A Family Home Evening lesson

Monday, 1 August 2011

We’re going to memorize a scripture tonight.  It’s one of my very favorites.  It comes from Doctrine and Covenants 84:88.  Can you repeat that with me?...Section 84 is the section of the Doctrine and Covenants that contains the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood.  Repeat each line after me.  It goes like this:

“…I will go before your face.              (hand motion)

I will be on your right hand                 (hand motion)

and on your left,                                  (hand motion)

and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, (hand motion)

and mine angels round about you to bear you up.”  (circular hand motion).

Have you ever imagined being invisible?  I’m going to tell you some true stories about invisibility.  The first is a story by Alice W. Flade in the August 2011 Ensign, pg.67, telling of an experience she had in Europe when she was protected by invisible helpers.  (You’ll want to read the preceding story also, which is obviously by her husband, telling of the protection he received because of a priesthood blessing).

“At the end of World War II, when I was 19 years old, enemy troops came to occupy my hometown in Europe.  One evening my parents and I were sitting at our table when we heard a loud noise.  We looked out through the blackout curtains, hung so that bombers couldn’t detect our house at night, to see enemy troops—along with their motorcycles, trucks, and tanks—coming into our village from two different directions.  I was very frightened.

“My father, always a faithful man, said simply, ‘Don’t be scared.’  In the face of what was just outside our house, that was an extraordinary statement.  We all knew that the soldiers would likely invade the neighborhood to pillage people’s homes.  Father suggested that we kneel next to the couch and pray for Heavenly Father’s protection.  He prayed, ‘Father in Heaven, please blind those soldiers.  Make our house invisible so they won’t see it.’

“After he prayed, my mother prayed.  Then I prayed.  Afterward, we returned to the table and cautiously looked out the window.  We watched soldiers storm into every house on our street.  Ours was the last one on the street.  They approached our house but then passed our front gate and went to the next street.  We watched them enter every house that we could see from our window.

“After an invasion of about two hours, someone blew a loud whistle, and the soldiers returned to their vehicles.  As they slowly left, we were tremendously relieved and knelt again, thanking Heavenly Father for His kindness and protection.

“The next day I learned from a distraught friend that the soldiers had done terrible things in every house she knew of.  When I told her that they had not come to our house, she was shocked.  She said she had watched them go in our direction and that she knew of no homes in our sector that they had not entered.  Our house was the only one the soldiers had left alone.”

When I was bishop, there was an older sister in our ward named Mary Thompson.  My wife knew her son, Jim, and had told me a story concerning an experience Jim had while on his mission.  I asked Mary to repeat it to me, and have remembered it for 30 years.  Elder Thompson and his companion tracted out a street, and found a woman who was interested in hearing their message.  The woman was anxious that her husband hear the message, too.  He was not at home, so she made an appointment for the elders to return the next day when he would be present.

The next day, at the appointed time, the elders returned to the street to keep the appointment.  They walked up and down the street, but they could not find the house.  They knew they were on the right street, and had the right address, but try as they might, they could not find the house.  They felt badly about not keeping the appointment, but had no choice but to give up and go home.

They went back to that street the next day to see if they could figure out what they had done wrong.  To their surprise, there was the house right where it was supposed to be.  They knocked on the door.  The woman answered, and said with relief, “Oh, thank heavens you didn’t come yesterday.  My husband was waiting for you with a gun!”

These are two stories of invisible houses.  Can you understand what happened in the stories?  Righteous people were protected by unseen powers.  Let’s repeat our scripture.

The next story of invisibility comes from a talk by Elder D. Todd Christofferson in general conference, April 2004.

In 1992 two sister missionaries in Zagreb, Croatia, were returning to their apartment one evening.  Their last teaching appointment had been some distance away, and it was getting dark.  Several men on the trolley made crude comments and became rather menacing.  Feeling threatened, the sisters got off the trolley at the next stop just as the doors closed so no one could follow them.  Having avoided that problem, they realized they were in a place unknown to either of them.  As they turned to look for help, they saw a woman.  The missionaries explained that they were lost and asked the woman if she could direct them.  She knew where they could find another trolley to take them home and invited them to follow her.  On the way they had to pass a bar with patrons sitting along the sidewalk in the gathering darkness.  These men also appeared threatening.  Nevertheless, the two young women had the distinct impression that the men could not see them.  They walked by, apparently invisible to those who might have had a mind to harm them.  When the sisters and their guide reached the stop, the trolley they needed was just arriving.  They turned to thank the woman, but she was nowhere to be seen.  (The Ensign, May 2004, pp. 12-13).

Who was the woman who guided them?  What happened?  Why were they protected?  Let’s repeat our scripture.

There is a story about invisibility in the Old Testament.  The prophet Elisha warned the king of Israel several times about plots made against him by the king of Syria.  The king of Syria became convinced that there was a spy among them who was telling Israel his plans.  “He called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel?

“And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king:  but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.

“And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him.  And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.

“Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host:  and they came by night, and compassed the city about.

“And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots.  And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master!  how shall we do?

“And he answered, Fear not:  for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

“And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.  And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw:  and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

“And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness.  And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

“And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city:  follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek.  But he led them to Samaria.

“And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.  And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

“And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them?  Shall I smite them?

“And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them:  wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow?  Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.

“And he prepared great provision for them:  and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master.  So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.”  (2 Kings 6:11-22).

How many angels did Elisha and his servant have “round about to bear (them) up?”

You have angels “round about you to bear you up,” too, if you keep the commandments and always remember to have your prayers.  President Heber J. Grant said, “I have little or no fear for the boy or the girl, the young man or the young woman, who honestly and conscientiously supplicate God twice a day for the guidance of His Spirit.  I am sure that when temptation comes they will have the strength to overcome it by the inspiration that shall be given to them.  Supplicating the Lord for the guidance of His Spirit places around us a safeguard, and if we earnestly and honestly seek the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord, I can assure you that we will receive it.”

That protective shield is just what our scripture is talking about.  Let’s repeat it.

Just yesterday in my Sunday School class Renae Van Thiel told a story that impressed me very much.  Several years ago she was set apart as a temple ordinance worker to serve in the Portland Oregon Temple.  She served a shift there once a week for five years.  Getting there each week required a drive of 100 miles each way.

As she was set apart by a member of the temple presidency she was blessed that she would be able to make the weekly trip to the temple safely, and without accident.

Sister Van Thiel said that she still doesn’t understand exactly what happened in the instance she related, but one evening as she returned home she rounded a curve as she entered Seaside, Oregon.  She was going too fast.  Ahead of her were three cars.  The lead car had stopped to allow oncoming traffic to clear before making a left hand turn.  Sister Van Thiel had no time to pump her brakes and make a controlled stop.  She slammed on the brakes.  Her car skidded, fishtailed wildly to the left and right, and headed right for an inevitable crash with the two cars in front of her.  She saw the woman in the car ahead of her throw her hands up to protect her head from the impending crash.  The man driving the next car steered up on the curb to get out of the way.

Sister Van Thiel saw her own windshield splinter and crack into thousands of pieces.  She saw her own blood shoot out onto the windshield.  Her hair flew straight up in the air.  But then it was all over—and her car had not touched the others!  She was unhurt.

She had been permitted to see what would have happened had she not had the protection of the priesthood blessing that she had received.  We almost never know the harmful situations we avoid when we listen to the Spirit.  We never know what awful things we avoid because of the protections provided by priesthood blessings, our temple garments, our covenants, and by the angels that are “round about you to bear you up.”  In this instance, however, Sister Van Thiel saw, and understood, that she had been protected by a priesthood blessing given to her because she had been willing to sacrifice and to serve.

Thomas S. Monson told the next story.  Before telling it, he first quoted the scripture we’re learning.  Let’s repeat it.

“Inspiring is the missionary service rendered by Walter Krause, who lives in Prenzlau, Germany.  Brother Krause, whose dedication to the Lord is legendary, is now 92 years of age.  As a patriarch, he has given more than a thousand patriarchal blessings to members living throughout many parts of Europe.

“Homeless following World War II, like so many others at that time, Brother Krause and his family lived in a refugee camp in Cottbus and began to attend church there.  He was immediately called to lead the Cottbus branch.  Four months later, in November of 1945, the country still in ruins, district president Richard Ranglack came to Brother Krause and asked him what he would think about going on a mission.  Brother Krause’s answer reflects his commitment to the Church.  Said, he:  ‘I don’t have to think about it at all.  If the Lord needs me, I’ll go.’

“He set out on December 1, 1945, with 20 German marks in his pocket and a piece of dry bread.  One of the branch members had given him a winter coat left over from a son who had fallen in the war.  Another member, who was a shoemaker, gave him a pair of shoes.  With these and with two shirts, two handkerchiefs, and two pairs of stockings, he left on his mission.

“Once, in the middle of winter, he walked from Prenzlau to Kammin, a little village in Mecklenburg, where 46 attended the meetings which were held.  He arrived long after dark that night after a six-hour march over roads, paths, and finally across plowed fields.  Just before he reached the village, he came to a large, white, flat area which made for easy walking, and he soon arrived at a member’s home to stay the night.

“The next morning the game warden knocked on the door of the members’ house, asking, ‘Do you have a guest?’

“‘Yes,’ came the reply.

“The game warden continued, ‘Then come and take a look at his tracks.’  The large, flat area on which Brother Krause had walked was actually a frozen lake, and some time earlier the warden had chopped a large hole in the middle of the lake for fishing.  The wind had driven snow over the hole and covered it so that Brother Krause could not have seen his danger.  His tracks went right next to the edge of the hole and straight to the house of the member, without his knowing anything about it.  Weighed down by his backpack and his rubber boots, he would certainly have drowned had he gone one step further toward the hole he couldn’t see.  He commented later that this event caused quite a stir in the village at the time.”  (The Ensign, May 2002, pp. 50-51).

Can’t you just see the angels that were round about him pushing him just a little to the right so that he’d miss the hole?  They’re round about you, too, pushing and directing, keeping you from harm, and positioning you to be in the places you need to be in, when you need to be there.  If you had your prayer this morning, they’re there.

Let’s repeat our scripture, and I don’t want you to ever forget it.

“Doctrine and Covenants Section 84, verse 88…I will go before your face.  I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you to bear you up.”