Today we participated in the release of our former stake presidency and the sustaining of a new stake presidency. Our two visiting authorities were Elder Daniel L. Johnson who is a General Authority Seventy and Elder W. Mark Bassett who is an Area Authority Seventy. Elder Higham is the Area Authority Seventy for this area. Since he was not here, I figure he may have been assigned to other duties today. I'm not sure exactly where Elder Bassett is from. He did mention Sacramento one of his talks, but also mentioned he knew President Hobbs (the RC Mission Pres.) so that could mean Idaho. I guess it doesn't really matter. What matters is that he was needed and he came.
Before Elder Bassett conducted the "business" portion of the meeting, he asked the congregation to consider the nearly 9 years President Skinner and his counselors have served. He then asked that as we raised our arms to the square to release them "with a vote of thanks" to really think about that in terms of what these brethren have done for us as a stake over the course of their service. This was a unique request, but one I very much appreciated because it got me thinking about my contact with President Skinner over the years and how much I appreciated him. He has this talent for being able to stand and give a sermon with no prepared text and yet, when he finishes, I've always felt that he was able to say everything he needed to say. I can talk off the cuff in a pinch, but I have a penchant for rambling and taking off on side bars. My family has reached the point that they get this look of, "Here he goes again," when I do it. I eventually bring the side bars back to the main point, but it sometimes takes me several minutes to do so and I lose whatever moment I may have had. This is one of the reasons I seem to easily fall behind in writing my posts. Once I've written something I have a habit of hashing and rehashing it to make sure I'm happy with what I want to say. That's why I find that it is so much better for me to write my talks. It gives me the luxury (or maybe curses me with the ability) of honing my meaning and my words until I am happy with the end result. Having my thoughts written in front of me keeps me focused and on task (no side bar trips). This isn't the only thing that I appreciate about President Skinner, but it is something I've always admired. These three brethren have capably lead the stake for a significant period of time and I was thankful for all they had done for me and my family either directly or through their talks at stake conferences during their tenure.
Now our stake president is President Arlan Garcia, with President Loveland and President Mortensen as his counselors. I am not as familiar with President Mortensen as I am with the other two brethren, but I look forward to getting to know him better through his service and his counsel. It was also interesting to listen to both Elder Bassett and Elder Johnson testify of the process of selecting this new presidency. They testified that when the Lord identified to them who He wanted to lead the stake, that the Spirit testified to them and they both knew it. I had already felt good about raising my arm in sustaining them, but the words of these two authorities solidified the feelings I had previously experienced.
I've already discussed the importance of sustaining our leaders, so I am going to now change lanes (at least I'm using my directional indicator) and go in a different direction with this post. Last night at the adult session of stake conference, Elder Bassett talked about Moroni in a way that fascinated me. Since I don't take short hand type notes that would allow me to recreate his words with exactness, I'm going to rely on my faulty memory. I want to be up front with the fact that this was his talk, but what I'm most likely going to end up with is an amalgamation of his thoughts and my own.
After the final battle at Cumorah, Moroni went into hiding because he had "not friends nor whither to go" and the Lamanites had "hunted [his] people ... from city to city and from place to place, even until they [were] no more" (Mormon 8:5, 7). Consequently, Moroni was alone (see Mormon 8:3). From the time his father and his people were killed until the time he writes Mormon chapter 8 through the book of Ether, 16 years had passed for Moroni. Think about that, 16 years alone, hiding so as to not be killed. I like to have my alone time, but I'm not sure if I could endure 16 years of being by myself, while, at the same time, constantly looking over my shoulder to see if my enemies were closing in on me. Considering this makes me appreciate even more Moroni's words in Ether when he testifies: "I have seen Jesus, and ... he hath talked with me face to face, and ... he told me in plain humility, even as a man telleth another in mine own language, concerning these things" (Ether 12:39). Also, we have this statement: "I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing" (Mormon 8:35). From both of these verses, I glean that there were times when the Savior came to visit Moroni--possibly in those moments when his isolation became crushing.
When he completed Mormon 8 through Ether, Moroni hid the plates and left the Camorah, but eventually returned to the hill in what is now upstate New York to write his own book because, as he declared: "I have not as yet perished" (Moroni 1:1). By the time Moroni reached the end of his book, another 20 years have passed (see Moroni 10:1). I'm no math wiz, but I can add; that's 36 years of being alone, wandering "whithersoever [he] can for the safety of [his] own life" because the Lamanites "put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ. And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ" (Moroni 1:2-3). Even with what I would term as occasional visits from the Savior, it would be safe to say that Moroni had a very unique perspective of what it means to be alone.
There is no record of Moroni's death. In chapter 10 of the book of Moroni, Moroni issues his challenge to those who read the entire abridgment of what is to become the Book of Mormon and offers his second and final farewell to all of us in this modern day (whether we read and believe his words or not). After that, we have no idea what happened to Moroni other than the fact that he states that he will "soon go to rest in the paradise of God" (Moroni 10:34). But because he is the person to bury the gold plates and knows of their hiding place, it isn't a stretch to believe that he knew that he had a definitive role to play in the restoration of the gospel. He had 36 mortal years to think about and refine what he would say when the opportunity for him to disclose the location of the plates came.
Finally, on September 21, 1823, Moroni was sent to Joseph Smith in response to young man's prayer for forgiveness and with "full confidence in obtaining a divine manifestation, as [he] previously had one" (JS-H 1:29). The first scripture Moroni quoted was from Malachi. He first quoted "part of the third chapter of Malachi" (JS-H 1:36), but, then, Moroni declared Malachi 4:5-6 to the young prophet differently than how it reads in the Bible. Elijah the prophet would come to "reveal ... the Priesthood" in order to "plant the promises made to the fathers" to their children in order to keep the "whole earth" from being "utterly wasted" (D&C 2:1-3).
I'm not sure if Joseph totally understood the significance of that scripture when it was first quoted to him, but Moroni had announced that the sealing key of the Priesthood would soon be "revealed" by Elijah. For 36 mortal years, Moroni had wandered the land by himself. This Nephite prophet had a profound understanding of what it meant to be a singular soul without family and friends to comfort him. He had gained a level empathy for those bereft of loved ones with no welding link to tie their family connection to each other throughout eternity. Because of this profound identification with the need to be together with others, a part of a family and the blessings that connection afforded, one of the first things he wanted to tell Joseph Smith was that the time for the restoration of the sealing key and the marvelous blessings it held was now at hand. Moroni understood that once that sealing key had been revealed and turned by Elijah to unlock its blessings to the Prophet Joseph Smith, no longer would anyone be alone in the profound way that he had been for 36 long years on the earth. From that point forward, families could be sealed together (Moroni could be sealed to his father Mormon and his mother and his wife and children) and the purpose of the earth would not be "wasted."
I am so grateful for the temple and the priesthood power that allows sacred, covenant making ceremonies to take place within them that link people together in families in such a way that they are never alone.
I'm not sure if Joseph totally understood the significance of that scripture when it was first quoted to him, but Moroni had announced that the sealing key of the Priesthood would soon be "revealed" by Elijah. For 36 mortal years, Moroni had wandered the land by himself. This Nephite prophet had a profound understanding of what it meant to be a singular soul without family and friends to comfort him. He had gained a level empathy for those bereft of loved ones with no welding link to tie their family connection to each other throughout eternity. Because of this profound identification with the need to be together with others, a part of a family and the blessings that connection afforded, one of the first things he wanted to tell Joseph Smith was that the time for the restoration of the sealing key and the marvelous blessings it held was now at hand. Moroni understood that once that sealing key had been revealed and turned by Elijah to unlock its blessings to the Prophet Joseph Smith, no longer would anyone be alone in the profound way that he had been for 36 long years on the earth. From that point forward, families could be sealed together (Moroni could be sealed to his father Mormon and his mother and his wife and children) and the purpose of the earth would not be "wasted."
I am so grateful for the temple and the priesthood power that allows sacred, covenant making ceremonies to take place within them that link people together in families in such a way that they are never alone.
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