Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Hope


"Hope . . . is like the beam of sunlight rising up and above the horizon of our present circumstances. It pierces the darkness with a brilliant dawn. It encourages and inspires us to place our trust in the loving care of an eternal Heavenly Father, who has prepared a way for those who seek for eternal truth in a world of relativism, confusion, and of fear." President Dieter F Uchtdorf

One thing that really does make me smile is hope. Knowing that there is always something better out there for us is wonderful. All we have to do is to put our trust in God. When we put our trust in God then there really is always something better to look forward to. It is that hope that we will one day live with God again that keeps me moving.

For more ways that hope can help you check out this website all about HOPE

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Holes

When I was about 9 years old we went down to St. George Utah to visit my Grandmother and Grandpa Phil. They always liked to have activities for us kids so that we weren't bored to death and we enjoyed going down there. This one visit when we got to their home they told us that Grandpa Phil had dug a hole and we were to guess the dimensions for this hole. Once we had all guessed and it was a little coolier in the day they drove us out to this hole. I don't remember who was closest, pretty sure it wasn't me. I remember though that it was a very long hole and me feeling bad that Grandpa Phil dug that hole it the ridiculous heat of Southern Utah. I have no idea of how long it took him to dig that hole but I imagine that it took him quite a while.

Sometimes we too end up digging holes for no apparent reason. We dig and we dig and we dig. It can be quite exhausting. Our holes can be of saying wrong things, spending too much time from home and family, bad habits, technology,

As we get deeper and deeper in our holes it becomes our norm and we are often afraid to leave and face the real world. Even if we do want to leave we often feel we are to deep to get out by ourselves. Luckily the Savior understands that we put ourselves in these holes and He is constantly walking to the edge of each of our holes and asking us if we want help out. If we are afraid to leave we may yell at Him and curse at Him. The interesting thing is He just says, "Ok, I'll be back in 5 minutes in case you change you mind," and He always comes back. He will keep visiting our hole until we are ready to accept His help to get out. Then He lowers a ladder a helps us out. We just got to climb up the ladder.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Best Gift Ever

 When you think of gifts what do you think of? Do you think of gifts that you have been given or gifts that you have given? Honestly, I think of what I have been given. Though after a tiny bit I start to think of the gifts that I have given which in the long run make me so much happier than the ones I have received.
I remember this one time I wanted to get my mom an amazing gift. Well I saw that a nativity set that she had been wanting was on sale. I pulled all my money together and I had enough. So I bought it feeling extremely giddy. The only problem was that Christmas was the previous week and my mom's birthday wasn't for another couple of months. Just waiting to give her the gift was almost too much for me and I almost gave it to her earlier. Finally her birthday arrived. As she opened the present I was filled with so much happiness. Just seeing her face of shock made up for having to wait all those months to give it to her. It was then that I truly understood that when you give to others you get more than you give.

Now these last couple of months I have been able to share an even greater gift to those I love. It is the gift of the knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ and His Restored Gospel. I was given this gift myself and it truly fills all my soul with so much happiness that I want to share it with others. Knowing my purpose of being here on earth and what I can do to be even happier really is the best gift I could ever receive or give. I want to bear testimony that I know that it is only through Jesus Christ that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father; that through His love He willingly came down here to earth for each one of us to save us, to redeem us. This is the best gift we have or will ever have.

If you have received this gift, go share it with others. It will make you so happy and help you feel fulfilled. If you haven't received this gift or don't understand how Jesus Christ can make you have greater happiness I strongly encourage you to go to mormon.org, explore, and then request missionaries that can and will share this gift with you.

With the Christmas season coming up let us all try to remember always what the best gift ever was: Jesus Christ.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Friends


"Choose your friends carefully. They will greatly influence how you think and act, and even help determine the person you will become. Choose friends who share your values so you can strengthen and encourage each other in living high standards. A true friend will encourage you to be your best self." For the Strength of the Youth

We have so many people that pass through our lives and they all influence us. We need to make sure that we are surrounded by people that really do help us to become better. Never forget the one person who will be by you through thick and thin. Who will be that best friend that you could ever ask for. Jesus Christ



Wednesday, October 12, 2011

I'm Rich!

The other day Sister Ricks and I went gold panning with a person that we are teaching. While panning I found a piece of gold about the size of one of the two shone above. I automatically exclaimed, "I'm rich!" We then weighed the gold to see how much it was worth. I was pretty excited. Never had I earned that much money over doing something so basic as washing dirt out of a gold pan. Then I was asked where my true riches lie. They aren't worldly wealth or what man say are important. So what are our true riches?
Faith

Family

Friends






Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Paris, Texas or Paris, France?

One time when I was younger I was watching this tv show and one of the characters had gone on vacation. Well after a while another one of the characters wanted to join him but could only remember that they had gone to Paris. So they booked there ticket and flew over to Paris only to find out that their friend was on vacation in Paris, Texas.
We can equally get confused in our lives when we don't hear something quite right or we think something is one way when really it is another.  This is what Satan strives to do. He wants us to think that we can gain happiness by doing one thing that seems close but not quite. He truly is out to confuse us. "Wo unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" 2 Nephi 15:20 But if we know that this is his plot then we can stay on guard to not let this happen. We can remain holding on the the iron rod. Meaning reading our scriptures, going to church, saying our prayers, helping those in need. When we do these things then we won't be deceved by Satan because when he says,"Let's go to Paris," you can say, "Well I think Texas is just to hot right now. I think I will stay where I am at."


Clean That Window

The last semester of college that I took before I came on the mission I took up an early morning custodial job. The hours were from 4-7 in the morning and I woke up at 3:30 5 days a week to get there in time. It wasn't a horrible job once you got used to the not so great hours. Really it was pretty easy. I did the same thing every single day. I vacuumed the entry ways and washed all the glass doors. I really didn't mind the vacuuming part it was my favorite. The doors on the other hand were a little annoying. No matter how clean you washed them the day before there were always new, fresh hand prints for me to clean. Just because I cleaned the day before did not guarantee that they would stay perfectly clean for the next day. If one day was missed, for example we didn't clean on Sunday, then the doors were just filthy and it took a little bit longer to clean them. Even though it seemed like a small task, maybe 5 minutes for each door, it was something that needed to be done each and every single day.
In our own lives there are things that we need to do each day to make sure that our souls stay clean. They seem so easy that we might forget them or we might not think that they are important; reading our scriptures, saying our prayers, repenting daily, being kind to those around us, remember Jesus Christ. It only took me 5 minutes for each door but if I made sure that I cleaned them each day then the next day it was just as easy. If we get in the habit of reading our scriptures and saying our prayers then next day it is just as easy to do them. But if we forget then it does seem hard to get back on the path even if we didn't do it one day. So lets all take the time and do the simple each day. Everytime we do we really do draw closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ which is our purpose of being here on earth.