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)
Cecily M. led our discussion on living a Christ-Centered life using Chapter 24 in the Ezra Taft Benson manual. We began by making a list of goals for next year, including ways to become more focused on the Savior.
What is your favorite trait of the Savior?
Some may say, “But I have so far to go to become like those you describe.” The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ
is that the desires of our hearts can be transformed and our motives
can be educated and refined. When we are baptized into the true fold of
God, we begin the process of becoming new creatures (see 2 Corinthians 5:17; Mosiah 27:26). Each time we renew the covenant of baptism by partaking of the sacrament, we are one step closer to that ultimate goal.5 As we endure in that covenant, we access the strength to mourn with those who mourn and to comfort those who need comfort (see Mosiah 18:9).
In that covenant, we find the grace that enables us to serve God and
keep His commandments, including loving God with all our hearts and
loving our neighbors as ourselves.6 In that covenant, God and Christ succor us so we can succor those who stand in need of our succor (see Mosiah 4:16; see also verses 11–15) (Elder Michael T. Ringwood, Truly Good and without Guile, April 2015 General Conference)
What is something concrete that you do to become closer to Christ?
As
President Benson exhorted the Saints to follow the Savior’s perfect
example, he reminded them that they could do so only with the Savior’s
help. He declared:
“I
know the Lord lives. I know that He loves us. I know that apart from
Him no one can succeed, but as a partner with Him no one can fail.
“I know that God can make a lot more out of our lives than we can.
“May
we all have the moral courage from this moment forward to more fully
strive each day to think on Christ, learn of Him, walk in His steps, and
do what He would have us do.” (A Christ-Centered Life)
In our joint meeting, Brother S. opened a time of reading the Book of Mormon and a short sharing time with his testimony and the following quote:
"Both the Bible and the Book of Mormon give us the beautiful assurance
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. I hold in my hand a copy of
the first edition of the Book of Mormon in French, published by John
Taylor as he began the work in France in 1852. Some or all of the Book
of Mormon is now in 110 languages across the world. It provides a
spiritual and tangible witness of the truthfulness of the Restoration.
When was the last time that you read the Book of Mormon from cover to
cover? Read it again. It will increase your faith." Faith Is Not by Chance, but by Choice by Neil L. Anderson, October 2015 General Conference.
Enjoy your feast as we endeavor to finish reading the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.
