March 2, 1974

This Saturday morning I have arisen, searched the scriptures and meditated. All week I have been depressed because one of the men in the clinic is leaving – apparently because he feels a need to make more money. I just can’t understand this because we have been blessed with such a monetary abundance. For many of us, I guess there is never enough because of greed and selfishness. I have been emotionally shaken because I thought I was building through my relationships with the other doctors a bastion of loyalty, respect and pride in our ability to serve those who come to us for medical help. Certainly, it is foolishness to put our trust in “the arm of the flesh” and I anticipate a gradual crumbling of the temporal world in which I personally live and work unless the doctors I work with maintain some of the objective ideals I have worked for. I have constantly tried to create an atmosphere in which each doctor can experience a democratic atmosphere in which to develop his talents and skills and that he not be stifled by an authoritarian influence of one person who exercises leadership through coercion, etc. (D&C 121). I am sure that the time is fast coming when the true converted Saints will cry constantly to the Lord to hurry the Second Coming. For we live in the midst of unbelievable evil (D&C 82:6). All types of shortages are developing. In the State of Washington the gas lines are getting longer, tempers are short and I can imagine how it will be when we develop real food shortages. Then we will really see the uprising of mean against men, state against state, etc.

            Last night I spent time in an intimate interview with one of the brethren in my High Priest Group. He is a choice individual with a marvelous family. With the treacherous inflationary rise in food prices he finds himself in a financial bind that is strangling. He has a very good job, is a PhD in Animal Husbandry and he has 2 boys on missions. He is looking for another job to supplement his income. His plight will become more common – I resolve that we can, will and must live the Gospel more closely, for “Every man seeking the interest of his neighbor” (D&C 82:19). We do as the Lord requires of us and become a true Zion people.

            To those of my family who read these writings, I want to convey the understanding that we are now passing through very difficult times. We enjoy technological advances our forebearers never dreamed possible but our hardships are affluence, greed, selfishness, pleasure-seeking and unbelievable evil that bombard us from all quarters. Our only protection is to have and develop a strong family oriented in the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the scriptures and the oracle of the present-day prophet to guide us.

            Truthfully, it would be wonderful to receive an honorable release from this mortal life now but I resolve to endure to the end. The promise we have to return to the presence of our loved ones in their great family, my family, and our Father in Heaven make me want to go on and do all that I can to build for those that are to come. I rejoice in having my eyes opened to see that these Spirits are more choice, spiritual, and intelligent than my generation. Oh! how their presence is needed now and in the near future. May they know that I love God with all my being – that He is a living and loving God who places a gentle hand on my should to guide, and on my mind to understand, and on my heart to love and feel a peace in this environment so influenced by the spirit of Lucifer. May the know the respect and love I feel for our forebearers, many of whom I have never met but am coming to know spiritually through geneaology, because they lived their lives honorably and distinguished the name I now bear. May they know that I know we are protected by the Lord, that as long as we do what He asks He is bound and we have a promise (D&C 82:10).

            Tomorrow, John will be advanced to the office of a Priest. How grateful I am that the children are progressing in their lives. What transpires tomorrow in this ordination far transcends any temporal problems we now face.