So what follows is a picture taken of the same area where our landlord was snow blowing a path for the mailman. (See previous blog) You can easily see what 60+ temperatures, warm rain and strong south winds do to over two feet of accumulated snow. The warm spell is not finished. We are slated to have temps in the 50s and 60s for the next week, 20-30 degrees above normal for this time of year. The normal "high" is freezing or 32 degrees.
At October 2010 general conference, Elder Nelson himself related it in these words:
"Many years ago two colleagues of mine — a nurse and her doctor husband — asked me why I lived the way I did. I answered, 'Because I know the Book of Mormon is true.' I let them borrow my copy of the book, inviting them to read it. A week later they returned my book with a polite 'thanks a lot.'
"I responded, 'What do you mean, thanks a lot? That's a totally inappropriate response for one who has read this book. You didn't read it, did you? Please take it back and read it; then I would like my book back.'
"Admitting that they had only turned its pages, they accepted my invitation. When they returned, they said tearfully, 'We have read the Book of Mormon. We know it is true! We want to know more.' They learned more, and it was my privilege to baptize both of them."
Speaking to the couples at the seminar dinner, Elder Nelson gave this follow-up to the story.
After his call to the Twelve, he was on assignment at a stake conference in Tennessee, filling in for Elder Neal A. Maxwell, who had another assignment from the First Presidency.
He saw a woman on the left side of the chapel and asked the stake president who she was. The stake president found out her name but added to Elder Nelson, "If you're thinking of calling on her, I wouldn't recommend it."
But as Elder Nelson was giving his final address, the irresistible prompting came.
"I overruled the stake president and I asked her to come on up. I said, 'How long have you been a member of the Church?'
"She said, 'Thirty years.'
"I said, 'Who baptized you?'
"She said, 'You did.' "
It was this woman and her husband to whom he had lent his copy of the Book of Mormon.
"The reason I didn't recognize her name was that her husband later lost his life," he explained. "We were all on military duty. She was an army nurse; he was an army doctor and I was an army doctor. That's why I had to lend her my copy of the Book of Mormon. I couldn't give it to her; it was my one-and-only, and I was lucky to have that in a wartime situation."
She had remarried and had a family.
At the end of the dialogue at the pulpit, he asked her how many people had come into the Church through connections to her and her husband.
The number was 80, including all members of her family, her husband's family, her second husband's family, their children and the number of converts their children had taught on missions. "That's a pretty good harvest for a surgeon who said, 'You didn't read the book, did you?' " Elder Nelson remarked.
That was in 1984. At Christmas of 2010, Elder Nelson received a letter from her to which was attached more than 50 pages of personal testimony from people who had come into the Church. She said the number of converts has now grown to 309.
I am not sure spring is actually here. An article in the paper did warn the ice fishermen to be careful of the thinning ice. Apparently, depending on geography, there are dates by which your fishing shanties must be removed from the lakes. If one goes in you are fined and required to pay to have it removed.
We attended a wonderful stake conference over the week end. Sister Johnson was able to join in a women's choir for Sunday morning session. They sang 3 hymns for the prelude and then we sang "Consider the Lilies" one of our favorites, then the concluding number was "The Spirit of God". It was so fun to sing in a choir again. After the last number, the sister sitting next to her said, "Wasn't that thrilling; I still have the chills." The only problem was that Elder and Sis Johnson were not sitting together when our Mission President had all the full-time missionaries stand up. Since Sister Johnson was standing up behind him, he didn't see her and sent a voice mail wondering why Sister Johnson wasn't there. Seventy Per Malm from Sweden was the visiting authority. He is a very personable and delightful man; but then they all are. He and his wife have 8 children. Can you imagine the looks they got when traveling through Scandinavia and on the Continent. There was a lot of emphasis on the Book of Mormon and its role in conversion. There were many warm, sweet testimonies given of the power of the Book of Mormon in individual lives. Speaking of the power of the Book of Mormon I have copied and included an article from the Church News that ran on the 14th of January this year. (We are able to subscribe to the Church News because we live way out here in MI) This is the follow up to the story Elder Nelson shared in conference about a copy of the Book of Mormon he loaned to some fellow doctors.
Enjoy this amazing conclusion to "The rest of the story",
Your "Elder" Missionaries
"Many years ago two colleagues of mine — a nurse and her doctor husband — asked me why I lived the way I did. I answered, 'Because I know the Book of Mormon is true.' I let them borrow my copy of the book, inviting them to read it. A week later they returned my book with a polite 'thanks a lot.'
"I responded, 'What do you mean, thanks a lot? That's a totally inappropriate response for one who has read this book. You didn't read it, did you? Please take it back and read it; then I would like my book back.'
Intellectual Reserve Inc.
Elder Russell M. Nelson of the quorum of the twelve.
"Admitting that they had only turned its pages, they accepted my invitation. When they returned, they said tearfully, 'We have read the Book of Mormon. We know it is true! We want to know more.' They learned more, and it was my privilege to baptize both of them."
Speaking to the couples at the seminar dinner, Elder Nelson gave this follow-up to the story.
After his call to the Twelve, he was on assignment at a stake conference in Tennessee, filling in for Elder Neal A. Maxwell, who had another assignment from the First Presidency.
He saw a woman on the left side of the chapel and asked the stake president who she was. The stake president found out her name but added to Elder Nelson, "If you're thinking of calling on her, I wouldn't recommend it."
Intellectual Reserve Inc.
Elder Russell M. Nelson invites members of the congregation to identify themselves as "the swift messengers" foretold in ancient scripture.
But as Elder Nelson was giving his final address, the irresistible prompting came.
"I overruled the stake president and I asked her to come on up. I said, 'How long have you been a member of the Church?'
"She said, 'Thirty years.'
"I said, 'Who baptized you?'
"She said, 'You did.' "
It was this woman and her husband to whom he had lent his copy of the Book of Mormon.
"The reason I didn't recognize her name was that her husband later lost his life," he explained. "We were all on military duty. She was an army nurse; he was an army doctor and I was an army doctor. That's why I had to lend her my copy of the Book of Mormon. I couldn't give it to her; it was my one-and-only, and I was lucky to have that in a wartime situation."
She had remarried and had a family.
At the end of the dialogue at the pulpit, he asked her how many people had come into the Church through connections to her and her husband.
The number was 80, including all members of her family, her husband's family, her second husband's family, their children and the number of converts their children had taught on missions. "That's a pretty good harvest for a surgeon who said, 'You didn't read the book, did you?' " Elder Nelson remarked.
That was in 1984. At Christmas of 2010, Elder Nelson received a letter from her to which was attached more than 50 pages of personal testimony from people who had come into the Church. She said the number of converts has now grown to 309.
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