W for What should I share?

 

The A-Z of Ministering by Duncan Horne

Ministering describes the collective and organised effort in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where members keep in regular contact with one another to offer spiritual support and welfare assistance

"W" Post

To minister can be a challenge at the best of times. There is no set outline of how exactly you should minister, and what exactly you should talk about, share, or teach. There are probably many times before where you feel you have hit a wall and have no idea what to share.

Ministering to others need not be difficult or complicated. Perhaps there was a talk you particularly enjoyed listening to recently at church - you could talk about that. Maybe a lesson really hit home with you that you could share with someone and discuss together.

What have you learned in your daily study of the scriptures?

Do you have a favourite hymn that fills you with peace?

What are the latest words of the prophets and apostles from General Conference or in the Church magazines?

What does this individual or family need, and what gospel principle or teaching would help them realise that need?

There are many simple messages that we can share to make a difference in other people's lives. Choose something you like, and share it with those you minister to, TODAY!

Urdaneta Philippines Temple

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints builds temples all around the world where faithful members go to learn more of Jesus Christ and his plan, receive ordinances for themselves, and perform vicarious work for their deceased ancestors. These temples are beautifully constructed both inside and out. They are designed to direct our thoughts heavenward and seal families together for eternity. The redemptive work that is performed here is not to be found anywhere else on the earth. All people are invited to experience for themselves the grandeur and blessings of temple work by qualifying themselves to enter the House of the Lord.  In the meantime, I'll be taking you through the A to Z of our temples.

URDANETA PHILIPPINES TEMPLE

An artist's impression of what the Urdaneta Philippines Temple will look like when it is fully constructed

The Urdaneta Philippines Temple is one of eleven temples around the world currently under construction. Another 35 temples have been announced but are still in the planning phase. 

Temples are typically announced in a General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This has become increasingly exciting as church members hope for a temple to be built much closer to them. The following video is of the new temples announcement in the General Conference of October 2018 by Church President, Russell M. Nelson:

Six months later in the next General Conference, President Nelson gently invited members of the audience to refrain from screaming out during the announcement of new temples:

Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Overcoming the World - (Part 3)

A couple of months ago, I felt quite isolated from the gospel of Jesus Christ through my own neglect of studying it. I recorded a video message in this blog post, detailing how I felt swamped down by the world.

Around a month later, I followed up with another video message where I spoke of my efforts to start anew and gain more balance in my life by including more heavily, spiritual things.

Today, seemingly out of nowhere, I had the desire to listen to some General Conference talks using my earphones while vacuuming the house. Sounds a bit weird, right? Well, it does to me. I have never done that before!

For Mormons, General Conference represents the mind of the Lord as revealed through the medium of the Spirit via apostles and other general authorities of the church. It is an event everyone is eager to be a part of.

And I have spent years and years listening to talks given in such meetings, all of them very good and uplifting, but none seeming to be personal to me, as we are told can happen in some instances.

After all, I am just an average Mormon.

I have no spectacular problems in the church or in my life.

I have no pressing and immediate concerns, no desperation to find an answer to something that is bothering the hell out of me.

And then while I was vacuuming the house, I listened to Elder Neil L. Andersen talk about "Overcoming the World." Considering my little journey of the last two months in trying to balance the things of the world with more spiritual things, this arrived in my ears and heart as a personal message to me. He may as well have began, "Dear Mr. Horne..." I forgot that he was speaking to an entire hall full of people, that it had been broadcast around the world on the internet to church meetinghouses everywhere.

For the 15 minutes I vacuumed and listened, Elder Andersen was talking to me. Finally, a speech that meant something to me, that called out to my struggle, that echoed my circumstance. And right on time!

This speech has become a little treasure to me, an added help in my continuing journey of striving to get a better balance into my life, in straining to want to hunger and thirst after the teachings of the Saviour Jesus Christ, of making that a more prominent part of my life again.

Relatable

This is one post in an A-Z series of 26 where I am writing about living as a Mormon in the wilderness of Kuantan

Our circumstances and experience contribute to determining to what extent we can relate to something. And how we relate to something goes a long way to deciding if it is applicable to us.

In the Book of Mormon record, Laman and Lemuel couldn't relate to their father Lehi's dreams, visions and actions because they didn't have any experience in spiritual things. Unfortunately, this resulted in 1,000 years of family conflicts.

On the flip side, not being able to relate to something, doesn't always deem it unapplicable. Not one of us can relate to the atonement of Christ. We can learn about it, try to understand it, we can feel its effects in our lives, but we cannot directly relate to it as none of us have had to go through anything remotely similar to it. Yet its application in our lives is all-consuming.

While we know our circumstances should not alter our levels of faith, and most certainly do not lower the necessity of God's commands, living as a Mormon in the wilderness does bring up some things that we just can't relate to.

In recent General Conference talks, I have listened to our leaders talk of certain things that don't apply to us. Now, I am not speaking of the gospel of Jesus Christ, or the doctrine as presented in the Mormon church. I can always relate to the truth that has set me free and enlightened my mind. I refer to general statements, made-up words, and small components of principles.

1. Elder Quentin Cook stated in the October 2015 General Conference that "Christianity is under attack," which when compared to my experience in my quiet wilderness town of Kuantan, simply doesn't ring true.

I can't relate to that statement. I haven't personally experienced any hostilities regarding my faith. It is my lungs, not my faith which is under attack from a guy who smokes in a restaurant. I do not feel that my faith is under attack by the increasing number of bars selling alcohol. I do not feel that my faith is under attack when people decide to practise homosexuality more openly than before. No-one is removing my freedom to choose my responses.

Although I can't relate to this particular statement and it therefore doesn't apply to me, our circumstances don't alter our support of our elected leaders or our allegiance to the will of God. Perhaps to a majority in America, Christianity may seem to be under attack. Just not to us.

2. Secondly, the infamous profiteering of the fabricated word 'ponderize' by Devin Durrant in October 2015. This is something that I could not, would not and do not relate to. It's somewhat surprising how this talk gained authorisation. (His son was concurrently running a website selling 'ponderize' merchandise. Ooops)

His attempt to make profits out of a General Conference talk was appalling.

I don't 'ponderize' the scriptures. No, Nephi was not a 'ponderizer.' And no, I don't try to make money out of spiritual preaching. I cannot relate to this person's words.

3. Thirdly, Elder Christoffersen gave a great talk in October 2015 where he balanced family and church. Very insightful. He remarked near the end, "Repentance is individual, but fellowship on that sometimes painful path is in the church."

This was a quote that both resonated with me and at the same time appeared very alien to me. Repentance is individual - yes. We have to do it ourselves, no-one else can repent for us. Repentance is probably the most self-reliant aspect of the gospel. The latter part of the quote is generally true, but for us in Kuantan, does not apply. We have no fellowship with other church members in a typical branch/ward community. The path of repentance and re-establishing a strong personal connection with Deity for us is a personal and lonesome struggle. A struggle, though, that has been a huge blessing in my life. Without living here in Kuantan, separate from the church, I would not have learned so effectively concerning the establishment of a personal relationship with Deity. It has been thrust upon us that we are doing this without the 'fellowship of the saints' and that we are of a stronger personal and family faith because of that.

I understand what all three gentlemen were trying to say. I also understand that they were speaking to a general audience of ward and branch church goers. Living in the wilderness is different in the fact that not everything our general leaders say, directly relates to us. This has increased my reliance on divine confirmation as to what snippets of proposed truth we should seriously consider. For example, church leaders have asked us to help refugees whenever possible. There are no refugees in Kuantan! So instead we continue to help others including ourselves whenever we can.

Not everything relates or applies to us, which is okay, but our peculiar circumstances don't change our devotion to God and the gospel covenants we have made with Him.

What it does is make us more aware of the specifics that do and don't relate to us living in the wilderness.

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

This is one post in an A-Z series of 26 where I am writing about living as a Mormon in the wilderness of Kuantan

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Together with the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles represents the upper echelons of Mormon church leadership.

The method of succession to President has changed over time since Joseph Smith was sustained as the first Church President in 1830. Following his death in 1844, the church endured a period of 3 years without a called and set apart President as the leadership sought for answers as to the best route of succession. With enhanced methods along the way, the church is now settled on a sensible succession plan wherein the longest-serving member of the Quorum of the Twelve possesses the right of advancement to the Presidency.

Thomas S. Monson is currently serving as the 15th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

What may be less black and white is how a person is chosen to be installed as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. That's because it is not measurable like years of service. Mormons like to say that such people are chosen by God, even if it is not exactly clear how that happens.

To be clear, I fully believe that new apostles are considered carefully and prayerfully by the upper church leaders. Current apostles submit several names as personal suggestions to the President who assesses, considers, prays and ultimately makes his own decisions on suitable candidates for Apostleship.

Precisely how he arrives at specific names, I'm not entirely sure, though I trust that it is done by feelings, thoughts and ideas gained through asking Deity and receiving such responses in a spiritual manner.

At a recent General Conference in October 2015, three spaces in the Apostleship were filled due to the passing of three senior apostles. This was seen as an opportunity for the church to demonstrate that it could be diverse in its general leadership choices. 

Perhaps there would be a black apostle.

Maybe an Asian apostle.

Possibly  a Latin American called to the Quorum of the Twelve.

As it turned out, and to my initial disappointment, three white men from Utah were called to fill the vacancies. A sigh was let out.

It wasn't until the press conference where Ronald Rasband, Gary Stevenson and Dale Renlund were introduced to the public, that I suddenly felt that they were the right people for the job. And it's not like they've been locked up in Utah their whole lives - they have travelled the world and met with people of all cultures and nationalities. In this respect, they have great diversity.

L-R:- Ronald Rasband, Gary Stevenson and Dale Renlund were called to fill vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the October 2015 General Conference

The church could easily have chosen a black man, an Asian with a difficult English accent and a European fighting homosexual urges to fill the three spots and show that colour, geography and sexuality were of no limitation to the Lord. The fact that it wasn't like that, really highlighted to me that our leaders had not just followed the whims of the world, but had in all reality, with great precision and pleading, called upon those who had the necessary life experience, spiritual maturity and church service in their arsenals.

If God is mindful enough of those details, He is mindful too of me in the wilderness. We live in Asia, an area of the world where Gary Stevenson has previously lived and served for a number of years, so we can make a connection there.

A call to the apostleship is time-consuming and spiritually challenging. I would certainly never wish it upon myself. I can only admire their efforts and willingness to serve, and pray for their success.