As we prepare for General Conference, here is an experience shared by Ann Rowan, granddaughter of Gordon B. Hinckley, as she came to know he was a prophet of God.

I was a freshman at the University of Utah when President Hunter passed away. When I heard the news from my mother, I remember a feeling of heavy awe and amazement. The previous year in seminary, we had studied the D&C and Church history. I had for the first time gained my own testimony of and love for the prophet Joseph Smith. Now this holy office would be held by my grandpa?! It was almost incomprehensible. It was not something I had ever anticipated or considered. I had to gain my own testimony of him as a prophet. That testimony came, and grew, but it didn’t happen in an instant. It was something that developed over time. I traveled with my grandpa on a day trip a year or so after he became the prophet. We flew to our destination early in the morning, he dedicated a monument, spoke at a missionary meeting, and then at an evening fireside for youth before flying home to Salt Lake City. Each talk was unique. He visited with individuals between meetings. He was at least 85 and fighting a bad cold that day. I was a healthy 19-year-old just along for the ride, and I was exhausted at the end of the day! It was obvious to me he was blessed with strength beyond his own to do the work he was called to do.  

Some Crumbs for Thought

By Laura Harmon, First Counselor

I’m thinking of all I’ve learned so far this year, hoping to plant it deeply enough to be always remembered.  By virtue of where we live, we are sitting at the table of an amazing banquet.  Utah...Provo...Oak Hills...we’re in the very heartland of the latter days!  I want to feast more heartily than ever before. This feeling might be partly coming from the signs of our times, but it’s also because of the many stories I’ve recently heard that make me look at my own stories, at my own baton-passing skills, and at my own faith.  

From Amy Bingham and Ann Rowan I found new faith in all our prophets when they shared how they came to know that their humble, hard-working grandfather was also President Hinckley, the Lord’s prophet.

From stake conference I heard stories in every message: President Handley’s impression in thetemple after doing his brother’s endowment that he felt him saying “they have the best teachers here"; Deidre Green telling us about sharing her own challenges with a Rwandan woman who said “thank you for being strong"; Jennifer Doyle’s daughter telling herself, after she was upset at school, “I am a child of God, and nothing can put me down"; Gwen Davis’ parents listening “in a way that I felt understood” as she shared her problem; Elder Cornish crying at age 5 when he saw a cigarette butt in the toilet, thinking his father might have gone back to his family’s anti-Mormon ways (but it belonged to a workman!)  Such small glimpses into lived experience are like pure gold--now we all own them, and are strengthened almost as though we had witnessed them.  President Blair’s grandpa climbed an apple tree to be close to his parents, who had died when he was very young, and President Lohner’s Swiss ancestors told their daughter’s boyfriend “It couldn’t be worse if you are a Mormon!”  He was.

I attended the First Ward’s Conference last Sunday and heard Lisa Stubbs’s story in Relief Society about her father miraculously finding his mission companion’s wallet on a dark street when his bike tire ran over it.  She had heard this years later from the companion, who had told it over and over as an anchor to his faith.  Her father had forgotten to tell it!

Catherine Parry is unfolding the doctrine of Christ in our Gospel Study Class, bringing the New Testament stories alive to us in new ways.  After seeing the Syro-Phoenician woman’s faith (Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30), Catherine asked “what does this story require of us?”  Here’s what I thought: that woman’s faith had become so strong just from “crumbs!”  What does mine look like after feasting at the table?  

When we lived in Africa this was a constant theme to me.  Those people live so far away, have heard the gospel so recently, have so little opportunity--yet these “crumbs” had produced brilliant faith in them.  In the Ghana MTC I got to know missionaries who had memorized hundreds of scriptures and sang every hymn in our book with gusto.  In Madagascar when I taught young women to knit I noticed they learned almost instantly.  They were watching my hands with incredible focus, the same way they do everything! 

I want to remember and add to my stories, and pass them along as the year unfolds.

An Interview with Catherine Corman Parry

Question: How would you describe yourself in 60 seconds or less? Who is Catherine Parry?

Catherine: Well, who is she? She mostly spends her days picking up after people, and tries to help her little family grow, and worries a lot about those people. She likes to read mystery novels—not the bloody ones, mostly the English kind—and likes cats. And dogs, but she has a cat.

Question: When did your love for the scriptures begin?

Catherine: When I was very little, toddler age, my mother bought a bible stories book, I think it was a Golden book. She used to read that to me, among other things. I noticed that it has an awful lot of annotation in it, from my pencil. And so I must have enjoyed doing that.  

But it was when I was a junior in high school, that’s when I started reading seriously, and trying to do it daily, which has been an on and off project for decades.  I’ve never had a strategy [for consistent scripture study]—it’s just sheer will power when I do it right. It’s just, “No, read that, don’t do that. Read that first, then do that.” And when I’m successful at making myself do that, then I’m a consistent scripture reader, and when I’m not, then I’m not.

Question: You’ve proclaimed your love for the Bible. Why does this book of scripture speak to your soul?

Catherine: I’m not sure, but both the Old and New Testament do. The New Testament of course because of Jesus—there’s just nothing like seeing Him act, and hearing Him talk, while he was mortal, to be an example for what to do in our lives. He is the only one who will never fail us, so watching what He does really gives a sense for what I can do, even though my life is so different from His. The Old Testament too—I really like the Old Testament. It may have been how I was raised. My mother, though a member of the church, probably did more with the Bible with me than the Book of Mormon, so it may have been that. The Old Testament is great fun because you do need to have some sense of how to read literature to read that successfully. You have to think about what you’re reading there, you can’t just take it and say, “Oh yes, that’s lovely,” because a lot of it really isn’t lovely at all. You have to find out what to do with the book of Judges, and how to deal with the Benjaminites, and things like that. And I quite enjoy that.

I also enjoy short story collections, and it’s kind of interesting to get this collection of diverse—and I’m going to call it literature, but that doesn’t exclude it from being inspired—this diverse literature together and sort through it. How do they read this? How do I read this?

Question: You've also spoken of your affinity for parables. What is it that draws you to the parables?

Catherine: I’m drawn to the parables because they allow—in fact even insist on—multiple possibilities of interpretation. They don’t mean just one thing. There are limits to what they can mean, but each time you read it you can see something slightly different. And many things can be addressed in one parable.

In the parable of the ninety-nine sheep we’re all thinking of the shepherd leaving the ninety-nine and going out to get the one. And when you teach that in a class, you talk about there being more joy in heaven over one sinner that has repented. The first thing that students want to do is say, “That’s probably a translation error, because there wouldn’t be more joy over a sinner that comes back than over all of the ninety-nine that never sinned.” And you can discuss that for a little while. But, eventually you end up saying, “Well, it’s a casting problem, isn’t it? Where do you cast yourself in this?” Well, we all cast ourselves as one of the ninety and nine that are left. But the truth is, there is no ninety and nine. We’re all the one. The Lord is always going out after us, the sinner. And if you cast yourself as one of those who doesn’t sin, then you resent the attention given to the sinner. But if you are the sinner, then you are so grateful for the joy the Lord feels after bringing you back.

The Lord makes that really clear in the prodigal son. He could have ended the parable with the rejoicing. But he adds that second part, of the elder son who resents, and that’s where we are. He knows His audience—that’s where we are. I like the way that the Lord’s parables, but also just the way He talks, will do that, will turn the tables on us, and let us think about ourselves, and not just about “the other one.”

Question: What do you hope happens for women who attend this class?

Catherine: I would very much like for the women to come away with the sense that there is more in the scriptures than what we usually see, discuss, and perceive in a lesson; that they can become very personal little documents for us to read. And that they can come away with actual ways to behave or respond in this life—respond to what life throws at you. And, I’d like them to come away with the sense that they can “close read” the scriptures. This is not an ivory tower experience for those who have studied the scriptures at great length. This is something we can all do. We read it, and we reread it, and eventually biblical language becomes familiar, and at that point we just read and understand.

Question: What would you like the sisters to come prepared with as they enter our learning space each week?

Catherine: I’d like them to come, I suppose, with open minds to some things: to the ability to read, to maybe stretch a parable or an event in the Lord’s life beyond what they’ve usually seen it to be. I’d like them to come either with a testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God already or, to be open to forming that. The foundation I’m going to work from is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that what He did in His life was perfect. I’m not going to assume that He made mistakes; I’m going to assume that when He says something He doesn’t say it out of racial bias, which is one of the stories we’ll look at, that He doesn’t say it out of ignorance—occasionally He says it out of anger, but it’s a calculated anger that He wanted to express for a reason—and therefore, we can take what He said or did as absolutes, and we can work from there to find out why He did what He did. So, if it looks like He responded to the alternately Greek or Syro-Phoenician woman with a sort of racial bias, I assume He did not have racial biases, therefore, what was He trying to do? Let’s look at it and see what we can learn from what He did. We’re not going to just write it off as a mostly good prophet who had his own biases. So, I do need them to bring either that assurance within themselves, or a willingness to accept that, as that’s where I’m going to start. That won’t ever be a basis for discussion--whether or not He knew what He was doing. My assumption will be that He did. 

An Invitation

We were a newly called presidency when we hiked Rock Canyon with President and Sister Blair last June. I love that the trail in this picture is clearly defined and that off to the right there is a stream bed. Both provide physical reminders for me of our need to stay focused on the "strait and narrow path," sustained by "living water."

In October 2015, President Russell M. Nelson spoke to the women of the church calling on us to be "women who have a bedrock understanding of the doctrine of Christ." More recently, in a January 8th worldwide devotional for young adults, Pres. Nelson asked "How can you increase in your discipleship?" His reply, "Commence tonight to consecrate a portion of your time each week to studying everything Jesus said and did. ...This may seem like a large assignment, but I encourage you to accept it. If you proceed to learn all you can about Jesus Christ, I promise you that your love for him, and for God's laws, will grow beyond what you currently imagine."

As we begin this new year, may we consider President Nelson's invitation to increase our understanding of Jesus Christ and His doctrine through weekly study. We invite you to join with us each Tuesday morning from 9:30 - 10:30 as we discuss the doctrines of Christ as taught in the New Testament. Our class begins January 24 and will be taught by Catherine Corman Parry.

New Gospel Study Class Start Date - *Tuesday, January 24*

We've changed the original Jan. 17 start date to Jan. 24 because of Wasatch Elementary's teacher professional development day (students won't have school that day).

Before our first class, we encourage sisters to add themselves to the class email list. We will send a pre-class email at least two days prior to each session and will post a Google doc with a discussion thread following each meeting. To receive emails with links to these documents, sisters will need to “opt in” by sending an email to ProvoOakHillsRS@gmail.com with the message: “Add to the Gospel Study class list.”