Today was and has been a very nice day of celebration. I miss being at the Roosevelt cemetery where I love to be on Memorial Day, but this has been a great day.
Elder and Sister Garies invited me to join them on their little outing to Elk Horn, Iowa-- a Danish town where they thought there would be a big day of Danish celebration. I was exited to go with them. We got there, and the little town was so quiet. We found out that their celebration was Saturday and Sunday. So we missed it all. We made the best of it and had some fun surprises. First we took a tour on the windmill in that town -- population of less than 700 people.
VELKOMMEN! - to the authentic 1848 DANISH WINDMILL in Elk Horn, Iowa -- A Piece of Denmark Close to Home. This windmill is America's only authentic working Danish Windmill. The windmill is 60 feet tall, built in Denmark in 1848 It was dismantled, and shipped to Elk Horn, Iowa and rebuilt in 1976 and is an honor to the area's Danish heritage. The town makes up the largest rural Danish settlement in the U.S.
We found out that the Lutheran Church was holding a Memorial Day service in their church. We went there next and was happy to join them. I was surprised to see such a large crowd of people
Pastor Menter opened his message by reading Psalm 33:12-22
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.........."
During this service he also read Ecclesiastes 3 "There is a time for everything......"
The congregation quoted this with him "He is Lord! He is Lord! He is risen from the dead and He is Lord! Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
He quoted John 15:13-17 "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends...... He recited The Lord's Prayer. They ended by singing "Onward Christian Soldiers"
(here are some of my thoughts from the service in the Lutheran Church today: We do live in a blessed nation, a nation that might seem like it is in trouble -- and yes it does seem so-- but I also know that it is our Lord's nation -- he did choose it for us - he will protect it for us -- we must remain true and faithful always walking in his path As I learn more and more about my ancestors who walked this land and learn of their tremendous amount of faith even in the harshest of circumstances, I marvel -- because I know that this is all in the Lord's hands. He guides us from heaven, he sees and knows us all - all his inhabitants, he is aware of our every need -- he hopes we will walk in faith and "our hope should be in his mercy " - he is our help, he is our shield. He has guided me and my little family through some
tribulations; we have walked each day in faith, in hope and have felt his help, his love and his protective shield.
There is a time for everything -- a time for every purpose ...I have a hundred or more thoughts of this chapter in Ecclesiastes -- for I have learned the importance of time -- and yet I find my self questioning it. I've made wrong choices because of time --not having patience or understanding because I didn't allow time to teach me and help me understand. I fought going on this mission for over a year and a half, because I didn't think it was the right time. But now I know that it is the right time and earlier just wasn't, but it was a time of preparation. I am so grateful for the right time - a time for every purpose under the sun.)
(here are some of my thoughts from the service in the Lutheran Church today: We do live in a blessed nation, a nation that might seem like it is in trouble -- and yes it does seem so-- but I also know that it is our Lord's nation -- he did choose it for us - he will protect it for us -- we must remain true and faithful always walking in his path As I learn more and more about my ancestors who walked this land and learn of their tremendous amount of faith even in the harshest of circumstances, I marvel -- because I know that this is all in the Lord's hands. He guides us from heaven, he sees and knows us all - all his inhabitants, he is aware of our every need -- he hopes we will walk in faith and "our hope should be in his mercy " - he is our help, he is our shield. He has guided me and my little family through some
tribulations; we have walked each day in faith, in hope and have felt his help, his love and his protective shield.
There is a time for everything -- a time for every purpose ...I have a hundred or more thoughts of this chapter in Ecclesiastes -- for I have learned the importance of time -- and yet I find my self questioning it. I've made wrong choices because of time --not having patience or understanding because I didn't allow time to teach me and help me understand. I fought going on this mission for over a year and a half, because I didn't think it was the right time. But now I know that it is the right time and earlier just wasn't, but it was a time of preparation. I am so grateful for the right time - a time for every purpose under the sun.)
this picture says it all for me -- his greater love, his selfish love
--he laid down his life for us, his friends -- me and you,
and I am so grateful
It was a wonderful service - I felt the love of God - you felt the love of these people for each other, for their committee, for the love of their ancestors who have passed on and for the honor that they felt for them. I was drawn to these people, I could have stayed - I told several of them that I could live in their beautiful little town. There was definately a spirit of love, or brotherly love and protection for each other in this community. It was a great experience.
After this wonderful service ended we went out to the cemetery which is behind the church and attended a memorial service -- it was amazing and I was so caught up in it. Flags - lots of flags everywhere and it was neat to be a part of the honor to our military men who had passed on after serving our country. I got teary eyed during the gun salute -- I felt dad right by my side I know he was there, He knows how much I love Memorial Day and he was there celebrating with me in the little town of Elk Horn, Iowa.
The American Legion held a lunch in the basement of their church and we were invited to attend. It was neat to see how many people me and the Garies were able to talk to. Even the pastor told us of his friend who lives in their town who is a Mormon. The meal was a perfect Memorial Day picnic style lunch. Made me happy.
On our drive home we stopped at a scenic view to take picture overlooking Iowa. What a gorgeous day we are having today. There in Iowa and here in Omaha. It was a lovely morning and afternoon. Thank you to the Garies- and below is a picture of them in the overlook tower in Iowa.
Thank you Elder and Sister Gareis
Below is our memorial day message from Pres. Gardner
I love Captain Moroni's defense of the Kingdom of God found Moroni in Alma 46.
As you may remember, the liberty of the church was at risk. Amalickiah sought to be the king over the land and spoke many flattering words to lead the members of the Church astray so that he could overthrow the government and take away the rights of the Church.
It says in Alma 46:10 "...he was a man of cunning device and of many flattering words, that he led away the hearts of many people to do wickedly; yea and to seek to destroy the Church of God, and to destroy the foundation of liberty which God had granted unto them."
We will hear many flattering words in our lives. Some of these will be spoken by others who we may have thought we could trust. Some will be spoken by the adversary into our own minds. We spoke of many of those flattering words that Satan tries to put in our heads at Zone Conference. Phrases like, "I can’t do this." or "I am not good enough." "I am not as good as he or she is." "They won’t be interested." or "We are just bothering people."
We may also hear lies from the adversary that might tell us that it is ok to live contrary to the teachings of the Gospel. You might be tempted by him at times when he says, "Everyone else is doing it." OR "Just this one time wont hurt." We may also at times be tempted by Satan to justify our own disobedience by saying, Elder ____ did this so its ok if I do that" even when we know it is against the commandments of God.
All of these flattering words are lies of the adversary. He was the force behind Amalickiah as he was trying to lead their hearts astray. He is the force behind trying to stop the work in the Nebraska Omaha Mission.
However, Moroni, who was filled with the Spirit of God and was obedient to his covenants, defended himself and those who were true believers in Christ, who had taken upon themselves the name of Christ because of their belief in Christ that should come. He took a piece of his coat and wrote the following:
In Memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, our peace, our wives and our children.
He ran through the streets saying, "Whosoever will maintain this title upon the land, let him come forth in the strength of the Lord and enter into a covenant that they will maintain their rights, and their religion that the Lord God will bless them.
We too must raise our own Title of Liberty when we are tempted by the lies and cunning and flattering words of the adversary. We must remember the Covenants that we have made with God to be faithful and obedient. We must seek strength from the words of the prophets and apostles knowing that they will never lead us astray. We must seek our Heavenly Father in prayer and we must feast upon the words of Christ.
Perhaps your Title of Liberty will say:
In Memory of My God, My religion, My freedom, My peace, My spouse, and My children.
I invite each one of you to defend your faith by praying and feasting up on the words of Christ. Defend what you know to be true by living up to what you believe. Defend the covenants that you have made by always being worthy of a temple recommend. Defend your peace and freedom by keeping the commandments. Defend your future spouse and your future children because choices you make now will impact their lives.
We love you.
President Gardner
CAPTAIN MORONI
and the Title of Liberty
In Memory of our God, our religion,
and freedom, our peace, our wives
and our children.
I
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