We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet

This past Sunday, I attended a meeting for all the priestholders of our stake. I have attended meetings like these in the past and have found them to be sparsely attended, generally speaking. This Sunday, in contrast, there was a sizable turnout.

As I entered the Stake Center to find a seat, a saw familiar faces from my ward. I ended up sitting down next to the President of my Elder’s Quorum, Tommy Friel. As I seated myself, he leaned over and asked if I had heard the news.

“What news?” I asked.

“The Prophet passed away today.”

“Oh, no,” I said. I had not heard that news

Later in the meeting, one of the speakers related a similar response when he received the news from his wife. Her response was, “What do you mean, ‘Oh no!’ He has to be the happiest man on earth.”

I suppose he is.

But I will miss him. This man who I have never met, but I have come to know as a true prophet of the Lord. Gordon B. Hinckley.

I had hoped that at the priesthood meeting we would have sung “We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet.” We didn’t, but I sang the words of the song in my mind, in tribute to a man we have grown to respect, admire, and love.

Yes, we thank thee oh God for a Prophet.

Photo credit: laiglesiamormona.org

The Laimana Method: flip open and read

Wanting to feel more like a full-fledged member of the church, within my first year I made a decision to read the entire Book of Mormon all the way through. Ditto for the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price.

I can report I was able to read through all three.

I then reembarked on another go-thru of the Book of Mormon, but my daily reading fell off and I only got up to Alma 45-ish.

A few weeks ago, a longtime member of our ward, John Laimana (pictured with wife Jane at left), was called to be the new teacher for the Gospel Essentials class at church. John has been inspired to encourage us in the class to read the scriptures all the time. Not a new revelation by any means, but what he suggested has helped me be more consistent with my scripture reading.

What Brother Laimana suggested was to just open up the scriptures to any page and read what was there. I took up his suggestion and amazingly, I have come up with some pretty amazing insights. Brother Laimana calls these "Aha!" moments.

Just today, for example, I picked up a pocket version of the Doctrine and Covenents/Pearl of Great Price that my wife leaves in our car. While passing some time, I popped it open and read a passage that reminded me how important is to write my thoughts and feelings prompted by the spirit.

Eventually, I will set out to read the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelations. Until then, I'll keep up with the flip open and read method.

Photo credit: honoluluadvertiser.com

A man amongst boys...

As a convert, one of the mysteries of the Mormon church that I had to understand is the priesthood. Males in the church, starting at the age of 12, can be ordained to the priesthood. The lower or lesser priesthood is called Aaronic. Generally and usually, Aaronic priesthood holders in the LDS church are boys from 12 to 18 years old. Not long after I was baptized and confirmed a member of the church, I was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood. Bear in mind, I was 47 years old, which made me three to four times older not to mention a foot or more taller and a bunch of pounds heavier than all the other Aaronic priesthood holders in my ward.

One of the responsibilities of the Aaronic priesthood is to administer the bread and water for sacrament meetings on Sunday. Partaking of the bread and water (sacrament) is the main event of an LDS Sunday service, and the young men of our ward, as in most wards in the church, were given this responsibility or calling. Being in the Aaronic priesthood, I, far from young and of hulking presence, had to take my place among the young men as part of my priesthood duty.

One of the things I had to do was say the sacrament prayer. To do so, I had to kneel and pray aloud into a microphone built in to the stand where the bread and water were administered. For this particular ordinance, the priestholder saying the prayer has to recite the words exactly right. If a word is missed or repeated, the whole prayer has to be redone. The bishop of the ward, or whoever else is presiding, has the responsibility of listening carefully to the wording to make sure the prayer sayer gets the words right. And if the prayer is mispoken, the bishop will indicate with a hand gesture to the praysayer to redo it. Fortunately, the words of the prayer were made available in large-sized, easy-to-read words on a sheet of plastic-covered paper.

I can't tell you how relieved I was that first time I prayed the prayer to see the bishop give me a nod of approval that I had gotten the words right.

A couple Sundays later, I repeated an "it" in the prayer without even realizing that I did so. So when I looked at the bishop for the sign of approval that I had gotten the prayer right, instead of seeing his nodding head, I saw him shaking his head and twirling the index finger of his right hand in a circular manner, meaning, "Do the prayer all over again."

Of course, I was embarrassed at my miscue. After all, I am an English teacher, and I should have been able to read and recite the words of the prayer without error. But I suppose Heavenly Father was testing my pride.

Thankfully, I said the prayer the second time flawlessly. And no one started a petition to kick me out of the church.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 14

Called to Serve

Soon after we were baptized and confirmed, my wife and I received our first callings in the church. For those who are unfamiliar with the church, a calling is an assignment, a job, if you will. In our case, my wife and I were called to be teachers—my wife as a teacher in the Relief Society and me in the Elder’s Quorum.

The “call” was issued by the Bishop of our ward, Matthew Corry. Born and raised in Utah, Bishop Corry worked as an editor and technical writer for the Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate. He, his wife, and three daughters live in the same Keapuka (Kaneohe, Hawaii) subdivision where my wife, our children, and I live.

From what I have come to understand, the bishop prayerfully sought an inspiration from the Lord to determine where we and every other member of the ward was to serve—what our jobs would be, in other words. And after prayerfully seeking inspiration about my wife and I, me received a confirmation that we should be teachers.

Understand that as brand spanking new members of the church, we were intimidated by the notion of having to teach in a class filled with longtime, and in some cases lifelong members of the church. I liken it to a kindergartner being assigned to teach a graduate school class. Imagine that.

But Bishop Corry assured us of the inspiration he received, and that with the help of the Holy Ghost which we had received the gift of from confirmation, we would do fine. I did feel better after he said this, but when I walked into class on my first assigned Sunday to teach, I became in my mind that kindergartener facing a class of PHD hopefuls. And to think that I teach for living (English at Leeward Community College).

I will admit that my wife had an even bigger challenge, for she had to teach in the Relief Society, renowned throughout the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for elaborate and spirit-filled lessons by well-prepared and enthusiastic sisters of the church. But as Bishop Corry assured us, we did fine. And no one kicked us out for not being Scriptorial gurus. In fact, we received lots of encouragement and well wishes from the brothers and sisters of our ward. This, we found out, is the Mormon way that have come to know and embrace.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 13

You’re in the Army Now

A week after being baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, my wife and I were confirmed as members in a sacred ceremony that took place at the Waikalua chapel in Kaneohe, Hawaii where our ward met.

Confirmation, just like baptism, must be done by a worthy adult male who holds the higher priesthood, known as the Melchizedek priesthood (the lesser priesthood is called the Aaronic priesthood). Confirmation involves the laying on of hands. To illustrate, what happened in my case was that a selection of priesthood holders, about a half dozen or so, formed a circle around me as I was seated in a chair and laid their hands on the top of my head in a sacred priesthood ordinance. Each one contributed to a united gathering of inspiration and spirit. One of the “brethren” was to be the speaker. For my confirmation, it would be my high school buddy Ted, who I had invited to do the honors. Ted, along with his wife and children, had flown in from the Big Island and were in our ward that day in support of my wife and me.

My wife was also confirmed in a similar manner. During the confirmation, we received the gift of the Holy Ghost, who, we were told, would always attend to us and guide us and lead us as long as we kept the commandments of God. In addition to the gift of the Holy Ghost, we also received other blessings as confirmed by the spirit given to the priestholder giving the blessing.

I will admit that all this laying on of hands was strange and different to me, but I will also admit that I felt a comforting warmth and calmness inside. This, I have learned, is the spirit.

After the confirmation, I was asked to stand before the gathered congregation of the Kaneohe 1st Ward. At that point, the Bishop of the ward, Matthew Corry, addressed the congregation and asked them to sustain me as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by raising their right hands. As far as I could tell, all people in attendance, both young and old, raised their hands. Then he gave them the opportunity to raise their hands if they were opposed to me being a member of the church. To my relief, none did, so the “vote” was unanimous for the affirmative. My wife also received a unanimous confirmation.

Since that day, I have been in attendance for confirmations of other new members of the church. In some cases, these confirmations are held right after the baptism. In the case of my wife and me, we were confirmed a week later during a sacrament meeting.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 12

Into the Water

In my mind, I pictured the baptism day for my wife and me as a quiet, little ceremony. Unbeknownst to me, a baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is quite an event, at least it was for ours in our ward, the Kaneohe First Ward of the Kaneohe, Hawaii Stake.

Prior to being baptized, my wife and I were interviewed by the Honolulu, Hawaii Mission President, Ronald Hawkins. A couple weeks prior, my wife and I had attended a “cottage meeting” at the home of President Hawkins with other people who were checking out the church (“investigators,” is what we are called). And it was at this meeting that we decided that we were ready to be baptized.

Actually, it was President Hawkins who decided, based on the interview we had with him. We met him at the Kaneohe Stake Center one evening about a week before our baptism date. We were asked if we believed the church was true, if I were living by the ten commandments, and if we were living by what the church called “the word of wisdom” which meant we were not drinking alcohol, smoking, and taking illegal drugs. We were also asked if there were things in our past that we wanted to confess.

I did have some things to confess. For one, I had not always behaved in a gentlemanly manner with my wife, and when I told President Hawkins about these times he asked if I had changed my ways and if I had made improvements in my behavior. I told him I had.

President Hawkins, a kind and soft-spoken man, told me that members of the church are not perfect, but they should always be striving to improve themselves. I told him I was willing to do that.

Our baptism was held in the afternoon on January 29, 2006 at the Kaneohe, Hawaii Stake Center. To my surprise, fifty or sixty people attended, many more than I could have imagined. Although there was just one member from our family there (Dustin, our son), we came to find out that we had gained many new family members, namely the good people of our ward and of our church. My high school buddies, Clint and Ted, along with their wives and children, also were there for the big day for my wife and me.

Baptism has to be done by a worthy priestholder of the church, and my wife and I chose Elder Michael Webber, 20, to baptize us. He, along with Elder Samuel Manasco, had been the ones who visited us often to teach us about the gospel of Jesus Christ, so it seem fitting that one of them be the one.

While the baptism was the “main event” of the ceremony, there were other things on the program, including an opening and closing prayer and talks about baptism (given by my friend Ted) and the gift of the Holy Ghost (given by Brother Moses Bergao, a beloved member of the Kaneohe 1st ward. We also sang hymns, and I chose “Love at Home,” one of my favorites till this day.

I will confess that I cried on this day as did my wife. We felt the gift of the spirit that baptism brought us. We also felt the happiness we sought. Yes, we were on our way.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 11

On the Verge

While it was true that the first time in an LDS church made an impression on me, I was not absolutely sure I was ready to take the plunge, as it were.

What followed thereafter was an invitation by the missionaries to take a trip to visitor’s center at the Church’s Laie Temple. That visit was very touching, and in a similar way to what happened at the first sacrament I had attended the week before, I found myself moved to point of tears at several junctures while at the visitor’s center. During that visit, we watched the movie “Testaments,” which was about the visit of the resurrected Christ’s to the Americas. Christ in the Americas? While this was news to me, I did not dismiss the possibility.

Soon after the trip to the Laie visitor’s center, my wife and I were invited to what is called a “cottage meeting.” The meeting, held for investigators of the church, would be at the mission president’s home in the ritzy neighborhood of Kahala. I imagined that the mission president was some rich local white guy, or a haole, as white people are referred to in Hawaii, probably an attorney or a doctor or a rich businessman.

As it turned out, the mission president, in this case, was Ronald K. Hawkins from Orem, Utah, who was “called” to his position as mission president for a three-year period. When called like this, the individual leaves his job and home and family behind. He does bring his spouse, in the case of President Hawkins, his wife Anne, a wonderful woman who my wife took an instant liking to.

At the cottage meeting were probably a dozen and half investigators along with the missionaries who were teaching them. Accompanying my and me were our two missionaries, Elder Samuel Manasco from Delaware and Elder Michael Webber from Wisconsin, two young men we would come to know well abd have a lot of affection for.

The meeting included an opening hymn, which we all sang. A lover of music, especially spiritual songs sung by groups or choirs, I was feeling the spirit as we sang. President Hawkins, a kind, friendly, gentle man, gave a welcoming talk, and then we spent the rest of the evening just mingling and enjoying some ice cream and snacks.

During the meeting, President Hawkins came up to me wife and me and matter-of-factly asked, “So when are you going to be baptized?”

Looking at each other with happy grins on our faces, my wife and I answered, “No one has asked us yet.”

Hearing that, President Hawkins summoned Manasco and Webber and said to them, “The Turners need a baptism date. Can you accommodate them?”

And a date was set two week hence. Yes, the Turners were on their way to becoming members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.