TWIN TRAGEDIES - THE LORD'S HARVEST FOR THE WORK

 So we were over ministering to a nice older couple that lives near us on Sunday.  She is related to David A Whitmer and he is the GG Grandson of EJ Wood.  We covered a lot of topics including polygamy (David A Whitmer did not like it and left the Church over it - and EJ Wood was a post-Second Manifesto practicer after the likes of John Taylor; the son of the Prophet and an Apostle).  This Apostle was ex'd for his carrying the torch after the Church doubled down to fit in with the rest of the kids in the sandbox over the polygamy issue.  I learned that there is a tunnel under the Church office building where there is a linear walk of the Apostles in the order that they were called in.  After John Taylor was ex'd in the early 1900's, his photo was removed from the lineup and it was all left blank and remained so in this state in this tunnel (probably to make a statement....).  After some time (1970's?), his photo was returned to the blank spot.  My friend's friend walked by one day and suddenly, it was right back up there with the rest.  I would love to know the backstory on that re-instatement....  One day, I am sure it will come to light.  Probably ended how Bishop Koyle's story did.

The really cool part is that I almost got to see another Mongolian spot.  She related that she has some Cherokee blood in her as well.  She has a bunch of siblings, but only two of them and her got the spot and they are all whitish and not necessarily the traditional purplish grey.  All of them were right above the butt crack in the same spot mine is.  I got so excited when she told me this, I had to give her a fist bump!

The purpose of this piece was to relate some other stories.  This gal we ministered to had a parent that joined the Church.  She was hispanic and the first and only one in her family to join.  She was a tough gal but lost one son to (I cannot remember as I was dozing off due to the house being too hot) and I remember that she said she had lost another brother to a freak accident when someone slammed a door and a gun fell off the rack in his room and discharged and killed him instantly.  The weird part is that she said that it was not loaded (no empty shell in the chamber?).  I perked up and immediately commented that the Lord must have wanted the boy on the other side for such a total freak event to occur.  It was after that that she related to us her mother's status as the ONLY one in the Church.  She kept relaying more and said that her mother had taken it so hard that they both appeared at the foot of her bed all in white and scolded her for taking it so hard and that they were not allowed to continue on the other side with their missionary assignments until she "let them go".

I cannot help but think of the Siamese tradition of not crying at the funeral in Anna and the King - for this very reason.  Truly, there is something to it!  But, most of all, it backed up my theory that often the first in a family line who joins the Church has (most often males) taken to get the ball rolling on the other side.  There is more going on over there than over here.

Great Sunday and very inspirational.  Truly, God is Great!