For My Happiness

I never wanted to move back to Seattle.  I was content to live across the sound, in our spacious house, with our big yard, next door to my sister, with my hair salon inside. 

 I loved our life.  

But it wasn't the plan to stay there.  It was my plan, but not God's plan.  I have come to love God's plans for me.  One of my favorite scriptures is Proverbs 3:5-6.

His plan was for us to move back to Seattle.  After Trip graduated from graduate school and got a job, his commute ended up being 2 hours each way, taking the ferry and the bus.  This was too much for us.  We had just sacrificed not seeing him for years so he could earn his MBA, we wanted to be near him and his work.  But I was reluctant to give up my house and my sister.

I have found that the Lord is very gentle with me.  He leads me along, letting me believe what I need to, to get where I need to be.  First we had to move to Seattle, but he didn't make me give up my house yet.  We rented it out, this was a blessing and a growing experience (read trial).

We miraculously (the events surrounding this really were a miracle.  I'm not just saying that) found a house in Seattle to rent that would fit all 6 soon to be 7 of us, that we could afford.  We really had to down size.  

After a few months, I started to feel like we should buy a house in Seattle.  How would we do that?  We explored some options and it was apparent that if we were going to buy, we needed to sell our other house.  By this point, I was not enjoying being a landlord, so that wasn't a bad thing.  We were able to sell our house to a wonderful couple who loved it as much as we did, and they were in a better position to take care of all the land and have done great things with it.

We started to look for a house in Seattle.  We really felt like we needed to stay in the area of the city we had been living, but there wasn't much there that we could afford that would house us all.  We now had 5 kids and were just expecting number 6.  We found one that seemed like a good fit.  It was across the street from some friends of ours, it had a full basement that we could utilize as living area.  It was still more money that I thought we could afford and it needed a lot of work.  We prayed about it and felt good about buying it.  We put an offer on it, but it all broke down after the inspection showed even more work that needed doing, and a seller that wasn't wanting to do any repairs.

I was content to wait.  We really were in a good situation, having sold our house, we could sit back and relax, and wait for the right house to come along.  I didn't feel settled or quite like myself though.

A few months later, I was fed up with house hunting.  I didn't want to buy a house anymore.  We had seen everything on the market in our area that we could possibly afford, but none of them were anything I wanted.  One day, I was praying about my frustrations with house hunting and a picture of the house we had originally put an offer on came into my head.  I looked it up and it was back on the market after another pending offer fell through.  I discussed it with Travis and we prayed about it and made an offer on it again for the price we had agreed to before.  The sellers came back saying they wanted more money since they had done some of the work that we wanted done before.  

I was really had to think about it and pray about it.  It was more money than I wanted to spend.  We were in a alright situation where we were.  But, when I prayed about it, the answer came to me that it "was for my happiness." 

It really has been.  I finally felt settled.  We had room for all of our children and another one a few years later.  We have wonderful neighbors, who may not be family, but they are close.  We have since put a salon in this house, too.  My sister we had lived next to, moved to out of state.  Our yard is a more manageable size.  We were able to get chickens.  I have unlimited projects to work on and a garage/shop to do it in.  The Lord has blessed us finically to be able to meet our obligations.  Trip is close to work and so we get to see him much more often.  We have made great friends and love it here.  It truly was for my happiness.

Sunday Morning Haiku

Quiet Peaceful Still

The spirit whispers to me

Lo, I feel God's love

Don't box me in.

I have noticed that we like to categorize things.  If you have these things, you go in this little box.  But people are so much more complex than that.  Just because we have X doesn't make us Y.

What makes a "Mormon?"  What is cultural and what is doctrine?  Is it the culture that defines us or is it the doctrine?  I propose that it is the doctrine.  We have some cultures that grow out of our beliefs, but they are not doctrine and there are active Mormons that don't follow those cultures.  As you read the profiles on mormon.org, you can really see that.

Mormons are known for having big families, but not all do and just having a big family doesn't make you Mormon.  There are plenty of other people that have large families, whether it is because of a religious belief they have, a cultural belief or their own personal desires.  We do have doctrine that supports having a big family, but there is no commandment, "thou shalt have 10 children".  In fact it is a personal matter.  It is between the husband and the wife and the Lord.  We believe in personal revelation.  The Lord knows how many children will make your perfect family, he will let you know if you ask him.

What about not drinking alcohol.  It is a commandment for us.  Although there again, are all people who abstain from alcohol Mormon?  No.  There are plenty of people who don't drink of other faiths or no faith at all.

Are all Mormons Republicans and have the same beliefs on social issues?  No.  I remember when I learned that Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, was also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I was shocked.  But he is and according to this article, "The Temple-recommend-carrying Reid is very active in his church."

So what defines mormons as opposed to other people.  It is that we have a faith and testimony that the Book of Mormon was written by prophets on the American continents and is the word of God.  That the Priesthood authority of God was lost to the earth after Christ's original apostles died and that it was restored again through the Prophet Joseph Smith.  And we believe that Thomas S Monson is a prophet, called and authorized by God to receive revelation for the world today.   I think those are the beliefs that are uniquely ours.  We definitely have other beliefs that shape how we think and feel, but they are not exclusive to us, so therefore can't be said to make us a Mormon.  They just make us Christ like or thrifty or honest or kind or a "family man" or what ever (and honestly, these characteristics  are usually works in progress).  

A Better Fruit Fly Trap

For years I have used a simple fruit fly trap made of a mason jar with a paper cone stuck in the top with a bit of fruit in the bottom for bait.  The flies smell the fruit and crawl down the cone and through the hole in the bottom to get to the fruit.  Once they are trapped inside, few ever find the hole in the bottom of the cone to escape.  I don't know where I learned to make this fruit fly trap, I think from my mom.  Before I always just used a jar without the ring on it.  I would have to tape the paper cone to the top of the jar so there weren't any gaps that the flies could escape through.  The trap worked great, but it was a pain to let the flies out (I basically had to destroy the trap and start over with a jar that was now sticky around the top with old tape).

This year I happen to have a jar sitting on my counter that had a ring on it but no lid, when I was looking to make a trap.  I thought I would try it with the ring.  It was great.  With the ring on it the cone fit snugly inside and I didn't have to tape the top.  This makes emptying the jar a breeze.  Just lift the cone out,  and let the flies escape outside, then set the cone back in.

I have use this trap also for an object lesson to teach about God's way verse Satan's way.  Satan's way is wide and open to start with, but it gets narrower and narrower until we are trapped, but God's way is strict and defined at the beginning and as we keep the commandments, we find ourselves with more and more freedom.  

3 Nephi 27:33

And it came to pass that when Jesus had ended these sayings he said unto his disciples: Enter ye in at the strait gate; for strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it; but wide is the gate, and broad the way which leads to death, and many there be that travel therein, until the night cometh, wherein no man can work. 

St. Matthew 7:13-14

 Enter ye in at the ^astrait ^bgate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to ^cdestruction, and many there be which go in thereat:      Because ^astrait is the ^bgate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto ^clife, and few there be that find it.

My Wonderful Visiting Teacher

Last Thursday was curriculum night at the middle school.  Trip and I were both planning on going, and each of the boys, Rez and Ocean, were supposed to come with us.  We would go through their schedule and meet all their teachers.  

This meant that I had to get a babysitter for the younger kids.  It was a hard night to find someone, but a friend of mine agreed to come and watch my kids.  Thursday came and 15 minutes before things started, my sitter called to say she was sick and wasn't going to make it.  I should mention that Trip was not home from work yet, so I had been trying to figure out how I was going to go through both of the boys classes at the same time by myself and then to not have a sitter, I wasn't sure what I was going to do.  My good friend across the street was going to curriculum night as well and her husband had another commitment.  I asked another friend, they were already busy.  I finally prayed, because I didn't know who else I could call at the last minute to come and watch 5 kids.  

Then I thought of my visiting teacher.   

Visiting teaching is a program in our church where 2 sisters are assigned another sister to visit each month.  Their job is to watch over that sister, give her a spiritual message, serve her and help her come closer to Christ.  It is a wonderful program and I have made many friends through it.  But, I had just had a change in who my visiting teachers were and had just met one of my new ones the week before.  She was new in our ward and I didn't know her at all. (If you want to learn more about visiting teaching, you can click here.)

Anyway, after pleading for help in my prayer, I thought of my new visiting teacher.  When I called her, she was wonderful.  She said, "I just need to go get my husband and will be right over."  Within half an hour my visiting teacher had dropped what ever she had been planning that night and come to my rescue.

(Trip made it home from work also and we were only a little late).

I am so thankful for the visiting teaching program and that the Lord loves me enough to assign someone to watch over and take care of me.

  

I'm a Mormon

In the next few weeks, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which I belong to, will be having a media campaign in the city I live in.  There will be "I'm a Mormon" advertising every where.  On billboards, on buses, TV ads, you get the idea.  Yesterday at church, they told us all about it, so we would be aware of it and that we will probably have people asking us about it.

One reason they are doing it is to dispel myths about the church and it's members.  A lot of people don't know what we believe or if they think they do, what they think is wrong.  The other day, upon finding out I had 7 kids, someone asked if I was Mormon.  (That is the usually response to finding out I have 7 kids.)  After confirming that yes I was, they asked if I drove a Suburban or had a trampoline, because all Mormons that they knew had a Suburban and a trampoline, or swimming pool.  I said, "Nope, I just drive a big van and have chickens."

Another reason is to invite people to visit mormon.org.  There you will find stories of people and their answers to some commonly asked questions about us and our beliefs. You will find that the stereo typical Mormon, one that is conservative and has a big family, isn't the only kind of Mormon out there.  We are actually a very diverse bunch all bound together by our belief in Jesus Christ as our Savior, testimonies that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that God has a prophet here on earth now to guide and lead his people, and a desire to return to live with God and our families when we die.  There are a few more common beliefs that we share, you can find out what they are if you visit mormon.org.  Or you can just ask me about it.  I love to talk to people about my beliefs and to share my testimony with them.  I have found that when other Christians get to know what we actually believe, they realize that it really isn't to far from what they believe.

Don't Limit Yourself

The other day someone told T that I was amazing.  I have heard that before and I have thought the same thing about other people, especially my mother, and it gets me to thinking, "What makes us amazing?"  

Well obviously it is because we do amazing things, but how can we do amazing things?  Were we just amazing to start with and so we can do amazing things or do we become amazing by doing amazing things.  I think that we have the potential to start with, but it is the amazing things that we take on, that develops us into amazing people.  I will call them challenges.  (Some times they are trials, but not all challenges are trials).

My mother is one of the most amazing people I know.

(Here she is pregnant with my youngest brother, she was 46)

She bore and raised 11 kids.  She still takes care of me and my family when she comes to visit and does the same for my siblings.  She is loving, unselfish and Christ like.  I love her.  But as I experience my life, I see that I am much more amazing now than I was 10 years ago.  My capacity to do amazing things has grown as I have met the challenges in my life and worked through them, rather than limit myself.  When I had 2 kids I was completely overwhelmed and wondered how anyone did it with more than two.  Now, I have 7 and I can do it.  My capacity has grown.  

When T was unemployed several years ago, I had a drive to put a hair salon in our house.  As I pursued it, I came across one obstacle after another.  I would get discouraged, but I would think, "If I stop, then I will never have a salon.  If I plug away at it, eventually, I will."  So, I persisted and after about a year and a half, I had my salon.

There is a woman I know who's daughter was diagnosed with leukemia.  In a talk at church, she told how she prayed about this, really struggling to know why, etc. and the answer that she got was, to the effect that, it would be for the growth and benefit of her family.  She prayed how that could be and the answer came that it only would be if she made it that way (or something to that effect).  Basically, it was up to her how she met her challenge.  Did she let is crush her, or did she meet her challenge, with the strength of the Lord, and in the process, become stronger and more capable?

I hear comments from people that they could never do what I do, but they could.  They short change themselves and don't try, therefore limiting their ability.  They forget the words of their Savior in Mark 9:23-24  The Lord was talking with the father of a child with a dumb spirit, that the disciples had tried to cast out, but couldn't. 

"Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."  If we come to God, our Lord who loves us, with our challenges, he will help us.  In fact it is promised to us in Mormon 9:21

"Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth."

So, my take away from all this is, it is by rising to the occasion, meeting our challenges in the strength of the Lord and not giving up that we become amazing.

(It really is just God's way of helping us to become who he already knows that we are.)

Living Within Your Means

I was assigned to give a talk today.  I worked on it for a long time, especially yesterday.  Then when I got to church today, I found out that the Bishopric forgot it was the High Council speaker today, and I didn't have to give my talk.  But it is a great talk, so when you need to read a sermon, here it is...

The Blessings Of Living Within Our Means

“Brothers and sisters, peace and contentment come into our hearts when we live within our means.”  This was the promise from President Benson in 1987.

Through my life I have experienced that this is true.  It is hard at times to live within our means, especially in the world we live in.  

My talk is going to be quite personal.  I am going to first give you a overview of our financial experiences and share with you some of the things we have learned from it all.  The Lord has blessed us greatly in this.  He has always provided what we need, even when I couldn’t see where it would come from.  He hasn’t always given me what I wanted, but what I need, and usually just enough, just in time.  

I am a bit of a tight wad I like financial security.  T is a bit of a spend thrift and likes nice stuff.  Before we got married I balanced my check book to the penny every month and T had a box of unopened bank statements, (he justifies this by saying that he just didn’t spend any money).  I had never been in debt before and never wanted to be and T had student loans.  When we got married T was still in school and we lived on about $800 per month and borrowed his parents old VW bug.  At one point there was an electrical problem that blew all the lights out in the car. Fortunately, it was in the summer because we drove it around for a few weeks using hand signals until we could afford to get the lights fixed.  We didn’t really budget at that time in our marriage, but we didn’t spend money we didn’t have.  

When T graduated we moved back to the Seattle area, were I grew up.  T got a job at Boeing just about the time we were wondering how we were going to keep paying our rent.  We bought a computer and a car.  Paid them both off and paid off his student loans.  Our family started to grow.  T changed jobs and we move to the Fremont neighborhood.  We paid our tithing and offerings and felt very blessed.  It was the dot com boom, and software was the industry you wanted to be in.  T had stock options worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, on paper.  And the stock price just kept going up and up. It was very fun to dream about what we were going to do with our money when the options vested.  I am so glad we didn’t act on those promises of future wealth, because the bottom fell out of tech stocks.  By the time our shares started vested, we still had enough money for a down payment on our first house and more in savings than we had ever had before, but it was not hundreds of thousands of dollars.  

Six months after buying our first house T was laid off, our options were now worthless and I was pregnant.  With unemployment payments and food storage our savings lasted us the 8 months until he found another job, but just barely.  

Around this time, T decided to go back to school and I put a hair salon in our house. His last year of school, he quit his job so he could take daytime classes and get reacquainted with our 4 kids, this time there was no unemployment insurance.  We lived on our savings, what I was able to earn and more student loans.  We survived that time too, but just barely.  His next job brought us back to Seattle.  Here T makes a good income.  We are very blessed in that way, but we still have challenges striving to live within our means.  That happens when you have 7 kids, a house that needs a lot of work and a big van that averages 12 miles per gallon.

So some of the things that we have learned along the way are:

First, Pay your tithing and offerings.  I have seen time and again that the Lord can stretch 90% of our income farther than I would be able to stretch 100% of it.  Trust him.  One of my favorite scriptures is Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  

In the 2004 April conference Joseph B. Worthin said, “Do you want the windows of heaven opened to you? Do you wish to receive blessings so great there is not room enough to receive them? 7 Always pay your tithing and leave the outcome in the hands of the Lord.

Obedience to God’s commandments is the foundation for a happy life. Surely we will be blessed with the gifts of heaven for our obedience. Failure to pay tithing by those who know the principle can lead to heartache in this life and perhaps sorrow in the next.”

Second, everyone’s means are different and your means will be different at different times in your life.  There was a time in my married life when I couldn’t imagine having $20 of extra money to spend on something that wasn’t absolutely necessary.  Now I can.

In his same talk, Elder Worthin also said,

“One day a man approached the Savior and asked Him to intervene in a family dispute. “Master, speak to my brother,” he pleaded, “that he divide the inheritance with me.”

The Savior refused to take sides on this issue, but He did teach an important lesson. “Beware of covetousness,” He told him, “for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” 1

Brothers and sisters, beware of covetousness. It is one of the great afflictions of these latter days. It creates greed and resentment. Often it leads to bondage, heartbreak, and crushing, grinding debt.”

Third, Make a budget and discipline yourself to stay in your budget.  I am the budgeter in our family and when we want to buy something I often ask myself or T, “where is the money going to come from?”  With a budget you can see clearly where it comes from.  It is all accounted for.  I have to confess that I do get very creative with our accounting sometimes.  Diapers are like a utility, right?  If they weren’t using the diaper, then they would be using water and the sewer. 

I think it would be impossible to live within my means without knowing how much money is coming in, how much needs to go out and how much I have already spent.  

There is a great article in the February 2011 Ensign by KATE STRONGIN titled “How We Broke the Chains of Debt”  It is about her experiences struggling for 18 months after her husband graduated from college before he found a job.  She gives 3 financial principals that were ingrained in them during that time of struggle.  

One of them is live by a budget.  She said, “Another startling realization was that much of our debt (that they acquired while in school) could have been avoided if we had lived by a budget. Previously, when my husband had pressed for a budget, I refused. I was overwhelmed with school and work and thought budgeting would just be one more burden. I thought simply trying to live frugally was enough. Now I saw how wrong I was and we immediately set up a budget to identify needs and track our spending. I was surprised at how much freedom and peace of mind it gave me. My stress level actually decreased! It was easier to live within our means when I knew exactly how much was coming in and how much was going out.”

Fourth, get out of debt and stay out of debt as much as you can.  Elder Worthin also said, “Some debt—such as for a modest home, expenses for education, perhaps for a needed first car—may be necessary. But never should we enter into financial bondage through consumer debt without carefully weighing the costs.”

There is so much counsel on this topic alone.  In Doctrine and Covenants 19:35 The Lord equates debt with bondage.

“President Thomas S. Monson has warned against excessive debt. He says it is commonly accepted in today’s culture, but we will be happier by living within our means than we would be if we were “constantly worrying about how to make the next payment on nonessential debt.”1 -Ensign July 2011 GETTING OUT OF DEBT—FOR GOOD

We really felt this when we experience times of unemployment.  We were desperate to reduce our monthly outflow of money or our “burn rate” as we called it.  And it wasn’t just for debt, but also for payments we were obligated to make, like our cell phone contracts.  Any time someone offers to let me pay over time, or wants me to sign a 2 year contract, I really weigh whether I want that hanging over my head or not.

Heber J Grant spoke about debt from personal experience.  In the Teachings of the presidents of the church- Heber J Grant manual it tells us:

“An economic crisis swept across much of the United States in 1893, leaving hundreds of banks, railroads, mines, and other businesses in financial ruin. That crisis, called the Panic of 1893, caught Elder Heber J. Grant and many others by surprise. It saddled Elder Grant, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with debts that took him years to repay. In an address he gave during that time he said: “I want to confess to you that I and many others have done wrong. Why? Because we have been so very anxious to make a dollar that we have run in debt, and now we cannot promptly pay our honest debts.… For the first time in my life I have had people come to me and ask me to pay money that I owed them, and I have had to ask for an extension of time. If the Lord will only forgive me this once I will never be caught again. I have been a borrower of money since I was eighteen; but if I can only get paid off what I owe now, I shall be content, I believe, with the blessings of the Lord, whatever they may be, be it much or little.” 1

Later speaking at a general Relief Society conference in 1932 “He referred to a time many years earlier when he went into debt to buy stock in the Salt Lake Theatre, hoping to save the building from being torn down: (He said)

“I want all the people within the sound of my voice to benefit by my experience in buying theatre stock. [For] 32 years of my life.… every dollar I made was lost before I made it. It is a great burden, figuratively speaking, to have a dead horse, and to have to carry the horse for 32 years before you can put it under the ground. It is a terrible condition, and all on account of debt. Since that time I have always lived within my means.…

“… If there is any man living who is entitled to say, ‘Keep out of debt,’ his name is Heber J. Grant. Thank the Lord that I was able to pay [all my debt], and pay it all without asking a dollar discount from anyone. I do not believe I ever would have paid it if I had not been absolutely honest with the Lord. When I made any money, the first debt I paid was to the Lord, ...” 2  

Again from Elder Worthlin, he said, “We are a people of integrity. We believe in honoring our debts and being honest in our dealings with our fellow men.”

Fifth, save for the future.  I personally love to see money pile up.  When T was unemployed and we were living on unemployment insurance payments, I saved 10% of it, even though we were also drawing from our savings each month.  By the time that our original savings were gone, we still had the new savings to carry us through.  There have been many times when we have finally built up our emergency savings to a comfortable level, and guess what, that is just when an emergency come up.  I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed us that way.  

You also need to save for retirement.  I have know amazing people that were still active and spry in their 80’s.  One of my favorites is Burke Waldron.  He did some remodeling work for us in Bremerton.  But he did mention to me once that it would be nice if he didn’t have to work.    

Elder Worthlin also tells us, “The wise understand the importance of saving today for a rainy day tomorrow. They have adequate insurance that will provide for them in case of illness or death. Where possible, they store a year’s supply of food, water, and other basic necessities of life. They set aside money in savings and investment accounts. They work diligently to reduce the debt they owe to others and strive to become debt free.

Brothers and sisters, the preparations you make today may one day be to you as the stored food was to the Egyptians and to Joseph’s father’s family.”  -Joseph B Worthlin April 2004 addresses EARTHLY DEBTS, HEAVENLY DEBTS

Sixth, pray for guidance and trust the Lord.  Back to my favorite scripture of Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  

Sometimes, The Lord asks me to do things that go against my understanding.  I am a frugal person, and I like to have financial security.  I would never have bought our house when we did for the price paid for it, if it had been up to me.  We were pretty sure that the housing market was going down and if we waited longer, we could get a better price on a house in better shape, but that wasn’t God’s plan.  We prayed a lot about buying our house and the timing of it and we both believe that it was what the Lord wanted us to do and regardless of the outcome of it, it would be his will.  

You have to be careful with this principle though and you have to be willing to live with the out come what ever it may be.  Sometimes, The Lord uses these times as teaching and growing experiences, often accompanied by growing pains.  But when we trust Him and turn our hearts to Him, he will support us through our trials.  

Seventh, always be grateful for what we have, even if it is less that what we want.

In the December 1989 Ensign, there is a great article titled “How Many Loaves Have Ye?”  It goes through the parable of Christ feeding the 5,000 and pulls principles from that parable that can be applied to our financial life. It says:

“When Jesus fed the five thousand, he “gave thanks” for the food he had, even though it wasn’t enough. (See Matt. 15:36.) In our anxiety over financial problems, sometimes we become bitter and ungrateful. But we will handle our problems better if we humble ourselves and thank God for what we have rather than worry about what we don’t have. The Savior literally did “count his blessings,” and the people were surprised at what the Lord had done.”  

Eighth, Give yourself an allowance that you can spend however you want, even if it is just a few dollars a week.  It is much easier to stay in you budget if you have a little “mad money”.  

And Last of all, it is really important to have yummy food in your food storage. 

I know that as we trust the Lord and follow his counsel to Live within our means, he will open the way for us to be able to do it and we will receive the blessings that he has promised. 

President Heber J Grant said: ‘If there is any one thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart, and into the family, it is to live within our means....’ (Gospel Standards, comp. G. Homer Durham [1941], 111). --President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) “To the Boys and to the Men,” Ensign, Nov. 1998, 53–54.

And in closing I want to leave you with the words of President Benson from June 1987 

“Brothers and sisters, peace and contentment come into our hearts when we live within our means. God grant us the wisdom and the faith to heed the inspired counsel of the priesthood to get out of debt, to live within our means, and to pay as we go—in short, to “pay thy debt, and live.” -President Benson JUNE 1987 PAY THY DEBT, AND LIVE