Foust in Fort Worth: Highlights of this week

Monday, March 28, 2011

Highlights of this week

We taught Glacier again (ya know, the kid with the polygamy question)

I think I told you before, his whole thought process is he wants to understand a religion intellectually before he looks into understanding it spiritually. Well last week we asked him to read from the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. He did not read any chapters, but he did go over the introduction again. We talked a little about it and then he started asking questions about the bible. Things like where does St Luke even come from (he's not one of the original 12, and as far as I can find he's not really mentioned other than his name on his gospel) and some of Paul's specific teachings. So we talked a little about these, but we told him that as we teach the first lesson he will understand the answers to many of his questions. So we began the first lesson. For those of you who don't know, the main points of the first lesson are God is our loving Heavenly Father, The gospel blesses families, Heavenly Father reveals his Gospel in Every Dispensation, The Savior's earthly ministry and Atonement, The great Apostasy, The Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, and Pray to know the truth through the Holy Ghost. During the "Savior's Earthly Ministry" part, we teach about the Priesthood, and how it is the Authority to act in God's name. In this part of the lesson Glacier asked a lot more about the apostles, and we were able to answer his questions. We taught the entire first lesson, and we could tell he felt the spirit while I told the first vision. I think he is worried because he is feeling the spirit, and understanding spiritually before he does intellectually. It is going to be difficult, but we are going to keep working with him and I really think he will come to know the truth of our message and we will baptize him before this transfer ends.

Now the fun stuff :)

We tracted into a Jehovah's Witness yesterday. He knew exactly who we were, and as we talked he told us that he lived in a very dense LDS neighborhood in Mesa AZ for 20 years. So he had a lot of experience with members of the church. He told us a bit about his beliefs, and then began trying to tear us apart. He misquoted a few Book of Mormon verses so that he could be offended by them, specifically 2 Nephi 29. He told us that is says anyone who believes in the bible is a fool. which is incorrect, he does not understand what is really being said, which is that The Bible is not the only revelation given from God. He went on for quite a while, telling us that our beliefs were wrong, that there is no spirit world, so when we die we just don't exist until the resurrection (lol), and other various things. Basically for a half hour we sat there and listened to him quote and misquote (mostly the latter) the Bible and Book of Mormon, and every time he asked us a question we would calmly answer it and bear simple testimony, and he would try to tear that apart. It was actually quite funny. He wanted so badly for us to bash, so to avoid it we didn't even reply beyond a simple answer to his questions. The spirit was not around. But as soon as we were on our bikes again riding away we both had the same confirmation, that what we know is true, and that our faith cannot be shaken by someone as blind and stubborn as he was. We both had the spirit confirm to us that we have the true gospel. It was awesome.

We also met several other devout Christian people. Most of them said basically the same thing, along the lines of "I do not agree with the teachings of your church, but I know that we are all children of God, and so they won't shut the door on us." We talked to a Pentecostal pastor, an older Pentecostal woman, and some other Christian guy that we couldn't really get a whole lot of important info out of (he is what President Sagers refers to as a 'Texas Talker'). With all three of these people we talked for a good 1/2 hour, and shared a gospel message and had a prayer with them before we left. They all had great faith in Christ, but they don't understand the need for the priesthood authority.

Elder Warburton and I walked up a long driveway to get to this house. As we climb the stairs, the door open and a guy comes out, he's probably about 6' 1'', wearing a tank top jeans and dark sunglasses. His face looks unhappy. Elder Warburton starts to say "hello sir, we're missionaries from the church..." and the guy cuts him off. "turn around, get off my property, get on your bikes, and ride away. now." (we're still smiling) "ok, have a good day sir" as we get about 1/2 down the driveway "and tell all your buddies to never come over here again!" "ok, will do" "next time I'll let the dogs out!" At this point I'm grinning like an idiot, because it's just funny to me. I've got 3 inches and probably 60 lbs on this guy and he's acting all tough guy cause he's in a tank top and I'm a missionary, and obviously we avoid any and all conflict, but it's just funny to me. So, with my big smile, I very enthusiastically, (and sincerely) yell back to him "well thanks for not letting em out this time!" all he does is nod, still with his very straight face. man it was funny, and I think the fact that we were so comfortable and smiling irritated him more. That was fun.

Anyway, We are working hard, and covering a good sized area on our bikes. A lot of appointments are punching, so we do a bit of tracting every day. We keep on trying to contact these people, but it proves to be difficult. But we are still pushing, and won't ever give up. We are making progress with that family in the trailer park as well, so I'm excited to see where that goes. The work is great. I love it out here. Keep us in your prayers!

I want you all to read Mosiah 2 + 3 and 3 Nephi 13 with your families. Talk about how you can use these principles to better yourselves and your family relationships. Consider it an official assignment from the lord :)

"My voice is His voice, and my acts are His acts; my doctrine is His doctrine.
My Commission is to do what He wants done"

My missionary Commission - Bruce R. McConkie

Love you all!

Love, Elder Foust

"Still all my song shall be, Nearer My God to Thee, Nearer My God to Thee, Nearer to Thee." Hymn 100 (one of my favorites now)
Oh, you should all look up Nearer my God to Thee by James Stevens, or BYU Vocal Point (same arrangement) It is amazing.
-- --Elder Braxton C Foust--

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Be of Good Cheer

Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith. My dear brothers and sisters, I express my love to you. I am humbled by the responsibility to address you, and yet I am grateful for the opportunity to do so. Since last we met together in a general conference six months ago, there have been continuing signs that circumstances in the world aren’t necessarily as we would wish. The global economy, which six months ago appeared to be sagging, seems to have taken a nosedive, and for many weeks now the financial outlook has been somewhat grim. In addition, the moral footings of society continue to slip, while those who attempt to safeguard those footings are often ridiculed and, at times, picketed and persecuted. Wars, natural disasters, and personal misfortunes continue to occur. It would be easy to become discouraged and cynical about the future—or even fearful of what might come—if we allowed ourselves to dwell only on that which is wrong in the world and in our lives. Today, however, I’d like us to turn our thoughts and our attitudes away from the troubles around us and to focus instead on our blessings as members of the Church. The Apostle Paul declared, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 1 None of us makes it through this life without problems and challenges—and sometimes tragedies and misfortunes. After all, in large part we are here to learn and grow from such events in our lives. We know that there are times when we will suffer, when we will grieve, and when we will be saddened. However, we are told, “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.” 2 How might we have joy in our lives, despite all that we may face? Again from the scriptures: “Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you.” 3 The history of the Church in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times, is replete with the experiences of those who have struggled and yet who have remained steadfast and of good cheer as they have made the gospel of Jesus Christ the center of their lives. This attitude is what will pull us through whatever comes our way. It will not remove our troubles from us but rather will enable us to face our challenges, to meet them head on, and to emerge victorious. Too numerous to mention are the examples of all the individuals who have faced difficult circumstances and yet who have persevered and prevailed because their faith in the gospel and in the Savior has given them the strength they have needed. This morning, however, I’d like to share with you three such examples. First, from my own family, I mention a touching experience that has always been an inspiration to me. My maternal great-grandparents Gibson and Cecelia Sharp Condie lived in Clackmannan, Scotland. Their families were engaged in coal mining. They were at peace with the world, surrounded by relatives and friends, and were housed in fairly comfortable quarters in a land they loved. Then they listened to the message of the missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and, to the depths of their very souls, were converted. They heard the call to gather to Zion and knew they must answer that call. Sometime around 1848, they sold their possessions and prepared for the hazardous voyage across the mighty Atlantic Ocean. With five small children, they boarded a sailing vessel, all their worldly possessions in one tiny trunk. They traveled 3,000 miles (4,800 km) across the waters—eight long, weary weeks on a treacherous sea, watching and waiting, with poor food, poor water, and no help beyond the length and breadth of that small ship. In the midst of this soul-trying situation, one of their young sons became ill. There were no doctors, no stores at which they might purchase medicine to ease his suffering. They watched, they prayed, they waited, and they wept as day by day his condition deteriorated. When his eyes were at last closed in death, their hearts were torn asunder. To add to their grief, the laws of the sea must be obeyed. Wrapped in a canvas weighed down with iron, the little body was consigned to a watery grave. As they sailed away, only those parents knew the crushing blow dealt to wounded hearts. 4 However, with a faith born of their deep conviction of the truth and their love of the Lord, Gibson and Cecelia held on. They were comforted by the words of the Lord: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” 5 How grateful I am for ancestors who had the faith to leave hearth and home and to journey to Zion, who made sacrifices I can scarcely imagine. I thank my Heavenly Father for the example of faith, of courage, and of determination Gibson and Cecelia Sharp Condie provide for me and for all their posterity. I introduce next a gentle, faith-filled man who epitomized the peace and joy which the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring into one’s life. Late one evening on a Pacific isle, a small boat slipped silently to its berth at the crude pier. Two Polynesian women helped Meli Mulipola from the boat and guided him to the well-worn pathway leading to the village road. The women marveled at the bright stars, which twinkled in the midnight sky. The moonlight guided them along their way. However, Meli Mulipola could not appreciate these delights of nature—the moon, the stars, the sky—for he was blind. Brother Mulipola’s vision had been normal until a fateful day when, while working on a pineapple plantation, light turned suddenly to darkness and day became perpetual night. He was depressed and despondent until he learned the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. His life was brought into compliance with the teachings of the Church, and he once again felt hope and joy. Brother Mulipola and his loved ones had made a long voyage, having learned that one who held the priesthood of God was visiting among the islands of the Pacific. He sought a blessing, and it was my privilege, along with another who held the Melchizedek Priesthood, to provide that blessing to him. As we finished, I noted that tears were streaming from his sightless eyes, coursing down his brown cheeks and tumbling finally upon his native dress. He dropped to his knees and prayed: “O God, Thou knowest I am blind. Thy servants have blessed me that my sight might return. Whether in Thy wisdom I see light or whether I see darkness all the days of my life, I will be eternally grateful for the truth of Thy gospel, which I now see and which provides the light of my life.” He rose to his feet and, smiling, thanked us for providing the blessing. He then disappeared into the still of the night. Silently he came; silently he departed. But his presence I shall never forget. I reflected upon the message of the Master: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” 6 My brothers and sisters, each of us has that light in his or her life. We are not left to walk alone, no matter how dark our pathway. I love the words penned by M. Louise Haskins: 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 [a] light and safer than a known way.” 7 The setting for my final example of one who persevered and ultimately prevailed, despite overwhelmingly difficult circumstances, begins in East Prussia following World War II. In about March 1946, less than a year after the end of the war, Ezra Taft Benson, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, accompanied by Frederick W. Babbel, was assigned a special postwar tour of Europe for the express purpose of meeting with the Saints, assessing their needs, and providing assistance to them. Elder Benson and Brother Babbel later recounted, from a testimony they heard, the experience of a Church member who found herself in an area no longer controlled by the government under which she had resided. She and her husband had lived an idyllic life in East Prussia. Then had come the second great world war within their lifetimes. Her beloved young husband was killed during the final days of the frightful battles in their homeland, leaving her alone to care for their four children. The occupying forces determined that the Germans in East Prussia must go to Western Germany to seek a new home. The woman was German, and so it was necessary for her to go. The journey was over a thousand miles (1,600 km), and she had no way to accomplish it but on foot. She was allowed to take only such bare necessities as she could load into her small wooden-wheeled wagon. Besides her children and these meager possessions, she took with her a strong faith in God and in the gospel as revealed to the latter-day prophet Joseph Smith. She and the children began the journey in late summer. Having neither food nor money among her few possessions, she was forced to gather a daily subsistence from the fields and forests along the way. She was constantly faced with dangers from panic-stricken refugees and plundering troops. As the days turned into weeks and the weeks to months, the temperatures dropped below freezing. Each day, she stumbled over the frozen ground, her smallest child—a baby—in her arms. Her three other children struggled along behind her, with the oldest—seven years old—pulling the tiny wooden wagon containing their belongings. Ragged and torn burlap was wrapped around their feet, providing the only protection for them, since their shoes had long since disintegrated. Their thin, tattered jackets covered their thin, tattered clothing, providing their only protection against the cold. Soon the snows came, and the days and nights became a nightmare. In the evenings she and the children would try to find some kind of shelter—a barn or a shed—and would huddle together for warmth, with a few thin blankets from the wagon on top of them. She constantly struggled to force from her mind overwhelming fears that they would perish before reaching their destination. And then one morning the unthinkable happened. As she awakened, she felt a chill in her heart. The tiny form of her three-year-old daughter was cold and still, and she realized that death had claimed the child. Though overwhelmed with grief, she knew that she must take the other children and travel on. First, however, she used the only implement she had—a tablespoon—to dig a grave in the frozen ground for her tiny, precious child. Death, however, was to be her companion again and again on the journey. Her seven-year-old son died, either from starvation or from freezing or both. Again her only shovel was the tablespoon, and again she dug hour after hour to lay his mortal remains gently into the earth. Next, her five-year-old son died, and again she used her tablespoon as a shovel. Her despair was all consuming. She had only her tiny baby daughter left, and the poor thing was failing. Finally, as she was reaching the end of her journey, the baby died in her arms. The spoon was gone now, so hour after hour she dug a grave in the frozen earth with her bare fingers. Her grief became unbearable. How could she possibly be kneeling in the snow at the graveside of her last child? She had lost her husband and all her children. She had given up her earthly goods, her home, and even her homeland. In this moment of overwhelming sorrow and complete bewilderment, she felt her heart would literally break. In despair she contemplated how she might end her own life, as so many of her fellow countrymen were doing. How easy it would be to jump off a nearby bridge, she thought, or to throw herself in front of an oncoming train. And then, as these thoughts assailed her, something within her said, “Get down on your knees and pray.” She ignored the prompting until she could resist it no longer. She knelt and prayed more fervently than she had in her entire life: “Dear Heavenly Father, I do not know how I can go on. I have nothing left—except my faith in Thee. I feel, Father, amidst the desolation of my soul, an overwhelming gratitude for the atoning sacrifice of Thy Son, Jesus Christ. I cannot express adequately my love for Him. I know that because He suffered and died, I shall live again with my family; that because He broke the chains of death, I shall see my children again and will have the joy of raising them. Though I do not at this moment wish to live, I will do so, that we may be reunited as a family and return—together—to Thee.” When she finally reached her destination of Karlsruhe, Germany, she was emaciated. Brother Babbel said that her face was a purple-gray, her eyes red and swollen, her joints protruding. She was literally in the advanced stages of starvation. In a Church meeting shortly thereafter, she bore a glorious testimony, stating that of all the ailing people in her saddened land, she was one of the happiest because she knew that God lived, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He died and was resurrected so that we might live again. She testified that she knew if she continued faithful and true to the end, she would be reunited with those she had lost and would be saved in the celestial kingdom of God. 8 From the holy scriptures we read, “Behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in [Him], they who have endured the crosses of the world, … they shall inherit the kingdom of God, … and their joy shall be full forever.” 9 I testify to you that our promised blessings are beyond measure. Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us. My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith. I declare that God lives and that He hears and answers our prayers. His Son, Jesus Christ, is our Savior and our Redeemer. Heaven’s blessings await us. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Highlights of this week

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