A Day of Service

We had a good day yesterday. Elder Hansen and I decided that the peaches in the orchard at Jacob Hamblin's home were long past thinning time and only a cursory token thinning had been done on a few trees. So, we went in the morning and thinned them---probably took thousands off the trees. We found a very tiny bird's nest in the crotch of one tree. The thinning shook the branch enough for two little birds to fall out of the nest. They had feathers but were not big enough to fly. I had gloves on so I carefully picked them up and took them back to their nest. There were already two other baby birds there---with room for only one. I had to just stack them on top of each other and hope they could stay up there till they were ready to fly away. Jacob's has an old tom cat that roams around--he reminds me of the tom cat on the farm in Lehi, he has the same stub tail and is big and black. I'm sure he would be glad if a little bird fell down and he found it. Helps you realize how fragile life's cycle is.

Then we went to the Visitors' Center for six hours. We were in the Annex and Elder Hansen greeted a very nice couple from Germany. Since we have spent some years in Germany, he asked them where they lived. They were not willing to tell him they were from East Germany (we found out later from Sister Wetzel). He set the 8 minute dvd for them and went to get Sister Wetzel. She is a new missionary from Germany. She found out that they lived near where she was from and they had much in common. She then took over and taught them the history of St. George and building the Temple. They were very interested so she spent an hour in the Visitors' Center and teaching them the lesson on the Restoration. They wanted a Book of Mormon and to have the missionaries to come to their home in Germany to teach them. She was really excited to have the experience--now she will have them as new friends for life.

I found this quote in the Church News in an article about the Church vaccinating for measles all over the world.

"The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone but the things that you do for others remain as your legacy.

We have opportunities for personal expression of love through service. We all benefit by reaching out and helping others."

We all have opportunities around us every day to go beyond our comfort zone and serve someone in some way. May God bless us in our efforts to do this. Love, Sister Hansen

A Special Testimony

I want to share with you one of the most outstanding testimonies of the Savior that I have ever read. It was given in 1996 by Neal Maxwell before he was an Apostle. I think you would like it.

Neal A. Maxwell, “Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King,” Ensign, Dec 2007, 44–47

It matters so very much how we regard and view Jesus Christ. Some seek to substitute Caesars for Christ. Others are blinded because they are “looking beyond the mark” (Jacob 4:14) when the mark is Christ. Many sects—without the reinforcing rods of revelation—have been badly shaken by theological tremors; the resulting ecclesiastical erosion has been so rapid it is measured in months, not centuries. Some crusaders without a cross have actually removed the divinity of Jesus Christ from the center of their doctrines—only to see all the other doctrinal dominoes tumble too.

Thus, foolishness, fear, and fashion have flattened the theology of many. For them, there is neither shelter nor landmark on the horizon.

There is, however, one people and one church bearing Jesus Christ’s name and built upon the fulness of His gospel. This people is seen by the world as eccentric, because they are so Christocentric!

This people strives to follow the counsel of the resurrected Savior, who said, “Hold up your light … unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do” (3 Nephi 18:24).

Today I desire to hold up that light by testifying of Jesus Christ and what He has done according to what I know, have seen, felt, and heard in my life. This testimony involves my reason and my experience—the two limited but helping witnesses! Happily, there has been given to me the third witness of the Spirit—the unimpeachable and convincing witness!

My only regret is that what follows is apt to be the verbal equivalent of a child’s enthusiastic finger painting—because my tongue cannot tell all I know. Even so …

I testify that in our first estate Jesus was the incomparable individual among all our Father’s spirit children. He helped to prepare this planet for us and led—not pushed—us from our premortal post. I thank Him for the untold things He did, across the ages of that first estate, to prepare perfectly for His unique role—while I was doing so very much less. I thank Him, further, for not deserting those of us who are slow or stragglers.

I testify that His intelligence is vastly superior in every field to the very brightest mortals in those fields and that His intellect in scope and truth far exceeds all human intellects. I thank Him for encapsulating that exquisite mind in both perfect love and perfect humility. His brilliance is not the “catch-me-if-you-can” kind, but a pleading and patient, “Come, follow me” (Luke 18:22).

I testify that His premortal performance reflected both an astonishing selflessness and a breathtaking commitment to freedom as a condition of our genuine growth. I thank Him for combining His long view of our needs with a short step forward to volunteer His services. Never has anyone offered so much to so many in so few words as when Jesus said, “Here am I, send me” (Abraham 3:27).

I testify that He assisted in the creation and management not only of this planet but also other worlds. His grasp is galactic, yet He noticed the widow casting in her mite. I am stunned at His perfect, unconditional love of all. Indeed, “I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me” (“I Stand All Amazed,” Hymns, no. 193).

I testify that Jesus was, in fact, actually proffered the kingdoms of this world by Satan. I thank Him for declining this specious offer since all eternity would have been shaken, for Jesus’s grip on Himself was also mankind’s hold on the future.

I testify that He is the Divine Savior and Redeemer of all mankind. He who did not need to die Himself was willing to be bound by the chains of death so He could break them for all mankind. I testify that He is thereby our advocate with the flawless Father. I thank Him for letting us decide how we will regard Him, our Rescuer. I thank Him for His discerning way of knowing us without controlling us, for never letting the needs of now crowd out the considerations of eternity.

I testify that in eloquent example He partook voluntarily of the bitter cup in the awful, but for Him avoidable, Atonement; we must, therefore, drink from our tiny cups. I thank Him for likewise not interceding on our behalf, even when we pray in faith and reasonable righteousness for that which would not be right for us. Our glimpse of Gethsemane should teach us that all prayers are petitions!

I testify that, though He never needed it, He gave to us what we desperately needed—that program of progress—repentance, which beckons us to betterness. I thank Him for helping me, even forgiving me, when I fall short, when I testify of things known but which are beyond the border of my behavior, and for helping me to advance that border, bit by bit. His relentless redemptiveness exceeds my recurring wrongs.

I testify that He has given us, and will give us, living prophets. I thank Him for His superb selection of His special witnesses and for His omniscient orchestration of their varied gifts in a symphony of salvation.

I testify that He was raised in a lowly town and thank Him for the example of rising above His beginnings without renouncing them and for then surmounting all that was set before Him.

I testify that the Jehovah introduced by thunderings and lightnings to a gathered Israel at Sinai (see Exodus 19:16–18) is the same Jesus who later lamented, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem … how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings” (Matthew 23:37). I thank Him for such repeated reachings out to mankind, whether in phenomenal power or in quiet conversation at a wellside.

I testify that He is the perfect example and leader, not asking us to do what He has not done, not asking us to endure what He has not endured, giving us enough, but not more than we can manage. I thank Him who did everything perfectly for sharing His precious work with those of us who then do it so imperfectly.

I testify that He and the Father are serious about stretching our souls in this second estate. I thank the Savior for truly teaching us about our personal possibilities and for divinely demonstrating directions—not just pointing.

I testify that just as He has helped to carefully construct this second estate for all mankind, He also has helped to carefully construct each of our little universes of experience. I thank Him for blessing me therein with a wife, children, parents, leaders, and friends to help me. I thank Him now for the tender times, the jarring times, the perplexing times, and even for the times when my learning is so painfully public—lest in such moments to come I am too taxed to testify or too anguished to appreciate.

I thank Jesus for foregoing fashionableness and for enduring not only the absence of appreciation but also for speaking the truth, knowing beforehand that misunderstanding and misrepresentation would follow. I thank Him for His marvelous management of time, for never misusing a moment, including the moments of meditation. Even His seconds showed His stewardship.

No son ever complemented His Father so gracefully, honored His Father so constantly, or trusted His Father so completely as did Jesus.

Thus, I add my small voice to the anthem of appreciation that has proceeded from this pulpit over the decades. I gladly and unashamedly acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King!

Last of all, I witness that He lives—with all that those simple words imply. I know I will be held accountable for this testimony; but, as hearers or readers, you are now accountable for my witness—which I give in the very name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Some Mission Experiences

I really love to be in the Visitor's Center when young couples and/or single moms (or dads) come in with their little children. I usually try to talk with them so I can reinforce their choice to bring the little ones into a place where they are safe and can feel the Lord's spirit. I think it is important for children (and youth and adults) to feel that there is a place for them in the heritage of the Church. They need to feel that the Church heritage is their own heritage (because IT IS whether they have pioneer ancestors or not) and they can be proud of it and feel secure.

I want everyone to know that WE are who we are because of who THEY (the early pioneers) were and we can be so grateful to them for their devotion to God, loyalty to the Church and family---for their hard work and willingness to give their best in any circumstances---(so I almost always include something to that effect in each tour I conduct).

One day a young couple (Dixie Students) came in with a child in a stroller. He must have been about 14/18 months old. As they pushed him into the Christus Room (where I was sitting at the desk) the baby raised both his arms and with a big smile he exclaimed, "Hi! Jesus!" As I talked to them they explained that when they go into his room to get him in the morning he usually says "Hi! Temple!" to the picture of it on his wall, and "Hi! Jesus!" to his picture of the Savior. What a wonderful beginning this infant has.

Another day a father came in with his two little boys. The boys tip-toed into the Christus Room with their arms folded and went over and quietly sat down in front of the Christus statue. Later the father explained that they often take the boys into the foyer of the Timpanogos Temple to let them get acquainted with and feel comfortable in a Temple. He said he thought the boys probably thought they were in the temple in our Visitor's Center. So I asked the four-year-old (the oldest) why he goes to the temple. He looked at me like I should have known and whispered to me, "So I can feel the spirit." Which is exactly what he was feeling. What a great idea for parents to give their children the gift of feeling and recognizing and being comfortable with the sweet spirit they can feel in these safe places.

I have had three occasions where I was able to spent a some time with young members who needed to talk to someone about death and adjusting and understanding. Both the younger people had recently lost their mother (they were not related) and their dads had quickly remarried and they hadn't accepted the new arrangements yet. The other fellow thought Church standards were just too hard to live and wanted to join a support group that 'helped you not feel guilty about not living the Church standards'---which, by the way, we do have such a group here in St. George. I guess the Church sites and Visitor Center did seem a safe place for them to come to talk to someone.

We do, however, occasionally encounter those who want to come to tear down the Church and try to confuse us with their 'knowledge.' It is astonishing what a bad spirit they bring! Elder Hansen has learned that we don't even need to address their points (because they will not listen anyway). Last week when I was challenged by a couple who wanted to threaten our standing as a Church, I quickly called on Elder Hansen to come give me some support--which, of course, he did. I need to be more discerning to recognize what people want when they come to us. (I just want to love everybody).

I must mention that we do get MANY foreigners---usually at the Visitor's Center. There are often 10-12 French tour buses a week. Then we get English, Japanese, and Italian buses, too. They come to see the Canyons and this is a convenient stop on their way to Las Vegas. Since the dollar is so favorable to the euro now, we get many families on vacation from all the European countries. One couple we talked to from Switzerland this week said it was their 7th trip to Utah (they aren't members---yet).

We feel we are on a foreign mission sometimes. It is nice to have them come to you. We are loving our missionary service!

Petroglyphs

Our good neighbors, Roy and Norma Notley, took us on a day-trip to the Johnson Valley Indian Petroglyphs. They have gone there for many years. It is south of Alton and North-east of Kanab on the edge of the Escalante National Wilderness. The sand is drifting and covering the walls of the rock cliffs where the writings are. Roy thinks the sand has buried at least 10 feet of the walls since they first discovered it. We climbed along shifting sand dunes that were ancient Indian burial grounds. We saw the pottery pieces that they broke up to put into the grave with the woman who died and the chips of flint that the men made as they carved their arrowheads. On the plateau nearby we saw where they gathered for dances and festivals. It was good fellowship to be with them, we really enjoyed the trip.

Spring Excursions

We have enjoyed a couple of outings this Spring. The first one, in April, was with all of the Senior Couples and the young sister missionaries. We drove in caravan out to Pipe Springs on the Arizona Strip. This was an important place in the history of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. The Mormon pioneers used Pipe Springs area for herding their livestock. It is on part of the 'Honeymoon Trail' the pioneer couples traveled to be married in the St. George Temple. We shared a ride with Elder and Sister Lamson. We had lovely weather to travel. After visiting Pipe Springs, we went to Hurricane to visit their Museum and a historic home---and of course, we had a nice picnic in the park.