Fall Leaves and a Philosophical Observation

 This week was mostly spent visiting the less active members we have committed to work with. It is not surprising to us that as we show our love for them by our consistent messages and visiting, they are becoming more and more willing to do the things we ask. As they respond by keeping commitments and commandments, the Spirit once again touches them and this brings them closer to God and makes them want to once again be counted as active members. The difficulties are often caused by lack of conversion but there are psychological and some physical reasons as well. We rejoice in small victories like children actually being attentive while Sister Johnson shares a primary lesson from the Book of Mormon.

 We are deep into the change of color that identifies fall as the season of choice for many people. The following are some random shots taken during our travels last week.

We call this one yellow leaves.

Tree leaves turning red.

Multicolored trees along a forest lane.

A magnificent Victorian home...but then you could see that.

 Our new branch president is going to make a big difference to missionary work here in Iron Mountain. In his first branch council meeting yesterday the bulk of the time was spent learning about the status of current investigators and returning members. He was interested in what the branch could do to help forward missionary work. The shift in attitude was palpable. We have committed to help in any way we can. We are repeating a “picnic” between the Sunday conference sessions where investigators may come and eat after watching the first session with us or eat and then stay for the second session. Last conference (April) we had one investigator come who stayed and ironically married one of the sisters in the branch. He is still investigating.

 We are at the mid-point of our mission (OK a little past mid-point) and we are working to overcome a mild complacency that occurs in everyday life, every relationship, and yes, in every mission; complacency that comes with routine; routine that all human endeavor craves. This is not a problem but just an observation. What to do? Well, some people divorce, some move, and many relish their frustration and love to share it with others. For the committed missionary none of those “solutions” are an option. We have covenanted to bring the Gospel to the world. So we find the blessings of “losing your life” in the work are: a renewed purpose, renewed energy, and a renewed witness. That witness is the Spirit; which, by its very nature, gives life to life as it animates our bodies and invigorates our minds giving us a certain enthusiasm to move forward. Wonder of wonders it works for non-missionaries too!

Could there be a better blessing or a better realization of God’s love for us.

Elder and Sister Johnson*

*Yes, she approved of this message.

Conference and Pasties...again

 Saturday and Sunday we attended a great Stake conference in Green Bay. There was a great spirit, great talks and great opportunities for fellowship. The longer I am alive the greater appreciation I have for the inspired organization of the church and how it and the gospel work together for the growth and support of the saints. Elder Hallstrom, in a recent Conference talk, explained the roles of the Church and the Gospel. We shared it with one of our less active members who wasn’t clear about the role of the church and it made a big difference in how he now views the importance of church participation. It hasn’t changed him yet, but he now clearly understands the differences and the synergisms involved.

 This week we found another “lost” member who we had somehow missed. He seemed to appreciate our visit. We left him with some basic information and the promise to return and teach him some of the basic gospel principles. That is something we can and will do. With the release of our Branch President and the call of President Nishida the branch will have an opportunity to revitalize itself.  I’ve seen this happen over and over again. Old prejudices vanish and it takes at least a little while for new ones to develop.

 Pasty making resumed this week. They wanted to know how long we were still going to be with them. When we told them, they wanted to know if we could extend our time in Iron Mountain. I don’t think they were satisfied with our answer. The pasty making service these residents render has been going on 30+ years. I am meeting with the board of the Senior Center in mid-October to talk about making a brief "amateur" video documenting the pasty making process and the individuals involved and posting it to YouTube. I have a simple Flip camera and Mac applications to be able to make it happen. It would be a great service to these people and their extended families. While meeting with the board I am going to propose a “Meet the Mormons” night. We will make it more about your neighbor the Mormon and less about doctrinal differences. We will use the examples and statistics that Elder Perry gave to the Mission President’s Conference attendees last year. 

We are going to have our first hard freeze tonight...and so it begins,

Elder and Sister Johnson


Bonus Material:

Evidence of Egyptian influence

By R. Scott Lloyd
Church News staff writer

Published: Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012

PROVO, UTAH

Students of the Book of Mormon are aware that Nephi recorded his account in the language of his father, Lehi, which consisted of "the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians" (see 1 Nephi 1:2).

Is there any evidence that Jewish writing at the time when Lehi's family left Jerusalem — about 600 years before the birth of Christ — was influenced by the Egyptian language? As it happens, there is.

The Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies biennial symposium at BYU on Aug. 31 explored the topic of "Writing in Seventh-Century B.C. Levant." Levant is a scholarly term for the area of the eastern Mediterranean now occupied by Lebanon, Syria and Israel. The Seventh Century B.C. was the time when the prophet Isaiah ended his work and the prophet Jeremiah began his and when Lehi and his family lived.

Four non-LDS lecturers spoke on different aspects of writing in this time and setting.

The presentation by Stefan Wimmer of the University of Munich in Germany, spoke on the topic of "Palestinian Hieratic." He explained that hieratic is a form of cursive writing in Egyptian. Hieroglyphics were used for texts which were intended to last for eternity; hieratic was used for everyday purposes. Thus, hieroglyphics are analogous to printed text, while hieratic is comparable to handwriting.

Mr. Wimmer, an Egyptologist, has observed a phenomenon in which Hebrew inscriptions from the Seventh Century B.C. and earlier contain hieratic signs for numerals weights and measures.

He said this is meaningful because the first observable time when numerals are used in ancient Israel, Egyptian signs were used.

"This phenomenon we find only in ancient Israel, in Judah," he said. It is not present in Phoenicia and other ancient societies, he explained, with the exception of one instance in Moab.

The presence of the hieratic writing in Hebrew inscriptions "shows us that this phenomenon was practiced systematically in this context," he said. "Hebrew scribes were trained how to use, how to write, how to learn Egyptian signs for numbers and for capacity measures."

He said he has found 233 ancient sources with such inscriptions, sometimes with only one or two numerals, but several are useful to the study of this phenomenon.

rscott@desnews.com

Big Gus, Sister Cox and IM Branch 8.0

 We had a good week. We have received an assignment to Home and Visit Teach some members that live in the outlying part of the branch where we do the bulk of our work. We were able to catch most of them home for brief visits. In one family in particular where the husband and the grown son are both non-members, we had a very friendly conversation with them. We feel there may be an opportunity to teach them the missionary lessons, so we have plans to visit with them again soon. Another inactive family we met for the first time is a racially mixed couple who were married about 3 years ago by the Branch President after the husband was baptized. They are a delightful couple and we look forward to doing everything we can to bring them into activity. We have been told the husband doesn’t read well so we will make full use of the audio/visual resources the church has developed.

 After our zone training meeting which, because of Labor Day, was changed to Thursday this past week, we stopped at "The Yooper Tourist Trap". It is located in Ishpeming, MI, about 2/3 of the way to Marquette where we have our weekly meeting. It actually had some decent and some really silly souvenirs. The prices are reasonable so family...you may get some touristy stuff for Christmas this year. The grounds are covered with interesting Yooper carvings, contraptions and concoctions. One of which Big Gus a 23 foot V8 powered chainsaw, is in the Guinness Book as the largest working chainsaw.

CHAINSAW!!!

There are some real artists here in Yooperland.

 Further on down the road we stopped and visited with the most northern member of the branch, Sister Lavon Cox, a snowbird, who spends her winters in Tucson, AZ. Sister Cox lives at the end of three different dirt roads each becoming progressively narrower and less traveled. Just before we arrived at her beautiful cabin in a totally idyllic spot overlooking a small lake, we startled a Great Blue Heron and then crossed over a culvert that beavers keep filling with branches and mud so as to increase the level of a pond fed by a small stream where they would like to live. She had stories of numerous bears she and her family have seen and startled over the previous years at the cabin.

That would be Sister Cox in the middle.

 The son of the “former” First Counselor in the branch has taken to enthusiastically reading the Large Print Book of Mormon we obtained for him. A bout with an eye infection only slowed him for a couple of days. He is pleased with the “sense” it is making having only read it as a youth and then only superficially. We are also directing him to the spirit the book can bring into his life. The Book of Mormon does have power to convince and convert. We fully expect it will be his focus for a transition back into activity. He was in 1st Nephi so we read with him some of the great revelations from, and prophecies given to Nephi. He was excited and is praying for understanding and the spirit. Our other “Less Active”, Dennis Klingman, has been attending church religiously (pun intended) so we are not considering him Less Active anymore. He needs a calling, which may happen soon.

 On Sunday the Branch Presidency was changed. The new president is Les Nishida from the Green Bay 1st ward. He will be traveling to here on Sundays and Wednesdays. His Bishop has offered to let President and Sister Nishida use their nearby cabin whenever they need to stay over. We have offered to help in anyway we can. He and his wife were first called as service missionaries to serve up to 24 months and then he was called to be the Branch President. We are hopeful that as this change is fully implemented one of the benefits will be to have callings made in a timelier manner. Sister Johnson and I have both been feeling that a change of some type was imminent. Lately I have been feeling  impressed that the new President would be coming from outside the branch. Pres Krehbiel (stake) was firm as he explained this was an interim calling and he fully expected the Lord to identify the next President over the next few months. We must and will do all we can to help build up the branch while we are still here and able.

Feeling a little anxious,

Elder and Sister Johnson

Tatted Heart and an Out of Place Steeple

 We spent some time this week in the Dickinson County Fair, mostly just as ambassadors for the church. What follows is a pic of Dawnine's Second Place entry, a red tatted heart.

 We met and greeted people as they ambled by. We did encounter many people who gave us a “thumbs up” gesture when they recognized we are members of Mitt Romney’s church. We just wished one or two would have stopped long enough for us to testify we are, in addition, Christ’s true church. There was a good deal of member support at the fair with some of them having good, polite missionary discussions. I sometimes feel we look too imposing in our white shirt, tie and, in Sister Johnson’s case, skirt. We did have one father, who, after walking back and forth in front of the booth several times, usually to take a young child to the restroom, finally approached and with a hesitant voice wanted to know if he could ask a question. We said, “sure” preparing for the worst. Then in a quieter voice he asked, “Why does the steeple to your building sit on the ground next to it? Is there some religious reason?” We assured him that the nearby airport had requested the steeple not be placed on the building because of a combination of height and proximity to the runway. (If the building is ever expanded, we do have permission to install the steeple on the building further back from the road.)

So, what would be your best made up reason why the Mormons
placed their church's steeple on the ground and not on their building?

 A couple of weeks ago we had the clear impression to get our less active members and investigator (re)involved in reading the Book of Mormon. This week we committed all three of them to do so. We shared the revelation of Joseph Smith when he said, "I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding its precepts than any other book." Each of these people has expressed a sincere desire to "get nearer to God" and were excited to start. A clear indication of the validity of the spiritual prompting. One brother who has some vision problems asked the Elder's Quorum President to see if there was a large print edition of the Book of Mormon in the church library. We heard about it and were able to drop off a copy we had previously ordered from Salt Lake. After we left he is reported to have asked his father, "can we start reading right now." Sister Johnson made it easier for each of them by sharing check-off sheets to help them mark their reading progress.

Reading this book and praying to see if it is God's revealed word will
change your life for the better. We testify that God will reveal the truth of it to you!

 In testimony meeting yesterday, the branch’s newest member Brittney Stevens bore her testimony for the very first time. Her testimony, along with others, brought a very special spirit into the entire meeting, one we have felt but few other times in our lives. Practically each testimony bearer spoke of their feelings of being lost with questions no one could answer, and then being found by the missionaries and obtaining the accompanying witness as to the truth of the restoration. Somehow, the challenges these members face, day in and day out, strengthen and refine them to a remarkable degree.  Any missionary who was present could not help but feel a renewed sense of urgency to work hard to find those the Lord is preparing, His lost sheep will recognize His voice. We happily keep looking!

His grateful under shepherds,

Elder and Sister Johnson