Beautiful Sabbath

 Fast and Testimony Meeting and Sunday School were on Zoom 0- as they have been for months, and will most likely continue to be through March.  Four weeks from today is General Conference.  I so look forward to that and love to hear every talk.  

I have mentioned before that Sunday School is taught by a professor of philosophy at Oxford.  He is a master teacher, and presents himself as nearly opposite to what you would expect.  The same is true for our bishop, a professor in the college of business - who has been lured away from England to head up the  department at Utah State.  They are both quiet and soft-spoken, who listen carefully to every person and then respond thoughtfully with understanding.

Mark, who has written a book about Alma for BYU, taught today about repentance.  He first gave an overview of the first few families to fully support Joseph Smith in his work translating the plates and in establishing a church.  Something I had never thought of is how many revelations in The Doctrine and Covenants were given in the three months prior to the organization of the church.

Mark elicited comments, many of which were from scholars who teach or study here in Oxford.  The questions are never intended to be answered with a yes or no or an exact answer but are meant instead to invite reflection and personal response within.  He presents the material he has prepared in a humble and straightforward way.

What I love about these Sunday School classes is that there are no off-the-wall answers.  Nearly everyone  is there because they want to be there and they all come from a position of faith and a desire to believe.  The discussions feed the intellect and the soul.

We had a sweet meeting with the elders and the sisters and new members and people who are receiving lessons from the missionaries.  They showed this very moving video followed by a discussion about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUhgBU3coPY

In the afternoon, we watched a devotional for young adults in Europe and Africa from Elder Holland.  He is such a dear man.  I think everyone of every age responds to him.  He is now using a walker and is a little slower of step but his mind is as fast as ever.

We watched the "Why I Believe-Divine Roots" in the afternoon.  Our Elder Preston (zone leader)started it out.  He is a great young man, standing about 6'2" or so who played football (soccer) before coming on his mission.  He served in Barbados for several months before COVID derailed the work there and he was sent home.  After isolating, he was sent to our mission, and it definitely was The England London Mission's gain!  We love him.

We delivered cookies to four places.  The first place we stopped, Angie, had made flan for us, as well as the young elders and sisters and the bishop.  She was going to make a day of it tomorrow and take the bus or a cab to deliver them all.  It would have taken her a couple of hours at least, so I volunteered to deliver them this evening, and SK was willing.  

We got home by 9, and sat here playing cards and eating flan.  It was excellent!  And it was a sweet ending to a sweet day.