Joseph's Smith's Kirtland

I purchased a copy of Joseph Smith's Kirtland by Karl Ricks Anderson during the travel study I did in Nauvoo in 2003. During the semester, I had the opportunity to visit Kirtland and hear Brother Anderson speak at a fireside. He also signed my book for me. I read parts of the book during the semester, but now I can say I have read the whole thing cover to cover.

Right at the beginning of the book, the author reminds the reader of the important role Kirtland played in the Church's history. Some of the greatest spiritual manifestations of this dispensation occurred there. Most of the Doctrine and Covenants was received in that area. And yet, it seems that for the most part we rarely think of Kirtland. the purpose of the book is to explore the many elements of the Church's residence in Kirtland.

The author does a great job of sticking to the history of Kirtland and its surrounding cities, and only lightly touches on missionary efforts going on elsewhere, or events happening in Missouri. He explores everything from the highest spiritual manifestations to the lowest pit of apostasy. Anderson fills each chapter with journal entries so that an accurate picture could be painted of what life was like for the early saints.

One of my personal favorite chapters was about the Kirtland Safety Society bank, or anti-bank as it should properly be called. I knew about this whole affair, but I didn't know all the details. The saints did nothing different than what many other institutions were doing. However, there were two main things working against them: the hatred of their enemies, and the lust for quick wealth by those in charge of the bank. These two factors, combined with the economic collapse of 1837 (which effected nearly everybody everywhere) led to the demise of the institution and the trial of fire for many of the saints.

It was so peculiar to me to read about the fall of some of the early leaders. They had experienced such wonderful visions and manifestations, but the love of money polluted them so completely that many of them sunk to the level of murderers. It is a lesson that nobody is safe from apostasy.

The book is very uplifting and certainly strengthens testimony. I highly recommend this book to anybody, but especially those interested in Church History.

EFY 2002: We Believe

I received the book EFY 2002: We Believe during my second year at EFY. The second year was not as good as the first, but it still holds some nice memories. The coolest part is that I got to go this time with my sister Katy. Anyway, I digress. Onto my favorite discourses in this book.

A significant thing about this is that it was the first EFY after the attacks on September 11th. Several of the speakers mentioned these attacks. Some were trying to comfort the youth who were affected by it. But my favorite discourse that centered around the attacks was by David Buckner. He talked about the importance of remembering. He lived in New York City when the attacks happened and he describes it from his point of view. He teaches the lessons he learned that day. And just as he will always remember that day's events, so must we always remember our purpose on earth. My summary doesn't do it justice, but it is a great talk.

I loved Steve Adams' discourse on keeping the sabbath day holy. My favorite idea that he listed was to pick a theme for each Sunday, such as missionary work and have your sabbath activities centered around that. Doing so will help the entire family focus on keeping the sabbath holy.

Randal A. Wright gives a great discourse on living with no regrets. Whenever I write my brothers serving a mission, I usually end my letters that way--"Serve with no regrets!" In Wright's talk, he gives some examples of things we might regret and also provides solutions to help us make better choices.

There were other good talks as well about obtaining forgiveness and being clean, gaining a testimony, and even a couple on the Word of Wisdom. These talks will be great to use as a reference in FHE and especially as my children get older.

EFY 2000: Forward with Faith

I attended Especially For Youth at BYU in the year 2000 with my best friend Nathan Waitman. That week we received a few things corresponding with the theme at EFY that year, including a book with a compilation of talks from those who would be speaking throughout the summer. I must confess that I only read the talks from my favorite speakers and put the book on my shelf to collect dust. In continuing with my goal to read every book on my shelf, I finally finished this volume cover to cover.

Since it is a compilation of a variety of talks, I will just mention a few that really impressed me.

The first is by Ronald Bartholomew. He was my seminary principal at Timpanogoes. His talk is also one I read when I was 15. It is still a great talk about going forward with faith and leaving behind anything that is not worthy of me. In this talk he tells a classic true story of students who destroyed music in their personal collections that was unworthy. He also talks about The Book of Mormon changing lives. This talk will always be a classic to me.

Dwight Durrant gives a great talk on choosing between a mansion or a shack. The Lord has promised us all a mansion if we follow Him. Do the choices I make take me closer to that mansion, or am I building myself a shack instead? Satan tries to make a shack look mighty appealing, but I should never fall for his lies.

Todd B. Parker shares a powerful personal story of losing his mother, and not having the courage to tell her to her face that he loved her. He pleads with the reader to share all tender feelings with loved ones and to never let an opportunity go by.

Brad Wilcox gives a great lesson on different religions around the world. he treats them fairly and gives an accurate history of the religions and a sample of their beliefs. He is not degrading in any way. But at the end, he bears a powerful testimony of Jesus Christ and the religion that bears His name. No other religion is founded by someone claiming to be the Son of God, who then backed up such a statement with mighty miracles culminating in the atonement and resurrection.

My favorite talk in the book, though, was probably "What'ever Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part" by Matthew O. Richardson. This saying comes from a plaque that helped David O. McKay as a missionary, but Richardson applies it to families. Some families are broken. Others are strained. The cure is to follow this counsel. Whether my part is a son, brother, husband, or father, I need to act well my part. Even if nobody else is acting their part well, that does not give me permission to slack. And by performing well my part, I might have a saving effect on the rest of the family.

Reading this book written for teenagers at my age of twenty-eight has confirmed to me that Gospel principles are eternal. This instruction written for the youth is applicable and helpful for an adult. I love that about the Gospel!

Prepare Now For the Temple

I gave Amy a copy of Prepare Now for the Temple by Brittany Mangus shortly before we were married. This book is only 69 pages long, so I thought I would read it to squeeze in one more book this year.

I would highly recommend this book for any young woman preparing to enter the temple. Why just young women? Because that is who this book is written for. Mangus goes through the basics of what to expect, of what to do to prepare, and also clears up some misconceptions and myths regarding the temple ceremonies.

What I really like is that she also gives advice to women going through for the first time about how to focus on the importance of the covenants they make, and how they should let this be the main reason of their temple experience. Nothing else should be done that minimizes the sacredness of this event. As I read this book, I thought that it would be a good reminder to everybody who has been through the temple.

The book is short and can easily be read in an hour or two. This is such a short amount of time required for a book that will help so much as you prepare for such an important part of your life.

Building Faith in Christ with the Book of Mormon

Years ago I had the opportunity to meet Reid E. Bankhead at a rest home. He presented me with a signed copy of Building Faith in Christ with the Book of Mormon, which he co-wrote with Glenn L. Pearson. This book is divided into multiple topics with a brief explanation of the topic, followed by a list of passages from the scriptures that teach about the topic, and then concluded with study questions for the reader.

The authors clearly wanted this book to get into as many hands as possible. They even requested the retail value to be no more than $5.00. Probably because of this, their book was not edited  very carefully. Not all the scripture passages matched the topic they were assigned to. In fact, one entire topic had no supporting scriptures, they were all references for a different topic. At other times, there would be a scripture reference that did not exist. But despite these occasional mistakes, the book is still worth using.

In order to ensure that I was getting the best use out of this book, I read every single scripture reference associated with each topic. Sometimes this got very repetitive (for example, I think I read all of Alma 30 at least five times!) However, I was very impressed with the work the authors must have done to compile a study guide such as this. In the future, when I need to find some good scriptures about a certain topic, I will certainly turn to this book for help.

One of the neatest features about this book is that, despite its title, it does not stay solely in the Book of Mormon. It gives supporting scriptures from all of the standard works, showing how the Lord's principles are eternal and found in all His words. Using this resource helps the reader become more familiar with Gospel topics, while at the same time helping the Stick of Judah and the Stick of Joseph become one in his hand.

In Old Nauvoo

I read selections from In Old Nauvoo by George W. Givens when I took a Pioneer Life class during my experience living in Nauvoo during the winter semester of 2003. As part of my goal to read every book on my shelf, I decided to read this book again from cover to cover. Now, before I begin to say too much, let me just say that if history dulls you, you will probably hate this book. Its purpose is to recreate what everyday life was like for the saints living in Nauvoo from 1839-1846. That being said, I thoroughly enjoy history, I love Nauvoo, and I love the 19^th century. In other words, I loved this book!

Having lived in Nauvoo for about four months, it was fun to read about places I have actually been to. One of these is Scovil’s Bakery and Confectionary Shop. The book talks about them advertising $25 wedding cakes. Back in that time period, an average day’s wages was only $1.00. Nobody could afford a $25 cake! But advertising that they could make it certainly made people talk. I remember hearing the same story while I was in Nauvoo.

One segment of this book talked about 19^thcentury customs dealing with women and church. In comparison with other churches of the day, the LDS church was actually very liberal in what it allowed women to do. Although it was unheard of in other churches, they were actually allowed to speak in church meetings (provided their talks were not too long). This made me laugh. It might sound restrictive to us, but in those days, there was no set time for meetings. Speakers gave a discourse for as long as they wanted to. I’m sure most people have attended a testimony meeting where one person (usually a woman) takes up nearly the entire meeting. That is why I found it amusing that a time limit was given to women speakers.

The book used a lot of quotations from non-Mormon visitors to Nauvoo. Their insights were especially helpful in putting together the history of the city. I was also surprised to learn that John Greenleaf Whittier visited the city once and had some high praise for the beauty of the temple being built.

I could go on and on about the customs as far as occupations, construction, courting and marriage, and more, but I will leave that for the book to explain. I will end this short review with a humorous incident told in the book about Joseph Smith. Let me preface this by saying that I quite enjoy the prophet’s humor. When the saints arrived in Nauvoo, they were destitute and in extreme poverty. They especially did not have a lot to eat. It is recorded that Joseph Smith once said the following prayer at the table: “Lord, we thank thee for this johnnycake, and ask thee to send us something better. Amen.”

The glory of Nauvoo lasted for less than a decade, but the legacy of its inhabitants lives on. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and learning more about that time period.

Christmas with the Prophets

Every year I tell myself I am going to read Christmas with the Prophets by Laura F. Willes, but I never seem to get past Brigham Young. This year I really dedicated myself and I was able to finish the book in just a couple days. I actually really loved the stories! Each chapter is about a different prophet and is broken up into about five different stories. This makes it easy to break up the reading, but don't let that convenience keep you from getting through the entire book. In years past I tried reading just one story a day, and that never seemed to work.

There are three stories that I particularly enjoyed that I want to share on this post. The first comes from Joseph F. Smith. When he was a young father, his family was really struggling to make ends meet. They had enough money for food, but not enough for any presents or treats of any kind. The day before Christmas, he walked past all the shop windows and looked at the many wonderful things he couldn't afford, and then began to weep because he couldn't provide his family with a nice Christmas. He eventually went home and played with his children, that being the only present he could give them--his love and time.

Heber J. Grant loved to give out books and if you were to meet with him, there was a good chance that you would be leaving with a book in your hand. Of course, this also meant he loved to give books for Christmas. He once recorded in his journal, "Although my heart, alas, is bigger than my pocketbook, I pray it will stay that way." I loved this quote. I think that is a good way to live life.

The last story I want to share is from George Albert Smith. This cracked me up. At Christmas, when the grandchildren were spending the holiday with him, he would put out extra large stockings. One time he even cut out the toe and had the sock empty right into a bucket. The next morning the children's stocking would be full of goodies, while his stockings would be full of onions or something of that nature. The children would be so disappointed for him, but he would always use this opportunity to teach about the importance of not being greedy.

The book is done on really nice, colored pages and is easily one of the nicest-looking books in my Christmas library. I highly recommend this book for a personal library, but also as a gift.