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OK, not really back from the dead. Just back from limbo. I am sorely guilty of not writing in a journal for what looks like almost eight years! I’ve started to before, but you know it goes – you get busy with life.
Here is a short update on my life:
- I consider myself still a very active member of the Church and attend religiously (ha ha!)
- I’ve been in Boy Scouts for over 10 years. I really enjoyed it. I’ve been a 11 Year Old Scout Leader, an Assistant Scout Leader / Deacons Quorum Adviser, and now I’m a Scoutmaster and 2nd Counselor in the Young Men’s Presidency.
- In 2013 I was blessed to Baptize my third son.
- This past March in 2018 I was able to baptize my younger brother. This, really through no effort of my own. He had been engaged and married to another member of the church.
- I’ve been through literally four ward splits and a stake realignment / creation of a new stake without even moving.
I hope that one day my family will find this when I am gone and be able to read my thoughts and feelings that I’ve had through my journey of life. I am guilty of being closed off, playing the strict or hard parent, or constantly busy with work.
The time is coming when my oldest son will be turning eighteen and then they will start leaving the home. I am realizing that I only have a few short years left before they leave then I will have an empty home!
I’m hoping to pick up the habit of posting again. I know the Mormon online presence these days are HUGE and I am but a drop in the bucket, but if I can help one person then I consider it worth it.
This last Saturday, I had the privileged of baptizing my 2nd son, Dylan. It was quite a different experience than the other baptisms that I have been to. This time, it seems like it was HIGHLY organized by our stake and there were so much people that it filled the entire chapel of the stake center.
This time around, each ward took turns at the font and split up into different areas of the stake center afterwards. Since Dylan was the only one being baptized for our ward, we ended up in the small family history / employment center room.
I also found myself referring back to my posts: My Son’s Baptism, A Convert’s Survival Guide: What to Expect BEFORE your Baptism and A Convert’s Survival Guide: What to Expect AFTER your Baptism to reference the prayers and procedures needing to be performed.
During the opening of the baptism service, I was impressed that my son was eager to answer all the questions by the speaker in the chapel for the service before the ordinance was performed. The baptism had to be done twice because his toe poked out of the water. The 2nd time I dunked him, I made sure to push him down to the very bottom of the font by his chest and knees.
Next during his confirmation, my heart was full of joy and I know my son felt the same way when telling him to “receive the holy ghost.”
I am thankful that my best friend Mike and his family could come and support Dylan in his decision. Also glad that Mike was on hand for being a witness in the baptism and part of the confirmation as well. I am glad to have the privilege to hold the priesthood and minister unto my family and those around me.
My son’s baptism has given me another person to look up to when living the gospel. Together I know we will help each other grow closer to Jesus Christ.
Saturday Session 1, Talk 2 – Boyd K. Packer, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Spoke about the duty of the Priesthood in the home
- Presiding Authority always vested in the Father.
- Father is to direct the administration of ordinances in his home.
- Father presides at the table, prayer and general instruction to the family whenever he is present.
- Soldier with orders to Vietnam asked president Harold B. Lee for a blessing. Turned him down and told him to ask his father.
- 2 years later, the soldier said he did as was asked and he felt the power of the priesthood.
- Another time a young man was to be set apart as an Elder, Bro. Packer, told him his father was to do it. Good thing he was an Elder, or else he would have had a “Battlefield commission.” 🙂
I have been thinking about this verse that I read in the Pearl of Great Price all week:
And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him:
I know not, save the Lord commanded me. (Moses 5:6)
This verse sums it up pretty nicely by taking a concept that we ourselves complicate and simplifying it to its most basic core meaning.
Obedience.
I can’t believe how I never actively realized until this week how obedience is shown and taught throughout the: Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price.
The message is pretty clear now and I see the path I need to take as clear day.
I feel the spirit stronger than I ever have, since being baptized.
Just something that’s been stuck in my head all week. During sacrament last Sunday, the Bishop spoke to us about what he called:
THE FABULOUS FOUR!
I like how he put it. It immediately got everyone’s attention and then he told it how it was…
If you are not doing these four things in your life, DO IT. Don’t do it half way, do all of it and you will be blessed.
- Go to Chuch EVERY Sunday, to EVERY meeting.
Do all three hours, don’t pick and choose. - Daily Prayer
Say your prayers daily. Say them in the morning, at night and throughout the day. - Daily Scripture Study
As you read and study your understanding and faith will grow. - Pay a Full and Honest Tithe
“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house; and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” (3 Nephi 24:8–10; Malachi. 3:8–10)
There you have it. The fabulous four… or what I like to call the fantastic four. I personally feel it is wise advice in which my Bishop addressed head on.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. A lot has been going on and I just haven’t had time. Here is what has been going on since I’ve last posted:
- Stake-wide Ward Boundary Reorganization
Yes, we knew it was coming since the announcement in August but I feel that once the reorganization was approved, the split came about swiftly and with an extraordinary amount of organization. The manner in how it was done bares witness to me of the divine inspiration of our church leaders have and how this church is the real deal. - New Calling
I was happy to keep what was my current calling as a Webelos Den Leader for a whole 1 week into our newly organized ward. I was sad to get a call right after our last meeting, knowing they were going to release me from it. That feeling was quickly replaced with excitement when I learned I’d be an Assistant Scoutmaster and working with the 11 year old boys!I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the brother who baptized me and was mission leader when I was an investigator was now my partner with the 11 year old scouts! We also went to our trainings together and did a December Time camp out in below-freezing temperatures. It was a fun experience and I learned a lot.Now every Wednesdays we have our meetings and I am excited to be helping the scouts pass off their requirements all the way up to First Class.
- Getting To Know New People
I am on my outside an introvert and I keep to myself. And seeing how church beings at 9am in the morning, it doesn’t help one bit that I am NOT a morning person. Besides the early time we have to be at church, this has given me and others a reason to throw ourselves out there. I like to think that on my inside I have a person screaming to get to know everyone and be outgoing. I was happy the other weekend when I realized that I actually knew at least half the people I pass by in the hallways now. - New Perspective
It’s always interesting to me how differently things can be ran by the Bishopric in a ward. Whichever way they go about things, one thing is for certain. They are absolutely called by God to their positions to minister and lead the ward.
So far it seems like 2010 is off to a great start!
Saturday Session 3 (Priesthood), Talk 1 – M. Russell Ballard, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Priesthood is the divine power that seals
- How to Talk between Father and Son:
- Most Nurturing
- Who Sons and Fathers Become
- Applies to All Mentors
- 3 Suggestions for the Son:
- 1. Trust Your Father:
- Not Perfect, but loves you and is looking out for your best interests.
- Your Father will feel responsibility and will make him work harder.
- 2. Take an interest in your father’s life.
- Interests
- Goals
- Job
- How he met your mother?
- Watch your father, you’ll understand your father better.
- 3. Ask for your father’s advice:
- Ask on Church, Classes, School, Assignments, Missions, Callings.
- Asking says to him: “I appreciate your knowledge and experience.”
- 1. Trust Your Father:
- 3 Suggestions for the Father:
- 1. Listen to your sons. Ask the right questions and what to know.
- Connect with your son: Driving, Fishing, Conversations before bed, working in the yard.
- Have one deep conversation with your son at least once a month.
- Where and when is not important. Just that it happens.
- Ask how they “feel”
- Just listen. You don’t have to fix everything.
- 2. Pray with and for your sons.
- Important events: New School Year, Birthday, One and One Prayer, Testimony Sharing.
- Never give up. Even when you can’t do anything.
- 3. Talk about and warn about bad things: Drugs, Pornography. Discuss the priesthood and moral cleanliness.
- 1. Listen to your sons. Ask the right questions and what to know.
- Trust will flourish. Be open about Sexual Behavior with open and frequent discussions. Be positive about sexual relations in the bounds of marriage.
- Return Missionaries – All this advice applies to them as well.
- Pray to Heavenly Father. Honor your Earthy Father.
- Most important decision is to marry the right girl in the temple.
- Fathers of return missionaries, this applies to them too.
Saturday Session 3 (Priesthood), Talk 2 – Walter F. Gonzalez, of the Seventy
- USE the Book of Mormon
- Take the Book of Mormon Test: Is it of man or of God?
- 3 Activities to best read and apply:
-
- Feast Upon the Words of Christ. READ IT.
- Implement the Teachings
- Teach From the Book of Mormon
Saturday Session 3 (Priesthood), Talk 3 – Yoon Hwan Choi, of the Seventy
- Story of 9 Rowdy Boys, Baptized and went on missions.
- They went from 9 Boys to a family of 45 members.
- The boys sang in a group.
- Choi prayed about them and was inspired to teach them to be missionaries.
- “Attend all church meetings” – Taft
- Teach them to change their lives
- Adam did not always have to know why, he just obeyed.
Saturday Session 3 (Priesthood), Talk 4 – President Deter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor, First Presidency
- Must remain steadfast in faith.
- Work Hard.
- Trust in God.
- Uchtdorf was teased as a young child. When he looks back, he sees that being teased gave him personal growth.
- Adversity, when faced with faith, can be overcome.
- Prinicples:
- 1. WORK.
- If you keep at it, steady and constant, things will improve.
- In the sweat of thy face, thou shalt eat bread.
- Lord doesn’t expect us to work harder than we are able. Don’t compare your performance to others, he does not.
- When your wagon is stuck in the mude, God is more likely to help one who gets out to push, than those who pray.
- Righteous work in the home is sacred and has eternal results. It cannot be delegated.
- Spend your days growing.
- Spiritual Wings – as sons of God, we should grow to the horizons.
- Retirement is not part of God’s plan. You should always be doing something.
- Excuses with age: Skateboarding, biking, spicy food at the buffet… should not keep you from working.
- No retirement from priesthood.
- Wanting to retire from work is not a thought of a disciple.
- 2. LEARN.
- Old saying: “Education is not so much a filling of a bucket as a lighting of a fire.”
- Learning is a commandment.
- Joseph Smith said as a mortal part of our journey that knowledge in this life crosses into the resurrection.
- Knowledge takes away anxiety, doubt and darkness.
- 1. WORK.
Saturday Session 3 (Priesthood), Talk 5 – President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor, First Presidency
- Keeps olive oil on him at all times.
- Keeps it in his desk (He has a desk!)
- Keeps it on his nightstand.
- The olive oil has a date on it: The day it has been concecrated.
- Always ready.
- Story: A father called him about his three year old daughter. She had been hit by a car. He plead for a priesthood blessing. He had to fight the doctors to place a drop of oil on her head amidst bandages. Doctors said she was dying. They were wrong. She lived and also learned to walk again.
- Those prepared are ready to answer.
- Preparation begins at home, quorums, etc.
- Steady Obedient Service.
- Need:
- To have faith, authority to act in the name of God.
- Nephi – Given the authority to do miracles. He brought drought/rain, god gave him power and trust.
- D&C 121 – Moves are pure, Gentleness, Love, Not Selfish. D&C 121 contains a promise in there.
- Prepare for days when heaven needs you. Service & Opportunity.
Saturday Session 3 (Priesthood), Talk 6 – President Thomas S. Monson, President and Prophet
- Anger
- Story of a couple fighting and a child who got hurt as a direct result.
- Anger doesn’t solve anything.
- Destroys everything.
- Heber grant story about work.
- “Man is a fool who takes insult that is not intended”
- Anger is Satans tool.
- Story about Brother Marsh, how a result of a quarrel over milk and cream lead to the extermination order.
- Story about two brothers who shared a 1 room cabin in New York. They got into a fight and drew a line down the center of the room. They did not speak or cross the line for 62 years. This story was told at a funeral.
- Reads “School Thy Feelings Poem”
Sunday Session 5, Talk 8 – Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church, Prophet
My Notes:
-Read and study the conference talks in the November Ensign. It will inspire us. Incorporate the truths into our daily lives.
-Book of Mormon, Book of Ether Quote: Ye cannot cross this great deep, save I prepare you against the waves of the sea and the winds which have gone forth and the floods which shall come.
Sunday Session 5, Talk 7 – D. Todd Christofferson, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My Notes:
- Moral Agency, the right to make choices and account for those choices.
- WW II – James E. Faust was in enlisted in the US Army.
- Asked the question “In times of war, should not the morale code be relaxed? Does not the stress of battle justify men in doing things they would not do while at home under normal situations?”
- Answered “I do not believe there is a double standard of morality.”
- Moral Discipline is the practice of exercising agency to choose the right, just be cause it is right.
- Discipline’s root word is Disciple.
- The more of God’s laws we obey, the fewer laws we need on earth.
- Morale Discipline is learned at home.
- Teach your children while you have them and convert them while they are with you.
- Book of Mormon quote: “Wickedness never was happiness”
- His mother’s quick correction put an abrupt end to his life of crime! 🙂
- Discipline needs to be founded on faith in Heavenly Father and the son and what we can achieve with atonement of Jesus Christ.
- God is our Father, his son Jesus is our redeemer. Their law is immutable, truth everlasting and love is infinite.
LDS Pad: The Journey Back to Heavenly Father 
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