Dear Family,
This weekend is conference weekend. General Conference We got up and got dressed and turned
on the computer to watch the morning session of conference Saturday morning and
it was not on!!! It seems that we must wait until 6:00 pm Saturday night
to see the start of conference. I was sure that they were going to
broadcast it early for those of us in Asia and Europe who were ahead of Utah,
but no, they won’t broadcast it early for us, seems for conference, they are
not into showing what has not happened! And they say this is not a “Utah
Church!”
We took advantage of the delay and went sightseeing with another senior
missionary couple. They live in Eger, where we used to visit every other
week. We met up on the Slovakian border and took a two hour walking tour
of a real large cave system. Aggtelek Caves A lot more spectacular than the caves we saw
with Steven and Becca about 5/6 years ago in Texas. See pictures on
Facebook and on the link.
One set of missionaries came over to watch the morning session of conference at
our house. Mom made Café Rio type pulled pork burritos. Then this
morning the two of us watched the afternoon session and the priesthood session
of conference. We are now waiting to for the morning session to start in
about 1 ½ hours.
This has nothing to do with conference and the wonderful messages that were
given on Saturday. But maybe to do with Elder Oaks and Elder Cooks themes
of not listening to the world and its “wisdom.”
Fresh off my mission (1973/74), I entered a world that was much conflicted with
“Woman’s Rights” movement. One of my friends was Steve McConkie, son of
Bruce McConkie. A group of us would meet and study down in the bottom
floor of the library at BYU. One day in discussion about the Church and
its position on women’s rights, we ask Steve to talk to his dad that weekend
and get his thoughts and opinions. I remember very clearly the answer
that Steve brought back to us. I paraphrase, “They are concerned about the
adverse effects of such a movement. The publicly stated positions are one
thing, but privately, it is an attempt to destroy the family unit.” Steve
then said something that to the four or five of us at the table confirmed how
out of touch Bruce McConkie was. “My dad said that the woman’s right
movement is not what keeps him awake at night. He feels that within 20 to
30 years, public opinion will be against marriage and that society will look
very negatively upon women who choose motherhood over a career, particularly
those who stay home and raise their family.”
What do you think the first thing on my mind was when President Hinckley
presented the ‘The Family: A proclamation to the World’? My thought, was
Bruce McConkie got it wrong, it was in 18 years not 20! In 1995 the world
and the nation would not think it was needed to have a state law nor federal
law defining marriage between a man and a woman. But the Prophet and the
12 Apostles felt it necessary to state God’s position.
Just four short years later Scott is sent to the Dominican Republic on a
mission. A year later Steven also goes to the Dominican Republic.
Both tell the same story about two separate locations on the island.
“There is only 9 of the Ten Commandments. Adultery has been removed
because of the Catholic Church’s position on divorce. It is less sinful
to live together and never marry than to be divorced.” Chip, chip, chip
at the basic unit of society, the family.
Now in 2017, Jane and I are in Hungary. One of the biggest problems when
teaching a family about the church is marriage. The need for marriage has
been taken out of their social thinking. Whether the importance of
marriage was dismissed during the communist rule, whether it was a rebellion
against the Catholic Church, whether it has to do with the tidal waves changes
in Samoa because of global warming, whatever the reason, the effect is the
destruction of the family unit.
I hope and pray that you do all you can to strengthen your marriage. You
do all you can to look at your life and make sure that you are attempting to
follow the commandments of God. (Read or watch Elder Hollands talk of yesterday -
we will not achieve perfection. We just need to try and do our best.)
We love all of
you. We feel your prayers on our behalf. We are still seeing
miracles happen all the time for the poor and the needy, for the members of the
church and for the missionaries. We bear testimony that God’s work will
not be stopped. That it will continue to grow and become stronger.
If you had any idea of the power and respect the church has in Eastern Europe,
Asia and Africa all due to the humanitarian efforts they do with very little
fanfare, your faith would be made stronger that God is winning against the
onslaught of the “world’s wisdom”.
Dad
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