Thoughts and stories, by Pal

The Fruits of a Mission By  Mark Albright  · August 10, 2020 Dear Brother Albright, I would like to tell you the story of two missionaries, Elder Barry Wasden and Elder Byron Shurtz, who were sent into the far north country of Ontario, Canada in 1953, then part of the Toronto Canada Mission, to labour in the Porcupine/Timmins area. These two missionaries taught my parents, Gordon and Ethel Finnigan, and my wife Mary’s parents, Doug and Joan McGinn, the gospel. This was a hard rock mining area and attracted tough people who, out of necessity, were tougher than the rocks. This area in northern Ontario, Canada, about 500 miles north of Toronto, is where Ford and Jaguar auto companies “cold weather” tested their new car models. The average minimum winter temperature in January is – 20 Fahrenheit and some nights dropping as low as -60 Fahrenheit. It was so cold in Porcupine they had to carry golf balls in their mittens to knock on the doors to redu...

This is a fascinating true story that will be told about on KSL-TV between Conference sessions this coming Sunday!  Be sure and watch! Why 3 Amish Families Risked Everything to Join the Church by Danielle B. Wagner  | Apr. 03, 2019 Mormon Life In the fall of 2011, a customer stepped into Raymond Weaver’s furniture store in Danville, Ohio. He was a good friend of Raymond’s, and in the course of their conversation Raymond mentioned his curiosity in Native American history, specifically how these ancient people came to live in the Americas. Raymond remembers his friend, Harry Proudfoot, replying that he had a book that could help with that. Two weeks later, in mid-September 2011, Proudfoot handed Raymond a Book of Mormon. His life, the lives of his family, and the dynamics of his community would never be the same again. Investigating another church had never crossed Raymond’s mind. “I was Amish with no intentions of ever chang...

This is such an interesting article about the members in Paraguay!  I love the story of them knowing Book of Mormon stories from their legends. Tribe Knew Book of Mormon Stories Before Missionaries Arrived + 4 More Facts About the Church in Paraguay by Carly M. Springer Makes You Think Mormon Life When it rains in Paraguay, it pours. Sheets of rain turn the dirt roads of small rural towns into rivers of mud, driving everyone indoors and stopping transportation.  But around nine o’clock each Sunday morning, a small band of people trudge up flooded streets towards the local LDS chapel. Men in white shirts and ties stuff the ends of their dress pants into rain boots, bracing umbrellas against the wind. Women hold up their skirts and carry shoes in their hands and small children on their hips. Their neighbors see them pass by and think they’re crazy, and even though these Latter-day Saints arrive at the chapel drenched and shivering, they ...

We women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have a unique and inspired calling to arise and be strong, organized, faithful, and wise in this troubled world.  Also, our position as mothers and grandmothers is very vital in being an anchor of love and strength and example to our posterity! LDS UPDATE General Conference: A Plea to the Sisters—Arise! By Meridian Magazine  · October 5, 2015 Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and Elder Russell M. Nelson gave two of the strongest talks we’ve heard in General Conference about women—painting an expanding understanding of their identity. Behold Thy Mothe r By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Prophesying of the Savior’s Atonement Isaiah wrote, “he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” [i]  A majestic latter-day vision emphasized that “[Jesus] came into the world . . . to bear the sins of the world.” [ii]  Both ancient and modern scripture test...