Wow!
Right now it's Friday morning and I was reading this talk by Bishop Victor L.
Brown about the Aaronic Priesthood Quorums and it is just fantastic! It's
October 1975, you've probably read it dad, but this part I really liked.
"Although
there is usually nothing inherently wrong with athletics, super-activities or
parties, a self-serving diet of entertainment fails because it aims in the
wrong direction. Instead of setting out to accomplish the work of the ministry
which the Lord has assigned to the Aaronic Priesthood quorums, this approach
largely ignores service and personal sacrifice and seeks to compete in a
worldly way for the attention of our youth. When this happens, the youth may
begin to think that the Church exists to indulge their whims and wishes and
that they should evaluate the Church by the yardstick of self-indulgence. And
if they think this way, they may find the world’s enticements more daring and
exciting than any we can properly provide. Then, because we have imitated the
world, we lose them to the world. There is a far better approach. We must focus
on the priesthood quorum and how it accomplishes the work the Lord has given
it. The quorum then makes a vital contribution to the exaltation of its
members. When an Aaronic Priesthood leader takes the work of the quorum
seriously, he is not afraid to call upon quorum members to inconvenience
themselves and sacrifice. When these members experience the sweetness and joy
of self-sacrifice, which the world at best can only partially give, they begin
to regard the priesthood with solemnity, appreciation, and respect. May I
reiterate this.
If doing the work of the priesthood is the aim of an Aaronic
Priesthood quorum, its members will become active and remain active. Members
invariably lose interest if the quorum presidency or adult leadership ignores
the work of the Lord and attempts to devise entertainment programs to entice
activity. It is a law of life: “Only if you sacrifice for a cause will you love
it.” So true!!! It's no surprise that youth programs that only do fun
activities for mutual are so weak!
The
week in general was pretty good. Just a lot of finding. Pray for us to find
someone to teach that's ready! We had to drop a lot of people, so our lessons
were super low. Earlier this week I found something cool, so I wrote up an
email about that, but here's something that was revelatory to me today in
church! In the setting apart of the 2nd councilor in the EQP today, President
Peters said, "Offer your opinions, but when the one that holds the keys
makes the final decision, uphold it as if it were your own." I really
liked it, and I think it was meant for me just as much as it was for the 2nd
councilor. We had the baptism on Saturday, A was ordained to the office of
a priest today!! We are going on splits with him on Thursday and he wants to
serve a mission!!! What a swell guy! I love him to death. Please keep C,
one of our investigators in your prayers! He's been taking it pretty hard from
Satan. His 'brothers' from his church are pretty anti-Mormon and basically plan
activities in all his free time so he can't meet with us. I WANT HIM TO GET
BAPTIZED!!!!!
Hunter
When a young man or woman heads out on his or her
mission, they leave their lives behind, often ready and willing to give up
everything that makes them who they are. Some of them, like me, have a harder
time letting go. Throughout my mission I've wondered if I should just give up
playing my violin completely while on my mission, under the pretense that it
would simply be a distraction and hinderance to the work of the Lord! I
borrowed violins to play in Ward meetings, baptisms, etc....and enjoyed the
spirit I was able to bring on all the occasions, all the while wondering, 'Am I
just wasting the Lords time?' Eventually, by sheer luck, I was able to obtain a
beautifully sounding violin from an obscure antique shop, for a mere $60! I
thanked God for the find, and went about my mission as usual. Fast forward 8
months, and one p-day while on a hike, our car was broken into. My prized
violin was stolen, along with all my music (it was in my backpack and they just
took that). I thought, 'Well, I guess this is God telling me I'm done.....,'
although I didn't really want to believe that. The following Sunday, I was to
play in one of my former wards, so I salvaged a violin with 3 G strings to do
it! After I had played, the Ward mission leader who was speaking, explained
that I hadn't sounded up to par because I was playing on a borrowed violin with
three G strings! After the meeting a number of people came up to me asking what
they could do to help me find another violin. I told them not to worry about
it, but they asserted themselves and explained to me that they were going to
find me a violin and asked me to tell them if I found a violin I would like. I
said, yes, of course I will, but I didn't really mean it. I didn't want to say,
'Here! Buy this violin for me!' Two weeks later I got a call from the brother
that was the head of the 'find a violin for elder Johnson committee' asking me
to come over to pick up the violin they had ordered for me. Long story short,
he had contacted someone he had gotten a violin from in the past, and with the
contributions of Ward members, had bought a $$$$ violin. I of course, thanked
him profusely, and asked him if there was anything I could possibly do to repay
him and the Ward. He said, 'Just play it.' He and everyone that had contributed
just wanted to hear it.
The spirit witnessed to me that this gift was something I
could use throughout my life to bless others to be able to feel the spirit. I
knew as long as I could stay focussed on the real work, the Lord wanted me to
use the gifts he'd blessed me with in order to bless others......but a little
bit of doubt still remained. A month and a half later, after playing at
someone's baptism, I was walking out when a man walked up to me and asked, 'Is
that a violin?' I said, 'Yeah!'
To which he replied, 'Do you want a bunch of music? I
have boxes of music, you can have it all.' Of course I wanted music! So the
following Monday, we took a short trip over to his house and he explained the
importance of the music. It had been his mothers, who had been a famous concert
violinist, playing an original Stradivarius.
Her violin was stolen, and a car accident left her
heavily impaired, and she was never able to play the same. Eventually she died,
and for nine years, Brother Cannon had kept his mothers music, thinking that he
needed to just throw it out, or donate it to BYU, but never getting around to
it. As he told us this story, he told of how he had ended up at the baptism.
Some sisters had asked him to give an investigator a ride, and had showed up near
the end due to the investigator sleeping in. He was walking down the hall of
the church at the exact time I was, and as he saw me, he heard his mother say,
'Give it to him.' As he concluded telling the story he said, 'I've been waiting
nine years for the right person, and you are the one my mother wants to have
her music.' If the first witness I had had wasn't enough, this left no doubt in
my mind off things hat God gives us special talents and abilities to use in his
service. My knowledge of this is sure.
"Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a
bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the
house." - Jesus Christ
1. - 2. Service at 'stop hunger now'
3. Random photo we had taken of us after church last
week.
1. Elder F and I with R. She's the one that
opened the door when we knocked and not only said we could come back, but
remembered!
She and her whole family got baptized on Saturday.
2. This is the whole family! Except for all the
missionaries in it.
And the grandpa and grandma (far left and right) and the
dad (guy with beard, but he hasn't been coming to church in years) were already
members. The youngest boy by grandpa is to young to get baptized, and the older
boy next to him is going to get baptized at the end of this month!
3. The missionaries with R and E.
Last two are random pictures of missionaries on Pday
I'll be sending a few boxes of music home in the next few weeks. Brother Cannon
is sending them for me. Elder Cromar (the one on the run with me) is my
grandson! We usually go running on p-day together, and yes, the rain was quite
exquisite! I'm glad you've been able to share that story with a few people, and
if they want to do that, that would be really cool I guess! Love you all! Where
was dads letter this week? This week we met with Elder Hamula, that was really
cool. It was just what our mission needs. 
