2023 October 5, Journal Entry

Served in the temple and enjoyed it very much as usual. I serve with wonderful people and serve patrons who are obviously trying to do the right thing - some even are trying to do a Celestial Thing as suggested by President Russell M. Nelson in his general conference address last Sunday. Anyway, the temple is a great place to be.

Cathy want feeling well yesterday so I spent my day trying to get our tree replacement application prepared. The HOA has dictated that we, at our expense, must replace the dead tree that is in the parking strip in front of our house. Then, they dictated that we must apply for approval to replace the tree. At fittest it seemed irritating but now I'm looking at it as a lesson in patience and understanding. I'm just trying to be a good boy.

Come Follow Me 

Ephesians 4: 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

"From the beginning, God has sought to gather and organize His children “to bring to pass [our] immortality and eternal life.” With that purpose in mind, He has instructed us to build places of worship where we receive knowledge and the ordinances of salvation and exaltation; make and keep covenants that bind us to Jesus Christ; are endowed with “the power of godliness”; and gather together often to remember Jesus and strengthen each other in Him.”

Sister Reyna I. Aburto, Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidenc, April 2022

As I study the Epistles of Paul lately one theme stands out. The difficulty of maintain unity with people from throughout his known world. It is dawning on me that the problems Paul faced with unity are almost miniscule when compared to the challenges we, as a church, face today in unifying basically the entire world.

An example: In Kentucky I served as Executive Secretary in a Crestwood ward where the Bishop was Eric Bednar. His father is Elder David A. Bednar the Apostle. Elder Bednar came to one of our Ward council meetings and, of course, spent some time answering questions. At the time, there were four units meeting in our building because of temporary repairs being made in another chapel in our stake. Our High Priest Group Leader, Tom Posey (a truly good man), asked about getting another chapel built in our area. Elder Bednar had recently returned from a visit to Africa where about 100 new wards had been created during hisvisit. He pointed out that the Church was, in a sense, struggling to build chapels throughout the world and that the need for a new chapel in the Louisville, Kentucky area, while maybe needed, might probably be lower in priority than in other areas of the world.

So, while basic Gospel principles and teachings are pretty much universal, when we think about church policies and procedures we need to remember that ours is now a truly world-wide church and think about how these policies and procedures will affect members in, say, Mongolia and India for example. Unity can be a struggle.

Book of Mormon reading 

Alma Chapter 53, The Lamanite prisoners are used to fortify the city Bountiful—Dissensions among the Nephites give rise to Lamanite victories—Helaman takes command of the two thousand stripling sons of the people of Ammon. About 64–63 B.C.

 Chapter 54, Ammoron and Moroni negotiate for the exchange of prisoners—Moroni demands that the Lamanites withdraw and cease their murderous attacks—Ammoron demands that the Nephites lay down their arms and become subject to the Lamanites. About 63 B.C.