136I give unto him Amasa Lyman and Noah Packard for counselors, that they may preside over the quorum of high priests of my church, saith the Lord.
Today in church one of his descendants spoke and told his story. Noah moved to Utah and was asked to live in Springville, Utah, which is just south of Provo. While there he got into a dispute with the local Bishop and criticized him in public. He continued attending church, but his children didn't attend much and only one of his grandchildren ended up attending church. The one who did attend church did so because his mom and dad died, so he was sent to live with his mom's parents in Ogden where he grew up a faithful member of the church. Literally hundreds of descendants from that one boy are faithful church members. So much so that the Ensign had an article on one of those boys' descendants in 1984. http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=180&sourceId=bb0a05481ae6b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRDAmazingly, this article shows that of 400 descendants of Floyd Packard, only 8 were not active members of the church. Compare that to the hundreds of descendants of Noah who are not.
It is not fair to criticize local leaders or to fail to instill the desire in children to know that the church is true. It takes effort to build a testimony as God does not hand them out cheaply. It was very great to hear about someone mentioned in the D.C. and how his family turned out. Unfortunately, much of the story is a disappointment due to his criticism of a church leader that helped rob his children and grandchildren of their enthusiasm for the church.
Great Sunday again.
