President's Weekly Letter #24

 …VAN EEN VERNUFTIGE MAKELIJ…

(1 Nephi 18:1)

Belgium/Netherlands Mission

THE SEED OF ABRAHAM

Much is prophesied of the gathering of Israel in the latter days.  The need for a gathering is due to the scattering of Israel which also has been spoken of by all the prophets over the dispensations. We are engaged today in this historic work in our Mission of gathering.  The gathering began after the appearance of Moses to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple on April 3, 1836.  After seeing the Lord, Joseph and Oliver record:

 “…the heavens were again opened unto us; and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north.” (DC110:11)

Abraham received promises concerning his seed that they should be as innumerable as the stars and the sand upon the seashore.  His seed is called the House of Israel.  This is a blessing that Abraham received.  Abraham’s family, his seed, will consist of all those who choose to follow the commandments and are saved in the kingdom of God.  Can you imagine this great blessing for Abraham to sit at the head as the Patriarch of this family?

 “9 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations;

 10 And I will bless them through thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father;” (Abr.2:9-10)

It appears Abraham’s seed is made up of two separate lines.  The first line is the blood line of actual descendants on earth called the children of Israel whose blood line has become diluted in most cases. God is not a respecter of persons and loves all his children.  His covenant with Abraham is with Abraham not special spirit children.  An individual, by virtue of a pure blood line, appears not to be guaranteed an automatic place in the kingdom of God, but all of God’s children can become part of Abrahams blessing.  This happens if someone is a direct blood line by repenting and believing in Christ.  Also, if someone is not of direct blood line but joints Abraham’s seed by repenting and believing in Christ. 

“ 2 For behold, I say unto you that as many of the Gentiles as will repent are the covenant people of the Lord; and as many of the Jews as will not repent shall be cast off; for the Lord covenanteth with none save it be with them that repent and believe in his Son, who is the Holy One of Israel.” (2 Nephi 30:2)

“6 For thus it behooveth the Father that it (the gospel) should come forth from the Gentiles, that he may show forth his power unto the Gentiles, for this cause that the Gentiles, if they will not harden their hearts, that they may repent and come unto me and be baptized in my name and know of the true points of my doctrine, that they may be numbered among my people, O house of Israel;”  (3 Nephi 21:6)

Indeed, the faithful are adopted into the family of Abraham; they are spiritually begotten of Christ becoming his sons and daughters as declared by King Benjamin in Mosiah 5:7. Paul was the first great Prophet who took the gospel to the Gentiles.  He offered further clarification to this doctrine. 

      “4 …God sent forth his Son…

 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts.

 7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” (Gal. 4:5-7)

“24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

 26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

 29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3: 24-29)

As we work to gather the House of Israel, keep in mind everyone you see is eligible to be adopted into the House of Israel.  Also, everyone is interested or would be interested under other circumstances to hear our message.

President Robinson

President's Weekly Letter #23

 …VAN EEN VERNUFTIGE MAKELIJ…

(1 Nephi 18:1)

Belgium/Netherlands Mission

LIVING AFTER THE MANNER OF HAPPINESS

Every missionary faces discouragement at times.  What we do is tough, especially in the dark, cold winter weather that we are experiencing.  People are sometimes rude when contacted on the door or in the street and most people reject hearing our message.  Feeling successful can be difficult.  The language looms as a challenge for a large part of the mission experience. Problems, concerns, poor health, fatigue, disunity and/or personal feelings of discouragement can be overwhelming. 

Nephi taught 9 keys to assist anyone to overcome discouragement and live after the manner of happiness.  These key points are found in 2 Nephi 4 and 5.  Chapter 4 is sometimes called the Psalm of Nephi and is one of the most beautiful texts he wrote.  Nephi’s keys to living after the manner of happiness are as follows and sounds much like President Gordon B. Hinckley’s fireside address on 12 Nov. 2000 titled the Six B’s:

1.     4:15; Keep a Diary.  Write things of your soul and favorite scriptures in your diary.  Further, write things which are of worth unto your children and will persuade them to come unto God. (see also 1 Nephi 6:5-6)

2.     4:16; Be Smart.  Delight and ponder the things of the Lord.  This could also be called meditation.  Our world is full of noise with an unending avalanche of audio and visual information competing for your attention.  Meditation is taking time to shut out the input and simply think and ponder.  You will be more purposeful and successful in your life by doing this.

3.     4:34; Be Trusting.  Place your trust in God.  This is essentially the kernel of faith.  It is believing God will come through for you during your darkest hours.  You can then confidently experience hope for better days as you place your trust in him.

4.     4:24; Be Prayerful.  Engage in mighty prayer.  Nephi says to wax bold in prayer.  Wax is a code word for letting virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.  Prayer is your invitation to God to get involved without him imposing himself on you.  He has commanded you to pray about everything going on in your life.  (see Alma34)

5.     4:17, 26-27; Be Humble.  Recognize your need for the Savior.  Everybody has a fallen nature.   We all need the Savior who has promised to make up the difference in our lives and assist us in making our weakness become strengths.  We in turn must do our best and, when we make mistakes, we get back up and do our best again.  Nephi is thought of as a bold and faithful prophet, yet even he reveals his weaknesses and desperate need for the Savior.

6.     4:20-23; Be Grateful.  Gratitude is to acknowledge God’s hand in your life.  He supports you in your afflictions, your wildernesses, and your deep waters.  He gives you knowledge and inspiration. Writing a list of your blessings, including simple things like eye sight, is a sure fire way to realize God supports you. 

7.     4:28-30; Be True.  Awake, rejoice, do not droop in sin and do not slacken your strength.  Stay true to your convictions and resolve to continue the good fight. 

8.     5:11, 15-17; Be Industrious.  I do not believe there is any better first-aid therapy to discouragement than to buckle down and go to work.  Hard work and temple attendance is an important part of living after the manner of happiness. 

9.     5:10; Be Clean.  Keep the commandments in all things. 

Nephi’s mission was not easy.  He overcame many afflictions and much discouragement.  Think of his obstacles.  He faced:  wickedness in Jerusalem, people sought the life of his father, Labon stood in his way, he left great wealth, obtained the brass plates, 8 years in the wilderness, broken bow, hunger/thrust/child births/hard work/fatigue, Laman and Lemuel sought his life, build tools, build a ship, cross the ocean and tied up at sea.  It may be the Engineer in me, but I would like to know how he launched the ship.  After all this, his brothers sought his life again; so he took what he could carry with those who would follow and fled into the wilderness to start again.  In the Psalm of Nephi, he indicates this lead him to experiencing some big-time discouragement.  He states his heart groaned because of his sins and he asked himself why he should linger in the valley of sorrow. 

But, he describes their lives as, “…we lived after the manner of happiness.” (2 Nephi 5:27)  Remember at all times to follow Nephi’s keys to happiness and especially as feelings of discouragement come.  It is a great blessing to enjoy serving in Belgium and the Netherlands at this time.  

President Robinson

President's Weekly Letter #22

 …VAN EEN VERNUFTIGE MAKELIJ…

(1 Nephi 18:1)

Belgium/Netherlands Mission

COMMUNICATION WITH GOD

In the early 1830’s, school teachers often would take room and board with the families that had children in school as a form of compensation using barter since money was hard to obtain.  Oliver Cowdery was a teacher in Palmyra, New York and lived with the Smith Family.  Joseph and Emma had moved to Harmony, Pennsylvania to escape the relentless persecution in Palmyra and were living with her parents.  Oliver became intrigued by the story of the first vision and the golden plates told by the Smith family.  He earnestly prayed to know the truth and felt that he must travel to Harmony to meet Joseph for himself.  He soon began working as the scribe that Joseph needed to translate the Book of Mormon. Thanks to Oliver, Sections 6, 8 and 9 of the Doctrine and Covenants contain valuable insight into the nature of revelation for members of the church.

“ 14 … as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time.

  15 Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did enlighten thy mind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that thou hast been enlightened by the Spirit of truth;

  16 Yea, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart.” (DC 6:14-15)

We learn that the Lord always answers prayers through instruction from the Spirit.  If we pray for something then the way things turn out may very well be the answer.  Answers to prayers may simply be “enlightening of the mind”.  And, only God knows our thoughts and intends of our heart.  Thus, Satan does not.  I have heard many couples state they have a code they use so they together know they are planning to go to the temple.  Their intent is therefore only in their minds, Satan does not know their thoughts, so they experience much less adversity to complete the temple trip.

“22 … cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.

  23 Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?

  24 And now, behold, you have received a witness; for if I have told you things which no man knoweth have you not received a witness?” (DC 6:21-24)

Only Oliver and God knew he had poured out his soul in prayer.  Joseph Smith did not know.  Oliver’s answer revealed from God to his question was peace in his mind concerning the matter.  For many, this could be a fairly imperceptible answer.  It requires practice to learn the language of the spirit so we consistently stay on track:  looking for, feeling, recognizing and following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  When thoughts or new ideas come, rest assured they originate from the spirit.

“2 Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.

 3 Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground.” (DC 8: 2-3)

We think of a voice as words.  In the language of the spirit, telling does not mean words in your ears.  Spirit telling means thoughts in your mind and feelings in your heart.  This also, for many, could be a fairly imperceptible answer that requires practice to learn which again requires careful:  looking for, feeling, recognizing and following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  We often think of Cecil B. Demille’s version of Moses hearing the voice from heaven commanding him to part the Red Sea.  The Lord said this revelation came through thoughts and feelings.

“ 7 Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.

 8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.” (DC 9:7-8)

The Lord expects us to do the labor; work things out for success and make the effort.  We must do this prayerfully and learn to take our own initiative and follow the Lord’s direction. There is no way we can faithfully follow PMG without becoming experts at looking for, feeling, recognizing and following the promptings of the Holy Spirit. 

Elders and Sisters, as we prayerfully go about our business, we will build a 5^th Stake.  The Lord said, “Where there is no vision the people will perish...” (Proverbs 29:18)  We need to provide leadership in the Lord’s way and share the vision of real growth with the members by bringing progressing investigators to church.  Let your results do the talking.  President Teixeira has said, “Whenever we set a goal we put ourselves on the path of results.  We have never seen a time like this.  The Church is growing in Europe.  The doubling of the missionaries is a big thing and the Lord did not do this for us to be ordinary.”

President Robinson

President's Weekly Letter #21

 …VAN EEN VERNUFTIGE MAKELIJ…

(1 Nephi 18:1)

Belgium/Netherlands Mission

WHAT TRAIL ARE YOU LEAVING?

In the United States the standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number, so why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US Railroads.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did "they" use that gauge then?

Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?

Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.

Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. So the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches was derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. The chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses.

Now the ironic twist to the story... When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big solid rocket boosters, or SRBs, attached to the sides of the main fuel tank.  The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory at Utah. The engineers who designed the SRB would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel.

The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's behind!

I found this story some years ago from an unknown source.  Elders and Sisters, I tell this story to set up the question, “What trail are you leaving?”  Your example and life will effect, in many ways, generations to come of loved ones, people you meet on your mission and those with whom you associate. 

In the course of our mission, we all leave a trail just like a cow on the mountain leaves a trail.  I run cows on a USFS mountain permit.  I learned in my youth that gathering cows in the fall is 10% herding and 90% tracking.  I learned tracking skills from the best, Gene McBride, Jack McBride, Earl Johnson and my father.  Is the trail you are leaving something you are proud of?  Do your tracks meander around like a cow trail or is it purposeful and straight?  Success on your mission requires a pure heart and singleness of heart as we work smarter.

The Lord commands us to be engaged in building Zion.  Building Zion is exactly what we are doing in the Mission:

“For Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness; her borders must be enlarged; her stakes must be strengthened; yea, verily I say unto you, Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments.

…Every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God.” (DC82:14,19)

 “And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness...” (Moses 7:19)

The Lord had a purpose other than starting a city when he commanded the Saints to settle in the Jackson County Missouri referred to as Zion. (Zion meaning a place.)  But the Saints made a serious mistake.  They assumed that they could build a place of Zion without building a people who were Zion or pure in heart. (Zion meaning a condition.)  They disregarded the Lord’s continued warnings and, as a result, were driven from the center place of Zion by the mobs.

President Hinckley summed up what I wish to say when he outlined what will bless our individual lives and missions with success.

“I speak of the need for a little more effort, a little more self-discipline, a little more consecrated effort in the direction of excellence in our lives.  This is the great day of decision for each of us.  For many it is the time of beginning something that will go on for as long as you live.  I plead with you, don’t be a scrub!  Rise to the high ground of spiritual, mental, and physical excellence. You can do it.  You may not be a genius.  You may be lacking in some skills.  But so many of us can do better than we are now doing.  We are members of this great Church whose influence is now felt over the world.  We are people with a present and with a future.  Don’t muff your opportunities.  Be excellent.”

President Robinson