He Walked the Americas

I remember hearing a story from my grandpa as a young kid about some Indian tribe that believed their ancestors had contact with a great white god and how some people in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believed that could easily be explained by Jesus’s visit to the Nephites after His resurrection.  Later, I learned that such legends were likely more widespread and that the natives at the time of the Spanish Conquest may have been influenced by these beliefs to think that the arrival of the white conquerors was a second coming of Christ, the great Queztalcoatl.  I was reminded of those old stories more recently when a Native American man who was also a member of the Church made the rounds on Church-related podcasts and said that when he went through the temple, he found a lot of similarities to his lodge ceremonies.  I don’t know how much these various stories have been convoluted with Mormon culture, but they always seemed interesting to me, and it seemed like there could be at least some truth to them.  

He Walked the Americas: The Trail of the Prophet by L. Taylor Hansen (ISBN: 978-1-939149-19-0) is a compilation of stories from North and South American Indians that relate to a so-called white or pale prophet.  The stories tell about the arrival of the prophet, his activities, and then his departure.  The legends describe the man, usually as wearing white garments (most often with small crosses on the hem), having brown hair, usually a beard, wearing sandals, and usually with cross-shaped marks in his hands.  Sometimes he was accompanied by other white men.  Other times he organized churches, established temples, and called people to continue his teachings after his departure.  The arrival is usually on a ship in the legends, but one of the stories recorded by the author noted that the mysterious white prophet’s ministry started with his appearance at the temple.  The man’s activities while visiting the ancient Indians included preaching peace, ending human sacrifice, healing sick and otherwise afflicted people, and controlling the wind and water.  The last two were kind of important in the legends because this god was often referred to as the feathered serpent.  Wind was often represented by feathers and the water by the snake.  The organization of churches, usually with twelve men called to be leaders and teachers, and the establishing of temples was the other main activity of this white prophet in the legends.  The stories then tell of his departure, usually with the people mourning his leaving and eventually forgetting his teachings and reverting to war and human sacrifice.

I thought the book was very interesting.  Hansen simply compiled the stories and lets the reader judge for himself what to think.  If someone is well acquainted with Mormon theology, the most likely candidate for the great white prophet is Jesus after His resurrection.  The legends allow for a few other Book of Mormon-related possibilities, too.  Many of the legends involve the white prophet’s arrival via boat.  Both the Jaredites and the Nephites arrived by sea and brought with them seeds, which was also in the legends.  Some have claimed the legends, especially in North America are the result of Moroni’s travels before finally depositing the plates in the Hill Cumorah.  There’s no real way to know since the stories are clouded by time (admitted by the compiler and by some of the Indians relating the legends), but the similarities are fascinating and with so many from such a disparate set of sources, there is also no real reason to discount them all.  Knowing the Book of Mormon is true comes through study and prayer, but anthropological evidence for it like this is always nice to have once the spiritual testimony has been gained.

   

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Saints: No Unhallowed Hand

Salt Lake City, Utah, is home to an interesting state park that is currently called This Is the Place Heritage Park.  I remember it as This Is the Place State Park.  It is home to a grand monument to Brigham Young, the Mormon pioneers, and other explorers of the early American West.  The rest of the park is a number of reconstructed early pioneer homes, outbuildings, and buildings such as a blacksmith’s shop, a general store, and other buildings typical of frontier towns.  As a kid, the thing that attracted me most to the park was that they sold candy in the general store, there were farm animals to see, and there were a few things that kids could do, such as give combing wool a try (it was much more difficult than it looked).  I had little appreciation for the pioneers that the park and monument were originally meant to honor (“originally” is a key word because now it’s billed as a “living history museum” and they’ve even added that old, traditional pioneer facility, the splash pad).

Saints: No Unhallowed Hand (ISBN: 978-1-62972-648-9) is the second volume of a multi-volume history published by the Church itself.  This volume follows the Church’s exodus from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley.  It tells the story of the wagon trains and hand cart companies that forged the Mormon Trail.  The Church was forging into new territory as well, as Brigham Young became the second president of the Church and the second prophet of this era.  In addition to trekking across the North American plains, the Church was expanding internationally, with missionaries taking the message of the restored gospel to Europe, South Africa, and the islands of the Pacific.  Missionary work didn’t always go so well, and there were plenty of other locations, like Southeast Asia, where missions resulted in extremely few converts.  The book also chronicles the early Church’s struggles with the American government.  After the lack of concern the federal government showed the Church when Missouri’s official position was persecution, most Church members were wary of the U.S. government.  Brigham Young and his successors were wary, but also saw the wisdom of working toward a reconciled position.  This led to things like the Mormon Battalion and helped influence Church members’ thinking as some later struggled to accept the end of polygamy.  A major theme in the book was the construction of temples.  They required great sacrifice, but also resulted in great blessings.  

The book is written in the same way as the first volume in the series, so there were no surprises this time with formatting, style, or anything like that.  I probably enjoyed reading this volume a little more than the first one because I am less familiar with the early missionary efforts and the stories of Church members across Europe and the Pacific.  I thought most of the stories were good: interesting and something one can learn from.  The book dealt in depth with polygamy, which was never something I struggled with, but I know it’s a question that many, both inside and outside the Church have.  The book touched on the Mountain Meadow massacre in a way that I thought presented a good level of detail and the level to which Church members were involved.  The stories of faith and sacrifice were what made the book a worthwhile read, though, teaching of their importance and the attendant blessings they bring to our lives.

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Книга Мормона

This year, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints used the Book of Mormon as the text, in conjunction with the relatively new Come, Follow Me manual, for Sunday school lessons.  The Book of Mormon has always been a part of my life since I’m a life-long member of the Church, and I have come to know that it never hurts to re-read this book, which is aptly described by its subtitle, “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”  Since it’s been almost twenty years since I finished by mission, which I served in St. Petersburg, Russia, I thought it would be fitting to read the Russian translation of the book.  It’s gone through a few updates since I read it as a missionary, so there would be a little bit of a new feel to it for me (my version was dated March 24th, 2015).

 
While I normally try to summarize the book or provide highlights and some of the author’s main points, that seemed a little less useful for a book of scripture, but since part of the impetus behind reading it in Russian was to help maintain (re-gain?) at least a semblance of Russian-language skills, I thought I would hearken back to my mission days and try to give the same type of overview of the Книга Мормона that we gave as missionaries when doing what we called street contacting, simply walking up to people, asking if they’d give us a few minutes of their time, and then explaining who we were and what, in generic terms, our message was.  If people were willing to listen for a few minutes, we usually had a chance to talk about the Book of Mormon, which was new and unique for upwards of 90% of the people with whom we spoke.  Most missionaries, myself included, liked to use the illustrations included at the front of the book.  We typically told people we met that the Book of Mormon was a book of scripture, the same as the Bible is a book of scripture, that testified of Jesus Christ.  It was written by ancient prophets, starting with a man named Lehi, who left Jerusalem and moved to the American continent.  The book recorded the history and prophecies of Lehi’s descendants, culminating in a visit to these people by the resurrected Savior, where He taught His gospel and performed miracles just as He had done in Jerusalem.  This record was compiled by another ancient prophet, named Mormon, and buried, later to come forth, with God’s help, through a modern-day prophet named Joseph Smith.  The book ends with a promise that if we ask God about its truthfulness, He will answer us.

I will first note that I am a huge fan of how this edition of the Book of Mormon in Russian uses the Russian letter Ё (yo).  While most literate Russians don’t need it printed, and there’s some debate among linguists about its status, learners of Russian are helped immensely by the letter.  I would’ve loved having it in the Book of Mormon as a missionary (as it was, I always added the two dots over the E when it was required by hand in my copy as a missionary).  The new translation, though, didn’t always leave me as satisfied.  I found that they strayed from some Biblical phrasings or other more staid expressions in favor of more literal translations (which has been done with other languages, too), likely in an attempt to make the scriptures more accessible to the modern, younger reader.  Finally, there were a few translations, as usual, where having a native English speaker who knows Russian well as a proofreader would’ve helped.  None of those imperfections reduce the truth of the book, of course.  As stated above, it’s never bad to re-read the Book of Mormon.  Even though I know very well how the stories go and what the main lessons are, the book is inspiring almost every time I pick it up.  Like the Bible, the Book of Mormon is full of eternal truths and principles that apply to our lives even though the situations we encounter are continually changing and the world around us is always fluid.  At the end of the book, Moroni’s promise continues to deliver.  Moroni notes that we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost, and I have put that to the test repeatedly, both about the Book of Mormon and about other Church- and doctrine-related questions.  My belief in God, in the scriptures, and in the Church have repeatedly been strengthened, often as a result of my questions, and I can state, just as I did twenty years ago at the end of the quick overview given to so many people on the streets of St. Petersburg, I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God!

   

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Church of Cowards

I grew up in a religious family with parents and grandparents who were examples of hard work, service, dedication, and faith.  A lot of what they did was within the framework of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  As a young teenager, I remember when my dad gave a talk in church (almost every Sunday, two or three people from the congregation give talks — sermons, essentially — that they have prepared ahead of time, by invitation).  I don’t remember the particular subject, but it involved God’s command to love and serve our fellowmen.  As people were milling about after church, I overheard one person commenting on how my dad was certainly entitled to give a talk on that subject because he walked the walk, as they say.  I don’t know if I was meant to hear that comment, and I’ll never know, but I did, and it taught me a lesson.  In later life, I have spent a lot of time and effort trying to convince both myself and others that the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is one of action.  He expects us to be active instruments in His hands, seeking out others and lifting them up.

Church of Cowards: A Wake-up Call to Complacent Christians by Matt Walsh (ISBN: 978-1-62157-920-5) is a book about that very call to action.  In the book, Walsh discusses some of what he perceives to be problems in America and then talks about how they are largely, if not completely, overcome by Christians getting up and putting their religious beliefs into action.  While he is Catholic (not discussed in the book, but a known fact), the book is not directed at any specific denomination; the things he says are meant to be applicable by all believers.  He notes that polls generally find America to be about 70% Christian, but that America does not function like a country that is 70% Christian.  The opening chapter presents a fictionalized situation where barbarians come to America to slaughter Christians, something like ancient Rome, but can’t find anyone that will stand up for what the barbarians believe to be Christianity.  The people they find are wishy-washy and non-committal about anything other than their openness and tolerance.  The rest of the book that looks deeper into those watered-down values and how far they are from what Walsh believes is taught in the Bible.  Modern man’s disdain for organized religion, the commitment many show to entertainment instead of God, and a brand of religion that doesn’t require any sacrifice from its adherents are a few of the topics that draw Walsh’s ire in a, typical for his Internet-based daily show, scathing take-down of modern American Christianity.  The book asks those who call themselves Christian to start taking their religion more seriously, which, for most, will mean making effort to change and become more active.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book.  Podcasting doesn’t always equate to writing, so even though the author has a successful show, that doesn’t mean he’ll write a book successfully.  It probably helps that he also writes a regular column that tackles similar subject matter.  American culture is always in Walsh’s crosshairs, and the writing was not a disappointment.  I was also interested to see how religious writing from a conservative Catholic would square with the theology of my own church.  In general, it did, and the doctrinal differences expressed in the book were not central to his arguments, so I didn’t think they detracted from the points made and believe that would be true for most any denomination.  As with anything that touches touchy subjects, I didn’t agree with every word (he brilliantly took on Christian entertainment in a section with which I couldn’t agree more, though), but there was much where I was nodding in agreement and there was no arguing on the main point: America would be a vastly different country today were we who profess Christianity to actually live by its precepts in all facets of our lives.  The book is a call to action; it’s action that usually starts with ourselves.  Are we living our lives in accordance with God’s will or are we seeking our own?  The book serves, as its subtitle claims, as a great wake-up call.

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Saints: The Standard of Truth

“The Lord has led this people all the while in this way,”
Brigham declared, “by giving them here a little and there a little.
Thus He increases their wisdom, and he that receives a little and is thankful for that
shall receive more and more and more.”
I grew up in Utah, was born and raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and there are Mormon pioneers among my ancestors on my Mom’s side of the family.  During my childhood and early teen years, I felt as if I couldn’t go half an hour without hearing about the pioneers.  My belief in Jesus Christ and in the Church itself never wavered (in fact, the result of every question I’ve ever asked has been a confirmation of my beliefs), but I couldn’t always see the connection between Church history and what I was experiencing.  I often found the constant discussion of Church history and the pioneers to often be too much.  Even as I got older, matured, and came to understand history (in general) better and its strong connection to our current lives, I warmed up to Church history slowly.  I still don’t know that I’m all the way there as there are other aspects of history that interest me more, but I am certainly no longer antagonistic toward it.

Saints: The Standard of Truth (ISBN: 978-1-62972-492-8) is the first volume of a multi-volume history published by the Church itself.  It basically covers the time period that corresponds to Joseph Smith’s life.  It presents information about the Smith family, Joseph’s early years, his growing interest in religion as a teenager, the First Vision, the long path to Joseph acquiring the golden plates, the translation and publication of the Book of Mormon, and the founding of the Church.  As the story goes along, the cast of characters grows rapidly to include the others who played key roles in the restoration of God’s Church on the earth, such as Joseph’s wife, Emma, Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, the Whitmer family, and others.  Once the Church is founded, the book traces the history of the Church, focusing a little bit less on Joseph Smith, although never really getting away from him since he was so incredibly central to the story.  One reads about the Church’s westward progression through Kirtland, Ohio, onto Missouri, and then to Nauvoo.  Along the way, stories famous to anyone who has been in the Church long, such as two sisters rescuing the pages of what would become the Doctrine and Covenants or the early Saints praying for the ice on the river to break so their boat could get through, are presented.  There were also a few lesser-known stories.  The book ends with Brigham Young being called as the second president of the Church and his vision of moving the members of the Church even farther West in a quest for safety and freedom.

I honestly did not know what to expect from the book.  I had a feeling it would be too fluffy and not serious enough (the 7-volume Church history that is common in many homes of members of the Church long had a prominent place in my parents’ home, and has always come across as a serious work to me).  There were times when I felt that, but I also thought there were serious moments and some of the sometimes contentious and controversial aspects of Church history (polygamy, the Kirtland Safety Society, for example) and Joseph Smith’s story (treasure hunting being one example) were explored in what I thought was an open and candid manner.  I was appreciative of the inclusion of some stories that I was not familiar with.  I thought the writing was quite fair, never disparaging those who did not join the Church, those that fell away, or even those who fought against it.  Overall, I thought it was a decent read.  One of my bigger complaints is about the physical book itself.  It’s huge.  There’s tons of whitespace on each page that doesn’t need to be there, the font is too big, and the spacing is too much.  This book is simply inconvenient to hold and read, but doesn’t need to be since it could honestly be half the size and half the thickness.

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Visions of Freedom

Growing up as a Mormon in Utah, especially back before the advent of what are often called in Mormon culture “small temples,” the Salt Lake Temple reigns supreme.  It is photographed endlessly.  It is the crown jewel of Temple Square even though most visitors cannot enter it.  It is the subject of both the state’s and the Church’s history and the stories that involve the Salt Lake Temple intertwine the two.  As a result of that situation, some of the state’s other temples are a bit lesser known to the general populace, myself included.  The fact that I always have to stop and think and remind myself that the St. George Temple was the Church’s third temple, not the Salt Lake Temple, proves that point.  I first heard, from my parents during a visit to Southern Utah as a kid, that the Founding Fathers appeared to President Wilford Woodruff in the St. George Temple.  The story was amazing and one I always remembered.

Visions of Freedom: Wilford Woodruff and the Signers of the Declaration of Independence by Michael de Groote and Ronald L. Fox (ISBN: 978-1-60861-227-7) is a book about Wilford Woodruff’s visions (he had two of them on this subject) and the men that appeared to him.  The first part of the book discusses the history behind modern vicarious ordinances in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (anciently, the Bible contains one passage discussing baptism for the dead, and scholarly literature discusses a few others).  The next major theme of the book is how Wilford Woodruff’s preaching about his visions and the work he did in the St. George Temple for the men who appeared to him, as well as for some other famous people throughout history, changed, to a significant degree, the Mormon outlook on work for the dead in the temple.  Before President Woodruff’s visions, the vast majority of temple work was done only for ancestors or very close friends.  What that meant was that once a person had traced his genealogy as far as he could, he didn’t have much of a reason to attend the temple.  President Woodruff’s work for the Founding Fathers and others taught that temple work was necessary for all who had ever lived, which also gave faithful saints a reason to come to the temple again and again.  The majority of the book, though, consists of short biographies of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Each signer gets at least one page, although most have more than that.  There are some appendices that discuss the actual temple work and various accounts of President Woodruff’s visions.

I am not normally attracted to reading about Church history.  The history of the United States fascinates me.  I’m sure this overlap helped this book be of interest, but I think it had more to do with the fact that the story was one that was of interest to me as a kid.  I found the discussion of baptisms for the dead in the early Church quite intriguing.  What I missed in the discussion of Wilford Woodruff’s dream was the actual sermons in which he talked about it.  I found them, later, in the appendices.  I thought that was an unnatural place for them.  They should’ve been front and center.  Finally, the biographies were interesting.  They were just snippets and, usually, not very long, providing highlights of government service and the thoughts of other Founding Fathers on the person in question.  I enjoyed learning about how they came to be involved in the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  Many of them were what would be called “flip-floppers” in today’s toxic political environment (although maybe not necessarily since that term, at its purest, refers to those who change positions for political expediency, not because of any deeply held personal belief).  Many were British supporters until things just got too out of hand (it was almost always taxes that bothered them, but property rights and religion played a role, too).  The wide cross section of society was interesting, too.  Most of the signers were from the upper or upper middle class.  Not all, though.  There were guys who had worked their way up from being the apprentices of tradesmen to being judges.  There were merchants, clergymen, lawyers, and others.  What they had in common was a desire for themselves and their fellow countrymen to be free.  The book typically pointed out when one of the signers owned slaves or not.  This is a fascination that modern history has, but I thought it was dealt with admirably by the authors, who noted, at the end, that, unfortunately, many of our Founding Fathers were slave owners, but that was a burning issue then, and most of those who owned slaves struggled with it, later freeing some or all of their slaves or helping to write laws that hampered the slave trade in the U.S., but the important thing was that the founding documents (many signed not just the Declaration, but the Constitution as well) made it possible to later eliminate slavery in America.  Ultimately, that’s why they came to President Woodruff: they wanted to be free, free from spiritual prison in the afterlife.  It was an interesting historical and theological read that made me think about my amazing national heritage as well as my testimony in a loving God that has provided a way for all men to return to him and experience salvation.

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To the Rescue

I have always looked up to Church leaders as good examples, and the prophets in particular.  Since President Kimball died when I was only 5 years old, I only vaguely remember him.  I remember President Benson better, in large part because of his lifelong commitment to Scouting, and he was the prophet while I was heavily involved in Scouts.  I remember President Hunter mostly because the Bountiful Temple was dedicated while he was the prophet, and I participated in that temple’s open house and dedication.  President Hinckley is probably the first prophet I remember because of the things he taught.  He is also the first one that I looked to as a role model.  He was a very positive person and chose to see the bright side of life, no matter the situation.  Before President Monson was even the president of the Church, I saw him as a role model.  His many stories, most of them based on his personal experiences, showed that he had developed many of the character traits that truly good people possess.  Over and over again, I found myself listening and thinking that I should, somehow, implement what he was talking about in my own life.

To the Rescue: The Biography of Thomas S. Monson by Heidi S. Swinton (ISBN: 978-1-60641-898-7) chronicles the amazing life of service that President Monson has led from an early age through the present day.  The timeline for the biography is straight forward, starting with his early childhood and ending with his time as the leader of the Church.  He learned from parents and family around him in what was, at the time, a typical childhood.  It follows him through high school, a mission, early marriage, employment, and a variety of Church callings.  Along the way, there are many familiar stories, but there are sometimes some additional details that weren’t always part of the many sermons President Monson has given.  There were also some additional stories.  It was interesting to read about President Monson’s family a little bit and about his professional experienes.  There was a lot of time spent on President Monson’s service as an apostle in what was then East Germany.  The Church history aspect was interesting, as it was with some of the other episodes from his life, but they often seemed more like pioneer stories because of the great faith shown and the hardships endured.  What was consistent no matter what part of his life was being discussed was the dedication he showed to serving others, whether that be in his family or those around him.  President Monson was never too busy to help someone out, talk to them, visit them, give them a blessing, or share time and possessions with them.  It becomes abundantly clear as the life of this man is chronicled that he understands very well that Heavenly Father is serious when He says that the worth of souls is great in His sight.  President Monson has cultivated that genuine love and concern that is a trait of our divine Father and made it a part of his own personality. 

I never really doubted I would find the book interesting, but I think that I underestimated the power behind the stories.  There is sense of warmth and comfort in the stories from home, whether they be from his childhood or when he was a father.  The stories of service, love, and compassion are often familiar, but never dull.  In fact, they’re just the opposite.  They are inspiring and teach true principles.  I don’t necesssarily remember the details of who, when, or how, but a desire to be more in tune with the Spirit and more ready to help others is clearly left in your mind and heart after reading even a few pages.  Really, you can’t ask much more out of a book.  Thomas S. Monson has led and continues to lead an extraordinary life of service.  It is one worthy of emulation and one about which reading is well worth one’s time.

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Surviving Hitler

World War II has always been fascinating to me.  As a kid, it was simply the aircraft and other military hardware that intrigued me.  Outside of the big bombers, I especially found half-tracks to be interesting.  Another thing that is interesting about World War II is that the Axis and Allies alliances were clear and were fighting for a clear right and wrong.  It makes it easy to read about the bold heroes that risked their lives, often losing them, fighting for what was right.  The resistance fighters, brave soldiers, everyday people joining the underground, and those who had the physical and mental stamina to survive the truly horrid death camps were heroes to be admired.  Their steadfastness in selflessly choosing the right is to be copied.  I have no question of that today, but sensed it even as a young child.

Surviving Hitler: The Unlikely True Story of an SS Soldier and a Jewish Woman by O. Håkan Palm (ISBN: 978-1-60907-847-8) tells the story of two of the everyday people that made it through the horrors of war.  A memoir- or journal-style narrative takes the reader through the lives of the young woman, Agnes Erdös, a Hungarian ethnic Jew, and Gustav Palm, a Norwegian, as World War II placed its heavy imprint on their lives.  The Germans invaded Norway and Gustav joined the German army.  He was a good soldier who had luck on his side a couple times.  Agnes was raised in a well-to-do family, but as Hungary fell to the occupying forces, her life abruptly changed, and she ended up as one of the many in the Nazi concentration camps.  Sheer determination, coupled with a strength fortified by faith in God, got her through that most awful experience.  Through a series of events, both of them found themselves in Scandinavia after the war, trying to put their lives back together.  They met each other, fell in love, and were married.  Part of the healing process was a search for ultimate truth, and they found the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  There are some reminiscences from the author, the couple’s son that makes it seem that the healing process was a slow and often painful one, but these good people, who had endured much, forged on, helping others throughout the rest of their lives, ultimately conquering the scars of war.

Overall, the book was an enjoyable read, which is probably a little more of an endorsement than I thought I would be giving when I first opened it.  The reason I didn’t think I’d like it when I started is because of the journal-like format where you read a chapter from one person’s point of view, then a chapter from the others, and then back again.  It makes it seem a bit fluffier and not the kind of solid history book I would normally want to read.  I found it an interesting story, though, and maybe a first-hand account isn’t so bad since more thorough and scholarly histories have already been written.  This gives a unique voice to one of the many different aspects of the terrible war.  Notwithstanding my enjoyment of the book, I still think the title is a little sensationalist.  Gustav, the SS soldier in the story, was not a German Nazi bent on the extermination of the Jews or some other hateful ideology.  He was a young man who made what turned out to be an ill-fated decision.  At the time, he made the best decision he could based on what he knew.  It just so happened that he fought for the Germans.  In some notes to the book, someone explained that President Thomas S. Monson had met the couple and encouraged them to turn their story into a book.  I am not sure what he saw in the story, but my guess is that it was something similar to me — a story that makes the power of the atonement and the miracle of forgiveness that much more real.  For a different look at the war and bit of a human interest angle, the book is an interesting and quick read.

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My Name Used to Be Muhammad

“I never thought I’d cry when my father died, but I wept like a baby.  I miss him terribly. What I really miss is what we never had.  I would have spent another fifteen years in prison in exchange for the opportunity to be close to my father as a boy. I so badly wanted to please him.  I wanted to hear his praise.  I wanted to kick a soccer ball with him. I wanted to paint him a picture and have him tell me he liked it.  I wanted to tell him I met a girl and fell in love.  I wanted to ask him for advice. I wanted to talk to him about something other than religion.  I wanted him to say something to make me laugh.  I wanted him to put his hand on my shoulder and tell me about a time when he made a mistake as a boy.  I wanted to see him miss my mother. I wanted to be his boy.   Most of all, I wanted him to want me.”
— Tito Momen
One of the most fascinating classes I took in college was a comparative religion class.  This was arguably my introduction to Islam.  I had run into some Muslims while on my mission in Russia, but my understanding of their religion was superficial at best.  It was in my world religions (I think that was its actual name) class that I learned more about the religion that claims more adherents than any other on our planet.  Since then, my travels as well as the events that have often taken center stage in the news have increased my knowledge of this fascinating religion.  As a staunch member of my own church, I find conversion stories to be miraculous, inspiring, and simply interesting.  Islam is known — rightly or wrongly is up for debate — for being extremely harsh in dealing with those who turn against it.  Conversions from the strong traditions of Islam to the all-encompassing doctrines of Mormonism are especially interesting from this standpoint.

Tito Momen, in My Name Used to Be Muhammad (ISBN: 978-1-60907-710-5), told just such a story.  His background was one of utmost Islamic piety in northern Nigeria to accepting Jesus Christ as his Savior and embracing the other doctrines and scriptures of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The journey was an interesting one, often wrought with peril.  Momen’s childhood and teenage years were fairly typical for boys in the area where his family lived.  His father was extremely strict, occasionally abusive, and based everything he did on his religion.  His plan for young Momen involved formal schooling with the ultimate goal of becoming part of the Islamic clergy.  Momen wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea, wishing to please his father and rather enjoying his schooling.  The only thing he didn’t really get was the lack of an outlet for his natural talents and the lack of room in his culture for questioning those in authority.  At a college in Damascus, Syria, he tired of abusive, extremist professors, eventually getting in a physical altercation with one that he despised the most.  While having the potential to be a real disaster, it ended up putting him on a path toward his eventual conversion.  He was able to go to Cairo, Egypt, to continue his schooling.  There, he met a very diverse group of people, including within the faithful Muslim community.  He learned that the northern Nigerian brand of Islam wasn’t the only one, and that many of those people were still good, faithful members of the faith.  He also ran into those who weren’t.  This diverse crowd led him to think a lot about his faith, and while he admits to making some choices that were not becoming of him, his upbringing, or really anyone, the process of change was something very foreign to someone coming from a background of total, blind obedience.  Eventually, he was kicked out of school in Egypt, too, having written an essay questioning Islam.  A French friend had converted to Mormonism in the meantime and introduced Momen to the Church.  After his conversion was complete, there were troubles with some of his former friends and acquaintances who were considering violence as an option for dealing with the apostasy from Islam.  An attempt to leave Egypt on a fake passport landed him in prison, where he languished for fifteen years before miraculously being let out.  Like the conversion story, the story of Tito Momen getting out of prison showed that God loves us, cares about us, and is involved in the details of our lives.

The book was, as I expected, incredibly interesting.  I know relatively little about the part of the world in which these events were set, so learning about them was neat.  Momen’s conversion story was, of course, incredible and displayed an incredible about of faith and humility.  His is one of those stories that makes a person think something like, “If this guy could go through all that he did, of course I can get through my middling problems.”  It’s an inspiring story that held my attention throughout the book.  The only thing I think could’ve been improved on was that his life story was told in decent detail, but maybe there could’ve been a little more detail given to his conversion to Mormonism.  I realize that it’s a deeply personal thing and that the impressions, thoughts, and feelings we have as we seek answers to our earnest prayers are personal and hard to describe.  Still, they are real, and there are events and thoughts associated with them that would be of interest.  It would firmly be rated PG-13 were it a movie, but it all accurately depicts life in North Africa and the Middle East.  I’d recommend the book as one of general human interest and religious interest that I really enjoyed.

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The Morning Breaks

Russia and the other Slavic countries to which it is closely tied are fascinating places and they are captivating across a wide variety of fields.  Russian history is interesting with its ties to Europe, Asia, and the Middle East; Russian politics, whether that be Putin or Stalin or Gorbachev, are intriguing; endless spellbinding tomes have been written about Russian spies, foreign policy, and military affairs; Russian food like pelmeni, bliny, and pirozhki is excellent; and the Russian people are equally engrossing and mind boggling with their mix of hospitality, Oriental-style ways, European sensibilities, and rude coarseness.  If one wants to study a particular angle, it can be done in Russia.  Russia also has a fairly rich religious heritage, the Soviet attempts at state-sponsored or state-enforced atheism notwithstanding.

In The Morning Breaks: Stories of Conversion and Faith in the Former Soviet Union by Howard L. Biddulph (ISBN: 978-1-57345-152-9), one can read about a relatively new chapter in that deep religious history.  President Biddulph was the leader of the first mission in Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union (his responsibilities actually started just before the USSR fell).  He describes the miraculous nature of the early missionary work in Ukraine, often incorporating the thoughts and experiences of the first, pioneering Ukrainian Saints.  Some of testimonies of these people, always simple, are very strong.  All the experiences show the loving guidance of a Father in Heaven who wants His children to succeed in all that they undertake.  He talked of the people who made the Church successful in those wild times because of their extreme faith and true willingness to be instruments in the hands of the Almighty.  There were some of the typical-for-Eastern-Europe struggles with infinite layers of bureaucracy that were resolved; there were smaller miracles such as the sun shining through as Ukraine was dedicated for missionary work; and there were the many individualized miracles that took place each and every time a missionary decided to open his mouth one more time or an investigator decided to follow through on a commitment.  After a long period of stagnation and darkness, the Iron Curtain had fallen and the light of the gospel shone through to take its place.

The book was written in a very informal style with many excerpts from President Biddulph’s journals, his wife’s journals, and letters from or interviews with the early Ukrainian Saints.  It was, of course, intriguing for me, a former missionary in the territory of the former Soviet Union, to read about how another one of those countries came to meet the gospel.  Ukraine is fascinating from the standpoint of Church growth because it was opened to missionaries right on the heels of Russia, and is much smaller, but seems to have done much better as they had a stake there first and a temple, too.  I liked the stories, a couple of them similar to things I experienced first hand.  Missions are something it’s easy to wax nostalgic about, but they’re also something that has the power to rekindle the desires for righteousness and obedience to God’s law that were so strong while serving, and that is probably the best part of the book.

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Мормоны в России

After returning from serving my mission in St. Petersburg, Russia, I have followed what I refer to as the “Russian news” (news about Russia, not necessarily in Russian) closer than I ever did before.  The people I came to understand and appreciate and the places I shed tears over as the plane took off as I departed St. Petersburg meant a great deal to me and I wondered how their great yet still somewhat mysterious country was doing.  Just as I didn’t follow Russia much in the news before I left on my mission, I rarely followed what was happening with the Church in the news before my mission.  We always got the Church News in the Deseret News, but I rarely cracked it.  There was a feature on the back page that typically told a little story like the stories in the back of the Ensign, and I read it sometimes, but that was it, and that feature hardly qualified as news.  I tend to pay a little more attention to the news of the Church nowadays.  It is not much of a stretch to think that just as my mission made Russia more important to me, it made the Church more important to me.

In Мормоны в России: Путь длиной в столетие (ISBN: 9-785-91189-005-6), or Mormons in Russia: A Century-long Path (my translation), by Sergei Antonenko, these two newer interests of mine are brought together in an academic, historical essay on the Church in Russia.  Antonenko gives a brief history of the Church, including its founding, Brigham Young leading the Saints to Utah, and its relative stability and growth since that time.  He also discusses in rather finite detail the theology of the Church.  The next big portion of the work is dedicated to what various pre-Soviet writers and intellectuals in the imperial Russia wrote and thought about the Church.  Dostoevsky and Tolstoy get specific mention.  Finally, the history of the Church in post-Soviet Russia is discussed.  Since this includes the late 1980s when missionaries traveled to the Soviet Union from Finland for the weekend only, it might be slightly inaccurate to say “post-Soviet Russia.”  As with the rest of the book, the writing about the Church in Russia has less to do with specific incidents such as organizational changes, legal registrations, or sensational events like missionaries being kidnapped, and more to do with how the Church has fit or not fit into Russian society and the general Russian consciousness.  It is, in places, a fascinating look into the perceptions — and souls — of Russia’s great people.

Overall, I thought the book was good.  I appreciated Antonenko’s even-handedness.  Discussions of Mormon doctrine can be fraught with misconceptions and sometimes outright lies when done by one who isn’t a member of the Church.  While Antonenko’s presentation wasn’t 100% doctrinally sound, it was very close.  I also found his pointing out of parallels in other world religions or in the scriptures to be refreshing.  His point over and over seemed to be that although Mormons have a bad reputation for believing some rather outlandish things, a person who is truly a student of religion would know that those things really aren’t that outlandish and are often rather mainstream thinking within certain groups or at certain times in the world’s history.  Antonenko is a religious studies expert and personally involved in multi-denominational cooperation efforts, which only adds to the respectability and sincerity of his presentation.  At one point he went so far as to note that he wondered why Mormons take so much heat from fellow Christians.  In fact, he couldn’t find anything wrong in being a Mormon and living a clean life free of alcohol and full of hard work, health, and effort toward strong family relations; it’s even better, he said, than claiming to be orthodox and being a drunkard, unhealthy, and having poor relationships with one’s family.  There were, of course, some things I thought could’ve been improved upon.  One, for example, was that I hoped the book would spend more time on actual members of the Church or the Church organization in Russia instead of so much discussion of Mormon doctrine and pre-October Revolution press about the Church.  Another would be the typical fascination with polygamy and other aspects of the Mormon Church that, although presented fairly and almost completely accurately, are secondary in a discussion of what constitutes Church doctrine.  More ink could’ve been spent on eternal families and the all-encompassing atonement of Jesus Christ.  Finally, I would’ve liked the book more had it been less philosophical and geared toward understanding the Russian psyche and more about the specific people and incidents that have given rise to two stakes of Zion in Russia.

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God Wants a Powerful People

As a kid, like just about every kid, I spent hours and hours chucking a basketball up at the hoop after drawing up an elaborate scenario in my head in which the team I was playing on (usually BYU or the Utah Jazz) was down a point or two with only four or five seconds to go in a championship game.  If I made it, my teammates and the fans went wild and I went on to fame and forture.  (If I missed, I was fouled or there was a problem with the clock or something else bizarre happened which allowed me to try again for that game-winning shot.)  I mention fame and forture only because that is a common thread in most people’s dreams as a kid.  I think that as people grow older and realize that they’d probably be happier with the fortune if it didn’t come with fame and even the forture part is not a necessary condition for happiness, those ideas fade a bit.  On the other hand, it’s not just kids that look up to people they consider to be heroes, and good examples in famous people, thought hard to come by, can lead to a lot of good.  I think of that in connection with Church leaders because some of them achieve a certain degree of celebrity status, especially in the Mormon Corridor.  President Hinckley may be the best example of this, but there are certainly others.

Sheri Dew was one of the Church leaders who reached a rather high level of celebrity status in the Church, and maybe even a little out of it, largely because of her supposed novelty: a never-married member of the Relief Society presidency.  She, like many other Church leaders who have become celebrities in their own right, used that increased ability to get a message out by writing a few books.  God Wants a Powerful People (ISBN: 978-1-59038-813-6) is one of them.  The premise of the book is simple.  God is generous and is willing to make His children powerful people, people who can accomplish a lot, help a lot of other people, and in general make the world a better place.  God wants to bless us.  When we do certain things, like striving to be righteous, the blessings flow, and by taking advantage of them, we become powerful people, changing not only our own lives, but the lives of those around us.  The book includes examples from everyday life on how we can go about becoming on of these powerful people, scriptures, ideas from Church leaders, and some common sense thrown in, too.  As with anything in the gospel, the biggest keys are probably putting words and ideas into action and relying on Jesus Christ in all of our efforts to improve and to help others.

As I have mentioned before, I am typically quite skeptical of these types of Church-related books.  I love the Church’s manuals, other official publications, and, of course, the scriptures.  Sometimes I think of these books as self-help lite, and the self-help genre is lite to begin with.  The trouble is, the gospel message is true, really no matter how it’s delivered, so in the end, I can rarely come down on these books.  They are not great literature, but there are often things that stand out to me and make me think about the way I live my life and about the things I can change to make myself better.  Unlike the self-help books, which are rarely, if ever, based on eternal truths, the ideas in Sister Dew’s book were concrete and real.  The discussion of the priesthood and the power that it holds if wielded by a righteous man was impressive.  The requirements for being righteous aren’t complicated or arcane; they simply need doing.  I was also impressed by the counsel to do things early — everything from getting up the morning to applying gospel principles to ourselves and our lives should be done early.  Early adopters of all things gospel will be powerful earlier, too, thereby bringing about the greatest good in their own lives and the lives of other people.

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One More Strain of Praise

One of the most profound parts of restored gospel is the fact that God has a prophet on Earth today.  Whenever God has seen it fit to have His Church on the earth, it has been headed by a prophet.  Anybody can read about this in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon.  While some people argue that we don't necessarily need prophets “because times are different now,” it's really just the opposite.  Since “times are different now,” we are ever so much more in need of divine guidance.  Again, some would argue that we can get that guidance through personal study or personal revelation.  While those, too, are true principles, they do not apply in all situations, and it's, again, rather easy to look around and see what happens when we're left to individually sorting things out.  The variety of resulting ideas, attempts, practices, and philosophies is quite staggering and inconsistent with a God of order Who has declared that there is but one path that leads to salvation.  God's designs have always been communicated to us through prophets, and it's nice to know that practice isn't going anywhere.

As with having a prophet, the modern Church has the same organizational leadership structure as the ancient Church.  That means we have apostles just as the ancient Jews and Nephites did.  While only the senior apostle can exercise all of the revelatory and administrative keys for the Church, the apostles are also prophets, seers, and revelators.  Even when not acting in an official capacity, it is worth listening to their counsel.  In One More Strain of Praise (ISBN: 1-57008-679-6), Neal A. Maxwell offered some of just that type of counsel.  Elder Maxwell briefly recounted some of the experiences of his life, including his battle with cancer, because he thought they had taught him something and made him a better person.  He explained that he was able to better comprehend and understand Christ's atonement, His infinite love, and the interplay between mercy and justice.  He explained how this critical understanding helped him and can help all people be happier, be more grateful, and share both the message of the atonement and the accompanying joy through loving service.

I am typically not one to delve into the world of Mormon literature.  I find that most of it underperforms.  I firmly believe that supporting something just because a member of the Church created it or because, at the very least, it complies with our standards is poor policy.  If artists and authors want my support, they must create great works that also comply with my standards.  Neal A. Maxwell's book was a little different in that it was a memoir and a doctrinal discussion rolled into one and did not really try to be art, but was much more factual in its presentation.  I thought the format worked well, but then, like he expressed in the beginning of his book, I believe one must apply the scriptures to oneself to get anything out of them.  I think that the overall message of happiness, hope, and gratitude helped make the book enjoyable and worthwhile.  More so because those personality traits are more easily cultivated when based on gospel truths than when based on anything else.  In a world where there is so much going on around us that would be easy to be depressed and overwhelmed by, it is nice to be reminded by one who was an apostle, a special witness of the reality and divinity of a resurrected Jesus Christ, that there are real reasons to not despair, not be troubled, and in direct opposition to those feelings inspired of the devil, there are real things we can do to cultivate positivity in ourselves and others.  I appreciated the uplifting message of the book and am glad that I overcame my disdain for Church-related publications that are not official Church works, picked up this short, easy-to-read book, and was reminded of things that I should be doing to make myself and those around me happier and more grateful.

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Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith

When the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints first started using compilations of the teachings of past presidents of the Church as the manuals for adult priesthood and Relief Society lessons, they decided to use the teachings of Brigham Young.  I was on my mission at the time, so I experienced this series for the first time in Russian.  (The series has not been translated into all languages; for example, this year is the first year the manual has been printed in Czech.)  It should go without saying that I liked it.  You can't go wrong with reading the words of a prophet.  The editors, obviously, stuck with teachings and counsel that applies to fundamental principles and the basic aspects of our testimonies, but I would argue that fact is the very reason these books are so great.  The one question that always went unanswered for me, though, was when was the Church going to use Joseph Smith's teachings as our course of study?

In 2008, my question was answered, and the Church published Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith for use in priesthood and Relief Society meetings throughout 2008 and 2009.  Following the standard format, the book contains some historical information on Joseph Smith and then two years' worth of lessons (47 chapters in this case).  Each one is about one or another aspect of the gospel.  For the most part, the content of the chapters is taken directly from Joseph Smith's writings or sermons.  As a result of the nature of the time he lived in, a healthy amount of the material from his sermons is according to a scribe or someone who heard the message first-hand and then wrote it on their own.  All of the content has been carefully checked and corroborated by Church historians and editors before being approved by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  There is no room for doubt that one is reading the words of the prophet that opened this dispensation.  The words, or the things we are all supposed to learn and come to know as true, explain just why this period of time on Earth, with the fully restored true church, is so special.  From the Book of Mormon to the nature of God and from true priesthood authority to faith and from the organization of the Church to the reality of a living prophet, Joseph Smith laid out the teachings of God as he worked to restore the fullness of the gospel, and now we can read about it.

It's kind of embarrassing to write about this book now, but I only put up these comments once I finish a book, and even though we started using this book long ago and even finished using it in church long ago, I was always behind in my reading (it was this lack of reading from this manual that made me set a goal to read the most recent manual much more faithfully and diligently).  Still, what makes the book so good (as with all the books in this series) is that it doesn't matter when you read it, you will still learn.  I like how each concept gets a few pages of focused attention in a format that anyone can understand.  With each paragraph, I found myself impressed with one idea or another and always finished the chapter thinking I had learned something new, had an old concept reinforced, or knew what I needed to do to be a better person.  In D&C 88:118, God counsels His children, "[Y]ea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith."  There is no question that this book qualifies, and with prayerful study, your faith and testimony are guaranteed to grow.

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Gospel Principles

I have been part of lessons or, admittedly, even discussions where members of the Church are talking about things people make fun of when they say the words "deep doctrines" and "High Priests," especially when those two phrases are used in the same sentence.  What I have come to learn, although probably not fully implement, in life, though, is that the real keys to the gospel, and, in turn, the real keys to living life in a way that helps ourselves and helps others, all the while bringing us true and lasting happiness, is in the basics.  I probably first truly came to understand this on my mission in St. Petersburg, Russia, but it has been confirmed to me over and over since then, and when I really take the time to look back on things and evaluate life before my mission, I see there, too, the key role gospel basics played in my life.  One of my favorite definitions of principle is "a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from which others are derived."  If one understands principles, all the twists, turns, and unscripted scenarios of life are more easily and appropriately dealt with.  When you know the basics, you can apply them as needed, and come out the better for the wear.

A couple years ago, the Church issued a new version of Gospel Principles, which had historically been used in classes for newly baptized members of the Church or for those who had not yet been baptized.  This new version, though, has been used as the main course of study in Relief Society and Melchizedek priesthood meetings throughout 2010 and 2011.  It is just what the title says it is.  It has forty-seven chapters on key subjects like faith, repentance, baptism, marriage, tithing, chastity, fasting, the Millennium, and the final judgement.  If there is a basic tenet of the gospel — something you really need to know to be saved — it's in here.  There are abundant references to the scriptures, explanations from modern-day prophets, and even pictures and illustrations that explain and teach things, too.  It's a great resource for personal study as well as for a starting point when one has a lesson to teach or a talk to give.  My experience with the older edition is somewhat limited (the Russian edition while I was on my mission), so I can't make comparisons, but there's really no need.  The point of the manual is written on the front cover: "[to] come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be saved" (1 Nephi 15:14).

Historically, I have not always been as good as I should be about reading the lesson manuals.  I made it a conscious goal to read all the way through this one, and I was not disappointed.  When the Church first announced that this book would be used as the main course of study, I know that some members of the Church complained, saying it was too basic or whatever.  I have had no complaints.  As stated above, these basics are the things with which one builds a solid testimony of the all-encompassing nature of the gospel and the Church.  It was awesome to be reminded again in plain and simple terms — and the gospel is plain and simple — the incredible blessings that await us if we but do our small part.  There's not a chapter that doesn't point back to the Savior and all that He did for us.  There's not a chapter that doesn't reference the plan of salvation with our Heavenly Father at its head.  Reading through the manual is a great way to polish up your knowledge of the gospel.  You will also feel that your testimony has been reinforced, probably because it has been replanted on a solid foundation that not only simply withstands the troubles that come our way, but allows us to fight back, if necessary, and move forward.

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