THE SIMMERING POT OF JACKSON COUNTY
"The Prophet Joseph and those who accompanied him to Missouri in the summer of 1831 were joyful to learn that Jackson County was the location of the latter-day Zion. They did not realize that within two years the Saints would be driven from their homes in western Missouri..."The year 1833 was one of tribulation for the Saints in Jackson County, Missouri. Irreconcilable conflicts developed with their neighbors over several issues...
"By the end of 1832 there were 800 Saints gathered into five branches in Jackson County. New people were arriving almost every week..."
There was a clear organization of Church leadership set up in Jackson County by the Prophet. "Some members, however, tried to circumvent the Church leaders in Missouri by ignoring their authority to preside...
"Other difficulties arose in Zion. Petty jealousies, covetousness, light-mindedness, unbelief, and general neglect in keeping the commandments of God came to the attention of the Prophet. Some people in Zion even charged Joseph Smith with 'seeking after monarchical power and authority' and said that he was purposely putting off settling in Zion...
"The Prophet wrote back in the spirit of peace and sent a copy of the 'Olive Leaf' (D&C 88)...
"Following receipt of the Olive Leaf revelation, a council of high priests met on 26 February 1833 and called for solemn assemblies to be held in each of the branches (see D&C 88:70). David Pettigrew wrote in his journal that Bishop Partridge appointed them 'as a day of confession and repentance.'"
"The happy and favorable circumstances of the Saints in Jackson County ended suddenly in July of 1833. The original inhabitants of the area became increasingly suspicious as the number of Church members in Jackson County grew rapidly...
"Jackson County's residents were a rough-and-ready group who had come from the mountainous regions of several southern states to the western edge of the United States to find freedom from societal restraints...Many of them indulged in profanity, Sabbath-breaking, horse-racing, cock-fighting, idleness, drunkenness, gambling, and violence...
"By July 1833 the Mormon population in the county was almost 1,200 with more arriving each month. Some members boasted that thousands more were coming to live in the county...
"Protestant ministers...resented the Mormon intrusion" into their territory. "In addition, Mormon merchants and tradesmen successfully took over a portion of the lucrative Santa Fe Trail trade previously dominated by the Missourians...
"The Missouri frontiersmen feared and hated the [Native Americans]" who were being settled nearby by the government. "The first Mormon missionaries came into this tense atmosphere declaring the prophetic destiny of the native Americans. The old settlers were afraid the Saints would use the [Native Americans] to help them conquer the area for their New Jerusalem...
"The conflict between the Saints and the old settlers came to a head over the slavery issue. Missouri had come into the Union as a slave state...Some of the Saints brought abolitionist sentiments from the North and East...Missourians were highly aroused early in 1832 by rumors that the Saints were trying to persuade slaves to disobey their masters or run away." (Quotes are all from the Institute manual, Church History in the Fulness of Times, p. 127-132)
- The afflictions of the Saints will be for their good.
- The Saints are to befriend the constitutional law of the land.
- Honest, wise, and good men should be supported for secular government.
- Those who lay down their lives in the Lord’s cause will have eternal life.
- Renounce war and proclaim peace.
- The Saints in Kirtland are reproved and commanded to repent.
- The Lord reveals His laws governing the persecutions and afflictions imposed on His people:
- War is justified only when the Lord commands it.
- The Saints are to forgive their enemies, who, if they repent, will also escape the Lord’s vengeance.
- The Saints are chastened and afflicted because of their transgressions.
- The Lord’s indignation will fall upon the nations, but His people will be gathered and comforted.
- Zion and her stakes will be established.
- The nature of life during the Millennium is set forth.
- The Saints will be blessed and rewarded then.
- The parable of the nobleman and the olive trees signifies the troubles and eventual redemption of Zion.
- The Saints are to continue gathering together.
- The Lord established the Constitution of the United States.
- The Saints are to importune for the redress of grievances, according to the parable of the woman and the unjust judge.
1 Verily I say unto you my friends, afear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give bthanks;
2 aWaiting patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament—the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted.
3 Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you, with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled; and all things wherewith you have been aafflicted shall work together for your bgood, and to my name’s glory, saith the Lord.
Today there are groups of Saints who feel marginalized, oppressed, misunderstood, or underappreciated within the cultures in which they live and sometimes within the Church. There are doctrines we do not understand or which have not yet been fully revealed, because the Restoration is ongoing. We are still learning where faithful Saints who have gender issues, such as same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria, fit in the present-day Kingdom of God on earth, as well as in the eternal doctrine of the family. We are still learning more about the role of women in the priesthood. We still don't fully understand why early Church leaders could be inspired of God and still have views that were racist.
There are also individual Saints who are going through other severe trials that are hard to understand. Every one of us will fall into this category at some time in our life because developing trust in God is a key component of our progression toward Godhood. Our trials also teach us very important lessons about each other and ourselves, and they reveal to us our total dependence upon our Savior.
If either of these categories describes you at this present time, I encourage you to read, re-read, and possibly even memorize these three verses of comfort and promise from the Lord of Sabaoth (the Lord of Heavenly Armies) and know that He is on your side if you are on His. If your prayers are inspired and ratified by the Holy Ghost, they will be answered.
MY TESTIMONY OF GOD'S CARE
Although I usually try to not make this blog about me, I feel impressed to indulge in telling a personal story about these verses as a follow-up to the story I shared in the last post.
For several years of our married life, right around the turn of the 21st century, my husband, who is a space sciences engineer, was working on a joint satellite project between the United States and Russia. This work required him to travel frequently to Moscow for ten days or two weeks at a time. I was at our home raising 6 children, from an infant to teenagers. It was hard on our family to have our father gone so much of the time. It was hard on his health to have to flip his days and nights so frequently as he drastically changed time zones. It was very hard on me to be a single parent. These feelings of frustration worsened as it became increasingly obvious that two mighty countries with two massive governments who functioned in completely different ways would never trust each other enough to get this satellite off the ground. The project would never be completed and launched.
One day it occurred to me that, although I had complained quite a bit about this situation of family separation, I had never asked in prayer for the Lord to take it away. Immediately I dropped to my knees beside my bed, but as I began to pray I was suddenly infused with the knowledge that I was going to pray for the wrong thing. I was immediately filled with peace and purpose in my role as the sometimes sole parent at home. I did offer a prayer, but it ended up being a prayer of gratitude for the knowledge that the travel was important in God's plan. I never felt to complain again.
As Gary walked the streets of Russia in the early years of his work there, street children would flock around him, begging for money. It was heartbreaking. It was the early days of the democracy experience for Russia and their economy had collapsed. Most of these children were orphaned or abandoned. He learned to always carry coins in his pocket to throw for the children, like one might throw candy in an American parade. This got money to the children and also got them off him so he could continue down the street. By about the year 2000 as Russia became more stable, the children gradually disappeared from the streets, placed into orphanages. Gary's flights home from Russia began to be increasingly filled with American parents and their newly adopted Russian infants and children.
Since the birth of our sixth child, we had always felt an incompleteness in our family. Several times I had accidentally told people we had seven children! Yet the seventh child did not appear in the usual way.
In the meantime, my husband's supervisors invited the spouses of the team to travel to Russia to tour with them in conjunction with one of their business trips. I'm not a great traveler and I had never wanted to go to Russia, but I felt I would always regret it if I didn't take advantage of the offer. It ended up being a wonderful experience. At the conclusion of the tour, I then personally experienced an airline flight from Moscow to New York City with about fifteen newly-adopted children and their American parents.
We traveled to Krasnodar, Russia and met a beautiful little 4-year-old girl. We were told we would be able to return in six weeks to adopt her. But just before we were to return, we were told her paperwork had not been filed correctly and we would have to wait a little longer. Then the birthmother (from within prison, where she was serving a drug sentence) sent a letter to the child and promised to come back to get her. We would have to wait to see if she would follow through. Then adoptions in the region halted for months while a new regional Board of Education (which oversees adoptions) was appointed. We ran out of money and took out a second mortgage on our home. Our paperwork, home study, and official documents expired so we did it all again. And we waited. I carried an almost constant knot in my stomach and had to make myself eat. We could not see how this stalemate would ever resolve.
During this time, my visiting teacher, whose three children were all adopted, shared with me the scripture mentioned above, D&C 98:1-3. It had carried a personal message to her from God when she had been despairing during the long wait for their second child. I hoped it was a message for us as well.
We were sent pictures of other children to adopt, but as we prayed for guidance about whether we should change direction, we always got the answer to just continue waiting. Our ward fasted and prayed with us for our adoption. Then our Russian adoption agent suddenly emigrated to America (with our money) and we were left high and dry.
It was right then, when all hope seemed lost, almost two years after we started the adoption process, that suddenly the way cleared. We found a new Russian adoption agent through connections on an Internet support group who was more knowledgeable, more powerful and who had integrity. The area was reopened for foreign adoption, and we were sent a photograph of a sweet little four-year-old girl. The minute I saw that first photo, I knew this was our daughter. We redid all our expensive paperwork (again!) and booked our flights. We drove from Krasnodar to the orphanage in Afipsky with our new adoption agent, who said, "I was raised an atheist, but one cannot work in adoption and remain an atheist." We met a little girl with a big smile, and as I measured our new daughter for clothing, I discovered she had exactly the same measurements as the first little girl--even down to the shoe size!
The new Board of Education was not eager to allow adoptions into large families, but simply because we had waited so long and never given up, they allowed us to complete the last America adoption in that region before they shut it down again, and on October 11, 2004, our family was finally complete.
As time went on, we were able to see, more and more, how everything had worked out exactly according to Heavenly Father's plan for our family: Our daughter had not actually entered the orphanage system at the time we first traveled. God sent us that early, not only so that the new Board of Education would admire us for our persistence, but so that we could meet and photograph a darling little boy and help facilitate his adoption into another Latter-day Saint family in our home town. That boy recently completed a mission to Michigan. God also chose a child for our first attempt who looked just like our actual daughter would look two years later, so that our new agent would be able to easily find the right one just by appearance once she was available. We hope that the first little girl was successfully reunited with her mother, and that her mother has been motivated to stay clean from drugs for the benefit of her child. And all those times that I "accidentally" said we had seven children, we really did because our daughter was born in Russia 9 months before our youngest son was born in Utah.
This experience, which was at first the greatest trial of my faith, turned into the miracle that has become one of the greatest anchors to my faith. As one of the members of our ward said today in his testimony, "When in doubt, zoom out." If we can "zoom out" of the moment, get a long-range, eternal perspective, and trust that God knows what He is doing, trials of faith can become anchors of faith.
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