Return to Svithing: What Elder Nelson Said

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So with the return of the www to our home, I am returning to regular svithing. I suppose it might be appropriate for me to start by restating my personal philosophy of svithing. Now that several people have turned svither, my own philosophy is but one of many. All the same, I think it's worth it (at least to me) to restate.

First, since I am by nature an abhorrent person who would as soon swallow puppies as feed starving children, regular svithing lets me pretend to be a good person.

Second, I spend so much time blogging that it seems only appropriate that I should dedicate a portion to God, which portion I term a svithe (being a portmanteau of seven and tithe and taking one full day of blogging per week).

Third, everyone should try to make the world a better place and a religiously themed svithe seems more likely to do so than typing the letter x 175 times.

That said, I am svithing again. Please visit every Sunday. My svithes appear both on Thmusings and The Weekly Svithe. For information on how to comment on svithes, please visit here. A complete list of known svithers (current/former, regular/occasional) appears in The Weekly Svithe's sidebar. If you need to be added to this list, please let me know.

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Last week was our stake conference and Elder Nelson was there visiting us.

I admit that I have a bias towards Apostles who are interesting writers and Elder Nelson is about as interesting as they come. He is constantly adventuring into the edges of what a Conference talk can be. He has incorporated singing from the choir into his talks; he has written 15 minutes of pure alliteration; he experiments. I admire that, even if I'm not sure it always works.

But beyond that, I admire Elder Nelson as a man and as a leader. He's one of those people I think I would really get along with in person. And we puppy-swallowers don't find so many of those.

Anyway, Elder Nelson was here and he spoke to us and I thought for my first svithe back I would let someone with better credentials do the preaching.


Why the Church was restored?

1. To make good on the promise to gather Israel.

2. So that families may be sealed lest the earth be wasted.

3. To prepare the world for the Second Coming.

Mission v. Ministry

Elder Nelson made an interesting distinction between the Ministry of Christ (those being the things we can emulate--his service, charity, humility, etc) and his Mission (those being the things only he could do--the Atonement for instance).

A joke on being released (apropos because our stake presidency was being released)

"Be grateful you get to be released. I have to die to be released! Well, there are other ways...but I'm not interested in that!"

A miracle, as stated by a doctor (that doctor being Elder Nelson)

We have seen a miracle in Gordon B Hinckley's health from April to October.

On what we were created for (general)

Each child in this earth was created to be successful in his mortal existence.

On what to do during the sacrament

Elder Nelson can no longer even read the scriptures during the sacrament. He focuses only on the Atonement. Me, I focus on keeping the two-year-old noise down. It's a start.

The Miracle TG Diet!

If Elder Nelson had a young family today, he would use the Tropical Guide's fifty-seven subtopics regarding Jesus, using one per week. Ditto if he were a missionary. That's fifty-seven days of morning study taken care of right there. It should, in fact, Elder Nelson said, be each missionary's core curriculum.

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That's where I'll stop.

They were pretty good talks.

See you next week.

I'll bring along some economics.

(sincerely,

the mad svither)

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