Thoughts and stories, by Pal

This puts my thoughts into words!  I have often wondered how to express my feelings, after much study of early Church History.   I had many ancestors who were early members, and this helps explain their loyalty to the Prophet Joseph Smith.   Why I Can’t Manage to Disbelieve By Maurine Proctor  · September 1, 2016 Daniel C. Peterson gave this talk we are excerpting at the FAIRMormon conference in August, and  it can be read in its entirety here .  Sometimes people say “All right, name your single best evidence for the Book of Mormon” or “Name the three absolute proofs for the Book of Mormon.” Peterson said, “I don’t believe there are any such things. I think that what Latter-day Saint scholars – apologists, if you want to use that term – have thought they were doing with the Book of Mormon…is constructing a cumulative case, no one element of which is definitive, no one element of which will simply force, compel unbeliev...

It was 178 years ago when the "Election Day" fight happened in Gallatin, Missouri.  The Brother John Butler, mentioned in the history below, was my 2nd great grandfather on my mother's line.   Read to the bottom, and I have included an entry about him I posted on January 14, 2014.  He was a bodyguard to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and quite a colorful character!  His wife, Caroline Farozine Skeen Butler also was a true pioneer woman.  In the  "labels" you can find more stories about them. Latter Day Light DAILY DEVOTIONAL August 6, 2016  Stand Fast SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY   Doctrine & Covenants  9:14 "Stand fast in the work wherewith I have called you, and a hair of your head shall not be lost, and you shall be lifted up at the last day. Amen. " QUOTE OF THE DAY Joseph Smith "Stand fast, ye Saints of God, hold on a little while longer, and the storm of life will be p...

My second great grandfather on my mother's side lived quite an amazing life.  He had many health problems in his life, and yet he became strong enough to be one of the Prophet Joseph Smith's bodyguards in the last years of the Prophet's life.  His Gallitan, Missouri, fight incident is well known in Church  history.          John Lowe Butler, was born Apr, 8, 1808, in  Kentucky, to James and Charity Lowe Butler.  He was not a healthy child.  When he was seven years old he was stricken with inflammatory rheumatism which spread over his body from his toes to his fingertips.  This disease returned once or twice a year until he was 20.  When he was 19, the pain settled in his left side and his thigh and his arm began to fail him.  John became so frail that his mother could carry him about in her arms.  In spite of his long, continued illness, he stood six feet tall when he was 22. His extensive autobiography shows...