Liberty Jail

Liberty Jail

President Allred asked that we reflect during our time of confinement due to the Coronavirus on the experience of Joseph Smith and his companions in Liberty Jail during the winter of 1838-1839. It was an almost unbearable time for them, but it was also a time of tremendous growth and powerful revelation. Here are a few thoughts on what might be learned from their experience.

Joseph learned through revelation that "thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment".  What exactly is a "small moment"?  They entered the jail on December 1, 1838 and were released on April 6, 1839, just a little over four months. At the time Joseph received this revelation he had no idea how much longer they would be held.  For someone in a stressful, painful, uncertain or extremely uncomfortable situation every moment may feel like an eternity. The Lord is giving some perspective here when people feel that way. He follows with the promise "And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes".  Joseph also learned:  "all these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good".

No matter how long the trial, the end result for enduring well will be to triumph and the foes we will triumph over include pain, death, despair and grief. All of life's experiences can be for our good.

CS Lewis said it this way:

“That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.”

–C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (New York: HarpersCollins, 1946), 69.

One other thought relates to how the Lord was aware of the Saints situation in Missouri and had prepared and held in reserve those who could lead them through difficult times. At the time the situation in Missouri came to a head the church was centered in Far West and that was where most of the church leadership was. However, circumstances were such that Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, two senior apostles, were not involved when the prophet and other church leaders were taken captive. They were free during this difficult time to help move and resettle church members in Illinois and Iowa, gaining valuable experience for the day when they were called upon to lead the exodus from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley.

Likewise, we see evidence today that a prophet stands at the head of the church who has been prepared for the unique and particular challenges we face.

We are still doing well and are able to get out daily and walk around our local park. On our walks we discovered an old stone lined culvert that looked like a setting from Lord of the Rings. We also saw a turtle. Life is good.

Spring has Sprung

Winter is over and spring is officially here. We see more flowers, blossoms and green leaves everyday.  Temperatures forecast for the coming week are in the 80's.  As Dad used to say:

Spring has sprung,

  The grass has riz,

I wonders where

  The flowers iz?

There is good news at the gas pump and it appears to be getting gooder.  We will enjoy it while we can.

More good news. We found this at the local Walmart Saturday morning and there were several delivery trucks lined up at the loading dock. Supply may be starting to catch up to demand or maybe we were just lucky.

Grocery shopping reminds us of the Philippines. There is food but we're never sure what will be stocked in stores and what will be out. The result is that we tend to buy extra when we see it because we're not sure if it will be there next time. We are probably not the only ones doing this, so it may be a while before things settle down.

These last few weeks have been a good reminder of why we should have a basic supply of essentials on hand and why we should prepare for supply chain disruptions before a crisis hits.

This week was a roller coaster, that's for sure.  On Thursday this census form arrived in the mail and, wanting to be good citizens, we started to respond to it online. The very first question was "Will you be living at this address on April 1, 2020?" The idea is to count everyone in the United States and where they are living on the same day - April 1st (probably not the best day to set as the official response date for a government survey).

We jokingly said, "Maybe we should wait until April 1 to fill this out, just to be sure we're still here."  Ha ha.

About four hours later we received a telephone call telling us to pack up and head for home. By Friday morning we learned we would be staying in the mission.  We are glad to be staying but think we'll wait for April 1 to fill out the census form. 

Some senior missionary couples from our mission have been released early and are on their way home. A few of our young missionaries with health issues have also returned home. All of the remaining young missionaries have been asked to stay in and work from their apartments. We are mostly hunkered down too.  So far Utah and Alabama are showing about the same number of confirmed Coronavirus cases. 

Prescription for Stress

It has been interesting to us to see how smoothly missionary work has transitioned from outside to inside.  There are challenges for sure, but the groundwork is laid so that the work continues. 

Technology in place?   ✓
Missionaries trained to use technology? ✓
Emphasis on ministering?  ✓
Home based church?  ✓

It is almost like someone has seen and prepared for this day.

This weeks mission miracle:

We have found some great success with working with the less actives and filling their homes with the spirit of Elijah. We are always amazed when we see the mission vision working before our eyes and it is a testimony builder of where this mission vision came from. Real quick experience. We have been talking to a less active lady and have been helping her with her family history work. We took one of the family history consultants with us to go see her and he was shocked. He said that he has been trying for a while to talk to her and every time she had shut him down. When he came with us she let him in and we had an hour long conversation. We also have been going out with the ministers to visit their ministering families so we took her minister with us to go see her. We had dinner together and asked her if she would allow us to take her father and grandfathers name to the temple. She said yes and then told us she was excited to get their work done! When we left her minister was shocked. He said that he has been trying to get into her house for the past 6 months and she has never let him in. SO again, it is so awesome to see the mission vision working before our eyes!

The Original Iron Man

This week has sure been a roller coaster ride!  At the first of the week Alabama was one of only a few states without a known Coronavirus case. That has now changed and only West Virginia remains in that category.

With all that's going on across the world our assignment helping shepherd missionaries to the temple is on hold for a while. At least we are not on lock down and are able to get out and move around.

We were able to attend the temple with four districts on Tuesday and Wednesday - some 31 missionaries - before we had to cancel the remaining temple dates for March.  These last three weeks have been very successful and have taught us how to better plan and organize missionary temple trips.

We saw Elder Droubay on Tuesday. He is from Erda, Utah and knows our grandsons, Zach and Ian.

Elder Droubay

Now for Iron Man. This is a statue of the Roman god Vulcan.  It was made for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and is the largest cast iron statue in the world. It was created using ore mined and smelted in Birmingham and was made to promote the developing iron and steel industry here as Vulcan was believed to be the god of fire and forge. It sits on a hilltop south of Birmingham looking northward with a commanding view of the city.  Vulcan is 56 feet tall, weighs over 50 tons and stands on top of a 124 foot pedestal.  It is a major icon for the city of Birmingham so we just had to swing by to see it.

Not knowing what to expect we took the elevator ride to the observation deck on the tower. Just as we stepped out of the elevator and the doors were closing behind us at the top we learned that the deck of the observation platform is made with sheets of open mesh steel that are see through. It's quite breath taking - literally! One of us was not happy with the other one of us for bringing them to the observation deck. Someday we may look back at this experience and laugh, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Looking north toward Birmingham.

We found another interesting landmark in the area southeast of downtown Birmingham. This one is more secluded and less visited than the Vulcan. It is an old iron bridge that spans the Cahaba River and is no longer used for vehicle traffic.  To get to it we had to travel a couple of miles on a gravel road.

Road to the old iron bridge.

Old Iron Bridge

Cahaba River

This would be a pretty spot to take a picnic lunch. Walking out on the bridge we soon saw why it is no longer safe for vehicles.

It is starting to warm up here although it still rains about two days out of three. There have been daytime temperatures in the 70's. The trees are starting to blossom, new leaves are showing and daffodils are in full bloom. Spring is in the air.

This weeks mission miracle is a reminder that every day is a miracle and a gift.

A Parable

A group of people who wished to travel in an unknown land were met by two guides.

The first guide told them, “The path I will take you on leads up a high mountain to a place with views more beautiful than you can imagine. It will be challenging and quite possibly frightening in places. The way is constantly uphill. We will need to cross raging rivers and vast glaciers that are very dangerous to attempt on your own, but I can promise that if you will follow me and do as I say, you will all arrive safely. I can also promise that you will grow stronger with each mile and it will be more than worth the effort required. Finally, I can promise that any injuries suffered along the way will be fully healed by the time we reach the top.

All I ask is that you put on a harness, clip into a rope that I provide, follow in my footsteps, and obey my instructions. Clouds constantly surround the mountain making it impossible to see where we are going or the progress we have made, except for occasional glimpses when the clouds part for a moment.   It is the rope and my daily guidance that will give you the assurance that all is well.

When we arrive at the top of the mountain, above the clouds, you will then be able to enjoy the amazing view and realize how high you have climbed and how strong you have become.

Remember - if you go with me it is strictly voluntary. You may unclip from the rope at any time and go your own way.”

At this the second guide broke in, “Don’t be fools! To go with this man is madness! Why travel up hill on such a dangerous path when the way downhill can be much easier and more enjoyable. With us you will not be bound by harness or rope. You can go where you choose and do whatever you want.

It is true that the constant fog in this land might make you momentarily uncomfortable, but you will get used to it and after a time will hardly notice. My many associates and I will always be around to reassure you. The only goal we have is that you enjoy the moment and travel your own path.

It is also true that there is some danger when wandering through this land. You may encounter wild beasts, endless swamps, hidden pits and occasional storms; but we can provide substances and distractions to help you ignore or forget those dangers.  All we ask for payment is that each time we provide our service, you carry one additional link from this chain. They are not heavy and will hardly be noticed.”

By the end of their journey the travelers found that deciding what to believe was not nearly as important as choosing who to believe.

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This weeks mission miracle:

"We've seen many tender mercies this week but I'd like to share one miracle we were blessed to see. During our daily planning session Elder McLaughlin and I both had the impression that we needed to visit a farming town on the outskirts of our area. After a few failed contacts with some people I had taught in the past we decided to go try and find some less actives I had never met before. We pulled up to a less active member's house we both had never heard of. As soon as we got out of the car she came out of her house and yelled," The last missionary that came here told me he would remove my records so y'all would stop bothering me" she explained that she was baptized when she was a young girl and wanted nothing to do with the church. We apologized for bothering her but explained that we were going and helping people with family history and felt impressed to help her. It was then that her whole attitude towards us changed. She told us about all these wonderful family history stories she had found. She told us that her great- great grandpa helped build the first LDS church building in Alabama. We had a great conversation with her and her husband for a couple of hours and she invited us back. It was later in the week that we found out that she was on the do not contact portion of the churches role because of how hostile she had been to past missionaries. I am so grateful I didn't have a copy of that list and for the spirit of Elijah to soften even the hardest hearts towards the gospel."

Kentucky Derby Pie

The rain has abated, at least for a couple of days. That has nothing to do with pie, but it had a lot to do with a drop in relative humidity. The pie was a gift from Sister Cheryl Pettus who is the matron of the Alabama Birmingham Temple. We get to work closely with President and Sister Pettus in the temple. They are from the Huntsville area and are wonderful to work with.

We joined six of our districts in the temple this week - that's 50 missionaries, or about 15 to 20 each day we were there. They also invited members to join them for baptisms and/or an endowment session.  This has been a great opportunity for us, but also a learning experience. 

Our Mission Miracle for this week is a good reminder to let our light shine:
"The miracle for this week was finding a very prepared man named Justin. What made the situation even better was that he knew the first counselor in our branch presidency quite well back in high school and thought very highly of him because of his religion and the choices he made due to his beliefs. It was another reminder to always remember who you represent, there are always people watching. The counselor is coming with us on a team up to go and teach Justin this week, we are excited!"