OUR MISSIONARY FAREWELL

Not quite the same as my missionary farewell 51 years ago. At that time we had people talking mainly about the missionary that was leaving. That really wasn't appropriate for a Sacrament Meeting. Instead of a musical number by the Chalk Sisters, we had a male quintet singing" Barra de Hierro" as a token gesture to honor missionaries going to a Spanish-speaking country. Mom and I spent a lot of time and effort preparing our talks and so we really want to share them not only with those in attendance but with our family and friends also. We hope that you will not only enjoy our talks, but they might get you thinking and pondering the things that are really important in this life.






Dad's Talk

Book of Mormon: Key to Overcoming the Trial of Faith

Three purposes of the Book of Mormon:

1. Witnesses of the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith
2. Clarifies doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ 
3. Testament of Jesus Christ to all the world

In my talk today I desire to show how the Book of Mormon can also be a key to overcoming our personal trial of faith.

Ether 12

6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.

It appears that every one of us we'll need to go through a trial of faith before we can honestly bear a testimony to the truthfulness of the restored gospel. We all have different trials. To an outsider, some are obviously apparent and others are more subtle. To ourselves, that may be also true.Yet, we must all pass through trials during mortality in order to gain the blessings and strengths of having a testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

For those who are presently being tested or feel that they have yet to be tested, or are dealing with family and friends that are being tested, I would ask that they “dispute not”, but consider three questions or concepts. This means that all of us need to ask ourselves these questions:

 1. “Do I believe that we are here by design or by random acts of nature?” To me this is not a difficult question, but I know that some struggle with the concept of a supreme being that has created this earth and placed us upon it for some purpose. 

Alma 30:44: and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.

During the cold war when we had a national panic regarding a communism take over of our country, , Whittaker Chambers, a prodigy that graduated from Harvard at age 16 and went on to become a senior editor at Time magazine was so sure that communism was the answer to the world’s problems that he engaged in espionage giving US secrets to Russia, but he broke with the Communist Party when he came to realize that it's godlessness was irrational. One morning he was observing his newborn daughter, “My eye came to rest on the delicate convolutions of her ear--those intricate, perfect ears. The thought passed through my mind: No, those ears were not created by any chance coming together of atoms in nature. They could have been created only by immense design.”  Voltaire, “it is difficult if not impossible to believe in God, but not to believe is absurd” We look at the world around us and see the beautiful sunsets, the multiple species of flora and fauna and marvel at the wonder of the human body and mind. This overwhelming evidence forces us to come to the conclusion that not to believe in God and a divine plan is truly absurd.

2.  The next question would be,"What is the purpose then of this designed plan?" Is it to provide an eternal rest? Are we going to sit on clouds and play harps for the eternities? One of my medical colleagues, an evangelical Christian, wrote a book titled "Heaven– Boring? He can not comprehend an eternity of only rest and relaxation. His book creates an argument that God has a lot more in store for us to do after we die. Do we obtain these bodies and pass through the difficulties of life just to spend the rest of the eternities relaxing or is it to prepare us for some greater purpose?  For me, This is not a difficult question either. I have witnessed in myself, close friends and family and in the lives of great men and women who have gone before us or who are around us now, the great potential that man has. I have no problem with the concept that as a child can grow into manhood and obtain the status of his father so can we through the process of this plan of happiness become like our Heavenly Father. I anticipate that in that existence we will have challenges, wonders and much activity. I'm not sure how much time there'll be to play harps. Alma 41:4 tells us that the ultimate end of the plan is to be “raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God.”  Inheriting the Kingdom of God means that we will participate with Him and with our savior Jesus Christ in continuing Their work.That doesn’t sound boring. Our purpose on this earth then is to develop the attributes and prepare us in all ways to join with Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ in the work that they are doing.

3. “What is the best way for this to be accomplished?” What is the most effective method for us to learn the attributes of godhood? This is where the teachings of the Book of Mormon really excel and add to the Bible. 2 Nephi 2 clearly explains to us that Heavenly Father's plan requires mortality and agency. The problem is that this makes our sojourn here on earth really messy and it is the source of the trials of faith that we all go through. This is why there is evil in the world. This is why God has allowed famines and natural disasters. This is why good men and women have made bad mistakes. This is why there is inconsistency in our lives. This is why there are diseases and death. This is why we often cannot understand the wherefore of our lives or why we have been dealt our particular hand of cards. This is why there maybe angry words in our homes.  This is why we may get upset with the Bishop, our visiting teachers, a Scoutmaster or General Authorities. This is why there are divorces.This is physically, emotionally and spiritually very hard to do for both of us and our Heavenly Parents. I remember an ad on television back in the 1960s where a lady is preparing a meal and her kind looking aged mother is trying to help by giving her advice so that the meal will be a success. The lady turns to her mother and emphatically states,"Mother, I would rather do it myself”. Then the camera focuses in on the hurt and sad expression of the mother. We "have to do it ourselves". There is no other way for us to learn and develop into the persons Heavenly Father wants us to become. There is much pain on both parts. Think of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane praying for relief.

Jacob 5:41

And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard wept, and said unto the servant: What could I have done more for my vineyard?

Understanding the difficulty, but the necessity of this messy mortality/ agency combination, Heavenly Father has provided us help. He wants us to succeed.

a. He has provided us social units/ support systems:

1.  Marriage- become one

2.  Family and children- a safe intimate lab in which to practice

3.  Church- a less intimate safe lab in which to practice

4.  Temple- 

b.  He has given us very specific directions to follow in this life such that we might not get too lost. These are called Commandments.

c.  He has given us Scriptures and revelations that we might understand this doctrine

d.  He has given us the Holy Ghost which testifies of the truthfulness of this doctrine to each of us individually.

e. He has provided the ultimate sacrifice of his Son whose Atonement will take care of and compensate for all the messiness of mortality allowing us to reach a state in which we can be partakers of the Divine Presence- join his Zion Community. 

1.  2 Nephi 2:

7 Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.

2.  Alma 7:

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

 12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

Testimony: If you are having a trial of your faith, ask yourself these questions that you might understand how necessarily messy our mortality and agency can make our lives and have understanding and give a little slack to those around you that are part of your various communities because they are going through their trials and they are probably doing the best that they know how. Think of Joseph Smith. He had to learn to be a prophet. He had no formal training or education. He had to learn to receive revelation and document it. He had visions of how things were going to be, but then had to change his plans as the church grew, was persecuted and was moved about. He even had to revise some of his early doctrinal pronouncements as he later gained a greater understanding of that particular doctrine. This is all part of that messiness of mortality. His lack of education, the inadequacies of the written language, his financial situation and the inconsistent support of family and friends all interfered with the nice smooth operation of the church. Subsequent prophets and other leaders of the church had to go through similar experiences. We all have to learn from our experiences how to fulfill each of our responsibilities including that of being parents. Heavenly Father cannot do it for us. We must "do it ourselves". We cannot do it for our children, they must also “do it themselves”.That means the meal may be a disaster, but as we learn from our mistakes and sins, eventually we will be able to prepare and serve a beautiful banquet. That we may all understand these concepts, accept the help of the Lord, dispute not and not let the messiness of mortality keep us from overcoming our Trial of Faith, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Helen's Talk

I Love the Book of Mormon

I Love the Book of Mormon

I have been asked to speak on the Book of Mormon.  I was thrilled to hear this, because I LOVE the Book of Mormon.  I repeat, I LOVE the Book of Mormon.  I started by making a list of some of the most powerful and moving stories and characters in this book, and it just kept getting longer and longer. So I decided to narrow it down to one topic.  As I proceeded to research that topic I was continually being drawn to the testimonies of the prophets and apostles and found myself yearning to have the ability to testify as one who especially moves me, like Jeffery Holland, for example.  But I have to admit I am not Jeffery Holland nor do I have the eloquence or the apostolic credentials, of a Jeffrey Holland.  I am Helen Heder a profoundly average member of the church, who is not the world’s greatest visiting teacher, not consistently loving or forgiving of everyone, don’t always magnify my callings, not a Book of Mormon scholar, and certainly no spiritual or scriptural giant. But in spite of that I hope you will feel the love I have for this book, and if you don’t feel that way yet, I hope you might be touched to search and find out for yourself if it is as wonderful as I say it is.  

President Ezra Taft Benson has said: “The Book of Mormon is the keystone of [our] testimony. Just as the arch crumbles if the keystone is removed, so does the Church stand or fall with the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. The enemies of the Church understand this clearly. This is why they go to such great lengths to try to disprove the Book of Mormon, for if it can be discredited, the Prophet Joseph Smith goes with it. So does our claim to priesthood keys, and revelation, and the restored Church. But in like manner, if the Book of Mormon be true—if it is indeed true—then one must accept the claims of the Restoration and all that accompanies it.

I have often wanted to inquire of those who claim that it is a hoax:  Why would anyone want to perpetrate this kind of hoax?  What could they possibly get out of it?  How could someone as uneducated and unaware of the world outside his small area of existence, as was Joseph Smith, even create such a book? 

Jeffery Holland has said: I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said, “No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.”

Again, President Benson has stated:  The Book of Mormon was written for us today. The authors were God-inspired and God-directed in their work. It is a record compiled by inspired men for our blessing. It was meant for us. Mormon abridged centuries of records. Our Heavenly Father, who knows the end from the beginning, told him what to include in his abridgment that we would need for our day. Mormon turned the records over to his son Moroni, the last recorder; and Moroni, writing over 1,500 years ago but speaking to us today, states in Morm. 8:35 : “Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.”

It says it in introduction to the Book of Mormon that this book is: 

          to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations

The Book of Mormon is another witness of Jesus Christ and confirms the truths found in the Holy Bible. Far from undermining the Bible, the Book of Mormon supports its testimony of Jesus Christ. In 1 Nephi 13:40 it says that the Book of Mormon “shall establish the truth” of the Bible “and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved”

In its more than 6,000 verses, the Book of Mormon refers to Jesus Christ almost 4,000 times and by 100 different names: “Jehovah,” “Immanuel,” “Holy Messiah,” “Lamb of God,” “Redeemer of Israel,” and so on.

As a young girl who was raised in the church by “goodly parents,” I was taught about the Book of Mormon for as long as I can remember.  I can remember believing the Book of Mormon was true even before I had read it.  A good job of brainwashing, indeed, one might say.  I read it the first time from beginning to end in seminary and then again as a freshman at BYU for my required Book of Mormon classes.  All this time I continued to believe it to be true.  The second semester of my sophomore year, which I spent in Salzburg Austria, I decided to read it just for my own personal scripture study.  As usual I was filled and uplifted as I read it (although I may have skimmed over the Isaiah verses).  As I commenced reading 4^th Nephi and continued through it, I was overcome with a feeling that words truly cannot express.  I cried and cried and cried. For those of you who know me well, I am not a crier, unlike my dear husband.  But there in my dorm room in a foreign country, with my two roommates asleep in their beds, I was totally overwhelmed with an indescribable love, with profound grief, and with a deeper understanding of the power of following my savior and/or the devastation of rejecting his teachings.

I would like to share with you some of the concepts that were seared into my heart at this time:

To me it is the most beautiful, clear and concise description of how a society can find joy and fulfillment here in mortality, but also the most achingly sad description of what causes the demise of the kind of society that constitutes Zion.

The remarkable Zion community described in 4 Nephi was established on the American continent sometime between the 34th and 36th years after the birth of our Lord.  It says:

 1 And it came to pass that … behold the disciples of Jesus had formed a church of Christ in all the lands round about. And as many as did come unto them, and did truly repent of their sins, were baptized in the name of Jesus; and they did also receive the Holy Ghost.

 2 And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upo   n all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and

 there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another.

 3 And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift….

 Discipleship in Christ was the foundation of that community. Every individual was wholly converted to the Savior— and this conversion changed the inner person through repentance (see 4 Ne. 1:1).

A natural consequence of the constant influence of the Holy Ghost on the citizens of this society was their desire to deal justly and fairly with each other. The people had all things in common.  This complete conversion to the Lord eliminated contention, produced unselfish self-regulation, and resulted in economic and political equality and freedom.

It goes on to say:

 5 And there were great and marvelous works wrought by the disciples of Jesus, insomuch that they did heal the sick, and raise the dead, and cause the lame to walk, and the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear; and all manner of miracles did they work among the children of men; and in nothing did they work miracles save it were in the name of Jesus….

 7 And the Lord did prosper them exceedingly in the land; yea, insomuch that they did build cities again where there had been cities burned….

13 And it came to pass that there was no contention among all the people, in all the land; but there were mighty miracles wrought among the disciples of Jesus….

 16 And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.

A striking feature of Mormon’s description of Zion in 4 Nephi is the total lack of contention in the land, which he mentions no less than four times (see 4 Ne. 1:2, 13, 15, 18

The civil structure described in 4 Nephi demonstrated a total absence of destructive or divisive elements, including poverty and selfishness. This structure resulted in a classless society in which crime was eliminated and society’s resources could be applied to urban renewal:

It also stated that:

 17 There were no robbers, nor murderers, but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God….

But what happened to the people of 4 Nephi? Defection from this beautiful state did not happen all at once. The power and influence of the Savior’s presence among the Nephites was so strong that they lived the principles of Zion well into the second generation after Christ’s visit. But sometime before A.D. 194, social and religious divisions began to appear among the people. Mormon links apostasy to two evils profoundly detrimental to a pure society. These are pride and social stratification.  The prosperity of the people of Nephi, owing to their faith in Christ, had eventually produced exceeding wealth among the populace. Unfortunately, this wealth led to pride and materialism when the people forgot the source of their strength.

 24 And now, in this two hundred and first year there began to be among them those who were lifted up in pride, such as the wearing of costly apparel, and all manner of fine pearls, and of the fine things of the world.

 25 And from that time forth they did have their goods and their substance no more common among them.

 26 And they began to be divided into classes…

 28 … and … Satan .. did get hold upon their hearts….

 34... the people did harden their hearts,...And thus they did dwindle in unbelief and wickedness, from year to year, even until two hundred and thirty years had passed away.

 35 And now it came to pass in this year, yea, in the two hundred and thirty and first year, there was a great division among the people.

And the people at that time were divided into those were true believers in Christ and those who rejected the gospel and:

38 ….they did not dwindle in unbelief, but they did willfully rebel against the gospel of Christ; and they did teach their children that they should not believe.

Much of the text I used above that was not directly from the Book of Mormon was from the article:

Andrew C. Skinner, “From Zion to Destruction: Lessons of 4 Nephi,” Ensign or Liahona​, Nov. 2000

As Byron R. Merrill – Ensign 2/2000 writes:

 As we enter a new century and secular millennium, the Book of Mormon warns us of the dangers now facing individuals and nations. In these last days, the Lord has taught us the benefits of establishing Zion. However, the scriptures teach that Zion can only be built by following the principles described in 4 Nephi and by making conscious correct choices every day. President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) said that “creating Zion ‘commences in the heart of each person.’”  He further noted: “Zion can be built up only among those who are the pure in heart—not a people torn by covetousness or greed, but a pure and selfless people, not a people who are pure in appearance, rather a people who are pure in heart. Zion is to be in the world and not of the world, not dulled by a sense of carnal security, nor paralyzed by materialism. …

“… We must sacrifice whatever is required by the Lord. We begin by offering a ‘broken heart and a contrite spirit.’ We consecrate our time, talents, and means as called upon by our file leaders and as prompted by the whisperings of the Spirit.”  The Lord has given us the scriptures as a blueprint to show us how to be a Zion people. If we study and live the principles given in 4 Nephi, we will enjoy happiness and avoid the tragic mistakes its people made.

I pray that we can learn from the description of Zion in 4 Nephi. Peace, prosperity and joy come from following our Savior and his teachings. May we all find this peace, prosperity and joy in our lives by following our Savior and sharing his love with all around us.

Helen Heder  March/2016