Thoughts and stories, by Pal

 I have loved how Wilford Woodruff wrote "I went on my way rejoicing!" “And He Went on His Way Rejoicing”: Mental Health and the Spirit of God  By  Roger Connors  · June 3, 2022 As a mission president, you are constantly looking for ways to help missionaries cope with the anxiety and stress of life on a mission. While it can be incredibly rewarding, missionary work isn’t easy—particularly when life provides a surprise like a worldwide pandemic that literally increases the difficulty of missionary life in an instant. Add to that the normal challenges of mental and physical health that manifest at this age and the need becomes even clearer: mental health isn’t something you can just assume, it’s something you have to develop and maintain. [1] I remember being quite amazed at the missionary life of Wilford Woodruff. He participated in the difficult march with Zion’s camp, then chose to stay in Missouri to do missionary work. He was an amazing missionary, serving several...

This is an excellent article about parents teaching their children to be  intelligent, disciplined, mature, functional, empathetic human beings capable of seeking, recognizing and honoring truth. Parents and Family: Protection Against a Dysfunctional Culture By Sutherland Institute  · March 9, 2016 The following was written by Stan Rasmussen. With increasing frequency, respected thought leaders are discussing legitimate concerns about what passes for intelligent discourse in the current presidential campaign season – a particular lowlight of which is the element of anger. Not just a feature of the dialogue (so-called) among the candidates, it seems as if anger is becoming the one socially acceptable and validated emotion. Additionally, what previously may have been thought of as “allergy to boundaries” (or as resistance to the gravitational pull of principle, common decency and common sense) seems rapidly to be morphing into an increasing...

This was in the LDS Church News, and hearing from an Apostle of the Lord is always a privilege.  He relates this to students and what we all can accomplish with the help of the Lord.  BYU-Idaho devotional: 'Accomplishing the impossible' By Marianne Holman Prescott   Published: Thursday, Jan. 29 2015 in the LDS Church News REXBURG, IDAHO “The Lord uses the unlikely to accomplish the impossible,” Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles told students at Brigham Young University-Idaho during a campus devotional on Jan. 27. Using examples from the scriptures and Church history, Elder Nelson spoke of the great work ordinary individuals have been asked to do that with the Lord’s help, were possible. Looking at Joseph Smith, a young, teachable, untitled youth to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth; the story of David, who slew Goliath with a stone and sling; and Moses, who was called to lead the children of...