Who's at the Door? by Dan Harrington

From the back cover:


Experience the gospel in a new perspective while witnessing Dan Harrington's spiritual journey. 

Not just another tale of conversion, Dan reverently reveals the Mormon religion through a non-member's eyes as he reflects upon his experiences with missionaries and Church members, forges new friendships, and finds an unexpected common ground of faith. 

Find out who's at the door and see what can happen when you open it. 

I enjoyed this book. My son served his mission in Rome, Italy and I often wondered what it was like for the people that met him. He's so full of energy and excitement that I'm sure many he met caught his enthusiasm. This book allowed me to see a mission from another perspective--that of an investigator.

Harrington is candid and honest about his experience with the missionaries. He also shares his feelings about members of the Church he met. One particular experience made me cringe. A member of the ward was supposed to come and meet with him and the missionaries but didn't show up, on more than one occasion. I realize that things come up and we all have tremendously busy lives, but I wish someone from that ward would've been able to attend the discussion with Mr. Harrington and the elders.

I wasn't sure if I'd like this book, I'm not a big memoir reader, but it pulled me in. I found myself thinking about it and hoping for a particular ending. This isn't a conversion story, it's about Harrington's spiritual journey and I liked his candor.  He didn't sugarcoat anything. It made me realize that I need to teach my boys even better how to be an effective missionary, how to be a friend to those they teach, and how to bring the Spirit to any meeting.

I hope Mr. Harrington continues on his spiritual journey and I hope it leads him to the Savior. I feel like I know him, or at least a bit about him, after reading his book and it's made me ask myself some questions.

I recommend this book to any who want to venture out on a spiritual journey and to any who want to know the other side of a mission.

Hope in Our Youth

Last night I attended a stake youth fireside introducing the Mutual theme for 2010. We saw clips from a video produced by the Church that included a talk by Melvin J. Ballard. I didn't know his great-grandfather was Joseph F. Smith. When Joseph was a young lad he'd been orphaned and life was rough. Elder Ballard said he thought Joseph's leaders probably wondered how to best teach him and keep him in the gospel. There was still hope for this young man and as we all know, he grew to serve as the Prophet and President of the Church. His leaders didn't give up hope and the result was a great leader.

There were also clips of youth all over the world bearing testimony and singing. One such clip was of a large group of youth and the camera zoomed in on a young African man who was singing with such zeal, you could see his love for the gospel all across his face. The message of the gospel is truly for the world. The Savior reaches out to all across this world. We have a worldwide message of hope.

We then heard talks from youth in our stake. I was impressed by the young man who shared the story of going to collect fast offerings from a family that wasn't active. He kept going to collect fast offerings, even when he was told they had none. Because of his willingness to do his duty, that family came nback into activity. I was also impressed by the young man who was on a baseball trip and some of his friends gave him what he thought was an unopened bottle of soda pop. As he grabbed it he had a bad feeling. As soon as it got close to his nose, he realized they had replaced the soda with alcohol--tequila. He refused to drink it even after they strongly encouraged him to do so. Two young men exhibiting the strength and courage to do what was right.

As I watched the video clips, listened to the talks, and watched the youth around me I was struck with the great hope we have in this generation. Yes, the world is a wicked place, but we have strong, immovable, and committed youth who will stand up for the right and defend the truth. We have hope in our future because we have such valiant youth.

I am so proud of our youth and the tough choices they make to keep their standards. I hope I can be supportive and encourage them to stay strong as I fulfill my calling with the young women.

We have no need to fear, we have hope in our youth!

Hope

The world is in turmoil. The economy in the US is struggling. We have a government intent on passing healthcare regulation that we cannot afford in so many ways. We have corruption all around us. We see news reports of murders flash across our TV screens. Dishonesty abounds. Innocent unborn babies are slaughtered every day. Infidelity seems to be the norm. The list can go on and on and on.

Yet, there is hope. Hope for a better tomorrow. Hope for peace. Hope for our world. Hope for our individual lives. That hope is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. No matter our trials or the darkness of the day, the Savior offers the healing balm of sunshine. In Him we can find the hope we need to endure life's tribulations. Of this I am sure.

Modern-day Revelation

The idea of modern-day revelation seems to ruffle feathers. Many people believe that God no longer speaks to us, and that once the Bible was finished, He had no further interest in dealing with mankind.

Does that mean that those born during Biblical times were more deserving of God’s word and His love? Are we, during this time, not entitled to heavenly revelation? This sentiment seems to indicate that God is something other than a loving father who cares for every one of His children.

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that He is our Heavenly Father and that He loves each of us. It makes sense to me that He would then want to communicate with us. He’s stated that desire specifically in 2 Nephi 29:9, “ . . . And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man . . . .” Heavenly Father plans to continue communicating with us and teaching us.

Many claim that the Bible is all we need and that anything else, specifically the Book of Mormon, is false doctrine, or the doctrine of the devil, because we have no more need of God’s word than what is contained in the Bible. It’s similar to the idea that since I taught everything I thought was important to my older kids, I don’t need to teach anything to my younger kids—they can get all the information they need from their older siblings. After all, I’ve already said everything I needed to when I was raising my older kids, why would I need to keep teaching the younger ones?

Fortunately, we have the scriptures to teach us, “Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written” (2 Nephi 29:10).

Heavenly Father isn’t done teaching us. He continues to communicate with us personally through prayer and personal revelation, and as a people through his prophets and apostles. General Conference allows Heavenly Father to communicate to all of us as He teaches us through His servants.

Though He said and taught much in the Bible, that doesn’t mean he’s finished speaking to us. We have been blessed with modern-day revelation to help guide us in these confusing latter-days. To think He has abandoned us, or doesn’t care, simply because weren’t born during biblical times seems ludicrous to me.

He loves each one of us as much as anyone who came before us. He wants each of us to return to Him. His purpose is clear in Moses 1:39, “For this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” What better way to do that than to continually teach us through modern-day revelation?