Domingo ang 29

Good Sabbath Day today. There were a goodly number at church today and an additional group from BYU visited as well. The speakers were good, and the Sacrament was spiritual.

Sunday School was taught by Brother Beriong's daughter as he couldn't attend. I don't know why. She taught from 1st Kings 11 thru ??? She did a good job and there was good participation. Much of it we couldn't understand.  The focus was on Solomon being replaced, at his death, by Rehoboam.

Rehoboam was a poor leader who ignored older, more experienced men whom he asked for advice. He, instead, followed young, inexperienced (meaning those with less wisdom). He added to the tax burden and led Israel to idolatry again and into heavy taxation and governmental oppression. (Important to remember after Solomon, that the Children of Israel divided into Judah (and a great part of the tribe of Benjamin) and the Children of Israel, north of Jerusalem, as I understand the division. Judah remained more righteous than the other 10 tribes and, again, the whole Old Testament seems to be about idolatry and immorality along with idolatry.

We got into a discussion about leadership, with Rehoboam as the example of crappy leaders and the problems brought on by poor leaders.

I turned to Mosiah, because I know that King Benjamin was a superior leader. There are many good leaders in the BoM. At the top of page 148 in Mosiah, I found a note I wrote some time back from Neal A. Maxwell, "King Benjamin gives the manual for discipleship." I would say he gave the manual for leadership as well. In Mosiah 2:11-18, King Benjamin describes great discipleship/leadership qualities.

A question arose, "What should we remove from our homes so we are less influenced by 'other Gods', like cellphones/technology/television?"

The question sort of stumped us. Nobody wants to give up tools that help us so much. I thought that perhaps we need not do away with the things that the Lord has given to further our progress and that of the Church, and that Lucifer has turned for evil.

Instead, I thought, and commented that perhaps what we ought to do away with is weakness and, instead of doing away with something, go ahead and strengthen ourselves to use the gifts provided only for good in our homes and lives. That seemed to be an answer that everyone could buy into. It is obviously difficult and there are many weak individuals who delve into pornography, constant cell phone use, television (have done this one myself) and the use of cell phones to the detriment of their family and friends. Call us "natural men."

[Sister S and I were in a restaurant in Birmingham and saw cute little family sitting next to us. The man and woman never took their eyes off their cell phones. There was no conversation. Their cute little son and daughter sat there waiting for their meal. There was no communication in the family. We thought how sad that was and how much we missed our children and grandchildren.]

Today was the fifth Sunday, so when we finally got into Priesthood, we were informed that we would meet in a combined meeting. We all went to the gym. The young men and young women met with the older Priesthood and Relief Society. However, nothing had been planned. We were very disorganized and I was flat out embarrassed.

Finally, Brother Demata of the branch presidency took the floor and asked the Zone Leaders to go over the new direction for missionary work in Antique. Elder Schaffer did a nice job, but the youth used the time as a visiting session and were very disruptive, talking the whole time and not listening. I was not impressed with the whole time and I envied those who went home early. We simply have to offer more and better instruction and use of time, if we want members to stay for the block of 3 hours.

This afternoon, we went with the missionaries to Brother and Sister Aldemita's house for dinner. It was very good and we got to see Elder Bohman, who leaves for Iloilo and home tomorrow morning.

The mission is taking a hit tomorrow as Sister Ili, Elder Aiolupotea, Elder Bohman, Elder Lopez, Sister Cabrera, Elder Mallillin, Elder Inoke, Elder Nakaata, Elder Stacey, Elder Truner, and Sister Uno go home Tuesday. We will miss several with whom we have been acquainted and come to love. We pray for blessings for them and we know the Lord loves them and will be blessing them whenever/however He can.