Jesus returns

Jesus returns

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Some real life stories of latterday saints from Ensign magazine

“Mormon Journal,” Ensign, Dec 1987, 40–44

The Season’s Reasons

By Suzanne S. Dean

Suzanne S. Dean, “The Season’s Reasons,” Ensign, Dec. 1987, 40–41



It came much too quickly for me that year. I hadn’t yet finished with summer, and there it was falling all around me … winter! Like a reprimand to me for not having taken time to “smell the roses,” the silvery snowflakes seemed to laugh at me.



I stood at a foggy window, staring out into the blizzard of early morning. The darkness slowly began to give way to rays of sunlight filtering through the storm. The world seemed to take on a lightness, but maintained its darkness as well. I could barely see across the street.



Staring deep into the milky whiteness, I felt a depression settle over me, bringing with it a sudden claustrophobia. A familiar tension surfaced reminding me that such feelings had appeared before with the first snow of the year.



I shivered and pulled my robe tighter around me. What tragedies and problems had this storm brought with it, I wondered. Where is the beauty that poets have written about? If winter is so beautiful, why do my toes and fingers ache? Why do I always resist it, even after it has arrived?



An alarm clock went off in the other room, and I felt a sudden panic. My time to ponder was over for the day. I decided to keep the drapes closed and ignore the dreary weather.



It was still storming fiercely when I sent the children out to catch the school bus; light wisps of snow rushed inside and around my feet as I quickly closed the door behind them. I turned up the heat and pushed a tape into the stereo. I gave the baby her bath and breakfast, then put her down for a nap. The mailman came and went, but I did not even go out.



I started my cleaning and tore through the house like a cyclone, hoping to work off some of my frustration. When I could clean no more, I pulled the tape from the tape deck and turned on the radio. A cheerful voice was commenting on the storm. I turned it off. The phone rang, and a neighbor asked my opinion on the weather. I didn’t even want to talk about it.



After school, the older children soon came crashing through the door shaking the snow from their gloves and feet. My daughter went straight to the fridge to hang up the paper snowflakes she had made in school. She hung them right there so I could enjoy them. I tried to smile and thank her, but I only shivered and turned away to look for a sweater.



I was working on dinner when my husband arrived. As he put his icy hands on my neck, I dropped the spoon into the spaghetti sauce. I could tell by the drops in his hair that it was still storming.



After dinner there was a sink full of dishes, and all my helpers had urgent homework. I stood there with my hands in the hot soapy water and closed my eyes. I thought about the water-skiing that we had meant to do that year, the picnics that were too few and far between. I recalled our one and only camping trip, remembering how delectable it felt to have the hot summer sun beat down on us as we hiked. Suddenly I wanted to go into the backyard and hang the clothes out on the line. I yearned to mow the lawn and weed the roses, to pick a tomato from my garden or sit in the lawn chairs and sip a cold drink. I wanted to send the children out to the sandpile or to the swings. I wanted to wade in the irrigation water or wash and wax the car. If only the daylight would stay longer in the evening, or if only I could breathe in the fragrance of just one freshly cut rose. Oh, why must things change? I threw open the curtain above the sink exposing the window that looks out into the backyard.



The storm was over, and an incredibly white blanket covered my summer haven. All was still—a quietness that made me pause at the window for a moment. Impulsively, I snatched my husband’s coat and ran to the door.



Outside, I stood for a moment in the stillness. I saw outlines of the sand pile and swing set beneath the great white blanket, little mounds where my garden had been, and snow-laden trees and bushes. An old familiar feeling settled in my heart as I looked all around me at the streets and sidewalks, the blanketed cars and bicycles. I walked along the side of the house, making tracks in the unmarred whiteness. The air smelled fresh, and the crisp temperature carried my breath off into the wind. I stopped near the rose bushes, remembering their endless supply of delight. I had chosen the most beautiful bursts of color before they had reached their full bloom, clipping them for a generous bouquet. Now, they slumbered beneath the weight of a winter blanket. The fragrance of summer was gone.



Patience, I thought. Winter has come again to teach us patience—and tranquility. I brushed the snow from a rose cluster only to find that the petals also brushed away, exposing a barren branch. Dead? No; the roots were living. “They will be back,” I thought aloud—back at the first sign of spring, with new buds that can only be born from the respite that winter imposes. The earth and all living things will renew themselves for spring. And so, I thought, shall I.



A full and luscious summer had come and gone, leaving me yearning for just one more sun-drenched day. But now, at last, I felt an acceptance of winter. The earth had come again to its time of resting, and I had come to a time of patience.



The time for checkers and fireside chats had crept upon us. There would be more time for reading and sharing, organizing a closet, writing a long overdue letter, and even building a snowman. The time to replenish relationships, to strengthen ties, to dig deeper roots had arrived. It would be a season of patience, returning to basics, and being home.



My face was cold, and I went back into the kitchen. I finished the dishes, and the children reappeared. My husband went to the window and commented that the storm had passed. All of us seemed drawn to the window; we stood there looking out into the peaceful night, like a family posing for a Christmas card photo. I breathed a contented sigh, and felt the season change even within the walls of our home.



“I really love your snowflakes,” I told my daughter, smiling, as I ruffled her hair.

The Year We Had No Gifts to Give

By Sandra Dilworth

Sandra Dilworth, “The Year We Had No Gifts to Give,” Ensign, Dec. 1987, 42–43



I was sure this Christmas would be the best our family had ever spent together. It was only a week before Thanksgiving, and we were almost finished making our Christmas gifts. Most of our gifts were homemade and were designed specifically for that special someone. How I looked forward to seeing these expressions of our family’s love opened.



When my husband, Bob, came home from work that afternoon and said, “Let’s go into town and finish that Christmas shopping tonight,” I was elated. How good it would feel to have more than a month left for just decorating and baking! Hurriedly we packed ourselves and our two small boys into the car for the last shopping trip of the year.



We purchased the gifts and headed home. As night fell, again my thoughts drifted to our homemade gifts. Our friends and relatives would enjoy the purses, embroidered and hand-sewn items, pictures, paintings, floral arrangements, genealogical papers, handmade toys, and dolls. I was thankful to have been chosen as chairman of the Relief Society Christmas workshops for the past three months. It had been a learning experience to prepare these items as examples for the sisters in our ward.



When we were fifteen miles from home, these pleasant thoughts were abruptly interrupted by Bob’s question, “What would you do if our house was on fire?”



I could hardly believe my ears! What a horrible thought!



A mile away from home Bob said, “Our home is on fire.” By now my heart was in my throat, and as we came over the hill, we could see it blazing.



When we got to the house, I remember tightly embracing my four-month-old son, Ryan, and falling on my knees until a neighbor finally pried the child from my arms. Bob paced around the house several times, staring with his mouth gaping.



Our two-year-old son, Robbie, stared in amazement at the burning toy box the firemen had retrieved and placed in the front yard. Bob put his arms around me and reminded me that we were all safe and that was what mattered.



There was nothing anyone could do but watch the fire take its toll. Then we remembered our genealogy and how we had searched for years for our ancestors. Recalling where these important papers were located, Bob raced to the garage for a rake. He pulled the burning siding from outside our bedroom, reached in, and grabbed the genealogy, which was just beginning to burn.



Now it began to rain. It was late. We were cold, wet, and in shock. The children were tired. But we had no change of clothes, no diapers, no place to go. Arrangements were made for us to stay at a neighbor’s home. Once we were settled, the bishop and his family arrived to counsel and comfort us.



As we gathered together for family prayer that night, I felt the gentle Spirit of the Lord stronger than at any time before. I’ll never forget our humility and reverence that night. I remembered that our patriarchal blessings were with our genealogy and I felt inspired to read mine.



These words seemed to leap off the page: “I bless you, dear sister, in the living of the Word of Wisdom and in the payment of your tithing, that you will not want for the necessities and the comforts of life while here upon the earth …” It was a tremendous consolation to know that our needs would somehow be provided for.



The Relief Society sisters and the elders quorum brothers in our ward coordinated their efforts, and the day after the fire, our family’s immediate needs were met. We experienced emotional ups and downs as we struggled to regain normality. By now our resistance was low, and each of us became quite ill. It became very difficult to take care of ourselves. We needed to rely on others even more.



Within weeks we had rented a house and were planning the architecture of our new home. Each of us had clothing to wear, and we even had a sewing machine with which to alter what didn’t fit. We received bedding, towels, and washcloths, as well as money, school and stationery supplies, and boxes and boxes of food. We wondered how our brothers and sisters could think of all these important and necessary items.



Christmas approached, and one day as I was decorating our humble little Christmas tree with gingham bows and Christmas cards, I suddenly realized that I had no gifts to give this year.



I hoped the children were too small to remember this Christmas. It would not be the same one I had been preparing for them for months.



Then, the Sunday before Christmas, we found the back seat of our car filled with presents for our children from the Primary children in our ward. A church in the community selected us as their Christmas family and showered us with gifts. A local Boy Scout troop bought us a beautiful rocking chair because they knew our children loved to be rocked.



A neighbor made us a baby cradle just like the one we used to have. One family brought us a television, and another brought us house plants. Late Christmas Eve we heard our front door open and close. Bob went to check and found an entire Christmas dinner, complete with turkey and cranberry sauce, from the local Jaycees.



We read the Christmas story that night and prayed that our Heavenly Father would remember those who had treated us in such Christlike ways that Christmas. Great joy and blessings were bestowed upon us the Christmas we had no gifts to give to others.

Twenty Dollars for a Paper Doll

By Norman D. Anderson

Norman D. Anderson, “Twenty Dollars for a Paper Doll,” Ensign, Dec. 1987, 44



One Christmas, I was serving as a bishop in a Provo, Utah, ward. Because I had never had much success in selecting and buying clothes for my wife, I had, for the past several years, cut out a paper doll, wrapped a twenty-dollar bill around it like a dress, and hung it on the tree as a special gift for her. In those days, twenty dollars would buy a pretty nice dress.



But because of a tight budget this particular year, I had struggled for weeks to save the twenty dollars to hang on the tree.



The day before Christmas, my plans changed suddenly when a man needing help came by my office. I could not reach my financial clerk to obtain fast offering funds, so I gave the man five of my twenty dollars so he could go home for Christmas. I tucked the remaining fifteen dollars away in my wallet, hoping it would do for a dress.



A few minutes later, a man from my ward came into my office. He said, “Bishop, one of my home teaching families won’t have much for Christmas this year without help. I have fifteen dollars. If I could get a little more from somewhere, I could get a few things for them.”



I knew he needed his money as much as I needed mine, so I handed him my fifteen dollars and said a sad farewell to my wife’s Christmas dress.



My disappointment over the dress lightened when the children finally settled down on Christmas Eve and we had set out their gifts for them. But when my wife went to get ready for bed at midnight, I sat moping in a chair for a few minutes because my traditional gift hadn’t worked out.



Suddenly the thought came to me that I should look in my wallet again. There, where I had taken out the money to give to the home teacher, was fifteen dollars. I looked in another compartment and found another fifteen dollars. In the final compartment there was a twenty-dollar bill—making a total of fifty dollars that had not been there earlier!



I wept in gratitude as I cut out a paper doll and hung it on the tree

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It Happened-True story!

Maybe, you better take a look. Think it can't happen to you? It happened!

Standing up for the truth, can still keep you free.

What does God's Word tell us to watch for and do? Read carefully: Ephesions 6:10-13 There are times when prayer requires works. James 2:17-20

You're sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your bedroom door.

Half-awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear,

you hear muffled whispers.

At least two people have broken into your

house and are moving your way.

With your heart pumping, you reach down

beside your bed and pick up your shotgun.

You rack a shell into the chamber, then inch

toward the door and open it.

In the darkness, you make out two shadows.

One holds something that looks like a crowbar.

When the intruder brandishes it as if to strike,

you raise the shotgun and fire.

The blast knocks both thugs to the floor.

One writhes and screams while the second

man crawls to the front door and lurches outside.

As you pick up the telephone to call police,

you know you're in trouble.

In your country, most guns were outlawed years

before, and the few that are privately owned

are so stringently regulated as to make them useless.

Yours was never registered.

Police arrive and inform you

that the second burglar has died.

They arrest you for First Degree Murder

and Illegal Possession of a Firearm.

When you talk to your attorney, he tells

you not to worry: authorities will probably

plea the case down to manslaughter.

"What kind of sentence will I get?" you ask.

"Only ten-to-twelve years,"

he replies, as if that's nothing.

"Behave yourself, and you'll be out in seven."

The next day, the shooting is the lead

story in the local newspaper.

Somehow, you're portrayed as an eccentric

vigilante while the two men you shot

are represented as choirboys.

Their friends and relatives can't find

an unkind word to say about them.

Buried deep down in the article, authorities acknowledge that both "victims" have been arrested numerous times.

But the next day's headline says it all:

"Lovable Rogue Son Didn't Deserve to Die."

The thieves have been transformed from career criminals into Robin Hood-type pranksters.

As the days wear on, the story takes wings.

The national media picks it up,

then the international media.

The surviving burglar has become a folk hero.

Your attorney says the thief is preparing

to sue you, and he'll probably win.

The media publishes reports that your home has been burglarized several times in the past and that you've been critical of local police for their lack

of effort in apprehending the suspects.

After the last break-in, you told your neighbor

that you would be prepared next time.

The District Attorney uses this to allege

that you were lying in wait for the burglars.

A few months later, you go to trial.

The charges haven't been reduced,

as your lawyer had so confidently predicted.

When you take the stand, your anger at

the injustice of it all works against you.

Prosecutors paint a picture of you

as a mean, vengeful man.

It doesn't take long for the jury to convict

you of all charges.

The judge sentences you to life in prison.

This case really happened.

On August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth, Norfolk , England , killed one burglar and wounded a second.

In April, 2000, he was convicted

and is now serving a life term.

How did it become a crime to defend one's

own life in the once great British Empire ?

It started with the Pistols Act of 1903.

This seemingly reasonable law forbade selling pistols to minors or felons and established that handgun sales were to be made only to those who had a license. The Firearms Act of 1920 expanded licensing to include not only handguns but all firearms except shotguns.

Later laws passed in 1953 and 1967 outlawed the carrying of any weapon by private citizens and mandated the registration of all shotguns.

Momentum for total handgun confiscation began in earnest after the Hungerford mass shooting in 1987. Michael Ryan, a mentally disturbed man with a Kalashnikov rifle, walked down the streets shooting everyone he saw.

When the smoke cleared, 17 people were dead.

The British public, already de-sensitized by eighty years of "gun control", demanded even tougher restrictions. (The seizure of all privately owned handguns was the objective even though Ryan used a rifle.)

Nine years later, at Dunblane , Scotland , Thomas Hamilton used a semi-automatic weapon to murder 16 children and a teacher at a public school.

For many years, the media had portrayed all gun owners as mentally unstable or worse, criminals. Now the press had a real kook with which to beat up law-abiding gun owners. Day after day, week after week, the media gave up all pretense of objectivity and demanded a total ban on all handguns. The Dunblane Inquiry, a few months later, sealed the fate of the few sidearms still owned by private citizens.

During the years in which the British government incrementally took away most gun rights, the notion that a citizen had the right to armed self-defense came to be seen as vigilantism. Authorities refused to grant gun licenses to people who were threatened, claiming that self-defense was no longer considered a reason to own a gun. Citizens who shot burglars or robbers or rapists were charged while the real criminals were released.

Indeed, after the Martin shooting, a police spokesman was quoted as saying, "We cannot have people take the law into their own hands."

All of Martin's neighbors had been robbed numerous times, and several elderly people were severely injured in beatings by young thugs who had no fear of the consequences. Martin himself, a collector of antiques, had seen most of his collection trashed or stolen by burglars.

When the Dunblane Inquiry ended, citizens who owned handguns were given three months to turn them over to local authorities.

Being good British subjects, most people obeyed the law. The few who didn't were visited by police and threatened with ten-year prison sentences if they didn't comply.

Police later bragged that they'd taken nearly 200,000 handguns from private citizens.

How did the authorities know who had handguns?

The guns had been registered and licensed.

Kind of like cars Sound familiar?

WAKE UP AMERICA; THIS IS WHY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE SECOND AMENDMENT IN OUR CONSTITUTION.

"..It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.."

--Samuel Adams

If you think this is important,

please forward to everyone you know.

You had better wake up, because your new

president is going to do this very same thing

over here if he can get it done.

And there are stupid people in congress and

on the street that will go right along with him.

A very interesting comversation.

Think about this It will make you go deeper into what you actually believe. VERY INTERESTING CONVERSATION. An Atheist Professor of Philosophy was speaking to his Class on the Problem Science has with GOD, the ALMIGHTY. He asked one of his New Christian Students to stand and .... > > Professor : You are a Christian, aren't you, son ? > > Student : Yes, sir. > > Professor : So, you Believe in GOD ? > > Student : Absolutely, sir. > > Professor : Is GOD Good ? > > Student : Sure. > > Professor : Is GO D A LL - POWERFUL ? > > Student : Yes. > > Professor : My Brother died of Cancer even though he Prayed to > GOD to Heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But > GOD didn't. How is this GOD good then? Hmm? > > > (Student was silent ) > > > > Professor : You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, Young > Fella. Is GOD Good? > > Student : Yes. > > Professor : Is Satan good? > > Student : No. > > Professor : Where does Satan come from? > > Student : From .... GOD . . . > > Professor : That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this > World? > > Student : Yes. > > Professor : Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And GOD did make > everything. Correct? > > Student : Yes. > > Professor : So who created evil? > > (Student did not answer) > > Professor : Is there Sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All > these terrible things exist in the World, don't they? > > Student : Yes, sir. > > Professor : So, who Created them? > > (Student had no answer) > > Professor : Science says you have 5 Senses you use to Identify and > Observe the World around you.. Tell me, son . . . Have you ever Seen GOD? > > Student : No, sir. > > Professor : Tell us if you have ever Heard your GOD? > > Student : No, sir. > > Professor : Have you ever Felt your GOD, Tasted your GOD, Smelt > your GOD? Have you ever had any Sensory Perception of GOD for that matter? > > Student : No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't. > > Professor : Yet you still Believe in HIM? > > Student : Yes. > > Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable > Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn't exist.. What do you say to that, > son? > > Student : Nothing. I only have my Faith. > > Professor : Yes, Faith. And that is the Problem Science has. > > Student : Professor, is there such a thing as Heat? > > Professor : Yes. > > Student : And is there such a thing as Cold? > > Professor : Yes. > > Student : No, sir. There isn't.. > > (The Lecture Theatre became very quiet with this turn of events ) > > Student : Sir, you can have Lots of Heat, even More Heat, > Superheat, Mega Heat, White Heat, Little Heat or No Heat. But we don't > have > anything called Cold. We can hit 458 Degrees below Zero which is No Heat, > but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as Cold. > Cold is only a Word we use to describe the Absence of Heat. We cannot > Measure Cold. Heat is Energy. Cold is Not the Opposite of Heat, sir, just > the Absence of it. (There was Pin-Drop Silence in the Lecture Theatre) > > Student : What about Darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing > as Darkness? > > Professor : Yes. What is Night if there isn't Darkness? > > Student : You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the Absence of > Something. You can have Low Light, Normal Light, Bright Light, Flashing > Light . . .. But if you have No Light constantly, you have nothing and its > called Darkness, isn't it? In reality, Darkness isn't If it is, were you > would be able to make Darkness Darker, wouldn't you? > > Professor : So what is the point you are making, Young Man? > > Student : Sir, my point is your Philosophical Premise is flawed. > > Professor : Flawed? Can you explain how? > > Student : Sir, you are working on the Premise of Duality. You > argue there is Life and then there is Death, a Good GOD and a Bad GOD. You > are viewing the Concept of GOD as something finite, something we can > measure. Sir, Science can't even explain a Thought. It uses Electricity > and > Magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To > view Death as the Opposite of Life is to be ignorant of the fact that > Death > cannot exist as a Substantive Thing. Death is Not the Opposite of Life: > just the Absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your Students > that they evolved from a Monkey? > > Professor : If you are referring to the Natural Evolutionary > Process, yes, of course, I do. > > Student : Have you ever observed Evolution with your own eyes, > sir? (The Professor shook his head with a Smile, beginning to realize > where > the Argument was going) > > Student : Since no one has ever observed the Process of > Evolution at work and Cannot even prove that this Process is an On-Going > Endeavor, Are you not teaching your Opinion, sir? Are you not a Scientist > but a Preacher? > > (The Class was in Uproar ) > > Student : Is there anyone in the Class who has ever seen the > Professor's Brain? (The Class broke out into Laughter) > > Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the > Professor's Brain, Felt it, touched or Smelt it? ..... No one appears to > have done so. So, according to the Established Rules of Empirical, Stable, > Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that You have No Brain, sir. With all > due respect, sir, how do we then Trust your Lectures, sir? > > (The Room was Silent.) > > (The Professor stared at the Student, his face unfathomable) > > Professor : I guess you'll have to take them on Faith, son. > > Student : That is it sir . . . Exactly! The Link between Man & > GOD is FAITH. That is all that Keeps Things Alive and Moving. > > That student was Albert Einstein. Concentrate on this sentence 'To > get something you never had, you have to do something you never did' > > DON'T SIT ON YOUR HANDS AND EXPECT THINGS TO HAPPEN THE WAY YOU WANT THEM TO. IT TAKE S C OURAGE AND BE ING RELENTLE SS TO GET THINGS DONE

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