"Don't You Dare Give Up"

Diane Ellingson-Smith was an All-American gymnast at Utah before battling back from a devastating accident that left her paralyzed for the rest of her life. From 1978-81, Ellingson-Smith was a three-time All-American on the uneven parallel bars and finished second in the 1981 National Championships. She was co-captain of the 1981 national-title winning team, the first of 10 national titles the Utes would win over the next 22 years.

After her college career ended Ellingson-Smith joined a Professional Gymnastics Tour. While practicing on the vault before her first meet, she over-rotated and landed on her neck. She fractured a cervical vertebrae and was paralyzed from the chest down. Although confined to a wheelchair, she finished her degree at Utah in elementary education and spent seven years teaching third grade. The Diane Ellingson award is given yearly to the most inspirational Ute gymnast.

Ellingson-Smith now spends her time as a motivational speaker. She is the founder and president of a sales, motivation, leadership and achievement company. She is also the subject of the best selling biography "Don't You Dare Give Up!" Diane is married to Scott Smith, a former clown with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. She has four stepchildren.

Here is an inspirational video presenation, in two parts, of Ellingson-Smith's story:

Ellingson-Smith was inducted into the University of Utah's Crimson Club Hall of Fame in 2003.

http://utahutes.cstv.com/genrel/041603aaa.html

"Go Forth and Serve" -- Go For It

I came across an excellent blog post last week from a recent convert to the LDS Church in which the author sought to encourage young men and women who are considering serving a mission.  Link:

http://lemmonythings.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/go-elder-message-to-pre-missionary/

"I don’t have brothers, or sons . . . So I don’t know the complete psyche of the young men in this matter.  But I have enough guy friends and enough girlfriends who have served to know how it may feel when your toes are to the edge of the cliff–ready to jump into midair–and ready to serve a mission somewhere you’ve never been. But, I also know why you should jump."

Avoiding Pride

Another good conference talk for this week is one given by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf in October 2010.

"Every mortal," President Uchtdorf warned, "has at least a casual if not intimate relationship with the sin of pride. No one has avoided it; few overcome it."

After referencing another talk on Pride, President Ezra Taft Benson's in 1989, President Uchtdorf noted that the word "pride" almost became taboo in the church.  Members wondered if they could say that they were "proud" of their children, or if they could take "pride" in their work.  "In the scriptures we find plenty of examples of good and righteous people who rejoice in righteousness and at the same time glory in the goodness of God. Our Heavenly Father Himself introduced His Beloved Son with the words 'in whom I am well pleased.'"

President Uchtdorf then said, "I believe there is a difference between being proud of certain things and being prideful. I am proud of many things. I am proud of my wife. I am proud of our children and grandchildren."

So what is the difference between being prideful and having pride in certain things?  "Pride is sinful, as President Benson so memorably taught, because it breeds hatred or hostility and places us in opposition to God and our fellowmen. At its core, pride is a sin of comparison, for though it usually begins with 'Look how wonderful I am and what great things I have done,' it always seems to end with 'Therefore, I am better than you.'"

When we are filled with this pride we are in danger of violating the two great commandments.  "Instead of worshiping God and loving our neighbor, we reveal the real object of our worship and love -- the image we see in the mirror. Pride is the great sin of self-elevation. It is for so many a personal Rameumptom, a holy stand that justifies envy, greed, and vanity."

Pride can lead to other sins, as well.  "Pride is a deadly cancer. It is a gateway sin that leads to a host of other human weaknesses. In fact, it could be said that every other sin is, in essence, a manifestation of pride.  This sin has many faces. It leads some to revel in their own perceived self-worth, accomplishments, talents, wealth, or position. They count these blessings as evidence of being 'chosen,' 'superior,' or 'more righteous' than others. This is the sin of 'Thank God I am more special than you.' At its core is the desire to be admired or envied. It is the sin of self-glorification. For others, pride turns to envy: they look bitterly at those who have better positions, more talents, or greater possessions than they do. They seek to hurt, diminish, and tear down others in a misguided and unworthy attempt at self-elevation. When those they envy stumble or suffer, they secretly cheer."

President Uchtdorf went on to discuss pride and sports"

"Perhaps there is no better laboratory to observe the sin of pride than the world of sports. I have always loved participating in and attending sporting events. But I confess there are times when the lack of civility in sports is embarrassing. How is it that normally kind and compassionate human beings can be so intolerant and filled with hatred toward an opposing team and its fans?

"I have watched sports fans vilify and demonize their rivals. They look for any flaw and magnify it. They justify their hatred with broad generalizations and apply them to everyone associated with the other team. When ill fortune afflicts their rival, they rejoice.

"Brethren, unfortunately we see today too often the same kind of attitude and behavior spill over into the public discourse of politics, ethnicity, and religion.

"My dear brethren of the priesthood, my beloved fellow disciples of the gentle Christ, should we not hold ourselves to a higher standard? As priesthood bearers, we must realize that all of God’s children wear the same jersey. Our team is the brotherhood of man. This mortal life is our playing field. Our goal is to learn to love God and to extend that same love toward our fellowman. We are here to live according to His law and establish the kingdom of God. We are here to build, uplift, treat fairly, and encourage all of Heavenly Father’s children."

How, then do we counter the impulse to be prideful?

"In this, as in all things, Jesus Christ is our perfect example," said President Uchtdorf. "Whereas Lucifer tried to change the Father’s plan of salvation and obtain honor for himself, the Savior said, 'Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.'  Despite His magnificent abilities and accomplishments, the Savior was always meek and humble."

We should be humble and full of love:

"It is almost impossible to be lifted up in pride when our hearts are filled with charity. 'No one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love' (Doctrine and Covenants 12:8). When we see the world around us through the lens of the pure love of Christ, we begin to understand humility."

President Uchtdorf then tells us what humility is and is not:

"Humility does not mean convincing ourselves that we are worthless, meaningless, or of little value. Nor does it mean denying or withholding the talents God has given us. We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves. It comes as we go about our work with an attitude of serving God and our fellowman. Humility directs our attention and love toward others and to Heavenly Father’s purposes. Pride does the opposite. Pride draws its energy and strength from the deep wells of selfishness. The moment we stop obsessing with ourselves and lose ourselves in service, our pride diminishes and begins to die."

President Uchtdorf then concludes:

"My dear brethren, there are so many people in need whom we could be thinking about instead of ourselves. . . .  My beloved brethren, let us follow the example of our Savior and reach out to serve rather than seeking the praise and honor of men. It is my prayer that we will recognize and root out unrighteous pride in our hearts and that we will replace it with righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, [and] meekness'” (1 Timothy 6:11).

Source:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/pride-and-the-priesthood?lang=eng#27-PD50021411_000_3040

No One Can Make Us Angry

This seems appropriate for the week of the Utah-BYU football game:

At the October 2009 General Conference, President Thomas S. Monson quoted Lawrence Douglas Wilder as saying that "Anger does not solve anything; it builds nothing."

President Monson went on to say, "We’ve all felt anger. It can come when things don’t turn out the way we want. It might be a reaction to something which is said of us or to us. We may experience it when people don’t behave the way we want them to behave. Perhaps it comes when we have to wait for something longer than we expected. We might feel angry when others can’t see things from our perspective. There seem to be countless possible reasons for anger."


Finding reasons for anger appears to become a simple matter when participating in or just watching sports.  But the Apostle Paul asked, "Can ye be angry, and not sin? let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26 of the Joseph Smith Translation).  And in eleventh chapter of 3 Nephi we read:


“There shall be no disputations among you. … For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away” (verses 28-30).

President Monson then warned that "To be angry is to yield to the influence of Satan. No one can make us angry. It is our choice. If we desire to have a proper spirit with us at all times, we must choose to refrain from becoming angry. I testify that such is possible."


After relating the story of two men who lived in a one room cabin that had been divided in half by a chalk line, which neither crossed as they passed 62 years without speaking a word to each other, President Monson counseled, "May we make a conscious decision, each time such a decision must be made, to refrain from anger and to leave unsaid the harsh and hurtful things we may be tempted to say."


Source:


https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/school-thy-feelings-o-my-brother?lang=eng

The Right Way

The night was coming on and it was getting cold, at least for northern California.  I had less than a month to serve on my mission, and Christmas was just around the corner; we were working hard, but were not having much success.  On this particular day, two teaching appointments stood us up -- "We got dogged," as we always said -- but on the positive side we did get in a door while tracting to teach a discussion.  Now, as the shadows of the evening fell, we had a chance encounter with a teenage boy named Eric.

Eric had been tracted into recently by the Span Ams -- the Spanish speaking elders -- and expressed some interest in learning more about the church.  My companion and I each bore our testimonies and encouraged him to read the Book of Mormon, but it seemed to have little effect.  Eric said he was part of a youth group that did Bible study and that he would need to fast and pray to find out if he should read the Book of Mormon.  Naturally, we encouraged him to both fast and pray.  He then said that he was concerned that we are not Christians.

I answered by saying that we are Christians, that we believe in Jesus Christ and worship him.  Then I opened my mini-quad to 2 Nephi 25 and read verse 29: "And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out."

I could think of no better expression of the centrality of the Savior in the LDS faith, yet Eric seemed unimpressed.  He again expressed reluctance to read the Book of Mormon.  We had been talking in his driveway for an hour and the day was past and gone.  It had been in the light of a streetlamp that I had read the scripture.  It was cold, and we knew the ride back to our apartment on our bikes would be even colder.  Again we bore our testimonies and encouraged him to read the Book of Mormon, and then we departed.

Perhaps a seed had been planted, and perhaps it grew, but soon I would be flying home and leaving the work I loved so much behind.  Thanks to Eric, we completed that week with thirty-one hours of teaching and tracting, and it was our third week in a row of at least thirty hours.  Most of the hours were spent tracting; that week we had scheduled eleven appointments only to get dogged by nine of them.

I felt a little like Nephi, "For we labor diligently . . . to persuade . . . our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23).  "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins" (verse 26).

The twenty-fifth chapter of 2 Nephi is a powerful chapter -- perhaps in part because it follows the twelve Isaiah chapters -- as Nephi prophecies with plainness of Jesus Christ.

"But, behold, they shall have wars, and rumors of wars; and when the day cometh that the Only Begotten of the Father, yea, even the Father of heaven and of earth, shall manifest himself unto them in the flesh, behold, they will reject him, because of their iniquities, and the hardness of their hearts, and the stiffness of their necks.  Behold, they will crucify him; and after he is laid in a sepulchre for the space of three days he shall rise from the dead, with healing in his wings; and all those who shall believe on his name shall be saved in the kingdom of God.  Wherefore, my soul delighteth to prophesy concerning him, for I have seen his day, and my heart doth magnify his holy name" (verses 12-13).

Then Nephi speaks of our day: "And the Lord will set his hand again the second time to restore his people from their lost and fallen state.  Wherefore he will proceed to do a marvelous work and a wonder among the children of men.  Wherefore, he shall bring forth his words unto them. . . ." (verses 17-18.)

"And now, my brethren, I have spoken plainly that ye cannot err.  And as the Lord God liveth that brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and gave Moses power that he should heal the nations after they had been bitten by the poisonous serpents, if they would cast their eyes unto the serpent which he did raise up before them, and also gave him power that he should smite the rock and the water should come forth; yea, behold I say unto you, that as these things are true, and as the Lord God liveth, there is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ, of which I have spoken, whereby men can be saved" (verse 20).

"And now behold, my people, ye are a stiffnecked people; wherefore, I have spoken plainly unto you, that ye cannot misunderstand.  And the words which I have spoken shall stand as a testimony against you; for they are sufficient to teach any man the right way; for the right way is to believe in Christ and deny him not; for by denying him ye also deny the prophets and the law" (verse 28).

We have the opportunity to participate in the marvelous work and a wonder, not just as full time missionaries, but as member missionaries.  Greater success in spreading the gospel is found when the members work with the missionaries to help them find people to teach.  And our testimonies may be added to Nephi's that the right way is to believe in Jesus Christ and deny him not.

A Word About Safety

The LDS Church released a statement yesterday about missionary safety:

"The death of a missionary is felt by every Church member in a deep and personal way, Elder David F. Evans, Executive Director of the Church’s Missionary Department, said today.  He was commenting on the fact that ten young missionaries serving around the world have died from accident or illness over the course of this year. The latest serious accident occurred in Idaho yesterday – a road accident which left a young missionary hospitalized and on life support.

Elder Evans also said, "For the Church and particularly for the families of these missionaries who have lost their lives we know that the loss of even one missionary is far too many.  To these remarkable families we extend our love, our faith, our hope and our prayers. And we pray that peace and comfort will be yours during these times of sorrow."

Evans noted that, "gratefully, these occurrences are rare, and missionary work is inherently safe. The mortality rate for missionaries is significantly less than those in their same age group in the general population."

According to the statement, "The Church does everything it can to ensure the safety of its missionaries, including providing training in personal safety and good health practices, repeated instruction for missionaries on auto and bicycle safety, and ongoing consultation with local Church leaders about the safety of specific areas and neighborhoods."

I recall watching a training video on auto safety, featuring Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve, at a zone conference while on my mission.  This was after a fatal auto accident involving missionaries which had occurred in Kentucky.  I think it was my mission president who suggested that missionaries should not expect to be protected from harm if they violate traffic laws as blessings are predicated on obedience -- and we believe in being obedient to the laws of the land..

Young missionaries, of course, face the same temptations that other young people do to drive fast and do other things.  I have to confess that one evening I found myself driving at 90 miles an hour down the Pacific Coast Highway between Santa Cruz and Watsonville.  In my defense, I will say that I was trying to catch up to the zone leaders because we had forgotten to give them our weekly letters to the mission president.  In any case, the four of us in the car were very fortunate that we didn't get into an accident, and I was fortunate to not get pulled over by the highway patrol and ticketed.

Elders up in San Francisco were often tempted to re-create the moments in TV and movie car chases where the cars go over the hills in the city and get some air time.  This usually resulted in a dropped pan, and sometimes the damage was enough to total the vehicle.  This naturally cost the mission money to repair or replace the cars.

Driving a car on a mission is a privilege not a right.  Most missionaries ride bikes or rely on public transport.  Even on bikes there can be a temptation to go fast.  In one area we would have a bike race back to the apartment after our weekly district meeting.  One night an elder had a crash which resulted in a separated shoulder, this was fortunate for him because a broken collar bone would have been a ticket home with an early release.

Driving and bike riding are not the only areas of risk.  I had a companion tear some ligaments in his leg while jogging.  Another elder twisted an ankle playing basketball on P-day.  Still another elder caught me in the face with his elbow while we were playing basketball.  I worried for awhile that my nose was broken but fortunately it wasn't, it just hurt like heck. It is against the rules, by the way, for missionaries to play full-court basketball, yet these incidents on the hardwood (carpet, actually) happened when we were playing half-court games.  

Sometimes, nature steps in.  I posted a few months ago about a major earthquake:

Surviving a Major Disaster on a Mission

So, now that I have scared moms everywhere to death, let me conclude by saying that missions are not more dangerous than life at home.  As noted in the statement released by the church, "The mortality rate for missionaries is significantly less than those in their same age group in the general population."  As the saying goes, stuff happens, but the way to stay safe on a mission is to obey the rules and the law, be mindful of what you are doing at all times, and obey all promptings from the spirit.

Finding Faith and True Confidence

"Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God. . . .  The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion. . . ." (Doctrine & Covenants 121:45-46).

In the following video, two young women share their secret for confidence and self-worth:

True Confidence

What stood out to me was that they did not need other people to tell them they were beautiful because they had already received an assurance from God that they were.

The next video I would like to present is an interview with Al Fox.  I posted about Al back in April:

The Lord Looketh Upon the Heart

In this video she begins by again telling about her conversion, but then she moves on to talk about finding faith:

Finding Faith

"What is comes down to is prayer, really," says Al Fox, "honest prayer, where you can ask Him anything.  It relies wholly on us, 'cause he doesn't ever leave us.  What's really helped me is making that decision, and being firm in it.  To choose who you want to follow, choose who to trust, choose to have faith, choose to keep going, and that is when Heavenly Father follows through with His promises and your faith is strengthened and blessings and opportunities come."

Then she says that if we have a question, "Don't turn to the Internet, don't turn to other people.  It's important, and like if you want to know if God's there, ask Him, and if you have a question, ask Him."

There it is again.  Don't depend on other people, depend on God.  Don't wait for other people to tell you that you have value, go to God and ask Him.

More than two years ago I received an answer from God regarding my value as an individual.  I was watching this video:

"I Am a Son of God

When, in the video, Moses declared "I am a son of God", I said "Of course!"  The answer was so clear, and it was confirmed by the presence of the Holy Ghost.  One of the biggest lies put out there by Satan is that anyone -- you, me or anyone else -- is inferior to others.  We are all God's children and as such we all have value.  As the motivational speaker Hyrum Smith has argued, God told Moses three things that apply equally to us: He is God, we are His children, and He has work for us to do.  "Is there anything we can't do knowing that," asks Hyrum.

With this answer from God, I told the adversary to take a hike, to go sell that inferiority line to someone else because I was no longer buying it.  I felt stronger than I had in a long time, and this whole experience launched me forward.  But, as Elder Jeffrey R. Holland says in the video above, even after great revelatory moments like that experienced by Moses, and by myself to a much lesser extent, the danger has not passed.  The adversary will not rest, he will look for an area of weakness and try to exploit it.

Over the many months that followed my epiphany, the adversary found such a weakness in me.  I was, at the time, typing up old journals on my computer, which led me to give much thought to the past.  As a writer and a historian I want to get things right, and will do as much research as I need to do in order to get it right.  So I spent a lot of time thinking about the past and identified the doubts about myself that I used to carry around, but I did this so much that I started to entertain those doubts again.

I found myself wanting old friends to tell me that I was more than just the nice guy everybody said I was in high school.  I was looking in the wrong places for an answer I already had.  A few days ago I said in prayer that I was just stumbling around in the dark.  Then, on Monday and Tuesday, I found the first two videos I have shared in this post.  That's when it became clear that I had been looking in the wrong places and that I had already received an answer from the source of all truth.

I am a child of God
And He has sent me here.