The Good, The Bad, and The Lopez

"Hello, my friends, hello."
-Neil Diamond

Hello there new reader, or is it still you old buddy? "Nope it's me again. Looks like you're branching out huh?" Right? I was invited to help out on this nifty blog of niftyness! "I'm almost positive that's not a word..." Yep... same dear reader... "So, with this new blog, looks like you're gonna have to introduce yourself again." Yea, it seems introductions are once again in order.

Default epic missionary
picture!

Hello there dear reader, I am known by many as Elder Alejandro Lopez. But you can call me Elder Lopez for short. Oh, and Elder is not my first name, but you probably already knew that. I am currently serving in the B-E-A-UTIFUL mission of Jacksonville, Florida. Now that sounds interesting enough but get this, ask where I live. Go ahead I'll wait.... "Ok, where do yo-" ORLANDO, FLORIDA! Oh yes, I am serving in a mission just above my home mission. Crazy huh? "That's... well actually yea." Crazier still? Didn't go to the Missionary Training Center. "Mind. Blown." Chyea. "Well alright there Mr. Fancy, I bet everyone is wondering just what your gonna be blogging about. Well, I guess it'd be what you HAVE been blogging about." Oh! Right.

See, in my youth, I had more free time than I was proud of I watched A LOT of movies.(Oh, and cartoons too, LOVED cartoons) However, my parents would only let us watch Disney movies on Sundays, so my brother and I became really good at relating movies to the gospel in an effort to watch them (it never worked...) but as I grew older, I began to realize that much like the scriptures, which were written a long, long time ago, in a land far, far away, they can be related to our days and so, why can't pop culture? So stay for a while, take off your shoes if you so desire, and let's share a laugh while we learn about the gospel through, tv, music and... well, other media! Oh! and don't hesitate to leave a suggestion of what you wanna read about next! Also, if you would like to see the water from the source, as they say, "no one says that..." Well... Click here anyway!

Hello good people.

Hello good people.My name is Brian Phiri.I'm from Zimbabwe,a beautiful country located in the southern part of Africa.I'm aged 27,and I'm thrilled to join a vibrant group of bloggers.I'm a returned Missionary in the Zimbabwe Harare Mission.
I love rugby and travelling,reading helps me adapt some new challenges,and I have a deep passion for music.....especially Opera.
The gospel has brought a lot of meaning to my life...It brought peace and joy to me,and it has always been a pleasure for me to share it with those not of my faith.I'm looking forward to learning lots from you all

Brian

January 29, 2014

This past week has been nice. The best thing is that the Oakland temple opened this week from two weeks of renovations. They have been doing many interior updates recently. 
I began working on the Wednesday day shift as an ordinance worker because Trevor wanted to serve with me in the Temple. He served with me last summer, and both of us has been trained in all the ordinances in the Temple except those that we are not authorized to perform. I felt so happy to finally get back into the work at the Temple. I was asked to baptize about ten people as the first thing. These people were the relatives of a sister. I have not baptized someone in a long time, so I needed extra instruction to perform them. Trevor stood as a witness, and he confirmed the people as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, giving them the gift of the Holy Ghost. 
One thing that taught me the reality of the people behind the names was a special experience. I served as a witness in the sealing rooms, and the sealer referred to the people as names. This is a common mistake. I always heard of a Ken Hicken in the records of the Temple as an ordinance worker, but I never seen him. Ever since I began working as an ordinance worker a couple years ago, I never knew if he existed, thinking that the name may be an outdated record; however, near the end of the day shift, someone asked me whether I knew Ken Hicken, telling me that he works the evening shift. I asked around for him. I did not see him until we were just about to leave. He asked me if I heard about the bad news. We had no idea what he was talking about, so we must have been it. We found out how were related. I said we come from the heritage of Patriarch Thomas Hicken, and he said that comes from the lineage of Orson, the brother of Patriarch Thomas Hicken. I can home from the temple telling my father about this special experience, and he said that I should have said that I came from John Robert's line. John Robert is the son of Patriarch Thomas Hicken. I testify that there is a resurrection of all men because Christ is the Savior of man, for he suffered death. Since he was half mortal, he rose from death with his Godly attribute of eternal life, obtaining his immortal soul. The people, who have died, which people have performed ordinances for, will most likely visit you with the great family joy that I felt meeting Ken Hicken. 
I was able to jump right into serving in the initiatory after baptisms for the dead that I performed. I have not participated in administering the initiatory ordinances for a many months, but I trusted a blessing that the temple president gave me, when I was first ordained that I will not have problems memorizing the words of the ordinance. It was so joyous for me to get to work again. I definitely felt the spirit and the love of God, serving in the initiatory. The words of the ordinance speak of great blessings. Communing in the temple as a worker with the patrons and the fellow volunteers is bliss, for the ordinances, covenants, and communions is truly of God unto the salvation of souls by their faith in Jesus, the Christ. 
I have expressed before that the Oakland temple is in need of Temple worthy volunteers. I have not heard the excuses of the many people, who are capable for this service, but I testify that all things required of man of God is not impossible for them to do. I invite all who read this and are worthy of Temple service to go to the temple, and see if your service is needed. If it is, make your available for this service, for the Gospel and the establishment of Zion is dependent on the faith of man. These verses from Joseph Smith - History are true. I quote from the first chapter. 

"36 After telling me these things, he [Moroni, the son of Mormon, as resurrected being in an Earthly visitation of Joseph Smith] commenced quoting the prophecies of the Old Testament. He first quoted part of the third chapter of Malachi; and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as it reads in our books, he quoted it thus:
37 For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
38 And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
39 He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming."

I testify that only by the humility and faith of man can God "plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the heart of the children [can] turn to their fathers. If it [is] not so, the whole earth [will] be utterly wasted at his coming." The Plan of Salvation requires our faith for the work of God to be achieved. "The whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming," if men do not receive the spirit of Elijah. I further testify by the witness of the Holy Ghost that Elijah and many other prophets came to the Prophet Joseph Smith as resurrected beings in visitation restoring the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth as the dispensation of the fulness of times in these Latter-day Saints compensed. You can read of this account in Doctrine and Covenants section 110.

My Eternal Perspective

 by Aellen Ross

They say life is from B to D it's from birth to death. So life starts from the day we were born until the day we die... but between B to D is C. what is C? It's a choice.. what happens to our life depends on the choices we make.. but if our choice is one more C which is christ, we can extend the "D up to E" and that's eternal life..
heavenly father and jesus christ had given us agency, the ability to choose right from wrong and to act for ourselves. but!! according to our faithfulness, we can receive the companionship of the holy ghost to enlighten and guide us in our lives and to lead us to eternal life and i know God always plans the best things for us,sometimes we feel being left out but actually God is saving the better one than what we actually asked for.
so lets do our part as a children of GOD, if not now when? If not us who?
striving to attaine my eternal prespective.

Prove All Things, Parts 1 & 2

Check out my last two blog posts, the series "Prove All Things."

See my blog at WakeUpAndDoSomethingMore.blogspot.com!

Prove All Things, Part 1

Many people missionaries come in contact with want us to give them evidence and proof that we are right. They want us to show them the church is true in the scriptures rather than accepting the Holy Ghost into their lives. We can't prove that the scriptures or our beliefs are true. Only the Holy Ghost can do that.

"For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee"

Even if we could prove everything, God still expects us to have faith. If we don't have faith, it
doesn't matter how much we can prove. Hebrews 11:1 says: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Christ set the example for us on how to know spiritual truths in Matthew 16:15-17.

15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

Just as Peter knew Jesus Christ was the Son of God by the power of the Holy Ghost rather than seeing His flesh and blood, Christ expects us to receive spiritual knowledge by the power of the Holy Ghost rather than physical evidence that something is true.

To read more, CLICK HERE!

Prove All Things, Part 2

Heavenly Father expects you to do
your homework before He throws
you an answer to your prayer.

In my last blog post, I explained how we must ask God through prayer to know spiritual truths. In this post I will show what we must do on our part in order to be ready to receive the answer.

God always hears and answers our prayers. Sometimes the answer is no. For instance: "Dear God. I would really like to have a couple thousand dollars to go on a cruise with my buddies. I also want a new car. And a pay raise. I also would like to be able to fly or turn invisible. Besides that, thanks for everything you do. Amen!"

How willing is God going to be to answer that prayer and give you the things you wanted? The answer to that prayer would most likely be "no" if it didn't bounce off the ceiling on the way to Him.

If you said that prayer and didn't get the stuff you wanted, does that mean God doesn't exist? Does that mean He doesn't care about you? Of course not! God expects us to "do our homework" before He gives us answers.

To read more, CLICK HERE!

Gilbert Temple Open House Pictures and Baptisms!

we've had such a fun week going to the Gilbert Temple this week and we still have tons more reservations

we love these members, she is from Colombia an he is mexican, they are so fun!

these are the other members that are super cool, she is from Peru and so is he. We went with a lady that doesnt come to church very often and her daughter her name is lisa :)

We went to the temple yesterday with Roxane and her family except her son, they felt the spirit so strong especially in the celestial room. Asuncion the youngest asked who that was at the top of the temple,

"the  angel moroni the one who appeared to joseph smith"

"Does that mean anything"

"yes, but i am not sure"

that is how i picture angles in heaven, all in white, in heaven, in two columns, blowing their trumps ans Christ coming down in the middle"

" have you seen that picture before?"

"no. Ive just imagined it that way ever since i was a little girl, ans i was one of those angels!"

i love her!

we soon went into the chapel when, they all saw that exact picture and felt so much joy, it was a super cool experience.

these two cutiepies have a baptisimal date for two saturdays from now, hteir mother is so spiritual and she loves the church, before she has even sought a priesthood blessing from some brethren and she has so much faith and so did her daughter at the hospital at the time did. when she asked her daughter after she recieved the blessing how she felt, she said she felt more relazed and suddenly could move her limbs better. She has had many great examples of members of the church in her life that she trusted they were servants of God.

this is my favorite picture of our resurrected Lord

i love this family to death!!  they are the most prepared people for the gospel. before we left the hosue she had us offer a prayer!! cool right??! and she wanted us to bless the food before we ate! and she dresses modestly and so do her daughters, she is such a good example to them.

here are the baptism of Blanca and JAnet! 

1st this was us at their baptismal interview..

these are all her lovely children at the service.. it was hard getting them in the picture, but its ok i bribed them with donuts ;)

these are some of the wonderful sisters in our branch that were their supporting them!! i love these women!

children of God :' )

Meet Tyler Smith

I'm thrilled to contribute to a blog like this that combines the efforts of so many saints from around the world! I live in Provo, UT, and I work for +The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm a pretty casual blogger, which means that my personal blog covers all kinds of topics, ranging from my evil pet crab to my latest technology obsession, to my faith. My most popular post is basically an invitation to watch general conference.

My favorite thing about the internet is meeting interesting people. Please take a moment to say hello on Google+ if you get a chance. I'd love to meet you.

I love photography, and I pretty much only take pictures with my mobile phone. That means that most of my pictures don't turn out, but occasionally I have success! I've recently started to cook--an adventure, to be sure. But it sure beats the incessant eating out and horrible diet that plague so many single adults. I'm determined to live a healthier life! Perhaps my nerdiest hobby is being obsessed with Google and all of its new ideas and products. Of course, I am fascinated by the possibilities the internet creates for sharing the gospel, which is why projects like this pique my interest. I look forward to reading!

"Personal Testimony" By:aellen ross

Last Friday I was faced with some unexpected challenges. I tried to stay positive, but my attempts often failed, leaving me feeling frustrated and discouraged.

Thankfully, I received encouragement from my friends in the church. While quietly listening on their advices, there's something I'd remember and one of that is the parable of Ten virgins, I learned a lot of things in this parable which i compared the vessels in the parable, where containers for storing extra oil.
Being wise means being prepared for the unexpected challenges and trial's in our life w/ an extra measure of faith, testimony, and the spirit in our lives. Sometimes we grow complacent, thinking we had enough to get by, But following the savior means more that just getting by. It means always striving to draw closer to him, preparing for those times when our patience, faith, and testimony will be tried by others and i would never question God of what's happening in my life now. Rather, I would thank him for letting me experience all of these things, because i know that these will be my foundations to be a strong and a better person.

Meet Gilbert Coruz

Hello every one, my name is Gilbert Coruz one of a new member of The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints.  I am 19 years old i love listening love songs and LDS hymns songs. I am a simple guy, with a height of 5'5, weight of 165lbs. My hobbies are playing games, reading book/scriptures, facing the mirror hehehe and so on and so forth. I join this group to learn some more specially how to talk in English fluently and also to learn from the article that posted from your expriences brothers and sisters. I know and i believe that this is the true Church and only the Church will stand at the last day. Thankyou so much.

January 25, 2014

Yesterday was my day off of work, and it was pretty interesting. At the Saint Francis Soup Kitchen, there was a little drama because a thief came in. A girl's iPhone was stolen. He tried to be quick and quite, but he was lousy because a second story was that he went through someone's coat and everything was put in different pockets. I am uncertain if she had anything stolen. The girl that had her iPhone stolen was crying. Michael Angulo and I were lucky to come in late, for our stuff could have been stolen. I didn't have anything valuable. The head supervisor was miffed, and Michael said that he would be angry. I am a minimalist, and I don't like having heaps of stuff. My mom has almost filled our garage with stuff. I don't think that I would be mad. Serving lunch was almost canceled.
 I served in a bussing role in receiving all of the dishes. I liked this role because I was able to greet everyone, and serve them as they departed. A sister said to me that she did not feel appreciation for life, and I think that a cure for this is to serve people. I got to witness many people and their gratitude for life.
After Michael and I went to a party that the Thai girl invited me to. Like I said before she is the classmate of Nathalia, who my family is hosting. The matriarch of the household was Thai, so I was received very well. Four other of her classmates were at the party. It was interesting to get to know them. One was Taiwanese. Another was Chinese, and the last two were Saudi Arabians.
The Chinese guy was 16 years old, so he barely has experienced life; therefore, I don't have much to talk about him. I could not get to know one of the Saudi guys well, so I won't talk about him either.
The Taiwanese guy was interesting because he was an electrical engineer. He said that he was hired at HTC before it fell apart. I told him that I never heard of them until I went to China. I never realized that HTC was struggling so bad; although, Trevor already knew. They basically only have one good product right now, and it is called "One." Trevor said that they are coming out with a replacement product. The Taiwanese guy said that Samsung came and dominated the market because the South Korean subsidizes them. It makes sense. They have impressive and aggressive marketing campaigns and a lot of products. He furthermore told me that many people were resigning from HTC, and he was forced to work many hours of over time. He would head home from work, and he would be called back. For this reason did he quit too, planning to go into business school. The Saudi Arabian guy was interesting to.
I overheard that he was a father. I loved how the environment at the party because it was family centered, and it confirmed that it is the most important thing in life. He has two children. I asked how he met his wife, and he said that his marriage was arranged. Explaining the process, he said that his mother and sister would decide, who he had married. The boys and girls are separated in most institutions in Saudi Arabia, so dating is not the custom. Having a good relationship with your sister and mother is important, so they will know who you would like. One outrageous thing that he said is that his marriage required him to take a twenty thousand riyal loan, which values half a million dollars. He said that it would cost more if he did not married within his family, for trust and relationship needs to be established. He married his cousin. Marriage within family like this seems common. Sometimes I wish that my marriage would be arranged.
We just hung out at the party. My Thai date's host family was stush. That's Jamaican patwa for luxurious. They even had a pool and arcade games. They served us Thai food, and many Thai gifts were given to my mother. All of the English students drank wine, but I didn't. They served me Ice Tea, and I had to refuse that after a sip. I was surprised because Michael was served water, and I was served the drink. I thought that it was a smoothie. He didn't even warn me. My companion on my mission did that once. Someone served us jackfruit while we were fasting, and he refused, but I forgot that we were fasting, and I went ahead and ate it; no warning from my brothers. The people at the party respected my discipline. The Thai family was very welcoming, hoping to meet my family. It seems that the meeting needs to happen because I have a lot of her containers, which I borrowed to bring home the Thai gifts.

January 23, 2014

As I am blogging my journal, I am inviting all the Young Single Adults to join me as I establish a YSA Blog Spot. I have found committed bloggers. I am surprised how many people are willing to join me in the MormonYSA.blogspot.com. I am continuing to recruit as many bloggers that I can. Many people said that they would write for the blog spot, but progress is slow especially now that I have been working. Dealing with so many people has been good, but I am not without error. I apologize, if I offend anyone.
I don't have much to write about because I have mainly been working. My date from last Friday went well, but I failed to make sure that I had a generous amount of money on my card for lunch. This apparently is a big no no. I just don't think about money much. I think that not thinking too much about money is a great quality. I trust God will provide like the lilies of the field. (Matthew 6:28-31)

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

If my date and I were not pressured in the moment, I could have transferred the funds, for I was provided the money. I failed to be prepared beforehand though.
Work has been good; although, I had a weird day yesterday. The operator sent me to many different places. I messed up palletizing, so she sent me to sort out bad candy. I asked a question. It is loud in the factory, and she had a hard time hearing me, yet I was sent to go sort another time. One machine was freaking out, and I was helping out. I was told to sweep the candy that fell. After a while I was approached by someone, who took the broom, leaving me without a job, I was sent to go sort again. I was sorting out all of the candy to a high standard that I have been trained for, and a lady was telling me that I was picking out too many. I kept to what I was trained to, and other people told me that I was picking out too much candy. I was then sent to a new station, and I was keeping out not too much according to the new standard; then, I was told that there were too many bad candy in the line. After I was sent to make boxes at another machine. I was given a job. Since I could not keep up with it, the job needed to be split into two roles. Then my day ended. I learned to be very flexible. I do not think that the day means anything to my employment, but I feel that it was an odd day. I was not frustrated or bitter, but I believe that maintained a patient perspective.
Trevor, my little brother, began working at my workplace today. We only had a few passing moments in the factory, but one thing that I was inspired to write about from my work is about my favorite color. You may think that this is really random, but my favorite color is yellow. For an unknown reason I had to pick out a lot of product that were yellow today.
Yellow has always been my favorite color. One reason why I loved Jamaica, where I served my mission, is that there were many yellow buildings. I remember raving about this all day once in Jamaica, dancing about even if I was on my bicycle. I miss the yellow buildings of Jamaica. The colors of buildings in the United States are boring. I wear a yellow shirt every Monday because, on the eightieth birthday of the King of Thailand, he had been ruling for sixty years, and he had his nation wear yellow every Monday for the entire year. Thailand has the longest currently ruling king in the world. My favorite color has always been yellow, and I don't think that I even recorded it in my journal.
My running effort is still exhausting. I decided that I need to add a nap to my routine after my runs, so I don't doze off as I drive home. It's a little scary to doze off, when driving. I had to be woken up at a stop light, and I kind of drifted on the freeway. I run to see how far that I can get in twenty minutes. I did good the first few days, but my body was too wasted from work to keep up the effort the last couple days. Running after standing for eight hours straight is hard on your body, and I need to rest my feet for a while before I go. If I ran straight after work, I expect that I would feel feet pain.
I didn't get enough sleep at the beginning of this week because of FHE. I like to make sure that I get my sleep. I don't like how family oftentimes compells me to stay up late, but I participated. I really felt it at work though.
Lastly, one thing that I have been doing is organizing a carpool for the 'University of California: Santa Cruz' students to come to Institute. We have four active UCSC students. I never seen so much faith from the University at the Ocean YSA Branch. We are even planning to do Family Home Evening up there frequently soon. A brother said that he intends to ditch classes to come to Institute. I didn't think that was necessary, but he wants to come. Institute is a religion class for YSA; for those that don't know what it is.
I have another date tomorrow, being Friday. It is with a Thai girl, and I am so excited. I never dated a Thai girl before. She is a classmate of Nathalia, a foreign English student, staying with my family.

Talents

As i thought about what i should write for my next blog post, i received the feeling that i should write about our individual talents.

All of us were created different, individually. Each of us has talents that we can use to contribute to the people on this beautiful earth, and to also to make the earth more better. Each of us can receive peace, joy and happiness in this life, i firmly believe that we can receive blessings on well we use our talents for good and for the benefit of others and ourselves. Each of us has talents such as being able to shoot a basketball well or art or drama (theater) or able to build stuff with our hands etc., but sometimes we may forget that talents can also include, being able to talk to people or making people feel better about themselves, or being able to talk to random people etc. All of us have the capability to use our talents. Some may say that im not capable of what i like to do im not that good at it i want to but i cant. There is a way all of us are not good at something we do right at first but it takes practice, patience and learning is a way that we can build up what we like to do and youll find out that you are stronger than you think.Imagine that, We can become what we think about the most. iimagine all the talents that you have that you do not even have right now, you can be great at so many things in life, imagine that, imagine how much fun and happier you can be. imagine the lives that you can change. We need to use our talents we can waste away what we are good at, this world is struggling right now, and they need our talents to help build it up and to strengthen cause we are as humans the ones responsible to make each other and ourselves the best we can be and to work as a team with our individual talents we need each other, thats one of the reasons why exist on this earth. If you are struggling in life right now know that you can find happiness by getting out there and share yourself with others. If you think you cant use your talents cause you think your not good enough or your not capable enough, quit lying to yourself and get out there, and do it,you can do it be of good courage. Im gonna utter what i said earlier we need each other use your talents for good, and youll be more joyful and happier and at peace in life than you know.

Michael Angulo (A.K.A. Gulo)

Families are FOREVER.

I never thought that the beginning of this new year, I would lose someone so close to me. I haven't lost anyone close to me since I was 16 years old.

Losing someone close is always a difficult time and experience. My Nana Maria passed away 1/7/2014 due to health complications. She had diabetes, had a leg amputated due to it and lost her vision. The last few months of her life, she had dialysis done daily and couldn't eat or drink much. This is not a way, I had envisioned my aunt living her life. I am sad that I didn't get to officially say good-bye to her, but I know she will always be in my heart. I know, she is in a better place where she is not suffering anymore. She is with our Heavenly Father again. She is reunited with her parents and others who have left us behind. Only Heavenly Father knows why and when He takes His children back to His presence. Some day, we will understand that reasoning.

All I can think about is the gospel. We have the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement in our lives and how important and how powerful they are. I feel totally lucky and grateful to have such knowledge. We lived with our Heavenly Father before we came to this earth. We came to Earth because the Lord trusted us to do the right thing and to test our faith in Him. Not only that we came to Earth to gain a body and to learn new things and follow His teachings. By allowing us to have a body we will be able to receive the ordinances of the gospel. Therefore, leading us to be perfected unto Him. We have to learn to love and forgive like the Savior did. Both the Atonement and the Resurrection of our Savior help make our physical death a temporary occurrence.

Even when our physical body dies, our spirits do not die as well. Our spirit will continue to live on. Since my aunt was not a member of the church, right now she is receiving the lessons of the gospel in the spirit world. It breaks my heart that I did not fulfill my missionary duty to the fullest I didn't ask her to take the discussions with the full-time missionaries. I did invite her to the ward activities and she felt the spirit there. It is my only regret that I have with her because our relationship overall was great. It hurts me and I am disappointed in myself. I know there is not much I can do for her now until I can perform her ordinances in the temple.

Eventually, my Nana Maria will be resurrected as a perfect being with her perfect body with no sickness. Both her physical body and spirit will be reunited once again. I am absolutely sure she will love having a body with NO sickness. This will be possible through the loving grace of our Heavenly Father. I know we will see her again, because families can be together forever. This is such a comfort to me.

I love the perspective that I have received through the gospel about death, love, and family. In the True to the Faith manual, there is a paragraph that states the following: "Even as you mourn at the death of loved ones, you can receive comfort in the promise of resurrection and in the assurance that families can be together forever. "You can see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing-sorrow because of death and destruction among men, and joy because of the light of Christ unto life"-Alma 28:14

In the end, the lesson that I learned was the importance of sharing the gospel with those we love and others whom we may not know. At times, it may be a difficult thing to put our believes out there due to our fear of being rejected and ridiculed. It is important to keep in mind that all good things come from Christ and through Him we can do anything he asks of us. In the book of Nephi, " I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded." (1 Nephi 3:7). Thinking of this it is important to understand why the age to become a full-time missionary has decreased because our fellow brothers and sisters need us to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with them. Our Heavenly Father needs us to do that for Him because of His faith in us to become more like Him.

Book of Mormon Reading Request - From Friday/Saturday to Conference in April

Today I was issued a challenge from a good friend that has a lot of potential:

"Starting on Friday or Saturday, start the Book of Mormon over and read 8 pages a day. That will have you finishing it right at General Conference in April."

Not only will it gear you for personal revelation, this activity is actually going to help my friend out with a fellowshipping activity she is conducting. She wants to show her friend she's inviting back to church that she's not the only one preparing for Conference by reading the Book of Mormon. 

Who's up for it? 8 pages a day! 

Comment below if you are ready to take the reading challenge!  And if you are, tag a blog post 8 Pages A Day or put #8PagesADay or #pray4laurie on your Facebook shares to read from others taking the challenge!

- Jeremy Unitt

best week ever!!

First of all i would like to apoligize for being a scatter brain today, ill try my best.
this week we taugh jessica and beatriz and we taught them the Plan of Salvation, they loved it even though they dont show a lot of enthusiasm, jessica had talked to her husband about the lessons and how she loves learning and feels really intrigued by our religion and she likes the testimonies that she hears from the members and they even knew one of the members we brought and they noticed a huge change in her and want the same. However after we committed her to come to church and she didnt look to sure, so i asked her what is holding her back, was it the 8 children that you will have to take care of? she said yes , but also she doesnt have the full support from her husband and he doesnt seeem very intrested. so, i bore my testimony  aboiut how i came to be converted and how i was living the gospel all on my own, but how much it has blessed me, i teared a little bit . But then we committed her to have a kneeling prayer with her husband and read the family porclamation with him and have a litttle talk about it. I felt so inspired to ask her that and knew they will feel the spirit so strongly if they did.

we have been having a lot more members involved in our teaching appointments. Let me tell you how much of  a drastic difference it makes in the progression of the investigators and its a lot more intrestin a nd spiritual, for their life expiriences makes them more meaningful plus they are usually the typical challanges that we all face in life and they,t horugh, the gospel have the tools to overcome them, and that is a living testimony of how the principles we teach are true and bring many blessings. we invited hermanan toledo, a blind lady, and wow she makes the ground shake beneath her, she is on fire spiritually! she has such a tender heart and she even offered one of our investigators that doesnt know how to read to read and is so concerened for the spiritual well bieng of others. I admire her, the outlook she has on life and the pure knowledge that Heavaenly Father loves  her.
We taught one of our favorite families,( i kow we are not supposed to have favorites, sorry) her name is roxana and her children victor, asuncion and perla they invite us over all the time to make hot chocltate or whtever so we can teach her family a lesson and enjoy eachotehr company for a little while,  One morning about 10:30 am after raking leaves and putting them in bags for a lady in a neighboorhood , we went over there and prayed that she willl be there, my companion said" please Lord if she is home i will behave this weeek" Sure enough the Lord answered her prayer after the second time she let us in, sh had just wokedn up and we read the Book of mormon with her and then she invited us to have lunvh with her so we helped her prepare a meal and we ate, it awa the best, she is like our mom.   we had 8 investigators come to church, not as much as last week it was  a little sad. This week we have seen the difference we are so HaPPY........ and are so ready to work! i enjoy everything we do and my companion and i love eachother!


we  went over to blanca and her seven children's home to help them with a yard sale, no one came for the longest time so we helped her clean the house, after a hwile we decided to excersise our faith and pray for  people to show up, so we did and threee minutes later people strted coming! the girls were so excited and hope that that strengthened their testimony about prayer.
 we had a little ceasers dinner ar a less actives family's home and after that we asked if the uncle was around becaue he went to church and is not a member, he came over and we had a lesson of coarse "how to begin teaching" as he walked up to us smelling like an ashtray/homless man, has a prickly beard and was covered in tattoes, and was sort of confused, we greeted him and at first i was kind of in a whatever attitude about talking to him, hey i am not perfect, anyway as we started gettign to know him and saying how the gospel can improve the quality of  his life and how, throiugh the gospel he can overcome anything, he started to really listen, he siad he loved learning about God and how said that he knows that he is probably one of his worst children and how he needs to change a  lot. he even said that "i've done some htings htat i want to tell you, just so you can know what type of person you are dealingw with, i hvae so many problems"  Something came over me and my companion. I didn't see a dirty sinner, who i saw was an innocent child, a child of God, all he needs is a little direction and His love. i felt compassion towards him.  I testified that through the saviors sacrifice, non of that past matters, it can all be wiped away and he can truly feel a load off and forgiven and he will learn the meaning of love and express it to his family better. My companion touched his heart as she said, "do you love your son? what would you be willing to give for the life of your son? you'll give anything right?" his facial expression showed how much love he had for hima nd that he would give anything for him, he even said "hermana.." as he touched his heart. That is only a portiion of what our Heavenly Father feeels for you and me, he wants you to be happy. He told us something extra nice, he said he felt super comfy around us and he hasnt' felt that same with other missionaries, and that he sees us as his friends we all giggled and had a fun lesson.
After that amazing lesson we went over to  a members house, we were suppoesed to meet them there , and they were in charge of bringing blanca and her family to watch The Testaments, we sat and ate popcorn, let me tell you, those little ones sure can eat, they attacked like 8 bags of popcorn and still ate chips and goldfish. It was so fun, Blanca was teary eyed when the Savior visited the Americas, especially when he healed Jacobs father.
on sunday we went over to blancas an hour befoe churhc to help her kids get ready for church, it was fun. they also came to a  fireside that night to hear the testimonies of all the recent converts, by t he way Blanca and her daugher Janet are both gettting baptized on saturday!! :D  the rest of her family will follow shorty after, if they are good examples :) which they will.  well the whole week was paked with tiny beautiful miracels but  here are some pictures.

"FILIPINOS CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS AFTER YOLANDA"

By Aellen Ross Daileg

Christmas is a holiday celebrated by all the people in the world.people give gifts and christmas cards to their love ones and "Aguinaldo"from every godparent's godchildren.it's a time to celebrate christ's birth.when it's christmas,the world is merry.but how can filipinos celebrate christmas after a disaster?
Last november 8,2013,typhoon haiyan or as we call it in the philippines "yolanda"landed on our country particularly in the visayas.typhoon yolanda literally left the whole island destroyed. A total of 5,796 people were killed after the storm surge.people from around the world and filipinos themselves felt weak and others also cried after witnessing the typhoon yolanda devastated visayas.Grieve from each and everyone's faces are clearly shown.Many lost their loved ones,their houses and homes,nothing really left.
How can they celebrate christmas?can they still celebrate christmas?
A lot of people from other countries and filipinos themselves offered help to the people who were affected by the typhoon.some cancelled their christmas parties;instead,they spent their time and days volunteering for relief goods operations.it warms our hearts and we know,people from visayas are very thankful to all the people who have helped them and are still helping them to stand up and start a new life.
This way,helping other people is a way of celebrating this season of LOVE - CHRISTMAS that may soon put into every face of the victims a smile to world again.
"do services,even if it is in a simple way,love others more as you love god and yourself,one of the reasons we are here on earth is to strengthen our faith.difficult,dark days are a necessary part of life and give us an opportunity to build our faith more stronger.
the time is come w/us,so we nef to already conpess our sins.
"message of 1 of the typhoon victims from visayas.lds.member
thank you for all,thank you for a new start,thank for a new memories,and time to move forward"
hope i inspire you all guys
bye.

LIFE IS A STREAM

by:aellen ross daileg
Life is a stream... it continuously flows sometimes very quick and sometimes too slow. Though sometimes stagnant But later will go Sometimes overflowing But sometimes too hollow. Sometimes in deep And sometimes in shallow That's what life is A collision of cheers and sorrow. Sometimes maybe dim But surely will glow. Sometimes we're under But sometimes below. The struggles that hits us Should be the reason to grow. So keep moving forward Because life is a stream It continuously flows...

"I am so grateful for the gospel, do you know why?" by Camille Ramos

Its been a busy busy week for me. I had attended the burial of my auntie's best friend (whom i called mom since i was a little, cause that's what she wanted to be called by me) last January 12, 2014 and i also attended my aunt's funeral service (the sister in law of my mom) last saturday and sunday. I saw how many people was shocked cause of what happened. I saw how they were really hurt and how they mourn cause of their loss and i am one of those who mourn and was shocked. I saw and was able to be with my two aunt's since i was a kid and up until before they died. I had a lot of memories with them. I knew how kind they were, how selfless they were, how they cared for everyone around them, how faithful they were, how incredible they were. I was not as great as they were, but i have one thing that they don't have. I have the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was raised with the gospel in our lives and i am so much grateful about it. We introduced the Gospel to them but they didn't accept it. But still i am grateful for the baptism for the dead, so they may be able to be in Jesus Christ's fold even if they are dead. I may not be able to bring back the time and nag them about the truthfulness of the gospel, but i can do that sacred ordinances after a year of their death to be able to see and be with them after this life. I felt sad by hearing the news of their death, but a part of me says, everything will be alright, just believe, and this is because of the Gospel of Christ. I hope everyone of us who experienced loss, even if its a family member, a relative or a friend will still be grateful for the Gospel cause we know that there's always a way to be with them someday. I know families can be together forever. I know that we need to do our part for those who never heard and received the gospel. We are their hope. We really are. Let us do everything to help our dead and loved ones...

Since Its Sunday: Each Life........

There are so many people in our lives that could become a best friend if we just allowed them into our lives.

And even if they don't become a best bosom buddy who you ask to be your maid of honor, they might be the person you need to talk to that day.

You never know what someone might say to you that might change the way you think about things.....

Each life can touch our lives for good.  If we just let it!


More on the blog


http://sillyswilly.blogspot.com/2014/01/since-its-sunday-each-life.html

Why a Japanese would 'worship' America

When I first began interviewing Kotaro, I was eating Sushi, and I was surprised that he went so far as to say that he did not want to try because it reminded him of Japan. Kotaro is a foreign student from Japan, and from the very first day that I met him. His embrace of the American Culture was very bold. When I asked him about this. He was so bold as to say that he worshipped America. I further saw that he went so far as to somewhat forsake his Japanese Culture. Some people may think that his decisions and attitude is of extremism, for Kotaro wrote a book of his life. 70% of the readers of the autobiography thinks that "I am stupid," but I see that he is a great serviceable man. In this interview and seeing his informed personality, this article will introduce you to the culture of Japan as well as why a Japanese foreign student as Kotaro loves America.

One of the main things that Kotaro loves is the individualism of America. Japanese seems to have a norm that is to be expected. When someone is odd, there is a big scene. I remember seeing this in animated cartoons, and I wondered if it was true. Upon the sight of odd behavior on the streets, many people gather around to see what's going on, and the peer pressure comes to seek to have him not be radical. Choice and individualism seems to be shunned.

Kotaro saw restrictive customs to be able to express himself in his desires. Families and peers seem to be too conservative and sensitive. Kotaro spoke of the girls in Japan. He feels a weird pressure from everyone to act a specific way because everyone was so delicate. In any hint of a guy trying to befriend a girl, a guy would be faced with a girl that thinks that he wants a serious dating relationship. In the family and peer relationship everyone is sensitive. One could not befriend anyone. The family has an overbearing care. Kotaro asked me about my parents, and I said that my Thai mother was of the similar attitude, but the Japanese culture he described was of overbearing conservatism. The culture is one that takes the low risk route. In Kotaro's 'extreme' choices, his parents convince him to not do his desires. When I said that my father lets me choose what I want to do, he respected that a lot as my father is of the American mindset, not convincing to live a life that they want of me. In this conservatism comes a overly relaxed culture he pointed out. Imperfection seems to be accepted, and the American Culture has an accountability to be the best of best.

This lack of choice is also reflected in the school system. The only choice that he was confronted with was in Sophomore year of High School, choosing between a science focus or an art focus in schooling. There seemed to be a lower standard for the art route as Kotaro chose. He had no decisions in the classes that he took except for those two focuses. The science path was of a higher education with more math, and they would go off to a higher education and success more often than the art route with less math and science.

Some more things that he liked of the American culture is the diversity and abundance of everything. The Japanese culture has its race as 99 percent of the people, so he finds it very boring without choice, wearing the same bland thing everyday. Most every person at our college is colorful and interesting, looking around you see all different races. The abundance of food is loved too. Japanese eat so little, and he liked the coming of obese culture of America.
I liked how this interview opened up to a deeper work. Kotaro  put his book there to purchase on Amazon.com. The books name is Paying the Price for my Dream. It is a thirty page short biography of his life, but it goes to great lengths to explain many things of his Japanese and coming to America life. He was forsaken by his family under the circumstances that he endured. The work is so deep that it is secretly written for his father; although, he writes chastening words that lashes out at him. It is actually an apology of sorts.

First Post from STEPHANIE!!!!!

HELLO readers!!!  I was so excited and flattered when Alex asked me to be a part of this blog.  One of the things I love about blogging is the community the "blogosphere" creates and I am so glad that there is a little place in that wide community for LDS singles to share!

I currently live in St Louis and have a busy schedule as a nurse at a local children's hospital.  But I hope to post as often as I can.  It can be hard to navigate the CRAZY that is being a young single adult in the Mormon culture.  But it also can be very fun.  So hopefully we can all figure it out together!

Be Happy Be Healthy
Stephanie

Be sure to check out my personal blog as well.... sillyswilly.blogspot.com