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Show E, Elder Holman E2 Preview E4 Sunday, October 30, 1994 The Daily Herald Am. Fork Paying homage to mountain 'mimmmm' .? I fill Nearly every morning for years now, I have exercised in the front of our carport facing Y Mountain. Part of my routine is a series of waist bends, with my arms extended straight up and then reaching for my toes and holding that reach for five long counts. My neighbors on their early morning walks must often think I am bowing in homage to the mountain. Perhaps I am. Though I exercise only in the morning , I see that mountain in an infinite variety of colors and moods: from the new greens of spring to brilliant yellows and reds of autumn to the muted browns of the scrub oak of approaching winter to the dazzling white of winter snow, and from the bright promise of sunrise to the .J '" J':..--:- :: if' iMm: I 4 -- rmSmM t tT iWW By JOSEPHINE ZIMMERMAN The Daily Herald 4 y hmm.mf Tt . ;Pv ! '? V k: ( wrjy wall decorations dedicated to her missionary who is serving in the Argentina Men- - Family, friends keep busy while missionary away Matter Unorganized frowning threat or reality of storm clouds. And the evening lights and shadows and glowing may be even more lovely. It's easy enough to look up there in awe, in something close to worship. Easy enough to understand why the native Americans see the mountains as sacred dwelling places of their gods, easy enough to understand why so many important manifestations of God in scriptures take place on mountains, easy enough to understand why the early Mormons felt they had finally reached a place of refuge here protected by the mountains. Easy enough to see the mountains as symbols of solidity and permanence. Almost impossible, once we have climbed far up one of these mountains, as Bess and I did in 1989 to the very top of Squaw Peak with our daughter Krista to celebrate our 48th wedding anniversary, not to look out and feel the glory of God's creation and of God himself. And yet we can never study, for even a few minutes, the swirling layers of rock up Provo Canyon or Rock Canyon without reflecting on how these mountains were formed. The swirling layers tell the geologist a story of incredibly violent movements in the earth to thrust those mountains up. Some weeks ago Eess and I, for our Sunday walk, followed the golf-ca-rt trails of the new Seven-Peak- s golf course up to their highest point, to where they have to detour around a wash between two faces, once continuous, of slick rock. My geologist friend Jess Bushman assures me that these polished surfaces are a fault escarpment, the very face of the Wasatch Fault at this location, polished by millennia of the tectonic plates grinding against each other: the same plates and grinding that thrust up the mountain. Bess used our conversation to and remind me of the ominous danger of earthquakes, even now, along that fault. Careful geological studies of the danger of a well within the 7.0 earthquake in area at any time this possibilities project terrifying damage, with the possibility of 1 00,000 deaths in Utah and Salt Lake Valleys. Such warnings certainly ought to make us less complacent in the face of AMERICAN 1 FORK - Dr. James R. Belt, pastor of the Amer ican Fork Presbyterian Church. - JuJ By SEAN McKEEHAN The Daily Herald As young missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-da- y Saints leave their ports of call, there have been signs of mothers, family members, girlfriends and even grandmothers doing little things to remain close to "their" missionary. Some of these things include making a home video of friends and family and sending it to the missionary or a scavenger hunt in the Missionary Training Center on the missionary's the one free day a week missionaries have to write family, do laundry and relax. One girlfriend, who preferred to remain anonymous, received a photo of her missionary and had it superimposed on her pillow so they could be "closer" to one y, another while he was gone. Others stay close to their missionary through correspondence and other activities. Lori Dick, a freshman at BYU, has had a missionary in the Brazil Fortaleza Mission for 10 months. She has been known to send two letters in the same day. She also frequently sends care packages filled with food and sports clippings. Countdown charts are popular among friends and family. These charts allow those at home to rd of events such as keep a r when ters and packages are d, .vhen baptisms are v, I per-ktme- different positions of leadership the missionary holds, and the locations in which the missionary serves. Having two children on missions, Gayle Bangerter of Alpine keeps scrapbooks. "We keep all of the letters they send us in a three ring notebook, so they can read them when they get home and remember how they progressed and grew as individuals," Bangerter said. "We also photocopy all of the pictures that they send us so they will last longer and won't fade," she added. Jenny Bangerter, Bangerter's daughter and missionary in Brazil Campinas Mission, experienced a special thrill not too many missionaries get to during their missions. Her father, Cory, because he is director of training over Spanish and Portuguese speaking missionaries at the Mission Training Center in Provo, was assigned to train the new director of training at the Sao Paulo, Brazil, MTC. While in Brazil, he was able to travel to his daughter's mission and teach several Brazilian families the missionary discussions with her for the afternoon. Another mother, Charlene Maine of Portland, Ore., has sent two sons on missions and currently has a third, Austin, in Osaka, Japan. "We make sure to send him the ward newsletter and clippings of friends going out and returning home from missions. He also likes to receive wedding announcements as well as sports clippings of his sister and other 1 il the ministry. A special a re- tirement service is planned Sunday at 4 p.m. in the church sanctuary; it is fol lowed by a dinner at 5 p.m. in the I Education Building. Grigg the background counts down the days he has left. I James R. Belt Belt accepted a pastorate with the American Fork church on Feb. 10, 1991. doza Mission. The chart in J 1 Al f A native of Indianapolis, Belt was reared in Kansas City and attended college there. He completed his ministerial training at Princeton Theological Seminary. He earned two master's degrees, one as the first graduate from an ecumenical program offered by Creighton University in Omaha. He was awarded his doctorate from San Francisco Theological Seminary. He served three churches outside of Canton, N.Y., an area called "the burned over" area because several denominations had their beginnings there, including the Mormons, Seventh-da- y and Christian Scientist. Ad-venti- Sorensen, a sophomore at BYU from Hanford, Calif., shows a cross-stitc- h map for one missionary and all the letters she has received from missionaries since she started school in September. She is writing 14 missionaries and waiting for two. Kirsten friends," Maine said. "The main thing we do is decorate the missionary's room at home with all of the things that he sends to us and anything that we can find around here, so when he gets home his room will look as much like the country he served in as possible," she added. Amanda DesJardins, a girl- friend who waited for a missionary, decided that the best way she could share in her missionary's experience was to serve a mission of her own. DesJardins waited for. four months to send in her mission application so she and her missionary would return home from their missions at about the same time. Surprisingly, she was called to serve in Portugal the same country as her boyfriend. They never saw each other while on their missions, but were able to relate to each other and the experiences they shared, she said. They are now happily married. "Besides gathering friends and family to read the letters together, we always send copies to those who are contributing financially so they can feel a part of the experience too. They are so important, and so good to help," Bangerter said. Other families have tried recipes from their missionary's country or learned about the country one night each week. The more serious types have been known to embroider a quilt showing areas and experiences of the missionary, or even to buy language tapes to learn the language their missionary is. Another common response among families of missionaries that try to share the experience is service. Many families donate gifts of clothing, shoes, jewelry and toys to the families their missionaries are in contact with. "When we sacrifice a little and send something to those more in need than ourselves, we feel like we are more a part of our son's mission," Maine said. "Often we'll receive a translated letter and a picture of the family thanking us for our 'gifts of love,' " she added. "That's more than enough reward for us." He served churches in Nebraska, working in three presbyteries with Cursillio, a movement to renew spiritual lives. In the Presbytery of Utah, he. has served on the Education Committee. He has also been a commissioner to three General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. Recently, he has been involved with Roger Click, a Springville lay preacher, in organizing LAOS, a Lay Academy of Service. It is a program to promote and educators to promote service to the communities by lay persons. This service could include work with the homeless, gangs, etc. He said people will go out into the community, working with mentors, then will come back and reflect on their theology with a greater understanding of the Christian belief. He said it will foster competence among lay people. Belt also has sponsored retreats. pastor-spous- e He said he would like to see the churches in Utah come together in common goals, including those involved in Shared Ministry in Utah, with the Lutherans, Catholics, Evangelicals, etc. Belt has two children. Follow-- . ing his retirement, he will be moving to Portland, Ore. Christian community should take another look at Halloween nt danger. But they won't change very much the way I look at our mountain. Even knowing all he knows about geological forces and time, Jess is a deeply religious man. He too looks with me in wonder and awe at our mountain. Those mountains testify not only of permanence but of creativity. And the creative process is still and So even if the mountains may no longer seem as firm as they did when we used to sing Firm as the Mountains Around Us, when you happen to see me out there bowing to my mountain, you can think of it as just exercise. But you might also wonder why I choose to exercise there. I can only assure you that I love the mountain and, yes, that I am paying homage to it and its Creator. : X Herald PhotosJennifer Clark ' ' What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit isou?"(Mark8:36,NIV) I walked into the doctor's office a few days ago, and the first thing that grabbed my attention was the ugliest old witch I've ever seen. Seated in a rocking chair, a huge wart on the left of her chin, a diabolic grin forming over her inouth, she glared at me with eyes as evil as sin. If I wasn't ill when I came into that office, one look at her evil expression and I would have been. Then, just before Halloween, a were being group of taken on a field trip through a local pumpkin patch. When they came to the haunted house, one little boy began screaming that he didn't want to go in because it scared him. "I'm not surprised," his teacher said, "He even gets scared when we sing our witch songs." My heart cried for that little boy when his teacher told him, "It's all g. MardenJ.ClarkisaDYU professor emeritus .A ry retirement from Harden I. on-goi- pastor to retire as has anounced his Summer Rawleigh, a freshman at BYU from Modesto, Calif., displays her T -shirt and ever-prese- r ittt firm of English. just make-believe- ." r Why do I have to be accosted by graves and devils, demons and death every October? I want to tell all parents and teachers that to a John Conlon V j ; tyjjl "Soul" Food things they can touch and feel and see are never make-believWhen such things are forced upon them, it isn't long until they begin to reason that God three-year-ol- d, e. is make-believ- e, too. When I was a boy, Halloween meant getting lots of candy and possibly pulling a few pranks that could result in a visit from the sheriff today. I didn't really know what it was all about. The first inkling of truth came when I was in junior high school. There I learned that Oct. 31 was "All Saints Eve." So for a long time I just assumed it had some connection with religion. Since the only religion I knew as a child was the Christian religion, I assumed it started there. That was a wrong assumption. Halloween had its origins back in the Dark Ages when people believed that at death the souls of good men were possessed by g(xd spirits and carried to paradise, while the souls of wicked men were left to wander in an unseen world between earth and the moon. In an attempt to keep those spirits from haunting people's homes and lives during the coming year, men and women tried to fool the spirits by dressing as demons and other kinds of evil creatures. As Christianity spread across Europe, many calling themselves Christian had no idea what Christianity was all about. Thus, European Christianity inherited many of the pagan supersitions of Europe. an Then as Europeans migrated to the New World, their superstitions followed them across the Atlantic. Now, some 300 years later, we dress up in "ghoulish" masks originally designed to scare away the spirits of the dead. Halloween sounds so innocent screaming haunted children, trick-or-trea- t, houses, witches' all make-believ- Jack-o-lanter- spider-wee, b and cakes if it's what harm can it do? There's another side to this story. Since I was a child, every year there have been reports of candy laced with razor blades, LSD or other harmful substances. Then there's the occult whose members celebrate the death of some offer animal or even God human sacrifices. Satan is worshipped, demons lifted up, and evil spirits imitated. Halloween is their high day of worship. As a Christian, I find it paradoxical to participate in Halloween and still maintain my testimony of what Jesus Christ has done forme. Somewhere there seems to be a fine line which we have drawn between what is acceptable in our culture and what is not. The Christian message is being filtered out from the "soul" of our public institutions. The gospel message of salvation and forgiveness has become unacceptable to the sensitive ears and eyes of those who claim separation of church and state. The symbols of Christianity which have undcrgirded western civilization for 2,000 years are now considered offensive to the first amendment of the Constitution. During holidays such as Christmas and Easter, the more expressive symbols representing the birth, death and resurrection of Christ are no longer w elcome in public display. Yet, at Halloween and other times, the symbols of demonology and witchcraft flourish. I think it's time the Christian community take an rthcr look at this gruesome tradition and ask what God has to say about it. In the Bible, it is recorded that when God set the standards of conduct for His people, He spoke a warning through Moses, saying, "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead." (Deuteronomy 18:11 NIV) The Reverend John Conlon is pastor of the Ne w Beginnings Fellowship, a Church of the Nazarcnc, in Provo. |