We had occasion this past Friday to travel to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to participate in the celebration of Elberta Baker's 95th birthday. This remarkable family matriarch who enjoys using her own iPad is Sister Lindsay's maternal aunt.
In order to reach Lancaster, which is located in the south central part of the state, we traveled through the city of York, where I was born and then made a short side trip to the nearby little town of Mt. Wolf where I spent the first four years of my life before our family moved to Hagerstown, Maryland in 1947 due to my father's work. My paternal grandparents continued to live in this community until they passed away in the 1950s, and I have many happy memories of my visits to see them when I was a boy.
Mt. Wolf today is but a shadow of its once promising past. There were once half a dozen small factories employing many local workers within the town limits; there's but one that remains in operation now. The local merchants, including the store operated by my grandparents, are likewise no longer in business. Not all change can be called progress. Almost 60 years after my grandparents time, there is almost no one around Mt. Wolf who remembers the town and its inhabitants as it was back then. Sadly, as I have spoken with some individuals who live there now, they are not only ignorant of the past but indifferent to it as well.
In our missionary efforts to bring souls to Christ, we are learning that many people have similar feelings about their relationship with God and the atoning sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son who is our Savior and Redeemer. Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has clearly stated that the great sin of this generation is not that men and women are rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ but that they are indifferent to it.
The signs of the times are evident only to those who believe in Christ. We are living in the final days prior to the Second Coming of the Lord whether people choose to be indifferent about it or not. God will not force any person to heaven, but in this world of turmoil and uncertainty there is an unmistakeable peace among the believers that only the Gospel can bring into your life. If you have faith, you shall not fear . . .
Sweet is the peace the gospel brings to seeking minds and true.
With light refulgent on its wings it clears the human view.
Its laws and precepts are divine and show a Father's care.
Transcendent love and mercy shine in each injunction there.
Faithless tradition flees its pow'r, and unbelief gives way.
The gloomy clouds, which used to low'r, submit to reason's sway.
Mary Ann Morton
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