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.