HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Halloween

No one in my family was small enough to go bang on doors last evening, so I sat home while my dog went nuts eveyime some gremlin showed up at the door. Danny and Rachel have invested thousands on Halkloween stuff---hands that walk and legs that slide and graavestones and skelatons and talking heads and such---and the yard is full of their decorations. So a few more kids came this year. We average less than ten per season.

I am not a big fan of this holiday, but I did prepare a handout yesterday for the benefit of my students and other teachers. Here it is:

THE SCRIPTURES HAVE A GREAT DEAL TO SAY ABOUT FEAR. FOR EXAMPLE, THE LORD AND HIS SERVANTS HAVE SAID “FEAR NOT” TO THE RIGHTEOUS AT LEAST 66 TIMES, AND “BE NOT AFRAID” 26 TIMES

FEAR NOT

Genesis 15:1
Genesis 21:17
Genesis 26:24
Genesis 43:23
Genesis 46:3
Exodus 20:20
Deuteronomy 1:21
Deuteronomy 20:3
Deuteronomy 31:6
Deuteronomy 31:8
Joshua 8:1
Joshua 10:25
Judges 6:10
Judges 6:23
1 Samuel 12:20
1 Kings 17:13
2 Kings 6:16
1 Chronicles 28:20
2 Chronicles 20:17
Isaiah 7:4
Isaiah 35:4
Isaiah 41:13
Isaiah 41:14
Isaiah 43:1
Isaiah 43:5
Isaiah 44:2
Isaiah 54:4
Jeremiah 46:27
Lamentations 3:57
Daniel 10:12
Daniel 10:19
Joel 2:21
Zechariah 8:13
Matthew 1:20
Matthew 10:28
Matthew 28:5
Luke 1:13
Luke 1:20
Luke 2:10
Luke 5:10
Luke 8:50
Luke 12:17
Luke 12:32
John 12:15
Acts 27:24
1 Peter 2:18
Revelation 1:17
2 Nephi 17:4
Alma 7:15
Alma 61:31
Helaman 5:26
3 Nephi 22:4
3 Nephi 24:5
D&C 6:33
D&C 6:34
D&C 6:36
D&C 30:5
D&C 35:27
D&C 38:15
D&C 50:41
D&C 79:4
D&C 98:1
D&C 101:36
D&C 122:9
D&C 136:17
D&C 136:30

BE NOT AFRAID

Deuteronomy 20:1
Joshua 1:9
Joshua 11:6
2 Kings 1:15
2 Kings 19:6
2 Chronicles 20:15
2 Chronicles 32:7
Proverbs 3:25,26
Isaiah 10:4
Isaiah 37:6
Isaiah 40:9
Jeremiah 1:8
Jeremiah 10:5
Jeremiah 42:11
Ezekiel 2:6
Matthew 14:27
Matthew 17:7
Matthew 28:10
Mark 5:36
Mark 6:50
Luke 12:4
John 6:20
Acts 18:9
I Peter 3:14
2 Nephi 24:20
D&C 98:14

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You might consider printing this out on orange paper and handing it out next year instead of Almond Joys and Butterfingers. Of course the kids would hate you and your dentist would firebomb your home, but it is an idea . . .

I am thinking about how often and in how many circumstances the Lord has said this kind of thing to his faithful children. I suppose if he were with us all the time, instead of near Kolob, we would never worry about anything. Of course he is with us all the time. He has promised to go with us (D&C 32:3), and to be in our midst (D&C 38:7). He has assured us that no weapon formed against us can prosper (3 Nephi 22:17), and that his eyes are upon us (D&C 38:7). What are we supposed to be afraid of?

After all, "With God, nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37), and "Nothing is too hard for [him] (Jeremiah 32:17)." So what if the Assyrian Army is on the way or Goliath is sharpening his 15-pound spear head. So what if Captain Comstock is headed for Haun's Mill or Johnston's Army is coming through Wyoming . . . Fear not.

When neighbors told Jairus to quit bothering the Lord because his 12-year old daughter was now dead and therefore could not be healed, Jesus responded at once and said, "Be not afraid. Only believe" (Mark 5:36).

His daughter was dead, for goodness sake! Be not afraid. Only believe. I feel like we really have been given the tools and the understanding to set aside worry and fear in our lives almost entirely.

Friends and family came yesterday and we played games for a few hours while we answered the door and contemplated the delights of leftover candy. And we had a lot left over. Nothing like the collections we used to have when Danny took his pillow cases out in Junior High, but we had enough to get by.

Thanks for listening.

Ted

Journal, 30 October 2007

Tuesday, 30 October 2007

Teaching Jarom through the Words of Mormon today I had an insight that seemed pertinent. Here it is: "God leads the righteous away from the wicked." The catalyst for the thought was the journey of Mosiah and the righteous Nephites from the Land of Nephi to the Land of Zarahemla, a destination to which they were led by "many preachings and prophesyings" (Omni 1:13). This of course happened several generations after Lehi was led from Jerusalem and after Nephi left his brethren behind and founded the Land of Nephi. I told the students that God will always lead the righteous away from the wicked. He may not send them into the wilderness to discover new lands or settled lands that are safer, but when they are confronted by rampant wickedness and danger, the Spirit will certainly whisper, "Get out! Now! Pick up you feet and move.

I think all of us have had this experience. We have been at a movie or watching a TV show or something else and the Spirit as thumped us gently or powerfully and said, "Move. Now." I remember teaching this during my first years in Seminary when I lived in Tempe, Arizona. I caught a preying mantis in my yard and made him a home in a gallon glass bottle with small branches and holes punched in the lid. Then I took him [her?] to seminary for this lesson, and dropped a live moth into the jar. the results were gratifying---except for the moth. But the message was meaningful. It is extremely dangerous to stay close when there is danger at hand.


I want to say a word or two about the trip we made to Park City October 13-15.

Lydia signed us up for a time share presentation and for our troubles got us three days at the Marriott Summit Watch in Park City for a small investment of cash. We stayed on the second floor on the right side of the green building at the center of this photo.

We arrived there about 4:00 on Saturday. Tiffy and Bexi went with us. Saturday night we played games and I watched the BYU-UNLY football game which BYU won without too much difficulty.

Sunday morning after breakfast we went to Sacrament Meeting at the Park City chapel. They have a special meeting just for visitors at 11:00. After the meeting we walked on main street for a time. Some kind of festival is going on and the street is closed to auto traffic.

There were a bunch of booths and entrepreneurs but it was the Sabbath and we kept our money in our pocket. I encountered a man with candy and wardrobe on the same line of his budget. Here he is.

Tifffy and I did ride the town ski lift to the top of the mountain and back–$22.00. I took a hundred photos of yellow Quakies and mountain scenery and Park City some of them follow. The photo of Tiffy and I at the beginning of this entry was taken on top by a young man from Wisconsin who is a ski instructor here in the winter.

The leaves were beautiful and the ride, which took about 40 minutes round trip as sweet, but chilly. I was glad I brought my coat.

Back at the condo we had FHE. We have decided to study the talks from conference since President Hinckley asked us to do that in his final talk Sunday Afternoon. He said, “All of the proceedings of this conference will appear in a subsequent issue of the Ensign and Liahona. We encourage you again to read the talks in your family home evenings and discuss them together as families. They are the products of much prayer and meditation and are well worthy of careful consideration.”

We have decided to take turns picking talks and leading the discussion each week. In the opening prayer, the man who prayed asked that these talks would bless us with “correction and direction.” That will be our theme for our study.

The talk we studied today was Elder Holland’s talk, “The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent.” I ran off a copy for each family member. We had a good experience studying the message and Elder Holland’s testimony.

We played a lot of games on Sunday too– Rook, Eat it or Beat it, Ticket to Ride, Zonkers, Work-ups.

Monday we slept in and after breakfast Lydia and I went to the presentation by the owners of the properties who were hoping to sell us a time share. We told them we had owned a Marriott time share before and were not prepared to buy another one, and the sales lady believed us and after a visit for 45 minutes or so, she gave us a $100 credit at any Marriott property and sent us on our way.

In the afternoon, Lydia and the s went for a walk and Lydia signed up for another time-share presentation later in the year.

I brought the s home this evening. Lydia will be home tomorrow.

Journal-29 October 2007

Monday, 29 October 2007

My NT lesson today was a survey of some of the Savior’s teachings on wealth and the attendant dangers. We talked about the rich young ruler in Mark 10 and the wonderful widow with her two mites in Mark 12, and we compared those two people.

We also discussed the disciple who asked Christ to oversee the division of a family inheritance in Luke 12, and the parable the Lord shared about the rich man and his big barns and his impending death.

We spent some time on the invitations to the great supper in Luke 14 and allocated just a moment to the parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16.

The teachings of the Savior in these stories are direct and profound. I hope the students understood the messages.

The parable of the unjust steward deserved more time than I was able to give it. This is the account of an employee about to be terminated because he had wasted his master’s goods. Anxious to provide for himself in an uncertain future, he called his lord’s creditors and offered them each spectacular bargains on the debts they owed his boss. Then his master commended him: “because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” (Luke 16:8).

The message of the parable is in that final phrase.

“Our Lord's purpose was to show the contrast between the care, thoughtfulness, and devotion of men engaged in the money-making affairs of earth, and the half-hearted ways of many who are professedly striving after spiritual riches. Worldly-minded men do not neglect provision for their future years, and often are sinfully eager to amass plenty; while the "children of light," or those who believe spiritual wealth to be above all earthly possessions, are less energetic, prudent, or wise” (James E. Talmage: Jesus the Christ, Ch.27, p.463 - p.464).

I wrote the following observation as an application of this parable:

I have sons who own dozens (perhaps hundreds) of video games. They play with remarkable skill and continuous delight. Suppose I asked one of them on one occasion a question like this: "Son, how does Zelda overcome the evil prince and destroy the Sultan of Suffering?" He would know the answer. He has paid the price in time and effort to know. But if I then asked, "How did Mormon maintain his righteousness in the world of sin and iniquity in which he was raised?" I think he would look at me like I was deranged. I have invited my boys to put as much effort into the scriptures as they do into games. I hope one day they will.

If we expend as much effort in preparing for the joys of eternity as we expend in preparing for the joys of mortality, we might well be translated where we stand. But we often spend great energy on things less durable than water on a summer sidewalk.

With regard to the man with the barns and the surplus of stuff, who was about to die, I shared this story:

What would you hang on to today if you knew you were going to dietomorrow? A true story illustrates the folly of this passion for acquisition:

I think of Hisham, the mightiest palace an Arab ever built, just outside of Jericho . . . the prince took twenty-seven years to build it, and it was going to be the finest palace in the world . . . it was magnificent.

The night he was to enter it for the house-warming, there came a great earthquake. He had a heart attack and died, and the palace was completely destroyed. They were going to have this big housewarming, and everybody was to come. After twenty-seven years, poof, that's what happened (Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 2, Lecture 41, pp. 5,6).

Tonight Tiffy supervised FHE. We aare taking turns and we have been going over talks from Conference because President Hinckley asked us to. Tiffy’s talk was from Quentin L. Cook, the newest apostle. We had a good discussion on the message. One of his comments, about a favorite birthday card from a convert from his mission reminded me of a letter I received in November of 2001 from one of my Brazilian baptisms.

This is my translation. The letter came in Portuguese.

Votorantim, SP, 14 November 2001

Dear Brother Gibbons

It is with satisfaction that I acknowledge the receipt of your letter.

It has already been more than 35 years since you finished the mission and perhaps you do not remember, but I was the last person you baptized. I asked many questions and argued a lot, but, after my baptism and systematic and persistent study and with the testimony of the Holy Ghost, I soon had a certainty that the Church was true. I had wonderful spiritual experiences, not just with the Priesthood, but also with vicarious work for the dead. My wife and I involved ourselves with genealogical work and had real spiritual experiences confirming that this work is ordained by God.

Since that time, we have had five more children. We have seven children now, fivesons and two daughters. I sent six children on missions, and they are all active in the church. My oldest daughter is married to the brother of Elder Costa, of the First Quorum of the Seventy, and his wife encountered the church through the instrumentality of my daughter. Three of my sons are bishops and I have had the satisfaction of baptizing various people who afterward were called as bishops and stake presidents.

In my callings in the Church, I have been on Stake High Councils from time to time, and I have been Bishop or Branch President several times.

At the present time I am a Patriarch, which is a calling for old people like me.

You excused yourself [in your letter] for having forgotten your Portuguese, but, it is still good. You only had three errors. That is great.

I see that you have a great family, with 12 children and 7 grandchildren, and I have 7 children and 12 grandchildren. I hope, when I return to the presence of my Heavenly Father, I can say, “Father, here are all the children you have given me; none of them were lost. They were all married in the Temple (except for the youngest who is still unmarried, and they are all faithful in the Church."

A few years ago when I was bishop of the Castelo ward in Campinas, SP, I arose to speak from the pulpit, and was inspired to say to the members that they should prepare, because soon there would be a temple in Campinas. At the end of the meeting, some people found me and said, “Bishop, you are dreaming.” But I was not dreaming, our beautiful temple is almost ready and will be dedicated in two months.

It has been a joy to extend my feelings to you. I end asking that you send me your email.

I close with a hug,

Joao Apolonio Neto