Having No Regrets

We will never regret being kind and caring.

                                                       Have you ever had a time when you were flooded with enlightenment and positivity? I was astonished with the understanding that seemed to flow into my mind while participating in a missionary zone conference. My mind was filled with bursts of light and rays of revelation affirming that kindness and goodness are positive forces we create and impart to bless others and ourselves eternally.                                                                                                    

I am convinced that on Judgment Day, we will experience profound joy and delight for every kind and positive interaction we initiate, and conversely intense torment and shame for when we are angry, mean, or hurtful.

So much of the world is consumed with contention, pride, vengeance, and superiority which is the opposite of the Savior's teaching "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." Luke 6:31

The natural man is so self-centered and lacking in humility. Thinking we know better, we proudly emit negative energy - looking down to criticize and slam others. Sadly politicians are adept at this, highlighting Christ's perspective in Matthew 16:26 "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"  It's just not worth being unkind and arrogant - even if we can rule the world. And on the other hand, we will never regret being kind and caring to others - which ultimately adds to their happiness and well-being, as well as our own.

This is especially true with family members. Parents need to build and uplift rather than scold, belittle, and severely punish their children - realizing whatever they give out will return amplified upon themselves in eternity. Children who honor and obey their parents will have joy and avoid the incredible pain that those who berate their fathers and mothers will suffer and feel. And siblings will ultimately receive an increased measure of their treatment to their brothers and sisters.

It is the same with our friends and associates. The idea that we can be cruel, vindictive, and mean without any regard for the eternal law of the harvest - like it won't come back magnified on us is absolutely foolish and stupid. Ultimately, what we sow is what we will reap. We will be grateful and have no regrets for being humble, kind and caring.

Pondering Poverty in Pontiac

Picture of Elizabeth Denison, an unmarried, free black woman who purchased property in Pontiac in 1825

Pontiac history details a painful economic transition from prosperity to poverty. As senior missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are familiar with 1^st- the remarkable early history of the church in Pontiac, and 2^nd- how current overwhelming needs impact the current strength and growth of the church here. Many residents are weighed down and grapple with generational challenges and situations over which they have little control and lack resources that too many of us just take for granted - such as:

1. Reliable transportation. Imagine trying to get to and from work, church, school, medical appointments, shopping, etc. when your options are walking, limited bus service, paying Uber, or asking friends. We don't consider having a car a big deal, but it really is.
2. Post high school education/technical training. With immediate economic needs and no tradition or support for additional schooling it is the rare exception that students are aware of, or pursue, additional training that give them skills, confidence, and opportunities to increase income and career success.
3. Healthy lifestyle and medical resources. Physical and emotional wellbeing is severely impacted by the overwhelming and ongoing stress of poverty. Everyone is subject to health problems, but they seem more limiting for the impoverished with limited access to good medical treatment. One sister was amazed at the difference and respect provided during her doctor appointment when a well educated, affluent member accompanied her.
4. Stable male support. It is difficult when there is a father and mother striving to provide for the well-being of a family, but it is crippling and severely compromised without stable male support. I marvel at the strength of women who must shoulder all the overwhelming family responsibilities, and often when they are the grandmother.
5. Living in a crime free environment. We supposedly live in safe area of Pontiac, but often walk by the memorial to a 16-year-old girl who was killed in a gangland crossfire shooting and we mourn with the grandmother recently baptized who lost her 7-year-old granddaughter in a similar situation across town in 2022. About 5% of our member households have someone who is currently incarcerated. The Pontiac daily crime rate is 2.77 (almost 3 times) higher than the national average, which makes us grateful to live on the same block as the county sheriff. Oh, and the Pontiac Police Department was disbanded in 2011 due to a lack of finances. I guess that is something most of us just take for granted but can be severely impacted by poverty.

In the opening section of the Doctrine & Covenants the Lord explains, "That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers." I am a taken aback by this declaration and can confirm the accuracy that Sister Goates & I are very weak and simple when confronted with such significant challenges. We wonder why the Lord did not send a Moses to turn the tide of poverty in Pontiac. We do not anticipate ministering to kings or rulers, and hope we don't have to make a report to our neighbor - the sheriff.

Trusting the Lord and hoping to to share the love of God with our Pontiac friends and members, we are doing what weak and simple people do as inspired, such as:

1. Holding Soup & Scriptures every Wednesday evening at 6:30 in the hopes of providing some physical and spiritual nourishment.
2. Teaching an English class for migrant Spanish speakers who make up approximately 25% of Pontiac. We do not doubt that some are descendants of Lehi who the Lord promised to gather in the last days.
3. Broadcast a weekly Sunday sacrament meeting in our home where we pass the sacrament. We feel the deeply personal interactions and fellowshipping are heartwarming and reassuring of God's love to all who attend.
4. Offering a 6-week post-high school technical/educational opportunities class for Spanish speaking families. 
5. Tutoring a 14 & 16 year old brother and sister to help them succeed and pursue additional educational opportunities.
6. Sending out a monthly letter like the one attached to encourage our members and friends to recognize and incorporate the principles and blessing of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
7. Visiting and fellowshipping with our members and friend as inspired.

We are often overwhelmed - like the Sunday (actually it was Christmas Day) we were called to break up a heated argument in a homeless shelter, but take heart when friends and members show up for the English class, Soup & Scriptures, or to attend sacrament meeting.

We are open to other suggestions and ideas that simple and weak people like us can use in the Lord's effort. We can only wonder at what the Millennium will be like when we have all things in common and there will be no poor among us - including Pontiac!

January 2024 Pontiac Member Newsletter

             Come, Follow Me 2024 – The Book of Mormon

The claims of the Book of Mormon are astonishing – that it is another witness of Jesus Christ and history of God’s dealing with the ancient inhabitants of America, including the resurrected Savior ministering to the people here. It comes with the promise that those who receive it and sincerely ask God will know if it is true by the power of the Holy Ghost.

It is either true or false, and you can know by reading it and asking God if it is true. Who does not want to know that?

If one receives a spiritual witness that it is true – it means:

·       God loves us, has a plan of happiness for us, and we are His children.

·       Jesus really is the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, who died for us.

·       He overcame death and we will all be resurrected and judged by Him.

·       God actually talks to prophets and has restored His church.

·       Our happiness now and in eternity is determined by how we obey Jesus Christ and serve our fellowman.

Please read, study, and pray about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon this year. Its message and concepts are all about God’s love for us.

Anyone who claims Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon gives him too much credit! He did not know about the ancient Hebrew form of writing called chiasmus that is found throughout the book – an example is Alma 36 is on the back of this letter. The mathematical probability of chiasmus just happening 17 lines deep and then reversing itself after centering on Jesus Christ is absolutely impossible! Read the Book of Mormon and pray about it so you can know for yourself.

January 2024 Calendar - The Lake Orion and Rochester Wards (which both meet in the 1610 Brewster Rd chapel in Rochester Hills) will switch their Sunday meetings times beginning January 7, 2024. The Lake Orion Ward will start their sacrament meeting at 9 am, and the Rochester Ward will hold their sacrament meeting at noon.

Also at the Rochester Hills building - Rochester Ward Relief Society Activity – Cookies, Cocoa, & Conversation: Stop by the Relief Society room anytime between 6-8 pm on January 11^th.

Early Valentine social 7 pm Friday, January 26, 2024 at 100 Chippewa Rd for a fun evening of fellowship and games. Bring a favorite snack and game. We’ll have a good time.

Weekly at 100 Chippewa Road in Pontiac:

• Soup & Scriptures – Wednesdays at 6:30 pm - join us for soup and an opportunity to participate in scripture study led by the missionaries. Come be fed both physically and spiritually.
• Sacrament Meeting - Sunday at noon - watch a broadcast of the Lake Orion Ward sacrament meeting and partake of the sacrament.
• English Class – Saturday at 5:30 pm – tell your friends who don’t speak English about this class.

Edward Stevenson - Pontiac Church Heritage Project Links

1. Biographical Timeline from Church History Biographical Database.
2. Biography from Latter-Day Saints biographical encyclopedia. 
3. Brief Wikipedia overview of early life, LDS church service, and writings.
4. More complete MormonWiki overview of Edward Stevenson.
5. Walker Family Children's Collection of Family Stories - Edward Stevenson
6. Edward Stevenson's account of the First Vision.
7. Reminiscences of Joseph the Prophet And the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon by Edward Stevenson.
8. Deseret News December 18, 1881 article by Edward Stevenson about Martin Harris.
9. Edward Stevenson's fascinating account related to Martin Harris coming to Utah - from Chapter 2 of Bountiful Harvest: Essays in Honor of S. Kent Brown - skip to page 66 (which shows as 54 at the top of the page).
10. Edward Stevenson and the Gibraltar Mission.
11. Another version of Edward Stevenson and the Gibraltar Mission.
12. Mormon Visitation of 1832 from History of Oakland County Michigan - starting on page 67 of Volume 1 from the Section entitled Fifty Years Ago and Now written by S. B. McCracken for the Oakland County Pioneer Society 1887.
13. Edward Stevenson Autobiography - telling about his life in Missouri, Nauvoo area, and crossing the plains to Utah.

14. Project Gutenberg's Reminiscences of Joseph the Prophet, by Edward Stevenson

Lucy, Joseph, and the Three Witnesses in Pontiac

100 Chippewa Rd in Pontiac, MI

On Sunday evening September 24th, 25 members of the Church gathered at 100 Chippewa Rd for a fireside presentation by Brother Richard Stamps who recounted the visits of Joseph Smith, his mother Lucy Mack Smith, and the 3 Witnesses to the Book of Mormon to Pontiac. What is surprising is the effect of these visits, resulting in the creation of 12 branches of the church in Oakland County  by 1845 (Pontiac is the county seat) as described in a Wikipedia article about the Church in Michigan. 

Two fascinating stories are about Lucy Mack Smith's retort to a local minister who belittled the prophetic mission of her son and an account of Joseph preaching in Pontiac. The Church News published the following about Lucy Mack Smith: "In early summer 1831, Lucy Mack Smith, mother of the Prophet, ventured from Kirtland, Ohio, to Detroit, Mich., to visit the family of her brother. Accompanied by son Hyrum and several other missionaries, Lucy demonstrated her own missionary zeal when a Pontiac, Mich., pastor, a Mr. Ruggles, challenged Joseph Smith's translation of the Book of Mormon and Sister Smith's testimony that the book contained the fullness of the gospel.

Unflustered by the negative portrayal of her son and the Church, Sister Smith said that within three years a third of Mr. Ruggles' congregation would be "lost to the Mormons." When Mormon missionaries Jared Carter and Moses Daley came to preach in Michigan in 1832-33, Lucy Mack Smith's words were fulfilled. More than 70 members of Mr. Ruggles' congregation entered the waters of baptism."

Edward Stevenson recounted, "[A]fter the organization of the Pontiac [Michigan] Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of L. D. Saints, in 1834, we had the pleasure of having a visit from the Prophet Joseph Smith: a plain but noble looking man, of large frame and about 6 feet high. With him was his Father, Joseph Smith, and Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris, whose sister Sophia Kellog lived in our settlement.

A great stir was made in this settlement at so distinguised visitors the meetings held were crowded to see and hear the testamonies given which were powerful I will here relate my own experience on the ocaision of a meeting in our old log school House The Prophet stood at a table for the pulpit whare he began relateing his vision and before he got through he was in the midst of the congregation with uplifted hand. I do believe that there was not one person presant who did at the time being or who was not convicted of the truth of his vision, of an Angle to him his countanance seemed to me to assume a heavenly whiteness and his voice was so peirseing and forcible for my part it so impressed me as to become indellibly imprinted in my mind….

The visit of this man of God to our house … left a lasting remembrance with us and will stand as a witness against those who were so favoured above many.

In that same year, 1834, in the midst of many large congregations, the Prophet testified with great power concerning the visit of the Father and the Son, and the conersation he had with them. Never before did I feel such power as was manifested on these occasions."

Footnotes:

Church News Article about Lucy Mack Smith: https://www.thechurchnews.com/2005/8/6/23236200/visit-to-pontiac

Edward Stevenson's account: https://www.ldsscriptureteachings.org/2017/01/edward-stevenson-account-of-the-first-vision-1890s/

A Heartwarming Gathering

 It was wonderful to visit and be with approximately 60 members and friends of the church during a “Getting Acquainted” potluck barbeque on Saturday evening. The pictures below capture some of those who were present as we enjoyed good food and company and celebrated President Nelson’s 99^th birthday.  The highlight of the evening was Stake President Marcelino Sanchez’s dedication of the 100 Chippewa Road residence as a gathering place for the saints in Pontiac.

This is the beginning of social and fellowshipping activities designed to strengthen members and friends of the church in Pontiac and help them to feel the love of God as we look back to the amazing church history which occurred here and forward to a resurgence of growth and solidarity in the area.

Completely Floored and Dusting Up in Pontiac

 A gathering place in the Seminole Hills Historic District   

 By inspiration Sister Goates and I have been called to serve and fellowship both members and friends of  the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Pontiac Michigan. Members in Pontiac drive several miles to attend church in surrounding communities. We are helping to restore an older home purchased by the Schoolhouse Foundation where we will live and help gather saints locally to socialize, and both celebrate and take inspiration from the remarkable church history here and promote and plan for the growth of the church.

The first order of business is refinishing all the wood floors on both levels - which really is a completely daunting and dirty task (we are vacuuming up bag after bag of sawdust) as purported in the title above. Our initial efforts have been magnified thanks to:

• A number of members who provided hand and belt sanders, sand paper, vacuums, fans, goggles, masks and other required equipment.
• Six dedicated, hard working young missionary elders of the church.
• My former ministering brother who took on sanding the stairway.
• A neighboring member with a passion for gardening, knowledge of the community, and a recommendation of a good hair dresser. 
• An inspired ward mission leader who volunteered and helped me realize that without doubling our hundreds-of-hours labor to completely remove the old stain, the finished product would look shoddy.
• A member of our mission presidency who without fanfare took on and independently resolved a number of plumbing problems, such as completely reseating, resealing, and caulking a bathroom toilet.
• An Elders Quorum president who just happened to bring by dinner to feed us, the missionaries, and others who were helping. It was like manna miraculously being provided.
• Ten members of the Rochester Ward along with their Bishop and a number of youth who worked hard to sand the floors and clean up the yard.
• About 20 trips to the basement to reset the circuit breakers when the 2 large floor sanders and 10 hand and belt sanders working simultaneously would repeatedly overload the electric power. 

I knew this was going to be a big project and I worried, but it turned out to be even bigger than I imagined. Faith doesn't make things easy, but it does make things possible, particularly with the aid of angels. So with faith and the miraculous dedication of numerous earthly angels this project is well under way and will be completed.