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.