Author: Tim Frodsham

20 Nov 2023, En Route

We are en route to France, and. If the flight tracker is correct, we just flew over Idaho Falls. During the last week in the MTC, we covered the humanitarian and self reliance programs in the church, and the software programs they have developed to track them. It reminded me of books I read on the subject during my doctorate program, describing why almost all humanitarian projects in other countries fail. For the most part, governments and non-profit organizations come into a country, assess the needs they perceive and then implement projects to fill those needs. The problem is, they do not stop to ask local leaders and local people in general what their true problems are, and what they need and can sustain.

One of the videos shown. During the week was of a TED talk outlining a project done by the Italian government to teach farming practices to the people of Zambia. The climate was exceptional, the soil fertile and their crops of Italian tomatoes and squash flourished. The tomatoes were huge and ripening when a herd of hippos came out of the river and destroyed the crops. The Italians were devastated and demanded of the locals why they didn’t tell them of this problem. “You never asked. That is why we don’t grow crops”. The Italians felt bad until they looked around at the projects done by the américains and other European countries, and realized that at least they fed the Hippos.

At the ‘Peter and the fishermen’ display, MTC

The church is learning, and learning well how to taylor projects to local needs by working with the locals and then designing projects that utilize local resources. Rather than purchasing goods and services to be brought in, they work with locals suppliers to vitalize the local economy and teach them to be self sufficient. Projects are measured by how they reach and sustain the local people. If the church doesn’t have local resources or local knowledge, they reach out and work with organizations that do.

Our MTC district

For Sunday, we were the last senior missionaries in the MTC. The rest had departed for their field of service on Friday or Saturday. For church, we met with the senior couples branch Presidency for Sacrament Meeting. There were five couples there: The president, his counselors and their wives, plus one other couple that headed out just after sacrament meeting. We had second hour with just the eight of us. Powerful testimonies of missionary work and His place in the last days. Sunday night, we attended our last formal function of the MTC, the decipleship devotional. The subject was compelling, testimony vs. conversion. Testimony is a gift. Many missionaries who render powerful testimony on their mission indeed have a testimony, but they are not truly converted. Conversion is a choice. Peter, even with his immense faith of Jesus Christ and His mission, was told “When thou are converted, strengthen thy brethren”. Those who are converted make the choice to follow Him. President Caulderwood of the MTC stressed the point that many of the missionaries who served with him when he was a mission president have fallen away and that this plague will continue as long as missionaries and members refuse to seek personal, on going revelation as President Nelson implores.

We will soon be in France. We were told that we would not have an apartment when we arrived in Lyon, but that we would have to stay in an Air-B&B until one could be found. Just a few days ago, we got word that a Sr couple in the mission had to return early due to medical reasons and we would have their apartment. I would have much rather had a different answer to our prayer. The area Humanitarian and self-reliance director will pick us up at the airport when we arrive in Lyon tomorrow and take us to our apartment. We have an appointment with the mission president the next morning, so it appears we hit the ground running.

Tim and Catherine Frodsham

Mission

MTC, Character of Christ

We completed our first week in the MTC. The emphasis was Preach My Gospel, not something related to our primary calling as Welfare / Self Reliance missionaries, but pertinent none the less. Missionary teaching aids have changed so much since I was a missionary. We had a set number of discussions which we had to memorize, even the questions. Today, there are four lessons, but they could be broken up in any manner and it is all teaching by the spirit. It is so much more effective. The focus on teaching this week was how to teach and how to invite, and just as important, how to follow up.

One of the devotionals for those just coming into the MTC is called the Character of Christ. It is based off of a devotional that Elder Bednar gave to the MTC some years ago. The focus of Christ ministry was always looking outward, not focused inward. They had several speakers who demonstrated those attributes.

This is a powerful place. When we walk the campus, the young missionaries are all so respectful and cheerful. They are taught to respect the senior missionaries, and to defer to them in places such as long lunch lines where there invited to encourage the senior missionaries to go to the front of the line. They do that every time and are so cheerful about it. As Catherine and I watch these new Missionaries, we are impressed that the church is in good hands with the next generation. Yes, there are some goof off and a few elders and sisters who should not be here, but the vast majority are well prepared with powerful testimonies and a deep love of Christ.

This week, we are focusing on our primary calling in France, Welfare and Self-Reliance. Though that will be our primary focus, I am sure we will have a lot of time to serve in whatever capacity we find.

Mission

Day 1, MTC

We will not be posting every day, we plan to post about once a week, but we want to describe the start of our mission.The quote of the day came from President Calderwood, president of the MTC mission. “You senior missionaries are living the law of consecration. Some of you have sold your homes. You have left behind children and grandchildren. You are devoting your lives and paying for your mission. You are devoting your life and your monetary means to serve the lord.”

They asked each couple several times why we chose to serve a mission. The responses were varied, but for us it was something that we had individually desired all of our married lives. The first thing we talked about, even as we were first dating, was serving a mission. We want to serve to bless our families. We know that as we serve the Lord, his angels will watch and protect our families. Hearts will be softened, spirits uplifted, families strengthened. We want our grandchildren to desire to serve missions for themselves and follow in our footsteps.

This is a special place. The spirit is very strong here and we are glad to be a part of this. We look at all tumult in this world. The chaos, confusion and anger that surround us. This is the lords answer, the thousands of young men and women here are phenomenal. We, with them are gathering Israel and will be instrumental in healing the nations.

Mission

Called

We were set apart this evening as missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We leave tomorrow morning (Sunday, November 5th) for two weeks of training in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.

President Juarez set us apart and blessed us with a gift of language, a gift of testimony and a love for the French people. Our family asked us if we were nervous, and the answer is definitely no. We will miss our family, our children, our grandchildren, but we are doing the right thing in choosing to serve the Lord for the next 18 months.

Mission

Mission Call

Post author By Tim Frodsham
Post date August 7, 2023
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Lavender Fields France (Rosalie Kenney-Poyntz)

We have been called to serve as self-reliance Service Missionaries to the France Lyon Mission of The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We were called on 20 June, 2023 and will begin our service on 6 November, 2023. We will post mission updates, photos and commentary in this blog. Tim and Cathy Frodsham

Annals

Moving Forward

In a bid to give my fiance a chance to get to know me even better, I let her take a peak at my file of Christmas letters. I write a two page letter every year (yes, I can hear the groans of boredom already) which I continued to write as there were some who claimed it was a highlight of their Christmas season. I hesitated showing her the letter from 2017, three years after my wife passed away.

Catherine and Tim Frodsham

I decided that year that it was time for me to move forward, and in doing so, I wrote a tribute to LaNae. I decided to share the letter with her because learning how to love LaNae ultimately taught me how to love again. I am not sure why it took another 5 years for me to find Catherine, the Lord’s timing is his own, but she is certainly worth the wait.

Excerpt from the 2017 letter

This year for me was a time for reflection. LaNae passed away three years ago this August, and we as a family have had time for healing. After LaNae’s death, events would race through my mind; things that I did wrong, things that I could have done better while caring for her. Always the ‘what if’. Through time, prayer and contemplation, I have come to realize that what the Lord God omnipotent gave me through all of this experience was His trust. He trusted me to care for His most precious of daughters. A woman of near infinite capacity to love, a woman of uncompromising faith. He trusted me to watch over her, to tend to her and to comfort her at a time when she was the most weak and vulnerable. I have learned that the Lord did not want my perfection, He simply wanted my all, He simply wanted me. I miss her. I miss her more than I can ever express. I miss her faith that grounded me, her compassion that inspired me, her friendship that lifted me and her forgiveness that softened me. I miss too that stubborn red head that confused my soul and tried my patience. I miss her feminine logic that bewildered me to the core. I ache when I hold my grandchildren, knowing how much she wants to hold them; when I dance, knowing how much she wants to be in my arms. I marvel at the happiness we have as a family. We laugh together, cry together, celebrate life’s events and hold fast to all that is good and true. I rejoice, knowing that we are sealed together for all eternity.

Please Lord, bless our families this Christmas season. Bless the healing to continue, faith to flourish and joy to abound. We celebrate Your birth, Your life and Your atonement that makes possible such hope.

It is a little late, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Hold the Savior close in you lives, and your families even closer.

Tim Frodsham

Annals

At the Lake

I just spent a week cooped up in a small cabin with six adults and 15 children from two to fifteen years old, tripping over mattresses strewn across the floor and waiting in line at one of the two small bathrooms. There were mounds of dishes to clean, meals to prepare, sunburns to treat and teary eyes to dry. Just getting this crew out of the cabin for an outing was akin to a major military operation. Yes, it sounds like some not so subtle form of torture. It was however as close to heaven as I can come in this world. I was with my children and grandchildren at the family cabin on the lake. We were making memories and rebuilding eternal bonds, but it was worth every exhausted moment, every frustration, every setback.

It takes a lot of work to keep a family together, even more to keep them close. It doesn’t just happen. We need to go out of our way to plan events together, burn vacation time on family gatherings and visiting relatives. And yes, go to that dreaded family reunion. It is especially important to do this for our children. If they don’t get to know their aunts, uncles and cousins when they are young, they never will. For them to get to know their relatives, they have to visit and be with them. For those of us considered ancient by our young grandchildren, it is those very grandchildren we to need spend time with, work on, focus on. Spend the time, do it now.

Tags Bear Lake Utah, Eternal Families, Family Reunions

Annals

Decisions of a Senior Citizen

Post author By Tim Frodsham
Post date July 17, 2022
1 Comment on Decisions of a Senior Citizen

Image from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

For 30 years I have raised my family in the same home. It was once a home filled with laughter, tears and all the other side effects of six children, two parents, two cats and the coming and going of friends, all under one roof. It is quiet now, the children have left the nest, my wife deceased and the cats have gone to ‘a better place’. The last of my children recently moved from the area, which leaves me with some significant decisions to make. Do I stay in the area and manage a long-distance relationship with my children, or do I relocate in order to be closer? If I do relocate, to the vicinity of which child, and will that child end up relocating as well? In considering this decision, I pondered a while the impact I am having, now that I am single and an empty-Nester. Am I really having an impact in the lives of my neighbors? Am I making a difference in the lives and testimonies of my fellow church members? Sometimes it feels like I do not. Even my church calling to the single adults in my stake seems to isolate me from the usual ward auxiliaries and functions. No, I am not wallowing in some pool of self-pity or the like, I am simply tabulating the pros and cons of leaving my home of 30 years.

Photo by Leanna Davidson, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Recently, I received a graduation announcement from the daughter of a family I have ministered to for several years. At the time I was assigned this family, the father was given only months to live. The assignment came not long after I lost my own wife, so the trial they were facing was a familiar one. I was uncomfortable in being the ministering brother whose spouse had fought a similar battle with cancer and lost. I have watched the father survive from year to year and the family grow and flourish in spite, and in many ways, because of the tremendous loss looming over their heads. The graduation announcement was from their third child, an incredible young woman who brightens a room the moment she enters. With that announcement she included the following note:

Thank you for always being there for my family. When you first became our minister, I didn’t give you enough credit. But as time went on I grew to love and appreciate you to the point where it felt like if my dad did end up leaving us it’d be OK because you were there. Thank you for always showing us kindness. 🙂

Will this profoundly touching note impact my decision? Well, it certainly reminded me that as I try to stay close to the Savior and follow the promptings of His spirit, my impact is far more than I realize. I never know when I have touched a heart and made a difference in someone’s life. By simply living by the spirit from day to day, He uses my feeble efforts and my testimony in unfathomable ways. In other ways it has reminded me that it really doesn’t matter where I am. As long as I am trying my best to serve Him and follow His direction, He will use me where ever I stand.

Annals

Trendy Tithing

There is a controversy concerning the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the amount of money and other resources it holds in reserve. Many people are questioning why the church is holding such wealth and not giving it to the poor. Rather than continue to pay a tithe, or 10% to the church, these naysayers are donating those funds to other organizations they deem more relevant and helpful in today’s uncertain times. Sounds logical right? Their ‘tithing’ money is going to a good cause and they are still ‘obeying the voice of the Lord’. Our ‘Trendy Tithers’ know better than God and his prophets where these sacred funds should be allocated.

There is one fundamental flaw in this logic. All of this belongs to God to begin with. If money really did solve all the world’s problems, then the Salvation Army, or any other worthy organization would be simply given the money by God to fulfill their purposes. He knows where the gold is, he knows where all the riches are because he created and owns them all. God is not interested in riches, he is interested in trust and obedience. Like the widow and her two mites, he is interested in those who tithe because of a willing and loving heart, sacrificing to the point that it changes their lifestyles, and therefore changes their lives. Don’t get me wrong, I feel it is important to support worthy causes in our communities and around the world; people and organizations who are working hard to do good. We should all be giving until it forces a change in our lifestyle. My first priority, however, is to follow the Lord’s law of tithing.

Last week’s reading for Come Follow Me, the Sunday school curriculum for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints reminded me that the tools of deception used by the adversary are not new, but have been in play since the beginning of time. All scripture references are in 1 Samuel 15 ESV. The story begins with Saul and his battle with the people of Amalek. He was ordered to destroy everything, down to the last of the cattle and sheep, but Saul saved “the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction” (9). When the prophet Samuel confronted Saul, his response was ““Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” (13). When Samuel pointed out that He had not obeyed the voice of the Lord, Saul reminded him that though they had kept the best of the possessions of the Amalekites, they had offered them in Sacrifice to the Lord. A good cause, right? It was Samuel’s response that reminded me of this recent trend. ““Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?” (22)

Saul was unwilling to destroy all, and instead saved it as sacrifice to the Lord, at least he sacrificed the animals, the scriptures do not say what he did with the rest of the good stuff. His plan was better, his plan made more sense. Our Trendy Tithers are assuming that the Lord’s prophets are mistaken in their handling of tithing funds, and that they know better how to allocate those resources. Such an attitude is short sighted, looking only at the here and now. God, through his prophets is looking at the decades and centuries to come. According to the prophet Samuel, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (22). The tools of the adversary have not changed in thousands of years, and neither have the promises of the Lord.

Tags Amalekites, Come Follow Me, Trendy Tithing

Annals

Prayer

We have all had times in our lives when stress has driven us to exhaustion, and at night, anything standing in the way of collapsing into bed seems daunting. Many times at family prayer, my children and wife would get up and tip toe quietly away, leaving me sleeping at the bedside on my knees. At times I was the one offering the prayer! I would wake up hours later and wearily climb into bed, sore knees and all.

Kneeling at the bedside in prayer is a traditional and accepted way of submitting ourselves to God and His will for us. I have difficulty kneeling at the bedside for prayer without remembering those hard times, and my inability to offer or even conduct a simple nightly prayer with my family. Rather than dredge up those memories on a nightly basis, I have taken to prayer at different times during the day: when on a walk, cooking a simple meal, working in the garden or performing some other household task. At times, it seems that the Lord is the silent partner in the conversation, but it is a conversation.

From time to time I look not just what I am praying, but how I am praying, and how effective those prayers seem to be. Not in the sense that I see immediate results, but effective in how my prayers are changing my heart and bringing me closer to Him.

Tags Prayer