firm foundation

Helaman 5:12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

what is a foundation?  a foundation is the basis or groundwork of anything....so let us use a houses foundation as an example.

Normally a houses foundation is made of concrete. concrete has multiple element in it so must our "spiritual concrete". In order for our spiritual foundation to be strong we must have many elements that work together so that it can remain strong even during the most harshest storms, some of the things that we can do that can help our foundation to remain strong is reading the scriptures and praying daily, these are two of the most important because they help us build our faith in Jesus Christ and we come closer to our Father in Heaven.

once we have our firm foundation we then must build our "house" which are more gospel principles that we learn about as we come to church and learn from our teachers.

After we have built our house there will be storms and damage to it which is like when we sin,  We learn from the scriptures "Nevertheless, he has sinned; but verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, forgive sins unto those who confess their sins before me and ask forgiveness"(D&C 64:7).

If we have sinned which we all do at some point the Lord is willing to forgive us of our sins and the way that we can have them removed from us is by first being baptised, after we are baptized we can come to church every Sunday and partake of the sacrament. When we partake of the sacrament it is like repairing the house and making it look as good as new after a storm.

here is a link to a talk given by Sheldon F. Child http://lds.org/general-conference/2003/10/a-sure-foundation?lang=eng

New Car!!!!!!!!

So the other day we got a call telling us that we needed to bring our car to a meeting because they were going to be selling it and we were going to be getting a different one, so we cleaned up the inside and the out so that it would be nice for the next people who were to receive the wonderful Malibu that we had. After the meeting I traded the keys of the Malibu for a brand new corolla. After driving it for only a few minute I was able to see and feel quite a few changes in the way that the two cars differed from each other which was a lot.

 So we will start with the old car. It was a little dirty inside and out which is kind of like how we are before we are baptized we still have some of the things that we did in the past that we don't feel good about.

So we must start some place right?

Well with the car we had to start to clean it which is a lot like when we start the process of repentance. Once we were done cleaning the car it looked great but it still wasn't like it was when it was brand new it still had some stains in the carpets and a scratch here and there, which is a lot like how we are when we have repented we have asked God for forgiveness but sometimes we still remember some of the bad things in our past.

How can we become like a brand new car you might ask?

The only way that we can become completely clean from our former sins is by being baptized. Once we have been baptized, all of our former sins can be washed away and we can be just like a brand new car; no more stains or scratch’s to worry about.

if you have any questions about what you have read here please feel free to contact me on Facebook @Elder Joshua Hoffman or just leave a comment on here.
Let's compare the new car smell to the way that we can feel after we are baptized. 

The Spirit of Revelation - David A. Bednar

So the other day I was rereading this article that Elder David A Bednar gave in the april 2011 general conference. In this article he talks about how we can receive revolation, he compairs revelation to light like when light is instant and when it is gradual. I have seen many times in my life when I have been praying and I don't get an answer right away but it come line upon line and very gradual sometimes, how fast we receive our answers depends on what we are asking for and what the lord sees fit to give us at that time.

Please leave comment's on what stood out to you in this talk.

Desire ~ Elder Dallin H. Oaks

This is an amazing talk on Desire and how our desires will effect the things that we do and who we become.

What is the Book of Mormon?

I have had so many people ask me what is the Book of Mormon?

Many people think that the Book of Mormon is an addition to the Holy Bible, which it is not. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ it goes hand in hand with the Bible and is a record of the people and prophets in the Americas.



here is a short movie that gives an introduction of the Book of Mormon



I would like to add my testimony to this video.

I myself have come to know that the Book of Mormon is true and what the Book of Mormon contains is the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and that all men everywhere can come to know the truthfulness of its message, if they will just open their hearts and read from it and then do as Moroni a prophet in the Book of Mormon directs in Moroni 10:3-5. I know that there is a lot of people who have heard negative things about this church but i know that if they would just put all of those things aside and try it for themselves that it will make you life better.

if you don't have your own copy of the Book of Mormon please request one from this website mormon.org.

Please feel free to leave comments.

Not Judging

So the other day I was reading in Romans 14 and as I was reading I kept thinking about how the chapter heading says "making unrighteous judgment of each other".
This topic has come up a lot recently with myself and others, we have talked extensively and I have found that it is all to easy to make unrighteous judgment.

In verse 10 it asks a question. But why dost thou judge thy brother? Now I have been thinking a lot about why do we judge our "brother"?  Well we do need to make judgments because if we don't we wouldn't be able to make decisions on our own, but why do we always have to judge people before we even get to know them? I have found that I myself judge alot of people before I get to know them which isn't Christ like at all, so in my endeavor to try and be more Christ like I am working on not judging people on their looks but on who they are.
I know that as I have been working on this I have been able to make alot more friends and I have a much happier outlook on life and i know that if we all start getting to know each other before we judge then we can all be alot happier.

Here is a movie that talks about a lady who judged a man before she got to know him, then after getting to know him her outlook has completely changed.

After reading the blog / viewing the video please fell free to comment

Why Mormons Build Temples 5-13-2011

Today I am going to be sharing a talk givin by Elder Mark E. Petersen in the January 1972 Ensign.

     Why do the Latter-day Saints build these temples? How are they used? Are they for worshiping assemblies or for ritualistic purposes? Just what takes place in them? Why have the Latter-day Saints made such investments in time, effort, and money in such projects as these?
For more than a century they have carried on the work of temple building. It began with the Prophet Joseph Smith, who erected two of these buildings and projected two more, all in the midwestern part of the United States.
     Following the pattern of biblical days, the Lord again in our day has provided these ordinances for the salvation of all who will believe and directs that temples be built in which to perform those sacred rites.
Anciently, to obtain the saving blessings of the Lord, it was necessary for an individual to do two things:
1. Live the righteous life described in the commandments of the Lord.
2. Participate in the saving ordinances administered by the Lord’s truly authorized servants.
    
     Although some of these ordinances could be performed wherever the people found themselves, others were so sacred that the Lord required that they be performed in a specially built edifice, such as the tabernacle or temple, as at first, or the great temple which replaced it. There the priesthood ministered in solemn rites. Not everyone could enter—only those of proven worthiness. Unauthorized officiators suffered the wrath of God. The holy ordinances were never fully made known to the world at large; they were too sacred, but the chosen and faithful participated in all solemnity.

     But how could a temple be so essential to one’s salvation? Was it so in ancient times? What part did the temple in Jerusalem play in the religious life of ancient Israel? That the temple in Jerusalem was more than a synagogue is well established. That it was a sacred place in which only the priesthood could minister is also recognized. That its “Holy of Holies” was reserved for the most faithful is well known. That sacred ordinances not in any way related to the usual synagogue worship were administered there is likewise a fact. And that they were not open to the view of the curious and the uninitiated is also admitted. The temple in Jerusalem was desecrated by the unworthy who came there and made it a marketplace in the days of Jesus, as will be remembered. It was that which so angered the Savior that he drove them out of the temple with the words, “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” (Matt. 21:13.) Temples built in latter days are equally sacred, and therefore, they too are reserved for only the most faithful members of the Church.

     But what goes on in a temple? Naturally there is curiosity about that which is kept from the public view.
As the temples have been built, they have been opened to public inspection and thousands have visited them and admired their beauty. After the buildings are dedicated and the usual activities of temple work are begun, no interruption is permitted to accommodate tourist groups. When visitors have gone from room to room prior to the dedication of these temples, explanations have been given concerning the work done there.
Always a center of interest is the baptismal font. In each of the temples this font rests upon the backs of twelve stone or bronze oxen, following in this, as in other particulars, the pattern given by the Prophet Joseph Smith as he instituted temple building in his day under the direction of the Lord.

     Why is there a baptismal font in the temple? Cannot people be baptized anywhere?
The living, yes. But the font in the temple is for vicarious baptisms performed in behalf of the dead.
Baptism for the dead? Is that a Christian doctrine? In the Epistle to the Hebrews we read about the forefathers of the faithful, and then the author declares “that they without us should not be made perfect” (Heb. 11:40), showing a definite relationship between the salvation of the living and the dead.
Many peoples believe in some form of vicarious work for the dead and burn candles or say prayers in their behalf. The atonement of the Christ himself was a vicarious work. He died for us, that we might live. His suffering atoned for our sins. His was a vicarious sacrifice. “… God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16.)
“He was wounded for our transgressions … with his stripes we are healed.” (Isa. 53:5.) He gave his life as a ransom for us (Matt. 20:28), a vicarious offering. His blood cleanses us of all sin. (1 Jn. 1:5–7.) By his being slain, he redeemed us. (Rev. 5:9–10.)

     Vicarious work for the dead is a biblical and a Christian doctrine. If men are to participate in it, they should determine what kind of service is acceptable to God. Obviously every form devised by man could not be approved. To arrive at an answer to this question, we should ask ourselves what is required to save a living person and then inquire if the Lord sets up something different to save the dead.
What does the Bible say may be done by the living to help save the dead? Is it the burning of candles? Is it the saying of prayers? Is it bringing food to the tomb as in the Orient, or equipment for travel, or implements of war? People who die without having been taught the gospel may yet be saved in the presence of God. This is made clear in the scriptures. But how? That is the question. Jesus preached to the dead. The apostle Peter taught this in his day, saying that after the death of the Savior, and while his body lay in the tomb, the Lord, as a Spirit, went to the realm of the dead and there preached to the spirits of the people who previously had lived on the earth. (1 Pet. 3:18–20.) Then he gives us the reason for this preaching: “For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1 Pet. 4:6.)

     These remarkable passages then make it known that—
1. Jesus was a personage of both spirit and flesh, like all of us.
2. When Jesus went to the realm of the dead, he was still himself, an individual, the humble “carpenter from Nazareth,” although a spirit divested of his body of flesh and bones which had been crucified.
3. The dead—even those who died in the flood—also were intelligent persons, still individuals, although spirits like Jesus himself.
4. These dead were so much in possession of their reason and their faculties that they could hear the gospel like men in the flesh although they lived in a world of spirits, and they were alive and alert and could use discretion in accepting or rejecting the teachings of Christ.
5. Jesus taught them the gospel, which was their opportunity for salvation.
6. Having heard the gospel, they might accept it or reject it and thus be “judged according to men in the flesh.” As they did accept it, they could then “live according to God in the spirit” just as the scripture indicated.

     Now, what are the requirements made by the gospel for the salvation of living persons? They must “live according to God” while they are in the flesh, conforming to both the laws and the ordinances of salvation, including, for example, such ordinances as baptism in water. Is baptism that necessary? Jesus considered it so and was baptized himself in order “to fulfil all righteousness.” (Matt. 3:15.) Can mankind do less than he?
Jesus’ disciples baptized even more than did John the Baptist. (John 4:1–2.) And it was Jesus who taught, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16), making baptism as essential to salvation as faith itself. Then can we ignore baptism? If baptism is so essential for the salvation of the living, is it less essential for the salvation of the dead? Can we reasonably suppose that some other rite would replace baptism, such as, for instance, burning candles or saying prayers? But how can the dead receive baptism? History teaches that the early Christians baptized living persons in behalf of their dead. It was a customary practice. It was so in Paul’s day. In fact, he used this early Christian practice as evidence of the resurrection of the dead. To those who had doubted the resurrection he said, “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?” (1 Cor. 15:29.) This then is the real Christian doctrine of salvation for the dead. The same ordinance that was used for the living was used also for the dead. Nothing new was introduced. God did not require one thing for the dead and a different thing for the living. He treated them all alike and could therefore in all consistency judge the dead according to men in the flesh as Peter said, even while they lived in the spirit world.Inasmuch as the gospel was preached to the dead, its ordinances were made available in their behalf. Since baptism was an ordinance requiring immersion in water for all, whether living or dead, and since there was no way in which to baptize the dead personally, living people were properly baptized for and in behalf of the dead. As part of the restoration of the gospel in these last days, the Lord revealed this doctrine and practice to the Prophet Joseph Smith and commanded him to build temples in which these rites could be carried on.

Within the clasp of your arms 5-3-11

I have recently been reading through previous copies of the Ensign and i have found this one article that has stuck me with and i thought that i would share it.

Within the Clasp of Your Arms

Jeffrey R. Holland

President of Brigham Young University

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Brethren, it is impossible to express the overwhelming sense of responsibility I feel tonight. Like the mule who entered the Kentucky Derby, I know I probably shouldn’t be here, but I surely like the company it lets me keep. Tonight I include in that special company my son Matt, whom I love with all my heart. I pray earnestly for the Spirit of the Lord to be with us in our assignment.

Brethren, a recent study conducted by the Church has forcefully confirmed statistically what we have been told again and again. That is, if loving, inspired instruction and example are not provided at home, then our related efforts for success in and around Church programs are severely limited. It is increasingly clear that we must teach the gospel to our families personally, live those teachings in our homes, or run the risk of discovering too late that a Primary teacher or priesthood adviser or seminary instructor could not do for our children what we would not do for them.

May I offer just this much encouragement regarding such a great responsibility? What I cherish in my relationship with Matt is that he is, along with his mother and sister and brother, my closest, dearest friend. I would rather be here at this priesthood meeting tonight with my son than with any other male companion in this world. I love to be with him. We talk a lot. We laugh a lot. We play one-on-one basketball; we play tennis and racquetball, though I do refuse to play golf with him (that’s a private joke). We discuss problems. I am the president of a small university, and he is the president of a large high school class. We compare notes and offer suggestions and share each other’s challenges. I pray for him and have cried with him, and I’m immensely proud of him. We’ve talked long into the night lying on his water bed, a twentieth-century aberration which I know, as part of the punishment of the last days, will one day burst and wash the Hollands helplessly into the streets of Provo (that’s another private joke).

I feel I can talk to Matt about how he is enjoying seminary because I try to talk to him about all of his classes at school. We often imagine together what his mission will be like because he knows how much my mission meant to me. And he asks me about temple marriage because he knows I am absolutely crazy about his mother. He wants his future wife to be like her and for them to have what we have.

Now, even as I speak, I know that there are fathers and sons in this meeting tonight who feel they do not have any portion of what is here described. I know there are fathers who would give virtually their very lives to be close again to a struggling son. I know there are sons in our meeting who wish their dads were at their side, tonight or any night. I have wondered how to speak on this assigned topic without sounding self-righteous on the one hand or offending already tender hearts on the other. In answer to that, I simply say to us all, young and old, never give up. Keep trying, keep reaching, keep talking, keep praying—but never give up. Above all, never pull away from each other.

May I share a brief but painful moment from my own inadequate efforts as a father?

Early in our married life my young family and I were laboring through graduate school at a university in New England. Pat was the Relief Society president in our ward, and I was serving in our stake presidency. I was going to school full-time and teaching half-time. We had two small children then, with little money and lots of pressures. In fact, our life was about like yours.

One evening I came home from long hours at school, feeling the proverbial weight of the world on my shoulders. Everything seemed to be especially demanding and discouraging and dark. I wondered if the dawn would ever come. Then, as I walked into our small student apartment, there was an unusual silence in the room.

“What’s the trouble?” I asked.

“Matthew has something he wants to tell you,” Pat said.

“Matt, what do you have to tell me?” He was quietly playing with his toys in the corner of the room, trying very hard not to hear me. “Matt,” I said a little louder, “do you have something to tell me?”

He stopped playing, but for a moment didn’t look up. Then these two enormous, tear-filled brown eyes turned toward me, and with the pain only a five-year-old can know, he said, “I didn’t mind Mommy tonight, and I spoke back to her.” With that he burst into tears, and his entire little body shook with grief. A childish indiscretion had been noted, a painful confession had been offered, the growth of a five-year-old was continuing, and loving reconciliation could have been wonderfully underway.

Everything might have been just terrific—except for me. If you can imagine such an idiotic thing, I lost my temper. It wasn’t that I lost it with Matt—it was with a hundred and one other things on my mind; but he didn’t know that, and I wasn’t disciplined enough to admit it. He got the whole load of bricks.

I told him how disappointed I was and how much more I thought I could have expected from him. I sounded like the parental pygmy I was. Then I did what I had never done before in his life—I told him that he was to go straight to bed and that I would not be in to say his prayers with him or to tell him a bedtime story. Muffling his sobs, he obediently went to his bedside, where he knelt—alone—to say his prayers. Then he stained his little pillow with tears his father should have been wiping away.

If you think the silence upon my arrival was heavy, you should have felt it now. Pat did not say a word. She didn’t have to. I felt terrible!

Later, as we knelt by our own bed, my feeble prayer for blessings upon my family fell back on my ears with a horrible, hollow ring. I wanted to get up off my knees right then and go to Matt and ask his forgiveness, but he was long since peacefully asleep.

My relief was not so soon coming; but finally I fell asleep and began to dream, which I seldom do. I dreamed Matt and I were packing two cars for a move. For some reason his mother and baby sister were not present. As we finished I turned to him and said, “Okay, Matt, you drive one car and I’ll drive the other.”

This five-year-old very obediently crawled up on the seat and tried to grasp the massive steering wheel. I walked over to the other car and started the motor. As I began to pull away, I looked to see how my son was doing. He was trying—oh, how he was trying. He tried to reach the pedals, but he couldn’t. He was also turning knobs and pushing buttons, trying to start the motor. He could scarcely be seen over the dashboard, but there staring out at me again were those same immense, tear-filled, beautiful brown eyes. As I pulled away, he cried out, “Daddy, don’t leave me. I don’t know how to do it. I am too little.” And I drove away.

A short time later, driving down that desert road in my dream, I suddenly realized in one stark, horrifying moment what I had done. I slammed my car to a stop, threw open the door, and started to run as fast as I could. I left car, keys, belongings, and all—and I ran. The pavement was so hot it burned my feet, and tears blinded my straining effort to see this child somewhere on the horizon. I kept running, praying, pleading to be forgiven and to find my boy safe and secure.

As I rounded a curve nearly ready to drop from physical and emotional exhaustion, I saw the unfamiliar car I had left Matt to drive. It was pulled carefully off to the side of the road, and he was laughing and playing nearby. An older man was with him, playing and responding to his games. Matt saw me and cried out something like, “Hi, Dad. We’re having fun.” Obviously he had already forgiven and forgotten my terrible transgression against him.

But I dreaded the older man’s gaze, which followed my every move. I tried to say “Thank you,” but his eyes were filled with sorrow and disappointment. I muttered an awkward apology and the stranger said simply, “You should not have left him alone to do this difficult thing. It would not have been asked of you.”

With that, the dream ended, and I shot upright in bed. My pillow was now stained, whether with perspiration or tears I do not know. I threw off the covers and ran to the little metal camp cot that was my son’s bed. There on my knees and through my tears I cradled him in my arms and spoke to him while he slept. I told him that every dad makes mistakes but that they don’t mean to. I told him it wasn’t his fault I had had a bad day. I told him that when boys are five or fifteen, dads sometimes forget and think they are fifty. I told him that I wanted him to be a small boy for a long, long time, because all too soon he would grow up and be a man and wouldn’t be playing on the floor with his toys when I came home. I told him that I loved him and his mother and his sister more than anything in the world and that whatever challenges we had in life we would face them together. I told him that never again would I withhold my affection or my forgiveness from him, and never, I prayed, would he withhold them from me. I told him I was honored to be his father and that I would try with all my heart to be worthy of such a great responsibility.

Well, I have not proven to be the perfect father I vowed to be that night and a thousand nights before and since. But I still want to be, and I believe this wise counsel from President Joseph F. Smith:

“Brethren, … If you will keep your [children] close to your heart, within the clasp of your arms; if you will make them … feel that you love them … and keep them near to you, they will not go very far from you, and they will not commit any very great sin. But it is when you turn them out of the home, turn them out of your affection … that [is what] drives them from you. …

“Fathers, if you wish your children to be taught in the principles of the gospel, if you wish them to love the truth and understand it, if you wish them to be obedient to and united with you, love them! and prove … that you do love them by your every word and act to[ward] them.” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1966, pp. 282, 316.)

Brethren, we all know fatherhood is not an easy assignment, but it ranks among the most imperative ever given, in time or eternity. We must not pull away from our children. We must keep trying, keep reaching, keep praying, keep listening. We must keep them “within the clasp of our arms.” That is what friends are for. Of this I bear witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

sevice 4-21-11

I have learned what it really means to serve while being a full time missionary, I get asked all the time how much am I getting paid to be out here sharing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and I enjoy tell people that I am not getting paid but paying to be out here. I have also found a great love for sharing all that i can with others, even if all that i can really share right now is my time and gospel i feel great in doing it and i am planning on finding more ways to serve when i get home.

 

this talk by Elder Henry B Eyring is a wonderful talk about how we can and should take opportunities to serve others.

 

"The Lord’s way to help those in temporal need requires people who out of love have consecrated themselves and what they have to God and to His work."

My dear brothers and sisters, the purpose of my message is to honor and celebrate what the Lord has done and is doing to serve the poor and the needy among His children on earth. He loves His children in need and also those who want to help. And He has created ways to bless both those who need help and those who will give it.

Our Heavenly Father hears the prayers of His children across the earth pleading for food to eat, for clothes to cover their bodies, and for the dignity that would come from being able to provide for themselves. Those pleas have reached Him since He placed men and women on the earth.

You learn of those needs where you live and from across the world. Your heart is often stirred with feelings of sympathy. When you meet someone struggling to find employment, you feel that desire to help. You feel it when you go into the home of a widow and see that she has no food. You feel it when you see photographs of crying children sitting in the ruins of their home destroyed by an earthquake or by fire.

Because the Lord hears their cries and feels your deep compassion for them, He has from the beginning of time provided ways for His disciples to help. He has invited His children to consecrate their time, their means, and themselves to join with Him in serving others.

His way of helping has at times been called living the law of consecration. In another period His way was called the united order. In our time it is called the Church welfare program.

The names and the details of operation are changed to fit the needs and conditions of people. But always the Lord’s way to help those in temporal need requires people who out of love have consecrated themselves and what they have to God and to His work.

He has invited and commanded us to participate in His work to lift up those in need. We make a covenant to do that in the waters of baptism and in the holy temples of God. We renew the covenant on Sundays when we partake of the sacrament.

My purpose today is to describe some of the opportunities He has provided for us to help others in need. I cannot speak of them all in our brief time together. My hope is to renew and strengthen your commitment to act.

There is a hymn about the Lord’s invitation to this work that I have sung since I was a little boy. In my childhood I paid more attention to the happy tune than to the power of the words. I pray that you will feel the lyrics in your hearts today. Let’s listen to the words again:

Have I done any good in the world today?

Have I helped anyone in need?

Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?

If not, I have failed indeed.

Has anyone’s burden been lighter today

Because I was willing to share?

Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?

When they needed my help was I there?

Then wake up and do something more

Than dream of your mansion above.

Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure,

A blessing of duty and love. ¹

The Lord regularly sends wake-up calls to all of us. Sometimes it may be a sudden feeling of sympathy for someone in need. A father may have felt it when he saw a child fall and scrape a knee. A mother may have felt it when she heard the frightened cry of her child in the night. A son or a daughter may have felt sympathy for someone who seemed sad or afraid at school.

All of us have been touched with feelings of sympathy for others we don’t even know. For instance, as you heard reports of the waves rushing across the Pacific after the earthquake in Japan, you felt concern for those who might be hurt.

Feelings of sympathy came to thousands of you who learned of the flooding in Queensland, Australia. The news reports were mainly estimates of numbers of those in need. But many of you felt the pain of the people. The wake-up call was answered by 1,500 or more Church member volunteers in Australia who came to help and to comfort.

They turned their feelings of sympathy into a decision to act on their covenants. I have seen the blessings that come to the person in need who receives help and to the person who seizes the opportunity to give it.

Wise parents see in every need of others a way to bring blessings into the lives of their sons and daughters. Three children recently carried containers holding a delicious dinner to our front door. Their parents knew that we needed help, and they included their children in the opportunity to serve us.

The parents blessed our family by their generous service. By their choice to let their children participate in the giving, they extended blessings to their future grandchildren. The smiles of the children as they left our home made me confident that will happen. They will tell their children of the joy they felt giving kindly service for the Lord. I remember that feeling of quiet satisfaction from childhood as I pulled weeds for a neighbor at my father’s invitation. Whenever I am invited to be a giver, I remember and believe the lyrics “Sweet is the work, my God, my King.” ²

I know those lyrics were written to describe the joy that comes from worshipping the Lord on the Sabbath. But those children with the food at our door were feeling on a weekday the joy of doing the Lord’s work. And their parents saw the opportunity to do good and spread joy over generations.

The Lord’s way of caring for the needy provides another opportunity for parents to bless their children. I saw it in a chapel one Sunday. A small child handed the bishop his family’s donation envelope as he entered the chapel before the sacrament meeting.

I knew the family and the boy. The family had just learned of someone in the ward in need. The boy’s father had said something like this to the child as he placed a more generous fast offering than usual in the envelope: “We fasted today and prayed for those in need. Please give this envelope to the bishop for us. I know that he will give it to help those with greater needs than ours.”

Instead of any hunger pangs on that Sunday, the boy will remember the day with a warm glow. I could tell from his smile and the way he held the envelope so tightly that he felt the great trust of his father to carry the family offering for the poor. He will remember that day when he is a deacon and perhaps forever.

I saw that same happiness in the faces of people who helped for the Lord in Idaho years ago. The Teton Dam burst on Saturday, June 5, 1976. Eleven people were killed. Thousands had to leave their homes in a few hours. Some homes were washed away. And hundreds of dwellings could be made habitable only through effort and means far beyond that of the owners.

Those who heard of the tragedy felt sympathy, and some felt the call to do good. Neighbors, bishops, Relief Society presidents, quorum leaders, home teachers, and visiting teachers left homes and jobs to clean out the flooded houses of others.

One couple returned to Rexburg from a vacation just after the flood. They didn’t go to see their own house. Instead, they found their bishop to ask where they could help. He directed them to a family in need.

After a few days they went to check on their home. It was gone, swept away in the flood. They simply walked back to the bishop and asked, “Now what would you like us to do?”

Wherever you live, you have seen that miracle of sympathy turned to unselfish action. It may not have been in the wake of a great natural disaster. I have seen it in a priesthood quorum where a brother rises to describe the needs of a man or a woman who seeks an opportunity to work to support himself or herself and his or her family. I could feel sympathy in the room, but some suggested names of people who might employ the person who needed work.

What happened in that priesthood quorum and what happened in the flooded houses in Idaho is a manifestation of the Lord’s way to help those in great need become self-reliant. We feel compassion, and we know how to act in the Lord’s way to help.

We celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Church welfare program this year. It was started to meet the needs of those who lost employment, farms, and even homes in the wake of what became known as the Great Depression.

Great temporal needs of the children of Heavenly Father have come again in our time as they have and as they will in all times. The principles at the foundation of the Church welfare program are not for only one time or one place. They are for all times and all places.

Those principles are spiritual and eternal. For that reason, understanding them and putting them down into our hearts will make it possible for us to see and take opportunities to help whenever and wherever the Lord invites us.

Here are some principles that guided me when I wanted to help in the Lord’s way and when I have been helped by others.

First, all people are happier and feel more self-respect when they can provide for themselves and their family and then reach out to take care of others. I have been grateful for those who helped me meet my needs. I have been even more grateful over the years for those who helped me become self-reliant. And then I have been most grateful for those who showed me how to use some of my surplus to help others.

I have learned that the way to have a surplus is to spend less than I earn. With that surplus I have been able to learn that it really is better to give than to receive. That is partly because when we give help in the Lord’s way, He blesses us.

President Marion G. Romney said of welfare work, “You cannot give yourself poor in this work.” And then he quoted his mission president, Melvin J. Ballard, this way: “A person cannot give a crust to the Lord without receiving a loaf in return.” ³

I have found that to be true in my life. When I am generous to Heavenly Father’s children in need, He is generous to me.

A second gospel principle that has been a guide to me in welfare work is the power and blessing of unity. When we join hands to serve people in need, the Lord unites our hearts. President J. Reuben Clark Jr. put it this way: “That giving has … brought … a feeling of common brotherhood as men of all training and occupation have worked side by side in a Welfare garden or other project.” ⁴

That increased feeling of brotherhood is true for the receiver as well as the giver. To this day, a man with whom I shoveled mud side by side in his flooded Rexburg home feels a bond with me. And he feels greater personal dignity for having done all he could for himself and for his family. If we had worked alone, both of us would have lost a spiritual blessing.

That leads to the third principle of action in welfare work for me: Draw your family into the work with you so that they can learn to care for each other as they care for others. Your sons and daughters who work with you to serve others in need will be more likely to help each other when they are in need.

The fourth valuable principle of Church welfare I learned as a bishop. It came from following the scriptural command to seek out the poor. It is the duty of the bishop to find and provide help to those who still need assistance after all they and their families can do. I found that the Lord sends the Holy Ghost to make it possible to “seek, and ye shall find” ⁵ in caring for the poor as He does in finding truth. But I also learned to involve the Relief Society president in the search. She may get the revelation before you do.

Some of you will need that inspiration in the months ahead. To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Church welfare program, members worldwide will be invited to participate in a day of service. Leaders and members will seek revelation as they design whatever the projects will be.

I will make three suggestions as you plan your service project.

First, prepare yourself and those you lead spiritually. Only if hearts are softened by the Savior’s Atonement can you see clearly the goal of the project as blessing both spiritually and temporally the lives of the children of Heavenly Father.

My second suggestion is to choose as recipients of your service people within the kingdom or in the community whose needs will touch the hearts of those who will give the service. The people they serve will feel their love. That may do more to make them feel glad, as the song promised, than will meeting only their temporal needs.

My last suggestion is to plan to draw on the power of the bonds of families, of quorums, of auxiliary organizations, and of people you know in your communities. The feelings of unity will multiply the good effects of the service you give. And those feelings of unity in families, in the Church, and in communities will grow and become a lasting legacy long after the project ends.

This is my opportunity to tell you how much I appreciate you. By the loving service you have given for the Lord, I have been the recipient of the thanks of people you have helped as I have met them across the world.

You found a way to lift them higher as you helped in the Lord’s way. You and humble disciples of the Savior like you have cast your bread upon the water in service, and the people you helped have tried to give me a loaf of gratitude in return.

I get that same expression of appreciation from people who have worked with you. I remember one time standing next to President Ezra Taft Benson. We had been talking about welfare service in the Lord’s Church. He surprised me with his youthful vigor when he said, pumping his hand, “I love this work, and it is work!”

For the Master I extend thanks for your work to serve the children of our Heavenly Father. He knows you, and He sees your effort, diligence, and sacrifice. I pray that He will grant you the blessing of seeing the fruit of your labors in the happiness of those you have helped and with whom you have helped for the Lord.

I know that God the Father lives and hears our prayers. I know that Jesus is the Christ. You and those you serve can be purified and strengthened by serving Him and keeping His commandments. You can know as I know, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that Joseph Smith was God’s prophet to restore the true and living Church, which this is. I testify that President Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet of God. He is a great example of what the Lord did: going about doing good. I pray that we may seize our opportunities to “lift up the hands [that] hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” ⁶ In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

President Boyd K. Packer - Guided by the Holy Spirit

this is one of my favorite talks given in the past general confrence.

March 30 ~ What Matters Most

What matters most

So over the past couple weeks I have had a lot on my mind, one of the many things that I have had on my mind is what is really important in my life? One of the many reasons that this question had popped into my mind is because I was thinking about what I did before my mission and what I am planning on doing after my mission, these two things have prompted many questions like....
Do I want to do the same things when I get home?
What do I wish I had/hadn't done?
What do I plan on changing when I get home?
What carrier path do I want to peruse?
What kind of car do I want?
Where do I want to live?

So after thinking about all of these things I than asked myself what really matters?
Does it really matter if I get a new car when I get home? NO
Does it really matter if I get the same job I had before? NO
Do any of these worldly things matter? NO not really. So why was I even worrying about them? I really didn’t know.

After thinking about what is really going to matter when I go home I came to the conclusion.

That the only things that really matter right now or what matters most is that I am out here on my mission sharing the gospel with those that I come in contact with. I know that all of the things back home will fall into place if I focus on the things that matter most right here and now and not worry about all of the other things.
I know that if more people would take just a few minutes and step back and refocus their view on what really matters there would be a lot happier people and a lot less who are fearful of the future.




Here is a video by President Thomas S. Monson

March 15th-Patience

Today i was reading in Mosiah 23;21 which says-Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to ^achasten his people; yea, he trieth their ^bpatience and their faith. then in chapter 24;15 it says -And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did ^astrengthen them that they could bear up their ^bburdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with ^cpatience to all the will of the Lord.
After reading these scriptures I started thinking about different things in my life that have taught me patience. the biggest thing in my life that i believe has taught me to be patience was my job up at Brumbaugh Stables back in Oregon, while working there I broke and trained a horse. While training i had a lot of times when i felt like the horse was making no progress but my boss told me to keep pushing her and to not get discouraged which can be very hard when you yourself don't see anything coming from all of the work that you are doing. Well after awhile i started to notice that the horse started doing things without me having to ask more than once, this made me very happy to see progress.


like earlier i think that there are times in our life were we are working our hardest yet we don't see anything coming of it, but i can guarantee that if you keep trying and pushing yourself that will be able to accomplish things that you never thought that you could because like it said in Mosiah 24;15 the burdens upon Alma were made light and the lord strengthened them. I know that the lord will help us in all of our righteous endeavors and that he will not give us more than we can handle like it says In 1Nephi 3;7 I ^awill go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no ^bcommandments unto the children of men, save he shall ^cprepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.


here is a video that talks a little about Patience

March 9th

Ever since I got out on my mission I have been reading different conference issues of the ensign. While reading I came across a talk that I have come to love, it is Jeffery R Holland's talk called Safety for the soul. In his talk Elder Holland talks a lot about the Book of Mormon and he gives a little history about Hyrum and Joseph Smith right before they were martyred.

here is a link to it lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng&query=safety+soul
at this link you can either read, listen or watch the talk that he gave.