"Small and Simple Things," Ensign, Aug 2010, 72-73
"By small and simple things are great things brought to pass" (
* Always have an opening prayer, regardless of what the activity is.
* Help the youth in leadership positions plan and carry out the activities.
* Help make sure that every person in attendance participates.
* Strive to relate Mutual activities to gospel principles.
* Invite everyone to help clean up after the activity.
Service is the real key to joy. When one is giving service for the advancement of humanity, when one is working without money and without price, with no hope of earthly reward, there comes a real, genuine joy into the human heart."
President Heber J. Grant (1856-1945), Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Heber J. Grant (2002), 86.
"President Marion G. Romney (1897-1988)," Ensign, Aug. 2010, 72
Marion G. Romney was born in the Latter-day Saint community of Colonia Juarez in Mexico and lived there until he was about 15 years old. A political revolution that began in 1910 forced the Romneys and others to leave everything behind and flee to the United States. "We had a difficult time making a living," President Romney recalled. "We had to root hog or die."1 ("Root hog or die" is an American saying that means one must take care of oneself.)
During those difficult years, while living in Oakley, Idaho, Marion's father and uncle pooled their families' resources. One month they had just 80 dollars to pay for the needs of 17 people in the two families. Would the Lord understand if they didn't pay tithing right now? They answered the question by sending young Marion on a cold winter day to deliver the tithing to the bishop. After that, he said, it would never be that hard again to pay tithing.
Marion G. Romney knew both poverty and hard work. He graduated from high school in 1918, attended Ricks College for two years, and then served a mission in Australia. After his mission he married Ida Jensen in the Salt Lake Temple in 1924. While working, he attended Brigham Young University and later passed the bar exam in 1929 in order to practice law.
As a bishop in Salt Lake City during the depths of the Great Depression, he became heavily involved in the development of the Church's welfare system. Later, as an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and then as an Apostle, he continued to help refine and oversee that program.
From 1972 to 1985 he served in the First Presidency as a counselor to President Harold B. Lee and then to President Spencer W. Kimball. President Romney was President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when he passed away at age 90.
See President Romney's Gospel Classics address, "Unity," on page 52.
1. Marion G. Romney, address given at the Salt Lake Institute of Religion, Oct. 18, 1974.
"Wales," Ensign, Aug. 2010, 73
Missionaries first arrived in Wales in 1840 and within four months established a congregation of 150 in North Wales. In South Wales, missionaries struggled to find people to teach at first, but within 15 years, 80 percent of Welsh converts were from southern Wales.
In January 1845 Dan Jones, a Welshman who joined the Church in the United States, returned to Wales as a missionary. He began several Church publications and helped strengthen the Church. In 1846 the Welsh hymnbook became the first non-English LDS hymnal. The first LDS meetinghouse in Wales was built in 1849. At the time, there were just over 3,600 converts in Wales.
Many of the early Welsh converts immigrated to Utah. Among them was John Parry, who established the choral group that became the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The first stake in Wales, the Merthyr Tydfil stake, was created in 1975.
The Church in Wales
Membership
9,110
Stakes*
2
Wards and Branches
17
Right: Dan Jones Awakens Wales, by Clark Kelley Price
* The Chester England Stake also includes five wards and branches in Wales.
Te Kuang Ko, Taiwan
"Blessings Follow Obedience," Ensign, Aug. 2010, 73
After I had investigated the Church for two months, the missionaries taught me about the law of tithing and invited me to pay tithing after I joined the Church. It seemed impossible with my limited income, but before I could tell them how I felt, we ended the discussion.
That Sunday at church, the branch president greeted me. I asked him about tithing, and he promised to meet with me privately after the meeting block.
When we met, I explained, "The missionaries told me that I need to pay one-tenth of my income to the Church when I become a member. I don't know if I can do it."
After listening to my concern, the president opened the Book of Mormon, turned to 3 Nephi 24:10, and read, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse ... and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Then he said, "Brother Ko, look carefully where the Lord said, 'Prove me now herewith.' That is His invitation to you. Why don't you try Him by paying tithing first thing next month and see if He will not bless you."
Shortly thereafter I began my experiment with tithing and joined the Church. Since that time I have developed a new concept of money management. Most of all, I have learned for myself that God has poured out a blessing, and there has not been room to receive it. I learned that we must keep God's commandments before we can expect His blessings.
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