PEACE IS NOT BLIND

As Sister Lindsay and I work with people from many different ethnic backgrounds who are struggling with difficult economic situations and various family challenges here in Baltimore, it is far too common that we find individuals who have experienced very little peace in their lives. The urban environment itself, together with continuing hard times for those seeking a better way to provide for themselves and their families, has a way of keeping people's emotions very close to the surface.

Tempers frequently flare and individuals easily become angry with each other resulting in aggressive behavior that often leads to verbal threats, physical violence, police arrests, and lawsuits.

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. (Mahatma Gandhi) 

 We plead for peace in our prayers and thoughts

Marvin J. Ashton, a former member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, once shared this true story as he endeavored to direct the thinking of a group of Church members toward the important word peace. A beautiful little blind girl was sitting on the lap of her father in a crowded compartment in a train. A friend seated nearby said to the father, “Let me give you a little rest,” and he reached over and took the little girl on his lap.

A few moments later the father said to her, “Do you know who is holding you?”

“No,” she replied, “but you do.”

Some might be inclined to say, “What a perfect trust this child had in her father.” Others may say, “What a wonderful example of love.” And still others might say, “What an example of faith.” To me it indicates a beautiful blending of all of these principles, which brought a priceless inner peace to the child. She knew she was safe because she knew her father knew who was holding her. Affection, respect, and care over the years had placed in this little girl’s heart a peace that surpasseth all understanding. She was at peace because she knew and trusted her father. 

Oh, May My Soul Commune With Thee

Lorin F. Wheelwright

Oh, may my soul commune with thee

And find thy holy peace;

From wordly care and pain of fear,

Please bring me sweet release.

Oh, bless me when I worship thee,

To keep my heart in tune,

That I may hear thy still, small voice,

And, Lord, with thee commune.

Enfold me in thy quiet hour

And gently guide my mind

To seek thy will, to know thy ways,

And thy sweet Spirit find.

Lord, grant me thy abiding love

And make my turmoil cease.

Oh, may my soul commune with thee

And find thy holy peace.

We often plead for peace in our prayers and thoughts as do many others all over the earth. But just where exactly can we find this peace that we long for as we witness wars, evil, greed, selfishness, and contention all over the world? Just as the little girl could sit peacefully on the stranger’s lap because her father knew him, so we can find peace if we know our Father in Heaven and learn to live by his principles. Through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ we can know the Father; and we can experience true peace.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)

LIVING LIFE IN A DENTED, OLD, RUSTY BUCKET

We need to bloom where we are planted

As many of you know, I love photography; and my camera is almost always nearby and ready to use. Even though we are all God's children, in many respects we may appear to be very different from each other. When I take a picture, it is nothing more than a snapshot of an individual at a specific point in time. If an individual's entire life from the moment of birth to the time of our death was represented by an extensive collection of successive snapshots, we would probably view it as a motion picture. And probably, each of us would want to remove many of those individual images, because we wouldn't like what we see!

How many times have we viewed a picture and thought how silly a person might look because of their appearance? We observe the old-fashioned hair styles, out of date clothing fashions, or perhaps the strange eyeglasses and wonder why anyone would dare go out of their house looking like that? Do we feel uncomfortable around people who don't look like us. Perhaps the individual has made poor decisions involving over-eating, alcohol, tobacco, or other problems that have resulted in the abuse of their body? It might be that the person is old or it could be that some illness or accident has left them less than attractive in our eyes. How do we really feel when another person appears to be different from our expectation of normal?

Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church, once told the story about a member of a women’s organization who complained when a certain woman was selected to represent the organization. She had never met the woman, but she had seen a photograph of her and didn’t like what she saw, considering her to be overweight. She commented, “Of the thousands of women in this organization, surely a better representative could have been chosen.”

True, the woman who was chosen was not “model slim.” But those who knew her and knew her qualities saw in her far more than was reflected in the photograph. The photograph did show that she had a friendly smile and a look of confidence. What the photograph didn’t show was that she was a loyal and compassionate friend, a woman of intelligence who loved the Lord and who loved and served His children. It didn’t show that she volunteered in the community and was a considerate and concerned neighbor. In short, the photograph did not reflect who she really was.

President Monson then asked, "If attitudes, deeds, and spiritual inclinations were reflected in physical features, would the countenance of the woman who complained be as lovely as that of the woman she criticized? Appearances can be so deceiving, such a poor measure of a person."

Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. (John 7:24)

A woman was visiting with a friend who had a greenhouse. As she looked at her friend’s flowers, she noticed a beautiful golden chrysanthemum but was puzzled that it was growing in a dented, old, rusty bucket. Her friend explained, “I ran short of pots, and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn’t mind starting in this old pail. It’s just for a little while, until I can put it out in the garden.”

The woman smiled as she imagined just such a scene in heaven. “Here’s an especially beautiful one,” God might have said when He came to the soul of a physically unattactive person who lived out his life in a less than perfect body. “He won’t mind starting in this small, misshapen body.” But that was long ago, and in God’s garden how tall this lovely soul must stand!

EVER HAD ROAST TURKEY ON THE 4TH OF JULY?

What do you do when you end up with a lemon?

I believe that it was the famous writer and lecturer Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) who first suggested that when fate hands us a lemon, let's try to make a lemonade. Well, we certainly had a lemonade moment this past weekend when a massive storm wreacked havoc across the countryside from West Virginia to New Jersey with high winds and heavy rain that left millions of people to deal with downed trees and damaged property. The Baltimore and Washington, DC/northern Virginia areas were particularly hard hit; and even now, thousands of households remain without electricity.

One of the senior missionary couples who lost power for more than four days ended up with a somewhat urgent need to do something about food that thawed in their freezer. Of particular concern was the question of what to do with a large turkey and some chicken, which could not be refrozen. The choices were to either throw the poultry into the trash or host a dinner party for some of their closest friends.

Sister & Elder Lindsay at the 4th of July turkey feast

Have you ever had roast turkey and grilled chicken together on the 4th of July? Well, that's exactly what five of the senior couples in The Maryland Baltimore Mission did yesterday. It's not all about waving the flag and watching fireworks in a lawn chair, you know! Never mind that the temperature outside was a sizzling 100 degrees . . . we had a grand old time visiting with each other while enjoying our unusual feast. After adding in some summer squash, cucumbers, and a juicy watermelon, we just might be creating a new holiday tradition.

PRESIDENT & SISTER RICHARDS HAVE ARRIVED

Elder & Sister Lindsay with President and Sister Richards

We had our first meeting with President Mark Richards and his wife, Karlan, at the Baltimore Zone Conference today. They are warm, outgoing people and easy to like. President Richards told the assembled missionaries, "We're not expecting to replace the Bellistons. That's not possible, We know that you will really miss them. They have done a wonderful job."

President Richards then announced, "You are receiving a mission president downgrade . . . you are getting a family!" The Richards, who have six children, have brought their youngest son, McKay (age 16), and daughter, Josie (age 13) with them on their mission. He suggested to the young elders and sisters in our meeting that there will be times when they might see him dressed informally and doing things as a husband and father, but he will always be wearing his name tag. This personal declaration of his joint responsibilities as a mission president as well as a father will undoubtedly be well received by the missionaries who look to him for leadership and as an example.

"We had no idea when the storm came on Friday night," he continued, "that it would be so severe. Ironically, the last question Sister Richards asked before the Bellistons drove away from the mission home was 'when do we put up the flag?' (referring to the metal flag pole in front of the house). In the morning, it wasn't a problem because the pole was broken off at the ground. (Winds in the Baltimore Friday night reached 80 mph at the height of the storm). This was the only damage on the property."

In a kind and generous gesture during the zone conference, President Richards walked up to Sister Lindsay and me and told us how grateful he and his wife are to have us and the other senior missionaries serving in the Maryland Baltimore Mission while acknowledging the sacrifice and effort that it takes for seniors to serve a full time mission at their own expense. He then told all of the young elders and sisters that they should enjoy their relationship with us and listen to our counsel because of our experience and long time service in the Church. Our district leader who was seated beside me reached over and patted me on the back with a big smile on his face.

President and Sister Richards had their picture taken with each missionary in the Baltimore Zone, including us; and then he conducted a brief individual interview with everyone who was present in the meeting.

MISSIONARY SLUMBER PARTY CANCELLED

The power went out in much of Baltimore City & neighboring counties

When the air temperature moves above 100 degrees in the city and stays there in that elevated condition, the buildings, streets, sidewalks, and every other hard surface tends to radiate heat and make it feel even hotter. Well, that's been the weather in Baltimore this week, and the forecast for at least the next few days promises more of the same. The heat index on Friday soared above 110!

So I guess that we shouldn't have been surprised late last night when we saw several bright flashes of lightning and heard the first rumble of thunder being orchestrated over our apartment complex. Within minutes, tremendous gusts of wind arrived on the scene driving sheets of rain horizonally across the parking lot. Today we learned that those winds, which were howling at 80 mph on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis last night, caused a tractor trailer to overturn on the span, injured the driver, and closed all lanes of traffic going in both directions for a number of hours. More than two inches of rain fell during the storm.

Shortly after 11 pm, the lights flickered a couple of times and then went out for good. This morning the power had not returned to our building, and we weren't alone in the dark. Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) reported that some 427,000 customers in the metropolitan area remained without electricity throughout Saturday. According to local authorities, it may take up to a week to get everyone back on line. As the day progressed, Sister Lindsay and I started making alternate plans for where we might spend the night since without power we wouldn't have any hot water for showers, and it might also be challenging to see inside a bathroom that has no windows.

The solution that we came up with was to go over to the district leader's apartment to spend the night, because he and his companion have electricity. It is a two bedroom, two bathroom unit designed to handle four elders, but we currently only have two elders living there. We checked with the senior missionaries who work in the mission office (who are also without power where they live and making plans to sleep in the office tonight), and they thought we had found a good working solution to our problem.

So we called our district leader and told him to expect us to show up at their place with a suitcase and some bedding tonight. Before we could implement our plan, however, BGE restored our electricity at 5:30 this evening. As a result, OUR MISSIONARY SLUMBER PARTY WAS CANCELLED.

WE SAID GOODBYE YESTERDAY . . .

Elder & Sister Lindsay with President A. Brent Belliston

At the conclusion of our district meeting yesterday, Sister Lindsay and I had our final missionary interviews with our mission president, A. Brent Belliston, and then we said goodbye. He and his wife will honorably complete their mission and drive home to Meridian, Idaho on Friday.

President Belliston and his wife, Diane, have had a tremendous impact on the lives of hundreds of young elders and sisters as well as the senior sisters and couples who have been full time missionaries in The Maryland Baltimore Mission during the Belliston's three-year stewardship here. His emphasis on having all missionaries be "exactly obedient" to Church standards of conduct has allowed President Belliston to develop self-discipline and a work ethic that has positively changed people's  perspective about their own lives and self-worth.

We haven't met a single elder or sister since we arrived in Baltimore last September who doesn't hold President Belliston in the highest regard, because we collectively know that he loves us and would never ask any missionary to do anything that he wouldn't require of himself. One of the mission president's special talents is his amazing spiritual gift of being able to memorize and recite entire passages of scripture and quotations from Church leaders and others.

Through his personal example, the mission president has been able to encourage these young men and women to also learn many scriptures themselves, so they can become more effective teachers in sharing the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with others. Mastering the scriptures has strengthened the testimonies of the missionaries and given them greater self-esteem as laborers in the vineyard of the Lord. All of this has helped bring almost 1,000 new converts into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the past 36 months.

But now, the time has come for President and Sister Belliston to relinquish their responsibilities to a new mission president and his wife who will quietly assume the leadership role of this mission in a couple of days.

The old order changeth,
yielding place to new,

And God fulfills himself in many ways,

Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.

                                            - Alfred Lord Tennyson

President Belliston has carefully instructed the missionaries to remain focused on the work of the Lord as the leadership transition occurs and to show the same loyalty and respect to President Richards (the incoming mission president) and his family as they have for him and his wife in the past. Because the missionaries are exactly obedient, it is understood that this is exactly what they will do without question or hesitation.

PARADE OF SAIL DEPARTURE

Sailing ships passing under Francis Scott Key Bridge

To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 and the writing of Francis Scott Key's poem, The Star-Spangled Banner, as he watched the British bombard Fort McHenry in September 1814, Baltimore launched the Star-Spangled Sailabration this month. More than 40 tall ships (tall-masted sailing ships) and and naval vessels from around the world were here from June 13th through June 19th. During their visit, they offered free tours to the public and thousands of visitors went on board. The festivities also included the first-ever air show over Baltimore, which featured the Navy Blue Angels.

On June 19, 2012 the tall ships left Baltimore, passing by historic Fort McHenry, maneuvering under the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and putting out to sea enroute to their next port of call in Boston. Sister Lindsay and I (along with thousands of other people) watched them leave under sail . . . an impressive and unusal sight, with ships' bands playing on deck and sailors singing and and even dancing in the rigging.

Sailors on Ecuador's tall ship, BAE Guayas

As we watched these magnificent ships pass by in procession, it was interesting to reflect on how different it must have been some 200 years ago when there were far fewer choices regarding how people and goods were transported to distant places. In 1812, there were no airplanes, trains, automobiles, or trucks. Instead, you could walk, ride a horse or sit in a wagon or carriage pulled by animals, or go by ship. And it wasn't possible to call ahead electronically for reservations or check the status of your ship's expected arrival on the internet either. Your trip from Baltimore to London would take weeks rather than hours. And by the way, your accommodations below deck and the food would not resemble in any way the cruise ship standards of today.

THE SHIP THAT SAILS

Unknown Author

I’d rather be the ship that sails
And rides the billows wild and free;
Than to be the ship that always fails
To leave its port and go to sea.

I’d rather feel the sting of strife,
Where gales are born and tempests roar;
Than to settle down to useless life
And rot in dry dock on the shore.

I’d rather fight some mighty wave
With honor in supreme command;
And fill at last a well-earned grave,
Than die in ease upon the sand.

I’d rather drive where sea storms blow,
And be the ship that always failed
To make the ports where it would go,
Than be the ship that never sailed.