If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Isn't that a beautiful scripture? Elder Stevenson taught us when he visited the MTC this past week that as missionaries we should do three things 1) Invite 2) Promise, and 3) Testify.
He told us that the Lord always includes promises with his invitations. Ask (the invitation) And it shall be given you (the promise); seek (the invitation), and ye shall find (the promise); knock, and it shall be opened unto you: (the promise).
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me (the invitation) and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (the promise)
To the rich young man: If thou wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor (the invitation), and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. (the promise)
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| Jesus and the rich young man |
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost:(invitation) . . . and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. (promise)
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| Go ye therefore and teach all nations. . . |
Now, in the opening scripture from Isaiah about the Sabbath, can you find the invitation and the promises? They are beautiful aren't they?
These are just a few examples. Wouldn't it be interesting to mark your scriptures everytime the Lord gives an invitation and mark the promises as well? I invite you to do this along with me. I promise that we will find more strength to follow the Lord if we do. I know this is true because I feel the Spirit when I read the promises of the Lord. And that Spirit and those promises make me want to to change - to do better. It feels like a joy to follow Him rather than a duty.
We enjoyed our Sunday at the MTC. We arrived early and left late. We were tired but edified and left with new ideas and enlightenment - with new goals and desire to be better missionaries.
I felt the Holy Spirit constantly today at the MTC. You feel it as you walk into this special place where so many are trying to learn the Doctrine of Christ and be able to teach it. There is humility here with the humble Elders and Sisters who are away from their homes and realize that they need a strength beyond their own to do this thing they are commissioned to do. There is humility in the leadership. Elder and Sister Briggs and the two of us feel such a need for strengthening in order to be effective here and President and Sister Howes are continually seeking the Lord to know what they can do to improve the learning here . I am convinced that the humility that drips from all here allows the Spirit to be here in rich abundance.
We felt that Spirit as President Briggs taught in the Leadership Council this morning. He spoke in his quiet voice about when he was preparing for his mission as a young man and first went to the temple. I recorded his talk so I will tell the rest here, in our dear President Briggs own words.
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| President Briggs |
“As a 5 year old little boy I had 16 warts on my left hand and 26 on this one. (right hand). When I would go to play with the other children they didn’t want to touch me or my hands. And I didn’t blame them. So this is what happened, my folks took me to a doctor burned them all off with a red hot needle and I was left with bandaged hands. It took them some time to heal. When they were through healing my hands had scars on them that were embarrassing.
Another thing, I came from a family of 11 kids, I was number nine. The other children had nice dark hair. My father didn’t like the blonde-red hair that I had. When I was born my mother cried. I never liked that color of hair, I hated it all the time I was growing up. I never was quite as tall as the other children. They were about 4 inches taller than I was. I found out 8 years ago, when I had a hip operation that my leg bone went into the socket in a funny way and if it had been straight I would have been about 4 inches taller - about 6 ft. I would have loved that.
One of our great gifs from Heavenly Father was to receive a body - we all shouted for joy at the prospect of receiving a body. Now here I was about to go on a mission and I didn’t like my body. I didn’t like the color of my hair. While in the temple I was prompted that I had been ungrateful. In order to be grateful I had to tell Heavenly Father, ‘thank you’ and so I did. And since that day in the Salt Lake Temple, I’m grateful for this body that He has given me. And I promised him that I would always use it for Him not for me.
And that is what you need to do. You need to say that you will use this body that we have, for Heavenly Father. Be the Example you can be. Be the best you can be so that Heavenly Father will know that you appreciate the gift that he has given to you.
I testify to you that if you will do that and show him our love for him and be sure that as we set our examples for our fellow men that we don’t be offensive to them. Sometimes it’s easy to be offended by those who are setting good examples. Because we think, “Oh, they think they are so smart! They are so good! They are so righteous!” And so we have to pray extra and ask Heavenly father to help bless us with His Spirit so that our example will not be offensive to others. And so that our words of counsel and advice will be able to be received into the hearts of those that we live with. And that goes for us with our companions, with our families with anybody here on the earth, that we might be that wonderful example to be a beacon and a guide to help one another as we go through this life.
And I pray that you will be blessed in that regard - that you will be able to be the example to bless the lives of the people of the Pacific. And I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”
President Briggs
Then in Sacrament Meeting the Spirit was there to testify of the things that President and Sister Howes spoke of as the speakers today. They spoke of the Holy Ghost and their talks were amazing. I also recorded them and will put them on the blog so others can listen and be inspired as we were.
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| President and Sister Howes with Elder Malrory |
Sister Howes told of years ago hearing Elder Marion G. Romney speak of the blessings that would come to those who would read the Book of Mormon in their families. She thought the blessings were so beautiful and wanted them in their home.
“I feel certain that if in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly both by themselves and with there children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell their. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in grater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity - the pure love of Christ - will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness”
She began to read at breakfast each morning a chapter to her children. When Luke left on his mission they had read the book 19 times as a family. Their family is a testimony of this promise by Elder Romney.
President Howes spoke of how they love the Book of Mormon. I couldn’t begin to tell you how many times I have read it.” he told us. “As a young missionary I read it once every month of my mission.” His talk was so inspiring to the missionaries that he had a gathering of them flock him after the meeting ended. They all wanted to up their goal for reading the B of M on their missions. They asked him how he was able to do that. He told them to use every minute they have. He explained that if they kept track of how many minutes a day they spent waiting for things they would be amazed at the amount of time that they let slip away. I know I have a new goal for reading. This mission is a great opportunity to change my habits - to stretch my soul and to learn from the word of God. I hope to take advantage of this precious time.
Both talks were so powerful that I am putting them on the blog. Eric has asked a couple times what he can do now to prepare for his mission. We think that he, and others of the grandchildren would love to hear the power and the spirit that is felt when President and Sister Howes teach. They train missionaries and make them want to stand taller and measure up to the high calling they have been given. We see the growth and the testimony that blossoms within them. Any of us would do well to listen and learn.
Sister Howes
President Howes
We gave our second Devotional Sunday Evening. This time our topic was Recognizing the Spirit. We feel it went better than our last one. It was too long but we are learning. Dad taught the missionaries how to make a scripture chain.
We love Sundays at the MTC. There are Leadership Council Meeting, District Meetings, Priesthood, and Relief Society. President Thatcher spends much of the afternoon interviewing missionaries and there there is a progress meeting where president Howes instructs the missionaries (always tremendous meetings) a health meeting, an evening Devotional and then a final Provo MTC Broadcast Devotional. In between these meetings we have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The missionaries write letters to the President and their families and study. They are such full days that seem to go faster each Sunday we are here. It is a day to spend with the missionaries and that we love. We come home tired and grateful and sleep soundly.
We love all of you and pray for you always. We wish you could be here with us and meet those we are meeting and enjoy the beauty of this land. Take care and be true.
Mom and Dad
Grandma and Grandpa
Elder and Sister Thatcher
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