Family party - 14 Jun 2010

Due to a lot of people in the family wanting the story Rachel read for our Family Home Evening/birthday party, I've included it here:

Do We Really Know What We Have?

As written by Scott Anderson in his journal. Confirmed by Tim J.
Dyches (Mission President of the Portland Oregon Mission 2008-2011)

We had an unexpected moment in the mission field. We knocked on a
door and a lady said something to us we had never heard, "Come in".
Now remember, I was a German missionary. This never happened to us,
not even the members would say that to us. At this point suddenly
this dear lady invited us in. My companion said, "Do you know who we
are?" "You want to talk religion, don't you?" she said. "Yes we do"
explained my companion.


"Oh, come in. I've watching you walk around the neighbourhood. I'm so
excited to have you here. Please come into my study." We went in and
seated ourselves and she sat down behind the desk.


She looked at us with a smile, then pointed to three PhD's hanging
over her head. one in theology, the study of religion, one in
Philosophy, the study of ideas, and one in European History
specializing in Christianity. She then kind of rubbed her hands
together and said, "Do you see this row of books here?" We looked at
a well arranged row of books. She then said, "I wrote them all. I'm
the Theology professor at the University of Munich. I've been doing
this for 41 years. I love to talk about religion. What would you like
to discuss?" My inspired companion said, " we'd like to talk about
the Book of Mormon." She said,

"I don't know anything about the Book of Mormon." He said, "I know".
Twenty minutes later we walked out of the room. We had handed her a
Book of Mormon and this trade off that we had been on was over. I
didn't see this lady for another 8 1/2 weeks.

It was a small room filled with people, {when I saw her again}, as
she was standing in the front dressed in white. This Theology
professor at the University of Munich, Frau Gertrude Specht, was well
known throughout Southern Germany. She stood up in front of this
small congregation of people and said, "Before I'm baptized I'd like
to tell you of my feelings. In Amos 8:11 it says, there will be a
famine in the work of God. I've been in that famine for 76 years. Why
do you think I have three PhD's? I've been hungering for the truth
and have been unable to find it. Then 8 1/2 weeks ago, two boys
walked into my home. I want you to know these boys are very nice and
wonderful young men, but they didn't convert me. They couldn't; they
don't know enough." And then she smiled and said, "but since the day
they walked in my door I have read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine
and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, all of Talmage's great
writings, Evidence and Reconciliations by John A. Widtsoe and 22
other volumes of Church Doctrine." She then said something which I
think is a challenge for everyone of us here. She said, 'I don't
think you members know what you have."


Then in her quiet, powerful way, she said, "After those years of
studying philosophy, I picked up the D & C and read a few little
verses that answered some of the greatest questions of Aristotle and
Socrates! When I read those verses, I wept for 4 hours." Then she
said again, "I don't think you members know what you have. Don't you
understand the world is in a famine? Don't you know we are starving
for what you have? I am like a starving person being led to a feast.
And over these 8 1/2 weeks I have been able to feast in a way I have
never known possible."

Her powerful message and her challenging question was then ended with
her favourite scripture, "For you don't see the truth can make you
free."


She said, "these missionaries don't just carry membership in the
church in their hands, they carry within their hands the power to
make the atonement of Jesus Christ full force in my life. Today I'm
going into the water and I'm going to make a covenant with Christ for
the first time with proper authority. I've wanted to do this all my
life." None of us will forget the day she was baptized. When she got
finished being baptized, she got back out and before she received the
Holy Ghost , she stood and said, "Now I would like to talk about the
Holy Ghost for awhile." She then gave a wonderful talk about the gift
of the Holy Ghost.

{Later in Elder Anderson's journal}

Two young missionaries, both relatively new, {one had been out about
5 months, the other 3 weeks}, accidentally knocked of the door of the
seminary in Regensburg. 125 wonderful men were studying to become
priests inside. They didn't realize this was the door they had
knocked on because it looked like any other door. They were invited
in. In somewhat of a panic, the man said, "I am sorry we just don't
have time right now." The 2 missionaries were relieved, but then he
said, "Would you come back next Tuesday and spend 2 hours addressing
all 125 of us and answer questions about your church?" They agreed
that they would, and ran down the road screaming. They made a phone
call to their mission president and cried for help. The mission
president called us and said, "Do you think that dear lady that you
have just brought into the church would like to come help these 2
missionaries with this assignment?" I called her to explain what was
to happen, and she said, "more than I would like to eat, more than I
would like to sleep, more than..." I said, "Fine, you don't have to
explain."


We drove her to the seminary, and as we went in, she grabbed the 2
missionaries that had originally been invited, put her arms around
them and said, "you are wonderful young men. Would each of you spend
about 2 minutes bearing your testimony and then sit down and be quiet
please?"


They were grateful for their assignment. they bore their testimony
and then seated themselves. Then she got up and said, "For the next
30 minutes I would like to talk to you about historical apostasy."
She knew every date and fact. She had a PhD in this. She talked abut
everything that had been taken away from the great teachings the
Saviour had given, mostly organizational, in the first part of her
talk. the next 45 minutes were doctrinal.

She gave every point of doctrinal changes, when it happened and what
had changed. By the time she was done, she looked at them and said,
"In 1820 a boy walked into a grove of trees. He had been in a famine
just like I have been. He knelt to pray, because he was hungry just
like I have been. He saw God the Father and His Son. I know this is
hard for you to believe that they could be two separate beings, but I
know they are." she shared scriptures that showed that they were and
then said, "I would like to talk about historical restoration of
truth." she then, point by point, date by date, from the Doctrine and
Covenants, put back the organizational structure of Christ's church.
The last 20 minutes of her talk were absolutely brilliant. For the
first time we realized that she had been their Theology professor.
She continued by saying, "Last year when I was teaching you, I told
you that I was still in a famine.

I have been led to a feast. I invite you to come." she finished with
her testimony and sat down. What happened next was hard for me to
understand. These 125 sincere, wonderful men stood and for the next 7
minutes, gave her a standing ovation. By the time 4 minutes had gone
by I was crying. I remember standing and looking into their eyes and
seeing the tears in their eyes too. I wondered why they were
applauding after the message she had given. I asked many of them
later. They said, "to hear someone so unashamed of the truth, to hear
someone teaching with such power, to hear someone who finally has
conviction."

The truth is what can set us free...Do we really know what we have?
--
Andrew G. Knaupp
801-787-4466