Tuesday, October 28, 2008

What a lift!

First things first, I need to talk about Stake Conference!

I was, of course, surprised when Brother Donahue called and asked me to share my conversion story and testimony there, but not as much as when he told me that directly speaking after me would be none other than Elder Matt Eyring of the Seventy, son of President Eyring!!!!

It seemed as though the whole Conference was about love in one way or another, and I loved Elder Eyring's humility in addresing the children simply and directly, while bearing equally humble but sure testimony of the Savior. I feel blessed to have met him.
And on top of that, my mother came! She had tears in her eyes as she heard the messages and saw just how people in the Church are! I thank you, all of you, in my ward and stake for greeting and talking with her! You don't know how meaningful and helpful it is to our family!

I suppose I could go on and on about that, but I'll just cut to something else that happened just minutes ago. The missionaries came by! And the message they gave me was simple yet profound. It really put things in perspective for me, that being "spiritually born of God" is a lifetime thing. It seems that, in all the craziness and stress of my life (though I think I'm exaggerating here) I had forgot to put what is most important first in my life, and they helped me realize that. Those men are just....i can't put it into words the happiness I derive from them.

It makes me laugh now that Satan would think to place whatever doubts and things he could in my way at the stressful time we all live in...but just as the Elders said just when you think He's not there God comes and lifts you up! In this case, he sent Himself through his appointed ministers of this wonderful Gospel that makes me ever so happy.

So, I guess the advice I have is, don't lose hope! If you ever have trouble, just look back on all the confirmations you have recieved in the past, and seek to have more of those experiences! Exercise your faith! Nothing but good can come from it.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Possible arcaelogical evidence of the BOM?



Thought by some to be a carving of the "Tree of Life" told in Lehi's Dream...we may never know for sure. Even still, here is a testimonial of someone who saw such a carving in the Yucatan:

"I am a non-practicing member of the LDS church and am sceptical of things like this as well. However, I just returned from a trip in the Yucatan where we saw many ancient Mayan structures and this image of the Tree of Life was given to me from another ruin in central Mexico. Just to cast a little more light on this carving, it is much more than just a tree. There is a man kneeling to the left of it holding a ball next to a woman. Two men are facing away from the tree. A man on the right of the tree is knelt down writing in a book. A smaller man is kneeling next to him. There is a river in the background, and behind it a building. A man is walking up to the tree with material covering his face. Below him is a bar. There is also fruit on the tree. Perhaps you could explain these items as well as "just the tree."

The ball (fruit?)
Two men (Laman and Lemuel?)
River
building(great and spacious building?)
Covering his face (Sounds like he is ashamed, maybe?)
Bar(rod of iron, anyone?)
you get it...

Very curious...

Can't Fight That Feelin'...

Boy, these Sundays are just getting better and better!
There sure were some interesting talks in Sacrament meeting yesterday:

Brother Mark Zoglio, comparing the Atonement to a ham that keeps hitting him
in the back of the head (no "Leave it to beaver" comparisons though, at the surprise of some in the ward) :D

Brother Butler, who gave a very interesting talk about Scripture reading,
talking about how the story of Adam and Eve shows us that Satan tries to focus us on
what we don't have, as well as his speaking about the ironies contained within the BOM and the Bible. He also went into the figurative language contained within them(for example, "my soul hungered" and "the mountain of the Lord" in Isaiah). He went on to explain that we should not take such too literally, but should look at it from a poetic
view(Yay poets!).

Brother Brent Adams, who gave an inspiring talk about scriptures that have stayed with him throughout his life from his parents and have given him courage.

What REALLY got me though, was the lesson on charity in the investigator's class. I never felt the Spirit that much before in that class, I can tell ya. As I was reading the parable of the Prodigal Son with Brother Blankenbeckler, tears welled up in my eyes as the Holy Ghost witnessed to me that He did in fact love me, and showed me that it was telling my life story just in those few verses.

How grateful I am for the Sabbath day!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Please consider...

Please, if you can, take the time to help out this BYU student who is engaging in a great and noble cause....

http://welivebetter.blogspot.com/

Things to Uplift and Inspire

I am in quite the good mood today, and consequently would like to share with you some videos that I hope will uplift you and inspire you as you listen to them. As for general conference, I just couldn't sum it up in words. Let that be an evidence to just how great it was!

God Bless, and Enjoy: