18 Sep 2010 Quick Trip To Worms

We slept in this morning because we only had a short 80 km to Worms. Gene wanted to see this place because it had a special significance in the life of Martin Luther. We watched the DVD "Luther" last night, and it was a wonderful informative movie on the struggles that Luther had with the doctrines of the Catholic church. The following is a short review of what took place here in Worms over 500 years ago.

Martin Luther was a Monk serving in Wittenburg, Germany. As he studied he found inconsistencies with the bible and what the Catholic Church was teaching. At that time, only the Pope could interpret the scriptures. After placing his 95 thesis for disagreement on the door of the Wittenberg Kirche in 1517, which sparked the Protestant Reformation, he was summoned by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V to Worms in 1521. There he was asked to recant or reaffirm his position on the books and Thesis he had written. The following was his answer. "Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or evident reasons, I am bound by the scriptures abduced by me, and my conscience has been taken captive by the word of God, and I am neither able nor willing to recant, since it is neither safe nor right to act against conscience....... Here I stand, I can do no other, God help me Amen."

He was released to go home but he was declared to be a obstinate heritic and his writings were banned. It was a well known fact that he would be summoned back to receive his punishment which was to be burned at the stake. On the way home, he was seized by Prince Frederick who hid him in Wartburg castle. It was at this time that he translated the bible in German, the first time the people were able to read the scriptures for themselves. After he reappeared, the Emperor was so busy with other matters, he didn't give it much thought and so Luther was free to continue his writings.

I am sure that the Holy Ghost was with Martin Luther in his actions as it helped with the Reformation that eventually led to freedom of Religion, an environment in which the church could be restored. We went to the church which was attached to where Martin Luther was summoned, but the building is no longer there. In it's place is a huge statue of Luther along with other dignitaries of this city.

We walked around town and found a very nice museum that housed artifacts dug up from this area. The town of Worms is a nice small town and not many older buildings are left. I think the war did extensive damage here. We found a huge statue of five German soldiers that we thought was awesome. Sometimes we forget that a lot of lives were lost in Germany too. Worms is close to the Rhein River and we drove along that for some time. There seems to be a big Turkish population here because there were Turkish flags flying everywhere. I found a little stand that was making fresh crepes with Nutella and I had one. As we walked in the park we saw a father and daughter gathering Hazelnuts from the trees. They are falling everywhere now. It was so cute, she had her little basket to put them all in. Some were hidden in the grass and her dad was showing here where they were. Kind of like an Easter egg hunt. All in all it was a really calm day, not too much walking. Home at 16:00 hrs. Love to all in Vista.

16 Sep 2010 Inspirational Thought

This morning our inspirational thought was given by Bro. Walters. I always love when he gives the thought because it is always so educational as well as inspirational. He mentioned how he thought about the Muslim people and how they were not being allowed to hear about the gospel, He quoted Romans 10:14 which says, "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?"(or the missionaries) but then he remembered a saying that was quoted by Mohammed himself, "If Mohammed can't go to the mountain, the mountain will come to Mohammed". He applied that to how the Muslims are flocking to other countries such as Germany, where the Muslim population is over 20%. It is here that they will accept the gospel and take it back to their own country thereby spreading the gospel. Elder Walters can attest to that fact, as he is shipping Books of Mormon printed in Arabic everyday. The Muslim people are wanting to read this wonderful book.

The second thought or point of interest that I had never heard is taken from an article that was printed in the Mormon times 26th June of this year. It was entitled "Tolstoy and his Book of Mormon". Tolstoy has been called the greatest of all novelists. He is best known for penning "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina". The story starts out with Fred and Nataliya Felt who were attending a Ward in Washington DC. They heard a Russian member say that Tolstoy's library contained a copy of the LDS scripture. They wondered how he had obtained it since the church did not send missionaries to Russia at the time he was alive. From that time on it was their quest to discover the story of its origin.

They traveled to Russia and learned that the book was at the late author's estate which is now a museum. A librarian searched the records and photocopied a catalog reference to the Book of Mormon. It identified the exact cabinet, shelf and volume number. It also indicated that it was a gift given to Tolstoy by Susa Young Gates, daughter of Brigham Young who was a women's rights advocate and writer at the time. In that time period she also corresponded with William Dean Howells, Charlotte Hilman and other writers. She was an expert on classical literature. They were able to get permission to see and photograph the book. They pulled on white gloves and were handed Tolstoy's Book of Mormon. They said it was very heavy and identified the copy as an 1881 Second Electrotype Edition published in Liverpool, England. The Librarian helped them look through Tolstoy's journals and found an entry that said he had received the book from Gates and had read the book.

He was initially Russian Orthodox but he soon was convinced that all Christian churches had corrupted Christ's message. In 1995, Lawrence R. Flake, then associate professor in the department of Church History, gave a devotional address which detailed a conversation Tolstoy had with Andres Dixon White, co-founder of Cornell University. Tolstoy was said to have told White. "If Mormonism is able to endure, unmodified, until it reaches the third and fourth generation, it is destined to become the greatest power the world has ever known" He had a life long facination with Mormonism as he struggled with religion and the desire to see all allowed freedom of worship.

I felt this so compelling. I hope you enjoyed the story and I also want you to enjoy some pictures of the domesticated Bro. Walters. I really appreciate him more these days doing tasks that I hate doing.

13 Sep 2010 Going Away party for Allistar

Today at lunch everyone got together and had a going away party for Allistar, a young man who recently returned from the Palmyra, New York Mission. The Distribution Center hires a lot of the young adults for short periods of time while they either await a mission call or wait to start college. Allistar is originally from England but while he was on his mission his parents moved to Germany so that is why he is here. He is leaving because he is going to school at Ricks for Fall semester. He was so much fun to be around. Everyone called him slugger. I loved hearing him use the Queen's English. Everyone in the pictures are people we see everyday at work. They are a great bunch. Enjoy the pictures.