My Heart is Brim with Joy
Mahit Family, Vanuatu
In 1976 the Church was brand new in a group of South Seas islands that would become the independent nation of Vanuatu four years later.
Read MoreThree Vanuatu Missionaries
The stories of three sister missionaries serving together in Vanuatu from the Pacific Island nations of Kiribati, Tonga, and Fiji
Read MoreGod’s Focus and Greatest Creation
In 1956 Harry de Leyer went to the auction to buy a horse for his children to ride. He got there too late. All the good horses had already been sold.
Read MorePriesthood and Motherhood
Question: A strange thing has come up in YW. One family has a mom that can “tap” into the priesthood and use the power herself. She has been called on to perform certain things in the name of the priesthood.
Read MoreJohn Bennion
The story of the Church is a story of chain reactions. One step in the process of the Restoration always leads to another. A chain reaction was initiated by Joseph Smith’s reading of James 1:5 that continues today in an ever-widening, ever-lengthening chain of events that is currently linking millions of lives in miraculous ways.
Read MoreThe Apprentice and the Master Craftsman – James’ Parables
There was once a man who apprenticed himself to a master craftsman. The master craftsman was able to work with every material, in every medium, and to create beautiful things.
Read MoreActivated By Love
I frequently think of the story told by Elder Russell M. Nelson in general conference about going on a mission tour with another general authority in a dusty location. He often got up in the morning to find that his companion had shined his shoes.
Read MoreA Miracle A Day
Elder Smith is the new senior missionary who arrived with his wife in Vanuatu nine days ago. As we walked together yesterday and marveled over our experiences, he remarked in a rather dazed manner, “It’s a miracle a day!”
Read MoreWeaning, Part Two
Jacob says, “But wo unto him that…wasteth the days of his probation…” (2 Nephi 9:27).
The world is filled with time wasters.
The Records
I have a theory that I’ve written about before, which I would like to expand upon. This is conjectural, not doctrinal, but is pieced together from hints given in the scriptures.
Read MoreBlessings Follow the Sacrifice
In 2009 two brothers named Tivles lived side-by-side in a remote village in the South Seas’ island nation of Vanuatu. A pair of missionaries made an exploratory hike out of their normal area and found the two Tivles families.
Read MoreTaught By an Apostle
It’s 5:00 a.m., and I’ve just gotten up from a dream that I should record. I’m recording it because there was a good line in it, and because it’s something that Marjorie can use when she teaches her workshop in our upcoming Young Single Adult Conference.
Read MoreThere is Always More
As a teenage boy, Nephi heard his father, Lehi, tell about an important dream he had had about the tree of life. Nephi pondered over what his father had said. He sincerely wanted to know what the dream meant, and to know what impact it might have in his own life.
Read MoreAn Embarrassing Miracle
As I was preparing for bed on the evening of July 4th, my phone rang. It was Sister Torea, one of our sister missionaries. She was in tears, and scared. Her companion, Sister Lekupe, was very ill, had just fallen off the couch, and Sister Torea was unable to get her up off the floor.
Read MoreFruitfulness
Letters from home are talking about strawberries. It’s strawberry season there. Marjorie is longing to have some fresh strawberries on her cereal in the mornings. In the midst of her longings, she pointed out a very interesting observation.
Read MoreDavid Ruben
On Monday, 5 May 2014, Sister Allphin, a missionary, called to ask me to go to the hospital and administer a priesthood blessing to an investigator boy who had broken his leg.
Read MoreMt. Tambora
The volcanic eruption of Mt. Tambora on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa on 10 April 1815 caused devastating effects around the world. Tens of thousands of people lost their lives, and the lives of millions of others were affected.
Read MoreSunday’s Sermons
First pew, right side, as close to Marjorie and her keyboard as I can get without being up on the stand. That’s where I sit each week in the Luganville, Vanuatu Branch.
Read MoreThe Process of Sanctification
The authorship of the following article is 90% Marjorie, and 10% James. Women who opt out of becoming mothers, or who purposely have only one or two children—women who choose to follow men into the workplace and be like men—miss the best opportunity to become sanctified, and must achieve sanctification like men do.
Read MoreTraction
David A. Bednar told the story of his friend who bought a pickup, took it up in the snowy mountains to get a load of firewood, and promptly got stuck. He was unable to extricate the pickup from where it was stuck in the snow.
Read MoreThe Day Will Come
We spend our lives looking forward. We look forward to future events. Some we anticipate with eagerness and pleasure. Others we dread.
Read MoreRepentance and Covenants
Life has two purposes. There are two things that every soul must accomplish. One is repentance. The other is covenants. Both are supreme gifts made possible by the Lord’s Atonement.
Read MoreRedemption
In America you can’t open a magazine or a newspaper or a cereal box without finding coupons. A coupon is nothing more than an otherwise worthless scrap of paper that can be redeemed for something of value.
Read MoreThe Benefits of Seminary
Major parts of both the Bible and the Book of Mormon deal with armies and war. One is led to ask why these books of peace are so interlaced with violence. The simple answer is that we are, in fact, in the midst of an ongoing battle that began before the world was created.
Read MoreAvailability of Scriptures Through the Ages
The people in the days of Noah and the Children of Israel had no stability because they had no scriptures. Are you any better off than them if you have the scriptures and don’t read them?
Read MoreIs That in Africa?
Last June Marjorie and I were expecting some important mail. We were checking the mailbox at the bottom of our hill on a daily basis. One afternoon as we were on our way to our friends’ graduation celebration, we stopped at the mailbox once again.
Read MoreCome Join the Ranks
Major parts of both the Bible and the Book of Mormon deal with armies and war. One is led to ask why these books of peace are so interlaced with violence. The simple answer is that we are, in fact, in the midst of an ongoing battle that began before the world was created.
Read MoreBecause They Desired It
Alma said, “I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life…” (Alma 29:4).
Read MoreMonitors of the Spirit
We who have been baptized and confirmed have the right to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, but sometimes we do things that drive the Spirit away. Wouldn’t it be a marvelous thing if we possessed a monitor that would tell us whether or not the Spirit was with us?
Read MoreComplacency
Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence. (2 Nephi 1:20).
This is a theme that runs throughout the Book of Mormon. This principle and promise was given to Nephi at the beginning of his odyssey (1 Ne. 2:20-21), is repeated two dozen times in the Book of Mormon, and carries through to the end. It is a principle and promise within the book that is demonstrated in both of its extremes many, many times. The Lord means what He says, and keeps His promises.
Sin and Sea Shells
Marjorie should not let me go out by myself. I succumbed to a big temptation yesterday. If she had been with me she could have stabilized me. She has always been a big stabilizing influence in my life. As it is, she frowned at me when I told her what I’d done.
Read MoreThinking Outside the Box
A story is told about Christopher Columbus. I don’t know whether it’s true or whether it’s apocryphal, but it’s a good story. Columbus was reportedly at a dinner when someone asked him why he thought he could accomplish something that no one else had been able to do. Columbus reached over to some hard-boiled eggs, removed one from the bowl, and challenged those present to stand it on end. Many tried, but no one succeeded in making it balance. Columbus took the egg, smashed it onto the table, and said, “That’s why I think I can do what no one else has been able to do!”
Read MoreHagoth and the Polynesians
I watched a documentary video last week that set my imagination working. The documentary concerned the possible route that Lehi and his family took to get to the Promised Land. The record states that they left Jerusalem and went southeast along the border of the Red Sea. They went as far as a place called Nahom where Ishmael died. From that point on they traveled nearly eastward until they came to a place they named Bountiful because of its much honey and fruit. There they were instructed by the Lord to build a ship. The record states that they found ore with which to make tools so that they could work the timbers of the ship. The trip from Jerusalem to Bountiful took them 8 years.
Read MoreChrist Has Come
Prophets of old foretold the coming of Jesus Christ to atone for the sins of the world. They prophesied that He would come as a baby to a virgin named Mary, and be born in a humble stable in the City of David in the land of Judea. They prophesied that a new star would arise to announce His birth. The prophets said that He would be baptized of John, and that He would go forth teaching the people, healing the sick, raising the dead, and that He would be rejected by the people. It was prophesied that the Jews and the Gentiles would both consent to His death, and that they would kill Him. It was prophesied that He would be crucified and that His body would lie in the tomb for three days.
Read MoreParallel or Perpendicular?
One morning as I sat on my couch in Vanuatu looking out at the bay, I noticed that the door frame made a perfectly parallel line with a line of tile on our veranda. If I tilted my head a little to either the right or to the left, the lines were no longer parallel. The line formed by the door frame, and the line formed by the tiles were about one inch apart. If I held my head just so, the two lines would stay just one inch apart even if they were to be extended clear across the bay.
Read MoreHumidity in Vanuatu
It’s 7:30 in the morning of a very overcast day. As I look across the bay, I’d swear there was a snow storm coming. (That’ll be the day). Aore Island just across the bay is disappearing. In a few minutes it will start sprinkling here. Then it will rain. Then Aore Island and the whole bay will disappear as the sky dumps out everything it’s got. The roads will turn into rivers.
Read MoreJennifer Tarohati
At the age of 20 Jennifer Tarohati was a young adult living with her widowed mother on the island of Tanna in the South Seas’ nation of Vanuatu. The year was 2000. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was new to the nation, and only a very few Latter-day Saints lived on the island.
Read MoreAnother Day in the Life of a Senior Missionary
The first missionary discussion with Dr. Wang didn’t go as planned. On Sunday we had invited him and the sister missionaries to dinner for Tuesday evening. An hour later I had gotten a call about a sick elder in Fanafo. Marjorie and I made a quick run there, and brought the elders back to Luganville. Elder McCain was a very sick young man with a raging fever, a racing heart (193 beats per minute), diarrhea, and a sore gall bladder. Through intravenous rehydration and medicines, Dr. Wang had him stabilized and on his feet by evening, but we had decided to keep him in our care. I gave his companion to another set of elders who needed him, and Elder McCain became my companion for the next couple of days. Our Tuesday evening dinner appointment had thus grown to a party of six.
Read MoreBislama vs. English
I have been reading the Book of Mormon in Bislama in hopes that it would teach me the language and give me some proficiency therein. I do it by having my English Book of Mormon open alongside the Bislama version so that I can refer to it to translate what I’m reading. I’ve noticed a couple of things as I’ve compared the languages.
Read MoreA Day in the Life of a Senior Missionary
Last night Marjorie and I were ready to prepare for bed when we heard someone sing out. “Singout” is what you do here instead of knock on a door. “Elda mo Sista Kerrnnns,” the voice sang. No one ever comes to our isolated veranda at night, and no one can see in, so we don’t even bother to close our curtains.
Read MorePriesthood Leadership Conference
One night some years ago I couldn’t sleep. To occupy my mind as I lay there in bed, I did a census. In my mind I went up and down every road and street in the town of Haines and the surrounding area. I was looking for Latter-day Saints. I did it twice. I did it as a 6-year-old, non-member of the Church, and again as a 56-year-old member.
Read MoreDownwind of the Spirit
“Keep yourself downwind of the Spirit.” That was my waking message this morning. Where did it come from? What does it mean?
Read MorePrayer
The scripture says, “By small and simple things are great things brought to pass,” (Alma 37:6). What could be simpler than prayer?
Prayer is the simplest thing in the world, yet carries the most power. That is the great secret that most people have yet to learn.
Thoughts on a Vanuatu Funeral
We American Latter-day Saints would like to think that we’re spiritually superior to other people. Our thinking is that we’re blessed with more possessions and comforts, so therefore, our way of living is the way all people would live if they were as blessed as we are.
Read MoreThings to Wonder About in Vanuatu
What makes the light-colored trails, areas, and dark lines in the water of the bay below our house? They last a long time. I’ve observed the same phenomenon as I’ve driven along the Columbia River. The dark line appears about 7:30 in the morning, and moves very slowly to the east. Are these caused by differences in temperature, aeration, by the tide, or by some other thing?
Read MoreCornelius
The story of Cornelius, as told in Acts chapters 10 and 11, is an interesting study. One wonders why and how he developed such faith. His story marks a pivotal point in the history of the Church.
Read MoreAn Epistle to My Grandchildren
I just came awake from a wonderful night’s sleep, and was surprised to find dawn happening. There was a thought in my mind—a thought that, strangely, I’ve never had before. The thought was that I should write an epistle to my grandchildren. I make it a point to act upon these first morning thoughts when they come this way, because they come from the Holy Ghost.
Read MoreBook of Mormon Missionaries
The philosophies held by, and the techniques used by the missionaries in the Book of Mormon are worthy of examination.
First was Abinadi—courageous Abinadi. His mission call sent him to a degenerate people who were so steeped in sin that the likelihood of success among them was very small indeed. He was aware of that at the outset; but he also knew that unless the people repented, they would be destroyed. They had to be warned. Indeed, the people could neither be converted nor destroyed unless someone should first warn them, for “…the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7).
The Lord Doth Immediately Bless You
In my reading this morning, a word has arrested my attention. The word is “immediate.” The verse I read said, “And again, when they thought of the immediate goodness of God, and his power in delivering Alma and his brethren out of the hands of the Lamanites and of bondage, they did raise their voices and give thanks to God.” (Mosiah 25:10).
Read MoreA Note to Missionaries
I don’t think that we as missionaries have any idea who we are or about the power that we carry with us. In my reading over the past two days I’ve found latter-day missionaries in some surprising places.
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