5 Nov 2023, Sunday
Prioritized Daily Task
Joanna Koester, Dale's widow who died about 5 years ago, died about 11 a.m. South Jordan Resthome will be buried in Downey, ID next to Dale
10:30 a.m. - Abbington Memory Center (Brother and Sister Jeff Meeks)
11:30 a.m. - Dry Creek Ward, Fresno California North Stake
Note: Straw hat I bought in Clovis - Talked to Luke, because his parents and older brother Ethan were gone, about writing Grandpa on the inside brim of the straw hat and storing it in his (Luke's) closet on top of his US Army blanket.
I was up early; I texted Debbie, she was leaving for Twin Falls to spend time with Grandma Jody, Grayson, the new baby, and his parents, Cooper and Kenna. She attended Samantha's baby shower yesterday. I saw Ethan before he left for his volleyball tournament in southern CA. Luke got in last night late or early this morning. I had prayer with Ethan before he left. Brody and Westin got up. Everyone was eating the poppyseed muffins from Costco but not much interest in the blueberry muffins. The boys are close but tease, fuss, and fight with each other. I say this because of Bordy and Westin. Brody had been teasing Westin; Westin threw their church clothes over the upstairs banister that their mother had set out for them before she left. This was not enough to get the desired effect from Brody. Brody only shut their bedroom door to keep Westin out; so Westin sunk his teeth in Brody's arm before I broke it up. Luke got up and we are all getting ready for church at 11:30 a.m. today. We attended fast and testimony meeting and afterward Westin and Brody went to primary and Luke went to his meeting and I attended Sunday School. When we got home I put the Mac and Cheese, Rae Lynn had for the children, in the oven for about an hour. Owen came over with the Stout brothers, Big Brody and Drax. Rae Lynn sent me some pictures from Las Vegas. They will be coming home tomorrow night. I am fasting, I read and studied, called and talked to Michael and Matthew. I called Beth; Tucker has a service project meeting he is going to. He has to wear a collared button shirt. Owen's electric bike got a flat tire. I was going to get him but he has another bike at the Stouts he is riding home. Plans changed and he is spending the night with the Stouts. She is taking Owen to school with her son tomorrow. I had family prayer with Luke, Brody, and Westin. I put Brody to bed in Rae Lynn and Brett's bed and Luke took Westin and put him in bed with him. They were just settling in and Owen and Drex came over to get Owen's school closes for tomorrow and started playing video games in the bed room were Westin and Luke were. I had Owen to move out to let Westin go to sleep. I texted with Rae Lynn about Brody and Westin. I called and talked to Debbie, she told me her Aunt Jo, her mother, Jalna's sister/aunt, passed away this morning. We had prayer together later I had my personal prayer, read, and checked on the boy before going to bed before 9 p.m.
Note:
I should like to be for a few minutes a witness in support of the proposition that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in our day and that this is His Church, organized under His direction through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I should like to give some reasons for the faith I have and for my allegiance to the Church. Perhaps I can do this more quickly by referring to an interview I had in London, England, in 1939, just before the outbreak of the war. I had met a very prominent English gentleman, a member of the House of Commons, formerly one of the justices of the Supreme Court of England. In my conversations with this gentleman on various subjects—“vexations of the soul,” he called them—we talked about business, law, politics, international relations, and war, and we frequently discussed religion.
He called me on the phone one day and asked if I would meet him at his office and explain some phases of the gospel. He said, “I think there is going to be a war. If there is, you will have to return to America and we may not meet again.” His statement regarding the imminence of war and the possibility that we would not meet again proved to be prophetic.
When I went to his office he said he was intrigued by some things I had told him. He asked me to prepare a brief on Mormonism and discuss it with him as I would discuss a legal problem. He said, “You have told me that you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet. You have said to me that you believe that God the Father and Jesus of Nazareth appeared to Joseph Smith. I cannot understand how a barrister and solicitor from Canada, a man trained in logic and evidence, could accept such absurd statements. What you tell me about Joseph Smith seems fantastic, but I think you should take three days at least to prepare a brief and permit me to examine it and question you on it.”
I suggested that we proceed at once and have an examination for discovery, which is, briefly, a meeting of the opposing sides in a lawsuit where the plaintiff and defendant, with their attorneys, meet to examine each other’s claims and see if they can find some area of agreement, thus saving the time of the court later on.
I said perhaps we could see whether we had some common ground from which we could discuss my “fantastic ideas.” He agreed to that quite readily. ....... A three-hour conservation followed. ,,,,,,,,,,“Then, my Lord—that is the way we address judges in the British Commonwealth—I am submitting to you in all seriousness that it was standard procedure in Bible times for God to talk to man.” “I think I will admit that, but it stopped shortly after the first century of the Christian era.” “Why do you think it stopped?” “I can’t say.” “You think that God hasn’t spoken since then?” “I am sure He hasn’t.” “There must be a reason. Can you give me a reason?”“I do not know.” ,,,,,,,,,, He listened intently; he asked some very pointed and searching questions; and, at the end of the period, he said, “Mr. Brown, I wonder if your people appreciate the import of your message. Do you?” He said, “If what you have told me is true, it is the greatest message that has come to this earth since the angels announced the birth of Christ.” ............ I say to you from the very center of my heart that by the revelations of the Holy Ghost, I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Although these evidences and many others that could be cited may have the effect of giving one an intellectual conviction, only by the whisperings of the Holy Spirit can one come to know the things of God.
Hugh B. Brown, at BYU Devotional (Profile of a Prophet) October 4, 1955, before he was called as an apostle, April 10, 1958
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