It was rainy and rather dark when we snapped this shot after meetings, so that, unfortunately, the very attractive\u00a0color of the chapel\u2019s stone \u2014 which reminded me more than just a bit of the oolite stone with which the Manti Utah Temple is clad \u2014 seems much darker than it actually is.
(Click to enlarge. Click again to enlarge further.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
My wife and I attended church at my niece\u2019s Canyon Springs Ward today. \u00a0They meet in an unusually pretty\u00a0chapel, surrounded by woods, meadows, and pastures.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The congregation was large, and there were two sacrament meeting speakers.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first, Elder John Armbruster, had just returned a week ago from two years of service in, if I heard correctly, the Philippines Olangapo Mission. \u00a0He spoke well, about building faith.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I especially liked one of his stories. \u00a0He told about a woman that he and his green, newly-arrived companion were trying to teach, very early in his own mission when his Tagalog was still very rudimentary. \u00a0(He himself put visible \u201cquotation marks\u201d around the word teaching<\/em> when he began to recount the story.) \u00a0They were discussing the three degrees of glory \u2014 celestial, terrestrial, and telestial \u2014 but she was growing more and more frustrated. \u00a0Finally, she said \u201cAll I can understand is that there\u2019s one heaven and three hells.\u201d \u00a0They said \u201cNo, no, no. \u00a0That\u2019s not what we\u2019re saying. \u00a0Here\u2019s a pamphlet in Tagalog about the topic. \u00a0Read this, pray about it, and we\u2019ll come back next week.\u201d \u00a0When they returned, she was beaming. \u00a0She had read the pamphlet. \u00a0She understood it. \u00a0She had prayed. \u00a0And, she said, since their last visit\u00a0she had had a dream in which a blonde man, dressed all in white, had appeared to her and told her that the doctrine they were trying to convey to her was true.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not always left to our own power in trying to teach the Gospel. \u00a0We have to make the effort, but help is available.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
There followed an exceptionally good talk by a member of the stake high council named Neil Mickelsen. \u00a0He had sought and obtained permission from the stake president, feeling inspired to do so, to deviate from his assigned topic and to speak, instead, on coping with sorrow, loss, pain, and adversity. \u00a0The talk was so very good that I asked him for a copy of it \u2014 as, it turned out, did my wife and my niece. \u00a0I may seek his permission to share the text here.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
After church, those of our family who\u2019re still in the area\u00a0gathered at the home of my niece and her husband for lunch. \u00a0I\u2019m very proud of him and my niece. \u00a0They\u2019ve done well financially, but, even more importantly, they\u2019ve remained faithful to each other and to the Gospel, and they\u2019ve raised a faithful family. \u00a0(He was just released from the bishopric three weeks ago. \u00a0Among many other things, she\u2019s taken care of the altar cloths for the temple every week for six years now \u2014 a service that I find especially . . . \u00a0well, in a way, touching<\/em>. \u00a0Their eldest daughter was married in the temple yesterday, their next daughter is currently serving a Spanish-speaking mission in Idaho, and their other kids are very active.) \u00a0They\u2019re passing the Gospel on to the next generation.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Again, my brother would be \u2014 and, I feel confident, is \u2014 very, very happy.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
One really pleasant surprise at the lunch was offered by my nephew, visiting with his wife and two very young children from California. \u00a0He\u2019s spent many, many hours recently digitizing old family photos \u2014 including embarrassing baby pictures of me, along with photos of my brother when he was quite young and pictures of my parents (his grandparents), of the family construction business when it was new, of long-gone aunts and uncles, of my niece and nephews when they were\u00a0kids, and so forth. \u00a0I had thought those photos were lost. \u00a0He presented us with an electronic copy. \u00a0It\u2019s a priceless gift, and much appreciated.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from San Antonio, Texas<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 My wife and I attended church at my niece\u2019s Canyon Springs Ward today. \u00a0They meet in an unusually pretty\u00a0chapel, surrounded by woods, meadows, and pastures. \u00a0 The congregation was large, and there were two sacrament meeting speakers. \u00a0 The first, Elder John Armbruster, had just returned a week ago from two years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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