6/20/2018 - Section 101:Section Overview

June 20, 2018

Section 101:section overview

Life' Journey, Journal, Obedience, Covenants, All God's Creatures Have a Place in His Choir, Mission lessons, Trials, Persecutions, Press Forward Saints, Saints

I stopped my scripture reading when Sister Taele was taken to the ER and admited to the hospital on Palawan: final diagnosis—Typhoid Fever and Dengue Fever at the same time, a rare occurance. She was just before she was well enough to leave the hospital, Sister Lafitani (see above) was admitted to St Luke’s here in Manilla with Chikungunya Fever. Just yesterday, Elder Davie, on Palawan was diagnosed with Dengue—fortunately his Dengue episode has not been as severe as the other of these tropical diseases have been. But this morning, I am just working with one of the sweetest hypocondriacs in the mission---frustrating, but so much less stressful.

Now to the scriptures: this section was given to Joseph Smith who was in Kirtland Ohio. The saints in Missouri in great distress. “Mobs had driven them from their homes…they had lost furniture, cothing, livestock, and other personal property, and many of their crops had been destroyed.” And there were many individuals who were receiving death threats. The student manual reminds that “The Lord, prior to this revelation, had warned the Saitns that they must keep His commandments and do His will, or they would suffer affliction, pestilence, plague, sword, vengenance, and devouring fire (see D&C 97:26)” So it is in this section that the Lord explains why the Saints have been driven from Zion.

For me, it is important to remember that in the temple, I covented to keep all the commandments. I know I’m way far from perfect, and will always be making mistakes—but in those cases, I know the Lord is near and wants me to see and feel my errors and then to repent and adjust to better ways. And then there are the commandments I ignore-- as in this mission—I cannot avoid working with Elder and Sister Gifford, the wonderful, devoted office couple. He is a curmudgeon and a heavy handed manipulator to always get his way—but only because he believes he is always right. She is a caring woman who—in my eyes—cares way too much. She does not handle even small stresses well. We work hard to be friendly with them, but it is almost a chore. And then when we are not with them, we bring up—to each other-- the irritating things about them. This couple is a good, and wonderful couple. They have raised a fine family, they have done much in the church, they have given much in their community. Their only real fault in our eyes is that they irritate us. I pray for help to see the young missionaries in the same way the Lord sees them, and that helps me as I deal with most of the young missionaries. I need to do the same with the Giffords, who could be an example to us in so many ways if we just let them. So first off, that is what I commit to do from today forward.  

I tell you all this because I believe the early saints had similar problems. They were excited about building up Zion and told everyone that the land they all inhabited would be theirs only. They excluded those who were not menbers of the church. They had problems with one another within the church. Jackson County had a population of ‘saints’, of non-Mormon people who wanted a new start, and also of crooks and bad guys who came to a place where laws were not so well establish to escape paying for crimes they had already committed. It was in this enviornment that the Lord asked the saints to BE SAINTS. The majority did not work at that hard enough. The Lord is intent on helping us to grow. He gives us assignments (commandments) that are hard, but if achieved, will change the way we view life and live life, and at the same time draw us nearer to Him. I need to learn, what those early pioneers failed to learn at that time in Jackson County. I will start my efforts anew here in Manila. As I read this long section I’ll remember it was written to them for the benefit of us all.

But now I have used all my time, which allows me to be preparing myself for the sweet challenges I will find, and accept, as I read this section with an eye upon the present and not the past.