Things of Incalculable Worth

Wow, it is amazing to think that this semester is winding down so quickly!  I find the deadlines coming closer and closer and myself still having a ton of work to do to prepare for them to come.  To be honest, it scares the living daylights out of me when i think of just how much there is left to be done, but somehow I'll manage.  I had a great day yesterday.  Rob was at DFW for several hours on a layover between Costa Rica and Salt Lake City, so I was able to go out and go to lunch with him for a couple of hours and hear about his trip.  Monkeys, crocodiles, sloths, beaches, and zip lines!  Central America sounds like a blast, and a whole lot better than the Central America from the books I've been reading for my class on the historiography of modern Latin America.  One of these days I need to take a trip outside of the United States.  And at least once in my life, I'd love to go and see some of the homelands of the people that I taught while I was a missionary.  I've always wondered how much of a difference it would have made in my teaching if I could have truly understood the circumstances that the wonderful people I taught had come from.  All jokes aside, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi were not Third World Countries.  (Well, maybe Mississippi.  Just kidding).

Record of the Twelve Apostles, 14 and 27 February 1835
Joseph Smith Papers Project

This morning during my scripture study, I came across a comment that impressed me.  Speaking of the baptisms at the Waters of Mormon, Mormon writes that "they were in number about two hundred and four souls" (Mosiah 18:16).  The thing that impressed me here, and that I had never seen before, was the specificity of the number.  Mormon did not write, "about two hundred souls" or even "about two hundred and five souls"; he wrote "about two hundred and four souls."  That meant that somebody had been keeping a record of the names and numbers of those who entered into the baptismal covenant at the Waters of Mormon.  And more than that, this list of names and numbers was available to Mormon some four or five hundred years later, when he was editing the records that came to be known as the Book of Mosiah.

This set me to thinking about journals, records, and record keeping and just how important they are to us.  I was reminded of a quotation by the Prophet Joseph Smith about record keeping, which when I found it, proved to be even more valuable than I had previously realized.

On February 14, 1835, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was officially organized for the first time in this dispensation.  Prior to that time, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery had held the office of Apostle, and there was a First Presidency over the Church, but no Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  Because the Quorum of the Twelve hold the keys of the Kingdom and are necessary to the reorganization of the First Presidency upon the death of the President, this was an extremely important event in the history of the Church.  Some two weeks later, Joseph Smith called the Twelve together to give them some instructions.  He said:

"I have something to lay before this council, an item which they will find to be of great importance to them.  I have for myself learned--a fact by experience which on reflection gives me deep sorrow.  It is a truth that if I now had in my possession every decision which has been given upon important items of doctrine and duties since the rise of this church, they would be of incalculable worth to the saints, but we have neglected to keep records of such things, thinking that perhaps they would never benefit us afterwards, which had we now, would decide almost any point that might be agitated; and now we cannot bear record to the church nor unto the world of the great and glorious manifestations that have been made to us with that degree of power and authority which we otherwise could if we had those decisions to publish abroad.  Since the twelve are now chosen, I wish to tell them a course which they may pursue and be benefitted hereafter in a point of light of which they, perhaps, are not now aware.  At all times when you assemble in the capacity of a council to transact business let the oldest of your number preside, and let one or more be appointed to keep a record of your proceedings and on the decision of every important item, be it what it may, let such decision be noted down, and they will ever after remain upon record as law, covenant and doctrine.  Questions thus decided might at the time appear unimportant, but should they be recorded and one of you lay hands upon them afterward you might find them of infinite worth not only to your brethren but a feast also to your own souls" (Joseph Smith, February 27, 1835, Record of the Twelve Apostles, Joseph Smith Papers Project).

Of all of the things that Joseph could have taught the Twelve during their first full meeting as a Quorum, he taught them to keep a record, promising them that as they did so, they would be blessed to find revelation, insight, and the power to testify boldly within those pages.  I believe that this principle applies not only to those called to the Quorum of the Twelve, but to each Latter-day Saint.  This week I came across a diary that gave me some important insights into my ancestor, William Franklin Dowdle (known in parts of Idaho as "Dowdle Bill").  Those insights were probably not what most would consider spiritual, but they gave me a better understanding of my family and tied me more closely to my ancestors.  As I read those entries, I felt a bond develop which I had not felt before.  The mere fact that I could learn more about my third great grandfather was a blessing and even a kind of spiritual experience.

There is a kind of power that comes as we read the diaries, letters, or other records that contain information about our ancestors.  I am perhaps not the best about finding the names, dates, and other things necessary to take names to the Temple.  I need to work on that and find ways to provide the Temple ordinances to my kindred dead.  But I have been greatly blessed by being able to learn about the details of the lives of my ancestors.  I have seen evidence of revelation and inspiration in their lives. I have seen some fall short, only to witness the power of the Atonement in healing those affected by those mistakes.  I have seen others serve faithfully and leave legacies of faith and devotion.  In each case I have been inspired and enlarged.  With each ancestor, I have felt my understanding of my own life grow.

I suspect that I am not alone in the feeling that I would give anything to have in my possession diaries and records from each of my ancestors.  If we feel this way, so will our children, our grandchildren, and so on down the line.  Even as we search out our kindred dead, let us leave a record of our faith and lives for those who will come after us.  Some day our testimonies recorded and our experiences that we have detailed will bless a descendent in a time of crisis or in a moment where he or she needs an added measure of faith.  May we leave for them a record that may touch their hearts and build their faith in just such moments!  And may we leave an honest record also.  Our descendants will need to know about our struggles and challenges and even some of our imperfections, almost as much as they will need to know about our faith.  Such things give them hope when they struggle and help them to gain faith in the power of Christ's atonement when they are less than perfect!

Brett