Please know that we have really enjoyed Fallon and our time here. We don’t really intend to leave until the first part of July. So we will be around for a while. I also very much enjoyed all the sisters I served with in Relief Society. We will be moving to Virginia Beach/Norfolk area.
The subject I was giving to speak on today was a conference talk given by Cheryl C. Lant, she is the General President of the Primary, entitled Righteous Traditions. She asks some specific questions that I would like to talk about today. She says: “Each of us has traditions in our families. Some of them are material. Some of them have deep meaning. The most important traditions are connected with the way we live our lives and will last beyond us as our children’s lives are influenced and shaped.
What kinds of traditions do we have? Some of them may have come from our fathers, and now we are passing them along to our own children. Are they what we want them to be? Are they based on actions of righteousness and faith?
Are we consciously creating righteous traditions, or is life just happening to us? Are the traditions that we are creating in our families going to make it easier for our children to follow the living prophets?
I would invite all of us to take a moment to reflect on the traditions in our lives and how they might be affecting our families. Our traditions of Sabbath day observance, family prayer, family scripture study, service and activity in the Church, as well as patterns of respect and loyalty in the home, will have a great effect on our children and on their future. If our parenting is based on the teachings of the scriptures and of the latter-day prophets, we cannot go wrong. If every time there is a challenge our hearts turn first and always to our Father in Heaven for direction, we will be in a safe place. If our children know where we stand and we always stand on the Lord’s side, we know we are where we need to be.” Close quote
As I thought about the six subjects she mentioned I recognized that each of those things are a message or lesson in itself so I decided to concentrate on just two, service and activity in the church. I thought that to make the points I would tell you of a few experiences I have had in the 38 years I have been a member of this church.
Service: Our youngest son Micah and his wife Stephanie just moved back to Virginia from Utah. They actually live in our neighbor ‘s home. They live in the same ward he was raised in. The day after they got there he spoke and a friend’s memorial service. His friend Zak Black was killed in Utah in a motorcycle accident. Micah called to tell us how it went and who he had seen and spoke to from our old ward and stake. He said, “ I just want you to know that we did what was expected from a Huntzinger.” I was so curious and for a couple of seconds my mind raced to imagine what he meant by that. I asked him what was that? …. “He said, we helped put the chairs away and clean up”. Like that was obvious. Oh, I was a bit surprised, we have done things like that, but I never thought of it as a tradition or expectation. But I was glad for it. Activity in the church naturally brings the opportunities for service.
We have always been grateful for our Bishops in all the places that we have lived. An experience that always makes me smile is an experience I had with a Bishop in Utah. LaVar and I had been married June 19, 1970 in the Manti Temple, I had been a member a year and a half. LaVar was drafted and at that time Viet Nam was a hot spot in the world. He went to basic training in October, I was pregnant with our first child, and was dropping weight that was alarming to the doctor, I was going to school and that wasn’t going real well, and I was living with a family in Orem with a troublesome teenage daughter. I started to get despondent and I couldn’t seem to pull myself out of it. My efforts to turn to My Heavenly Father for peace wasn’t working and I called the Bishop and asked to come and speak with him. He invited me to come to his home. We talked for quite some time, he trying to “fix” any or all of my sorrows. There were now solutions really, my husband was gone, I had all the emotions of a pregnant woman, my living situation was really temporary, no solutions. Then as I remember the Bishop got very quite and disturbed. I could tell that he was really struggling. He said, “Sister Huntzinger I feel impressed to ask you something…” he struggled some more trying to find the words to say. What seemed to be a long minute later he said, “Have you found someone else while your husband has been gone?” I felt this powerful beam of hope shoot right through me as I realized with all of the problems that could not be solved right then that was not one of my problems. I still adored my new husband, my temple covenants were still being honored, and nothing like that had even entered my head or my heart. “No” I told me with great excitement that was not a problem. My problems all melted away, All of the problems that before that question, that seemed so large and intolerable were now minuscule compared to the great blessing that had just been shown me. Only the Lord knew how I would change with this revelation he impressed His servant to show me and I left his home elated, praising the Lord for his great goodness and truly able to go on with my life a happy person. As I drove away into the night I turned around to see the Bishop still standing in the doorway. If we are trying to listen to the Holy Ghost as we serve other people sometimes the answer just doesn’t seem like something we want to do or ask but we can remember the their Father knows them and wants to bless their lives in ways they can accept. We need revelation in our lives as we serve others.
9:50? End Here
The last story I would like to tell I think I have shared before. One spring break in Virginia a friend of mine wanted to take the children and go camping. Neither of our husbands could take time from work to go so it was just my friend Nike and I and six children. I had giving our two oldest boys permission to go on a hike in the George Washington National Forest. Nike’s oldest boy went too. It wasn’t too long before we saw smoke coming from the mountaintop. I just knew as mothers sometimes do that that involved our boys. We spent close to an hour agonizing over their safety and listening to horror stories from the man whose property we were camped on about fires and the punishments of people who start them. I had that time to collect our stuff for a quick exit. When the boys got back and Tim told me that indeed he had started the fire, as I could tell from the singed eyebrows and hair. I spent several minutes scurrying about trying to think of what to do. My older boy Tyler asked what I was doing and I tried to justify my dilemma he looked at me so puzzled and stopped my talking, “Mom, mom, what would dad do?” That was like a camera all out of focus and with the touch of an experienced photographer it all came into sharp focus for me. I went to Tim and found him in great remorse sitting by a tree and told him what we were going to do. We were going to call the Park Ranger and we were going to call his dad. He looked so sad and just nodded his head, to soften the blow I offered to talk to the Park Ranger first but he was to talk to his dad. He asked if we could exchange the jobs, and I tell LaVar. Just imagining LaVar's disappointment as Tim was, I stuck to the easier job. Sometimes it takes a child to remind us where we stand and that is on the Lord’s side. Honesty and Integrity is not always easy to follow through with but as it turned out our Home Owners insurance paid for most of it and I was a great lesson for all of us.
I would like to reread the quote from Sister Lant,
Are we consciously creating righteous traditions, or is life just happening to us? Are the traditions that we are creating in our families going to make it easier for our children to follow the living prophets?
Our traditions of Sabbath day observance, family prayer, family scripture study, service and activity in the Church, as well as patterns of respect and loyalty in the home, will have a great effect on our children and on their future. If our parenting is based on the teachings of the scriptures and of the latter-day prophets, we cannot go wrong. If every time there is a challenge our hearts turn first and always to our Father in Heaven for direction, we will be in a safe place. If our children know where we stand and we always stand on the Lord’s side, we know we are where we need to be.”
Sister Lant finishes by saying and I quote her.
Now, the important thing is that we consistently work to do these things. We will not be perfect at it, and our families will not always respond positively, but we will be building a strong foundation of righteous traditions that our children can depend on. They can hold to that foundation when things get difficult, and they can return to that foundation if they should stray for a period of time.
Testimony. I know this is the True Church of Jesus Christ, like Sister Hinckley has said, “ I have seen too much (and felt too much) to ever deny it”.
I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he gave us the Book of Mormon with the Bible to help us as a road map back to Him.
I know Christ is our savior, that he sacrificed for us as the plan was given to help us return to our Heavenly Home.
I said of few more things but mostly as a tradition I didn't over-speak my alloted time and I wasn't so nervous that everything came all jumbled. For that I am truly thankful as I am for all of you. Dad did clarify some things about the fire, like it wasn't intentional and the insurance part of the story. This is how I remembered it. Feel free to comment in correction if you want to. It was the lesson that I wanted to use to make a point and that lesson was for me....
