Oct 29th - Nov 4th

Halloween and Daylight Savings time this week, another beautiful fall week in Omaha, cool days and Crisp nights.  Tours are special this time of year, couples going and coming from Missions stop by to see the visitor centers.

Wednesday was Halloween. The Trail Center closed early and all the sisters and senior couples had a Halloween party. It was a fun time with chili dogs and games the sisters could play. They had to be in there apartment by 6:30 pm. It was also Zone Conference day. It was pretty busy

Another visitor from home Paulynn and her friend Amy stopped by to go to the Temple with us on Friday and do some tours around here including the Trail Center and Tabernacle. They went on to Nauvoo and Carthage. After they went to the Missouri sites they spent Sunday night with us before going home.

Sunday we had a Special Temple Fireside with Elder Bruce C Hafen. A great fireside about the Temple and the Atonement. We had a Regional Conference so the SISTERS had the day off and the Senior Couples worked the Trail Center. :)

"In the Midst of Thee"

Blessed are those who stand up for the Lord even when they have to stand alone. And to stand against a nation for a lifetime would seem an impossibility. Yet such was the lot of Jeremiah the prophet.

The nation of Judah was dying; they were spiritually sick and soon to be destroyed. Jeremiah was called by the Lord to see them through it, and at the time of his call the Lord referred to him as “…an iron pillar, and [a] brasen wall[s]…’ (Jeremiah 1:18) Why? – because he would stand against the whole land, the kings, the princes, the priests, and finally even all the people would oppose him. “…they shall fight against thee…” the Lord said. (Jeremiah 1:19) And fight they did!

In Jeremiah, chapter 20, Pashur, the governor of the House of the Lord, the – the Temple President, if you will, became angry with Jeremiah and locked him in the stocks near the Temple.

On another occasion, Jeremiah was in the Temple calling the people to repent or their temple would be destroyed. They became subsequently enraged and took him saying, “…Thou shalt surely die.” (Jeremiah 26:8). He faced them boldly and on that occasion his life was spared.

As Jeremiah had prophesied, Babylon eventually did sweep down into Judah and laid siege to the city of Jerusalem. And even while Jeremiah’s prophecy was being fulfilled, the King took the Prophet and cast him into prison. (see Jeremiah 32:2) – It makes no sense. But even them, Jeremiah did not back down; he did not quit. The word of the Lord was, he said “…as a burning fire shut up in my heart [bones]...” (Jeremiah 20:9) He would not be still.

As Jerusalem was about to fall, Jeremiah told the people to surrender to the Babylonians or they would be slaughtered. This counsel was construed as treason and Jeremiah was taken and cast into a miry pit, sinking into the mud and left to die in darkness.

And finally, when Jerusalem fell Jeremiah “…[he] was there…” (Jeremiah 38:28), a sorrowing witness to their destruction. It is no wonder that he lamented.

The King of Babylon liberated Jeremiah even as he destroyed Jerusalem. But then with that freedom, Jeremiah’s own people kidnapped him, and carried him into Egypt where tradition says he was eventually stoned.

Jeremiah was a life of loneliness and courage standing against everyone for the sake of the Lord.

You know, sometimes in order to stand with God we have to stand alone. And yet at such times, we are never in better company.

I am reminded of another man much later and half a world away who would stand against all odds to save his people, but in the end he too watched them die. His name was Mormon.

Glenn Rawson – October 2010