Nephews/Timp/Talk

This week I spent time with my nephews again. Nathaniel, the four-year-old, said some funny things, like always. We were outside, looking at ants, when his brothers told him that red ants are bad. So then he began stomping on the red ones. All three boys are very motivated by money and are always asking for ways they can earn it. Nathaniel was saying he should get money for saving (or "hayving") our lives by stepping on the red ants. That night, we were downstairs, and he was under a blanket, and he asked me to go upstairs to get his water bottle. I told him he could get it himself, but he said, "I'm too cold." I told him it was warmer upstairs. Later, he had left his blankets upstairs, so he asked me to get them. I once again told him he could get them himself. So he used the same excuse not to get his blankets: "I'm too cold!"

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Yesterday, I hiked Mount Timpanogos. And now that it's off my unofficial bucket list, I never have to do it again!

I discovered a few things about myself. I am not in as good a shape as I thought I was. Now, that may not be completely accurate, because I think even those in better shape were sore today, and I was informed that it would take between three and four hours to hike to the saddle, and I made it in just under three. But going up the switchbacks to make it to the saddle, I had to keep stopping, and I thought, "Why did I do this?"

I also realized I'm more scared of heights than I thought I was. It's not like the trail was really scary, but I felt just a little anxious as I walked on the trail. It wasn't like I would die if I fell off; I would just do some rolling on rocks. When I got to the top, I just felt a little uneasy. There was a little shack at the top, but I didn't take any pictures of it, because I felt too uneasy taking pictures (and thereby taking my eyes off the ground) at the top. I felt much safer inside the shack. I had a high school teacher who said she wanted to get a group together to disassemble the shack, but I for one appreciated it. Besides, then people would carve the rocks instead of writing in the shack; there were carvings in the rock from the 1920s!

All the rocks were limestone. From the little bit of research I did, I learned that it is all Pennsylvanian in age; in the Mississippian Period (right before the Pennsylvanian), some mountains formed to the west, and they created a basin which filled with seawater, which is how the limestone formed. I was hoping to see shell fossils--I saw some things that could have been fossils, but I didn't get to look closely enough to know for sure, and limestone has a lot of anomalies in it. But I did just happen to have some hydrochloric acid in my backpack from Geology 210 last August, so I was able to show how the limestone fizzes. (I actually think at that point it was dolostone, limestone that has magnesium in it.)

It was a tough hike. It took three hours to get to the saddle, where we waited for about an hour for some of our other group members to come. Then we hiked to the summit, which probably took about 45 minutes (I wasn't too concerned about time at that point). I spent a little bit of time there and got some pictures from the shack.

It would have been prettier if it weren't so hazy. I wasn't too impressed with the Utah Lake view, just because I get to see it from Rock Canyon when I run up there, although of course I was much higher. Since I am scared of slipping, I knew that I was going to go really slow down back down, so I left before the other members of my ward. I figured they would catch up with me at some point. But it turns out that almost everyone went a different way back down, one where they could slide down a snow patch "glacier." I heard that most of the injuries and deaths on the mountain come from doing that, so I wasn't disappointed I missed that. But since I was by myself (I didn't feel in danger, because there were people all around, just not from my group), at one point I turned the wrong way. I thought, "I don't remember it being this steep," and I had to try hard not to slip going down. Then I realized that I had gone the wrong way, and I thought, "You mean I have to climb back up that hill?!" But going up was actually easier, because I was less likely to slip. Then I was back on the right trail to keep going back. I actually learned that I could have kept going that "wrong" way, but it would have required walking on snow, and I'm terrified of slipping. Going down was harder than I thought, even once I got to the less steep and rocky parts. My legs were really sore, and my feet hurt every time I stepped on a rock. I kept thinking, "It can't be much further now." But it was much further, and eventually some of the group did catch up to me, but we weren't too far from the trailhead. Going down, I knew that I couldn't stop, because it would be hard to get going again.

At one point when I was coming down, I saw some people in BYU shirts, and I said to one, "Hey! We were in the MTC together!" The other guy said, "Really? January 2012?" I said, "Oh, no, I was there long before you. You just look exactly like someone I knew." But there was a guy there who said, "When were you there?" I said December 2007, and as he took his sunglasses off, I realized he was the one; I had been talking to his younger brother. He was in my MTC district, although he went to a different mission. When I told him my last name, he was shocked it was me, saying, "You look so much older." I think the age thing is probably the least different thing about me.

I wouldn't mind hiking part of Timp again, but I don't really desire to go back to the top or even to the saddle. But I hiked to the top of this mountain, and this picture was taken after I'd already been hiking a couple of hours!

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In April last year, I was called as a ward clerk, and last week I was released. In honor of my release they asked me to speak. Here, more or less, is what I said:

I have been in this ward for a really long time. I was here last August when the ward boundaries changed. I was here the August before that when Bishop and Brother Jensen were called. I was even here on May 1, 2011, when we went from being the BYU 22^nd Ward to the Provo YSA 18^th Ward. I think Brother Clasby is the sixth second counselor I’ve had in this ward. But despite being in the ward so long, this is actually the first time I’ve given a talk!

[A previous speaker] gave his qualifications for speaking on this topic. For me, on the other hand, I know exactly why I was given this topic, because of all the commandments, loving one another may be the hardest one. I do love people, but I have a hard time loving people who do bad things. I try to love, but it can be hard for me.

I was thinking about the ways the commandment to love one another has been addressed in different dispensations.

First, we have the Law of Moses. We tend to think of the Law of Moses as a little rough and vengeful, but it actually requires the principle of love. Leviticus 19:18 says, “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.” We know, of course, that when Jesus asked which of all the commandments in the Law was the most important, he chose this one as the second most important, after loving God. Even the Ten Commandments didn’t measure up to this one.

When Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, he reiterated this idea, in Matthew 5:43–45: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” I think sometimes we don’t think enough about this sermon. In 3 Nephi 11, Christ comes to America, and the very next chapter, he gives this same sermon again. Of all the things he could have chosen to tell the Nephites, this discourse is what he gave. That shows how important it us for us to follow it.

This principle of praying for our enemies reminded me of an experience I had on my mission. My last area was in Lewiston, Idaho, and I had been there for nearly six months. I had already been through the former investigators, potential investigators, and less-actives, so I had combed through the Area Book to find someone else to go talk to. I found a name to go check on. So one October night, we biked over to the house. It was dark, and we were kind of going back and forth to see if it was the right address, trying to shine our bike lights to see the house number. After we had determined it was the right one, we got ready to go knock on the door, putting our bikes down and taking off our helmets. But before we could get there, a man opened the door and was quite rude. He asked if we were the ones who had been in his yard for the last five minutes. Now, we were not in his yard, but his driveway, and we had only been there for like thirty seconds, a minute tops. We said, “We are looking for James and Kathy Skarland. Do they live here?” He didn’t really answer us and continued to be quite hostile. He told us to leave, so we got ready to leave (putting on our bike helmets, etc.) and he said, “Why are you still here?” My companion was like, “Come on, really? We’re leaving!” He said, “I’m going to get my shotgun.” My companion said, “Please don’t threaten me,” and he said, “It’s not a threat, it’s a promise!” We left, and my companion asked for the phone so he could call the police for being threatened. I thought it was a little much, but I gave him the phone anyway. We were walking our bikes down the road, and this guy actually got in his car to follow us. I was like, “Is this guy for real?” I think he saw that my companion was on the phone, so he drove up to me and kind of repeated what he was saying about us never coming back there. I told him we were looking for someone else, and that I certainly wouldn’t go back to his house again, although I couldn’t guarantee anything about future missionaries. My companion was behind me on the phone and called out to me to tell him we were talking to police. I told him that, and he said, “Good.” But he seemed a little worried and left. Then the police came and talked to us; one of them was a member of another ward. They asked if we were okay. That night, during our companionship prayer, my companion prayed for him and that he would be good to his wife. Praying for him is something I would have a hard time with. I wouldn’t pray for these things, but I would wish for his house to burn down or for him to get struck by lightning.

But I do try to pray for my enemies, although sometimes I worry I take kind of a “Rameumptom” approach. I may say the right words, but I may be thinking, “Bless them that they will know what absolute terrible, awful people they are and that they will know they should be more like us.” But I think Heavenly Father knows that I am trying, and that is the important part.

At the last supper, in John 13:34–35, Jesus gives the scripture from which we get the song “Love One Another.” I’ve often wondered whether Jesus was addressing the Apostles, telling them they should love one another, or whether he was talking to them but intending it for everyone. But I really don’t think that matters, because there are plenty of other places where we are commanded to love each other.

After Jesus’s death, James wrote some important words. We usually think of James 1, because of James 1:5, and we think of James 2, because of faith and works, but James 3 is a really wonderful chapter. James 3:8–10 talks about how we need to say kind things: “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” He gives an analogy that a fountain doesn’t give good water and bad water. We use our mouths to say prayers and give talks and perform ordinances—do we use that same mouth to gossip about others or judge them? He says these things ought not to be.

Of course, in our dispensation, prophets continue to speak about love. [A previous speaker] used a quote I wanted to use from President Monson's last conference talk, so I had to find another quote, and I found where he quotes another prophet, President Kimball. He said, “Every day of our lives we are given opportunities to show love and kindness to those around us. Said President Spencer W. Kimball: ‘We must remember that those mortals we meet in parking lots, offices, elevators, and elsewhere are that portion of mankind God has given us to love and to serve. It will do us little good to speak of the general brotherhood of mankind if we cannot regard those who are all around us as our brothers and sisters.’”

And I know that when we appreciate other people as our brothers and sisters, and not speak evil or gossip about them, it will be easier to love them.