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Sunday, February 2, 2014

January's Posts of 2014

Friday, January 31, 2014

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.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

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.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

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!

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

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!

Monday, January 27, 2014

"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.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

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.