The Life and Ministry of Howard W. Hunter - January 3, 2016

Sue A. led a wonderful gospel discussion as we walked through the history of President Hunter's life events.

 At the time of Howard’s birth, the Church had only one small branch in Boise. Howard’s mother was an active member of the branch who raised her children in the gospel. Of her, Howard said, “She was always faithful. … She served as president of the Primary and [Young Women]. I can remember going to church with mother, sometimes before the scheduled hour for the meetings, and then staying after so she could complete her work.” Although Howard’s father was not a member of the Church, he did not object to the family’s participation and occasionally attended sacrament meeting with them.
In addition to leading her children in Church activity, Nellie Hunter helped them build a strong religious foundation at home. “It was mother who took the lead in teaching us the gospel,” Howard recalled. “It was at her knee that we learned to pray. … I received a testimony as a boy at my mother’s knee." (The Life and Ministry of Howard W. Hunter)

• How do you approach your relationships with family members that are not very active in the Church?

“We drove to Palos Verdes and parked on the cliffs where we could watch the waves roll in from the Pacific and break over the rocks in the light of a full moon. We talked about our plans and I put a diamond ring on her finger. We made many decisions that night and some strong resolutions regarding our lives.”
Those resolutions influenced Howard to make a life-changing decision four days before the wedding. After his band performed that night, he packed up his instruments and never played again professionally. Providing music for dances and parties “was glamorous in some respects,” he said, “and I made good money,” but he felt that parts of the lifestyle were incompatible with the life he envisioned for his family. “This left a void of something I had enjoyed, [but] the decision has never been regretted,” he said years later. His son Richard observed, “I have often thought of the remarkable discipline (I call it grit) it must have taken to give up something he deeply loved because he valued something more.” (The Life and Ministry of Howard W. Hunter)

• Do you know someone who sacrificed something important to them to gain something better?

“While I was speaking to the congregation, … my father and mother came into the chapel dressed in white. I had no idea my father was prepared for his temple blessings, although Mother had been anxious about it for some time. I was so overcome with emotion that I was unable to continue to speak. President Pierce [the temple president] came to my side and explained the reason for the interruption. When my father and mother came to the temple that morning they asked the president not to mention to me that they were there because they wanted it to be a birthday surprise. This was a birthday I have never forgotten because on that day they were endowed and I had the privilege of witnessing their sealing, following which I was sealed to them.” (The Life and Ministry of Howard W. Hunter)

• Do you remember a time when you saw someone unexpectedly in the temple?

“I also invite the members of the Church to establish the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of their membership and the supernal setting for their most sacred covenants. It would be the deepest desire of my heart to have every member of the Church be temple worthy. I would hope that every adult member would be worthy of--and carry--a current temple recommend, even if proximity to a temple does not allow immediate or frequent use of it.
“Let us be a temple-attending and a temple-loving people. Let us hasten to the temple as frequently as time and means and personal circumstances allow. Let us go not only for our kindred dead, but let us also go for the personal blessing of temple worship, for the sanctity and safety which is provided within those hallowed and consecrated walls. The temple is a place of beauty, it is a place of revelation, it is a place of peace. It is the house of the Lord. It is holy unto the Lord. It should be holy unto us.”(The Life and Ministry of Howard W. Hunter)

• What does the temple mean to you?  What can you do to "hasten to" it and make it a sanctuary for you?

“First of all, I would invite all members of the Church to live with ever more attention to the life and example of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially the love and hope and compassion He displayed. I pray that we might treat each other with more kindness, more courtesy, more humility and patience and forgiveness.” (The Life and Ministry of Howard W. Hunter)