Everything I Need to Know… (part 6)

I get it from my dad.

Until I’d been a missionary for some time, I never quite realized just how much I have in common with my dad. My ridiculous sense of humor? Yeah. I get it from my dad… And I love it.

Everything I Need to Know… (part 5)

Put a little windex on it!

It may have started off as a quote from a movie, but when your dad (who doesn’t like movies) quotes My Big Fat Greek Wedding at you, there’s got to be something else behind it.

There can’t be one giant fix-all for your problems… Can there?

Let us know if you have any questions.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

I love questions. I love asking questions and answering questions and meeting people who have sincere questions about our church and our doctrine. Maybe I don’t have all the answers, but I know Someone who does. Maybe we don’t have all the answers right now, but He does. And I trust in Him enough to know that one day the answers will come.

The reason behind this statement from the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, and his two apostle-counselors President Henry B. Eyring and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf) is a controversial one that I’m not going to mention here. I love this statement, though, and what it says about us as a church and our doctrine.

Stay Weird.

Last Friday, we had a zone conference with another zone. Zone conference is when two “zones” or large areas of missionaries come together to be with the mission president and his wife, to learn how to be better missionaries and how to be better people.

One of the themes of this zone conference was “Peculiar/Strange.” Just that. Just those two words. We were asked to study up on those two words in the scriptures or talks from General Conference or the Ensign.

One of the dictionary definitions for the word peculiar is “belonging exclusively to” or “particular, special.” Doesn’t sound too weird now, does it?

Strange: unusual or surprising in a way that is unsettling or hard to understand.

Ok. No beating around the bush with that one. Being ‘strange’ in other words is just plain weird. So what does that mean?

“Roots and Branches”

In April, we had the opportunity to watch the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s an amazing opportunity we have every six months to listen to our living prophet and the twelve apostles and other general authorities of the church. I’ve very recently learned to love General Conference more than I did before my mission. I know that the messages are truly inspired and can speak directly to us if we let them.

I bring this up because it’s where the story begins. On Saturday afternoon, Elder Quentin L Cook of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles spoke and it was all about family history. Roots and Branches was the title of his talk, and at first it wasn’t really anything new. I’ve heard the whole “family history is important” thing before. I’ve also been one to say “my family has been in the church for years so my family history is pretty much done as much as it’s going to be.” 

Well. That was before I listened to Elder Cook.