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