Bear Stories

Two weeks ago we were in Canada visiting with my parents. They live in a beautiful place at the gates to Banff National Park in the little town of Canmore, Alberta. Little Cougar Creek (3 to 4 yards wide and a foot deep) that flows through their neighborhood only for a few months during the year, became a 50 yard wide raging torrent, causing severe damage and flooding. I wanted to check to be certain my parents were “fine” like they said they were (thankfully, yes). My son and I decided to take in a hike while there and so hiked from Moraine Lake (my favorite place in the world) to Consolation Lake. It’s an easy hike, probably no more than 2 ½ miles in with not a whole lot of elevation gain, however, the view of Quadra Mountain with its thick glacier reflecting in the waters of Consolation Lake is worth the trip in.  As we were nearing Consolation Lake I caught movement in the bush. I turned just in time to see a grizzly bear break out of the bush and onto the trail. I whispered to my son that there was a grizzly behind us and to turn facing the animal and to walk very slowly backward. My heart was pounding out of my chest, but I knew if we were going to get out of this alright that we had to stay calm. The grizzly was no more than ten yards from us. We walked backward as the grizzly walked forward towards us. We were definitely interested in maintaining that 10 yards of real estate between us, however, after about 15 to 20 yards the bear chose to “lengthen its stride” and fast closed the distance to five yards. I decided to stop. I don’t know what was going through the bears mind, but it too stopped. I then started walking backwards again and the grizzly followed for a few more yards and then turned off the trail into the bush. Whew!!! I guess it took one look at my son and me and saw how thin we are and decided it wasn’t worth his effort. Whatever the case may be, we were on our way and relieved that we were still breathing to tell about it. This story reminds me of a prophet who too ran into a bear on his first mission. He states that when the bear stopped following him and his companion that they “went on their way rejoicing.” I could understand completely. Who was that missionary, who later became a prophet?

 

a.      Lorenzo Snow

b.      Joseph F. Smith

c.       Wilford Woodruff

d.      John Taylor

 

Yesterday’s answer:

 

(D)   Robert Mason

 

When Wilford Woodruff was a child, he and his family befriended Robert Mason, a man who was known for his distinctive religious beliefs. President Woodruff recalled:

   “He believed that it was necessary to have prophets, apostles, dreams, visions and revelations in the church of Christ, the same as they had who lived in ancient days; and he believed the Lord would raise up a people and a church, in the last days, with prophets, apostles and all the gifts, powers, and blessings, which it ever contained in any age of the world. . . . He frequently came to my father’s house when I was a boy, and taught me and my brothers those principles; and I believed him.

   “[He] prayed a great deal, and he had dreams and visions, and the Lord showed him many things, by visions, which were to come to pass in the last days.

   “I will here relate one vision, which he related to me. The last time I ever saw him, he said: ‘I was laboring in my field at mid-day when I was enwrapped in a vision. I was placed in the midst of a vast forest of fruit trees: I was very hungry, and walked a long way through the orchard, searching for fruit to eat; but I could not find any in the whole orchard, and I wept because I could not find any fruit. While I stood gazing at the orchard, and wondering why there was no fruit, the trees began to fall to the ground upon every side of me, until there was not one tree standing in the whole orchard; and while I was marveling at the scene, I saw young sprouts start up from the roots of the trees which had fallen, and they opened into young thrifty trees before my eyes. They budded, blossomed, and bare fruit until the trees were loaded with the finest fruit I ever beheld, and I rejoiced to see so much fine fruit. I stepped up to a tree and picked my hands full of fruit, and marveled at its beauty, and as I was about to taste of it the vision closed, and I found myself in the field in the same place I was at the commencement of the vision.

   “ ‘I then knelt upon the ground, and prayed unto the Lord, and asked him, in the name of Jesus Christ, to show me the meaning of the vision. The Lord said unto me: “This is the interpretation of the vision; the great trees of the forest represent the generation of men in which you live. There is no church of Christ, or kingdom of God upon the earth in your generation. There is no fruit of the Church of Christ upon the earth. There is no man ordained of God to administer in any of the ordinances of the gospel of salvation upon the earth in this day and generation. But, in the next generation, I the Lord will set up my kingdom and my Church upon the earth, and the fruits of the kingdom and church of Christ, such as have followed the prophets, apostles and saints in every dispensation, shall again be found in all their fulness upon the earth. You will live to see the day, and handle the fruit; but will never partake of it in the flesh.”  ‘ ”

   President Woodruff continued: “When [he] had finished relating the vision and interpretation, he said to me, . . . ‘I shall never partake of this fruit in the flesh; but you will, and you will become a conspicuous actor in that kingdom.’ He then turned and left me. These were the last words he ever spoke to me upon the earth. . . .

   “He had this vision about the year 1800, and he related it to me in 1830—the same spring that this Church was organized.

   “This vision, with his other teachings to me, made a great impression upon my mind, and I prayed a great deal to the Lord to lead me by his Spirit, and prepare me for this Church when it did come.”

   When Wilford Woodruff joined the Church, he wrote a letter to his friend Robert Mason. “I . . . told him I had found the Church of Christ that he had told me about.” He later recalled.  “I told him about its organization and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon; that the Church had prophets, apostles, and all the gifts and blessings in it, and that the true fruit of the kingdom and Church of Christ were manifest among the Saints as the Lord had shown him in his vision. He received my letter, and read it over many times, and handled it as he had handled the fruit in the vision; but he was very aged, and soon died. He did not live to see any Elder to administer the ordinances of the Gospel unto him.

   “The first opportunity I had, after the doctrine of baptism for the dead was revealed, I went forth and was baptized for him.”

 

Teaching of Presidents of the Church-Wilford Woodruff, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Intellectual Reserve Inc., 2004) 1-3.