December 14-20, 2010: Receiving Revelation through Church Attendance

Dear Family,

The Currant Bush by Elder Hugh B. Brown (1883–1975)

"You sometimes wonder whether the Lord really knows what He ought to do with you. You sometimes wonder if you know better than He does about what you ought to do and ought to become. I am wondering if I may tell you a story. It has to do with an incident in my life when God showed me that He knew best.

I was living up in Canada. I had purchased a farm. It was run-down. I went out one morning and saw a currant bush. It had grown up over six feet high. It was going all to wood. There were no blossoms and no currants. I was raised on a fruit farm in Salt Lake before we went to Canada, and I knew what ought to happen to that currant bush. So I got some pruning shears and clipped it back until there was nothing left but stumps. It was just coming daylight, and I thought I saw on top of each of these little stumps what appeared to be a tear, and I thought the currant bush was crying. I was kind of simpleminded (and I haven’t entirely gotten over it), and I looked at it and smiled and said, “What are you crying about?” You know, I thought I heard that currant bush say this:

“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree and the fruit tree that are inside the fence, and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me because I didn’t make what I should have made. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”

That’s what I thought I heard the currant bush say, and I thought it so much that I answered. I said, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down. Thank you, Mr. Gardener.’”
Years passed, and I found myself in England. I was in command of a cavalry unit in the Canadian Army. I held the rank of field officer in the British Canadian Army. I was proud of my position. And there was an opportunity for me to become a general. I had taken all the examinations. I had the seniority. The one man between me and the office of general in the British Army became a casualty, and I received a telegram from London. It said: “Be in my office tomorrow morning at 10:00,” signed by General Turner.

I went up to London. I walked smartly into the office of the general, and I saluted him smartly, and he gave me the same kind of a salute a senior officer usually gives—a sort of “Get out of the way, worm!” He said, “Sit down, Brown.” Then he said, “I’m sorry I cannot make the appointment. You are entitled to it. You have passed all the examinations. You have the seniority. You’ve been a good officer, but I can’t make the appointment. You are to return to Canada and become a training officer and a transport officer.” That for which I had been hoping and praying for 10 years suddenly slipped out of my fingers.

Then he went into the other room to answer the telephone, and on his desk, I saw my personal history sheet. Right across the bottom of it was written, “THIS MAN IS A MORMON.” We were not very well liked in those days. When I saw that, I knew why I had not been appointed. He came back and said, “That’s all, Brown.” I saluted him again, but not quite as smartly, and went out.

I got on the train and started back to my town, 120 miles away, with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. And every click of the wheels on the rails seemed to say, “You are a failure.” When I got to my tent, I was so bitter that I threw my cap on the cot. I clenched my fists, and I shook them at heaven. I said, “How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do to measure up. There is nothing that I could have done—that I should have done—that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?” I was as bitter as gall.
And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, “I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.” The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness and my bitterness. While kneeling there I heard a song being sung in an adjoining tent. A number of Mormon boys met regularly every Tuesday night. I usually met with them. We would sit on the floor and have Mutual. As I was kneeling there, praying for forgiveness, I heard their singing:

“But if, by a still, small voice he calls
To paths that I do not know,
I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:
I’ll go where you want me to go.”
(Hymns, no. 270)

I arose from my knees a humble man. And now, almost 50 years later, I look up to Him and say, “Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.” I see now that it was wise that I should not become a general at that time, because if I had I would have been senior officer of all western Canada, with a lifelong, handsome salary, a place to live, and a pension, but I would have raised my six daughters and two sons in army barracks. They would no doubt have married out of the Church, and I think I would not have amounted to anything. I haven’t amounted to very much as it is, but I have done better than I would have done if the Lord had let me go the way I wanted to go.

Many of you are going to have very difficult experiences: disappointment, heartbreak, bereavement, defeat. You are going to be tested and tried. I just want you to know that if you don’t get what you think you ought to get, remember, God is the gardener here. He knows what He wants you to be. Submit yourselves to His will. Be worthy of His blessings, and you will get His blessings." End of his talk.


I love that talk! Every Tuesday night our ward has a Book of Mormon class where one of the bishopric member’s wives teaches. Two Tuesdays ago she read that talk and I loved it so I decided that I was going to share it with you.

That sounds like it was a phenomenal party!! Dang, not one I'd wanna miss with mom planning it! What a good idea to have a talent show, and have the adults do the nativity. I bet that made it that much more serious and helped everyone to understand fully why we celebrate Christmas. I'm trying to decide what I would have done for the talent show... Maybe like, teach a lesson or street contact somebody? Nah, I'm not even good at that yet. haha Seven as One... I love that! Madison you lil' song writer, that is sweet! Man, I hope that whole deal got put on film so I can watch it in a few months. That beats out any movie I may miss.

Zone Meeting and interviews this week went well. We had two people give talks: Sister Williams (spoke on truly loving the people) and Elder Buttars (on overcoming adversity). They did awesome. Kennington then addressed our skills training with a little motivational intro from his wrestling career in Star Valley. We then practiced teaching Receiving Revelation through Church Attendance. That took about 45 minutes and left me with around a half hour to give my little shpeel on the Parable of the Wasatch 100. I handed out a sheet sort of like the one you gave me with the "Race Items" on the left and the "Missionary Likeness" on the right. The Missionary Likeness boxes were empty though and I required them to fill out what they think that item could represent when applying it to missionary work as I described the race. I really wish I was more knowledgeable about the race because it would have gone more smoothly but I think it did the job. The missionaries were astonished as they listened to me describe one person running 100 miles non stop, with all the elements, preparation, and desire that it takes to succeed. At they end, I opened it up for discussion as we discussed what each item could represent. We then established what we as a zone need to work on to improve. A few of them include; staying consecrated in and out of our apartments, not blaming the members when work isn't going well, and being consistent with our goals especially contacting 140 people a week. I hope the point was driven. We are also trying to come up with a "Zone Vision" which will get the missionaries to focus more on areas that we feel need more attention. We are hoping to come up with something really creative and are having a hard time doing so. Haha. Any suggestions from anyone?

It was kind of cool that the focus this week was on Receiving Revelation through Church Attendance. What are some true reasons we go to church? The number one reason of course is to partake of the sacrament but is there anything else? In my youth I never really realized that being in the church setting was a place that I could regularly receive powerful personal revelation. As Brian Regan would say, "I know now!" I've come to learn that as promptings come, it is mandatory to write them down somewhere because they will be lost with the slew of other thoughts that may enter your mind. I've learned that one the hard way this week. Yesterday in church Sister Schlofman gave a talk and it helped me to understand what I need to do to recognize and remember promptings that I receive. As she spoke, I wrote down what came into my mind. It is almost like personal scripture that the Lord is providing me with to help me become a finely tuned instrument in His hands. Some things that Sister Schlofman talked about were: How do we become instruments in the hands of the Lord? How do we get Him to trust us? One of the answers to those questions was to write down promptings. It was funny to me because I had been doing so prior to hearing that but it helped me to never suppress a prompting to write a prompting down. She also asked the questions: Have I ever wanted a prayer answered? Or what about, Have I ever wanted to be an answer to someone else’s prayer? Of course we all like our prayers to be answered, but how cool would it be to be an answer to somebody else’s prayer because you heeded to the promptings provided from the Holy Ghost. I would way rather be the answer, or the instrument for the answer.

Another thing I've noticed about being here in Phoenix is that the members of the church seem to remind me of a member I know back home. I swear to you, I've met the look alikes or act-alikes for Jill Figgins, Julie Muir, Grandma Georgia, Grandpa Brent, Dylan Barker, Keegan Betterton, Sister Archibald, Bishop Taylor, Carson Garrett, Justin and Melynda King (oh wait... that was the real them), Talor Figgins, Cina Cummings, Becky Simonsen, Tanner Mouritsen, Devin Jensen, and many more. It's crazy! This church is true. It doesn't matter where you are in the world there are people who are members of the church who will remind you of members from back home. Just a funny little insight.

Anyway, I'm going to talk to you on Christmas so I'll leave some other things to talk about for then. How does 9:00 a.m. sound? Talk to you then!

I love you all very much.

Love,

Elder Colton Matthew Mouritsen