25 Oct 2010 Spiritual Thought & Retirement Party

Today I gave the Spiritual thought in our General Meeting that is held each Monday morning. I was sitting next to Bro. Wirthlin who is the General Manager of all Physical Facilities in Europe. I was a little unnerved but I put on my self assured face and put my shoulder to the wheel. I thought you might like to hear a little of what I said as my better half thought it was one of the best he has heard so far. I felt inspired to talk about missionary work after reading a wonderful story of conversion on lds.org. I started by quoting, I Nephi 22:25 which states, "And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth, and he numbereth his sheep, and they know him, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture." I thought when the Lord has numbered each of us, he is actually keeping track of us and our lives personally. That was awe inspiring to think of it in that way

The story is about an 8 year old girl who lived in Zacatacas, Mexico in the early 80's. Her family labeled her an introverted girl with an obsessive thoughts of God. She spent much of her time reading anything religious she could find. One day she was looking at the vendor's magazine stand when she saw between the newspapers a small blue book with an angel blowing a trumpet on the front cover. She thought it was odd seeing such a book there but it kept calling to her to read it. She bought the book and took it home to read. As she read the first page she found it to be so different from anything she had ever read before. It made her feel strangely wonderful. Every page added to that feeling. "It was like filling a cup drop by drop", she said.

She wondered where this peculiar book was from. She thought it may have been of an Oriental religion or maybe from India. She wanted to know where this book was from and which church it belonged to. She prayed that she would someday find out. She already knew the book was true. For the next 9 years she was devoted to the book and studied it thoroughly even memorizing many scriptures.

When she was 17 she saw two men in white skirts riding her bus. They were carrying books and she wondered if they knew anything about her book. She asked them, "Do you preach the gospel?". They said that they did. Then she asked "Do you know about a lot of different religions? I am trying to locate one that isn't very common." Then she told them about the Book of Mormon. The elders looked at each other and grinned and told her they were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Then she said, " No, I just want to know if you can tell me which church uses the Book of Mormon?" Then they showed her their copies of the book and told her they called themselves Mormons. She finally believed them.

During their first visit with her, she interrupted the discussion many times, not with questions, but with verses from the Book of Mormon she already knew by heart, verses that strengthened the concepts they were teaching. The elders were amazed at her knowledge of her well worn book and at how easily she could find the very verses she was looking for. After three days of hearing the discussions she asked to be baptized. She immediately wanted to go on a mission but her bishop told her she would have to wait until she was 21. She prepared for the next 4 years, going to school and saving her money.

In 1988 she was called to the Mexico City Temple Visitors center and on her last day in the Mission home she gave her testimony. This is her own words, "I have had to fight to get here and I have learned that without the Lord, I am nothing, but I have felt his infinite love for me and I know in whom I have confided." She goes on to say, "When I entered the Temple for the first time, I felt his Spirit and was overwhelmed by his love. As I prayed to him I asked, why do you love me so much?" and she seemed to here an answer, "Don't you know I love all the world, all my children? I don't want any of them to be lost." She goes on to say, that she finally comprehended the great love he has for each of us and she knew that Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ lives and loves us.

I concluded by saying that just like this 8 year old child and now the 21 year old missionary who is still consumed with thoughts about God, her cup, filled drop by drop when she read the pages of the Book of Mormon as a child, is now overflowing. As missionaries and as members of the church we have an obligation to tell others that are seeking for the gospel in their lives. We may not know who they are, but our Heavenly Father does know and numbers each of his sheep.

Now to change to a fun part of our week, we were privileged to participate in a retirement dinner for one of Gene's working buddies named Bernhard. In Germany it is mandatory to retire even if you want to continue working. This is the case for Bernhard. It was a sad farewell but the party we threw him was so much fun. I have included pictures for you to see. First of all the dinner was catered from a REAL German food restaurant. We loved it. I waited too late to take pictures but you can get the idea of what we ate. Then we had some entertainment. Our boss Yorg made up a poem that he read, which was really wonderful, then the girls in my office plus me, sang Bette Midler's "The Rose". I didn't pick that one out by the way. Everyone was crying by the time we got through. But it immediately changed when we had a group of "the crazies" perform. Don't know what else to call them but look at the pictures you will know what I mean. They were dancing to a really fun song and everyone was laughing. A good note to finish on. We had great ice cream and fresh Johannisberry sauce. Those are small tart raspberries. It was an enjoyable week for both of us. Tschuss.