You can discern a great deal about families and individuals
from the stories they tell. It seems
that the perceptions or interpretations we put on the events which occur in our
lives really have more influence in determining who we are and will be than the
actual events themselves. Case in point
- consider Laman's and Lemuel's versions or accounts of events as opposed to
Nephi's in the very beginning of the Book of Mormon. Together they left Jerusalem, went to get the
brass plates, walked across the Rub' al Khali in the Arabian Peninsula, and
constructed the ship that eventually brought them to America; but the narratives
they told regarding these shared experiences were remarkably dissimilar. Their stories or personal narratives were the
primary influence upon their descendents; shaping how their posterity would
perceive life and, in turn, the stories they would tell.
This posting is about the stories told by Lorin and
Lucile Goates, and their family. It is part of the legacy - the birthright that they bequeath to their descendants. Two of the most repeated and influential
stories from Lorin were regarding the Word of Wisdom and the principle of
tithing.
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