Gratitude

I feel very blessed to be back in Idaho. Since we’ve been living in Utah, I’ve been trying to convince my wife how great Idaho is- now I don’t have to any more cause she’ll get to experience it first hand.

The Bishop asked me to speak today on gratitude. Many of you know that my parents are on a mission in Ghana. I’d like to share a couple of experiences they’ve had on their mission that teach about gratitude.

DAD

We have been visiting new members, less active members and others who are being advanced in the Priesthood or have received new callings. Yesterday we visited the Danso family with the Elders' Quorum President, brother George Mehu. The Danso family consists of the father (Kwame), the mother (Lina) and three children. They are a wonderful family. The Father, Brother Danso, was given the Mechezedik Priesthood and ordained an Elder at our District Conference two weeks ago. As we sat and talked with brother Danso the subject of his ordination came up. He looked across the room at brother Mehu, the Elder’s quorum president, and thanked him for instructing him in the Priesthood and preparing him for his interview with President Smith. Then he pointed at Brother Mehu and laughingly said, “It is all because of that man. He is always pushing, pushing, pushing, saying read this, read that." I asked him why brother Mehu had done that. He looked me straight in the eye and with great emotion he said "Because he loves me." .................I have never seen such a sincere expression of love and gratitude between two Priesthood brothers. It reminded me of the gratitude of Alma for the success of his brethren. Sometimes the spirit is so strong testifying to us that we marvel at how shallow and thoughtless we are when we could lift another with a simple word or deed in appreciation.

MOM

Today we visited a sister named Hannah who is the wife of the branch president. She is a wonderful woman with a strong testimony. Her son is getting ready to leave for his mission, but is having second thoughts about it. He has already received his call and is scheduled to leave in 2 weeks. His mother is very worried that he will change his mind. She traveled to Accra to the temple--a 2-hour trip, one way--and prayed in the temple that her son would receive help. On the next Sunday, an unnanounced visit was made by a member of the Area Presidency, and the son was able to have a one-on-one discussion with him. Then today, though we hadn't planned to, we visited this sister and her son and again she felt like her prayers were answered. It is so humbling to know that someone sees you as an answer to her prayer. She was so grateful to Heavenly Father for sending the Church Leader and us her way. She is also thankful for the Liahona which inspires her as it shares real life stories about people who also have challenges in their lives, and these inspiring stories let her know she is not alone, not the only one struggling.

She attributes her blessings to her membership in the Church. She now has a nice house and yard and a lovely family.

As we visit other members they are so pleased to have us come, and some say that because we came, they know once again the Church is true and they will start coming again. (Sometimes they come; and sometimes they don't).

One more thing. Our guides who have been taking us around to see members in the different branches are always so grateful for the opportunity.They are so gracious and enthusiastic. We are so thankful for them and their wonderful attitudes. The members welcome us with smiles. They are so grateful for something as simple as a visit or if we we’re to bring them a small loaf of bread. Sometimes they behave as though we have just presented them with the Clearing House Sweepstakes. They are wonderful people.

May I share with you may favorite gratitude scripture D&C 78:19. “And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred-fold, yea, more.” It is so true, the more we are thankful for what we have the more the Lord blesses us.

And Mormon 5:10 - where it says that “we must realize and know from where our blessings come”.

When I think of examples of gratitude from the scriptures I think of Ammon. He was rejoicing because of all the Lamanites that had come to the truth. In Alma 26:37 he says, “Now my brethren we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yeah he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.”

I also like King Lamoni’s example of gratitude. He had a vast empire and was King over many people. But he was willing to gratefully give it all away when the missionary Ammon showed him that there was something out there of much more value- the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “...For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world....” Matt. 16:29

Elder Quentin Cook has reminded us that gratitude is the defense against pride, envy, and ill feelings toward another. “Comparing blessings is almost certain to drive out joy. We cannot be grateful and envious at the same time. If we want to have the Spirit of the Lord and experience joy and happiness, we should be constantly grateful.”

In November 2000, President Gordon B. Hinckley gave a special fireside to the youth. To help us make righteous decisions President Hinckley presented his list of six B’s—Be grateful, Be smart, Be clean, Be true, Be humble, Be prayerful. Be grateful was the first of his six B’s. President Hinckley said, “Let a spirit of thanksgiving guide and bless your days and nights,”“Walk with gratitude in your hearts,” “Be thankful for the wonderful blessings which are yours.” “Work at it,” “You will find it will yield wonderful results.”“Thank the Almighty for His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, who has done for you what none other in all this world could do,” “Thank Him for His great example, for His tremendous teachings, for His outreaching hand to lift and help. Think about the meaning of His Atonement.” During his talk he gave particular counsel that we should show gratitude to our parents. Sincerely take the opportunity to thank them for all they’ve done for us. Its what they really want to hear from us as their children.

My wife’s parents are also serving a mission in Africa. They are at the MTC in Ghana. They also have a couple of stories from their mission that I think are good examples of gratitude.

MOM

One of the Elders who was reassigned to Ghana and was from Ghana didn't have a great start to his mission here at the MTC. As he was coming to the MTC on a bus from up North, his bus was held up. Some robbers had put a fallen tree across the road and when the bus stopped, the robbers came out of the bushes and ambushed. It was raining and they took all of the passenger's belongings and scattered them in the mud. They took his money and his police report but he had his passport. Not quite like going to the Brick Oven on the way to the Provo MTC, but still just as frightening and they usually make the trek alone. When he arrived to the MTC we were very sad to have to inform him that they had closed the Ivory Coast Mission where he was called due to political unrest. They changed his mission to his home country. I was surprised that after being robbed and hearing about his mission closing that he was still so grateful to be serving a mission. It was truly inspiring to see his optimism and great example of gratitude. The people here just look at each day as a gift because life is so "here today, and gone tomorrow".

DAD

Most of the native missionaries coming to the MTC come unendowed and have never been to the temple since there are no temples in the countries they come from. I have a story about a missionary who was just grateful to be able to pass by the temple. The Ghana temple had been closed for cleaning while this group was here at the MTC in Ghana, so they were only able to go to the temple once. The missionaries were all sad about only being able to go once, so it worked out that we were able to arrange for one group to stop at the temple briefly on their way to the airport. A few days after dropping them off at the airport, we received an email from the mission president in Lubumbashi Congo that said he had mentioned to one of the Elders, "its too bad you were only able to go to the temple once." The missionary responded, "Oh no, we were able to go twice. President Froerer let us stop by on the way to the airport, we couldn't go in, but we were able to see it and feel it." For many of them it was probably the only time they will be near a temple in their whole life. Hopefully a temple will be built in the Congo. It made me think about how many times I’ve passed the Ogden Temple and didn't even look at it.

We are commanded to thank Heavenly Father in our prayers for all we have. Its important to do this. But how do we really show our gratitude to Him..... To make our prayers of thanks more than just words, we show our gratitude by keeping his commandments. The commandments are among our greatest blessings from our Heavenly Father because they are the way back to him even eternal life - which he has said is the greatest of all his gifts- its a gift so great we can’t comprehend it with our limited mortal minds and experience. The challenge is to get to the point where we view his commandments as blessings. The law of tithing for example. On the surface, it may be difficult to see that giving our hard earned money away is a blessing. But its so that we can better see our total reliance on him. To see that everything we have comes from him and if He so desired he could take any of it or all of it back at any time. Just as He did with Job. Job declared that he would still trust in God even if he took everything- even his own life. (Job 13:15) I take this to mean that he would still rejoice in God and thank him and be grateful no matter what was taken from him. Because he had faith that God’s plan for him was better than his own.

“May we be grateful for everything good. But be particularly grateful for those things that bring eternal happiness, such things as, the gospel, our families, the Savior, the scriptures, and living the commandments.” In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.