SPIRITUAL FEASTS

SPIRITUAL FEASTS

Spring is a great time of the year. This year was particularly satisfying . It started when I attended the Monticello Temple the day before Easter with a group of recent converts to do baptisms for those who had already passed away. It rained off and on while we traveled to Monticello. Between Moab and Monticello we marveled at the deep red color of the rocks when they are wet and clouds blocked out the direct sunshine. The clouds lifted in Monticello so I could show the participants the natural “horse head” on the side of the Blue Mountains behind the temple. There was great peace in the temple as our group joined with an extended family from Riverton, Utah to do their family names, our group’s family names and other names provided by the temple. It was a spiritual feast followed by Easter the next day when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ and the renewal of the earth as our valley greened up with the weekend rains. I am grateful to our Heavenly Father for this earth and His Son’s sacrifice for me.

Our next spiritual feast will be May 14th and 15th when we are privileged to have Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi as our visiting Authority for Stake Conference. We are assigned a Visiting Authority only once every two years. Elder Kukchi was the first native born Japanese to serve as a General Authority. Born in Hokkaido, Japan, his father was killed in World War II and his then single mother raised four children. Elder Kikuchi was tracted out by the missionaries when he was 14 years old and temporarily staying with an uncle as he recovered from a sickness. He was baptized one month later. He served as a full time missionary in Japan and also served another mission as a “building missionary.” While working as a proselyting missionary, he attended a missionary conference conducted by Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, who over-saw the Far East missions at that time. The meeting was conducted in English because Elder Kikuchi was the only native Japanese elder present and everyone else present spoke English. Elder Kikuchi didn’t understand anything in the meeting and his companion had to tell him that Elder Hinckley had asked him to come forward and bear his testimony. Elder Kikuchi wanted to be understood by those present and as he testified he spoke In English through the gift of tongues. When he was finished, his companion told him that Elder Hinckley had afterwards pronounced a blessing on him in English, which Elder Kikuchi did not understand, that “ if he was humble enough and stayed close to the Lord, his name would be known in that part of the Lord’s vineyard in a good cause in building up the Kingdom.”

Elder Kikuchi graduated from Tokyo Asia University with a degree in Business Psychology and Management and worked in private industry. He married Toshiko Koshiiya and they have three daughters and a son. He served as stake president in Japan and was called at age 36 by President Kimball to be a General Authority and serve as a Seventy. His current assignment is the Assistant Executive Director of the Temple Department. He has also served, among many other callings, as the Temple President of the Tokyo Temple and Mission President of the Hawaii Honolulu Mission. He may be short in stature but he is a spiritual giant. We are in for a great spiritual feast. Elder Kikuchi has asked that we extend an invitation to everyone in the stake through home and visiting teachers by personal visit, telephone and/or letters or e-mail encouraging the saints to attend stake conference meetings. He also encourages the saints to attend the temple to spiritually prepare for this conference.

Stake Conference will be held at our Stake Center only. The Priesthood Leadership Meeting will be Saturday May 14th at 4:00 p.m. and the Adult Meeting will be at 7:00 p.m. that same evening. The General Session will be Sunday morning on May 15th, at 10:00 a.m. at the Stake Center. We urge everyone to arrive 20 minutes early so you can get parked and find your seat before the choir and prelude music starts at 9:45 a.m.

We are blessed in our stake to have Ragged Mountain LDS Ranch. While the scenery is spectacular, it greatest characteristic is that the Spirit of the Lord resides there. We have the following activities planned there:

May 12 and 13th Cabin Cleaning by the Relief Society Sisters
May 20th and 21th Father-Son Outing and Clean Up
May 31st-June 4th Young Men’s Encampment
June 6th-11th Girls Camp

Each of these activities should be a spiritual feast as we feel the special spirit that resides there.

These activities culminate with our annual Stake Temple Day at the Monticello Temple of June 24th.. Plan now to take the day off and travel to the temple to serve with your ward in the temple and feel that peace we receive in the temple as we are reminded of our covenants with the Lord and get our priorities in the proper order. As a Stake Presidency, we look forward to sharing these events with you and feel the spirit. We appreciate the opportunities we have to serve and love you.

President Kelly Summers