Flirting with Flint

The Durant Hotel in Flint, MI

August 7th: We arrived in Michigan 4 weeks ago and have been staying in the historic Durant Hotel in downtown Flint while searching for a place in Pontiac where we can live and fellowship members of the church. Seventy years ago Flint and Pontiac were beautiful, prosperous cities, but they have fallen on hard times with many economic, social, and safety concerns. Currently, Pontiac members are divided among a number of wards and branches with meeting houses that are many miles away. We are assigned to gather and socialize with Pontiac members in an effort to strengthen and grow the church there. 

We travel to Pontiac (40 miles away) three or four times a week to attend church and missionary meetings, visit with members, and assist with the search for a residence. We have also gotten involved in service with the Oakland Historic Association and will begin researching their records for information about the growth of the church in Pontiac in the 1830s. Joseph Smith and all three of the original witnesses of the gold plates, came to Pontiac in 1834, which resulted in a number of converts.

The following photos will provide some idea of the beauty of downtown Flint which belies the poverty and dilapidated buildings in the surrounding neighborhoods:

That's the moon reflecting in the window and not a fire.

Women in the rehab center next door enjoying a smoke while on break.

This past week we spent time at the Flint Ward Young Women camp where we taught compass orienteering skills and provided encouragement while they attempted the challenging Frankenmuth Aerial Park sky walk as shown in the following photo:

Teaching orienteering skills with a compass reminded me of an experience 20 years ago when my daughter was serving a mission in Romania and we did not have immediate texting or email communication with her. I remember getting a letter that she had written 3 weeks earlier describing the perplexing problems and conditions which were confronting her. I realized that if I were to immediately reply with advice and encouragement it would be another 3 weeks before she got it; and I hoped that somehow we had prepared her to be able to orient herself through the complexity, confusion, and problems of life.

Isn’t that what the gospel is about – providing us with a knowledge of true north (eternal principles) and how to find the direction we need to safely navigate this life and to find eternal bliss as stated in Alma 37:44-45: “For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.

And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise.”

What a blessing to have a compass (the gospel and words of Jesus Christ) so we can orient ourselves and know the direction we should go to for Eternal Bliss!