April 7, 2020 – Letter From the First Presidency

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April 7, 2020 – Letter From the First Presidency

 

To the Members of the Remnant Church;

 

I can easily remember back to the days of my youth when on Sunday, all of the retail activity stopped. It was in a small southwest Iowa town. The streets would be very quiet as people just didn’t move about much. There just weren’t many places to go. For most of the population, church would start off the day, then a Sunday meal, then maybe some visiting with nearby relatives like our grandparents. Basically, the Sabbath day was respected, and all was fairly quiet, even amongst those who didn’t find church inviting.

It was a chance to reflect and renew that we might have the mental and physical strength to go into the next week ready to serve in the workplace, do our chores, study in our schools, and fellowship with each other as God would want us to.

One of the admonitions given to the church in the document read on August 4^th, 2019, said that we should; “Take that sabbath experience into every day of your life that it might help you commune with the Lord.”

These days during the “stay-at-home” mandate, could be spent much like those previous sabbath days. True, we are restricted from going to church in person, but we can still take the opportunity afforded us to reflect and renew by meditating upon Godly things and spending time preparing for times of service which will come again.

At some point in the near future, the mandate will be lifted. I believe that this current event will change us, whether it be for the better or not is up to us. As with any situation of this type, there is no doubt that people are changed by it. I wasn’t around during the great wars, nor the great depression, but people were changed by them. We will be changed by this one as well. I hope that it will draw us closer to God. How we use this time may determine that outcome.

While the people following Moses were encamped around Sinai, Moses went up unto God and was given some instructions and they were counseled that if they obeyed His voice, they would: “be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine; and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priest, and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5,6)

We have that same opportunity. We can prepare ourselves for the day of His return. Let us use our days wisely. And when we come out of this event, may we be changed for the better; physically stronger, mentally more in tune with God and His Holy Spirit, more appreciative of the atoning work done by Jesus Christ, and prepared to blow the trumpet of the gospel message. God is alive and wants us all to be in His Kingdom as a people that desire to commune with Him. Isn’t that the goal of the Sabbath, to commune with Him?

May God continue to bless us all,

Terry Patience

For the First Presidency