Stephen and Elaine Biddulph

11 - 17 APRIL 2016

This morning we had a remarkable devotional presentation by Elder Timothy Dyches of the Seventy and a member of our area presidency. He told us of a presentation they (area presidency) had to make to the Quorum of the Twelve, Presidents of the Seventy, and Presiding Bishopric on the topic of how to help families make the Sabbath day more holy and a delight to the Lord. The area presidency posed the concern that families in Europe struggle to truly align themselves with keeping the Sabbath day holy and lapse into behaviors that do not honor the Lord. The Twelve and others responded in turn with ideas. It was most wonderful and insightful, and we wanted our children to have these inspired thoughts and ideas for their own use to teach their children and establish valuable traditions.

Elder Christofferson emphasized that keeping the Sabbath day holy is our sign to the Savior of our delight to honor him and the Father. It is not just for our own delight, but our delight to honor God. However, when we catch the full vision of its blessing, the Sabbath will be a delight for us also. It will help us weed out the influences of the world and make us more sanctified and holy. This we found to be a foundation principle.

Elder Oaks said that we can teach our families to focus on the fundamental principle of six days shalt thou labor and the seventh keep holy. He said don’t get lazy and slip things over into the Sabbath from the other six days of labor. This might include sports watching and activity, and even school work. When you are busy being a parent and breadwinner, it is easy to feel that you deserve a vacation day to play or even study. Sanctify the Sabbath in your own heart and honor the Lord and He will honor you.

Another said that each family should hold regular family council (parents and children) and discuss together ways family members can honor the Sabbath day. Make it a family discussion and solicit the understanding and support of your children, rather than demand or force. We have been greatly inspired toward the idea of family councils and families protecting and solidifying themselves through the use of family discussions and councils.

More specific to things they suggested to do regarding the Sabbath include: Doing family history and indexing as a family (Pres Nelson). Have family talks – teach your children how to have a real discussion one-on-one instead of texting or Face-booking (Elder Bednar). Have children write letters to grandparents (I liked that idea) and learn how to express their feelings and show interest in others. This type of communication is essential for someone who wants to serve a mission, and we should regularly be talking and writing notes to each other. Don’t get caught in this communal bulletin board idea where you post it for the world to see and hope that loved ones read it. Let’s talk openly and freely and regularly with each other.

4. Teach your children to use lds.org and other church media on the Sabbath if they must use an electronic device. There is lots of good things for all ages that are Sabbath-worthy. Decide on spiritually enriching activities to be done on Sabbath as a family and individuals. Invite someone who needs your attention and love to participate in your family events. Follow the example of the Savior and serve other people in ways appropriate for the Sabbath. Create a culture of learning in your family: studying the scriptures and other resources. Invite your children to read scripture or uplifting books and then tell you what they learned. This teaches them to learn, think, and express themselves. This builds good communication skills and strengthens your relationship with them. Establish family principles and rules for Sabbath and other-day behaviors – what is acceptable and unacceptable. This could include even the type of dress for the Sabbath. Avoid being overly casual in dress and grooming. Separate yourself from the world. Figuratively come out of Babylon to Zion.

9. Pray for Divine guidance so that you receive it directly from the Spirit. The Lord will inspire those who ask for light.

The world is becoming increasingly distant from the Spirit with a greater gulf dividing righteousness from worldliness. We hope that our family members will not be caught on the wrong side of the continental drift. Don’t get caught straddling the gulf. As the Lord warned, you cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve the Lord and Mammon. This is becoming increasingly true.

Keeping the Sabbath day is a sure protection. Make it a joyful family event as much as possible. Sometimes we must work on the Sabbath, but we should leave no doubt in the minds of our children where our loyalty and devotion lies. We should do all we can to set the example. Remember that to be spiritually minded is life, and temporally minded is death.

Draw near to each other and protect and nurture each other. Keep your homes free from the insidious influences of the outside world. Establish a strong family council where you can discuss and counsel together as a family. Make your family council impervious to outside influence. Choose ye this day to serve and honor the Lord. Be and remain temple worthy.

We found these guidelines and admonitions to be so on target and important in preparing ourselves for current and future events. We need to invest as much effort in preparing spiritually as we do temporally for the challenges to come.

This week was hectic with missionary problems. We had several urgent calls from mission presidents asking for our help and advice on issues. Two elders appeared to be suffering from obsessive-compulsive behaviors that had stressed them out to the point of depression. We have done about all we can do with medication and counseling, and it has been decided that they both need to return home. One left early this morning and the other is pending.

We had a nice quarterly interview with Elder Dyches this week for about 30 minutes. He is such a kind, thoughtful, and spiritual leader. He is always complimentary of our efforts with the missionaries and mission presidents. Saturday afternoon, evening, and Sunday morning were stake (Pfahl) conference meetings in Offenbach and Darmstadt. Saturday evening we met Helga Steube at Offenbach meeting. She does the travel itinerary for missionaries returning home. She said that she had our itinerary and would email it to us on Monday. Stephen has been asked by Elder Hacking to conduct the Tuesday morning early release council meeting until we leave on 1 July.

Spring has really come on here. The trees are fast leafing out and beautiful flowers springing up all over. The cemetery is once again resurrected from death of winter into beautiful living spring. The grounds keepers have created a bug and creature playground in the cemetery. They have all kinds of wood piles, stacks of wood rounds, bird houses, and other things for the bugs to crawl in, the squirrels and birds to feed on, etc. The Germans love nature and their creatures. They take care of them as well as they do each other.