) in all the UK to has access to the broadcast so quickly – in the past it
traditionally has been shown a week later to fill in the gap while waiting for
General Conference transmission. I won’t go into the contents, as I’m sure you
all had the opportunity of viewing it yourselves. It WAS a wonderful treat to
listen to our newly-called general Relief Society presidency, also to hear
President Eyring implore us to ‘Keep the Faith.’ (Here is an interesting factoid
many of you may not be aware of. You have heard me talk of the Henry S.
Florence Jr. family living for a few years in the area of Salt Lake City called
Oakhills [analogous to a similar area in Provo} before our father transported
our family to the wilderness – Moab. My mother tells that while residing there,
Henry Eyring was a young man in their Oakhills ward. Huh, how about that?! She
remembers him clearly – quite serious, even then.) More delights from ‘Sister
Costco’ following the broadcast. (Had been tempted by too many ‘delights’ the
evening before, so, leading myself away by the hand, abstained!).
Ollieism_
Oliver corrects me frequently by saying with all
surety, ‘No, that’s not how we do it, say it, etc. in OUR family!’
Photo_
General Relief Society Presidency, as of March 2012: l. to r., Carole M. Stephens; Linda K. Burton, pres; Linda S. Reeves
