Christmas Sunday

I loved our sacrament meeting today! It was absolutely fabulous...and not because of some blockbuster musical number. Just great talks from 2 very different men. I want to write some of this down, because I actually learned a few things while Zack was crawling all over me...unusual, I know.

When I walked into sacrament I was surprised to see who both the speakers were, but for different reasons.

The first talk was given by a brand new member of our ward. He & his family just moved here from Japan. He is a pyschatrist with the military & they literally got here 10 days ago. I thought why did my dad ask him to speak? Give the guy a break, he is set to leave for a tour in Iraq later in the week. The next speaker was someone I'd known of for a long time, but was never really consistent in his church attendance & had had some well known serious & tough problems...once again, I thought, that's odd for Christmas Sunday, but figured he must be coming back to church, which is great.

Anyway, on to the talks & the substance. The first guy spoke a lot about what his job entails, which is intense therapy sessions for various military personnel. He detailed how when he meets with a new patient he just listens...essentially he said that is all he does, but especially with a new patient. He looks for behavioral patterns that are causing their destructive habits & then he has to come up with a way to help the patient recognize it & be willing to make changes. He said that in order to do this you have to have what they call, "genuine regard" for the person, or you need to love them. And not only do you need to love them, they need to know that in order to create a "safe place" for them to unload all their personal demons & from his account he's learned to love some very rough, antagonistic & hateful people. Much of which he credits to the spirit of the Lord allowing him to see the patients through our Heavenly Father's eyes. He testified of the love our Savior has for each one of us & how we can in a way use him as our "therapist" no obstacle is too great to overcome with the help of the Lord.

He was so well spoken & gentle in his delivery. I loved it. As I was talking with my dad this afternoon I commented on it & my dad agreed. He was hesitant to ask him to speak, but thought it would be helpful for the ward to get to know him before he departs. He said he usually has to call the other ward's bishop when members first move it to make sure they're in good standing, etc, but this brother was actually the branch president, so my dad thought he'd take his chances.

The next speaker was a guy that has lived by my parents since they've lived in Mesa. He is a wonderful person with a very sweet & sincere spirit about him...I guess I just never knew that about him. He has been irregular in his church attendance for as long as I've known him & had chosen other things to occupy his time, like drugs & alcohol. I hesitate to say too much because I'm sure many of you know him, but what I say really isn't any "insider" information & I think knowing the negative helps you to appreciate the positive. Anyway, while he hasn't ever served as branch president or always attended all his meetings; recently he has received a testimony of the gospel. He is this larger than life guy, who played professional sports, weeping at the tender moments he's experienced while reading the Book of Mormon. I don't think it gets any better than that! I was so happy that I was able to be in sacrament meeting today & hear his testimony. It was so pure & heartfelt that you just had to love the guy!

After they both spoke the stake president gave a few remarks that were so sweet in regards to my dad. He told the congregation that this man's life was changed because a kind bishop was inspired to knock on his door, give him a priesthood blessing & invite him to read the Book of Mormon. He then asked them both to stand next to him & it was so sweet to see the tender moments between the two of them...and the size difference (my dad is only 5'6")! For some reason, those moments make me so grateful for a dad like mine. He's the best! I'm glad he lives in a manner to receive inspiration & even more glad that he is always willing to act upon it.

Merry Christmas!