Upon the Mountain Tops

Not long after our friend Carolyn Rasmus joined the faculty of Brigham Young University, a group of her new teaching colleagues invited her to join them on a Saturday hike in the mountains above Provo.

Carolyn was not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but she had felt particularly welcome in her new circle of associates.

She eagerly joined them for the climb.

As the sun steadily rose, so did the hikers on the mountainside.

Then, as the ten o'clock hour approached, the group began to find places to sit down.

Carolyn thought, "This is wonderful.

How did they know I needed the rest?" and she, too, looked for a comfortable spot to stretch out.

But the participants seemed unusually earnest about this particular break,, some pulling out pencils and notebooks while one intently dialed a transistor radio.

What then happened would be a turning point in her life forever.

One of her friends said, "Carolyn, we need to explain something.

This is the first Sunday in October; and for us that means not only lovely weather and bright fall foliage, but it also means a general conference of the Church.

As Latter-day saints, wherever we are or whatever we are doing, we stop and listen.

So we are going to sit here among the oak and the pines, look out over the valley below, and listen to the prophets of God for a couple of hours."

"A couple of hours!" thought Carolyn.

"I didn't know there were prophets of God still living," she said, "and I certainly didn't know there were two hours' worth!"

Little did she know that they were going to stop again at two o'clock that afternoon for another two hours and then invite her to tune in at home for four more the next day.

Well, the rest is history.

With the gift of a leather-bound copy of the scriptures from her students, the love of friends and families in the LDS ward she began to attend, and spiritual experiences we want all who make their way into the light of the gospel to have, Carolyn was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church.

The rest is, as they say, history.

With her introduction to general conference that day sitting high atop Y mountain, Sister Rasmus had seen her own personal fulfillment of Isaiah's prophetic invitation: "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."

-Jeffrey R. Holland -Prophets in the Land Again -October 2006 General Conference

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi