Conference tecrus::mormonism

    How about the mission calls?  Were any extended?
    
    Steve

    Re: Note 296.1 by MIZZOU::SHERMAN

    Hi Steve,
    
>   How about the mission calls?  Were any extended?

    I'm not sure what you are asking here. I think you might be asking
    if any missionaries were called to Czechoslavakia. If so, I believe
    Elder Widtsoe was speaking to missionaries who were alread serving
    in that mission in 1932. Apparently, prior to World War II, we had
    missionaries in some of these countries that were not yet under
    communist rule.
    
    In Christ's Love,
    Rich

The following is also from postings on the LDS Internet mailing list...

From:	GILROY::"lds-request"  4-DEC-1989 18:13
To:	gilroy::lds 
Subj:	(prophecies and) Surprises 

Just reading Mike Sellers' comments on how disbelieving we might have been
if we had been shown the video clips of Germans dancing on the Berlin Wall
six months ago and how many more surprises are very likely in store (Isn't
there an Article of Faith about many great and wonderful truths yet to be
revealed?), reminded me of something our Bishop said in his testimony
yesterday that I think is also exciting. [And Greg's review of Pres. Hinckley's
talk at the Christmas Devotional made me want to hit myself for opting not to go
because I thought there would just be the M. Tab. Ch. singing and a talk 
about Christ in relation to Christmas and maybe something about the atonement
(which a friend who _did_ go and showed up afterwards said was talked about).
So having friends over and already having had a pretty wonderful set of meetings
I made the wrong choice and missed ending the Sabbath with yet another neat
talk. Luckily, our Stake usually tapes all satellite broadcasts; if not, I guess
I'll have to wait for it in the Ensign or the Church News.]

Anyway, our Bishop said that:
  A few days ago a member (Kurt) of our ward who just entered the MTC last week 
called him and told him that he had just heard that two elders who are
fluent in Russian have just been transferred to Leningrad (where a new branch
of the Church has just been formed) from the Finland Helsinki Mission! AND
(for those of us in the ward who didn't know,) all last year Kurt, who had
gotten active in the Church again after a long hiatus and who happens to be
fluent in Russian himself and was finishing up his degree in Slavic Languages,
was also planning to go on a mission himself and kept joking about wouldn't it
be neat if he were called as the first missionary to the Soviet Union. When he
got his mission call this summer, it was to the, you guessed it, Finland 
Helsinki Mission! Kurt joked that it was as close as he could possibly get to
the Soviet Union. Kurt also just finished spending the whole summer in Moscow
and the Soviet Union in some program before submitting his mission papers.
Kurt then told our Bishop that he quickly wrote his mission president a letter
telling him that he also was fluent in Russian. Our Bishop said that we 
shouldn't be surprised to find a letter on the bulletin board at Church
from Kurt in a few months or so postmarked from Moscow or Leningrad. 
  And I'm hearing this just a day after reading yet another exciting headline
in the newspaper proclaiming that Gorbachev said the USSR *needs* religion
and showing him shaking hands with the pope. (And talking about exciting
headlines in the newpaper this year, on the front page of our newspaper
this morning was a box explaining that so much history-making news had occurred
just yesterday that they had to put some of the stories inside [rather than on
the front page I guess]!) The one big downer seems to be China; I hope lots
of prayers continue to be offered in that regard.
--Lee Poulsen
[email protected]
-------

From:	RIPPLE::KOTTERRI     "Rich Kotter 406-248-1863"  4-DEC-1989 20:49
To:	GILROY::LDS,KOTTERRI    
Subj:	re: (prophecies and) Surprises

I really enjoyed Lee Poulsen's posting, because I served a mission in Finland
from 1972 to 1974. I, too, had studied Russian before my mission, as had
several other missionaries that served in Finland at the time. I had told my
friends that I wanted to be called to serve a mission in Russia. You can
imagine how exciting it was when my call came to Finland, which was as close as
you could come. 
                                                            
We wondered at the time if the elders who had studied Russian were called to
Finland because they had studied another difficult language (Finnish can be one
of the most difficult languages, though it bears no relation to Russian), or,
were we being called there so we could be called into Russia, if it were to be
opened up? It is very exciting now to see this happening. I don't suppose they
are going to be calling 36 year old married men to serve there now, do you
think? :-} 

Rich Kotter
DEC - Billings, MT (formerly of the Helsinki Finland mission)
                                                                       

    It is interesting to note that while I was on my mission in Berlin
    in 1970 I had occasion to talk to a number of servicemen who were
    members.  Their comment at the time is that LDS servicemen represented
    a very large percentage of the Russian listeners in armed forces.
    They were all selected for their potential to learn a difficult
    language not on religious basis.  It seemed odd to them that so many
    LDS were selected consistantly over the years to learn Russian.
    
     At that time a number believed that they had been especially called
    to learn and retain Russian for future service to the Church.  How
    or when they did not know.  In view of the recent events it is not
    unreasonable to believe they could be the first mission presidents
    and missionary couples sent into Russia.
    
    While I am very skeptical about predictions such as the one in this
    note without solid evidence verifying its authenticity, I find the
    changes in the soviet block to be exhilarating.  I wonder though
    if the Church members are up to the challenge?
    
    Dennis C.

    One of the headlines in our local paper on December 24, 1989 seemed
    to be right in line with this topic. I have included it here, along
    with the first paragraph of the article:
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    
                         STALIN'S EMPIRE HAS CRUMBLED
    
                            By John-Thor Dahlburg
                             The Associated Press
    
    MOSCOW - It was the fortress Stalin built, from the Baltic to the
    Adriatic. It held some 100 million human souls. Two days ago its
    last bastion fell, stormed by hundreds of thousands of Romanians
    enraged by Nicolae Ceausecu's tyrrany.
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    Let's see now... So far there's Poland, East Germany, Hungary,
    Czecholovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania. Also, there are dramatic changes
    in the Soviet Union itself and other rumblings of change in some
    of its provinces. All of this has happened in a few short months.
    Is this amazing, or what?
                             

    Yesterday we had stake conference, and President Madsen (the Boston
    Area Mission President) talked about some of the exciting things
    that are happening with missionary work in the world.  At one point
    in his talk he talked about Elder Witsoe, and his prophecies about
    communism made in 1932 during the depression.  He even mentioned the 
    quote from Elder Witsoe in this note (see 296.0) almost word for word 
    as we have it.
    
    After the conference I went up to him, and asked him what the source
    of the quote was, since I had heard it before, and was not yet sure
    of its authenticity.  He said that his brother was married to a
    grand daughter of Elder Witsoe, and they had sent this out as part
    of their family letter at Christmas time, along with some other
    quotes from Elder Witsoe's personal journals and records.
    
    Sounds like our quote here is fairly accurate.
    
    Jim
    

The following posting appeared on the LDS Internet mailing list:
    
    
From:	GILROY::"lds-request" 15-JAN-1990 16:07
To:	gilroy::lds 
Subj:	Widtsoe Quote on Communism 

Dear Fellow LDS Netters,
        I am including the quote by Elder Widtsoe about communism that
was mentioned before.  I have typed the copy that I received in its
entirety.  I don't think I misspelled anything drastically.  One note is
that my copy really does have "J.G.S." and T.G.S. in the explanation so
that is not a typo.  I got the copy from my wife's RS president, whose
husband also used to teach Gospel Doctrine with me.  His father is a fairly
well-known former Seminary teacher from around here that has also assisted
in writing manuals for the church so I know my sources must be true :-).
Anyway, take it for what it is and seek inspiration to discern how true and
applicable it is.  As for me, I am going to get out of debt and school (not
necessarily in that order) so I can spend some time in Russia :-).  Hope it
helps.

Brad Marx


PROPHECY ON THE END OF EUROPEAN COMMUNNISM
BY ELDER JOHN A. WIDTSOE -- 1932
PRAGUE, CZECHOSLOVAKIA

        Communism is the work of the Devil.  The Lord is using it to
break down the hold of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches over the
minds of men.  When Communism has completed its task of breaking this hold,
it will pass out of existence almost overnight.  And then the Church (the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) will wend missionaries by the
hundreds into the Slavic lands of Europe, including the motherland of
Russia.
        There is more of the blood of Israel in Western Russia than all
the rest of Europe put together.  And when the time comes to do missionary
work there, the people will come into the Church by the thousands.  Whole
villages and towns will join the Church in groups.
        This mission (Czechoslovakia) is important because it is opening
the door to the slavic nations, this language is the key to the slavic
languages, and some of you in this room, will be called to do missionary
work in Russia.
        There were eleven missionaries present, [along with] Dr. Widtsoe
and mission president Arthur Gaeth.

------------------------------------

        The above statement is from the journal of Stake President T.R.
Holt of Lewiston, UT.  He was one of the eleven missionaries.  (The
material is quoted in a letter from a "J.G.S." to Dr. Vaughn N. Pond, 1414
Fremont Drive, Twin Falls, ID dated March 30, 1965, Richmond, UT.)
        T.G.S. adds that President Holt said, in December of 1964, that
"When Elder Alvin R. Dyer visited our conference in June 1961, shortly
after his return from presiding over the European mission, wanted to know
more about it.  For his benefit I lifted from my missionary diary the notes
made twenty-nine years before, as President Widtsoe instructed the
missionaries to record what he was going to say.  Ezra Taft Benson was our
next conference visitor.  He too, was interested in what President Dyer had
reported to Church Headquarters, and wanted to know the names of the other
elders who constituted the number referred to, at Prague in 1932.  Who also
would have listened to what I have written.
        "As many of the brethren as could be located have since received
letters asking for their reactions to the message of Brother Widtsoe.  At
least four have responded and in each instance their accounts are
practically identical to what I have written."
    

    Re: 296.6
    
    Thanks for taking the time to post this comment.  I was thinking about
    going up to Bro. Madsen myself after Stake Conference last Sunday, but
    decided that there were just too many people there to attempt that. 
    It's nice to know that what we've been told over the DECWRL internet
    for the past few weeks is a true story.  It's exciting to see the
    latter-days unfolding in front of our eyes so quickly with all the
    events that have occured in the world these past couple of months.
    
    I have only been in the Church now for 'almost' 7 years (April 10th
    will be my 7th year Anniversary).  I believe that the Nashua, N.H.
    Stake Conference that was held this past weekend was the very best I
    have ever attended.  The talks were outstanding, as were the Sisters
    and Brethren who delivered them.  The Spirit of the Lord was truly
    there in abundance.  I feel so blessed to have Bro. Alex Dobieski
    as my Home Teacher and his lovely wife Pat as my Visiting Teacher.
    
    Penny Sousa
    SMURF::SOUSA
    Spit Brook Road, Nashua, N.H. Facility
    
    
      

Note:  The following was posted over the LDS mailing list. 
    
    
<For what it's worth...

<At last night's stake correlation meeting my Stake president (CES seminary
<teacher and past seminary principal) announced that CES (Church education
<system) has asked its membership to stop circulating the prophecy on communism
<attributed to John Widtsoe.  Bishop Jay Jensen (in charge of the Church's
<project to translate scriptures into foreign languages) confirmed that *the
<bretheren* are very concerned about the way this particular prophecy has been
<spreading like "wildfire" throughout the church.  He went on to state that
<considerable research has been done over the past few weeks (including talking
<to people who were present for Brother Widtsoe's talk and examining personal
<diaries of Brother Widtsoe and others).  As a result of this research, the
<prophecy attributed to Brother Widtsoe is, and I quote, "unsubstantiated."
<The stake president went on to ask that we "please not use or refer to" that
<prophecy or "attempt to relate it to events now occuring in communist
<countries."

<I make no judgement from this as to whether or not Brother Widtsoe (or any
<other church authority) gave the prophecy attributed to him.  I offer this
<merely for your information.  Your mileage may vary...
 
<Regards, Stan  [email protected]
    
    
    Just passing this along. I can see why this prophecy could create
    problems for the Church though. People generally get riled when 
    their political system is called a tool of the Devil. 
    
    Dave Pyle
                                                         

    A letter from Howard W. Hunter, President of the Council of the Twelve,
    was sent to church leaders in reference to the alleged statement by
    John A. Widtsoe. 

    The letter states that the Church Historical Department has examined
    the evidence concerning the statement, including interviews with all
    living witnesses. They concluded that the precise content of Elder
    Widtsoe's statement cannot be confirmed. It was confirmed that Elder
    Widstoe was in Czechoslovakia in the summer of 1932 and spoke to the
    missionaries concerning the growth of the Church in Slavic nations.
    Howeever, recollections of individuals present at meetings with Elder
    Widstoe vary. Some have no memory of his words, while an account being
    widely circulated was written more than thirty years later.

    The letter concludes: "Due to the lack of sufficient evidence to verify
    the statements attributed to Elder Widtsoe, we caution Church members
    against using them."

    Rich