The rest of the weekend in Iowa

On Sunday we all went to various little congregations (called wards or smaller ones called branches) of the LDS Church throughout the area. Russ and I went with the Temple Counselor, wife, and 3 other missionary couples where we enjoyed getting to know the wonderful, faithful people there., many of whom have to travel quite a ways to get to church. Russ sang for them and I played the piano. We all had the opportunity to speak to them, too, and hope we helped them to feel they are part of a large army of really good people trying to follow the Savior. We ended the day with dinner at the Counselor's home, a pleasant evening together, ending by watching the lovely full moon eclipse in the clear sky.

 The first stop Monday morning was the John Deere factory. I was quite delighted to find it more interesting and enjoyable than I was expecting. Years ago I went with Russ to visit the Harley-Davidson factory in York, PA and was quite impressed. This was a similar experience. We were not allowed to bring our cameras in so I have no pictures of what we saw. Just like Harley-Davidson motorcycles, each tractor is custom-made to the specifications of  

an order. Most parts are made in the USA and the tractors are shipped all over the world. They recently shipped 200 large tractors to China. Most of the work is computer monitored and controlled, although done by human hands, except for the painting which is electro-static and amazing to watch as robots accurately and completely paint with hardly a drop of overspray anywhere. Even the hand-wrenches are "smart" in that they keep track of how tightly bolts are turned. The bus in the photo at right was a group that came at the tour time we were there. We rode around in a little train of open cars pulled by a- guess what!- little John Deere tractor!

When we heard about the next place, the Bily Clock Museum, we really had no idea what to expect. Again, we were not allowed to take pictures inside so this is a picture of postcards for purchase in an attempt to show the amazing clocks built by two brothers, both of whom died about 50 years ago. They were immigrants from Czechoslavakia who never married and were very skilled wood carvers. Many of the clocks had religious themes, such as carved statues of Jesus and the Apostles. The intricacy of their work was fascinating. They never sold them but they have been valued in millions of dollars. Antonin Dvorak heard of this small Czechoslavakian community in Iowa when he visited the United States and brought his family to spend a summer there. The upstairs of this museum is dedicated to Dvorak. He wrote some of his music here, after having composed the New World Symphony.

Last but hardly least, we visited the "Matchstick Marvels", a collection of amazing structures built all out of matchsticks. The builder has sold several to Ripley's Believe It Or Not venues around the world. This one is a replica of the Capitol. You can see the Space Shuttle behind it. It's amazing how far he has taken a little hobby for something to do! (Angela, the woman in this picture looks a little like Grandma Fellows. She's the gentile southern lady sharpshooter I told you about. I just love her!)

Who knew??

This past weekend, about a dozen of us Nauvoo temple missionary couples went on an excursion planned out by a member of the temple presidency and his wife. We went to some places in northern Iowa that we probably never would have found on our own.  The first was basically a farm, one of countless Midwestern US farms among millions of acres of corn (and soybean) fields. This was the location for the movie "Field of Dreams". It was not near any major city. I'm amazed that the movie people found it. 

 Near the field of corn is a baseball field. Visiting there that day were two teams of baseball players wearing uniforms patterned after those worn by players over 100 years ago. They were gathered from several places around the country, here to play for one evening in the "old style" with original clothing, shoes, and without gloves. We watched them warming up but didn't stay to watch the game.

 The farmhouse had been slightly remodeled by the movie company. There is a large information board with before and after pictures as well as the story behind finding the farm and how it all came to be. There was also a little "gift shop" which I'm sure was added after the movie became such a hit. They enlarged the porch and added the swing that was prominent in the film. We saw it long ago and I couldn't really remember it all. We could have bought a copy of it there but chose not to.
Not far from this farm was a fairly good-sized town with primarily Catholic residents. Long ago, they pooled their resources and built a basilica to rival many in Europe. We arrived just after they had  finished a mass which was attended by high school kids about to attend Homecoming, all dressed in their teen-aged finery. The priest there was a really down-to-earth pleasant man and we were welcomed to come in to look around, even taking pictures. This one little picture hardly does it justice.

I like to think the Catholics here were just as comfortable with us as we felt toward them. Some of us talked quite awhile with the priest and some other parishioners.
From here we went to a pre-arranged golf course restaurant for dinner before heading to the hotel and/or homes where we would sleep.

Looking forward and looking back

     Today was a strange day in the Nauvoo temple. It was a combination of quiet/leisurely and amazing/exciting. We didn't have as many patrons as we normally expect on a Friday so it was quiet. However, it allowed some time for missionaries to speak to each other a little which is nice because we don't always get to socialize much. On the other hand, when we did do ordinance work, we did LOTS of names- very few temple-generated, mostly family file. It's amazing how much family history work is coming through from local residents as well as temple workers. Truly, Elijah has turned the hearts of the children to the fathers.
     The young man I have been excited about came to the temple today and is now on his way to Utah for general conference then will return to Turkey to be one of the first (if not THE first) native Turks to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints there. Second of all, a couple came to the office to have some family names printed off and they were all from Judea, West Bank!!! The couple lives in Idaho and I don't know why they were here in Nauvoo. I often wish I could spend time to hear everybody's stories. It would be so fascinating, I'm sure! The woman told me she had been married to "this Christian Arab" for 54 years. His family has been Arab Christians since the time of Christ, she told me. Until recently, the records to enable them to do family history/temple work have been inaccessible. (I hesitate to use anyone's names because I would not want to be the cause of someone being a target. I don't mean to sound Chicken Little-ish but I have heard many scary stories about he anger against Christians in the Middle East, even here in the United States.) Nevertheless, the good news/Gospel is being extended to the Middle East, as well as China, India, and other places long closed to Christians.
     For me, this is yet another "sign" that the Lord is hastening His work to prepare the world for His return. I realize there are many people who would question my rationality. Let them question! I know what I know and I'm excited. I will continue to live so that when my Master returns, I will be doing what He would have me do.

It's what we do

While many of the missionary couples here are trying to get in whatever experiences and sightseeing they want before leaving in  month or so, Russ and I continue to make an effort to get better acquainted with local residents. It is such a privilege to have 18 months to spend here whereas most missionaries serving in Nauvoo will leave after 6 months. From what we understand, this is a very sought-after mission so they limit most missionaries' time in order to give more people the opportunity to serve here. As an engineer, Russ spends nearly all of his time in the temple doing physical things. We walk to and from the temple every day (about 1/2 mile) and almost never use the elevator (there are 19 steps up to our apartment and 97 steps from the sidewalk to the 4th floor of the temple where I start and end each day- then go up and down throughout the day). It would be wonderful if all that effort showed, but it doesn't. Neither of us is really gaining any weight but neither of us is losing either. So it's a nice opportunity when we can do something requiring physical exertion that is a helpful service to someone. Awhile ago, Russ and I helped repair some posts in an old barn. This week we returned there to help pour a concrete floor. Russ and I had been screeding the concrete just before I took a shovelful of excess to put elsewhere and the 83 year old dad of the barn owner took over my end of the screed. We enjoyed the work and were amazed at how quickly it went.

Then we were able to go to the home of one of the women who works in the temple laundry to help do yard work. You can't see me in this picture because I'm the photographer! You can't see Russ because my timing was bad. He's behind the boy in the middle of the picture as he trims the edge of bushes next to the house. The woman with the electric hedge-trimmer is the temple laundress. Her husband is in the wheelchair. The others are their 2 sons.

My parents spent most of their lives providing service to others. Russ has chosen to follow the "family tradition" with me. Our children do the same, including John whom we informally adopted into our family. It is a really satisfying feeling to belong to such a group of people. Now that we have been sealed for eternity in the temple, we have the opportunity to be with them a very, very long time!

Be ye therefore...........

     I get excited nearly every day as I watch the Lord work in the temple. I don't mean to imply that Jesus is returning tomorrow or the next day but I can really see Him hasten the work. Today I spent some time on the phone speaking to a woman in Istanbul, Turkey. She was setting up a time for a young man, a recent convert, to come to the Nauvoo temple to prepare for serving a mission in his native land. The LDS Church has only been legal in Turkey since 2011 so there is very little translated into their language yet. He is being accompanied here by a man whose son is attending BYU and will soon be going to the temple there (with his father and this Turkish young man) in preparation for serving a mission in Turkey as well. As I think of the various attitudes of people, members of the Church or not, concerning the Second Coming. There are those who have the "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us" (2 Ne 28:7) view of the world. And there are those who are more like: "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come....Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." (Matthew: 24:42-44)
     Some people focus almost exclusively on having food storage, money in the bank, and weapons for defense. I really don't think that's what the Lord meant when he warned us to be ready. The most important thing we can do to be ready is to be personally ready to come face to face with our Savior. Will we be able to smile and run to His loving arms? Or will we want to hide our faces in shame? Will we be ready to live within His rules or will we think we have a better idea as to how things should be run? In other words, are we humble, grateful, and like Him---Or not???
   

Concerning faith

     Today I had a couple of opportunities in the temple to study and ponder scriptures. I was reading in the Book of Matthew, chapter 17. Jesus was approached by a man who had a "lunatick" son and was hoping he could be healed. The man told Jesus that he had taken his son to disciples who were unable to help. Jesus "rebuked the devil" and "the child was cured from that very hour". I don't want to address possession by devils or demons. I don't want to address mental/spiritual/emotional handicaps because I have not yet gotten a full understanding of how that works as far as who has them or if it's just their excuse, how they can be "cured", or how accountable they are. I want to focus on Jesus's words to his disciples who came to him afterward, very puzzled, and said, "Why could not we cast him out?" And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. They were with Jesus and believed in Him. Why did they lack such faith? What exactly is faith?
     Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true. (Alma 32:21)
     Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
     I don't really feel qualified to expound on gospel principles better than Alma or Paul (I would strongly suggest reading both of those excellent descriptions of faith), but I wondered- what exactly must we have faith in to be able to remove mountains? Why did Jesus tell His disciples they could have such faith? I figure you need to have faith, first of all, that God exists because most of us will never have the experience in mortality to see Him, we couldn't handle it because He is so superior to us. We also need to believe Jesus Christ is and was who other witnesses have said He is. We need, especially, to believe in the witness each of God's children can receive from the Holy Ghost which will respond to every single person who asks with real intent- meaning you're not just asking out of idle curiosity then planning to go right on living the status quo. Real intent means that once you get your answer, you plan to make some major changes in your life to heed the promptings you will receive. That brings up the next object of faith you need to have- faith in yourself. You have to believe you are capable of being loved by God, capable of having the intelligence/wisdom/courage or whatever to decide for yourself that believing in God is the right thing no matter what anybody around you may choose. Even our own thoughts can be drowned out by the chaos of the world. There are multiple choices for paths to follow. The simple existence of so many choices can leave you stunned into paralysis. (Picture someone who loves chocolate being offered a choice of only one in a Godiva store!) When you believe in yourself, you can go ahead and make a choice. Once you make a choice, you can believe that "with God all things are possible".
     It's majorly important to understand that faith will not give you the power to move big mountains just for fun. It isn't like suddenly having super-powers to go around remodeling the earth. Part of having in faith in God is knowing who He is, who Jesus is. They don't perform miracles to show off. They only do that which is wise to do. It isn't like asking Grandpa to wiggle his ears. When we pray for something to happen, it needs to be according to God's will. Because we don't yet have anywhere close to the wisdom God has, it's likely that what we think we want isn't going to be what He knows is best. So, we can move a mountain, or part a sea, when there is a purpose- IF we believe we can do it and God has told us to do it. (Moses had an important task to accomplish so the Lord worked pretty hard to get him to a point where he could perform miracles necessary to free the Israelites then try to get them to listen to him.) Jesus told Peter to come to Him on the water. Peter started out just fine but lost faith in himself as well as faith that Jesus would not have him do something he could not do. Peter started to sink. I don't want to make this sound simple because it's not. Believing to the degree necessary to perform amazing miracles from healing to speaking in tongues to change or move physical objects is really, really, really hard. We aren't going to be able to do it simply by saying, like the little engine, "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can." As trite as it may sound, we must read God's word (scriptures) often enough and with enough concentration, pondering, and prayer that we feel familiar with Him. We need to trust Him enough to accept what He tells us is best even if we don't see how it could possibly work that way. Then we need to wait patiently, doing whatever our assignment may be (also called stewardship) until such time God may give us something really spectacular which may be never in our life. Our willingness is all He wants.

This is it

     I have never liked conflict. On the other hand, I have learned that hiding my head in the sand does not make conflict go away. I strive to find the good in everybody, including myself. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. I have spent many hours, tears, and prayers on issues which cause conflict among those I love, predominantly lately, the issue of same-sex marriage. This post is to be my final attempt to explain  what I have discovered. I am not attempting to stand on a soap box or debate. As difficult and frustrating as it may be, I recognize that every human being has a God-given right to make their own choices as to who and what to believe. The latest struggle has been over the clerk who did not want to put her name on marriage licenses issued to same-gender couples. So this post is about how I have resolved that complex and controversial issue FOR MYSELF. (You can choose whatever you want.)
     I don't want to spend time discussing the basic issue of same-gender couples because I wrote on that way back on June 26. All I will say now is that you can look at "marriage" as a temporal (and temporary) legal contract or a heavenly covenant.  Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians "neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord." Also, in 1995, those I consider prophets, seers, and revelators sent out a proclamation to the world on the family.  In it they state "we... solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God..." Because I believe that God exists and the Bible is His word and He has a living prophet on the earth today, I personally can only recognize true "marriage" as being a covenant between a man and a woman within the bounds the Lord has set. Otherwise it's just a piece of paper.
     I have thought about the concept that the law of our land now supposedly allows for anyone to marry who applies for a license. I struggle with the "law" itself because our country has mostly embraced laws enacted by the voice of the people. The Supreme Court is not elected by a majority of people. They "interpret" the Constitution according to their best educated opinions. I think it's very possible for them to interpret in ways that are contrary to what the voice of the people might be. I don't suggest we put to vote the issue of allowing same gender marriage. I really don't know how it would come out. However, a wise leader once said, "Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right; (it's actually a very small minority who identify themselves as same-gender attracted)....And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come..." I have to leave judgment to God.
     On the other hand, when asked what was different about the church he founded, Joseph Smith wrote what is called 13 Articles of Faith. They describe what the LDS Church believes, whether similar or different from other churches. The 12th one states that we believe in honoring and sustaining the law along with obeying our political leaders.  I couldn't help but wonder about Corrie tenBoom or Schindler, or even Martin Luther King, Jr. or Rosa Parks or Ghandi. Were they disobeying the laws of their lands and rulers? I am a Latter Day Saint and I regularly claim to honor and sustain my country with its laws. I believe everyone should be an honorable citizen. On the other hand, leaders of the world can be really, really wrong. For me, the ultimate authority is God. Now, you might say, "God according to whom?" I can only quote for you more scripture, which I believe to be the word of God. "He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another..." (3 Nephi 11:30) "Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil.." (1 Nephi 14:10) "Behold, this is my doctrine- whosoever repenteth and cometh unto me, the same is my church." (D&C 10:67) Countries change boundaries and change laws. Rulers of countries change, often several times in one person's lifetime. God does not change. He wants us to know Him and partake of His wisdom which is superior to man's learning although it is even considered foolishness to man.
     If you own your own business, you need only serve customers you desire to have return. The town clerk, the stewardess, the clerk in a store, or anyone who works for an employer is hired to do what the "boss", whoever it is, wants them to do. You sell booze to an alcoholic. You provide cigarettes to someone dying of lung cancer. You even sign a legal application for marriage between whoever requests it. You are not responsible for their choices. God does not hold me responsible for unwise choices my children make. God will not hold that clerk responsible for the choice of two men to apply for a marriage license. She can issue it without fear of God's disapproval toward her. Mormon and Moroni in the Book of Mormon managed to continue to lead in battle for a people too far gone in iniquity to even care about God despite their sorrow and attempts to get them to listen. Jonah was commanded to enter Ninevah. Lot lived in Sodom and Gomorrah until told to leave. I live here on this earth until God decides I'm done. I don't want to participate in constant contention. I will avoid debate. I will obey laws to the best of my ability. I will respect others' right to choose even if I worry about the consequences for them. On the other hand, I will never deny the existence nor superiority of God. I will worry more about obeying Him than obeying any earthly authority. I can only pray for love and peace and do whatever my small part to bring that about.