16 Mar 2025, Sunday

 16 Mar 2025, Sunday

Prioritized Daily

10 am - Gateway Stake Conference

Note:  The saying "there's no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone" highlights the idea that personal development and growth often require stepping outside of one's comfort zone, which can be an uncomfortable but necessary process. 

Debbie and I slept in.  We had prayer, I showered, shaved, and got ready for the day.  I made another couple of notes today.  I called Brother Michael Jardine, our ministering teacher.  I asked him if he would take notes and share with us stake conference.  He said his wife, Nancy, has been sick for 2 months, and he can't leave her.  He said he would try and get in touch with someone to take notes for us.  As conference was starting, our Bishop, Dereck Soderquist, sent me an invitation to watch conference on Zoom.  Elder Mark Bonham, Area Seventy, presided.  There was a good balance in speakers, youth, reactivated, and leaders spoke.  Note: One of the takeaways was, " When you put God first in your life, everything else will start falling in place; maybe not the way you wanted or expected but in a way that will bring true joy and happiness.  The Mission President of the Soda Springs Utah Area used a visual aid, the widow mite, a Lepton (meaning small), minted by Alexander Jannaeus, King of Judaea, 103–76 BC, and still in circulation at the time of Jesus.  A mite's value was equivalent to about six minutes of an average daily wage.  Nephi, near the end of his life, wanted to teach the doctrine of Christ, and he wrote in 2 Nephi 31:19. You have come thus far because of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save. and 32:9 But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform anything unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.  Stake President Trey Orsak spoke; his counselors, President Benjamin Packard and President Brandon Hobbs, were there.  

I studied Doctrine & Covenants 20-22 Part 2, Come Follow Me, with Dr. Casey Griffiths, John Bytheway, and Dr. Hank Smith.  They talked about Elder Joseph Harris Merrill (1868 - 1961) and Elder Richard Roswell Lyman (November 23, 1870 – December 31, 1963).  They were good friends, and Elder Lyman was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for violation of the Christian law of chastity in 1943.  Elder Merrill continued to see and befriend Richard. Apostle Spencer W. Kimball recorded regarding the disciplinary council that "He tried to link his sin with polygamy, but the evidence gave no corroboration to the story."  After the excommunication, J. Reuben Clark worried that Lyman might join the Mormon fundamentalist movement, though this did not occur.   Age 72 at the time of his excommunication; Lyman later returned to the LDS Church through rebaptism on October 27, 1954, at age 83, but he was not reinstated as an apostle. He died in Salt Lake City, Utah on December 31, 1963. His full priesthood blessings were restored posthumously in 1970.   Richard Lyman's wife, Amy Brown Lyman served with him when he was called as president of the European Mission in 1936, the Lymans relocated to England for two years. Upon arriving in London, Amy traveled to Yugoslavia to attend the International Council of Women as a delegate of the National Council of Women of the United States, an organization she had participated in for many years. As the wife of the mission president, she oversaw the Relief Society and other Church organizations for young women and children within the mission.

Between 1940 and 1945, Amy Brown Lyman served as General President of the Relief Society. She set to work on aligning the Relief Society’s charity work with the Church’s welfare plan created during the Great Depression and preparing the centennial celebration of the Relief Society in 1942. Under her direction, Relief Society women helped support the Allied war effort through service in the Red Cross and by contributing resources to the Church’s welfare plan.

Lyman’s family experienced tragedies in the public eye. Amy found her adult son Wendell lying dead beneath his car in 1933; newspapers reported Wendell had asphyxiated from fumes while working on repairs. His prior substance abuse and financial troubles were no secret. Later during her tenure as General President of the Relief Society, Amy’s husband, Richard, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was excommunicated for “violation of the Christian law of chastity.” The news stunned and devastated Amy. When her counselor Belle Spafford offered support, Amy replied, “Just pray that the depth of my understanding of the gospel will carry me through.” Given her high-profile position in the wake of such a scandal, Amy felt it proper to resign. However, David O. McKay, then Second Counselor in the First Presidency, encouraged her to stay. She continued her work as General President for 17 months until her resignation was accepted in 1945. Amy and Richard remained married, and Richard was rebaptized and his Church membership restored in 1954.

Jared came over with his boys, Porter, Tate, Max, and Jack.  They brought chocolate chip cookies their mother, Jami, made.  They spent the afternoon with us.  I cooked chicken and potatoes for dinner.  I talked to Michael, Matthew, Melodie, and Beth and Tucker.  Josh gave Tucker his Jeep that Josh had sent down to him.  Jared had the boys clean up, and they went to the park for Jack and Max to play.  Debbie and I watched the movie Chosen about the life of Jesus on BYU tv.  Debbie and I had prayer before going to bed.