I’m thinking about the contents of my wallet. I worry about its thickness. I find that when I drive for extended distances, my hip begins to bother me. The longer and farther I drive, the more uncomfortable I become.

Each spring before our raspberry plants begin to bud out and produce new leaves, I go up and down the rows spraying Roundup on the grass which tries to encroach into the rows. The grass greens up before the raspberry plants do, so I’m generally able to kill the grass without harming the raspberries.

A day or two ago I read Richard G. Scott’s conference talk from last April wherein he spoke at length on helps we receive from loved ones beyond the veil.
Today I taught the Gospel Doctrine class in Sunday School from 3rd Nephi where angels came down and ministered to the little children.

NEPHI’S JERUSALEMLehi and Nephi were born and raised in tumultuous times. Lehi was born at about the time that 8-year-old Josiah became king over Judah. Judah had just endured the bloody and wicked 55-year reign of Josiah’s grandfather, Manasseh, and the equally wicked
2-year reign of his father, Amon.

Moroni and Ether have always intrigued me. Imagine being the sole survivor of an entire civilization! How interesting that these two prophets should both have been accorded the same privilege. Talk about being alone! Their situation puts a whole different spin on the word loneliness. Moroni wandered around alone for some 36 years.

Perhaps the most serious of all handicaps is to have a personality defect. We’ve all known people with various physical handicaps, but many, or most, of them have beautiful personalities—perhaps because of those physical handicaps. Physical or mental handicaps might be considered a great blessing when looked at in that light.

When Jesus ministered in person to the Nephites it is of interest to me that He quoted numerous prophets. He had their words memorized. He didn’t have to read them. Their words were, in reality, His words. He originally inspired those prophets to write, and by His quoting them, He legitimized and approved their writings.

As I read about Samuel the Lamanite I began wondering about him. He is the only Lamanite prophet mentioned in the scriptures. Given the fact that there were many righteous Lamanites from about 90 B.C. to 200 A.D., I would suppose that there were other Lamanites who might have been prophets besides Samuel; but Samuel is the only one of whom we have record.

Traveling home today from Bremerton, I was surrounded by ultimates. I had the company and companionship of the ultimate mortal—my wife. I was eating the ultimate candy—peanut M & Ms. I was listening to the ultimate music—Handel’s Messiah, sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the ultimate choir.

Chapter 5 in the Book of Jacob is the longest chapter in the Book of Mormon. It’s Zenos’ allegory of the tame and wild olive trees. It’s 77 verses long. Zenos was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel. When he wrote the allegory, the story of the scattering and gathering of Israel was just beginning.

I remember three distinct times since joining the Church when I felt especially stressed, and mad at the world. I don’t know that anything I was doing, or not doing, caused those episodes. I suppose that I was as worthy during the times that led up to those events as I was at any other time.

“I want to take Mulek out of the palace, and keep him until the danger is over,” Zibiah told Jehoiada. “You’re the keeper of the king’s sons. When the Chaldeans come, and if they overthrow Jerusalem, they’ll destroy all the seed royal.”
“You love him, don’t you?” Jehoiada said to the woman.

As I quietly lay in bed this morning with the window wide open, I heard two big thunders off to the north. That got my attention. As I listened for more I began hearing a symphony—one of the most beautiful I’ve ever heard. Someone smarter and more talented than me needs to compose it and put it to music.

Yesterday evening I finished rereading the Doctrine and Covenants. A thing that impresses me every time I read the book is the fact that neither Joseph Smith nor any other man could have been capable of writing it.

When I was a kid there were no skunks in this valley. A disease went through them the year I was born, and completely wiped out the population. The first skunk I ever knew about was the one I hit with a swather on the Lillard Place when I was 16 or 17.

Tom Bruce was having trouble with the end gun of a pivot. The end gun contains the last nozzle of the sprinkler system, and shoots water a hundred feet beyond the reach of the pivot. The end gun is on a long arm that sticks out from the last tower of the pivot.

As I came awake a few minutes ago the thought in my head was “subsequent hills, subsequent mountains, or subsequent vistas.” Where the thought came from, and what it means, I’m not sure; but it needs to be explored.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (pronounced GUR-tuh) was the most celebrated European writer by the early 1800s. He was much admired not only for his writings, but also for his thinking and accomplishments in science, philosophy and other fields.

As I read the scriptures last night, I came to the account in the Book of Mormon of the Jaredites’ crossing of the great waters. I read how they made eight small (Ether 2:16) barges that were the “length of a tree” and “tight like unto a dish.”

As a sailor in the U.S. Navy I was assigned to the USS Banner—a small, 180-foot vessel carrying 82 men. I distinctly remember my first trip to sea. Perhaps the sea wasn’t all that rough, but it was rough enough to greatly impress me.

When I compose a talk for a Church setting, I cast about in my mind for stories and experiences from my life that could illustrate the principle that I want to teach. My experience is that the talk will be remembered for more than five minutes if a story accompanies it.

The Old Testament ends with these attention-getting words:
“For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” (Mal. 4:1).

How many of us are familiar with the names James Covill, Jesse Gause, and Merrill Buckley?
James Covill was the subject of two sections in Doctrine and Covenants. He “covenanted with the Lord that he would obey any command that the Lord would give him through Joseph the Prophet.”

We’re to liken the scriptures to ourselves. (1 Ne. 19:23). The scriptures also tell us that there is nothing new under the sun. (Eccl. 1:9). This week I was told of two stories of bank fraud, couldn’t sleep last night because of them, got up and read my Book of Mormon, and found myself reading of the exact situation in the scriptures.

Asa arose early. There was much to be done on this special day, and some of it would involve waiting in a long line. The earlier he got started, the shorter the line and the shorter the wait. This was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, or Passover.

And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard went forth and saw that it was necessary to continue grafting, pruning, and scattering the branches of his olive trees. The ground had become corrupted in some areas of his vineyard, and weeds had taken over other areas insomuch that his olive trees were in captivity and were being smothered.

Wednesday 1 January 1992
The longest day of the year may be the first one. Everyone has just endured Christmas vacation with its excitement and subsequent letdown. The weather hasn’t been good, so much of the time has been spent cooped up in the house.

The Philistines had a super weapon in their arsenal which they believed made them invincible. They had Goliath. The Israelites were all pessimists. When they saw Goliath they thought, “Wow, with a guy that big, we’ll never beat the Philistines.”
David, on the other hand was an optimist.

Once there was a woman who had a coin pocket in her purse. She kept coins and other small items therein, like a spare piece of gum. One day at the checkout counter the woman put two fingers into her coin pocket so that she could give the clerk the exact change.

Several testimonies of the Book of Mormon have recently impressed themselves upon my thinking which need to be gathered together.
George Cannon, 1840
The first came from a quotation given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in general conference

Several testimonies of the Book of Mormon have recently impressed themselves upon my thinking which need to be gathered together.
George Cannon, 1840
The first came from a quotation given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in general conference

Several testimonies of the Book of Mormon have recently impressed themselves upon my thinking which need to be gathered together.
George Cannon, 1840
The first came from a quotation given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in general conference

O blessed man that I am!
Thou, O Lord, hast brought me from darkness unto light;
Yea, from thick darkness unto exceeding light.
Thou hast given me Thy Spirit to guide and direct my paths.

O blessed man that I am!
Thou, O Lord, hast brought me from darkness unto light;
Yea, from thick darkness unto exceeding light.
Thou hast given me Thy Spirit to guide and direct my paths.

Last Thursday I finally located a good planer for sale in Hermiston, Oregon. I’ve been looking for a good used one, and had been too slow on many a previous occasion, so I immediately set out to get it.

St. Luke’s has asked us to rate Marjorie’s hospital stay. It was all right as far as hospital stays go. It’s obvious that everyone was trying to be professional, and that the hospital has all of the latest equipment and gadgets; but one comes away with some nagging feelings of disquietude.

Eric was a good young man. He was proud of that fact. He worked hard to be good. He read his scriptures every day. He maintained a positive attitude, smiled at everyone, and tried to never complain about things, or to speak evil of anyone.

Abraham was troubled. He had problems. They loomed huge. They were all-consuming, and there seemed little that he could do about them.
For one, his wife had just died.

Sunday I went early to church to see a member of an earlier ward, and then sat in my pickup finishing the lesson preparation for my 11-year-old Primary class.

Sunday I stood at the window and watched 75-100 quail as they foraged in the driveway. They were looking for weed seeds. They work in tight groups. They scratch, scratch, scratch, then peck, peck, peck while very nearly touching several companions.

Ivy needed to go somewhere, and could not find her car keys. When not in use, the keys are always hung on a peg in the kitchen, or are put in a particular kitchen drawer. The keys were in neither place.

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” (Isa. 5: 20).

I’m looking at the enlarged photograph hanging on the wall of our living room. It’s of our old barn surrounded by trees in their fall colors. The old barn is in the fall of its life. It’s unpainted and weathered.

1. Pray over your schooling and before your tests, asking for help to remember what you’ve studied and what you’ve learned.

Once there was a man with a pond full of fish. He was very fond of his fish. They were rainbow trout—sleek and fat. The man protected his fish.

When Joseph Smith began translating the plates of gold, Martin Harris acted as his scribe. Joseph dictated the Book of Lehi through the use of the Urim and Thummim while Martin wrote.

Katie has an assignment to write a paper for a college class on some idea that would benefi Young James valued his legs. He didn’t know that he valued his legs. In fact, he never even thought about them, but he was grateful that he was able to do everything that a good set of legs allowed him to do.t mankind. She is thinking that her topic might be a requirement that the religions of the world should be taught to all students so as to promote understanding and tolerance.

Katie has an assignment to write a paper for a college class on some idea that would benefit mankind. She is thinking that her topic might be a requirement that the religions of the world should be taught to all students so as to promote understanding and tolerance.

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Heb. 13:1-2).
On the 14th of June 1828 Joseph Smith completed translating the Book of Lehi from the Golden Plates, with Margin Harris serving as scribe.

The town was full of people, and more had arrived with each passing hour. A cacophony of sounds—human and animal—also filled the town. In the air was something else, too, and that was the welcome warmth, feel, and smell of spring.