It's October - Baseball and General Conference

I must confess to one and all - October has always been my favorite time of the year. Why? Two reasons:

The New York Yankees

The Semi-Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 

This year holds particular enjoyment for me. The Yankees did the impossible last night. They came back to win the first round of the playoffs after losing game one in a short wild card series. And they didn't just win. Rookie pitcher Cam Schlittler, the 6-foot-6 right-hander, in his 85th day as a major leaguer, became the first pitcher to toss at least eight scoreless innings with at least 12 strikeouts and zero walks in a postseason game, according to ESPN Research. His 12 strikeouts were the most in a winner-take-all game in history, the most in a playoff debut in Yankees history and the most he's compiled in a professional game at any level.

Cam Schlittler, Yankees Hero

Every postseason I can remember going back a long way now, has been my favorite time of the year. I am old enough to have been an eyewitness to Don Larsen's perfect game pitched in the World Series in 1956. I was nine years old, still playing Little League baseball. Most of my readers on this page would not be conversant with that history, but I remember it vividly. It was in the heyday of Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra, who were my Yankees heroes back then. So here's a short course on Don Larsen:

Don James Larsen (August 7, 1929 – January 1, 2020) was an American professional baseball pitcher. During a 15-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he pitched from 1953 to 1967 for seven different teams: the St. Louis Browns / Baltimore Orioles (1953–54; 1965), New York Yankees (1955–1959), Kansas City Athletics (1960–1961), Chicago White Sox (1961), San Francisco Giants (1962–1964), Houston Colt .45's / Astros (1964–65), and Chicago Cubs (1967).

Larsen pitched the sixth perfect game in MLB history, doing so in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. It is the only solo no-hitter and perfect game in World Series history and is one of only three no-hitters in MLB postseason history (the others being Roy Halladay's in 2010 and the combined Houston Astros no-hitter in 2022). He won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award and Babe Ruth Award in recognition of his 1956 postseason.

Yogi Berra and Don Larsen

Last night's performance by Schlittler comes as close to sheer domination by a pitcher as I have witnessed since then. Everybody watching the game knew a fast ball was coming on the next pitch, but the Red Sox hitters simply could not catch a break against his staggering performance. He averaged just under 100 mph on every fast ball he threw all night long. That's pure.

* * *

Now couple my joy over the Yankees so far this October with the prospect of the upcoming Semi-annual General Conference set to convene tomorrow in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Last week we said our final farewells to 101 year-old President Russell M. Nelson, the Church's 17th President, and the oldest ever to preside over The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

President Russell M. Nelson

I have had my boyhood baseball heroes, but I have likewise had my prophet heroes too. President Harold B. Lee was my grandfather, and he ranks at the top of that very long list of men whom I have admired.

President Harold B. Lee

President Lee was the 11th President of the Church, who presided for a scant eighteen months after many had predicted a longer presidency given his relatively youthful vigor compared to his long-lived predecessors Joseph Fielding Smith and David O. McKay, both of whom I also admired greatly. As a boy, one can easily deduce, I was blessed with men who were certainly worthy of my adulation and my gratitude.

And today we wait with eager anticipation about the upcoming changes that will occur at the top of Church leadership once again. I gathered my family last Sunday night after President Nelson's death to help them understand the next steps that will be taken to reorganize the First Presidency and to name a new Apostle. I suggested before it had been announced that the reorganization steps would not be taken until after General Conference and President Nelson's funeral. The next day we learned his funeral would be held on October 7, 2025. President Lee gathered his family after the passing of President Smith, and he told us with unerring accuracy exactly what would happen going forward as he assumed the mantle of the living prophet. 

How did he know? Because from the moment he entered the upper room in the Salt Lake Temple where the Apostles meet as the newly named Apostle in 1941, he had witnessed the various transitions in leadership as he rose in seniority in the Twelve. It was not some mysterious process. To him it was familiar and predictable, and he shared it with each of us in his posterity.

President Dallin H. Oaks

Until then, I assured my own posterity the other night, the Church is named The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for an important reason - this is the Savior Jesus Christ's Church. It is not just another church of men. He remains at the helm. The keys of the kingdom of God on the earth are in the hands of the living Apostles. Those keys in the due course of events over the next few days after General Conference concludes will be transmitted into the hands of the senior member of The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Dallin H. Oaks, who will select his counselors. Then a new member of the Twelve will be called to fill the subsequent vacancy. There is order in the kingdom of God. There is no politicking for position. We have been blessed by an abundance of worthy priesthood leaders in the past and the kingdom will go forward without hesitation or delay going forward. All is well with the restored Church.

Now, one final word. In this Church many will bear a strong witness that they were foreordained to serve in various assignments in their lives. This includes Sunday School teachers, missionaries, bishops, Relief Society presidents, stake presidents and others. I accepted a call to serve one time as the ward clerk, and I came to understand the reason why after I had performed a function of converting the manual records of the ward to digital records via the computer. I learned later I was the only person in the ward at that time who knew anything about those strange contraptions we now take for granted - the personal computer. I was foreordained, no doubt. So do not discount your pre-existent covenant to accept whatever foreordained tasks to which you are presently assigned in this life. 

We will raise our hands in a not distant future day to sustain the new leadership of the Church. We will have a witness of the divine nature of their callings, and that witness will come to each of us through the ministrations of the Holy Ghost to us. 

Thinking of My Mom Patsy, by Steve Goates

Steve on top of Dixie with Patsy

I’ve been thinking a lot about my Mom the past few weeks - it’s been just over two years since she passed on from this mortal life into the eternities - the next chapter.

She lived her life in such a way that she showed EVERYONE around her what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. She gave her life to God and gave her time and energy to her family, her friends, her neighbors, and even to strangers - she was the epitome of LOVE and CHARITY. She’s one of my heroes. She was not perfect, but she was literally the best example in my life of what it is to be Christ-like.

At her funeral, I was asked to speak, and one of the themes that emerged from that experience was that she spent her life teaching us that she, of herself, was nothing special (though she actually was VERY special). She was so consistent to ALWAYS point us to Christ - she gave Him all the credit for any good that she ever did in her life. Christ was her ROCK. Christ was her HOPE. Christ was her STRENGTH. Christ was her EVERYTHING. She taught us that we were to look to Christ for the strength and support we needed, to gain our own testimonies… and she was there, selflessly and faithfully as our mother, to guide us to HIM.

In John 17:3, we learn: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

I’m so grateful that she taught me that. I’m so grateful to know God and His Son Jesus Christ. I’m a weak, fallen man, and I need Jesus so much - I feel guilt and shame for my constant shortcomings - I truly know that I, like all of us, “… have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23).

Christ - "I need thee every hour"… Take my brokenness and make me whole, I pray. I have faith that He will. I have faith that He’s already paid the price to rescue my soul from hell. I love Jesus - HE IS EVERYTHING.

May we all try to be a little better, a little more kind, more giving of our time and our talents to lift up and bless those around us in this dark and fallen world - Like Christ did - Like my Mom did. ❤️❤️❤️

* * *

This was a priceless piece of writing I have chosen to include as a chapter in my memoirs with Steve’s permission. I believe it captures the essence of her impact on one of her sons. I’m certain there will be others who would second Steve’s observations, and I encourage all of you to contribute something about her if you would like to. I have the power to make you a “published author” if you do.

It’s wonderful to ponder our shared memories, especially in light of recent events on the world stage. As the fall season begins, I am filled with so many similar thoughts, alone as I am in my home these days.

I was in the Jordan River Temple today, and reflected on all my blessings as I frequently do in sacred precincts. I was performing a vicarious ordinance. He had been waiting years for his endowment to be done, and I got to perform that sacred ordinance on his behalf. Chief among those blessings are Patsy and all of our shared posterity. I can’t imagine anyone out there as favored and loved by our Heavenly Father as I am.

I visited an aging ward member this week, and asked him, “So how are you doing?” His response: “I’m all the way up to miserable.” He’s depressed, has lost his short-term memory, and has difficulty gathering his thoughts. His wife passed away about four years ago, and he lives alone. (He couldn’t remember his birthdate or how old he is when I asked). So I focused instead on our shared memories of the past Church assignments we shared, and he perked up as I reminded him about how many lives he had blessed through his service. I left hoping I had cheered him up a little beyond his self-described “miserable” status.

My thoughts are drawn out continually wondering what Patsy might be doing in her place in the spirit world today. As I minister to others, I feel her presence ministering to me, guiding and inspiring me. I felt her presence every moment as I was fasting and praying over the safe arrival of Benjamin Joshua Mann last week. What a consummate blessing this choice son is in answer to our united petitions!

Straight from Heaven

I love you all, and pray the Lord’s choicest blessings might be yours in all you are doing every day.

ZION - Now More Than Ever

This has been a momentous week in my personal history. I have withheld comment about it until now purposefully. I was somewhat stunned when I realized this is entry #800 on these poor pages.

First, I celebrated my 78th birthday in the Bountiful Temple, while President Russell M. Nelson was observing his 101st birthday on the same day. He’s 23 years older than me, and no matter how fast I run I can’t ever seem to catch up to him! I have to say that life is good right now. I am so grateful to be able to move about freely and with good health for the most part. As part of my birthday celebration we gathered many of the family in the Orem Temple on Saturday for a sealing session conducted by Hank Nelson, my dear friend. The temples are where I feel closest to heaven, and particularly my beloved Patsy.

Bountiful and Orem Temples

Second, this is also the week of the commemoration of the events of 9/11/2001, when the Twin Towers in New York were astonishingly levelled by the malevolent attacks perpetrated by terrorists who flew highjacked airplanes into them. Another flew into the Pentagon and exploded upon impact a few miles away, and a fourth was diverted by brave passengers who sacrificed their own lives to crash the plane they were on into a field in Pennsylvania. I witnessed those events in our home as the scenes were portrayed on my TV screen in living color throughout the day. It was an unbelievable and shocking event in world history. Osama bin Laden was ultimately identified as the perpetrator/mastermind, and he was summarily brought to justice and executed later.

9/11/25

Third, Charlie Kirk, an outspoken and stalwart voice for conservatives in this country, was assassinated in Orem, Utah, on the campus of Utah Valley University while he was giving a rally. Regardless of his politics and the positions he espoused, those who opposed him made an arbitrary decision to take him out with a single sniper’s bullet. Just this morning as I write, President Trump announced the shooter had confessed his act to his father, apparently, and it was his father who turned him in to authorities in St. George, Utah. Governor Cox, yesterday, reminded the world that Utah still upholds the death penalty for perpetrators of such crimes, and this individual will be held accountable to the “fullest extent of the law.”

Charlie Kirk at UVU

Fourth, and perhaps most satisfying of all to me personally, Aaron Judge hit two home runs (Nos. 45 and 46) in a game against the Tigers in Yankee Stadium, now tying him with Joe DiMaggio on the all-time Yankees home run list with 361 career homers. President Trump was in attendance for the commemoration of 9/11, and told the Yankees in their locker room before the game started that they would win that game. Final score: Yankees 9 Tigers 3.

So, would you say it was an eventful week? I vote “YES.” Honestly, you can’t make this stuff up, can you?

I have been pondering all week about ZION, and this morning as I write I am wearing my ZION sweatshirt in memory of those precious ideals I attempted to capture in my compilation those many years ago. It would seem after the shocking events of this week that we are now more than ever further away from ZION than we have ever been. But, I have a differing viewpoint based upon all I know. It is instructive, I believe, that no matter how devastating the historical events may be, we somehow seem to survive and eventually thrive despite the evidence to the contrary. We are resilient as a nation, and we can choose resilience as individuals too.

I wrote the following ten years ago on April 15, 2015:

Zion’s Four Facets

I continue to get questions from people I know well about the end of the world. It seems the political upheavals we are witnessing continue to trouble even the most grounded saints. These concerns arise as a natural consequence of the bad news we hear every day.

The budget and deficit spending in America is out of control. The prophets of doom and gloom continue to spread fear and uncertainty all around. Conspiracy theories abound. Few are escaping the effects of the 2008 financial market meltdown. Widespread doubts about the future are escalating. Inflation is eroding purchasing power. Gas prices are averaging $4 per gallon in five states, and continue rising in more. The price of basic food is rising at the grocery store. It is a troubling time for most.

In the aftermath of General Conference two weeks ago, I’ve had a chance to review the content, topics and themes we heard expressed by the living prophets. Patsy and I were asked to speak about the prophets in a recent sacrament meeting.

I chose to focus on the two senior Apostles - President Thomas S. Monson and President Boyd K. Packer. What did you hear from them two weeks ago? I heard a clear emphasis on priesthood power as it relates to family. Temple ordinances and marriage covenants were also themes. Missionary work and proclaiming the gospel throughout the world also came up more than once. Entering into temple marriage was a plea from the Prophet to young single men.

So where were the themes of doom and gloom, predictions of the pending demise of the planet being ground into dust? Conspicuously absent. Rather, we hear the announcements of three new temples echoing each opening statement by the Prophet as General Conference begins each six months. Just this week a new “super building” housing 5 stakes and 48 wards in Provo was announced. The City Creek project surrounding Temple Square in Salt Lake is on time, set for opening in a year from now.

Time and again we hear, “and this is just the beginning” in the promised establishment of Zion in the midst of Babylon. Living prophets are decidedly optimistic because of their absolute faith in the plan of salvation. There seems to be no fears in any of the living prophets.

Many years ago I began putting it all together on paper. I discerned four facets related to our understanding of the word “Zion” in the scriptures. I found that in each scriptural reference to Zion one could pinpoint one or more applications of the word. These four facets are people, place, condition or time.

People

Zion is a covenant people, set apart, consecrated, and sanctified from the rest of the world. They are different, they are peculiar and they are pure. They have come out of the world, entered in at the gate of baptism, are born of the Spirit and have taken hold of the iron rod. They reject the clarion voices from amid the mists of darkness, and ignore the taunts and jeers of those in the spacious building of sin. God has purged his people in all the other dispensations of which we have record, and the purification has come as a result of extreme adversity and affliction. Gold is never refined in an air conditioned chamber. If the covenant people cannot sacrifice and consecrate their lives to God, it has forever been the case that the rest of the world was willing to cast them out, throw them into the lions’ den, or stoke up the fiery furnace. Let us never be deluded into thinking we will inherit Zion in any other way, nor be worthy of the company of earlier martyrs at that future wedding feast unless we consecrate.

Place

Zion is two world centers of righteousness and judgment that are ultimately joined together physically. One is Independence, Missouri, the “centerstake,” from which “the law” will emanate, the other is Jerusalem, from which “the word” will go forth. Those who love and cherish the Constitution of the United States, it would seem, will rally to Zion and her stakes (and by extension her temples) upon the American Continent and throughout the world wherever they may find themselves. Christ will come to the Earth and sit in his temples in Jerusalem and in Jackson County, from which will go forth His word. They will combine eventually in the Lord’s timetable with the heavenly Zion when the earth enters the terrestrial phase of its existence, thus returning to the status it once enjoyed referred to in the 10th Article of Faith as “paradisiacal glory.” This telestial world in which we now live will give way to a terrestrial world that will stand for one thousand years, a period of time referred to as “The Millennium.” This is the place at the end of the path in Lehi’s vision where the tree of life grows.

Condition

Zion will stand apart from all worldly influences. Men and women of honesty and truth will seek the peace Zion affords, trust their temporal and spiritual welfare to each other, or sink lower and lower with the rest of the world who will be at war. There will be no middle ground - either total acceptance of God’s salvation, or Lucifer’s damnable embrace of death and destruction. Zion will be the light on the hill, and so formidable will be her strength and beauty because of God’s overshadowing presence that her enemies will shrink at the sight of her. The society will be characterized by people of one heart, one mind, and one objective spreading the truth of God’s salvation over the face of the earth as with a flood.

Time

Zion will come to pass in the due season of the Lord, and that season is upon us even now. We live at the end of the sixth seal of John’s Revelation, meaning the end of the sixth thousand-year period since the Fall. It is called “today” in the scriptures, and it is a day of sacrifice. It is not a day in which to trust in the arm of flesh, seeking security in the carnal pleasures of today’s society. Zion’s time is not fully ripe until the Bridegroom comes to accept the Bride, as John foresaw. The paradox of Zion’s timetable is that she will be nurtured as it were in the bull rushes like Moses, in the midst of unparalleled wickedness and abominations among men. The wheat and tares continue growing together, and the tares keep looking more and more like the weeds they are. And we also see the fig tree putting forth its leaves every day.

The Spirit whispers the truth that Zion will indeed have to be led out of bondage as the children of Israel were led out under Moses. While we are in the midst of spiritual bondage right now, the scriptures are replete with types and shadows of a physical bondage yet to come that will precede the day when all things are fulfilled.

We will not see the establishment of the headquarters of Zion until the temporary landlords who now occupy the sacred sites of the habitations of the New and the Old Jerusalem are swept off. The reclamation of those lands will come in the wake of destruction as foretold by all the prophets who witnessed the promised day, and that time is not far distant. Without an understanding of the impending destruction as the lynch pin to prophecy, the promises of the Lord to Israel that she will ultimately redeem the promised lands of her inheritance seem incomprehensible.

One need not read far into The Book of Mormon to discover that this land is not promised to the Gentiles who now occupy it. Rather, it will be given as an inheritance to the scattered remnants of the House of Israel now being gathered, and to those relatively few Gentiles who repent, embrace the gospel and by adoption become Israel. To think otherwise would be to deny the very faith that gave the prophets their utterance. And this despite the obvious evidence that the Gentiles who occupy this Promised Land today have material wealth and military might beyond even the wildest imaginations of the prophets who foresaw their destruction.

Ephraim’s descendants will figure prominently in the leadership of the House of Israel in the development of Zion, but it would be a gross error to assume that Zion is the private domain of Ephraim. The scriptures speak plainly of all the tribes coming to their inheritances in their various lands. We are witnessing the emergence of all these long-lost cousins in Israel in our day, as adversity, lawlessness, and political upheavals continue to drive them to our borders of freedom. They come because of wars, famines, diseases, natural disasters, and the love of freedom, but whatever the reasons they are coming to claim their promised blessings at the hands of Ephraim. Let us never be so surfeited by the things of this world that we cannot embrace them, when they come with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Conclusion

There is not a clear road map to Zion, a “checklist” if you will, that will land us unerringly at the gates of the Holy City. To come to Zion requires clean hands, a pure heart, and pure faith. To be a consecrated saint is to hearken to the voice of the Lord by the power of the Holy Ghost, to receive revelation upon revelation, and to possess a submissive heart that endures all that the Lord sees fit to inflict upon us. All the inhabitants of Zion are as little children, full of faith, and eager to do the will of the Father in all things.

We are not worthy of Zion’s society in our present state, but the chastening is in full effect and the spiritual mettle of us all will be put to the test in due time. Those who persist in their hidden sins while proclaiming their beliefs with their lips only, will fail to accumulate the needed midnight oil droplet by droplet over a lifetime of faithfulness. Those who cling steadfastly to their institutional faith, never risking the failure of individual responsibility for their decisions will sink in the depths of forgotten dust with the discarded baggage. We cannot endure the journey to Zion on borrowed light, nor will we find the oil of the Spirit to buy at midnight.

We must beware of repeating the patterns of old. Zion is a steadily progressing caravan of strangers and foreigners seeking a city built without hands. It is to be expected that the “corporate” Church would have difficulty implementing the celestial principles upon which Zion will be built. That reality does not make the Church’s doctrines any less true, nor the need for the Church’s organization less compelling. One laudable development is that the Church is adapting to the worldwide need for simplicity, as evidenced by the priesthood and Relief Society manual of instruction – it’s back to basics with Gospel Principles.

This is an important point that cannot be glossed over. The Church members’ compromise with Babylon is nearly complete. In a forthcoming day there will be an entire separation of the righteous from the wicked. Babylon is slated for destruction. That fact is a well-documented scriptural reality, and so is the establishment of Zion.

We are in the world as never before in our history, and we are more of the world too. From the days of Brigham Young whose mission was to separate the saints from the world by leading them to these remote valleys of the Mountain West, to the administration of Gordon B. Hinckley who has welcomed the world with the red carpet, we have come full circle. Living prophets lead the way.

But never doubt for one minute - the caravan is on course, though there will always be those among us who cling to the past fiercely, as though we are going to return somehow to the purity and simplicity of an earlier time. These somehow wish they could live in the days before the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and started rolling downhill. We are picking up speed as the little stone rolls forward. But let us not be smug.

God will cut short the work in this last dispensation of the fulness of times. The Bride may have grown weary while waiting and defiled herself with the world, but this time there will be a wedding with the Bridegroom and the Church will become the Bride of Christ. The best course we can take is individual repentance and to let the rest of the Church and the world who fail to repent go their merry way to destruction. As midnight draws nigh there will be fewer opportunities to obtain oil to light our little lamps of faith. Unconsecrated material possessions in that hour will be a poor store of value - ancient prophets used the word “slippery.” (Helaman 13:31).

Now I offer this final observation. Patience with the unfolding timetable of the Lord is indispensable to the true disciple. Many, knowing what the scriptures reveal concerning conditions in a Zion society, and observing these circumstances do not now exist in the Church, and thinking they have somehow been “called” to lead the way, have made unwise and premature decisions to move out in front of the caravan. Like the ancient Rechabites of Jeremiah’s day they prefer the separatist life to the heat of the day in the kingdom with all its paradoxes, contradictions and ironies. They are never wise stewards, and seem to lack the faith they proclaim.

The keys of the priesthood reside with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and those keys and this kingdom will never again be taken from the earth. The path to Zion is first discovered deep within the hearts of men and women, and they gravitate to others who have made a similar discovery, all of whom are subject to the Lord’s mouthpiece. That man, the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, like Moses who stood at the head of another caravan, will lead Israel out of whatever form of bondage enslaves us. Until that promised day comes, it is enough to hear the Lord whisper again, “Be still, and know that I am God.” His promises will never fail, and the gates of the Heavenly City await us.

So put away your Mayan calendar, and add to your food storage in the spirit of faith not fear.

* * *

Finally, I offer this concluding statement for your consideration:

I promise you all, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we can each be filled with the spirit of prophecy to guide us unerringly toward the implementation of Zion principles now and forever. It is within our grasp even now, and it is never too late. 

Making Peace in a War-Torn World

 Because we live in the United States of America, we can be forgiven if we do not fully appreciate the agony of those who are living in war-torn countries around the world. I will not undertake a complete listing of those countries, but suffice it to say there are many right now.

Perhaps top of the list might be the 3½ year-old conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The principal leaders are Putin and Zelenskyy, neither of which has shown a willingness to consider peace. In the meantime, lives have been lost on the battlefield.

The Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, escalating a conflict that had been simmering since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Initially, Russia aimed for a swift takeover, but Ukrainian resistance, supported by Western military aid, halted major advances. Over time, the war has evolved into a prolonged and grinding conflict, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. Russia has captured some territory in eastern Ukraine, while Ukraine has conducted counteroffensives with mixed results. Diplomatic efforts have stalled, and recent reports indicate that the U.S. and Russia have discussed potential resolutions to the war without Ukraine’s direct involvement. Meanwhile, military aid and financial support from Western allies, particularly the U.S., continued to play a crucial role in sustaining Ukraine’s war effort.

And then Trump said, “Enough,” and foreign aid from the U.S. ceased. Europe has stepped up to some degree to assist in opposition to Russia’s naked aggression, but now Putin and Trump have concluded a private meeting in Alaska on Friday, to be followed by a meeting tomorrow in Washington between European leaders and Trump. The rhetoric is extreme, and truthfully none of us can decipher what is really happening. Trump is positioning himself solely as the mediator, because as he said, “This isn’t my war.”

The loss of over a million lives needlessly is what is most troubling in my heart and mind. All of this high-stakes drama on the world stage is causing uncertainty and a high degree of speculation, depending upon where one turns for news.

We have almost become numb, I believe, to the rumors of wars and the actual wars. It has become a commonplace piece of our existence. The closest I ever came to war was the Vietnam War during my era as a young man. In those days I read D&C 87:2:

And the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place. (Kirtland, Ohio).

That was not comforting news to me as a young man who had hoped to establish a temple marriage and a family. It disrupted my plans. I was not assured of anything, but my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ sustained me through that period of doubt, as it will for all of you.

Now a new generation faces similar challenges. Will Donald Trump be successful in mediating between the warring factions yet again? The pundits and the talking heads on all the media platforms continue their diatribes in full force. I frankly cannot tune in for all the commentary. I am reveling instead in the knowledge of my faithful posterity, many of whom are enlisting in the service of the Lord as missionaries in their far-flung assignments.

The latest to join the ranks is Jonny, who received his endowment yesterday in the Payson Temple. I was told he selected that temple because it was the first temple open house he attended and he said he would one day return to engage in temple work himself when he was older. And so he did!

With Elder Jonny Bayles Yesterday

The world may be in turmoil all around us, it is true, but in the House of the Lord there is peace and solemnity of soul.

I pray for all the peacemakers in the world, including Donald J. Trump. He seems to be transcending politics as usual. I pray others may follow his example in seeking peaceful resolutions to their conflicts. I say all of this knowing full well that the world will continue to pursue war on a widespread scale as prophesied. Nevertheless, we can CHOOSE peaceful resolutions whenever we can.

While I waited briefly for the session to begin yesterday, my pages in the Book of Mormon landed on these verses:

And now it came to pass in this year, yea, in the two hundred and thirty and first year, there was a great division among the people.

And it came to pass that in this year there arose a people who were called the Nephites, and they were true believers in Christ; and among them there were those who were called by the Lamanites—Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites;

Therefore the true believers in Christ, and the true worshipers of Christ, (among whom were the three disciples of Jesus who should tarry) were called Nephites, and Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites.

And it came to pass that they who rejected the gospel were called Lamanites, and Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites; and they did not dwindle in unbelief, but they did wilfully rebel against the gospel of Christ; and they did teach their children that they should not believe, even as their fathers, from the beginning, did dwindle.

And it was because of the wickedness and abomination of their fathers, even as it was in the beginning. And they were taught to hate the children of God, even as the Lamanites were taught to hate the children of Nephi from the beginning.

And it came to pass that two hundred and forty and four years had passed away, and thus were the affairs of the people. And the more wicked part of the people did wax strong, and became exceedingly more numerous than were the people of God.

And they did still continue to build up churches unto themselves, and adorn them with all manner of precious things. And thus did two hundred and fifty years pass away, and also two hundred and sixty years.

And it came to pass that the wicked part of the people began again to build up the secret oaths and combinations of Gadianton.

And also the people who were called the people of Nephi began to be proud in their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, and become vain like unto their brethren, the Lamanites.

And from this time the disciples began to sorrow for the sins of the world.

And it came to pass that when three hundred years had passed away, both the people of Nephi and the Lamanites had become exceedingly wicked one like unto another.

And it came to pass that the robbers of Gadianton did spread over all the face of the land; and there were none that were righteous save it were the disciples of Jesus. And gold and silver did they lay up in store in abundance, and did traffic in all manner of traffic. (4 Nephi 1:35-46, emphasis mine).

Many churches, many “ites” - most stunning was that they TAUGHT THEIR CHILDREN WICKEDNESS AND HATRED. The story of the people in those days is a cautionary tale for our day. The book was written, compiled and translated to come forth in this last dispensation of the fulness of times.

Contrast that with what you are all trying to do, and that is to teach your children righteousness instead. You are disciples of Jesus, and you are in the minority, always have been, always will be. I give you my assurances that you are in the right path. Your children will one day rise up and call you blessed because of what you have taught them in your homes.

This is the generation who will prepare the way for the Savior’s Second Coming, even as we witness more wickedness than we have ever seen before. I love you all for your steadfastness.

What Book Has Made a Significant Difference in Your Life?

 My first response this morning to Shauna’s newest question was obvious - the Book of Mormon. It is the pinnacle upon which the Church was established in this dispensation. It is the bedrock upon which my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was first founded. I won a contest in Seminary for reading it from cover to cover as the fastest to complete the task.

And then I reflected more deeply and came up with another answer, again one that should surprise no one who knows me well. For me it became my own “fifth standard work.” I speak of the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I carried it with me for a lifetime during the years I was doing my teaching in various Church callings. I wore out the binding as it began to fall apart in my hands through overuse. I marked it throughout, and cross-referenced it to the scriptures again and again.

The author/compiler was Joseph Fielding Smith when he served as the Church Historian. He was a grandson of Hyrum Smith, the Prophet’s brother and co-martyr in Carthage Jail, and later became the tenth President of the Church. He was Grandfather Harold B. Lee’s seatmate companion in the Quorum of the Twelve for many years, and he called President Lee as his first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church. I loved Joseph Fielding Smith all the days of his life, and I still revere him for his composite scholarship in compiling the Prophet Joseph’s core teachings.

When I say “scholarship” in today’s world, few will appreciate that back in the day before personal computers there was no such thing as a digital assist in researching Church history. Truth be told, we are still uncovering treasures not available back in the day to President Joseph Fielding Smith when he put together his seminal volume. It still stands the test of time when I consider the avalanche of materials that continue to surface in our day.

I undertook my studies way back in the days I occupied my meager basement office in our home at 2034 Ashton Circle. I had my books and an electric typewriter. That was it, coupled with my overarching desire to discover truth independently from all others. I loved the content of my “five” standard works, particularly the Prophet’s teachings, arranged as they were in chronological sequence by President Joseph Fielding Smith.

I will never forget my discovery of the size of the future city of Zion, as described by Joseph Smith. I painstakingly ferreted out that hidden treasure by calculating the miles on a map of the United States. Using Independence, Missouri, as the centerstake point on my map, I laid out the dimensions of a perfectly square city extending in all directions to discover a “city” that stretched from the Canadian and Mexican borders on the north and south and the Rocky Mountains and the Allegheny Mountains on the west and the east! The key was revealed in Revelation 21. All it took was a little elementary math being applied to convert furlongs into miles. I showed my finding to my father, who in turn excitedly took it to Elder Bruce R. McConkie. Elder McConkie’s response to my father was, “Oh yes, I saw that many years ago too.”

That little story illustrates how magnificent the process of revelation can be for each truth seeker who is willing to put in the time to learn. God rewards effort with knowledge. It is often difficult to escape the self-imposed boundaries of our own finite lives to grasp the scope of the work of the Godhead, who have created “worlds without end.” I became immersed in the attempt to understand their thinking and their expansive vision for us as true followers.

Today, the work of temple building continues unabated throughout the world. Those temples each represent a local Zion community where they stand as a central place for gathering and worship worldwide in the midst of all the foreseen wars and rumors of wars that were prophesied anciently. We are living witnesses of the fulfillment of all the prophecies about the establishment of Zion.

The terms Zion and New Jerusalem both appear in the Bible. In the Old Testament, Zion is typically a synonym for the city of Jerusalem with its temple mount. New Testament prophecies foretold that the Lord would one day create the heavens and the earth anew. As part of this new creation, a city of God referred to as a “new Jerusalem” would come “down from God out of heaven.” Preachers in Joseph Smith’s day disagreed about the meaning of these terms. Some used the phrase “cause of Zion” as a name for the spread of Christianity.

The Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith’s early revelations spoke of a future city of Zion that would serve as a gathering place for the scattered descendants of Israel in the last days. Joseph Smith’s inspired revision of Genesis gave an account of a “City of Holiness” called Zion built by the ancient prophet Enoch. Those who gathered to Enoch’s Zion eliminated poverty and were unified, righteous, and pure in heart. Eventually, Enoch and the inhabitants of Zion were taken up to heaven. Beginning in 1831, Latter-day Saints sought to establish a city of Zion where they could prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. One revelation called this city the “New Jerusalem.” Another referred to Zion more broadly as a people who are “pure in heart.”

In 1831, Joseph Smith received revelation that the site for the city of Zion would be near the town of Independence in Jackson County, Missouri. Today there is a physical monument marking that spot. Bishop Edward Partridge began to purchase lands in the area and help settle new members as they arrived. In the summer of 1833, Joseph Smith and his counselors in the First Presidency sought divine guidance as they drafted a plan for the city, which included a grid of roads and 24 civic and church structures all consecrated as “temples” for different purposes. That summer, however, citizens of Jackson County drove the Saints out of the county, forcing them to abandon their land and their efforts to build the city of Zion.

In a series of revelations that followed, the Lord instructed the Saints regarding spiritual characteristics they lacked but which were necessary for any people who desired to build Zion and gave them instructions on how to move forward. The Saints began to prepare for “the redemption of Zion,” a time when they would return and reclaim their land in Missouri and resume building the holy city. Some in the Church still hold to the belief that a future gathering as foretold will take place there, and only there.

The Saints’ attempts to redeem Zion, including appeals to the United States legal system, did not result in an acknowledgment of their rights or in an immediate return to Jackson County. In a January 1841 revelation regarding the failed attempt to build a temple-centered Zion in Jackson County, the Lord explained, “It behooveth me to require that work no more … but to accept of their offering.” (D&C 124). The same revelation commanded the Saints to build a temple in Nauvoo, Illinois, and establish that city as a new place of gathering.

In Nauvoo, Joseph Smith taught that Zion “consisted of all North and South America,” adding that, in one sense, “any place where the Saints gather is Zion.” He also emphasized the importance of the temple for Zion and the gathering, declaring that “where we can get a [temple] built first, there is the place.” Joseph anticipated that a temple city such as Nauvoo would serve as the center of gathering, and that stakes of Zion would be established in many places, each serving as a refuge for the faithful. (Joseph Smith Discourse, April 8. 1844).

The Latter-day Saints continued to hope for a return to Jackson County, Missouri. At the same time, Church leaders such as Brigham Young taught the importance of building Zion wherever the Saints were. Not long after they settled in the Salt Lake Valley, President Young spoke of their growing city as a New Jerusalem and the rising Salt Lake Temple as the focal point of the gathering. (Brigham Young discourse, Sept. 11, 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: LDS Booksellers Depot, 1854–86], 1:78; Franklin D. Richards discourse, Oct. 6, 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 1:321).

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Church began to establish stakes of Zion in many locations around the world. Describing this effort, Elder Spencer W. Kimball explained that “the First Presidency and the Twelve see great wisdom in the multiple Zions, many gathering places where the Saints within their own culture and nation can act as a leaven in the building of the kingdom.” (Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982], 440).

Today, this notion of “multiple Zions,” cannot possibly be misunderstood as the expansion of missionary work and temple building continues worldwide. Latter-day Saints gather to local stakes of Zion and build temples in many countries, and Church leaders emphasize the importance of becoming a people who live up to the ideals of Zion — unity, godliness, and charity. (D. Todd Christofferson, “Come to Zion,” Ensign, Nov. 2008, 37–40).

I think we all hold our breaths at General Conference time in eager anticipation of the announcement that might come of a future temple yet to be built in Jackson County, Missouri. I illustrate my early efforts at understanding Zion from the perspective of the Prophet Joseph Smith for the purpose of underscoring the allowance that must be made for continuing revelation to the LIVING prophets among us. They are the only true and viable source for guidance we must embrace as we live in anticipation of the Second Coming.

Consider these inspired words from President Russell M. Nelson:

"My dear brothers and sisters, in a coming day, Jesus Christ will return to the earth as the millennial Messiah. So today I call upon you to rededicate your lives to Jesus Christ. I call upon you to help gather scattered Israel and to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord. I call upon you to talk of Christ, testify of Christ, have faith in Christ, and rejoice in Christ!

"Come unto Christ and 'offer your whole [soul]' to Him. This is the secret to a life of joy!

"The best is yet to come, my dear brothers and sisters, because the Savior is coming again! The best is yet to come because the Lord is hastening His work. The best is yet to come as we fully turn our hearts and our lives to Jesus Christ." (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/57nelson?lang=eng).

I was first introduced to the thinking of the Prophet Joseph Smith through the book The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I devoured it from cover to cover and every page in between. I endorse it wholeheartedly to all of you…

… And at the same time I encourage and invite you to feast upon the words of the living prophets among us who will NEVER deceive us in these perilous last days.

Do You Favor Politicians or Business People?

It's no secret, I am certain, to those who follow this page that I have increasingly eschewed politicians in general. I have mostly lost interest in the copious and omnipresent onslaught of reporting on political intrigues and the back and forth verbal battles that play out every day. Frankly, it's exhausting.

What has become painfully obvious to me and perhaps to you too is that the career politicians historically have not been interested in seeking solutions for the American people. Why? Their own self-interest was always at the forefront of their endeavors. 

Some career politicians like former President Joe Biden, who was re-elected for a lifetime in politics, finished as a multi-millionaire, and he is just one among many who amassed a personal fortune in ways that are only now becoming apparent. 

Term limits on the members of the House and the Senate cannot be far behind if it ever came to a vote that could be put on a ballot. Also, surprisingly to many, American citizenship at birth is currently not a requirement, and that fact should also be addressed in coming days.

President Donald J. Trump

It cannot have escaped your notice that President Donald J. Trump is only six months into his administration, and the list of substantive achievements for the benefit of the American people is staggering by anyone's calculations. The thin margins in both the House and the Senate with the whole House up for re-election each two years, perhaps explains the urgency we have witnessed.

Securing the borders was first and foremost on the Trump agenda. The speed and the sweeping success of accomplishing that goal was simply stunning to observe. Deportations mounted as illegal immigrants were rounded up and sent packing back to their countries of origin. Self-deportations have increased, no doubt because those who were here illegally got the message that America was transforming quickly into a law and order posture.

On other fronts, the first six months of Donald Trump's second presidency have been the most "successful" of any American president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, according to an analysis conducted by Newsweek.

The legislative efforts paid off in passage of his flagship "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," a tax and spending package. It narrowly passed along strictly party lines illustrating once again we are a narrowly divided nation politically. The reductions in taxes and spending were staggering, and makes one wonder how any right-thinking politician from the other party could oppose it.

Newsweek asked "ChatGPT" to rank the accomplishments of 20th and 21st century U.S. presidents in their first six months, taking account of the level of support they enjoyed in Congress.

The model gave Trump an overall score of "very high," thanks to legislation such as the One Big Beautiful Bill and Laken Riley Acts.

On July 4, 2025, Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law after it narrowly passed both the House and Senate. The legislation slashed certain taxes, including extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts; raised the U.S. debt ceiling; increased spending on the military and border control; and cut some funding from Medicare and other welfare programs. According to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, the package will add $3.3 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade.

Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law on January 29, with the bill taking its name from a Georgia college student who was murdered by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant in February 2024. The legislation requires noncitizens charged or convicted of a range of offenses, including theft and assaulting a police officer, to be held without bond. It also gives states more freedom to sue the Department of Homeland Security over immigration enforcement.

The analysis cited above concluded that the first six months of Trump's second term were the most productive since Roosevelt's first term in 1933. In his first 100 days, Roosevelt passed 15 New Deal statutes, including the Emergency Banking Act.

Third in the calculation was Biden's first 100 days, which saw the package of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan designed to combat the economic effects of coronavirus, along with the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act and a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday. This package was passed despite the Democrats and Republicans being tied in terms of 50 affiliated Senators each, giving then-Vice President Kamala Harris a tiebreaking vote.

At the other end of the spectrum, the analysis gave the worst score for the first six months to Theodore Roosevelt, who became president in 1901, arguing that he passed "no major statue before March 1902."

Bill Clinton was also ranked poorly, with the conclusion his only major legislative reform during his first six months was the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act.

Here's some insight from a foreigner, Dafydd Townley, an American politics expert at the University of Portsmouth in the U.K., who told Newsweek: "While Donald Trump has achieved some legislative successes, they are more reflective of the partisan support in Congress. Not every president in the modern era has had such a one-dimensional party to support his legislative agenda. The Democratic Party has long been a coalition of diverse voices, making it difficult to appease every member of Congress. Both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama found this out during their first term in office.

"Until the George W. Bush era, Republicans failed to hold both House and Senate majorities in the modern era, apart from two years in the first Eisenhower administration. Even during the Bush years, control of the Senate shifted back and forth on several occasions, making legislative efforts difficult, if not impossible. Reagan's ability to bridge the partisan divide and work with congressional Democrats on specific bills, such as Social Security reform and immigration policies, suggests a White House capable of achieving ideological success despite congressional barriers. The same applies to Richard Nixon, who gained considerable legislative success despite having a Democrat-controlled House and Senate when he entered office.

"Democrat presidents of the early Cold War had to contend with conservative Southern Democrats in Congress, despite Democrat majorities in the House and Senate. These long-serving members dominated congressional committees, thereby limiting the legislative success of John F. Kennedy, for example. The successful passage of a huge number of bills as part of his Great Society program is a testimony to Lyndon Johnson's management of Congress.

"Trump has been much more reliant on the use of executive orders to implement Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's blueprint for Trump's second term in office. The Trump-inspired legislation in this Congress is more likely to consolidate power within the executive branch and lead to less congressional interference in the president's management of the White House and its agencies."

Left unstated in this analysis by Newsweek, and in my mind more substantive, is Trump's experience as a deal maker among the nations of the world. He imposed tariffs, thought my many "experts" to be disastrous. Instead, the heads of nations have been making historic trade deals with America that have the potential to increase revenues we haven't seen for decades, reduce the deficit spending, and provide American jobs. Those results have already been witnessed, with more to come.

My conclusion: I would much rather have a Donald J. Trump in the White House today than any other politician you can name who would undermine these achievements we have witnessed to date.

If Republicans lose control of either the Senate or House in the 2026 midterm elections, it will make it significantly harder to get the party's bills approved by Congress.

I believe the American people are "woke" now to the possibilities of what may yet be done.

I hope I am right.

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ vs. Fear of the World and Its Minions

I wrote the following entry to my family on Monday morning of this week. I include it here for your consideration as my wider audience:

President Donald J. Trump ordered a bombing run on the nuclear development facilities in Iran this last weekend. The strike was targeted solely with the purpose of eliminating the threat of Iran developing a nuclear weapon, which for years it has threatened to use against Israel.

The Stealth Bomber

The repercussions have been deemed a great military victory that achieved its objectives beyond doubt. But detractors have been condemning the action as an act of war that is unconstitutional because the consent of the Senate and the House was not sought nor obtained before the stunning action was taken by the President.

The political debate rages on about our involvement as a fully invested partner of Israel. Are we at WAR with Iran? How could we not be? Will this be the escalation to World War III? How will this play out in the weeks and months ahead? Will Iran retaliate or capitulate? Will the Iranian regime governed by their religious clerics prevail, or will they be overthrown by the voice of the majority of the citizens who have been compelled to live under a de facto dictatorship? What will this mean for the future of the political landscape of the Middle East? Does this action by the United States signal the beginning of the end before the Second Coming of the Savior?

These are just a sampling of the questions I have heard over the weekend and into this morning as I write this chapter. Clearly at the forefront to all the speculation about what it all means for me is the abiding question: Do I believe in the future as outlined by the Savior and His prophets, or am I inclined to be tossed about with every wind of doctrine that blows in my face, no matter the source?

It comes down to a simple question for me: Am I filled with FAITH in the Savior Jesus Christ, or filled with those who would promote FEAR?

President Kevin W. Pearson

Elder Kevin W. Pearson, Utah Area President and a frequent visitor to our little Woodland Ward (he owns a summer home nearby), has offered this observation back in 2009:

“Faith and fear cannot coexist. One gives way to the other. The simple fact is we all need to constantly build faith and overcome sources of destructive disbelief. The Savior’s teaching comparing faith to a grain of mustard seed recognizes this reality (see Matthew 13:31–32). Consider it this way: our net usable faith is what we have left to exercise after we subtract our sources of doubt and disbelief. You might ask yourself this question: ‘Is my own net faith positive or negative?’ If your faith exceeds your doubt and disbelief, the answer is likely positive. If you allow doubt and disbelief to control you, the answer might be negative.

“We do have a choice. We get what we focus on consistently. Because there is an opposition in all things, there are forces that erode our faith. Some are the result of Satan’s direct influence. But for others, we have no one but ourselves to blame. These stem from personal tendencies, attitudes, and habits we can learn to change…

“Challenging times require greater spiritual power. Consider carefully the Savior’s promise: ‘If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me’ (Moroni 7:33).

“I humbly declare that God, our Heavenly Father, lives and loves each of us, His children. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He lives and personally leads His Church through President Monson, His anointed prophet. Because He lives, there is always hope smiling brightly before us. In a household of faith, there is no need to fear or doubt. Choose to live by faith and not fear.” (Emphasis mine).

Let me add my witness. We will see the ongoing development of a complete separation between the righteous and the wicked parts of human family in the years ahead. We will be compelled by the events ahead in the world to choose our own path. There will be no coercion whatsoever that would violate our agency. We will respond to the impressions of the spirit of the Holy Ghost freely and without compulsion of any kind. Fence straddling will no longer be possible. The gap will simply become too wide.

I coincidentally was teaching the Elders Quorum lesson yesterday. We touched briefly on the events of Saturday, but that was not the main focus of the lesson. We were reviewing the General Conference talk of Sister Tamara W. Runia about our need for daily repentance. I commend her thoughts to all of us.

As we turn our thoughts to our Savior and accept that He is our Redeemer in all things temporal and spiritual, we are inclined to put our trust in Him and reject all the machinations of those who would discount His role in our lives.

I made a tangential reference to my compilation of all the scriptures that mentioned the word “ZION” back in 2008. I had worked on it many years prior to that. I had three brethren in the meeting yesterday ask me for a copy of the pdf file that resulted after I had completed the manuscript. I thought, well, there’s nothing like a few bunker busting bombs falling in Iran to stir up the soul to action, I guess.

That’s all well and good, you might say, but what about the REALITIES of war that are now more prevalent than they might have been before the events of the weekend? Are we to accept the military superiority of the United States of America as the arm of strength that will produce peace, or should we be taking defensive steps like building up our food storage, etc.?

“For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion.” (D&C 1:35).

Let me add my perspective as an old (and hopefully wiser) man. I have seen these geopolitical upheavals and worldwide events play out before during my lifetime. At the time they seemed catastrophic, and as subsequent years unfold we see them as mere steppingstones all leading to the culmination foreseen and foretold by the prophets who left their witnesses for us in the compiled scriptures.

As you fill your hearts and minds with the written words of scripture, you will be assured time and again of the majesty of the impeccable foreknowledge of our Father in Heaven. He has the times and the seasons of our mortal lives in His hands. He has given assurances through all the ages that we are His children, and our ultimate destiny is in His hands. We are free to choose to be fearful about all that, or we can accept the peace and the comfort He offers through His prophets.

The choice is clearly ours to make:

FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

OR FEAR IN THE WAYS OF MAN

I am confident in your ability to choose the better part, for I have seen you grow and develop spiritually. I know you have been held in reserve to come forward in these troubled last days as the chosen generation of our Father in Heaven’s children.

I encourage you to set aside the tendency to fear that which you do not fully understand. Embrace the path of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Stay on the covenant path and encourage others to join you there.

That is the way of truth and light. 

*****

The “ink” on this post wasn’t even dry before President Trump announced that a ceasefire agreement had been reached between Iran and Israel to end this twelve-day war.

Now it remains to be proven that both countries will abide by the terms they have hammered out together. These events are being played out so quickly and decisively that it takes one’s breath away.

Beware of all the predictions being made by the political pundits. Events on the ground in the Middle East have forever befuddled all the false prophets.

I pray peace may break out, and be lasting.

Thinking of Fathers

This morning I have been inspired to reflect upon the seminal role fathers have played in our lives here on earth. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all the fathers who have combined to produce our family of The Goates Kids. It matters not to me that some bear the names of other noble families like Wood, Jach, Bayles, Johns, Spencer, Warnick, Mann, Sharp, Venema and Litchfield. I claim you ALL as my own under the banner of GOATES. It takes a “village” to create a teeming posterity, and it’s an astounding array of spirits I cherish.

I treasure all the memories I have this morning of my own father, Lesley Brent Goates. Each of us gets only one biological father, and even though we might wish from time to time we could trade him in for another one, it is well that we honor our fathers who facilitated our birth into mortality. It’s coincidentally Father's Day 2025 tomorrow, hence my musings.

I spend a lot of time in the temples these days. In the endowment particularly we are reminded of our eternal heritage with our Eternal Father, Elohim. He is the Father of our eternal spirits. We knew Him intimately at one point in the pre-existence. It was from Him directly we learned of our potential existence as mortal human beings, someday possessed of a physical body that would house our unique spirit. There’s only ONE us, unless we are an identical twin, and even then those are separate and distinct beings. We longed for that day of our physical birth into this very planet upon which we now live.

Reflecting upon these truths is what I have been engaged with since rising with the sun early this morning. There was a four-hour power outage (still unexplained) last evening, when I was without electricity in my home. Until we are without something, it seems, we cannot fully appreciate or understand how blessed we truly are as children of our loving Father in Heaven. I phoned the toll-free Rocky Mountain Power line to report the outage, and I was reminded again how valuable a seemingly obsolete telephone land line still is even in our digital age.

Human Embryo

Each of you fathers, and even those who are still “fathers in waiting,” is an integral piece in our Father’s plan for the salvation of His children. Life is precious to us, and it is created through the union of a male and a female. While there may be medical “advances” to simulate procreation, the fact remains that mortality requires an egg and a sperm to unite to form a living soul. Those embryos from the moment of inception are separate and distinct human beings, not a mere collection of cells as the abortionists would have us believe. The political debates rage on and on to determine when "life" begins. It begins at conception in my simple mind.

The world today is filled with the minions of a satanic cult of deceivers, who routinely devalue and discount the sacred nature of human worth. Fathers and Mothers stand in stark contrast to these misguided ones by continuing the work of salvation through the sacrifices necessary to produce their living offspring.

Patsy and I were increasingly criticized as our numbers of children increased through the twenty years we were producing children. Indeed, only a matter of months separated the birth of our last child, Adrienne, with the birth of our first grandchild Ashley. For us the “baby business” was a thriving enterprise in which we were ALL IN. Under our doctor’s supervision we experimented with birth control after a miscarriage that happened between Emily and Michael (he told Patsy she needed to “take a break”), but Patsy could never get comfortable with the idea so she quit taking the contraceptives and that was the end of that experiment.

Grandma Patsy

Marriage is a partnership. She couldn’t fulfill her desires for motherhood without a willing companion, and I learned early on to do my best to comply with her wishes. (I have to say she didn’t exactly force me kicking and screaming against my will. Our baby-making days were always enjoyable for me, and I’ll just leave it at that.) ENJOYABLE is what it was always meant to be.

So to all our noble fathers among the Goates Kids, and the ones in my digital family "out there," may I offer my admiration and my undying gratitude for your faithfulness in doing the work of our FATHER. He asks us to call Him that. Your posterity will be the most treasured possession you can imagine when you get to be my age.

Family Temple Outing

I was asked by someone at the Jordan River Temple the other day what gifts I would like for Father's Day. I reflected for a moment and responded, “I don’t want any gifts per se, I just want as many of our children as possible to gather so we can enjoy each others’ company.” In saying that I was seeing all the shirts, suits, socks and Levi’s in my closet - in fact, so many I’ll never get around to wearing them all out. My fuse is growing shorter every day (he said with a knowing smile).

Enjoy your families this Father's Day 2025. I love you all more today than ever before, but not as much as I will tomorrow. My heart and soul are riveted increasingly in eternal increase! I outlived my mortal father, and I miss him, but it is only a temporary separation. We will all be reunited with our fathers one day up ahead, of that I am certain.

“Father’s Day is joyful for most but sorrowful for some. Gratefully, each of us can communicate with our Heavenly Father in prayer. He is never absent but is ever-welcoming. Our Heavenly Father is perfectly loving, perfectly understanding, and perfectly capable of helping us rise to meet any challenge we face. On this day, may we honor Him and strive to emulate His example, doing our very best, day after day.”

— Instagram post by President Russell M. Nelson, June 20, 2021

If you could hold on to just one memory from your life forever, what would that be?

On a periodic basis I receive questions from my family they would like me to answer as I compile my memoirs. This one came to me the other day from eldest daughter Dianne. Here's my response:

You want me to single out a single favorite memory from my whole life? Well, I find that request nearly impossible to fulfill. Why? Because at this stage my memories are flooding my brain almost continually. I look back with great fondness on all the events of my life. I tend to remember all the good things that happened, and I have been blessed with a memory that auto-erases all the bad ones. Call it selective memory if you wish, but that’s reality.

Life is such a blessing to me and to all of us. Mortality is a gift from our loving Father in Heaven. We yearned for it in the pre-existence, and we were in that vast throng of eager spirits who couldn’t wait to be born. I suspect we all knew we would have to wait a little longer than most, since we were selected to come here in the last dispensation.

We were told we were among the “noble and great ones” (see Abraham 3:21-23) who would be tasked with being valiant in preparation for the Lord’s triumphant return in the glorious Second Coming. If you’ve been asleep lately, you may have missed President Russell M. Nelson speaking directly to you as he urges and invites us to prepare for that day. He has done that in EVERY talk he has given since becoming the President of the Church. And he has spearheaded the building of temples worldwide to hasten our preparations spiritually.

I often refer to the writings of Elder Neal A. Maxwell for his perspectives on gospel topics, who offers this in relation to our first and second estates:

“Premortality is not a relaxing doctrine. For each of us, there are choices to be made, incessant and difficult chores to be done, ironies and adversities to be experienced, time to be well spent, talents and gifts to be well employed. Just because we were chosen ‘there and then,’ surely does not mean we can be indifferent ‘here and now.’ …

“In fact, adequacy in the first estate may merely have ensured a stern, second estate with more duties and no immunities! Additional tutoring and suffering appears to be the pattern for the Lord’s most apt pupils. (See Mosiah 3:19; 1 Peter 4:19.) Our existence, therefore, is a continuum matched by God’s stretching curriculum. …

“Agreeing to enter this second estate, therefore, was like agreeing in advance to anesthetic — the anesthetic of forgetfulness. Doctors do not deanesthetize a patient, in the midst of what was previously authorized, to ask him, again, if it should be continued. We agreed to come here and to undergo certain experiences under certain conditions” (“Premortality, a Glorious Reality,” Ensign, Nov. 1985, 17).

William Wordsworth (1770-1850), famous poet, wrote:

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
  Hath had elsewhere its setting
  And cometh from afar;
  Not in entire forgetfulness,
  And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
  From God, who is our home.

(Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood).

All those memories of our pre-existence were wiped from our memory at birth into this world. We can’t remember them for now, only so that we will learn in our tests of mortality to choose and to serve God. There must be an atmosphere of “entire forgetfulness” to prove our fidelity to God and to ourselves. Moral agency reigns supreme in this world, or the freedom to choose for ourselves without compulsion of any kind.

That said, however, reading and embracing the scriptures over the years has taught me there are brief glimpses through the veil into those pre-mortal realms. I have had persistent impressions, enough to convince me of my origins and the promises made and kept before I was born. I suspect it is the same of all of us if we will admit it to ourselves. So maybe we could say “partial forgetfulness” to open the door to understanding our divine nature.

Okay, good preamble, but you haven’t really answered the question posed to you. What’s that ONE memory you would hold with you forever? Put in those terms it’s really a simple choice for me.

It’s that very first date with Patsy Hewlett I would like to preserve in my mind forever. She was so pure, so radiant, and so filled with hope for the future. Her testimony of her Savior shone in her countenance, and that beauty radiated from her every moment of her life with me for as long as I can remember. Her whole soul, it seems to me, was reflected in her eyes. I felt as though I had always known her. I defined beauty in knowing who she was up close and personal. I reflect on that reality now every moment we are apart temporarily. I cling to that memory and that knowledge we will be together FOREVER.

On a social media platform the other day the question was posed to the community, “Are you happy being alone?” It was prescient, and hit me at one of those moments when I could accurately describe myself as ANYTHING but happy. So I answered with a declaration of my understanding of eternal marriage and my testimony of being together eternally with my companion of a lifetime. Many sent responses to me directly, thanking me for my candor. I will probably never change the world with my digital profile, but maybe I could reach one soul out there in cyberspace, and that would be worth my effort.

Only a few moments before I had noted an entry from a woman who purportedly had sexual intercourse with 1000 men in a 24-four period, and she was boasting of her achievement with her “after” picture. (I had to double-check for accuracy). She claimed to have had 24 abortions in her lifetime, and wasn’t the least bit concerned about her behavior. Instead, she claimed “happiness” had been achieved in her life. Another poster challenged, “Is she happy?” This is the world in which we find ourselves today. Do not be deceived, my dear ones.

Patsy and Melanie

This is the face of pure happiness, and it is a woman fully possessed in her knowledge of her divine purpose. You could substitute any of her children in that snapshot and it would have been the same. Oh, that face!!

This world today in its present state is where we reside physically, however it is NOT our spiritual destination eternally. That ultimate goal for each of us is where Patsy and all our progenitors are beckoning us to come. We live in their spiritual presence, and they are nearby to assist us in whatever extremity we may find ourselves. I feel routinely comforted by that knowledge and testify of their investment in our success.

Resurrection Morning

The Savior has prepared the way ahead for us, and we may trust Him in all we do. His plan is eternal in its nature, even though it appears sometimes to be unachievable. I give you my assurance as one who steps closer to eternity every day now, that it IS possible to live the plan of salvation fully and completely. We walk by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I can feel it reverberating in my aging bones.

Any memories beyond that very first and most endearing one of Patsy for me are merely more frosting on my many-layered chocolate cake of life. I love you all.