Mormon Funerals--A Follow Up to Funeral Potatoes

I probably should have clarified why Funeral Potatoes are called Funeral Potatoes. My friend Kyles wanted to know, and that prompted more musings about Mormon funerals in general.

Kyles they are called funeral potatoes because they are usually served at the family dinner that occurs after Mormon funerals. This is a very tender event where the women of the local congregation feed the family members who have gathered for the funeral and they have a chance to comfort each other and catch up. Funerals are most often held at the church, and the family returns to the church after the burial for a little impromptu family reunion.

Mormon funerals, especially when the person has lived a long and satisfying life, have such a sweet and loving character. They are usually a chance to share family stories and catch up with long-lost relatives--a family historian's dream. I like to take along a notebook and/or a tape recorder.

I think that the Mormon funeral is somewhat unique, although I've only been to a few funerals that were not decidedly Mormon in nature (even when the person who died was not really very active in the Church, if they were ever a member or have relatives who are, the funeral tends to take on that flavor, at least here in Salt Lake). Course that could also be that my own worldview permeating my perspective. The LDS view on death is that it's a time for sadness for those who are left behind missing their loved one, but it is also a time to rejoice for the person who has been released from pain, suffering, and the sorrows of mortality. We have such a strong conviction that we will see each other again, whether it is a family member or a friend. My experience has been that the Lord's comfort and peace is the primary feeling I come away with from a family funeral, even when I feel a great sense of loss as well.

Funeral Potatoes-- My Mormon Birthright

Adventures in Cooking- A Laura style recipe

As a female member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have an innate ability to enjoy and create one of the tastiest and deadliest concoctions known to mankind, that is, funeral potatoes. I made a huge double batch yesterday, and boy were they yummy. It combines the most processed of foods in the kind of yummy campy mormony mess that I find so culturally interesting. Call it a heritage dish if you will. Crunchy, cheesy, tangy, mmmm... I didn't really use a recipe, but here's what I did--

I took two big bags of frozen hash brown potatoes and threw them into a mixing bowl. Then I discovered that my mixing bowl was not big enough to hold all the potatoes AND mix anything in with them. I looked around my kitchen until I found another not-big enough mixing bowl, and split them in half. I have a big-enough mixing bowl, but it is so big it lives in the attic. That means that I would have had to climb up in the attic to get it out, and then wash it, and I didn't have any clean towels with which to dry it (I didn't say I was that good of a Mormon woman), so I winged it with the two smaller bowls.

Then I dumped a huge can of Campbell's cream of chicken soup, a big tub of sour cream, and a whole bunch of really sharp cheddar cheese (broke Marty's food processor in the process of grating it), and about 1 stick of melted butter into the first bowl and started mixing it up, then I had to slowly transfer from one bowl to the other until everything was mixed together. This made a huge mess as I dropped half the ingredients on the counter. Then I realized that I left out the onion, so I chopped one up and sauteed it in olive oil until it was just starting to look clear. I had to re-start the process of transferring everything around until I could get the onion mixed in. While I was doing this, I remember to put salt and pepper in too.

Once I had everything good and mixed, I had to dig out my big casserole dishes, which are at the bottom of the hall cupboard underneath a whole bunch of other stuff. I had to call Marty over to help me to prevent being crushed under an avalanche of various dishes, at which point he sighed, because he wanted to eat his lunch. So I crabbed at him about having a small kitchen with nowhere to store anything as retaliation for that sigh.

We managed to extricate the biggest casserole dish out of the cupboard, and I filled it up with the funeral potatoes concoction. After a certain point, I realized that it was not going to fit in just one dish, and I had to go pull out the second biggest casserole dish from the bottom of the aforementioned bunch of stuff. This time I didn't ask for help because I didn't want to hear the sigh again. After a little while I was able to balance out the potatoes to fit into the two casseroles and it was time to make the crunchy topping.

I poured about two cups of cornflakes into a big Ziploc bag, at which point I proceeded to squish them by hand. I could have done this in my food processor even though I broke it because the blade attachment still works, but it is very satisfying to squish them yourself, especially when you are still grouchy from your husband's hunger-induced sigh and subsequent snippiness. I didn't quite have enough for my two giant casserole dishes, so I had to add more (of course in the process I spilled cornflakes everywhere because the inside bag had refused to open along the seam, so the cornflakes came out of the box all willy-nilly).

Once I had the cornflakes sufficiently squished, I put them in one of the two big mixing bowls (not yet washed) and dumped melted butter over the top of them, stirring them around until they were all buttery. I spread them over the top of the casseroles and then wrapped them up and popped them in the fridge. Finally I could eat my sandwich (which Marty had made for me while I was cooking despite my retaliation for the sigh). After lunch I washed the dishes (left them out on the counter to dry) and swept the floor.

Later when it was time for dinner, we took them to the family party and popped them in the oven at 375 degrees until they were all bubbly and brown around the edges (about 40 minutes). They were definitely a big hit of the evening. Good thing I made a lot because I saw people taking entire heaping platefuls of just potatoes (of course my own kids didn't touch them), and there were enough left for me to take some home for lunch today.

A Brand New Year

A Celebration for Youth

Last night I attended the taping of a DVD called "A Brand New Year" which was specifically for the Young Men and Young Women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was a fun evening, and we enjoyed ourselves. The message was really great and focused on the great things that the youth throughout the Church have done throughout 2008. It is going to be showed throughout the Church as a New Year's event (possibly on New Year's Eve). The program asks youth to make personal commitments during 2009 to make a specific effort to keep the standards listed in For the Strength of Youth. 

Young Women's President Elaine Dalton and Young Men's President Charles Dahlquist challenge the youth to do three things in 2009:

-Pray day and night
-Read the Book of Mormon at least 5 minutes each day
-Smile and be happy

I was amazed at the production quality of the event, and the talented people who are involved. The youth performed both in singing and dancing as well as playing in the orchestra. It was kind of like experiencing, "High School Seminary Musical." The songs were really great, and even the prelude music had a little bit of a swing to it. 

If you are working with youth, or have children in the YM/YW program, I would encourage you to have them attend an event where this DVD is shown, or to plan to show it at home on New Year's Eve.  I am thinking of showing it to my kids as well, even though they are only 7 and 10, because this would be very aspirational for them as they are into watching shows that feature teens (which we limit).   We'll be traveling on New Year's Eve but I think we can maybe work this in.  I think it will be interesting to see how the DVD turns out in comparison to our experience attending the event.  If you want to learn more about the DVD, go to www.lds.org.

I was sitting there thinking that we had nothing like that when I was at that age. When we had firesides, they were basically just like a mini general conference meeting for youth in the Tabernacle.  We were lucky to sing a stirring version of an old standby hymn (which I love don't get me wrong).  We had the corny Seminary filmstrips (Remember, "I'm free to choose, to win or lose, no matter who, comes and tries to turn my head around----"), and there were a few LDS musical artists, but I got the feeling that the Church really didn't want us listening to those (mostly they were really cheesy anyway). But the music industry has really come a long way in working with LDS Artists in the past 20 years, and there is really some good and fun music out there now. 

Do you have any favorite LDS Musicians? Here are a few that I really like:

Mindy Gledhill

Jenny Oaks Baker

Michael Dowdle

Dean Kaelin  

(Incidentally, Bro. Kaelin was actually a seminary teacher at East when I was there, and he is amazingly talented as a musician. He was not MY seminary teacher, but I used to attend his class from time to time with friends.   I will always remember his musical devotionals when he would play blindfolded, with mittens on, backwards, with his back turned to the piano, even with his feet I believe. He is probably best known as a voice coach to American Idol star David Archuleta.  I would not be suprised to learn that Bro. Kaelin was involved in the production of this DVD.)

Happy Friday dear readers.  And by the way GO UTES!!!!

Family Search Indexing

This is based on an article I wrote for my Ward's Newsletter regarding Family Search Indexing. It is really fun and easy, and you don't have to be LDS to do it.

In September 1842, Joseph Smith wrote the following direction to the Saints concerning preparing family history records for temple ordinances:

“Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.” (D&C 128:24)

As individuals, we may need to change our thinking from me centered, to we centered, or from my ancestors to our ancestors.

Family Search Indexing is a program which ambitiously aims to catalog and index millions of rolls of microfilm providing census, vital, probate, and church records from over 100 countries. This work is done by volunteers of any age or faith. All information is made available free to the public, helping church members prepare names for temple ordinances and allowing the spirit of family history work to bless individuals across the globe. Your help is needed in this effort, including a special need for individuals who can read foreign languages. If you have a computer, Internet access, and a few minutes, you can help participate in Family Search Indexing from your own home. The process is easy, low pressure, and there is no paperwork involved.

If you want to learn more about Family Search Indexing, read the August 2007 Ensign article, Family Search Indexing, visit the website www.familysearch.org, or contact your local ward’s Family History Consultant.

The Spirit of God Like A Fire Is Burning

(The next in my series of blog posts about the Mormon hymns I have grown up with and loved. Since this is the second post, I officially have a series. So far I am going in order the hymns appear in the official Hymn book of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I may change that if the mood strikes me!)

This post is about Hymn #2, The Spirit of God, by W.W. Phelps.
I can honestly say this hymn is a favorite. I know that I’ve said that they are all my favorites, and it’s true, but this is a favorite favorite. It’s probably in the top half of the top ten of my favorites.

I came across in interesting quote by Bruce R. McConkie that relates to how I feel about singing this song, "Music is given of God to further his purposes. Sweet melodies mellow the souls of men and help prepare them for the gospel. After men receive the truth, songs of praise to Deity help to sanctify and cleanse their souls." Mormon Doctrine (1966), 521

The Spirit of God was written by W.W. Phelps, who also wrote many other really great hymns which would be at the top of my list of favorite favorites as well. I have learned in the course of researching the hymns that the authors often wrote the text and then the hymn was sung to various different tunes that were familiar to the people. This hymn has been set to four different tunes, finally settling into the current version which goes by the tune name “Hosanna.” This explains why the LDS hymn book has an index of meters, and you can find that when the meters match, you can sing the words of different hymns to different tunes in the book. However this is an extremely difficult exercise when you have sung the same hymn to the same tune for 30 plus years. I don’t recommend it unless you have your thinking cap securely snugged down.

The hymn was sung at the dedication of the first Mormon temple in Kirtland and is sung still at the dedication of temples throughout the world.

The first stanza reads,

The Spirit of God like a fire is burning;
The latter day glory begins to come forth;
The visions and blessings of old are returning;
And angels are coming to visit the earth.

I love to sing this part, or play it on the piano, or listen to someone else play it, because as soon as I sing or think in my heart, “The Spirit of God” like a fire is burning, I start to feel the Holy Ghost testify of the truth of the doctrines the song teaches, feeding my soul, cleaning out the cobwebs and false ideas that clog up the ability to really ponder and understand the truths of the Gospel.

It’s thrilling to think of the Kirtland Temple dedication and the marvelous events that accompanied it. The Kirtland Temple was the first house of the Lord built in the latter days and was a place where several heavenly visitors came. Jesus Christ Himself appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and accepted the Kirtland Temple as His house. Moses, Elias, and Elijah also came and gave Joseph and Oliver the authority to gather Israel and to seal families together forever. According to the research I did, Phelps wrote this text in January 1836, and the temple dedication was in March 1836.

An interesting thing to note is that there are two stanzas of the hymn that we don’t sing in modern congregations. The original stanza four speaks in the spirit of prophecy about these Kirtland events in even more detail,

Old Israel that fled from the world for his freedom,
Must come with the cloud and the pillar, amain;
A Moses, and Aaron, and Joshua lead him,
And feed him on manna from heaven again.

The chorus reads,

We'll sing and we'll shout with the armies of heaven:
Hosanna, hosanna to God and the Lamb!
Let glory to them in the highest be given,
Henceforth and forever: amen and amen!

This chorus invokes the Hosanna shout, an LDS ceremony performed when participating in a dedicatory service for a temple. It is accompanied by the members of the congregation waving a white handkerchief . The hosanna shout was performed in Jerusalem upon Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and signifies welcoming him both symbolically and physically into the world, our hearts, and the place of worship being dedicated. It acknowledges ceremonially that each of these are the Lord's as he has won them and then shared them with us through the Atonement. I love that these words are the words that repeat four times as we sing with the song.

I read that in the Community of Christ church, they have changed the first line to read “angels of heaven” and I like that idea. I understand the military symbolism, but I also like the idea that there are armies of angels in heaven.

The second verse reads,

The Lord is extending the saints' understanding—
Restoring their judges and all as at first;
The knowledge and power of God are expanding
The veil o'er the earth is beginning to burst.

In this verse, the hymns’ writer and performers acknowledge the vastness and completeness of the restoration of the Gospel. The tune is so powerful and triumphant, when I get to the line, "the veil o’er the earth is beginning to burst", it feels like Holy Ghost fireworks, almost like the Holy Ghost could be showing off a little if he could possibly do that.

Stanza three is a little more reserved in its tone, putting out a call to action of how we will play a role in spreading the Gospel and in building up the kingdom.

We call in our solemn assemblies, in spirit,
To spread forth the kingdom of heaven abroad,
That we through our faith may begin to inherit
The visions, and blessings, and glories of God.

I love the promise that these lines imply, that we are the inheritors of God’s nature as his children, and we have the right to access the visions and blessings and glories of God through our faith.

And the last verse has another wonderful Isaiah reference (you can rely on Isaiah to make the Gospel sound poetic and inspiring),

How blessed the day when the lamb and the lion
Shall lie down together without any ire
And Ephraim be crown'd with his blessing in Zion,
As Jesus descends with his chariots of fire!

It refers to Isaiah 11:6 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." This verse makes me think again of the hosanna shout, waving that white handkerchief in a symbol of welcome to the Prince of Peace.

Of course the last two lines of Stanza Four are thrilling as well, as we can envision the Lord’s triumphant return to the earth to claim his people as his own.

I am reminded of the scene in the Book of Mormon where the Lord calls down his angels from heaven to minister to the children of the Nephites:

“And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them.”

The Spirit of God, it burns like a fire in my heart, a light and a warmth that illuminates, directs, protects, and cleanses, teaches, and sanctifies.

The Morning Breaks

I’ve been thinking about things that I could blog about and an idea that keeps coming up is about how much I love the hymns of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have grown up with many of these songs and loved them throughout my life. It probably started with my mom being the Primary Chorister. I can still remember going to Primary on weekdays and helping my mom with Primary as a tiny tot. Whenever someone asks me what my favorite hymn is, I can’t decide. It’s like choosing a favorite son or daughter. All of them are my favorite. So I decided to start at the beginning of the (Mormon) hymnbook, my beloved readers, and respond to the hymns that move me the most.

The Morning Breaks.
The morning breaks; the shadows flee;
Lo, Zion's standard is unfurled!
The dawning of a brighter day,
The dawning of a brighter day
Majestic rises on the world.

The clouds of error disappear
Before the rays of truth divine;
The glory bursting from afar,
The glory bursting from afar
Wide o'er the nations soon will shine.

The Gentile fulness now comes in,
And Israel's blessings are at hand.
Lo, Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin,
Lo, Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin
Shall in their promised Canaan stand.

Jehovah speaks! let earth give ear,
And Gentile nations turn and live.
His mighty arm is making bare,
His mighty arm is making bare
His covenant people to receive.

Angels from heaven and truth from earth
Have met, and both have record borne;
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth,
Thus Zion's light is bursting forth
To bring her ransomed children home.

The text of this song was penned by Parley P. Pratt. It first appeared in print on the cover of the first issue of the long-running (1840-1970) LDS Newspaper, “The Millenial Star.” I came to love this hymn as a freshman at East High Seminary when I was privileged to participate in a Seminary choir in which we sang this song at the Tabernacle. I can’t remember the occasion, but I believe it was some kind of youth fireside.

First of all, I’m a complete sucker for any hymn that is considered a Restoration hymn, as well as any hymn that has an Isaiah scriptural reference, or any hymn that expounds on the vision of the future of Zion.

I love the imagery in this poem. The image in my mind is always of the day bursting forth over the Wasatch Mountains (of course in my mind they are covered with snow—they look best that way).  That daylight causing the shadows of dark to flee is so powerful. It is a wonderful metaphor analogous to the way that God’s power has been made manifest among his children with the Gospel spreading over the earth and deep into the hearts of men and women.

The Isaiah reference for this hymn reads,

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.”

And this is exactly what has been happening since the Restoration. The darkness that once covered the earth has been overpowered by the light of the Lord that has arisen like the sun to shed light and knowledge into the world. When you look at the many advances in technology, medicine, science, political systems, and even in the goodness of humanity that have taken place in the latter days it is astounding.

I love it when the hymn is sung and the men sing alone with the first repeated line from each stanza, and then the women sing alone the refrain, and then the four parts together come in to finish the sentence. It is always so climactic and exciting to sing this part. (Plus, this song has an interesting alto part, which is always a plus for those of us who sing that part and are usually limited to the notes e, f, and g. As an aside, I learned an entire Mozart mass in college and literally those were the only three notes in the piece for altos).

The last verse of the hymn is the most exciting, although I am sure a lot of people have tired voices by the time they get through the first five. In this verse, Zion’s light, or the law, the doctrine, and the love of God, is bursting forth and providing a beacon that leads the “ransomed”, all of us who are saved through the Atonement, back to our home in the Lord’s presence. (How relieved we are to be ransomed, and how grateful to be on the path toward home!) The wonderful thing about that light is that it while it leads us, it also warms us, and enlightens us, and fills us up with its presence while we are still on the journey, not requiring us to wait until we arrive at the destination to feel the satisfaction and love of God.

The guiding light referenced in the song brings to my mind the pillar of light that Joseph Smith describes as being what he experienced in the first moment of the First Vision event,

“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.” And who was in the midst of the light? The one who said, “I am the light which shineth in darkness… Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I am the life and the light of the world” (See D&C 11).

Scripture References: Isaiah 60:1-3, 3 Ne: 16: 7-20

Interesting Links:

Ensign article about Parley P. Pratt
President Hinckley admired Parley P. Pratt
Text of this hymn appears on Parley P.Pratt’s grave marker
Story of the composition of the “Careless” version of the music

Go Out Into the Darkness

"And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,
Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown'
And he replied:. Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand Of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way'
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night."

This is a set of lines composed by British poet Minnie Louise Haskins in 1908. It was made famous when King George VI of England read it in a radio address at Christmastime as the British entered World War II. President Monsen quoted these lines in his Stake Conference address (which I wrote about in my last entry). These lines express to me the value of faith. Faith is what the Lord requires of us, and is one of the many things that we strive to give him, that derives and sustains itself in him-- his goodness, his love, his caring, these are the things that bring us faith.

I loved the way President Monsen phrased it. After extending his personal love to each member of the congregation, he admonished all of us to love the Lord and love our neighbors. He said, "the Lord's Gospel is a law of love and encouragement. .. 'Follow thou me,' is the Savior's beckoning call."

President Monsen counseled the congregation to model ourselves after the scripture D&C 88:119, " Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;" This scripture was given in context of building a temple, and President Monsen reminded us that the Lord has said, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?" In this talk, he asked us to, "be sincere with God, fair with others, and honest with ourselves." In our "Houses of God" we should have, "clean hearts, noble purposes, and willing hands."

If we are striving to build ourselves into a place where God can dwell, we have access to his power. The Lord makes this promise as recorded in Moroni 7:33, "If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me."

President Monsen of course is very in tune with the Spirit, notwithstanding his inability to cook for himself or use simple household appliances (see his Conference talk from last April's conference). He told a story that was a perfect example of being on the Lord's errand and being led to do what the Lord desires even when you have no idea what it is.

He described making a stop on the way home from his work day to attend the viewing of a female friend. At the funeral home, he walked in the wrong direction and showed up at the viewing of a gentleman. He walked through the line and up to the viewing area and to his chagrin, realized he did not recognize the person in the coffin. However, he graciously proclaimed, "He was a good man!" He turned around only to notice that he was in the midst of a grieving family that exclaimed, "Thank you President Monsen for coming! Thank you for remembering our son!" It turned out the that man who had passed away was the son-in-law of a brother who was a counselor to President Monsen in a former responsibility he had as a Bishop. President Monsen testified, "The Lord knew where I needed to be that night."

This story was a counterpoint to Elder Ballard who shared that as a Bishop he had a prompting to visit an ailing sister in his ward, but he put it off a couple of hours, just missing her passing. Elder Ballard's story hit home for me as he said (quoting Pres. Monsen), "The Lord is not far from us-- the Spirit will direct us. Never have the regret of ignoring a prompting." I have this regret as I had several promptings to visit my grandmother in the weeks leading up to her death a couple of years ago and did not go visit her. I have a lot of reasons, but not one of them seems very important now. I wish that I could have that chance back again and do it differently so that I could have talked with her one more time before she went.

This conference was a joy to me as it reinforced my love for our Heavenly Father, for the Saviour, and for the Holy Ghost. I have a deep and abiding love for the Gift of the Holy Ghost and have in the past few years come to realize what a profound gift that is. It was wonderful to hear again the importance of using this gift to find our own unique missions and to learn truth from the ultimate teacher of truth. Indeed the guidance of the Holy Ghost is, "better than light and safer than a known way."

"The Finest Thing I Have Ever Done"-- Gordon B. Hinckley

On Sunday, my family attended a huge multi-stake conference. My stake, the Salt Lake Bonneville Stake, was invited to attend at the conference center in downtown Salt Lake City.

Although it was a challenge to accomplish attending this conference, we made the effort after a very firm plea from our Bishop, Terry Smith, in the Sacrament Meeting the week before. He said, "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity." That was enough to hook Joop and Cricket, Mom was already on board, and Marty was working on his list of reasons it never going to work. However, we got Dad on board successfully, and we made it in plenty of time to get a great seat. Marty was so great and took care of Henk so we could listen to the conference. And because of my new calling in YW, I wanted to journal about it since that can count for my Personal Progress! (I already earned the Young Womanhood Acheivement Award, when I was a Young Woman myself, but I can earn it again as a leader.)

This was in a conference that focused on two primary issues-- first, following the Spirit's promptings as a guide in life, and second, building and protecting ourselves and our families as spiritual temples. The speakers were Richard G. Hinckley, Melvin J. Ballard, Cheryl Lant, and Thomas S. Monsen.

President Hinckley is the son of THE President Hinckley and the brother of my Stake President Clark Hinckley. I've known him since high school as the father of my friend J. My mom has known him since college, and says she is amazed at how much he is growing to look like his Dad. (I agree). She said he was one of the most handsome guys at the U when she was there. Anyway, he spoke about his deep gratitude for the Lord's generous and loving promises to us as children of God and members of families. He stated, "the family is the fundamental unit of God's Kingdom." He spoke of the keys of sealing power and how that power was on the earth at different times throughout the ages and in our time. Then he shared a very tender story from a recent family experience.

He described being present at a sealing of a Hinckley granddaughter in the Salt Lake Temple. His father, President Gordon B. Hinckley conducted the sealing. As is customary, President Hinckley made some remarks at the sealing. After his remarks, he said (in a low voice, almost to himself), " It has just occured to me that I have sealed all five of my children and all 24 of my married grandchildren in this temple....and I think it is the finest thing I have ever done."

What a tender moment to share with us, and what a wonderful expression of President Hinckley. With all of his accomplishments, to speak so highly of this duty shows how important it is that we honor those covenants and seek to help others accomplish them.

President Hinckley was a hero of mine, and I just reveled in hearing this story. I also loved the story that President Monsen told. He chuckled to be sitting to the right of another President Hinckley and mentioned that when he was called to be first counselor to President Hinckley, the prophet asked him to tap him when he started to doze off during conference. President Faust asked for the same favor. President Monsen said, "You better believe you don't fall asleep if you're conducting." President Monsen said, "I don't know how you tap the President of the Church for falling asleep." When it happened, he started to panic, until he noticed that President Faust had dozed off too. He lightly touched President Hinckley on the shoulder and said, "Look at Jim," pointing at him. President Hinckley reached over with his cane and bopped President Faust, saying, "Wake Up Jim!" That story made me just chuckle!

The Importance of Words

This is a subject about which I have a constantly running inner monologue.

That is, the importance of words in our development as human and spiritual beings. Words seem insignificant-- we use them all day, every day. We use them to describe everything, from the most mundane aspects of life to the most sublime. And often when it comes to those most sublime moments, we lack the words to describe our feelings about them. However, under the surface of that, it is (at least for most of us) through words that we come to understand and experience the world. It is no coincidence in my view that God said that he created the world by issuing forth his word. And it is also no coincidence that one of the names God gives himself is "The Word." It is through words that we can draw near unto Him when we pray, and it is through words that we make sacred covenants together with God. He defines our relationship with him through the words Father, Son, Child, Holy, Divine, Brother, and Savior.

From the time we are tiny infants, we have a strong need to develop language skills to help us to gain more information about our environments. We use words to name things, to label them, to give them a story that matches our understanding. Through language we can express our wants and our needs. We also come to understand ourselves through a narrative. At least in my own experience, I have a need to have a life's story. I need to understand myself and I can only do so by examining my past narratives. What do I choose to retain? How do I choose to define myself in the words that my language and culture gives me? What stories about myself do I hold on to as being my stories? Are these the right things for me to hold on to?

We do the same with others, assuming that the words that we use to describe them (even to ourselves) are true, often without even questioning the veracity or charity of the words we select to describe them and the narratives that we place on people's lives. And then we sort ourselves in relation to others based on these words and narratives.

My challenge to myself is to examine this part of my mind and heart and think about the "self-talk" I have going on constantly. I desire to recognize the need to be charitable and to see myself and others the way God does. If only we could believe in the vision and perception God has of us as individuals and families, how different would we be? What language would we use if we truly viewed each other as "Beloved spirit sons or daughters of heavenly parents...each [with] a divine nature and destiny?" (From the Proclamation on the Family)

I have thought lately that while there is much to be learned from the Book of Mormon, and it is possible that the most important lesson that the Book of Mormon has to teach us is that perfect charity is possible. After the time when Christ visited the Nephites, Mormon recorded,

"And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people...and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God." 4 Nephi 1: 15-16

The love of God dwelt in the hearts of the people because they came to understand themselves through Christ's teachings. Note throughout 3rd Nephi how often the references are made to "words."

In the April 2007 conference, Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland spoke on this subject with much eloquence. He stated, "Our words, like our deeds, should be filled with faith and hope and charity, the three great Christian imperatives so desperately needed in the world today. With such words, spoken under the influence of the Spirit, tears can be dried, hearts can be healed, lives can be elevated, hope can return, confidence can prevail."

The Lord's Mysterious Ways

First of all I want to say that it is really uncomfortable to me to share some of these things on my blog, but I feel inspired to do so. The reason for the discomfort is not so much that I don't want to share my thoughts, but perhaps a little worry about what others might think of them, and experience with getting completely flamed on the web for having the audacity to have statements influenced by religious beliefs enter the public discourse.

Inspiration and Revelation

I just love the way the Lord hands out inspiration in little bits here and there. Over the past several weeks I have had so many wonderful things occur to me and they are all seeming to be on a related theme. Right now I'm not really sure where they are leading me, but I am curious and enjoying the journey. My theory is that one function of the Holy Ghost on the mortal is to build a literally more spiritual brain through constant exercise of the neural pathways related to spiritual thinking and experience. Putting that theory into practice has been an interesting experiment. I'm starting to try to link these many events together so I guess I'll cover them in several entries:

Temple and Family History Work
My current calling in my ward is Family History Consultant, which means I am called to help people do their family history and temple work. It is a challenge because of my natural shyness to try to reach out to people to convince them to let me come over and help them do something they are already feeling reluctant and guilty about. However, I am excited about this calling. I have been working on my own family tree as well as doing Family Search Indexing. Family Search Indexing is the process of viewing an old document and typing the information into a form that makes the document searchable. What I find is that each person becomes so real to me as I type their information. It drives home to me how much our Heavenly Father loves each individual person. For example, I typed in a death certificate of an unidentified military airman who died when his plane crashed in LA during WW2. I wondered if his family ever found out what happened to him in this accident. But the Lord knows who this man was and has a plan for him. In Alma 40: 10, Alma states, "God knoweth all the times which are appointed unto man."

Family history and temple work gives you a whole new sensitivity to the joy and love God has for each of his children. I find myself grateful for a sense of wonder that I experience when I walk down the street and see each individual person as a beloved child of God-- my own sister or brother. And mind you, I am walking down the street at the Gateway mall where the people have some serious issues. In one course down the mall you can see several homeless people, folks who have tanned, colored, surgically altered, and fashioned themselves to the point of being unrecognizable, as well as the gothic gender-benders with multiple tattoos. Yet, I echo Louis Armstrong and "think to myself, 'What a wonderful world.'" (Okay, I have a running soundtrack in my mind sometimes, especially when walking down the street.)

Another thing about family history work is it allows me to see a life in its whole context from beginning to end, and to a degree, in its eternal perspective. When I learn about an ancestor, it is wonderful to learn about how they became the people they were, how they overcame obstacles, and one thing that always stands out to me is that they take nothing with them but who they become. Ultimately all the temporal things that they have worked for fall away and become not meaningless, but history. So the value of temporal pursuits really gets placed in a different perspective. Temporal pursuits create value in the way that they force you to serve, to grow, to learn. Realizing that the word temporal is an adjective meaning related to time, and reflecting back on Alma 40 (verse 8), "all is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men."

I find myself changing my thinking (perhaps this is due to reaching a more mature phase of life- I am after all hitting middle age full-stride) and making more measured decisions about the things I choose to do and say and think with this new, more spiritually-influenced perspective.

Questions about Prayer

Does praying for something that is not happening in your life now, mean that you are going against God's will for your life? Can you ask others to pray for you to help you get what you want?

Prayer has been a huge part of my life since I was a girl. I have had many answers to prayers and it seems my heart is often drawn out in prayer. I had many people pray for me when we were trying to conceive Joseph (and Caroline and Henry for that matter). When we were nearing the end of the IVF process with Joseph, we had a family fast and broke the fast together, and many friends joined us in the fasting and prayer. It was a great source of support at the time. If I am praying about temporal needs, I still think that is okay, like finding a job, or being led to people who can help meet my family's needs. If it is a more selfish motivation, I still think it is okay to ask, but I don't think that prayers will be all that helpful if I am praying in the wrong direction. The act of prayer is something however that requires me to examine my goals and motivations and determine if I feel they are aligned with God's desires for me and my life. The examination is an important process, and part of the reason why mighty prayer is referred to as work. That is something I have learned about prayer lately.

I have been praying for the same thing for over 10 years (the opportunity to be a mom at home with my kids) and have yet to receive the answer I want to that prayer. However, I have had the burden lifted and my life has gone in directions where I can see that the time was not right for me to have what I have asked for. My current situation has been necessary to make other important things happen in my life. But there have been times when I have felt that my prayers have been in vain, and that I felt far from my Father in Heaven. When I have changed the way I pray, asking for guidance on what to pray about, I have felt those answers in terms of lifting the burdens, making them easier to bear, and lifting the despair and grief that I have sometimes felt. I still pray for this desired outcome, which I feel is a righteous one, but I have a new perspective on it these days.