* All About Mormons Newsletter *
May 1999
Welcome to the All About Mormons Newsletter. If you like what you read, email this to friends and family! If you have poems, stories, object lessons, questions, answers, or good ideas to contribute, please send them to jenny@mormons.org (If you get unusual letters mixed in with this newsletter, please let us know so we can be sure you get it in plain text next time)
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*In this newsletter:
*Book of Mormon Quote of the Month
The Book of Mormon is a volume of sacred writings comparable to the Bible. Its principal purpose is to testify of the divinity of Jesus Christ and the truthfulness of his teachings. For a free copy, call (U.S.) 1-800-528-2225.
"And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light;
"Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life--
"Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?" (Mosiah 18:8-10)
*Focus This Month: Loving Our Neighbor
When Christ was asked, "Who is my neighbor?" he replied with the parable of the Good Samaritan. All of us, whether in or outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are neighbors. Jesus Christ has given the commandment to love and serve one another, for we truly are our brother’s keepers. This pure love is also called charity.
Moroni taught:
And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail--
But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen. (Moroni 7:45-48)
Reading this passage helps us understand how beautiful and multi-faceted charity is. It also shows us how powerful and beneficial charity can be. "Charity never faileth." I’ve heard some people say that it never fails because when we truly love people with this pure love, we will never give up on them, never forget them, and never slacken our pace. It think this is true. I also think that when we show people this pure love, they cannot help but be affected by it. Eventually they will respond back with friendship and love. When we have this kind of love, we won’t fail in our relationships with others. Only the hardest of hearts will not eventually choose to respond to charity. Charity also appears to be a purifying agent that allows us to become more like our Heavenly Father and Jesus. When we learn to love as they love, we will certainly treat others as they would have us treat them.
An understanding of who we are and where we came from can strengthen our desire to truly love and serve each other. We are all children of our Heavenly Father. We lived together in heaven as spirit brothers and sisters. While we are on earth, we have a veil placed over our minds and cannot remember our love and friendships which we had together, but I know that we cared about one another. We all wanted to help each other succeed and be happy on earth and in eternity. Now that we are on earth, we can’t remember this. We should show faith in the truths taught to us about who we are and who the people around us are by helping each other as much as we can. If we have difficulty loving or serving a particular person, pray to Heavenly Father to see that person as he sees them. The Lord will help you find the good in everyone if you ask.
I believe as we come to truly love our fellowmen, we will bring more peace and happiness to the world. So many terrible things start because of thoughtlessness, anger, and hate. The horrible experience in Littleton, Colorado has its roots in some students hating and alienating other students. Think what evils could be averted if everyone decided to be a little more loving and a little more kind.
Finally, while most people associate charity with collecting money or items for the poor and needy, the real definition addresses the conditions within our hearts. Once our hearts have charity, we will give generously to all who have needs because we love them and do not want them to suffer. We will also look outward to see the silent needs around us and offer a shoulder to cry on, a kind word, a pat on the back, an open door, a smile—whatever is needed.
*Object Lesson: How Important is One?
As a man walked a desolate beach one cold, gray morning, he began to see another figure,
far in the distance. Slowly the two approached each other, and he could make out a local
native who kept leaning down, picking something up and throwing it out into the water.
Time and again he hurled things into the ocean.
As the distance between them continued to narrow, the man could see that the native was
picking up starfish that had been washed upon the beach and one at a time, was throwing
them back into the water.
Puzzled, the man approached the native and asked what he was doing.
"I’m throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it’s low tide
right now and all of these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don’t
throw them back into the ea, they’ll die up here from lack of oxygen."
But there must be thousands of starfish on this beach", the man replied. "You
can’t possibly get to all of them. There are just too many. And this same thing is
probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can’t you see
that you can’t possibly make a difference?"
The local native smiled, bent down and picked up another starfish, and as he threw it back
into the sea he replied, "Made a difference to that one!"
Each of us is but one person; limited, burdened with our own cares and responsibilities.
We may feel there is so much to be done, and we have so little to give. We’re
usually short of everything, especially time and money.
When we leave this shore, there will still be millions of starfish stranded on the beach. Maybe we can’t change the whole world, but there isn’t one of us who can’t help change one person’s whole world. One at a time. We can make a difference.
*What’s New on All About Mormons?
LDS Humor is continually expanding. Thanks to all those who have contributed so far! Keep on sending us your funny stories, jokes, etc. We want our humor to be enjoyable to all of our visitors, members and non-members alike, so please use discretion when choosing which ones to send. Our Other Good Stuff section is especially for non-religious humor. Laugh With Us!
All About Mormons has information to keep you in touch with the Church, including Church related web sites and Internet services, Church phone numbers, and magazine information. Check it out on our Welcome page!
For links to the following articles, check out our What’s New page.
The accusatory question, "Did Joseph Smith Suffer From Temporal Lobe Epilepsy?", has been updated. (04/30/99)
A new article entitled "Is Saturday the True Sabbath?" has been added. (04/30/99)
The Do You Believe in More Than One God? accusatory question has been updated. (04/24/99)
A new accusatory question, "If Church leaders are true prophets, why didn't the Lord reveal that the Mark Hoffman documents were forgeries?", has been added. (04/13/99)
The accusatory question, "Is the Bible Sufficient?", has been updated. (04/10/99)
A new accusatory question, "Are Mormons Brainwashed?", has been added. (04/07/99)
Elder John A. Widstoe answers the question: Why Did Joseph Smith Become a Mason? (04/05/99)
In Marriage for Eternity, Elder Joseph Fielding Smith condemns divorce and declares that those who break their temple covenants cannot gain exaltation. (04/05/99)
The Dating and Marrying Nonmembers article has been updated. (04/04/99)
In Come Back, a letter from the First Presidency, the Church invites less active members to come back into full fellowship. (04/04/99)
The accusatory question, "Do you have blood oaths in the temple?", has been updated. (04/04/99)
The accusatory question "Did Joseph Smith Utter False Prophesies?" has been updated. (04/01/99)
The accusatory question "Do you believe the Bible is as important as other Christians?" has been updated. (04/01/99)
In African Converts Without Baptism, E. Dale LeBaron, BYU professor of Church history, gives a unique and inspiring chapter in Church history. (3/29/99)
The accusatory question Are Latter-day Saints not Christian because they teach another gospel? has been updated. (3/28/99)
In Why Do Things Work This Way?, W. John Walsh discusses why the Church and priesthood are needed, why a savior was appointed, and why mortality is a prerequisite to achieving perfection. (03/26/99)
A new article on Hunting has been added. (03/24/99)
Garden of Values--a new Evening in Excellence (YWIE) program (03/09/99)
All About Mormons Idea Index--more subjects for easy searching!
Flight 409 under Firesides (03/08/99)
New Party Games and Brain Teasers under Good Clean Fun! (03/07/99)
*Fun Stuff: Books of the Book of Mormon
Puzzle
Written by Jenny Walsh
Can you find the 12 unique book names of the Book of Mormon in this paragraph?
SOLVE THE RIDDLE IF YOU CAN. IF YOU CAN'T FIND THEM ALL, PLEASE, NO SCREAMING. YOU'RE NOT A MORON. I'M SURE YOU CAN DO IT, EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO LOOK FROM NIGHT UNTIL NOON. IT DOESN'T TAKE ARMOR, MONEY, OR COOL CLOTHES EITHER. HOWARD WINCHEL, A MAN WHO HAD NONE OF THESE THINGS, FOUND THEM ALL--EVEN MOSIAH! MY FRIENDS AJ, ACO BUILDING SUPPLIES SPECIALIST, FOUND THEM INSTEAD OF STUDYING FOR AN INANE PHILOSOPHY FINAL. MAYBE SHE SHOULD HAVE STUDIED, INSTEAD OF LETTING HER MIND WANDER FROM THE ANCIENT LANDS OF THE LAMANITES TO THE BAJA, ROME TO EGYPT, AND OTHER FASCINATING PLACES. BUT SHE KNEW THAT HER MIDDLE NAME WAS CHARITY. AND, IN THE WORDS OF MORMON, WRITTEN BY HIS SON, CHARITY NEVER FAILETH.
Find:
Nephi
Jacob
Enos
Jarom
Omni
Words of Mormon
Mosiah
Alma
Helaman
Mormon
Ether
Moroni
(Answers)
*Response of the Month: How do you make sure that you spend time together as a family?
We are a military family and with the constant demands and my husband being away we are very grateful for our time together. Our family (five and a half of us) take full advantage of the facilities on the base, we go to the rec centre once a week, we always have family home evening. We spend our weekends together, whether we are with friends or not and our meals are always spent together. Even if we only have a few minutes together a day, it makes up for the months we sometimes do not have together. - Tracy
*Question of the Month: How can we better fellowship ward members?
Thank you for your wonderful responses so far. Let us know what you think. We want your wisdom and input!
Reader responses will appear in the next newsletter. E-mail responses to jenny@mormons.org
See you later!