Faith Rewarded

Goodreads:

President Monson recounts his feelings, experiences, conversations, and meetings, presenting his journal entries that highlight Germany and its people in entries dating from July 12, 1968, to August 27, 1995. President Monson describes everything from early obstacles that were overcome through faith to blessings such as the dedication of the Freiberg Temple in East Germany in June 1985.

I absolutely loved this! I read it because I've been planning to read President Monson's biography, but when I mentioned my plan to Jon (my husband) he insisted that I read this first. This book is a short collection (a scant 175 pages that fly by) of President Monson's journal entries from the period of time he spent overseeing the church in communistic East Germany. And the stories are incredible.

President Monson promises the saints that if they are faithful, eventually they will be able to receive all the blessings other members of the church enjoy. He makes so many promises that all seem impossible, but they are all fulfilled because of the people's faith. It was so uplifting to read this book.

East Germany was not a nice place to be a member. Sometimes they had to hold church meetings in cars to avoid listening devices. Church materials had to be smuggled in, and no one could leave the country to attend the temple. Sometimes people were allowed out, but often their families were held hostage as an incentive to make people return. So horrible. My favorite story, though, is when President Monson memorizes an entire handbook because he can't bring a physical copy past checkpoint Charlie - a story with a surprise ending that proves, in my opinion, that God has a sense of humor.

I loved watching the progression of miracles in this book. First a patriarch, then a branch here, a stake there. And miraculously, a temple is allowed to be built behind the Iron Curtain (and though there were only 3,700 members of the church, 90,000 people in East Germany went to the open house - some saying that they did it because it was a privilege to stand in line because they wanted to, not because they had to). And finally, the wall comes crumbling down. Another thing I loved is that several people are followed throughout the entire time period and we get to see young kids (who've been promised the impossible) grow up and become the first missionaries to leave Germany, the first people to get married in the Frieberg temple. I felt like I really got to know the saints there and came to love them and love their determination and faith. These are people very close to my husband's heart because these are areas where he served his mission.

Anyway, this is a motivating and inspirational collection of journal entries that I found incredibly moving. I'd recommend this to anyone who needs an uplift (and a reminder that life's really not so bad - especially here in America where we are blessed with a multitude of freedoms).

Incidentally, it was fun to read Dieter F. Uchtdorf's name mentioned in passing a couple times. Wonder if President Monson had any idea that someday he's be the prophet and Elder Uchtdorf would be one of his counselors?

The Undaunted

Summary:
When it comes to creating spellbinding historical fiction, nobody does it quite like Gerald N. Lund. In The Undaunted, he transports readers first to the coal mines of Yorkshire, then across the ocean and the plains to the territory of Utah, where, even in 1879, there is pioneering to be done. A little- known and perhaps even less- appreciated chapter in the Church's history comes to life in this gripping story of a stalwart group of Saints called to create a settlement to serve as a buffer between the established communities of Utah and the lawless frontier of the Four Corners area. Their challenge will be enormous— but the biggest part of it just may be getting there in the first place. Skillfully interweaving historical figures and events with fictional characters, Gerald Lund takes us through the Hole in the Rock and over miles of uncharted country that even today is impassable without all- terrain vehicles. His account of the adventure, romance, and sacrifices of these undaunted pioneers will resonate with readers who love a good story as well as those who want to better understand the incomparable legacy and unconquerable faith of those valiant Saints.

I haven't read a Gerald Lund book in such a long time and I really enjoyed coming back to this genre. The Undaunted is a fantastic read. Gerald Lund is so good at making me feel like I was right there along with the pioneers experiencing history. I think this is an overlooked story that most people have never payed much attention to, but it is certainly well-worth knowing. My favorite part of this book was all the footnotes at the end of each chapter, showing actual journal entries and other documents that lent an even stronger air of authenticity and history to this book. This really happened and I feel like I was able to develop faith, right along with those pioneers. I've always loved southern Utah; the country is gorgeous and almost alien at times. I can hardly believe that these faithful saints were able to make a wagon trail across it.

The fictional story was great and along with the story of those hole-in-the-rock pioneers, we get a tale about coal mining in England, immigration to Utah, the colonization of different areas of Utah, and even some of the tensions between pioneers and Native Americans. It was all completely engrossing and fascinating. One of my favorite scenes was when a few characters climb Angel's Landing in Zion's National Park (before it was Zion's National Park). That is a terrifying hike, but an exhilarating one and reading this brought back memories from when I did it a few years ago. Anyway, there's a lot going for this read. I'm so glad I read it and I think soon I'm going to have to revisit the whole Work and the Glory series.

Mere Christianity

I enjoyed this, but only up to a certain point. You see, I really love C.S. Lewis' writing style. He's so logical and enjoyable and he uses lots of analogies in this book. Every sentence is brushed over with C.S. Lewis' unique brand of humor. He really made what could have been a very dull and dry book something very interesting and enjoyable to read.

My problem was that I enjoyed this book where I agreed with his logic, (did I mention that this book essentially states his reason and logic behind why he believes in Christianity? Yeah, well that's what this book is about) but it bothered me when I didn't agree with him. A whole third of the book was about the trinity and I fundamentally disagree with him on that. His logic was good, but I've learned (being a logical, academic kind of person myself) that spiritual things can't be understood with just logic. Sometimes you need to have trust, faith, and heart. I don't have to have a reason behind every little thing that I believe and do. C.S. Lewis does. Because of that, I felt like this book just went on way. too. long.

Dickens, Christmas, and Christianity

We have a tradition of reading A Christmas Carol each Christmas. I love it so much. It is such a fabulous book. I love all the plays and movies and books I've read based on this story, but the original is awesome. Like Rizzo says at the end of A Muppet Christmas Carol, "If you like this, you should read the book." He's right. If you've never actually read the original Christmas Carol, you should. I loved Shannon Hale's recent blog post on this very subject. What I never thought much about before, though, was the fact that A Christmas Carol shows Dickens thoughts on Christianity and how we are all redeemable through Christ.

I've never really thought of Dickens as a religious man. If you've read some of his other novels, you know that he loves to make fun of pompous religous people. Well, this year, I decided to read a book a friend of mine reads every year (thanks Dianna!) at Christmas. It's called The Life of Our Lord and it's Dickens' retelling of Christ's life. He wrote it just for his children and refused to have it published during his lifetime. His children refused to publish it too, but once they were all gone, a grandchild finally had this published. It was such a surprise to read this! It is not in his usual tone, because he addressed it only to his children. What we get is a father's sweet feelings to his children. I thought it was beautiful and powerful.

This is the foreword he wrote to the book:

"My dear children,

I am very anxious that you should know something about the history of Jesus Christ. For everybody ought to know about him. No one ever lived, who was so good, so kind, so gentle, and so sorry for all people who did wrong, or were in any way ill or miserable, as he was. And as he is now in Heaven, where we hope to go, and all to meet each other after we are dead, and there be happy always together, you never can think what a good place Heaven is, without knowing who he was and what he did."

Don't you love that? The whole book is full of statements like this. I never realized Dickens felt this way about Christ, but it really puts all his novels in a different light. All those characters who helped others were following Christ's example. All those people who seemed beyond help who were redeemed were a testament of Dicken's belief in redemption through the Savior.

There are a couple small doctrinal issues with the book, but certainly nothing to keep me from wanting to share it with my family. I think we may need to make this book part of our Christmas traditions as well. I guess Dickens and Christmas just go together.

I found this article written by President Hinckly on The Life of Our Lord. It's from the 1994 Ensign. Definitely worth a read.