I recently attended our Stake Cub Scout Day Camp and Stake Youth Conference, as the nurse for both. As such, I had a lot of fun, because my responsibilities were few and I got to go where I wanted and do what I wanted to do. At CS camp I did man (woman?) the "Hero Training" station one day where the boys did zip line, monkey bridge, hover-craft, target shooting with squirt guns, and a relay race. We also talked about Mormon, and how he was just their age when he was chosen for a special mission, etc. But the other two days I was just able to chat with folks and help out as needed.
At Youth Conference we went to Shenandoah University, where I roomed with Stacy Torfin. It's been a while since I had a female roomie, and we had a lot of fun. The theme was "Faith of our Fathers: Finding our Land of Promise." I helped out with games and a service project and a dance and my kids performed at the talent show. I also listened to many excellent speakers, took notes, and recycled them for the RS lesson that I taught on Sunday.
Here are some excerpts:
We sing, “Faith of our fathers, holy faith. We will be true to thee till death.” But which “fathers” is this referring to? The preceding few generations to us? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Adam? Ultimately, the father that we need to be true to is our Heavenly Father.
Sister Cheri Fox stated, “True religion doesn’t originate in what pleases men, or even in the traditions of our ancestors. It is what pleases our Father.”
Bishop Jeremiah Clark addressed the “mathematical” equation for faith: hope in something that is true yields evidence, which becomes knowledge, which in the presence of sacrifice, yields “faith power.” It is imperative that we learn truth and that we help our fellowmen to learn truth, so that our “faith power” can grow.
As Brother and Sister Toma taught, Abraham’s life was a pattern for us all to follow. He “saw that it was needful for (himself) to obtain another place of residence.” Why did he do this? Because “there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me.” His fathers had become idol worshipers who “utterly refused to hearken to my voice.” But he, “having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God,” Abraham listened to the voice of the Lord, obeyed his commands, and was blessed. Along his way, he wanted to stay close to the Lord. He built an altar on the mountain at Beth-El, which means “the house of the Lord,” a temple.
We too, as we go along in life, may fall in with idol worshipers. Modern idols are more subtle than the golden calf of the children of Israel, in fact the sneakiest, most erosive ones are simply the attitudes of the world: what is acceptable speech and behavior, what possessions we should have, what we should spend our time doing - all boiling down to selfishness. But as Jen Wall taught, we have the church as a place of refuge in troubled times. The stakes of Zion are a gathering place for those who want to hold fast to the true standard.
Isaiah 2:2-3 (2 Nephi 12:2-3) "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us ago up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."