1 Nephi 3:7

A very free "retranslation" expressing my meditations on this verse.

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I will go, Lord.
I will do it.
I accept the mission you have given me.

I undertake this task
in the faith that you do not ask the impossible,
that behind the scenes, you too are busy
laying groundwork,
phoning ahead,
getting all the other pieces in place.

I may not be able to see
how this task is to be accomplished
or why it matters in the big scheme of things.
Yet I trust
that my efforts will somehow be of use
in a plan that only you
are far-sighted enough
and genius enough
to orchestrate.

I will go.
I will do it.
And because it is you who asks it,
I trust that whatever I accomplish
will somehow work for good.

La Gonave in the news

MSNBC has done a story on the influx of earthquake refugees to La Gonave. That's the island I visited two years ago. I've been in the hospital you see in the news story: we took a member of our group there when he began to pass a kidney stone.

Watch the video

Ruins of Episcopal cathedral in Port-au-Prince

I received this photo today by email. It shows the ruins of the Episcopal cathedral in Port-au-Prince. In an earlier post, I showed pictures of the cathedral interior taken during my trip to Haiti two years ago.

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Lord, your house is left to you desolate.

Moroni 10:32

The Haitian rescue and aid efforts continue, but from my vantage point here in the States it's all fading from normalcy-shattering crisis to background noise. I hate that transition. Even though, of course, life goes on and I've gone on reading my scriptures and doing different kinds of spiritual reflection during the week, I've kept my blog entries for the past couple of weeks focused on Haiti because it seemed callous to let anything else into the spotlight. But at some point, Haiti passes from center stage to join a whole chorus line of other concerns.

At the Advocate, we do the Prayers of the People each week. By unscripted custom, certain petitions are routine: Someone always prays for the other religious groups who loan our congregation use of their buildings; someone typically prays for peace in Iraq and Afghanistan; someone often prays for those working to end the death penalty in our state; etc. If someone else doesn't do it, I want to make Haitian relief and reconstruction one of our routine petitions.

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For the past couple of years, I've been using the blog principally to post weekly reflections on the standard works being studied in Sunday School. I haven't settled yet on a weekly routine for this year, but I'm pretty sure it won't be following the Sunday School reading schedule. I feel like it's time to do something different, and I have some sense of where I'm being nudged to go, but I'm in a "wait and see" mode for the time being.

Before the earthquake hit, I'd been planning to post this. It's a very free "retranslation" or paraphrase of Moroni 10:32, something that I felt moved to work on a while back. I have a couple more paraphrases of commonly cited scriptural passages I'll probably post later.

Unfamiliar as the paraphrase may seem, every phrase is a reflection on something in the original text.

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Come to Christ—enter into Christ—
and you will be made complete.

Let go of everything that holds you back
from growing into the fullness of your divine nature.

Let it go,
and let love for God take over your life.

Throw yourself at God with unrestrained passion;
hold nothing back.

You will be transformed
in ways you would not have dreamed possible—
transformed by God’s power working in you,
remaking you into the image of Christ.

Skeptical?
Try it, and see for yourself.

(Moroni 10:32)

200,000 dead in Haiti; looting, flight

I just read the latest estimate of the death toll: 200,000. Four times the Red Cross estimate, two times the initial estimate preceding that one. God. I don't know what to add to that vocative.

The obstacles to distributing aid have led to looting and riots. People are fleeing the city. At church on Sunday we had a report of yet another facet of the disaster that hadn't even dawned on me until then: People in the countryside get a lot of their goods, including food, from the city. But of course now those market routes have been disrupted, and God knows when they'll be up and running again at their accustomed capacity. So the earthquake is producing shortages of necessary goods in the countryside as well.

Talking with my father the other night, he passed on to me the news that an LDS chapel which withstood the earthquake is being used as a medical center. (My father, who used to do construction for the Church, said he wasn't surprised to hear the building had survived because the Church's own building codes are stricter than those used in many developing countries.) Read the story.

The chance for resurrection I see coming out of this disaster—for bringing life and renewal out of death and destruction—is that (1) the need to rebuild creates opportunities to build right, to create infrastructure that can help lift this country and its people out of poverty; (2) Americans are perhaps more keenly aware than they were before of this incredibly poor country that's one of our nearest neighbors. I pray a commitment to Haiti endures after the earthquake finally passes out of the news.

They shall build the old wastes,
they shall raise up the former desolations,
and they shall repair the waste cities,
the desolations of many generations.
(Isaiah 61:4)

Prayers for aid workers in Haiti

Today my thoughts are especially with those who are trying to administer aid in the midst of the tremendous obstacles: difficulties getting into the country, the challenges of getting aid to those who need it, the overwhelming numbers of people in need and the insufficient numbers of those available to help, the threat of rioting by desperate people.

Hold on your way; fear not,
for God will be with you.
(D&C 122:9)

Lift up your heads and be comforted,
notwithstanding your many strugglings
which have been in vain.
I trust there remains
an effective struggle to be made;
therefore lift up your heads,
and put your trust in God.
(Mosiah 7:18-19)

All things must come to pass in their time;
therefore, be not weary in well-doing.
(D&C 64:32-33)

Lord, give success to the laborers.
Comfort their souls.
Grant them strength to bear the afflictions
that will come upon them.
(Alma 31:32-33)

Haitian casualties may be less than feared

The Red Cross is now estimating 45,000-50,000 dead. While still a horrible number, of course, it is substantially less than the initial fears of 100,000 dead or more. Thank God for that.

I continue to pray for survivors: the wounded, the homeless, the bereaved. I pray for those administering medical aid. I pray for the search and rescue teams. I pray for those who are transporting and distributing food, water, clothes, and other needed supplies.

The earth ceased to tremble,
and the rocks ceased to rend.
And the wailing of the people who were spared alive ceased,
and their mourning was turned into joy
and their lamentations into thanksgiving.
(3 Ne. 10:9-10)

That's not going to happen for some time yet, of course. But that's what I'm praying for.

In Christ's name, amen.