Journey of Faith

You can find the movie here

Last night I showed my students the documentary, Journey of Faith. I watch it every semester with my students so I’ve seen it over twenty times and I still am amazed by it. We all know the deprivations and adversity the modern pioneers encountered as they traveled from Nauvoo to what is now Utah. But we aren’t as familiar with what Lehi and Sariah and their family endured as they traveled eight years in the wilderness until they finally reached the land of Bountiful. Even then the journey wasn’t over. Nephi was told to build a ship and then sail it across an ocean. What a test of faith. I'm not sure I'd get in a boat built by anyone I know much less sail across the ocean in it.

Watching the movie makes me appreciate the Book of Mormon so much more. Seeing the places the Arabian Desert they traveled through boggles my mind. How could anyone survive? That would tax even modern survivalist adventurers, and yet they were bearing children and caring for young families in that environment.

The most amazing part of the movie is seeing how the Lord directed them to the one very small fertile place where they could stop to build a ship in order to continue on their way to the Promised Land. It makes me think about the desert periods in my life and the oases the Lord has provided for me along my way. It seems that just when I know I can’t take any more desert, an oasis appears.

If you haven’t seen the movie, you need to. It will make you think and appreciate the Book of Mormon more, and help you see the workings of the Lord in your own life.

Christmas in the Book of Mormon

The Jews in the Old World were not the only people awaiting the Messiah. On the American continent many of the Nephites eagerly anticipated the day. But there were also many people who didn’t believe, and they began to scorn and persecute the believers. The persecution became so bad the wicked people proclaimed that if the sign of the coming of the Lord did not occur by a certain day, they would kill all the believers.


Samuel the Lamanite prophesies
of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The prophet at the time, Nephi, was filled with sorrow at the wickedness around him. For years he had tried to help the people but so many of them refused to believe and repent. Now as they issued their mandate, he prayed mightily all day long in behalf of his people asking that the Lord would be born so that the righteous who awaited the Messiah would not be killed. After hours of prayer he heard a voice saying, “Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets” (3 Nephi 1:13).


As promised that night the sun went down, but there was no darkness. It must have been a strange experience to watch the sun disappear beyond the horizon and yet the sky remain as light as if it were noontime. The believers rejoiced as they recognized the sign given them by Samuel the Lamanite. But those who had threatened to kill the believers were frightened and many of them fell to the ground as if they were dead. Fear filled them for they knew that they had been wrong, and they worried about what would now happen to them. That entire night the light continued and the next morning the people watched as the sun rose on an already bright sky.

I love to think about this story and reflect on what it teaches me not only about the bitrh of Jesus Christ but about me being born again in Him. When Christ has been born again within us there is no longer darkness. When we have experienced the mighty change of heart, even a situation thatthe world says should bring great darkness into our lives such as the death of a loved one or any other tragedy is mitigated by the light of Christ within us. When a person loves and trusts in Jesus Christ, there is always light shining brightly.

The Erie Canal

After our shift yesterday we went to the Chill and Grill for lunch with D1 and her family who are in the pageant. They have been in rehearsals and we have been working so we haven’t seen them much. But yesterday we celebrated Luke’s seventh birthday a day early.

After we ate we went to Lock 29 on the Erie Canal. Shortly after we arrived, a packet boat came down the canal and we lined the fence to watch the lock lower the boat. As the Lock Operator came by he told us we could ask any question we wanted and so we started asking questions. Tom ended up spending the next hour with us explaining everything about the lock and showing us the old fuses and pulleys and gears and everything you can imagine. The Erie Canal has been moved twice and the current lock was opened in 1911 so this is the 100 year anniversary. I wish I’d had a recording going so I could remember all the fascinating things Tom told us. Besides being knowledgeable Tome was a lot of fun and kept everyone entertained.

Tom explained how the North would not have won the Civil War without the Erie Canal. But more significant to us was the fact that there would have been no printing press or enough paper in Palmyra to print the Book of Mormon if there had been no Erie Canal. Before the Erie Canal it cost farmers and others $100 a ton to ship their products, but as soon as the Canal opened that price dropped to $7.00 a ton. You can imagine what a boost that was to the economy. It is so interesting to see the hand of the Lord in not only the Church but in the history of this country.

After the packet boat went through, Tom filled the lock for us and answered more questions and then he got word that another boat was on its way. This one was a yacht on an excursion to the Florida Keys. So we got to see the lock do its job once again.

The Armies of Heaven--Literally!

John Young home, Mendon, NY.

I’ve got a lot to catch you up on! Saturday we worked the morning shift and then met a friend who is the director of Seminaries and Institutes in New York and some adjoining states. He took us over to Mendon, NY, to see where Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young once lived. The Church owns the John Young property and missionaries now live in his home. The sister missionaries happened to be home and they let us go through the house. John was Brigham’s father. Brigham’s home is no longer standing. The interesting thing about John’s home is that it was divided and part of it moved across the street. Both parts have been added on to.

Tomlinson Inn, Mendon, NY

Even though there aren’t many artifacts in Mendon, it was well worth the trip. Shortly after the Book of Mormon was published, Joseph’s brother Samuel went on the first official mission. He labored far and wide trying to get someone, anyone, to purchase a Book of Mormon but no one would. Returning home very discouraged because he had not sold one single book he stopped in Mendon for the night at the Tomlinson Inn where he found Phineas Young, Brigham’s older brother, who bought a book. Determined to find the flaws in the book and expose it as a fraud, Phineas dropped most of his chores for two weeks and read the book, but instead of finding flaws he believed what he read and shared the book with his family. Brigham was discouraged with institutional religion but when he read the book he also was touched by it and wanted to know more. It would be quite a while, however, before the brothers found out more about the Church.

You all know what happened after that, but something very extraordinary occurred before any of this. Years before, on the 22 day of September 1827, Brigham Young was living 45 miles east of Mendon in Port Byron and Heber C. Kimball was living near his father in Mendon. The two men didn’t even know each other at the time but something happened to both of them that night that would change their lives forever.

Heber explains that he suddenly saw white smoke rising toward heaven accompanied by the sound of a mighty wind. The smoke moved across the sky, arched like a rainbow that stretched toward the western horizon. It grew wide, changed to a bluish color, and then grew transparent. As Heber, his wife Vilate, and family members and several neighbors watched, a large, commanding army suddenly began to march in platoons across the sky from east to west. “We could distinctly see the muskets, bayonets and knapsacks of the men,” Heber recorded, “and also saw their officers with their swords and equipage, and [heard] the clashing and jingling of their implements of war, and could discover the forms and features of the men. The most profound order existed throughout the entire army; when the foremost man stepped, every man stepped at the same time; I could hear the steps. When the front rank reached the western horizon a battle ensued, as we could distinctly hear the report of arms and the rush.

“No man could judge of my feelings when I beheld that army of men, as plainly as ever I saw armies of men in the flesh; it seemed as though every hair of my head was alive. This scenery we gazed upon for hours, until it began to disappear.”

Brigham and his wife Miriam (who died and is buried in Mendon) saw the same thing in Port Byron and he recorded that the vision was perfectly clear, and that it remained for several hours.



Young farm looking from John's home toward land
where Brigham's home was.



What the Youngs and Kimballs did not know at the time is that on that same evening, the 22 day of September 1827, a man neither of them knew at the time, Joseph Smith, went to the Hill Cumorah and received the gold plates from the angel Moroni that he then translated and which we now know as the Book of Mormon. A lot of adversity paved the way for us to have this gospel, but there were also a lot of miracles.

Saturday as we stood on the Young farm which is now acres of rolling farm land bordered by green forest, the trees framed a wide expanse of beautiful blue sky filled with white puffy clouds, and it was easy to imagine the giant panorama in the sky that the Youngs, Kimballs, and many others in the area saw.

Miracle in the Cooper Shop

Yesterday cloud cover kept Palmyra at a perfect temperature and the threatened rain never occurred. We spent the morning driving over to Seneca Falls to visit a delightful Mennonite Store, Sauders Store, that sells all kinds of fresh produce, cheeses, pastries, jams and mixes for soups, dips, cakes and everything else you can imagine. We stocked up on goods to keep us through the week , made a quick lunch out of what we bought, and then drove to work.

Our afternoon shift began at 1:30 with a devotional and at 2:00 we were in the north-east loop of the Sacred Grove. Since that is the farthest out part of the mile and one-half trail not as many people roam there so the main sounds come from singing birds and rumbling insects. Every hour we change posts and that means that yesterday we got to be stationed at the cooper shop and the threshing barn, my favorite posts, where I get to tell the story of how Joseph Smith hid the gold plates under the floor boards of the cooper shop. Shortly after he hid them he received the impression that he should move them. He obeyed and put them in the loft of the cooper shop under some stalks. When a mob came seeking the gold, they demolished the floor of the cooper shop, never found the plates, and went away angry. The entire time the plates were just over their heads in the loft, but they never found them.

Over 1300 people came through the Farm yesterday some to experience it and some to say they had been here. It is very interesting to see the difference.

I'm Having A Heartfelt Day

I’ve been teaching Book of Mormon for eleven years now—this semester begins my 12th year—and I still get excited when I teach the introduction. It still amazes me that of 239 chapters in the Book there are only six that don’t mention Jesus Christ. Today we discussed the title pages, the Introduction, and the testimonies of the witnesses, including Joseph Smith, to the authenticity of the book. An astonishing story! I love the Book of Mormon and am so grateful I have this privilege to teach it.

So what did I learn today? I learned again the importance of repetition. Moroni came FOUR times in a little more than 12 hours to deliver the same message. So I’m reading the Book—again!!! (And I’ll learn something new again!) I learned about the trust Joseph Sr. had in his son Joseph Jr. I learned that Satan will try to stop this work and that adversity comes to everyone even prophets of God. I learned that if I’m not careful like six of the witnesses, I will fall away.

There’s much more, but what I learned wasn’t the only important part of today’s lesson. It’s what I felt. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true and the 150 or so students that I have are children of God. He loves them and wants them to return to Him and I get to help in that process. Oh, how blessed I am! My heart is swelling so much with those marvelous feelings that I'm afraid it's going to burst right out of my chest.

We are all so blessed!

Thinking About Good News

There are 239 chapters in the Book of Mormon and of those 239, Christ is mentioned in 233. There are only 6 chapters that do not mention Christ! That is why the Book of Mormon is called Another Testament of Jesus Christ: it testifies of Jesus. But even in the chapters and verses that don’t mention the Savior by name, we find examples and teachings that testify that His ways bring us peace and happiness and disobeying his ways bring us chaos and misery.

It is so simple and yet we forget and we complicate things. All we need to do to live the gospel of Jesus Christ is to do the right thing, right now. Jesus will then heal our past and guide our future. The only moment we need to concern ourselves with is the present moment.

If that isn't good news, I don't know what is!

More Scripture Power

I was twenty-eight years old when I began a daily scripture study habit. I consider the day I began this habit my birth day. I might have come into the world twenty-eight years earlier, but I came alive that day.
I never would have been able to mother my nine children without the daily intake of spiritual vitamins and minerals the scriptures provide. I never would have made it through my undergrad and graduate school programs without the cardio-vascular exercise I found in the scriptures. I never would be able to navigate the vicissitudes of life without the emotional stamina and psychological strength training the scriptures give me.
The scriptures have given me personal mentors such as Peter, who fills me with hope that change and growth are possible. Moroni who teaches me about endurance. Esther who infuses me with courage. Miriam and Deborah who show me how to lead and influence. But most of all, my daily visit with my Savior through the scriptures is what sustains me. Besides the stories and examples from His life, the great speeches throughout the scriptures all teach me of Him and keep me focused on the most important things in life.
Even after thirty two years of studying, I continue to be surprised by how the scriptures were written just for me. I can be reading about young David escaping King Saul and someplace between the lines the Spirit whispers that I need to find and read a certain article. I can be reading about Abish running to tell the people about the miracle that was happening to the king, and the Spirit whispers what I need to do that day. I can be reading about Nephi building a ship and the Spirit whispers exactly what I need to do for one of my children. It never ceases to amaze me how the tender mercies of the Lord work through the scriptures.