Wise Words to Live By

Brother Gordon is the president of FAIR. The Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of LDS (Mormon) doctrine, belief and practice. I think we need to remember that questions and concerns about the gospel aren't evil or bad. They are just questions. It's how we choose to deal with the questions that we have that can make or break us.


A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity of visiting with a
brother who is struggling with his testimony. He was kind and
gracious as well as being open about his struggles. He is a good
returned missionary who is active in church and married in the
temple. He objected to one of the policy decisions that the Church
has recently made, and when he brought that objection up to members
of his extended family, he was immediately criticized for not
supporting the brethren. These confrontations with family members
then made him start to question other things he had learned in
Sunday School and Seminary.

As I have been thinking about this, I realize that the policy
decision by the Church did not impact this brother. There was no
change he had to make in his life; there was nothing he had to do.
But, questioning the one thing, and being met with negativity,
brought everything else into question.

It is not an uncommon occurrence that spiritual difficulties with
one small item can cause a larger problem. This "chink in the armor"
theory is a strategy that is often exploited by anti-Mormons
familiar with the phenomenon. Many anti-Mormons throw accusations,
many of which can be easily reconciled, with the hopes that one will
stick and gnaw at us until it leads to a major crisis of faith. In
the case of this brother, it wasn't anti-Mormonism that caused the
chink in his armor, but simply a Church policy he disagreed with.

While some believe that the gospel gives us answers to everything in
life, others feel learning to deal with ambiguity in life is an
important skill to master. I am a committed, believing Latter-day
Saint who believes the Church gives us many answers. I hold to the
position that the Lord wants to bless us, but sometimes we aren't
ready for that blessing, teaching, or information. There are good
members of the Church who may not do everything right, which brings
difficulties or ambiguity into our life. At times, we don't have a
complete understanding of some principle or practice. Sometimes we
can feel absolutely right on some principle or teaching, but we may
not be in agreement with another member or Church leader.

When I observe this principle, as I observed it in this brother, I
often reflect upon the phrase to "hold to the rod." What should we
hold on to in order to buttress our testimony and carry us through
life? There can be many things to choose from, but we must choose
wisely. In my case, I hold on to my testimony that Jesus is the
Christ, that He loves me, and that He died for my sins. I also hold
on to my testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. With those two
beliefs held as the rod of my testimony, other difficulties,
ambiguities, or disagreements become secondary.

I pray that we all can hold to the rod, that we can be kind to
others, and treat others as the Savior would treat them. This will
lead to happiness in our life.

--Scott Gordon
President of FAIR

June Fun

The thing I love about summer, that if done correctly, there isn’t a whole lot to do. Except, of course, for those lovely vacations we all enjoy. So, pretty much I am loving summer. Well, except it has been over 110 degrees for the last couple of days.

Last week, Gary, Sam and I went to St. George to attend the plays at Tuacahn--The Little Mermaid and Grease. We loved both of them. Jeff, Debby and Neal joined Mom and Dad and us for The Little Mermaid. We dined at Chuck-a-Rama before the show. Ursula’s death scene was stupendous, Scuttle was hilarious, and Ariel had a beautiful voice.






The next day Gary, Sam and I visited the home of Jacob Hamblin. His job was to work with the Native Americans and help keep the peace. We also toured the St. George tabernacle, a beautiful old building, in which all of the presidents of the church (except Joseph Smith) have spoken. I had to go shopping so I dropped the other two off at the hotel. I found some cute clothes for Lily.





Tuacahn procured some great old cars for Grease. But why oh why is Sandy the one who has to change. I guess it wouldn’t be “cool” otherwise. As an added bonus, it started to sprinkle during intermission, which made the song “It’s Raining on Prom Night” even more fun for the audience. We were all sweating during The Little Mermaid; the weather during Grease was much more pleasant. I’m sure glad it didn’t really RAIN or we wouldn’t have gotten to see the rest of the play.

On the way back, just east of Kingman, there was a car fire. We were stopped for awhile, Thank goodness it was only about 84 degrees so it wasn’t to bad to sit there on the freeway. The truck, that I assume ran into the gas tanker, was toast. The only thing left was black metal. There was also a fire along the side of the road, which firefighters put out quickly. It did make our trip seem much longer.

All of our kids and Lily were here for Father’s Day which made it a lot of fun. Chris gave Gary a Diamondback’s cover for his Iphone and April made him a excellent memory book.

I am now helping to teach the 11-year-old Primary class as well as doing Activity Day for the girls. This month we held a recognition night for the girls. Their favorite thing we did seemed to be the scripture plaques they made. I purchased a sheet of fake wood and Sam S. cut it into pieces. The girls painted them. They each picked their favorite scripture and we put that with a picture of the temple and a picture of Jesus and mod podged the whole thing. I was a little worried about how a few of them would turn out, but they all did. Gary is going to be teaching Gospel Doctrine along with his clerking duties. Sam is the secretary in the Teacher’s Quorum.


We have had our old living room couch in the kitchen for the past few months. We finally got rid of it. Yahoo! Someone in our ward needed a couch so they hauled it away last night, now maybe I can restore a bit of order in the midst of chaos. I always envy RaKay and Stacie because the houses are in such good order. Mine, it seems, never is.

Last, but not least here are some pictures of Lily's favorite activity--unloading my purse of all its contents. I couldn't get her to smile either.

Two Great Reads

I recently finished the Citizens of London by Lynne Olson. Ms. Olson tells the story of London during WWII. It is a spellbinding account of the sacrifices made by the people of London. She also tells the story of Edward R. Murrow, Averell Harriman, and the U.S. ambassador John Gilbert Winant. I had never heard of Winant before I read this book. He was truly an unsung hero. He was greatly admired by the British for his humanitarian work in their country. He worked behind the scenes to facilitate the relationship between Britain and the U.S. Without his efforts, this relationship would not have existed as it was during the war.

I am currently reading Talking with God by Robert L. Millet. Brother Millet is a professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU. Many of my questions about prayer have been answered by reading this book.

Here's an excerpt from the chapter entitled "Answers to Prayers":

At the convocation of the College of Education at BYU in the summer of 1992, one student shared with her fellow graduates and others present a touching story about an experience she had had with a young Native American boy. He had been labeled by previous teachers as incorrigible, which was of course, a serious problem. She felt impelled to reach out to him and help. She knew the family situation was difficult and thought that if she visited his home she might find some clue for how to reach him. The visit stunned her. She found poverty, neglect, alcoholism, drug abuse--everything negative and destructive seemed to be present in that home. Her heart ached for the boy; his situation made her despondent. As she poured out her heart in prayer to the Lord, she found herself asking, "Have you forgotten this boy?"

The answer came, quietly and reassuringly: "No. that is why I sent you."

Very often the Almighty answers people's prayer--the prayers of the lonely, the downtrodden, the hungry, the bitter--through other people, through those sensitive souls who who open themselves to inspiration and are willing to be inconvenienced.

Mormon's Sense of Humor

I love the Book of Mormon and every time I read it, I find things I haven't noticed before. Every time I read the story of Ammon in the Book of Alma, I always get a good chuckle. Now the point Mormon was trying to make, when he edited this particular part was that God keeps his promises (at least that's what I think). The ways he points this out is pretty darn funny.

In the book of Mosiah, the sons of King Mosiah want to go preach the gospel to the Lamanites. The Lamanites were a ferocious people who loved to kill Nephites, so Mosiah had good reason to worry about his sons.

In Mosiah 28:6-7 the Lord speaks to Mosiah: "And king Mosiah went and inquired of the Lord if he should let his sons go up among the Lamanites to preach the word. And the Lord said unto Mosiah: Let them go up, for many shall believe on their words, and they shall have eternal life; and I will deliver thy sons out of the hands of the Lamanites."

Mormon points out that this promise was fulfilled at least two times in his narrative. The first time during Ammon's fight with the rustlers who are trying to scatter the king's sheep at a watering hole. The servants of the king who were watching the sheep wept because the king had a nasty habit of killing the servants who let the sheep get scattered. Ammon tells the servants to get back and he will take care of the problem. The rustlers figure that they can easily take care of one man. Then Mormon remind us in Alma 17:35: "Therefore they did not fear Ammon, for they supposed that one of their men could slay him according to their pleasure, for they knew not that the Lord had promised Mosiah that he would deliver his sons out of their hands; neither did they know anything concerning the Lord; therefore they delighted in the destruction of their brethren; and for this cause they stood to scatter the flocks of the king." Much to the delight of every young man who has every read this account, Ammon cuts the arms off many of them and also kills a few of their leaders.

Because Ammon is so valiant in protecting the king's sheep, and because instead of bragging about what a great job he did, he immediately returned and got the king's horses and chariot ready to for the king's journey, the king listens to Ammon and is converted to the gospel. In fact, he is so changed that he loses his strength and appears to be dead. During this time the Lord is working with the king and is "removing the dark veil of unbelief from the king's mind." Those around the king's wife try to convince her that the king is dead and needs to be placed in his sepulchre. Ammon and tells the queen that he will awaken the next day. He does and begins to preach to the people. The spirit overcomes the king, queen and Ammon. Some of the rustlers show up to see this miracle and they figure that now would be a great time to get revenge on Ammon since he is lying there helpless. We return to Mormon's narrative in Alma 19:22-23: "Now, one of them, whose brother had been slain with the sword of Ammon, being exceedingly angry with Ammon, drew his sword and went forth that he might let it fall upon Ammon, to slay him; and as he lifted the sword to smite him, behold, he fell dead. Now we see that Ammon could not be slain, for the Lord had said unto Mosiah, his father: I will spare him, and it shall be unto him according to thy faith—therefore, Mosiah trusted him unto the Lord."

Despite the evil designs of some of the Lamanites, Ammon was protected by the Lord. The amusing thing to me is how Mormon points this out. The bad guys don't know, but there is no way they will be able to hurt Ammon. The Lord is more powerful than anything man can do.

Family Newsletter

Each month Gary's family all write newsletters that his mom puts together and mails to everyone. Here's ours.. .

Yesterday was the last day of school. All I have to say is “Yipee”. It was a hard year and I am so glad that it is finally over. On the success side, the first grade teachers (who are the best) met their academic goals for the kids in reading and math. I hope that I had some part in their success. There is nothing more satisfying than watching a child learn. I saw many learning successes this year.

Sam has had a wonderful May! He auditioned for the Phoenix Children’s Choir and made the highest choir. Next summer he will get to go to Italy with them. He was also on the honor role at school with a 4.0 grade point average. On Sunday he will be leaving for Washington D.C. on his Close Up tour sponsored by the school. He will get to see all the sights and learn a lot too. He is then going to help with Jumpstart which is the program at the junior high to help incoming 7th graders learn the ropes of junior high. In August he starts at Mountain View High School. Sam also had his voice recital on May 14. He sang “Across the Western Sea” (an art/classical song) and “Close Every Door” (from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat). I give a huge “thank you” to his voice teacher, Mrs. Lori Woods. She was a big part of his singing success this year. She is an awesome voice teacher. Sam has learned a lot from her. Grandma and Grandpa came to see him. He did an epic job and we all went to the Olive Garden to celebrate his birthday (only three months late).



We all met last night at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville for Sam Shelley’s birthday. He hit the big 30. Chris brought Lily a balloon shaped like a duck. She loved it. She was great as long as she had someone to carry her around and look at the sights. Her dad, Stephen and Chris got some exercise packing her around. She liked the food, but just didn’t appreciate sitting around.

I’m looking forward to finally finishing my home improvement projects, going to St. George to see the plays there, and a family reunion. Also, reading all the books I have time for. I had a busy May also with Relief Society, Sam’s concerts, Activity Days, and the biggest funeral luncheon I have ever seen.

Gary is busy with work and training our new bishopric members how to count tithing. The first weekend in June is the big law firm retreat. We are going to a very nice resort, Dove Mountain, near Tucson.

Weather wise May was a great month. Today the real heat begins and won’t end until October. Boo.

Busy Week

Some weeks are busier than others. I'm sure you've all had weeks where you just run from one thing to another. Last week was that week for me.

Tuesday was our ward's night Relief Society meeting. I was helping with the food and making 12 pounds of chicken salad. So with my trusty pressure cooker and my trusty Bosch, it was not a hard job. It was somewhat time consuming. I spent a lot of time Monday cooking chicken and also had to take Sam to voice lessons.

Tuesday after school, I made the chicken salad. Twelve pounds is a big pan of chicken salad. After dropping Sam off at violin lessons, he would be picked up by Sam Shelley, April and I headed to the church. So with the help of Karen Shiflet, we made 65 sandwiches. We also served salads and dessert. It was all very yummy and there wasn't very much left. After dinner, the balance of the meeting was discussing visiting teaching--a subject that always makes me feel a little guilty. Confession: if I went every month, I wouldn't feel that way.








Wednesday afternoon was Activity Day. Krista Lenhart and I have all the girls in our ward--8-12 years of age. They are fun, but they also have tons of energy. I found cute bracelet from Clare's Place and a cute Mother's Day card at Family Fun.com. Do you know that there is no where in Mesa (at least that I could find) that has big colored beads? Not Michaels, JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby. I was very disappointed. After leaving finding the beads until almost the last minute, because who knew I wouldn't be able to find them, I had to order them online and pay extra so they would get here on time. The girls had fun making the bracelets and the cards and were excited to give them to their mothers. I wanted to get pictures of all the girls and their creations, but they were very fast getting them done and wrapped.






Thursday, I had a much needed hair cut and color job. We also went out to dinner for April's birthday at the Cheesecake Factory, one of her favorite places.

Friday was her actual birthday. The poor girl had to make herself a cake, because I was too busy and too tired. Ah yes, I forgot last week was Dibels testing week at school. Dibels is a reading test that is given to every child K-6 and I am part of the testing team. So take my word for it, by the end everyone is rather brain dead after listening to kids read stories, retell said stories, read nonsense words, and break words down into their individual sounds. The first graders did an awesome job.

I had a great Mother's Day. We had steak, baked potatoes, corn and watermelon fixed by April and Gary. YUM. The whole family was here. Maybe the rest of May will be less busy. I sincerely doubt it though. With concerts, recitals, meetings and the end of school, it promises to be very busy indeed

Orange Brownies

April and I like to look at food websites for good recipes. One day she happened on this gem on the Food Network website. It is from the home cooking genius Paula Deen. So I present

ORANGE BROWNIES

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure orange extract
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 recipe Orange Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan.

Orange Brownies:
Stir together flour, granulated sugar, and salt in a bowl. Add butter, eggs, orange extract, and orange zest. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until light golden brown and set. Remove from oven, allow to cool and pierce entire cake with a fork. Spread the Orange Cream Cheese Frosting over completely cooled brownies. Cut into squares.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons softened butter
1 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons orange zest
2 tablespoons orange juice
In a large mixing bowl, whip the butter and cream cheese together with a hand-held electric mixer. Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar until it is all combined and smooth. Beat in the orange zest and juice. Spread over brownies.

Yield: enough frosting for 1 batch of brownies

Prep Time: 10 minutes


Which so far has gotten rave reviews from everyone who has tried them.


ENJOY!!