Senior Couple journal — New Zealand Hamilton Mission
February 22, 2015 to February 28, 2015
Dear family and loved ones:
Summer days and autumn mornings and evenings continue to bless us here in Taranaki. It has been quite some time, however, since we have had a significant amount of rain, and all of the farmers in the area are praying for the autumn rainy season to commence.
1/ Scripture joke for the week: Why should we all draw great strength from the story of Jonah and the whale? See answer below.
2/ Church history quiz for the week: Uniform naming guidelines are now used for all temples in the Church. Under these guidelines, three of our temples have names that consist of only eight letters (not including the word ‘Temple’). Can you name these three temples with the shortest official names?
3/ Quote of the week: “No matter how things may seem, no evil thing is success and no good thing is failure.” — Longfellow
4/ Update for the week: This week we share a wonderful story related by Elder F. Burton Howard of the Seventy: “A few years ago my wife and I were touring the Rochester New York Mission. The mission president asked if we would like to get up early and go to the Sacred Grove before the crowds came. We did. We drove a mile or so past the Smith farmhouse, and the mission president stopped the car. He said, “If you don’t mind walking, I will show you my favorite way into the grove.” We walked down a little grass-covered lane on the far side of the grove, and in the distance we could see tall trees. After a while we came to a small sign made of brass with gold letters and a black background, mounted on two wooden posts. The sign read, “The Sacred Grove,” and contained these incredible words: “God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph Smith in this grove.” Period. I had intended on going into the grove and contemplating what occurred there in 1820, but I found that I could not bring myself to leave the sign. Its simple message arrested my progress. It did not say “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” or “On the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of 1820….” It didn’t purport to be a historical site. It didn’t even say, “Visitors Welcome.” Rather, it made one simple statement: “God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph Smith in this grove.” I read it again and again. My wife said, “Don’t you want to go into the grove?” I replied, “I need to think about the message on this sign for a moment longer. Either it is true, or it is false. If it is true, it is the greatest message in all the world. Even someone who didn’t believe it could not pass by it without being profoundly affected.” President Marion G. Romney once said that the Father’s statement—“This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”, together with the Prophet’s declaration that ‘the Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; [and] the Son also’ clarifies and confirms, for us of this last dispensation, all that has before been revealed and preserved for us about God.” Upon our acceptance of the truth of this vision and the statement on the sign hangs our individual salvation. Those are strong words—to think that our personal salvation depends upon whether we accept and have a testimony of what Joseph saw and heard in the spring of 1820. Ultimately, his vision is a test for all of us. That test begins and ends in a grove of trees in upstate New York. Did things really happen as Joseph said they happened? Will we hear and heed the message from the grove?”
This week we participated in our annual Helping Hands service project in Taranaki, We worked at the Manaia Primary School. We completed many wonderful projects, and a spirit of service and brotherhood prevailed.
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5/ Answer to the scripture joke: The story of Jonah should give us all hope, for even though Jonah was “down in the mouth” for a period of time, he eventually “came out” alright.
6/ Answer to the Church history quiz: The three temples with the shortest official names are Lima Peru (dedicated January 10, 1986), Salt Lake (dedicated April 6, 1893), and Suva Fiji (dedicated June 18, 2000).
Much love,
Elder and Sister Taylor
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