Good Fruit!

Just finished reading and taking notes on each General Conference talk from April 2014. I always have the best intentions to do this but seldom achieve it before the next conference rolls around. Thankfully once again, my testimony of the apostles and their divine mission has been driven home most deeply and I love them with all my heart. I'm so touched at their expressions of love and reassurances for us. I'm so grateful for all the leaders of the church, and their families, for the sacrifices they have made to be modern day shepherds to members of our church. I am putting up this post so I can enjoy these quotes whenever I want or need them and hope they are helpful to anyone searching for truth or encouragement. 

I invite you to read them and feel of their assurances. By their fruits ye shall know them and this is good fruit. I know it!

FULL CONFERENCE ADDRESSES HERE   

Apr 2014 General and Women's Conference: Favorite Quotes

Be strong. Live the gospel faithfully even if others around you don’t live it at all. Defend your beliefs with courtesy and with compassion, but defend them. A long history of inspired voices, including those you will hear in this conference and the voice you just heard in the person of President Thomas S. Monson, point you toward the path of Christian discipleship. It is a strait path, and it is a narrow path without a great deal of latitude at some points, but it can be thrillingly and successfully traveled, “with … steadfastness in Christ, … a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.”19 In courageously pursuing such a course, you will forge unshakable faith, you will find safety against ill winds that blow, even shafts in the whirlwind, and you will feel the rock-like strength of our Redeemer, upon whom if you build your unflagging discipleship, you cannot fall.

-Elder Jeffrey Holland Apr 2014

This afternoon each of us will raise our right arm to the square and sustain the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is not a mere formality, nor is it reserved for those called to general service. To sustain our leaders is a privilege; it comes coupled with a personal responsibility to share their burden and to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

-Elder Ronald Rasband Apr 2014

(Speaking of Jesus Christ) After that, in the most sublime show of His love for humankind, and in the full exercise of His will, He walked bravely and determinedly to face His most demanding trial. In the Garden of Gethsemane, in utter loneliness, He suffered the most intense agony, bleeding from each pore. In total submission before His Father, He atoned for our sins and also took upon Him our illnesses and afflictions in order to know how to succor us (see Alma 7:11–13).

We are indebted to Him and to our Heavenly Father because His sacrifice blessed everyone, from Adam, the first, to the last of all human beings.

-Elder Carlos Amado Apr 2014

Youth, take responsibility for your own spiritual well-being. Turn off your phone if necessary, sing a Primary song, pray for help, think of a scripture, walk out of a movie, picture the Savior, take the sacrament worthily, study For the Strength of Youth, be an example to your friends, confide in a parent, go see your bishop, ask for help, and seek professional counseling, if  needed.

- Linda Reeves Apr 2014

Build more firmly your foundation upon the rock of your Redeemer.

Treasure more completely His incomparable life and teachings.

Follow more diligently His example and His commandments.

Embrace more deeply His love, His mercy and grace, and the powerful gifts of His Atonement.

As you do, I promise you that you will see the whirlwinds for what they are—tests, temptations, distractions, or challenges to help you grow. And as you live righteously year after year, I assure you that your experiences will confirm to you again and again that Jesus is the Christ. The spiritual rock under your feet will be solid and secure. You will rejoice that God has placed you here to be a part of the final preparations for Christ’s glorious return.

-Neil Anderson Apr 2014

God makes it attractive to choose the right by letting us feel the effects of our choices. If we choose the right, we will find happiness—in time. If we choose evil, there comes sorrow and regret—in time. Those effects are sure. Yet they are often delayed for a purpose. If the blessings were immediate, choosing the right would not build faith. And since sorrow is also sometimes greatly delayed, it takes faith to feel the need to seek forgiveness for sin early rather than after we feel its sorrowful and painful effects.

-Pres Henry B Eyring Apr 2014

Political campaigns and marketing strategies widely employ public opinion polls to shape their plans. Results of those polls are informative. But they could hardly be used as grounds to justify disobedience to God’s commandments! Even if “everyone is doing it,” wrong is never right. Evil, error, and darkness will never be truth, even if popular. 

-Elder Russell M Nelson Apr 2014

We best serve our Father in Heaven by righteously influencing others and serving them.5 The greatest example who ever walked the earth is our Savior, Jesus Christ. His mortal ministry was filled with teaching, serving, and loving others. He sat down with individuals who were judged to be unworthy of His companionship. He loved each of them. He discerned their needs and taught them His gospel. He invites us to follow His perfect example.

-Elder Richard G Scott Apr 2014

As our understanding of obedience deepens, we recognize the essential role of agency. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed three times to His Father in Heaven, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”8 God would not override the Savior’s agency, yet He mercifully sent an angel to strengthen His Beloved Son.

In choosing whether we will obey, it is always helpful to remember the consequences of our choices. Did Lucifer and his followers understand the consequences of choosing to reject Heavenly Father’s plan? If so, why did they make such a terrible choice? We might ask ourselves a similar question: why do any of us choose to be disobedient when we know the eternal consequences of sin? The scriptures provide an answer: the reason Cain and some of the children of Adam and Eve chose to disobey is because “they loved Satan more than God.”12

Our love of the Savior is the key to Savior-like obedience. As we strive to be obedient in today’s world, we declare our love and respect for all of Heavenly Father’s children. Yet it is impossible for this love for others to modify God’s commandments, which were given for our good! For example, the commandment “thou shalt not … kill, nor do anything like unto it”13 is founded upon spiritual law that protects all of God’s children, even the unborn. Long experience suggests that when we ignore this law, immeasurable sorrow results. Yet many believe it is acceptable to terminate the life of an unborn child for reasons of preference or convenience. 

-Elder Robert D Hales Apr 2014

I pray that we will not lose sight of the way so that we may always be connected with the heavens, so that the currents of the world do not sweep us away.

If any one of you reaches the point of abandoning the Lord’s way—at any point along that way—with great remorse you will feel the bitterness of having set at naught the counsels of God, of having broken the most sacred promises made before God, of having trusted in your own judgment, or of having boasted in your own wisdom.

May we have the capacity to grasp, give heed to, comprehend, and correctly interpret the message of “that God who made [us]” so as not to stray from His way, I plead in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

- Elder Claudio D Zivic Apr 2014

Paul warned, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but [only] that which is good [and] edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29). His words resonate with a certain purity.

What does the phrase “no corrupt communication” mean to you? We all regularly experience highly charged feelings of anger—our own and others’. We have seen unchecked anger erupt in public places. We have experienced it as a sort of emotional “electrical short” at sporting events, in the political arena, and even in our own homes.

Fully owning the limits of my own imperfections and rough edges, I plead with you to practice asking this question, with tender regard for another’s experience: “What are you thinking?

When our truck cab filled with smoke, my wife acted in the bravest manner she could imagine to protect our son. I too acted as a protector when I questioned her choice. Shockingly, it did not matter who was more right. What mattered was listening to each other and understanding the other’s perspective.

The willingness to see through each other’s eyes will transform “corrupt communication” into “minister[ing] grace.” The Apostle Paul understood this, and on some level each of us can experience it too. It may not change or solve the problem, but the more important possibility may be whether ministering grace could change us.

I bear humble witness that we can "minister grace" through compassionate language when the cultivated gift of the Holy Ghost pierces our hearts with empathy for the feelings and context of others. It enables us to transform hazardous situations into holy places. I testify of a loving Savior who "looketh on [our] heart" and cares what we are thinking. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

-Elder W Craig Zwick Apr 2014

What a great time to be alive. This is the last dispensation, and we can feel the hastening of the work of salvation in every area where a saving ordinance is involved.19 We now have temples across much of the world to provide these saving ordinances. Attending the temple for spiritual renewal, peace, safety, and direction in our lives is also a great blessing.20

The essential doctrine of uniting families came forth line upon line and precept upon precept. Vicarious ordinances are at the heart of welding together eternal families, connecting roots to branches.

The leadership of the Church has issued a clarion call to the rising generation to lead the way in the use of technology to experience the spirit of Elijah, to search out their ancestors, and to perform temple ordinances for them.26 Much of the heavy lifting in hastening the work of salvation for both the living and the dead will be done by you young people.27

If the youth in each ward will not only go to the temple and do baptisms for their dead but also work with their families and other ward members to provide the family names for the ordinance work they perform, both they and the Church will be greatly blessed. Don’t underestimate the influence of the deceased in assisting your efforts and the joy of ultimately meeting those you serve. The eternally significant blessing of uniting our own families is almost beyond comprehension.28

-Elder Quentin L Cook Apr 2014

Whoever exercises priesthood authority should forget about their rights and concentrate on their responsibilities.

-Elder Dallin H Oaks Apr 2014

Well, we meet in this priesthood meeting because who we are is not who we can become. We meet here tonight in the name of Jesus Christ. We meet with the confidence that His Atonement gives every one of us—no matter our weaknesses, our frailties, our addictions—the ability to change. We meet with the hope that our future, no matter our history, can be better.

Selfishness is the antithesis of priesthood responsibility, and if it is a trait of our character, we need to change. 

When we participate in this meeting with the “real intent” to change (Moroni 10:4), the Spirit has full access to our hearts and minds. As the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, “And it shall come to pass, that inasmuch as they … exercise faith in me”—remember, faith is a principle of power and of action—“I will pour out my Spirit upon them in the day that they assemble themselves together” (D&C 44:2). That means tonight!

-Elder Donald Hallstrom Apr 2014

As important as it is to leave home every day with a full charge on your cell phone, it is far more important to be fully charged spiritually. Every time you plug in your phone, use it as a reminder to ask yourself if you have plugged in to the most important source of spiritual power—prayer and scripture study, which will charge you with inspiration through the Holy Ghost (see D&C 11:12–14). It will help you know the mind and will of the Lord to make the small but important daily choices that determine your direction. Many of us immediately stop whatever we are doing to read a text message—should we not place even more importance on messages from the Lord? Neglecting to connect to this power should be unthinkable to us. (see 2 Nephi 32:3).

-Randall Ridd Apr 2014

Always remember, with the Savior’s help, you can break free from addiction. It may be a long, difficult path, but the Lord will not give up on you. He loves you. Jesus Christ suffered the Atonement to help you change, to free you from the captivity of sin.

The most important thing is to keep trying—sometimes it takes several attempts before people find success. So don’t give up. Don’t lose faith. Keep your heart close to the Lord, and He will give you the power of deliverance. He will make you free.

Don’t allow selfishness! Don’t allow habits that could lead to addiction! Don’t allow competing priorities to lull you into indifference or detachment from blessed discipleship and ennobling priesthood service!

-Pres Uchtdorf Apr 2014

Above all, remember that of all the service you give, none is greater than to help people choose to qualify for eternal life. God has given that overarching direction to us on how to use our priesthood. He is the perfect example of it. This is the example we see in small part in the best of His mortal servants:

-Pres Eyring Apr 2014

The call for courage comes constantly to each of us. Every day of our lives courage is needed—not just for the momentous events but more often as we make decisions or respond to circumstances around us. Said Scottish poet and novelist Robert Louis Stevenson: “Everyday courage has few witnesses. But yours is no less noble because no drum beats for you and no crowds shout your name.”2

-Pres Thomas S Monson Apr 2014

It might sound contrary to the wisdom of the world to suggest that one who is burdened with sorrow should give thanks to God. But those who set aside the bottle of bitterness and lift instead the goblet of gratitude can find a purifying drink of healing, peace, and understanding.

-Pres Uchtdorf Apr 2014

Inviting is certainly part of the process. But notice that there is much more to missionary work for members than simply extending invitations to people to listen to the missionaries. It also includes follow-up with the missionaries in the cultivation of faith, the motivation to repentance, the preparation for making covenants, and enduring to the end.

-Elder Melvin J Ballard Apr 2014

We can come to feel, as C. S. Lewis described: “I pray because I can’t help myself. … I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God. It changes me.”3

-Jean Stevens Apr 2014

Dear friends, you are in the midst of an exhilarating journey. In some ways, you are racing down the half-pipe or sled track, and it can be challenging to perform each element or navigate each turn along the way. But remember, you’ve prepared for this for millennia. This is your moment to perform. This is your four minutes! The time is now!

I express my utmost confidence in your abilities. You have the Savior of the world on your side. If you seek His help and follow His directions, how can you fail?

-Bsp Gary Stevenson Apr 2014

Each of us also carries a load. Our individual load is comprised of demands and opportunities, obligations and privileges, afflictions and blessings, and options and constraints. Two guiding questions can be helpful as we periodically and prayerfully assess our load: “Is the load I am carrying producing the spiritual traction that will enable me to press forward with faith in Christ on the strait and narrow path and avoid getting stuck? Is the load I am carrying creating sufficient spiritual traction so I ultimately can return home to Heavenly Father?”

Sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load. But bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness. Because our individual load needs to generate spiritual traction, we should be careful to not haul around in our lives so many nice but unnecessary things that we are distracted and diverted from the things that truly matter most.

.....Not only does the Atonement of Jesus Christ overcome the effects of the Fall of Adam and make possible the remission of our individual sins and transgressions, but His Atonement also enables us to do good and become better in ways that stretch far beyond our mortal capacities. Most of us know that when we do things wrong and need help to overcome the effects of sin in our lives, the Savior has made it possible for us to become clean through His redeeming power. But do we also understand that the Atonement is for faithful men and women who are obedient, worthy, and conscientious and who are striving to become better and serve more faithfully? I wonder if we fail to fully acknowledge this strengthening aspect of the Atonement in our lives and mistakenly believe we must carry our load all alone—through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline and with our obviously limited capacities.

It is one thing to know that Jesus Christ came to the earth to die for us. But we also need to appreciate that the Lord desires, through His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to enliven us—not only to guide but also to strengthen and heal us.

....Thus, the Savior has suffered not just for our sins and iniquities—but also for our physical pains and anguish, our weaknesses and shortcomings, our fears and frustrations, our disappointments and discouragement, our regrets and remorse, our despair and desperation, the injustices and inequities we experience, and the emotional distresses that beset us.

There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul or heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we may cry out, “No one knows what it is like. No one understands.” But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual burdens. And because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice (see Alma 34:14), He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy. He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do relying only upon our own power. Indeed, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

-Elder David A Bednar Apr 2014

Beyond comprehension, my brothers and sisters, is the love of God for us. Because of this love, He sent His Son, who loved us enough to give His life for us, that we might have eternal life. As we come to understand this incomparable gift, our hearts will be filled with love for our Eternal Father, for our Savior, and for all mankind. That such may be so is my earnest prayer in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

-Pres Monson Apr 2014

Your secret yearnings and tearful pleadings will touch the heart of both the Father and the Son. You will be given a personal assurance from Them that your life will be full and that no blessing that is essential will be lost to you.

As a servant of the Lord, acting in the office to which I have been ordained, I give those in such circumstances a promise that there will be nothing essential to your salvation and exaltation that shall not in due time rest upon you. Arms now empty will be filled, and hearts now hurting from broken dreams and yearning will be healed.

Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon recorded the following after a sacred experience:

“And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

“For we saw him” (D&C 76:22–23).

Their words are my words.

I believe and I am sure that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that He lives. He is the Only Begotten of the Father, and “by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” (D&C 76:24).

I bear my witness that the Savior lives. I know the Lord. I am His witness. I know of His great sacrifice and eternal love for all of Heavenly Father’s children. I bear my special witness in all humility but with absolute certainty, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

-Elder Boyd K Packer Apr 2014

Although the admonition came from a letter from Robert Harris, I believe that countless forefathers would send the same message to their children and grandchildren: First, we must not forget the experiences we have had in the temple, and we must not forget the promises and the blessings that come to each of us because of the temple. Secondly, we must not forget that we are led by a prophet of God.
-Elder William Walker Apr 2014

Too often we think of obedience as the passive and thoughtless following of the orders or dictates of a higher authority. Actually, at its best, obedience is an emblem of our faith in the wisdom and power of the highest authority, even God. When Abraham demonstrated his unwavering faithfulness and obedience to God, even when commanded to sacrifice his son, God rescued him. Similarly, when we demonstrate our faithfulness through obedience, God will ultimately rescue us.

-Elder L Tom Perry Apr 2014

Opposition, criticism, and antagonism are companions to the truth. Whenever the truth with regard to the purpose and destiny of man is revealed, there will always be a force to oppose it. Beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, down to the ministry of Christ, and on down to our day, there has always been and will ever be an effort to deceive, derail, oppose, and frustrate the plan of life.

-Elder Lawrence Corbridge Apr 2014

I bear testimony that our priorities, tendencies, inclinations, desires, appetites, and passions will have a direct bearing on our next estate. Let us always remember the words of the Savior: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” May our hearts be found in the right place is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

-Elder Michael John U Teh Apr 2014

We invite all to study the fruits and the works of this Church.
Those who are interested in the truth will be able to recognize the difference that the Church and its members make in the communities where they are established. They will also note the improvement in the lives of those who follow its teachings. Those who examine these fruits will discover that the fruits of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are delicious and desirable.
-Elder Aidukaitis Apr 2014

We face many serious challenges in the world today, but I assure you that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us. He will guide and bless us as we put our faith and trust in Him and will see us through whatever difficulties come our way.

-Pres Thomas S. Monson Apr 2014

Temple ordinances lead to the greatest blessings available through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. They are those ordinances necessary for our exaltation in the celestial kingdom. As we strive to keep our covenants, our feelings of inadequacy and imperfection begin to fade, while the ordinances and the covenants of the temple come alive. Everyone is welcome to walk that path to eternal life.

-Rosemary Wixom 2014 Apr Gen Women's Mtg

Thank you to all the women of the Church who are reaching out across age and cultural lines to bless and serve others. Young women are serving Primary children and the elderly. Single sisters of all ages spend countless hours watching out for the needs of those around them. We recognize the thousands of young women who are giving up 18 months of their lives to share the gospel with the world. All of these things are evidence that, as our beloved hymn states, “The errand of angels is given to women.”5

If there are barriers, it is because we ourselves have created them. We must stop concentrating on our differences and look for what we have in common; then we can begin to realize our greatest potential and achieve the greatest good in this world. Sister Marjorie P. Hinckley once said, “Oh, how we need each other. Those of us who are old need you who are young. And, hopefully, you who are young need some of us who are old. It is a sociological fact that women need women. We need deep and satisfying and loyal friendships with each other.”6 Sister Hinckley was right; oh, how we need each other!

Sisters, there is no other group of women in the world who have access to greater blessings than we do as Latter-day Saint women. We are members of the Lord’s Church, and regardless of our individual circumstances, we can all enjoy the full blessings of priesthood power through keeping the covenants we have made atbaptism and in the temple. We have living prophets to lead and teach us, and we enjoy the great gift of the Holy Ghost, which serves as a comfort and guide in our lives. We are blessed to work hand in hand with righteous brothers as we strengthen homes and families. We have access to the strength and power of temple ordinances and so much more.In addition to enjoying all of these magnificent blessings, we have each other—sisters in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been blessed with tender and charitable natures which enable us to render Christlike love and service to those around us. As we look beyond our differences in age, culture, and circumstance to nurture and serve one another, we will be filled with the pure love of Christ and the inspiration which leads us to know when and whom to serve.

-Bonnie Oscarson Gen Women's Mtg Apr 2014

I love the women of the Church, young and old. I have seen your strength. I have seen your faith. You have something to give and are willing to give it. You do this without fanfare or publicity, drawing attention to the God we worship, not yourselves, and with no thought of what you will receive.11 That’s what disciples do!

“Between now and the day the Lord comes again, He needs women in every family, in every ward, in every community, in every nation who will step forward in righteousness and say by their words and their actions, ‘Here am I, send me.’

-Linda K Burton Gen Women's Mtg 2014

You were tutored by Him before you came into this life. He helped you understand and accept that you would have trials, tests, and opportunities perfectly chosen just for you. You learned that our Father had a plan of happiness to get you safely through those trials and that you would help bring others safely through theirs. This plan is marked by covenants with God.

It is our free choice whether we make and keep those covenants. Only a few of His daughters have the opportunity in this life to even learn of those covenants. You are one of the favored few. You dear sisters, each of you is a daughter in the covenant.

Heavenly Father taught you before you were born about the experiences you would have as you left Him and came to earth. You were taught that the way back home to Him would not be easy. He knew that it would be too hard for you to make the journey without help.

You have been blessed not only to find the way to make those covenants in this life but also to be surrounded by others who will help—who, like you, are covenant daughters of Heavenly Father.

He sees that glorious potential in all of His daughters, wherever they are. Now, that puts a great responsibility on each of you. He expects you to treat every person you meet as a child of God. That is the reason He commands us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves and to forgive them. Your feelings of kindness and forgiveness toward others come as your divine inheritance from Him as His daughter. Each person you meet is His loved spiritual child.

As you feel of that great sisterhood, what we thought divides us falls away. For instance, younger and older sisters share their feelings with the expectation of being understood and accepted. You are more alike as daughters of God than you are different.

-Pres Eyring Gen Women's Mtg Apr 2014

Willing To...

I really love this thought we had in our Stake Newsletter this month and wanted to share it. I love Pres. Eyring's description about the Sacrament being a PPI with God. It's not so hard if we think about just being WILLING instead of already perfect. Repentance is the key to staying on the path. The Atonement makes everything possible. It's just such a beautiful plan! God is the best FATHER we could ever hope for!

There Is No Beauty...

Are you one of the "beautiful people" in society today? Should we look to the various forms of social media to determine those we consider "beautiful" and "worship" with our time and attention?

I work with young women in our church and frequently confront the belief that if we aren't considered beautiful by the world's standards, then we will not be desirable to others. This must delight the Father of Lies who wants us all to be miserable like himself.

Do you think the Son of God would be beautiful? He certainly could be if God wanted him to be. His mother was "most beautiful, and fair" but we find this description of Jesus in the Book of Mormon:

He hath no form nor comeliness; 

and when we shall see him 

there is no beauty 

that we should desire him. 

                                                                        (Mosiah 14:2) 

Jesus was NOT desirable for his looks or any "form" of power, wealth or beauty that would draw attention or adoration or esteem and yet was surrounded by throngs during his mortal ministry who recognized their shepherd when He called. Before we came to earth, Christ's name was determined to be the ONLY name on earth offering salvation to all mankind.  "There is none other name under heaven given whereby we may be saved." (Act 4:12) Yet the Mortal Messiah willingly lived so modestly, even as a person "of no reputation." (Philip 2:7) 

Elder Carlos Amado said this of Jesus Christ, "He never received honors, favors, recognition, nor preferred treatment from the political leaders of the earth or from the religious leaders of His day. Neither did He sit in the highest seats of the synagogues." … "We are indebted to Him and to our Heavenly Father because His sacrifice blessed everyone, from Adam, the first, to the last of all human beings." "

                                 --See full talk here   Christ the Redeemer

This song is one of my favorites! There have been times when I truly couldn't find words to express my feelings. One day this song came on just as I was thinking that I didn't know what to say. I've loved it ever since! "When you don't know what to say, just say Jesus."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84LSLk3hfD4

"JUST SAY JESUS" - 7eventh Time Down

Mosiah 3-12  3 He is ^adespised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

 4 Surely he has ^aborne our ^bgriefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

 5 But he was ^awounded for our ^btransgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are ^chealed.

 6 All we, like ^asheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all.

 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he ^aopened not his mouth; he is brought as a ^blamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth.

 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people was he stricken.

 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the ^arich in his death; because he had done no ^bevil, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

 10 Yet it pleased the Lord to ^abruise him; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his ^bseed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

 11 He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall ^abear their iniquities.

 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the ^agreat, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sins of many, and made ^cintercession for the transgressors.

God's Greatest Creation - A House For Our Spirits

You know how dreams don't make any sense sometimes? Last night I had a dream I was pregnant and about to deliver a baby. My stomach felt HUGE… probably from all the delicious gelato I consumed on our vacation last week. We had also just been to a family baby blessing on Sunday and the new mother looked incredible. Her second birth and you would never know she had even one! How does a body do that? Stretch beyond belief and then return, in some cases back to the original form? Our bodies are the most amazing thing EVER!

As I "labored" away in my dream, accompanied by my attentive and concerned husband, I was struck by the magnitude of the pregnancy and birthing process. I have always thought the ingenious and intricate aspects of our human anatomy are perfect evidence of God's existence. What an awesome house for our spirits! The musical score by the very talented Rob Elliott is the perfect background for this beautiful message by Russell M. Nelson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMZ-ETxj0hE

 God's Greatest Creation - click to view

Stake Youth Missionary Weekend

Future Sister Missionaries added a wonderful dimension

FARMINGTON NORTH STAKE MISSIONARY WEEKEND

February 28- March 1, 2014

Purpose: Assist the church's "Hastening” efforts by preparing the youth for missionary service

Friday - Stake Center

5:30 Prayer Meeting for all leaders

6:00 Youth Check In, Name Tags, Available Pen, Note pads

*Note assigned areas for luggage drops off at check in for Friday & Saturday

6:15 Mission Conference – Mission President (Elder Kopischke) (Chapel)

7:15 Visit the World: 9 Rooms assigned for cultural presentations

Taste of the food, Culture, Language, fun experiences……

7:35 Youth rotate to other rooms for second cultural experience

8:00 Sack Lunch -  Dinner Break for overnight kids/excuse Deacons & Beehives to kitchen for ice cream and then return to their homes.

8:15 Move to “Zone Conf” meeting rooms for companionship assignments (4 rooms):

(Elder Kopischke/Stake Pres to make assignments prior)

8:40 “MTC” Study Class: Teaching the Joseph Smith Story, Teaching skill development

MTC room assignments on the youth's badge – Small group training sessions

9:30 Depart to ‘Apartments’ with companions 

(HOST FAMILIES PICK UP THEIR MISSIONARIES)

10:00 Personal Study

10:30 Companion Prayer-Lights out

Saturday - Stake Center

6:30 Arise, Shower, Shave Personal Study

7:30 Arrive at Zone Conference - Greet and Direct to Breakfast

7:30 Breakfast

8:00 Zone Conference Welcome – Mission President (In the Chapel)

8:30 Study Class/Lesson Plan (Preach My Gospel) - MTC room assignments

9:15 Tract-Teach-Testify-Invite Various Rooms/ 

Volunteer "Investigators" - Older missionaries in the Stake

Use all three chapel buildings to accommodate youth "missionaries"

10:00 Stop teaching and shuttle kids back to stake center

10:15 Testimony Meeting (4 rooms – Stake Presidency and Elder Kopischke)

11:30 Closing-Mission President (Chapel)

AMAZING FUTURE MISSIONARIES

Youth were "called" to nine different missions
 and rotated to two different "cultural" experiences presented 
by newly returned missionaries who brought authentic enthusiasm.

             Sack Dinners were distributed to the overnight "Elders and Sisters" before they left for their host family's homes.

Host families brought them back from their "apartments" for an early breakfast

Record amounts of food prepared and served - just a taste of the MTC

Overnight luggage assigned to drop offs

"Investigators" provided tracting experiences

"Can we share a message of hope and happiness with you?"

Handed these schedules out to youth and leaders - quarter cardstock sheets with a map on the back

My Broken Hallelujah

"I will always deserve to go to hell 

but by the grace and mercy of God
I am not going. 

If there is no hell, 

then heaven is merely a pleasant option

 for nice people." 

I heard someone say this C. S. Lewis quote on a Christian music station as I was driving to the Huntsman Cancer Center in Salt Lake City, UT where I would have my first MRI since being diagnosed with melanoma and the surgeries that followed to remove the dreaded cancer.  I was reminded that no matter WHAT happened to me that day, it would be possible to live with my loved ones eternally because Jesus did descend below all to conquer death and hell. INCREDIBLE! My scans were clear and all is well for another four months. Hallelujah!

                   

Following this thought, these two songs came on and I felt my testimony and love of Jesus Christ grow exponentially. This might not be your kind of music but I love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo3DudOzV4k

"My Broken Hallelujah" - The Afters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtPmX7e_Rpw

"We Believe" - Newsboys

Irony Bites...

IRONY BITES….

"Irony - The Crust on the Bread of Adversity" by Neal Maxwell was given when my life was rife with irony and I absorbed these words like a sponge. 

"Irony may involve not only unexpected suffering but also undeserved suffering. We feel we deserved better, and yet we fared worse. We had other plans, even commendable plans. Did they not count? 

At the end, meek and lowly Jesus partook of the most bitter cup without becoming the least bitter. The Most Innocent suffered the most. Yet the King of Kings did not break, even when some of His subjects did unto Him “as they listed.” (D&C 49:6.) Christ’s capacity to endure such irony was truly remarkable.
You and I are so much more brittle. For instance, we forget that, by their very nature, tests are unfair."

These past few weeks have brought irony back like an old friend returning from a long vacation, so I looked this talk up again, for comfort. Life has changed so much with the passing of time and I've long moved beyond the situations he addressed so well, but the last paragraph will probably apply the rest of my life. #mamabearshame

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1989/04/irony-the-crust-on-the-bread-of-adversity?lang=eng

The Biology of Courage and Resilience

Would you rather have bad news by text or phone call? I think text. It gives you a minute to collect your thoughts. Well maybe not a minute but at least a second or two. I got a text this morning that took my breath away. The irony of the whole situation was stunning. She had just gotten engaged, finally reaching a place of contentment she had been waiting for, for so long… and then the news that she had cancer. What do you say? What are the words? Well, there aren't any. Only tears.

My mind immediately flashed back to the day I got the news and all the conflicting emotions that flood your heart and mind. It's funny how people react to bad news so differently. It doesn't say a thing about their spirituality at all. Whether they break down hysterically, close down stoically or something inbetween, it's just a fascinating response, unpredictable until you are there yourself.

I absolutely love this video my daughter pointed out to me. Viewing my body's response to stress as a God-given way to find courage and resilience is very motivating. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend.html

Notes from the video:

It's been said that stress can kill you. An interesting study found that people who experienced a lot of stress but did not view stress as harmful weren't negatively affected by it. When you change your mind about stress you can change your body's response to stress, helping you cope more effectively.

If you think, “This is my body helping me rise to this challenge,” your body believes your mind and you feel better even though you are experiencing stress.

Stress makes you social. Oxytocin, called the cuddle hormone because you experience it when you cuddle with someone, is a natural anti-inflammatory and helps keep your blood vessels relaxed. It helps heart cells regenerate and return to a healthy state. The pituitary gland pumps it out as part of the stress response. This hormone causes us to become more compassionate and caring. It is motivating you to seek support from others, nudging you to tell someone how you feel. Your stress response is designed to get yourself surrounded by people who support you.

Service to others decreases your stress. Caring creates resilience. When you reach out to others when you are under stress you release more of this hormone and you actually recover faster.

When you choose to view your stress response as helpful, you create the biology of courage. When you choose to connect with others under stress you can create resilience. You're saying you can trust yourself to handle life's challenges and you can remember that you don't have to face them alone.

When making a decision about what profession to choose think of this: Chasing meaning is better for your health than trying to avoid discomfort. Go after what creates meaning in your life and then trust yourself to handle the stress that follows.

Strength in Numbers

There is strength in numbers. It was empowering to meet with a group of women concerned about our country and the direction it's heading when we gathered to discuss Dr. Ben Carson's new book. 

"Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Great Britain, France, and Spain all enjoyed their time at the top of the world, … so to speak, for several hundred years. Then, as they began to decline, they all experienced some peculiar similarities: an inordinate emphasis on sports and entertainment, a fixation with lifestyles of the rich and famous, political corruption, and the loss of a moral compass......

The question is, can we learn from the experiences of those nations that preceded us and take corrective action, or must we inexorably follow the same self-destructive course?"

(--from “America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great,” by Dr. Ben Carson.)

We concluded by asking ourselves what we could do to help stop the downward slide of our society. Aside from becoming informed as best we can to vote, maintaining personal righteousness and praying for charity for those who do not share our beliefs, there is really very little an individual can do; but just knowing that there are others who share the same concern was comforting.

Remarkably, we can read in 3 Nephi in the Book of Mormon a sobering parallel of prosperity and subsequent fall of a great nation.  3 Nephi BOM

And it came to pass that the people did still remain in wickedness, notwithstanding the much preaching and prophesying which was sent among them. (3 Ne 2:10)

It is no secret throughout the Book of Mormon, that we live on consecrated land and the Lord will not have a people who do not worship him remain here. Ether 2 For that reason alone, it is imperative to share our testimonies of the Book of Mormon with those we come in contact with.

I sincerely pray that our Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson receives guidance and direction from the Lord for the members of the church and that we will have the faith to follow the course through the upcoming years.

Link to book.

One Week - What Would You Do?

We watch movies in twenty minute installments. It usually takes one of us about that long to fall asleep if we ever sit down and get comfortable. A poem for your enjoyment....

Old age and exhaustion

allow the sleep

that every good intention cannot slay

to overtake us,

and we succumb

willingly,

repeatedly.

Last night we finally finished watching a very thought provoking movie called “One Week.” It's about a young man who finds out he has an advanced stage of cancer that needs to be treated immediately. Instead of telling his family about it, he follows the fortune he finds on a coffee cup and “goes west” on a motorcycle and has many encounters and experiences. It reminds me of a book by Richard Paul Evans called “The Walk” that I read last fall during some down time. Very good reading.

Two questions from the movie remain in my mind:

“How do you know if you're in love?” and the answer, “If you have to ask, you're not.”

I wish I had the wisdom to say that when my children have asked me that in the past, but eventually they do figure it out on their own.

The second one would be answered 30 different ways if you asked 30 different people.

“What would you do if you only had a week to live?”

This is particularly poignant to us because of my recent diagnosis of cancer last fall. In the movie the girl responds, “I'd just do what I'm doing now.” and my response would be the same, even having the testimony I have of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I would just do what I'm doing now... Write a silly free verse poem, affirm my faith, and then go eat a scoop of ice cream with my ever so sweet and loving husband. :)

“We'll see in Heaven.”

“We'll see in Heaven.”

My husband has laughed at me through the years when I've used this as my closing statement during discussions, differences of opinion, or disagreements. Sometimes there is no way of proving anything, or truly expressing how you feel and this just has to be the final word.

The instant replay in sporting events to prove or disprove the accuracy of the call is handy and pretty effective but we just don't have one in real life. We only see what is in front of our eyes, through our own reference point, and sometimes our eyes might be observing something but our mind is somewhere else. Such imperfect beings...

As a follow up to my “Earth's DVDs” post I would like to talk about watching my own life on whatever form of viewing there is in the afterlife. I've read a few books about other's experiences with dying and returning to life over the years. From everything I've read, which can never be proven as fact, I think we will see events in our lives again. Painful or joyful, we will all review our mortal experiences.  

http://timeentertainment.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/tv.jpg%3Fw%3D480%26h%3D320%26crop%3D1

From KJV Roman 14:10 

(Random choice, there are MANY scriptures verifying this.)

 ….We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 

For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, 

every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. 

So then everyone of us shall give account of himself to God. 

Following this “judgment” experience we will know a few things:

1. Our Heavenly Father loves us unconditionally.
2. Heavenly Mother loves us unconditionally.
3. Jesus loves us unconditionally.
4. But with our gift of agency, day by day, we have chosen our own eternal destiny.
5. There will be no doubt about where we belong.

Several books talked about seeing how our choices affected others. Ouch. I sincerely don't want to see myself hurting ANYONE... but I am human, and I'm sure there are times I was very insensitive or unaware of my comments or actions possible hurtful nature.

TO THE WORLD: I APOLOGIZE!

The other side of that coin is that others will see how their choices affected me. Maybe it's my memory in my old age, or the legitimate empty spaces in my brain, but I can't recall anyone intentionally or unintentionally hurting me... so easy to forgive when you sincerely can't remember  I so hope to peacefully and contentedly maintain that attitude as I age.

Peace and blessins... as they say. 

Earth's DVDs - The Highlights

For temple attending Latter Day Saints around the world the news that there is a new temple movie is met with great enthusiasm. Service in the temple is always brightened and renewed by a change up of any kind. It is like the church assigned a script to different teams and allowed them to use their own imaginations and come up with a dramatization of it. They are each different but wonderful.

Long ago, a very wise and well-traveled church friend of mine once commented on the unimaginative nature of the Latter Day Saint congregations she had observed. “If the Second Coming doesn't look like the pictures, they won't recognize it!"

I have thought about that over the years and tried to picture the scriptures coming to life in my mind as I read. There are several events I can't wait to watch when I have access to “Earth's DVDs” on the other side. Imagine watching the story in I Kings 18 where the priests of Baal are calling and calling to their “dumb idols” to consume the bullock on the altar, followed by the prophet Elijah who then takes his turn to call upon the Lord. Fire descends from heaven and consumes the sacrifice, the altar, the stones and even the water in the trough around the altar... EVERYTHING. Talk about thrilling!

We have been given temples on earth for many reasons. They are places of worship and quiet communication with the Lord. They provide service opportunities, refuge from the cares of this world and glimpses of the peace we will feel in the next. If you have the ability, you will not regret going.

Agency

I am fascinated with the word "harrow" and always mark it in my scripture reading. This is a picture of a harrow. You can see the spine of spokes and how effective they would be if you pulled them over smooth farmland.

Alma 29:4 This scripture was interesting to read this morning and I had to ponder it a bit to grasp what it was actually saying. This would be my paraphrase:
It's not a good idea to let my selfish desires dig up, cut up and ruin the divine plan.

Our choices form our life and the danger is that we actually get what we want. Our desires can ruin the beautiful pattern He has for us unless they are the same as His desires are for us. Exercising my agency and directing my life according to my will brings inevitable consequences set up by a fair and loving Heavenly Father and the most tragic of events would be for me to choose "destruction" by small and simple unrighteous acts. When we align our will with HIS will our lives will be the most beautiful and spiritually successful lives we could possibly achieve.

Skin Deep

His arms were covered in tattoos. Maybe tattoos are more on my mind because of the viral blogpost experiences of a tattoo covered Mormon you can read about here:  http://alfoxshead.blogspot.com ?
You would think he spent his nights in seedy smoky bars until you looked in his clear blue eyes and there was no denying the goodness evident there. We could see him through the glass door as he fixed the windshield and tightened our window wipers but couldn't see his thoughts.

Suddenly he opened the door and said, "You're set to go!"
I asked him if we should pay at the counter now and his response surprised me as he shook his head, "Naw, it wasn't repaired properly the time before now and I just fixed it. You're good."
In awe, I asked, "But, you fixed the window wipers?"
"I gave them a good tighten and they should work now but you can bring it back if you have any problems," he said as he shrugged his shoulders.
Stunned, we got in the car and exclaimed how incredibly nice it was to find someone who was perfectly content to just serve without expecting anything in return.

Not 24 hours later a kind unassuming young man with a sweet cowboy drawl came to repair our water slogging broken furnace. Patient and deliberate, he explained the problems and how to fix them. He was so kind, I asked him if he had time to look at our gas fireplace that hadn't worked in two years. Of course it turned on immediately for the expert, as he slowly explained how it worked. Gratefully, he said he would clean it for me because I couldn't comprehend the process of deconstructing it for a good cleaning. As he took his jacket off I couldn't help noticing his forearms… a big elaborate tattoo adorned each one.

Thank you God, for always always teaching me. I love it.

Keystones

So my beautiful daughter is home from her LDS Mission and loves running into people so dear to her. This week we were out doing errands and ran into her ballroom teacher. The joy and rejoicing was immediate but short-lived. Someone very important to her had chosen not to remain within the church structure that forms her life. Anti-Mormon literature, designed to sow seeds of doubt into the very most elect members, had slowly influenced their testimony and they longer felt they had one. My daughter had experienced some of this herself in the last months of her mission and it was very fresh on her mind. They marveled at how doubts had been fed and nurtured at the expense of the forever known.

The very fact that the Book of Mormon exists is proof enough. No wonder it is called the "keystone" of our religion. I love reading it and never fail to find comfort, reassurance and frequent encouragement to make my life resemble Christ's more closely. How can that be bad?