Elder Rasband Challenge: How does the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ help me overcome the challenges of today’s world?

  I am grateful for the invitation to ponder this question by Elder Rasband in General Conference. 

My first thought is: what ARE the challenges of today’s world? Some are certainly the same as challenges faced in ages past, and some are unique. Some are felt by everybody, and others are more personal to me and my loved ones.

Challenges that we share with the past include the challenge to provide for a family, to teach them good principles, to stay faithful to my spouse, to be honest and virtuous. To face the uncertainties and tragedies of life with faith in God. These have always been challenging. However, the challenges are different today in some ways. There has always been information available the builds faith in God, and some that tears down faith in God. With today’s internet, there is just more access to both. Therefore, deliberately choosing a mental diet that builds faith is both more possible and more challenging. The Restored Gospel is a major fount for faith-building information.

Secularism and skepticism seem prevalent today. The Restored Gospel helps to counteract these and place science in its proper elevated place as a true tool of God and not as a God itself. 

The Book of Mormon in particular provides me with inexpressible strength! Both the fact that it exists: a modern miracle, a tangible evidence that God still speaks and is still working with His children, and the answers and instruction it provides fill my soul and make me rejoice. Faith in Jesus Christ would be much more difficult for me in our modern world, I believe, were it not for the Book of Mormon. 

Some of the challenges of our day I avoid altogether by keeping the commandments of the Restored Gospel. I am not addicted to alchohol, dependent on mind-numbing illicit drugs or coffee to wake me up every morning. This is part because of the commandments revealed, and partly because I need those things less than I would if I didn’t have the Gospel. For many people, alcohol fills a void in their souls. I have a fountain of living water to fill that void whenever I thirst. 

I have a constant flow of direction coming from Heaven when I read my scriptures and go to church. The Holy Ghost speaks to me with gentle nudges: “You need to do x or y for your wife” or “You need to tell so and so you are sorry.” These messages also come from Prophets and Apostles when I am too deaf to hear for myself. These nudges help me to nip major problems in the bud before they become big issues. And these little touches from Heaven make me happy in my life, even when I am sad and downhearted! It is easier to choose the right when you are happy and optimistic and have hope. 

My covenants are another source of strength for me. I remember them when I am tempted, and I remember the promises I have made. And I trust that whatever happens, the Lord will help us be OK because we are striving to keep our covenants with Him. The promises of the Temple are an anchor of hope as I sail on life’s crazy seas. 

A challenge I would probably face more if I didn’t have the restored gospel is the difficulty of maintaining balance. Priorities like Family Home Evening and keeping the Sabbath Day Holy help me to stay in touch with my family, the true source of my joy, and to put career and ambition second. 

I am grateful the Lord brought me into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It has been a source of inspiration, hope, peace and improvement for me my whole life. 

The Importance of Feasting and Feeding

 I have been learning recently about the importance of food. I would like to share a few seemingly unrelated experiences and tie them together:

Experience #1: When I was 16, living on the outskirts of Bozeman, MT, we had a few sheep. One was named Porkchop. Porkchop was really good at breaking through the fence and wandering around the hillside by our house. The problem was, the wildflower lupine grows all around that area, and lupine is poisonous to sheep. So, one day, when Porkchop escaped, my mother sent myself and a friend out to return him to the corral. We chased him—he ran. We cornered him—he dodged us. We tried to lasso him—he jumped out of reach. I was getting exasperated with this stupid sheep. Didn’t he know we only wanted to help? Didn’t he know we were trying to protect him from danger? 

Finally, my friend had an idea. We walked into the corral, leaving the door open, and poured some sheep pellets—a tasty ovine dish—into a bowl. Porkchop heard the pellets being poured and the other sheep bleating from across the hill and he came literally running into the corral to eat. 

Experience #2: This week I listened to a powerful lecture by Star: a woman who spent 20 years being trafficked as a sex slave around the United States. One day, with a bullet in her head left there by her pimp and all of her fellow “employees” dead, she found herself floating in the ocean off the coast of California. She heard a voice tell her, “This is the last time I save you from yourself,” not a threatening voice, nor a spiteful voice, but a clear and loud and “booming” voice full of love. Soon thereafter she was found and saved. She came to Utah and met a bishop working at Deseret Industries. Since that time she has found a source of healing, peace, and purpose in Jesus Christ. She founded “Rockstar Ministries” in Salt Lake as an outreach program for victims of human trafficking. She told us that there are people recruiting new human trafficking victims all over the place: they look for vulnerabilities and needs in young women and become their friends. They help them when it seems no one else will. They buy them things. They listen to them. Then they ask them to do things in return. It is a slippery slope with violent beating, manipulation, and coercion mingled with affection and validation. Star told us, “When Jesus begged Peter to ‘feed my sheep’, I think He did so because He knows that if we followers of Christ don’t feed the sheep, someone else will feed them, and it will be someone who wants to take advantage of them.”

Experience #3: I recently came to learn of the nutritional studies of Dr. Joel Furman, MD. He focuses on diet to treat disease. His prescriptions are not all that revolutionary (eat your fruits and vegetables!) but the results he reports are astounding and the theory is fascinating. Cancer is measurably decreased and slowed, autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis are cured, heart disease is reversed. Everyone’s mother knows that eating low fat, low sugar, non-refined diets with lots of fruits and veggies is healthier, but why? Dr. Furman thinks of it this way: our bodies are hungry for nutrients. Not just macronutrients like carbs and protein, but micronutrients: vitamins, minerals, flavins; the symphony of nutrition that is provided most perfectly in the flora of our world. He theorizes that our bodies need these micronutrients to function, but you can’t get those nutrients in a twinkie or a waffle or a poptart or a steak. So, to get the nutrients, our bodies make us feel hungry. We respond by eating a poptart. This doesn’t solve the problem, so our body still feels hungry. We put junk in our bodies trying to fill our innate need for the simple good stuff; and the result is a population where heart disease is our number one killer, obesity is an epidemic, and diabetes is as common as McDonald’s. 

Experience #4: In my marriage preparation class last week, our teacher discussed one of the fundamentals of personal preparation for a happy marriage: personal security. This is somewhat synonymous with the modern definition of “self-esteem” and we discussed various sources of false self-esteem: wealth, image, popularity, health, intelligence, self-righteousness, talents, weight, the number of friends you have etc. These can all be good things if kept in their proper place, but they are a lousy and ephemeral foundation for your sense of lasting self worth, which is prerequisite to happiness and healthy relationships. What is a good source of self worth? Our teacher called to mind the old TV show “Antique Roadshow.” On the show, the people look at antique items and appraise them, discuss their good and bad qualities, and finally discover how much they are worth. Is the value of the item being auctioned off its age? Its condition? Its original price? Nope. The item is worth….exactly how much someone is willing to pay for it. Even if it is a beat-up, dirty-looking rag, it is worth a million dollars if someone is willing to pay it. 

The teacher then applied the same to us: how much are we as people worth? We are worth what God was willing to pay for us. In this case, it was the suffering of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, which was a price beyond what we understand. We were worth it to Him. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).

I think these four experiences teach a lot of lessons when considered together, and I don’t need to bore you by making this post any longer with analysis. Suffice it to say, I think it is clear that all of us as humans hunger for love, for appreciation, for understanding and hope. There are poisonous wildflowers out there in the world, there are insubstantial twinkies, there are people who will love you to take advantage of you, and there are sources of false self-esteem ever-ready to satisfy our need to be recognized and valuable. But there are also sheep pellets, there are fruits and veggies, there are people who love you for who you are, and there is a never-ending source of identity that you can feast upon: you are a child of God, and your existence and your preservation are no accident. Even with all your flaws and faults, you are worth it to Him. That is a major part of what Christ came to teach us. 

The funny thing about hunger is that it never goes away for good; it keeps coming back. So we have to keep eating, eating either the good stuff or the bad stuff. We have such a feast at our disposition. I intend to, in the words of Dr. Seuss, “feast, feast, feast feast.” I hope these thoughts are helpful to you, and if you are hungry, come knock on my door. Food is always better shared. 

O Jerusalem

What a jam-packed day! First we went to the wailing wall. A powerful feeling is there. I had to wear a yamaka to pray at the wall.

We crossed into the Muslim quarter and security was a lot tighter than it had been in the Jewish quarter. They were checking people's bags for bibles and making them hide their cross necklaces. I was a bit nervous because I had a Book of Mormon in my backpack. The guard pulled it out, sounded out the words, "The Book of Mor-mon" and then put it back in my bag and let me through. Hoof. We aren't aloud to talk about the church at all in Israel. But the Dome of the Rock was beautiful.

Next we walked over to Gethsemane and enjoyed the beautiful church there. It is right on the Mount of Olives, and it faces the Golden Gate entrance to the city: a gate that it was prophesied the Messiah would come thru, and so the Muslims have sealed it shut with stone centuries ago. A Muslim cemetery is on the other side of the gate.

If you look thru these trees of Gethsemane you can see the gate.

As we were making our way back from the beautiful garden of Gethsemane, we met a young man who didn't speak english but he signaled that we should follow him. He seemed nice so we did. He took us a short distance and pointed to a sign that said "Orson Hyde Memorial Park." What are the chances? We weren't even looking for it. This is where Orson Hyde came and dedicated the land of Jerusalem for the gathering of the children of Abraham in the last days. The boys name was Mohammed and he took us on some off-road paths. It was rough going and he helped me not slip, and also helped Katie not slip. He was a little too friendly with her and she didn't feel super comfortable. As we said goodbye, he kissed me on both cheeks, and then he kissed her on both cheeks, and tried to kiss her on the mouth. Nope, not ok. But we were grateful for the experience and to have found the park. We gave him two shekels (about 60 cents) to say thanks. Katie said afterwards that her desire to travel in the middle east has dramatically decreased.

Mohammed

We followed the "Via Dolorosa" which is a long road where Christ supposedly carried his Cross. It is demarcated with phony relics and questionable sites (here Christ fell for the first time under the weight, here a saint gave him a handkerchief to wipe his face, etc..) Although the streets are about 20 feet higher than they used to be (Jerusalem has ruin built on top of ruin) it was neat to think of the long walk of the Savior.

The church of the Holy Sepulcher is the sight where traditionally Jesus is believed to have been crucified, buried, and resurrected, although there is pretty much no evidence for that location other than Constantine's mother choosing it. It is a MASSIVE church complex run by six major Christian sects. The people in front of us were Italian pilgrims, reciting prayers to Mary as they approached the empty tomb. We entered into the empty tomb. The man ahead of us was obviously very devout and moved by the experience. But after 10 seconds, the guard clapped and said loudly, "Ok, enough, come out, move out..." I much more enjoyed the Garden Tomb. Although the exact location of Golgotha and the tomb are unknown, a lot of evidence points to this location. It is run by volunteers and only a certain number of people can visit at a time. It was one of the most peaceful places on earth. I feel like I will have more to envision when I think of the life of Christ henceforth.

We walked around the ramparts of the City as well before walking up to meet my friend at the BYU Jerusalem Center. We looked South to where Nephi and his family probably left Jerusalem.

BYU's center is FANTASTIC! It has the best view of the whole city of Jerusalem in my opinion. The grounds feel like temple grounds. Very impressive.

Ben, my buddy, told us to visit the 3rd Temple institute, a Jewish organization that has prepared a menorah, temple ceremony clothes, etc. all based off of the Old Testament to prepare for the temple to be rebuilt on the Temple Mount (where the Muslim Dome of the Rock is currently standing.) They seem to ignore the obvious tension of the situation, saying, "Well, unfortunately there is something on that property currently, but that will be taken care of eventually. And when it is, we will be prepared."

Currently Jews are forbidden to even enter the temple mount, but not by Muslims: the Jewish leaders have imposed a ban on Jews entering because, seeing as the Divine Presence was in the Holy of Holies, and they can't prove where the Holy of Holies was exactly, the whole temple mount is sacred ground and can't be entered into.

The Dome of the Rock was built in memory of Mohammed's "Night Journey," from what I understand. He and some leaders of Islam journeyed one night to Jerusalem, the story goes, and he on the temple mount was enrapt in a vision and caught up to heaven. He traveled thru 7 levels, meeting a prophet at each level, and eventually met Abraham at the 7th level and communed with Allah. Allah commanded him to tell the people to pray 50 times a day, and the Prophet traveled back to level 6, where he met Moses. Moses said, "Look, I can tell you from experience with the children of Israel, 50 is not going to go over well. Ask if it can be reduced." So Mohammed returned to commune with God and it was reduced to 40. Again Moses counseled him to barter and so it was reduced to 30, 20, 10, 5...and then Mohammed said he was embarrassed to barter any lower than that and so it was. They pray 5 times a day, and the Lord counts each prayer as if it were 10 prayers.

I love this place. 

Venice: A walk thru Disneyland

This last weekend we visited Venice. Wow. How do you express that in words?

Looking for a cheap place to stay in Venice is hard, but we found the Rainbow Biological Garden/Campground that looked quaint and super cheap outside of the city. You get off at the bus stop and then walk a mile thru green countryside to get there. When we did, they assigned me a tent (my traveling partner, Katie, brought her own tent) with a mattress and full bedding inside. Workers were coming and going lazily, picking apricots and zucchinis and making wine in huge kegs. We met a guy named Matthew, from Portland, who has been traveling Italy for almost a year with his girlfriend, camping out and making ends meet by playing music. He was strumming his guitar without a shirt on and singing an enchanting song about a gypsy lady. I felt strangely at home in this place; it felt a lot like the Emerson Cultural Center in Bozeman.

They had a huge rack of 30 or so bikes, and they gave us a lock and let us borrow bikes to get to the bus station. We found at later that the LDS Church building was about a mile away, which was a huge blessing on Sunday.

Walking thru Venice is literally like walking thru Disneyland. Every turn you take you stop and say, "Mamma mia, che bello!" You see people riding Gondolas, you hear accordion music, you see people feeding hordes of pigeons breadcrumbs right out of their hands. We told one local Italian, "It is easy to get lost in Venice." He said, "BISOGNA perdersi!" "YOU MUST get lost!" We found his words to be true, the more lost we got the more beautiful it became.

We had a couple of young, charming girls from BYU in our group who decided to stay out at night to watch the world cup with Italians in the Piazza. I demonstrated how to use an umbrella to keep nasty Italian guys away from them, and then I said, "Ok, Candace, you practice. Pretend I am a sleazy italian guy trying to hit on you." Before I could approach her, an italian guy in his twenties walked out of no where and put his arm around her and invited her to his friend's bachelor party that evening. Sometimes I am grateful to not have to worry about being female.

We watched the world cup Italy vs. England game back at the campsite on a TV. Italy won, 2 to 1, and it was very fun to feel the excitement every time a goal was made. The other guests chatted with us the whole time, which made it hard to watch the game, but funner all the same. I love how Italians can chat for hours.

In church the next morning, I saw Anziano Lindsay and Kessler, two elders I had taught in the MTC. It was wonderful to see them and to hear of the miracles that are happening in their mission. They recently had a 26 year old young man, who had studied the church for 2 years, join, and the blessed the sacrament. He looked like an RM. He glowed. He is a psychologist and a swimmer, in fact he won the national swimming championship some time ago. It was cool to see the gathering that took place in him and in Venice.

We went to the bus stop to make it back to our bus which would take us home, but we realized that the busses don't run on Sundays! We panicked, we had half an hour to get where we needed to be. Across the parking lot of the supermarket we saw someone wave to us. It was a member couple and their two kids who we had seen earlier in church. They were traveling back to Switzerland, and were happy to give us a desperately needed ride. It was a truly tender mercy.

One other tender mercy: as we walked along the canal (Venice is build on a sandy foundation of 3 islands, it sinks about a centimeter each year. #globalwarming) I heard someone yell, "Peter!!" It was my elementary school chum, Cameron Webster! Katie and I, he and his two siblings sat and chatted for a good hour, remembering yellow-brown puddles of snow on the playground, the times when we got in trouble for throwing dandelions on the playground, how he got kicked out of choir for misbehavior and then got put back in because other students wanted to get out of choir as well, and the love that the teachers had shown us. He said, "Anderson school is a public school that acts like a private school." I think he is mostly right. We both felt very blessed. 

Learning to be Defeated

The other day we had dinner with the Torre (tower) contrada. Our teacher is from this contrada and it was fun and interesting to hear his perspectives. Torre is sworn enemies with the Goose contrada. He said that they used to spar and practice fighting, because when you know your enemies by studying them and their tactics, you know each other inside and out, well enough to fight effectively side by side when you need to join forces to expel an invading force. He also said, “Another benefit of having an enemy is when you win, you have someone to gloat over. The contrada that don't have enemies don't have as much to celebrate when they win.” :)

He also taught us a powerful lesson in a unique way:

About 53 years ago, the Tower contrada won, and they celebrated by plucking the feathers off of 43 live geese in the middle of the tower square (one for each of the years they had ever won). This was a serious breach of typical sportsmanship, and everyone was outraged. A priest in the city cursed them that they would not win for 43 straight years as penance for their rudeness. And you know what? They didn't.

I am not one to say curses can't happen, but it's also true that politics play as much a role in the winning of the palio race as luck and skill do. The winning team has to pay millions of dollars to make their winning probably. It is kind of like playing group solitaire on a table while you are all playing poker under the table simultaneously. The cards cross over from the invisible game to the visible, but no one is really able to pin down how or why except those involved.

He told us that one year during this cursed famine (which ended when Torre won in 2005) Goose won, and the lights were turned off and the windows closed in the Torre zone while the Goose celebrated on the other side of the town. He heard someone on the street talking loudly to God, saying, “Why? Why? I am 25 years old, I have never seen my contrada win? What's wrong with me?” His friends came out of their houses and calmed him down and comforted him, and brought him home. But it occurred to our teacher that we all ask ourselves and God that question in some way at some time in our lives. “Why me? Why now?” And the young man was fortunate to hear God's answer: his friends who came to remind him that he was part of a community and he was loved.

Then our teacher said, “The Palio teaches us how to be defeated. You young Americans don't learn this lesson very well. You are taught from a young age that if you try hard enough and do your best, you will always win. Everyone has to be winners and no one can lose. Well, that isn't true! Sometimes you do all you can, and you are defeated. But if you don't learn to be defeated and to try again anyway, then there is danger that the first time you are defeated will be the last.”

The Contrada is really REALLY felt here! Parents often don't let their newborns touch the ground until they can put their feet on the marble floor of the contrada church. They are baptized Catholic, and then they are baptized into the contrada. When you die, the people you expect to come greet you into the world of spirits are the deceased of your contrada from ages past. In fact, one family wrote to the city and asked to have their grandmother's tomb moved, because it was facing an enemy contrada member. The city obliged!! Pretty interesting stuff.

We started our internships this week. I walked into the hospital and followed the colorful 90's style directions to the 7^th floor to the dental emergency room department. In Italy, if you want really high quality dentistry done quickly, you go to a private dentist. Those who wish to (or can only afford to) pay less and wait for month for a root canal go to the hospital. Those in immediate pain go to the emergency room and are treated quickly.

The head of the dental department is a lady with a short stature and a huge personality. She is super fun. She sat me down in her office and said, “Why are you here?” I explained I wanted to learn from observing Italian dentists at work as I prepared to apply to dental schools. She nodded and reached into her desk, pulling out a box of cigarettes. As she started smoking, she told me the days I could come and what to expect. After she had smoked thru half of the cigarette, she threw it nonchalantly out the open window behind her. (Did I mention we were on the 7^th floor? Haha). She said, “Look, not everyone in the medical environment is gonna be a helpful and friendly to observers as me and my partner doctor are. Just be prepared and have tough skin if people are impatient with you.” She exchanged a few warm and colorful words with my accompanying italian professor and we were on our way.

I bought a white labcoat and began observations the next day. The doctors here are friendly and fun, and some love Cat Stevens' music. I have a blast with them. We have seen a lot of extractions and sutures these days. Dental floss is not really a thing in Italy. Culturally, parents just don't seem to teach their kids to floss or put emphasis on it. I have started flossing more religiously since I started observing here. But I have been very impressed with the doctors, their preparation and empathy.

Juliet, Pictures, Pisa and More

This place is magihal. I say magihal behause that is how everyone pronounces their “c” sounds in Tushany. They are such a beautiful, intelligent, warm people.

I learned more about these 17 contrade this week: this rivalry is serious business. At times two different neighborhoods will line up across from one another, with the police and the ambulance on hand, and when someone yells “go” they run at each other, fistfight for a minute or less, and then dissipate quickly. To join a contrada, you pay a fee and then you are (literally) baptized into the contrada. The only rules during the horse race are that you can't hit another player's horse. It's the horse that wins, even if the fantino (rider) falls off. This has been going on for centuries. There is always some nasty politics, with riders getting paid by both their own contrada as well as receiving an under the table sum of cash from a rival so that they will lose. But if you are caught betraying your contrada, you are publicly shamed and someone will likely beat you up if they catch you on the street.

Romeo and Juliet? They really lived! We were told yesterday that they were originally from Siena. Someone wrote down the story, and Shakespeare read it and embellished it, with the city of Verona as the main stage because he knew that city better. But Romeo and Juliet were from different contrade, and that is why their families hated each other so much.

We went to see the leaning tower of Pisa yesterday. It REALLY leans! It is hard to walk up the stairs because you lean one way and then the other, but it is so beautiful up top. We talked to a Napolitana couple who had been married for 25 years on the train ride home. We asked them what the secret to their successful marriage was. They answered, “Litigare sempre. Poi chiedere scusa.” “Fight all the time. Then make up afterwards.” They said as long as you are fighting, you are communicating sincerely. They said make war during the daytime, then make peace during the nighttime. :) I love Italians.

We learned about Galileo, who grew up in Pisa and allegedly dropped metal balls from the top of the tower to prove that two metal balls of different masses will fall with the same acceleration. Pretty neat to think that everyone wearing a wristwatch can thank him for his studies.  

Il Colosseo 

Statue of a vestal virgin. Heads were often removed from statues because they were easiest to carry

They brought me this as a special surprise when I declined meat

Josh got bad sunburn and his head swelled

Fontana dei quattro fiumi by Bernini

This cute old couple were dancing to gypsy accordion music near St. Francis' basilica in Assissi

Assissi

The mountains of Umbria

Assissi

:) We also saw one that said, "Please don't sit on the choir"

Sienna

The world's first local city hall

Inside the leaning tower of Pisa. The metal pole is perfectly vertical. Trippy!

As we toured the neighborhood of the Tortuca (Turtle) today

Arriving in Siena

Well, I intended to share more of my adventures in Rome last year than I did. I will have to play catch up later.

Have you ever had so much good food set in front of you that you were sorry you couldn't eat it all? I feel like my experience in Italy have been very much like that so far. Every cathedral we visit is exquisite and took years of talent and hard work to make. Every view looking out over Rome or Tuscany is breathtaking. Every meal makes your mouth water. But after a certain point your mind can't count the hours it must have taken to make a church, you have to stop letting the views take your breath away so you don't suffocate, and if your mouth doesn't stop watering you will drool on yourself. So I am just enjoying as much as I can and being grateful for the things that I would enjoy if I had room in my limited heart for them.

Siena is a gorgeous medieval town divided into 17 neighborhoods, called contrade, each with a mascot (Goose, Tower, Shell, Wave, etc). They have a horse race every year in the main piazza, and good fortune and bragging rights are on the line. This is a HUGE deal! Passions and tempers can run deep between rivaling contrade, and to come in second place is worse than coming in later, because it means you almost won.

My host family is the Carlini family. They are a sweet older couple with young hearts, kind eyes and amazing cooking skills. Their 24 year old son is smart and fun and studying to be a professor of medieval art. There are two poodles as well, Lily and Mimosa. They are a bit like paranoid old princesses, and every time you walk across the floor, or move suddenly, Mimosa starts barking like crazy, as if to say, "HEY! HEY! What are you doing in my house! Hey! Oh, it's you. Oh, ok. Well I'll let it slide this time." And Lily follows suit, "HEY! I don't know why we are barking but you are barking so I am barking! What's wrong? Somethings wrong! Oh, you stopped, ok." They do this even when their own family walks across the floor.

Our new babbo, Marco, informed us that we are in the Nicchio contrada; the team of the shell.

La vita e bella.