Dear Elder Snell,

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr Day (yesterday)!  He was a freedom fighter.  Too bad it was still necessary after the Civil War.  Read an interesting book called The Lincoln Hypothesis.    Did you know Abraham Lincoln and Joseph Smith had a well-documented and joint belief that national repentance would heal the land and that Lincoln checked a Book of Mormon out of the Library of Congress when the Union was losing the Civil War?  Eight months later, he issued the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation and returned the book to the library.  Hmmmm.

Well I had a hard week.  Rebound illness, exact same symptoms.  Missed getting a Priesthood Blessing the first time but got it the second round.  Amazing, immediate recovery with enough energy to do an 8pm temple session.  Didn’t even get sleepy which is unusual.  Had to go to bed early the two previous nights from shear exhaustion.  Even though I had that wonderful one-day reprieve, I was then hit with deep discouragement, almost despair.  I knew Satan was working on me for some reason. 

Reviewed the temptations of Christ:

1) to use power to satisfy hunger (Christ told Satan-and us-to not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth from God.)  It is a constant temptation to neglect the spiritual for the temporal or to do our carnal will instead of God’s. 

2)  to test God’s willingness to save us by doing something life threatening (Christ said not to tempt, or in other words try to manipulate, God.)

3) to gain power and adulation by worshipping Satan (Christ said to worship only God).

When I fall prey to any of those temptations, the outcome is doubt, discouragement, and/or defiance (the 3 D’s of the devil).  I try to counter with belief (in truth), courage (in spite of fear), and strict obedience (with exactness and honor).  I focused on prayer, scriptures, and serving God and felt better by the end of the day.

One of the things I felt impressed to read was the life and ministry of President Ezra Taft Benson.  He was such a hard worker growing up on a farm.   He even took over the responsibility of it when he was only 12 yrs old because his father was called on a mission.  He always gave himself totally over to whatever God asked.  It reminded me of the burnt offering under the Law of Moses which is symbolic of the total commitment which God requires of each of us.

Hey, did you know President Ezra Taft Benson’s wife Flora was called on a 2-yr mission to Hawaii (1924-1926) before she married? 

Hope you have a good week darlin’

Love, 

Mombaum