HUGE remodeling and landscaping and fencing JOB!

Sunday, 10/24/21 Good evening Brandon, Hope you are doing well. KJ said she was off to Oregon to try to settle her old house which has been an albatross around her neck. David Hughes was in EQ today and I shook his hand. Our EQ pres was once our bishop: Kent Perkins. He was also the SG Leisure Services director for over 30 years. I went without a home teaching quarterly interview for about 10 years. When I was in the presidency we followed through on those conscientiously. So I was disappointed when they didn’t happen. Now they do! Yay Kent! @@ Thomas S Monson got to give zillions of talks. He told wonderful stories in my opinion. He told one about a beat up old house that the whole ward jumped in and remodeled when the family was away. Last week Pres. Kent Perkins wrote his first quorum update. I was amazed at all they have done for Sister Forsberg’s home. What a project! No other EQ president I have ever known could have taken this on, even though it was step by step. There are many to pray for too. Can you see the difference that having one Quorum makes? Instead of splitting us into Elders and High Priest. This is one adjustment/revelation that makes total sense to me.

Brethren,

Here are a few quorum updates:

As many of you know, Brother Sam Hales is in the Hurricane Health and Rehab facility (416 North State Street, Hurricane).  It can be quite lonely for Sam, especially when you consider that he may be there for the long run. Visitors will lift his spirits, and it is great opportunity to "comfort those that stand in need of comfort). Because he has dialysis on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, it is best to visit between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Please consider grabbing a friend and making the trip to help Sam feel remembered.

Our project to help Sister Forsberg renovate her home and yard is almost complete. To date we have torn down the wood fence and the wood deck, and removed old asphalt. We took down the gazebo in the front entry, cut down her dead tree, and cleaned and hauled away junk and weeds from the yard. We have coordinated the building of a new deck, a retaining wall, new roof gutters, and block wall; the installation of a new front window, and repairs and painting of stucco. A landscape contractor has been selected to restore the front and backyard landscapes. We will schedule one more service project to remove the remaining weeds and misc. materials, then the landscaper will finish up. Sister Forsberg is especially grateful for all the care and concern from members of the quorum.

As a ward we have set a goal to index 200,000 names that can be added to the FamilySearch database. At present we have done an amazing 179,000+ names. We would encourage all who have signed up to begin or continue indexing to help us reach and hopefully exceed our goal.

Brother Palmer has created a survey regarding personal histories. The Bishop emailed the survey as part of his weekly message to the ward. Please consider having each of your family members take a minute to fill out the survey.  

Please remember in your prayers brothers Hale-t, Bagley-t, Stauffer-s, Hardman-a, Johnson-c and Gibbs-c, who are recovering from treatments, surgery, an accident, and Covid. [v- I added the letters to identify their issues. Kent sure did figure out how to abbreviate that sentence! :)]

Please join us Tuesday evening at 6:00 for our last picnic in the park.

It is blessing to serve with you in the Elder's Quorum.

Bloomington Hills 2nd Ward Elder's Quorum Presidency.

E Brandon, last week I forwarded your three letters to KJ. She had texted me so since she is retired I thought maybe she would be interested to see what I sent you. The last one about our ward indexing challenge, I explained to her was just to let you know that good saints are continuing to perform good works. I suppose that is the the same reason I am sharing this week. @@I listened to a talk by JEF today. I was surprised to hear this paragraph: In my lifetime I have seen the faithfulness of Church members increase. Measured by fixed standards, there are greater manifestations of faithfulness than ever before. On any given Sunday, percentagewise more than twice as many people partake of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper worldwide than when I was growing up. April ‘98 “Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart”James E. Faust

I don’t quite understand that. Perhaps because they had huge wards then and the people did not feel important and responsible. I get to sit on in the middle of the top row of the choir seats to lead the music. I see everyone and feel they are family each week. I am so blessed. I feel important. I get thanked by the bishopric twice each week. Once in the announcements and again in person after the meeting. I doubt anyone gets more acknowledgement for less effort than I do. Ha. Just because I can sing. What a blessing for me. Tyhf. GBY-BLTPJS Love,  Vern

I hunted for giant Snickers candy bars this week for Josh Crane and Brooks Barney. The picture at the top shows a 1 pounder. I ended up buying 32oz bags of Snickers instead. :) Long live INDEXING!

Yay Isaac Morley!

 

The law of consecration contained in the Doctrine and Covenants is not the law many Latter-day Saints believe it to be. The intervening history between when and why the revelations were given and the present day has resulted in what some historians have called a “folk memory” among Latter-day Saints. This version of the past recalls that early Saints could not live the law of consecration, so the Lord rescinded the higher law and gave the lower law of tithing instead. Someday we will live the higher law again.[1] No matter how widely believed it is, that is not the law of consecration contained in the Doctrine and Covenants.

Hello Brandon, That is a paragraph from RiC=Revelations in Context. Doesn’t that match with what you have heard and believe? It does me!

I was both pleased and surprised when I learned that JC did not reveal the above “Law of Consecration” until Joseph asked for it. There was a good brother(Lucy and Isaac Morley) who joined the church who had been trying to live the NT teachings with a group of people near Kirtland including this law. Do you remember how JS asked about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and their wives and how JC answered? That revelation shocked and alienated Emma. It took JS 10 years to put it into writing. Hyrum Smith thought he could convince Emma to understand it and accept it and Joseph told him: “You don’t know Emma as well as I do. Good luck..“ Hyrum failed to convince Emma. So I am learning that JC answered JS questions but sometimes Joseph wished he would not have asked! So Funny!!! Too late now. Now you know. And eventually you will have to live it. J-Oh crud! RiC-here is another one I absolutely love:

The Law\D&C 42\Steven C. Harper\Ohio. Lake Co. Kirtland. Isaac Morley Farm.

“We have received the laws of the Kingdom since we came here,” Joseph Smith wrote to Martin Harris in February 1831, “and the Disciples in these parts have received them gladly.”1

Joseph had been in Ohio less than a month when he wrote those words to Martin Harris, who was still in Palmyra, New York. Prior to Joseph’s own move from New York, the Lord gave him a commandment to gather the Church in Ohio and promised: “There I will give unto you my law.”2 Shortly after Joseph’s arrival in Kirtland, he received the promised revelation, which in early manuscripts was entitled “The Laws of the Church of Christ.” It is now canonized as Doctrine and Covenants 42:1–73.

The Church’s need for the revelation at this time was acute. When he arrived in Ohio, Joseph found the Saints there to be sincere but confused about the biblical teaching that early Christians “were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common” (Acts 4:32).

Many of the Church’s converts in Ohio were members of “the Family,” a communal group that shared the home and farm of Lucy and Isaac Morley in an effort to be true Christians. While their intentions were in keeping with the account Joseph himself had recently received of Enoch’s Zion, where the people had achieved the ideal “of one heart and one mind” and completely eliminated poverty (Moses 7:18), the Prophet found the Ohio converts following practices that undermined personal agency, stewardship, and accountability—though they were “striving to do the will of God, so far as they knew it.”3 As a result, the converts were, in the words of Joseph Smith’s history, “going to destruction very fast as to temporal things: for they considered from reading the scripture that what belonged to a brother belonged to any of the brethren.”4

Very shortly after Joseph arrived in Ohio, the Lord revealed that “by the prayer of your faith ye shall receive my law that ye may know how to govern my Church.”5 A few days later, Joseph gathered several elders and in “mighty prayer” asked the Lord to reveal His law as promised.6

“Consecrate of Thy Properties”

The revelation Joseph received in response upheld the first great commandment, loving God wholeheartedly, as the motivation for keeping all the others, including the law of consecration, suggesting that love for God is the reason for the practice. To consecrate, the early Saints were taught, meant to make their property sacred by using it for the Lord’s work, including purchasing land on which to build New Jerusalem and crowning it with a temple. The law revealed that consecration was as much about receiving as it was about giving, since the Lord promised that each faithful Saint would receive “sufficient for him self and family” here and salvation hereafter.7

The law clarified that consecration did not envision communal ownership of property. Rather, it required the willing to acknowledge that the Lord was the owner of all and that each of the Saints was to be a hardworking “Steward over his own property”8 and thus accountable to the actual owner, the Lord, who required that the Saints freely offer their surplus to His storehouse to be used to relieve poverty and build Zion.9

The Ohio converts’ faith in Joseph’s revelations led them to align their practices with the Lord’s revealed plan. As Joseph’s history put it, “The plan of ‘common stock,’ which had existed in what was called ‘the family,’ whose members generally had embraced the ever lasting gospel, was readily abandoned for the more perfect law of the Lord.”10

As time went on, Bishop Edward Partridge implemented the law as best he could, and willing Saints signed deeds consecrating their property to the Church. But obeying the law was voluntary, and some Saints refused. Others were untaught, and many were scattered.11 Some rebellious Saints even challenged the law in court, leading to refinements in its language and changes in practice.

Other early Saints understood that the eternal principles of the law—agency, stewardship, and accountability to God—could be applied in changing situations, as when Leman Copley decided not to consecrate his farm in Thompson, Ohio, sending the Saints gathered there on to Missouri to live the law, or again when a mob drove Church members from Jackson County in 1833, ending the bishop’s practice of giving and receiving consecration deeds but not the law itself. Just as the law of consecration, though revealed in February 1831, did not begin then, it did not end when some refused to obey and others were thwarted in their attempts. President Gordon B. Hinckley taught that “the law of sacrifice and the law of consecration have not been done away with and are still in effect.”12

Answers to Various Questions

In addition to expounding the law of consecration, the revelation answered many questions of importance to the Church at that time. Joseph and the elders who gathered in February 1831 in pursuit of the revelation first asked if the Church should “come to gether into one place or continue in separate establishments.” The Lord answered with what are now essentially the first 10 verses of Doctrine and Covenants 42, calling on the elders to preach the gospel in pairs, declare the word like angels, invite all to repent, and baptize all who were willing. By gathering Saints into the Church from every region, the elders would prepare for the day when the Lord would reveal the New Jerusalem. Then, “ye may be gathered in one,” the Lord said.13

The Lord then answered a question that had troubled Christianity for centuries: was Christ’s Church an orderly, authoritative institution or an unfettered outpouring of the Spirit and its gifts? Some people made extreme claims to spiritual gifts, and others responded with an equal and opposite reaction, stripping away the spontaneity of the Spirit, completely in favor of rigid rules. This dilemma existed in the early Church in Ohio, and the Lord responded to it with several revelations, including His law. The law did not envision the Church as either well ordered or free to follow the Spirit; rather, it required that preachers be ordained by those known to have authority, that they teach the scriptures, and that they do it by the power of the Holy Ghost.14

Other portions of the law restated and commented on the commandments revealed to Moses15 and included conditional promises of more revelation depending on the Saints’ faithfulness to what they had received, including sharing the gospel.16

“How,” the elders wondered, should they care for “their families while they are proclaiming repentance or are otherwise engaged in the Service of the Church?”17 The Lord answered with what has become verses 70–73, then elaborated further in later revelations, now found in Doctrine and Covenants 72:11–14 and 75:24–28. The concept was further clarified in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants.

Early versions of the law also include short answers to two additional questions: Should the Church have business dealings—especially get into debt—with people outside the Church, and what should the Saints do to accommodate those gathering from the East? The answers have been left out of later versions of the text, perhaps because Doctrine and Covenants 64:27–30 answers the first question, while the answer to the second is so specific to a past place and time that it may have been considered unimportant for future generations.18

“How to Act upon the Points of My Law”

During that same month (February 1831), Joseph received what became Doctrine and Covenants 43, which commanded him to assemble a counsel to “instruct and edify each other, that ye may know how to act, and direct my church how to act upon the points of law and commandments, which I have given.”19 With that commandment in mind, Joseph convened a meeting of seven Church elders to determine how to act on disciplinary cases regarding the law of chastity revealed in the law20 and how the Church should enact the law in situations ranging from murder to meanness. These additional regulations were added to published versions of the law and now comprise verses 74–93 of Doctrine and Covenants 42.

The law, together with the Church’s founding “Articles and Covenants” (now Doctrine and Covenants 20), organized the rapidly growing Church under one set of regulations and unified the various budding congregations in their teaching and practice. It shows how the Lord has revealed, does reveal, and will yet reveal His will to the Saints. From clarifying parts of the law given to Moses and specifying how the Saints in 1831 should apply it in their circumstances, to promising further revelation as sought and needed in the future, this living document continues to serve as a law of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Over a year since someone earned a canary yellow tie!

 

 

Hello Brandon, 

I was surprised the Sunday Darrin Salmon reported his mission. He spoke so long we put the choir last, instead of in the middle. He was very quiet and soft spoken and shy before his mission. Today he even raised his hand in EQ!

Today we first got to hear from Macie Barney back from Seattle Mandarin-speaking missionary.

BBB said his daughter started loving Mandarin in the 7^th grade and so wanted to be able to serve there.

As I looked at the audience they had their eyes peeled as she bore her closing testimony. The bishop (BBB) said he has been studying Mandarin but could only understand 2 words. I know Spanish so I can usually understand Spanish or most of Portuguese when I hear a testimony. We all know that at the end they will say, “In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen” We could not even understand that part today!!!!!! The audience did not even know it was time to say, Amen!

Dark and wet. That’s Seattle according to Macie. Severe Seasonal Affective Disorder sounded very distant from her most cheerful attitude during her talk. But I heard her say they tried tons of things and her counselor struggled to help pull her through. She thanked an angel companion who would play the piano until she could fall asleep at night. Did you notice how vulnerable and frank she was?

I started to see the miracle of her. And I realized Darrin Salmon was a miracle as well. God allows us to glean from these missionaries. What a divine program!

Thank you Heavenly Father.

@@@ Lloyd Simpson has dedicated himself to indexing since we started our EQ team 12 days ago. It is so wonderful. I have always wanted to help someone who would be as consumed and dedicated by it as I am. When the US Business Directories project ran out this week he asked me what’s next?

Tuesday, Sep 28 · 2:47 PM Vern, Could we meet tomorrow at the FHC in the morning?-L

Tuesday, Sep 28 · 4:26 PM Of course-V

Great see you at 11:00?-L

Sure-V

[Later that night, after an outstanding letter was sent out about how to join each team: EQ, RS, YM, YW. Both he and Pres Perkins contacted me about our team.]

Vern I'm having issue joining the group. Have you tried?-L

Tuesday, Sep 28 · 6:45 PM BBB, Roger Eves n I just barely set it up. I tested it and it works. -V [The competition was starting at 7pm. As you can see we cut it close.]

Thanks-L

Thursday · 1:43 PM Vern Need help, run out of directories to index, looking for the muster rolls but can't find them. Lloyd

Thursday · 3:16 PM Can you Review?-V

I can learn but know not how?-L [So Brandon, I called him and I looked at my computer and he on his and I guided him through reviewing his first batch. When he hit a gitch/issue/problem he couldn’t understand I walked Hace down to his house and figured it out. I have also always wanted to figure out how to use a tool called “Share a batch”. We looked at it together while I was there and later we even used it! I was so pleased.-v]

Thursday · 5:17 PM Look at batch #M3HS-6FB And call me Thanks

Friday · 6:39 PM I did it right hooray Thank you

Today-Sunday Oct 10|1:15 PM [Brandon, This man is so gifted when it comes to running our committee. I wanted to help when he told me at EQ that the EQ counselor and RS counselor had canceled for out monthly meeting today. I stepped up and wrote the presidents a text and forwarded a copy to the bishop. Lloyd ended up canceling the meeting since so few could attend. But when I shared this text with him it matched what he had felt and told Kent Perkins.]

Dear Pres. Perkins & Pres. Buckway,

Lloyd Simpson is feeling ignored and disappointed.

We have our monthly T&FH committee meeting at 2 today and he is expecting no one from your presidencies to be there.

He even ordered 3 pies n cheesecake on Friday and picked them up after a trip to Las Vegas on Saturday.

He has an agenda and an average of 3 other pages he hands out each month.

Is there any way you could send a secretary or someone as a substitute? One hour from now.

Thank you so much for your consideration.

Vern-Indexing specialist.

-Lloyd, here is what I sent them. Just had to give you a copy. I haven't ever done this before but I have never had a committee leader like you before.-V

Thank you🙂-L

So Brandon, the bishop followed up on that text immediately and checked with Lloyd. It all served its purpose. I was distinctly uncomfortable with having stuck my neck out but it was not something he/Loyd could have written. He needed some help. I hope I was inspired/guided to do it.

I also delivered him a canary silk tie at 2 pm and then went to choir practice. This part makes me smile.

1 Nephi 4 :6 And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.

Hello Brandon, I got a letter from you this week. Yippee! Hooray! Thank you! I just finished sending this to my ministering families:

Hello ministering families:

R & J Whipple,

S & R Gibbs,

N & A Bird, (Flora, Lola, Ezra, Pearl, Hazel)

Did you feel oppressed by 9/11. I saw a display at the FSC that reminded me of more than I wanted to remember.

It has been 20 years! Teenagers today were not even alive! But that awful occasion made the world a much less safe place.

I had a couple come into the FSC and index 911 records. What a fantastic idea. And our ward was assigned to clean up the trail from the Webb Hill to River Road. What wonderful ways to show our gratitude to HF. Doing things like that can turn those oppressed feelings right around.

Our ward T&FH committee is up and running. So is our ward Mission committee. Lloyd Simpson and Duane Derfler are those leaders. I am grateful for them.

I may have shared the fact that our ward hosts the stake’s full-time missionaries to dinner and 3 lessons every 13 days. There are 13 wards in the stake and that is how long the rotation runs. Yes, Duane Derfler has his hands full!

McKay Bird announced in sacrament meeting today that there will be a ward indexing project kickoff on Tuesday Sept 28-Tuesday Nov 9. The last time the bishop did this it was only for a week and it was a competition between the young men and young women and their leaders. This time it will cover the month of October and includes everyone. Since I am the ward indexing specialist this makes me very happy. Our temple is closed so let’s serve by indexing!

Our new primary presidency were wonderful in sacrament meeting today. I have never considered PEACE as a goal. It made me ponder and analyze to consider it.

Sister Randalyn Hilton arranged the hymn the choir will sing next Sunday: Secret Prayer. I have woken up a number of mornings with it running through my head since we have been practicing it.

Darin Salmon will have his mission homecoming next Sunday. He is done. Congratulations Darin S!

Thank you for letting me share thoughts with you regularly. It benefits me.\God bless you.\Vern & Roger

So Brandon, 1- Shadow was being walked in the park in the dark last night by Dave and Katrina. Hace had to go sniff and say hello and then bark obnoxiously. I did not recognize them in the dark until I heard their voices. 2- Lloyd Simpson changed our T&FH committee time to 2 pm. I have been praying and in a turmoil about what to do since I read his email on Friday. That is choir practice time. And I so wish to be supportive of both organizations/ people. I did not know how to resolve the conflict. I don't want to tell Robyn Whipple because she will feel unimportant/ ignored/ unsupported if she finds out. After praying about it again last night I decided to  catch Lloyd Simpson before he left sacrament meeting. He tried to do the same! I walked him out to his car and we visited 10- 15 minutes. Do you remember that one of my favorite scriptures is 6 And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do. It worked! Again! @@ I was so worried. After finding out what was on the agenda I asked Lloyd which he would rather have me there for, first 15 minutes or last 15 minutes. I knew this was a super important meeting. All 11 of us were assigned to capture a story from someone's life last month and we would be reporting today. Alex Gardine is our EQ rep/counselor and it was his proposal. Lloyd chose the first 15 minutes. He has a grandfather clock that chimed twice at 2 and then once at 2:15. The second was my reminder to excuse myself. I texted Robyn after church explaining I would be 15 - 20 minutes late, and I never had to explain why. She even texted me: Thank you for letting her know. @@ This was a big deal to me Brandon and I am so grateful that HF sort of helped me work it out. @@ GBY BLTPJS  LOVE VERN--

vern\live and learn\life is good\I am blessed\onward and upward

THIS IS MY STAKE. NORTH HALF AND SOUTH HALF. IT WILL SPLIT SOON. :)

The Tophams are awesome!

 Hello Brandon, Today is fast sunday and I did not start fasting until midnight. I take a steaming hot bath to help acclimatize to my lack of air conditioning at home. I try to soak and sweat for 30 minutes. I think Morgans came and harvested while I was in the tub this morning. They were very quiet. Testimony meeting was slow to start with. We had a full 30 minutes for testimonies. Since I am on the stand on one of the 10 closest people to the pulpit I am very aware of what the pulse of the ward is like. The Gardines believe in giving each of their daughters a world exposure experience before they leave home. Joni Gardine and her daughter went and served at a couple of refugee centers in Jordan this summer. Alex Gardine and a different daughter went and served in an orphanage in South America a couple of years ago. What a visionary goal/aim/objective! Joni bore her testimony last today, even after the time was up. Something Greg Walker had testified had touched her and reminded her of an impression to share a story earlier this week. Story: The day before she was leaving Jordan the refugee center director called her into her office and gave her a bundle of beautifully wrapped little presents. Joni told her that she had not served there very long since she had had a previous assignment at a different center and that there must be some mistake. She didn't deserve those presents. The director got close to her face and said, "you are LDS, these are for you". The director went on to explain how much the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had done for their refugees. Joni said how grateful she was to belong to a church that does/acts/lives the gospel of Jesus Christ and blesses non members all over the world. Even though there probably are not even 24 members of the church in Jordan. Brandon, I don't know the difference between a muslim and islam or even if they are the same thing, but religion is not a barier to kindness and service. @ I completed 35K indexing records in August. Usually I do 3K or 100 a day. These US Business Directories have been a fun break. I would love to reach 200K total indexed records. I reached 160 k total this week. When the new month started I had to decide which to do this month: Italian birth records or US Business Directories. I think I will continue racking up my numbers. @ Both Nancy Topham and Marshal Topham called me by name in a friendly way this week. I love that. Sister Nancy puts out our newsletter every Tuesday. I am including it next. Since it was in one narrow column I deleted the [return/enter]s and put a \ in its place. That way it will go the whole way across the page when it prints. With my focus on indexing numbers I have not felt like writing as much as I did a few years ago. And my ability to inspire and share spiritually uplifting messages has diminished. And yet my ability to feel the potency of others uplifting messages has increased. I have shared Nancy's message with you before. Since I am working at their FSC every day I feel these messages belong to me to some degree. So I hope that sharing them with you reminds you of the work and service many retired saints are offering God. I associate with them every day.

Hello everyone!
How has your day been? Did you work at the center?   Did you visit a family member or check on the neighbor next door? Maybe you went to run an errand and ran\into an old friend. What did you see?” Think about that.\Before I do the newsletter I always pray for guidance.\I figure if someone takes the time to read this, I\better have something important to say; something of
worth. I opened my email to look for dear Sister Neil’s\Tip of the Week and Sister Brinkerhoff’s article she\kindly sends hot off the press. In the many emails I\scanned my eyes caught the phrase “Learning to Hear\Him through Others”. I thought that sounds\Newsletter worthy.\I ended up watching a YouTube video called “Pray for\Eyes to See as He Sees.” It is taken from Sister
Michelle D. Craig’s conference talk she gave in October\of 2020. I want to share some of what she told us we\needed to do.\“There may be times when you ... find yourself\struggling to see how God is working in your life—\times when you feel under siege—when the trials of\mortality bring you to your knees. Wait and trust in\God ... you can trust His heart with all of yours. But
there is a second lesson here. My dear sisters and\brothers, you too can pray for the Lord to open your\eyes to see things you would not normally see.\Understanding how God sees us prepares the way to\help us see others as He does... Jesus Christ sees\people deeply. He sees individuals, their needs, and\who they can become... Even in our busy lives, we can\follow the example of Jesus and see individuals—\their needs, their faith, their struggle, and who they
can become.\As I pray for the Lord to open my eyes to see things\I might not normally see, I often ask myself two\questions and pay attention to the impressions that\come: “What am I doing that I should stop doing?”\and “What am I not doing that I should start doing?”\As with all gifts the Father so willingly offers, seeing\deeply requires us to ask Him—and then act. Ask to
see others as He does—as His true sons and\daughters with infinite and divine potential. Then act\by loving, serving, and affirming their worth and\potential as prompted...\Through the power of the Holy Ghost, Christ will\enable us to see ourselves and see others as He does.\With His help, we can discern what is most needful.\We can begin to see the hand of the Lord working in
and through the ordinary details of our lives—we will\see deeply.\In the center, there is so much going on around us all\the time; problems to solve, paper to buy, machines that\won’t work, masks that are annoying to wear ---- but\hopefully we can look past all that and see how God is
working in us and in our center. Wouldn’t it be amazing\if we all could pray for the Lord to open our eyes to see\things we would not normally see? What kind of a day\would that be? Unimaginable, as Elder Uchtdorf would\say.\Thank you for your patience and your support!
Sincerely, Elder and Sister Topham

Brandon, I attend a prayer meeting before starting my morning shift every friday. If I am ever asked to share a spiritual thought I won't be able to do what the others do. They usually inspire us to value family history. My thought will just be to inspire faith in Jesus Christ and his gospel. There is a binder of stories called "Elijah Moments". Here is a recent one from our FSC.

We would like to invite every missionary,

volunteer and guests to participate in

contributing to the Elijah Moment binder.

Our Elijah Moments binder is still an important part

of the SGFSC. Many of you have experienced

spiritual experiences while helping guests, please

share with us. These faith building testimonies would

be used in the center to read, share and ponder as we

anxiously engage in this great work. FORMS are in

the back of the binder if you would like an outline to

help with your response.

A Special Elijah Moment

St George Family Search Center

Written by Sister Colleen Hales

August 20, 2021

I had the coolest experience on Friday. We had a

group of fifteen scheduled to come into the Discovery

Center around noon. I happened to be outside watering

the flower pots when their van pulled into the parking lot.

They were making a great deal of noise, so I was

wondering who they were. As they entered the gate I

realized they were a group of adults—mostly men and a

few women—who looked as though they all belonged to

a motorcycle gang! Seriously, these were some scary

looking people! One guy went inside the center while the

rest waited outside, so I greeted them and finished the

watering. They all seemed to stare at my name badge

with curiosity, but they all went inside. I put the watering

can away and came around the corner by the front desk

to find them all heading down the hallway into classroom

A. The receptionist told me they were all non-members

so they had to complete the sign-in stuff online before

they could use the Discovery Center.

I went back to my office, but I was having a mental

argument with myself about helping with all the sign-in

stuff—I knew the missionaries needed help. So, I finally

went into the classroom and randomly chose one of the

men along the back row and stood behind him to help get

him through the process. He had tattoos on every inch of

his hands and forearms, long hair and a beard, and had

multiple skull rings on his fingers...seriously scary-looking

dude. He made it through the sign-in process rather

quickly—most of the other men along the back row where

having all sorts of issues just getting signed in. I explained

that he needed to connect himself to his nearest deceased

relative and I was surprised when he knew all the names

of his grandparents. When his grandfather came up, he

was connected to generation after generation of people!

When I commented on that, he looked at me sorrowfully

and told me, “I was a member of the church a long time

ago.” Nevertheless, he was getting very excited about all

the people he was connected to on FamilySearch.

I showed him all the memories that had been

entered—the photos, the documents, and particularly the

stories—and urged him to read what had been entered

and put in some of his own memories. He found an old

photo that had been uploaded of his parents, his

grandparents, most of his uncles, aunts and cousins, and

even himself as a child from a family reunion—that got

him really excited. We pulled up his fan chart and seven

generations of ancestors and to my amazement I saw he

had Campbells on his mother’s line. In fact, he had Benoni

Campbell, the brother to Benjamin Franklin Campbell, my

relative that died at Haun’s Mill. We are cousins!! The

Spirit was really strong—I was getting goosebumps and

his eyes were shining and he couldn’t stop smiling.

He wanted more! So, I showed him how to add

sources from the hints. I also showed him how to add his

ex-wife and his three children—living people. He told me

his father was adopted, so we were able to add in his

father’s biological mother to the line. That was when I

saw he was typing in Bountiful, Utah, as their place of

residence. We couldn’t believe that we grew up in the

same town and went to the same High School—years

apart, of course. He kept exclaiming to his buddies around

us that we were cousins and grew up in the same town.

One of them commented that his brother was “LDS”. That

prompted the question from a huge American Indian—

about 6’5” and 250lbs—what “LDS” means. So I was able

to explain the name of our church. The same guy asked if

he was “Brother _______” and I was able to tell him that

our church believes every person on earth are brothers

and sisters, so he was definitely “Brother _____” just as I

was Sister Hales.

I then asked him if he wanted to go into the

Discovery Center and see famous people he was related

to and he could hardly contain his joy. He spent the next

hour and a half there pulling up screens of information,

taking photos with his phone, and sending them to his

mother. I watched as this person without much light in

his countenance, become someone who was thriving on

the Light of Christ he was experiencing. He had

remarkably felt the Spirit of our FamilySearch Center and

was reveling in what he was feeling. I learned the next

day that all those non-members had come from one of

our area’s substance abuse recovery programs.

It was time for my shift change, so I made sure to

announce to all the new missionaries coming in at Prayer

Meeting that those in the Discovery Center where non-

members seeking for a close encounter with the Holy

Ghost. I made a point of talking to this fellow one more

time before I left for the day. He was still busily involved

in Discovery Center screens. Although with the COVID

restrictions in place, I wasn’t supposed to touch anyone,

patron or missionary, I couldn’t help but extend my hand,

which he shook warmly, and told him how happy I was to

meet him that day, and pleaded with him to never stop

doing family history. He exclaimed, “I won’t!” I really

wanted to hug him tightly, but didn’t. What a huge

blessing he had been in my life that afternoon!! When I

checked my Instagram when I arrived home, there was a

quote from a general authority saying that the people we

encounter in this life are never a coincidence. I couldn’t

agree more.

--

vern

live and learn

life is good

I am blessed

onward and upward