* All About Mormons Newsletter *
September/October 2000
Welcome to the All About Mormons Newsletter. From now on it is a bimonthly newsletter, rather than a monthly one. 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 that are not restricted by copyright, 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 these are the words which he spake and caused to be written, saying: My brethren, all ye that have assembled yourselves together, you that can hear my words which I shall speak unto you this day; for I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view." (Mosiah 2:9)
*Focus This Month: My Temple Testimony
Since 1998, the Church has dedicated an amazing number of temples. In anticipation of the Detroit temple dedication, I wrote the following hymn:
Accept This House, Oh Lord
Accept this house, oh Lord—
We offer it to thee.
Then let us enter in
And worship faithfully.
We know this is the place
Where promised blessings flow;
And where thy Saints find refuge sweet
While we are here below.
Oh cleanse our broken hearts—
Our offering contrite.
We long to live with thee
And cleave unto the right.
We pledge to thee our hands,
Each blessing thou hast giv’n.
That we may build up Zion here
And so prepare for heav’n.
We thank thee for thy Son,
For his sufferings and pain.
His willing sacrifice
Can make us whole again.
For through his precious blood
Our ransomed souls shine pure.
In spotless white we covenant
To follow and endure.
Pure knowledge pours from heav’n:
Endowments from on high.
Our hearts sing out with praise
And gladly testify
That through God’s loving plan
Our families can be
Taught truth and light, then sealed together
For eternity.
I want to bear my testimony that the temple truly is the House of the Lord. When we go there in the right frame of mind, we will receive inspiration to understand the things of God. It is a place of peace, truth, and revelation. It is a place to make sacred covenants with God and to learn about our Savior’s sacrifice to save us from sin and death. It is the place for building eternal families. The things we learn there guide us to righteous living and following the Savior with more love and courage. Every ordinance that we participate in within the temple teaches us about the type of person we should become—more loving, more selfless, more pure, more Christ-like, and ultimately more happy people. The ordinances we receive in the temple are essential to our salvation, but they are only effective because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is only through Jesus Christ that we can receive the greatest blessing from God—life in the Celestial kingdom with our families.
*Object Lesson: "Well Duh"
by John Cooper
Our Bishop was teaching the young women last Sunday about the importance of dating within the Church so that you could marry a righteous young man that would take you to the temple. He asked the question, "should you date outside the church, and all the young women said no, except my 15 year old daughter who said, "well Duh." The bishop asked her to define "well Duh" and she said, "If you were going to go out and try to catch Bigfoot, You wouldn't catch a monkey and wait for it to evolve" I though that was a pretty good analogy of what happens when young people try to date outside the church.
Singing Time is a must see page for anyone in Primary, particularly music leaders and presidency members, but would also give ideas for teachers.
Three brother check into a hotel and rent one room. The clerk tells them the room is
$30. for the night, so each brother contributes $10 and the room is paid in advance.
About an hour after check-in the clerk discovers that he charged the weekend rate of $30
instead of the weekday rate of $25. The clerk gives the bellhop $5 (five one-dollar bills)
to return to the brothers. On the way up to the room, the bellhop realizes that they can't
divide 5 dollars evenly among three brothers, so he presents only a $3 refund to their $30
hotel room, and pockets the extra $2.
Now: Each brother has paid $10 and received a $1 refund. So they spent $9 (10-1) each on
the room, or $27 (3x9) total, and the Bellhop kept $2 for a total of: $29!
What happened to the extra dollar, and who lost what???
Answers at the bottom of this page.
Interesting question: What do I do if I or my child is assigned inappropriate material
to read for a school assignment?
This morning I was browsing the net and found this question. I teach high school English
and have several LDS students in my classes. (My expression of faith is Roman Catholic.)
Anyway, I thought you might be interested in my reply. In my classes I work closely with
each child's parent. My thought is, "Your home is the other half of my
classroom."
When a parents do not want their child to read the text assigned, which is generally in
response to required school-wide novels (for example, Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings" or Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western
Front"), I offer a selection of other books which would meet the same curricula goals
for critical reading (themes on various cultures, the influence of government or
technology, social situations which strip the individual of his or her personal expression
or beliefs . . . ) and the student then reads the alternate book with the approval of the
parents.
I respect the parents obligation and right to be selective of the material their children
read. My responsibility is to educate, and there are a variety of essays, short stories,
novels, plays, and poems which will "do the job."
I have generally found parents, (and, without exception LDS parents) to be willing to work
with me so that together both parents and educator teach the child.
I wish you good health, wise teachers, and strong children!
Charles William Bickenheuser
Pasco High School, English Dept.
*Response of the Month: How do you encourage lifelong learning in yourself and those around you?
I love books! I like to research good books for children, teens, and adults. Then I generally purchase them at thrift stores so it costs considerably less than it normally would. In this way, I can surround our family with good books without using all of our family resources to buy them. We’re getting a wonderful library of children and adult classics, ABC and other picture books, how-to, health and child care, humor, science, foreign language lessons, fantasy, science fiction, clean novels, biographies, and many other interesting volumes to share with our family, friends and neighbors.
For a starting point for your own reading, see Books I would recommend.
*Question of the Month: How can you have a spiritual Sunday while caring for small children?
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
The three brothers paid $10 each or $30 total for a room. It is true that after the bellhop returned $3 to them, they each ended up paying $9 each for the room, or $27 total. Twenty-five of those dollars actually went for the room and two of them went to the bell hop. The three brothers lost their portion of the $2 the bellhop took, otherwise nothing is missing. The brain teaser mistake was to add the bellhop’s $2 twice making only $29 for the total, rather than adding the $25 for the room, the $2 for the bellhop and the $3 for the refund to the brothers, which adds up to the original $30.
See you later!