Sacrament Meeting Talk February 26, 2012

The bishop asked Rhett and I to give talks at church. I was scared! I studied like crazy, I prayed for days, we went to the temple together and then on Sunday Rhett and I gave our talks in front of a heck of a lot of people. I don’t remember much, except the pure joy and relief of having it over and done

One older woman came up to us before we could even come down on level ground. She was shaking all over and gushed that we were wonderful and they were the best talks she had ever heard. That cheered me up Rhett has to memorize everything he says, He recited some poems, a story and a joke, besides scripture and his conference talk. I was impressed. 

People are STILL coming up to me and thanking me for the talk. I was REALLY scared! I hardly know the folks in my ward. I did not want to overstep my bounds, come across as too needy or pushy. The people who think that (if there are any), have been too polite to say so Here it is….

Elder Henry D Taylor said this about the blessings we receive from paying tithes and offerings. “The Lord does keep His promises. He truly opens the windows of heaven and pours out his blessings upon those who obey his commandments. These blessings may come in a financial or temporal way or may be realized by a spiritual outpouring, bringing strength, peace and comfort”. From the April 1974 General Conference.

Elder Dallin H Oaks of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles said “Those who place their faith in the Lord’s promises say “I can’t afford not to pay tithing”.

I met Rhett because I was volunteering at the Bishop’s Storehouse in Plant City, Florida in 2006. 

The senior missionaries there were from Rhett’s ward, which was 30 miles away from my own ward. After the missionaries got to know me, they insisted there was a man they knew that I should meet. They figured that the two of us needed each other and could do better in life together rather than apart.

There is a whole long story about how this came about and how we got married 5 years later despite all sorts of obstacles. One being that I had moved to the NY Adirondack Mountains, not far from the Canadian border, and Rhett was in Florida. We finally married January 2011.

Where we were living in NY, it was a 17 mile drive to church. We were in a branch of approximately 20 LDS folks. The nearest temples were 3 and 5 hours away, and we could not afford to go very often.

By September 2011, our van was falling apart. It was so rusted and structurally challenged that every mechanic said it was not worth fixing.

With an income around $1000 a month to pay for rent, utilities, food and tithing, we had no idea how to get a new vehicle. Without wheels it would have been very difficult to go to church, the grocery store, doctor appointments, the temple, etc. Also, our van did not have a working heater and temperatures in the mountains were often below zero in the winter. Brrrrrrr…..

Long story short, I found a Toyota RV for $800 on Craigslist in Vermont. Miraculously, things fell into place and we were able to buy it.

We were frustrated to be so far from other Mormons. We were the only ones in our town of 600 people…and we wanted to be able to go to a temple more often. Getting a temple recommend was a logistical nightmare, since the mission home was more than 3 hours from where we lived, and it was in the opposite direction from the Montreal temple.

We wanted sooooooooo bad to be part of a vibrant LDS area and to be near a temple!

So, I wrote down all 79 temples in the U.S. and tried to decide where we should move. It had to be very close to a temple, yet still be affordable on our disability income. Being warmer than below zero was a big plus

Until I made that list, I had never heard of the Gila Valley Temple.

I had actually considered Snowflake, Arizona as my mother used to live in Concho and my sister had lived in St Johns. As soon as I read about the Gila Valley, I just knew that’s where we were supposed to move and live. 

We gave away 98% of everything we owned, put the rest in the RV and headed south and west. We left January 9th and got here January 25th. We moved into **** Apartments that day. The next day was our 1st wedding anniversary.

For the last month here, we have scoured garage sales and thrift shops and now have a functioning and comfortable apartment.

Both Rhett and I have been low income and disabled most of our adult lives. There were times that making ends meet felt impossible. We continued to pay tithes and offerings.

The Lord blessed us greatly. No matter what obstacles came along, the Lord provided a way around them.

We are very, very grateful to have made it across the country to this beautiful valley full of wonderfully friendly and welcoming people. We also feel extremely blessed to be living so close to a temple.

A zillion miracles had to happen for us to be standing before you today.

The bishop asked me to talk about an October 2011 General Conference talk by Dieter F Uchdorf called “Providing In The Lord’s Way”.

“The welfare principles of the church are not simply good ideas, they are revealed truths from God…they are His way of helping the needy.”

President Uchdorf says “Welfare is not simply another gospel topic, it is the root of our faith and devotion to God.”

Since the beginning of time, Our Heavenly Father has spoken with great clarity on this subject.

From the gentle plea:
“If thou lovest me…thou wilt remember the poor and consecrate of thy properties for their support”

To the direct command:
“Remember in all things the poor and needy, the sick and the afflicted, for he that doeth not these things, the same is not my disciple.”

To the forceful warning:
“If any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment.”

The 2 great commandments…to love God and our neighbor…are a joining of the temporal and spiritual. Our personal, family and church priorities MUST begin here. All other goals and actions should spring from the fountain of these 2 great commandments.

Enoch built a Zion society through the spiritual process of creating a people of one heart and one mind and the temporal work of ensuring that “there were no poor among them”.

Our spiritual progress is inseparably bound together with the temporal service we give to others.

The Lord’s way of caring for the needy is not the world’s way. He is not only interested in our immediate needs, he is also concerned about our eternal progression.

The Lord’s way has always included self-reliance and service to our neighbor in addition to caring for the poor.

In 1941, the Gila River overflowed. Spencer W Kimball was a young stake president here. He sent a telegram to Salt Lake City asking for a large sum of money.

Instead, he got 3 men who helped organize the local people to build fences, haul hay, level the ground and do whatever was needed for neighbor to help neighbor. In this way immediate needs were met, but they also developed self-reliance, alleviated suffering and grew in love and unity as they served each other.

This very hour there are many members of the church who are suffering. They are hungry, stretched financially and struggling with all manor of physical, emotional and spiritual distress.

DO NOT THINK THIS IS SOMEONE ELSE’S RESPONSIBILITY. It is mine and yours. We are all enlisted.

Too often we notice the needs around us, hoping that someone will magically appear to meet those needs. The Lord’s way is not to sit and wait…it is to come together, roll up our sleeves and go to work.

Our church, with Priesthood and Relief Society, is the greatest organization there is on the face of the earth! Our challenge is determining how to use it.

The welfare principles of the church are not simply good ideas, they are revealed truths from God. They are His way of helping the needy.

You need to look into your handbooks, into your heart and into heaven. Trust the Lord’s inspiration and follow his way.

In the end, you must do what disciples of Christ have done in every dispensation:
counsel together
use all resources available
seek the inspiration of the Holy Ghost
ask the Lord for His confirmation
and then roll up your sleeves and go to work!

We ALL need each other, for it is in sacrificing our time, talents and resources that our spirits mature and become refined.

As I have sought household goods and worked on setting up a home, I have had many thoughts about helping the poor.

Did you know it is illegal for thrift stores in Arizona to sell used beds? Cheap beds are a huge need in this area.

Competition at the thrift stores and yard sales for inexpensive, basic needed items is intense.

As I drove around from sale to sale, I noticed all the rental storage units or people’s open garage doors. Often I saw mountains of things other people might be needing.

The things in storage are taking up space and costing money. Perhaps this would be a good time to consider a garage sale or donating things to the ARC or St Vincent de Paul thrift stores? There is a Yahoo group on the computer called Graham County Freeecycle that is specifically set up to give things away. Each morning the local radio station has a program for sales and trades.

We have what we need, but in my travels around this valley, I have seen poverty that I did not expect. I encourage everyone to think about how they can help their fellow brothers and sisters.

We in this church are greatly blessed to have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ…to know and understand that we are all truly children of God. We have a bright hope for all eternity. We have the privilege and responsibility and the commandment to care for each other. We are very blessed to have been given the opportunity to both tithe and to roll up our sleeves and go to work doing the Lord’s business.

I am very grateful to be a Latter-day saint and to be in this gorgeous valley with so many other saints!

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.