http://vimeo.com/53357089

Stake Conference

What an amazing stake conference we had this past Saturday and Sunday ~  President Coleman had us turn to Alma  32:28 and read to the end of the chapter...........substituting everywhere it said seed or tree with "relationship"..............He said this could apply to missionary companionship's, friends, family, marriages, dating relationships, everything!..............It was eye-opening...........He also said a very good friend who practices marriage and family therapy at BYU told him, "I have couples come in and begin by telling me..."we really want to save or in some cases improve our marriage"......We will read any book from cover to cover that you recommend." 

He then reaches in a drawer and pulls out the Book of Mormon.  He has given this to members and non-members alike.............what was that statement Elder Packer said....."the study of the gospel will improve behavior more than the study of behavior, or something like that!

The spirit was so strong and bore a special witness that Heavenly Father loves us all equally.  ~~ even the "stinkers" in your family or group of friends, He loves them as much as He loves you!

An Eternal Perspective

A dear friend here at work offered this perspective............It has helped!

The Lord is preparing our country and the world for the Second Coming.  Mitt running has done wonders for exposing the church to the world.  There are very few people who can now say they have never heard of the Mormon Church.  As we are preparing missionaries to serve at younger ages and changing curriculum to meet that need, it doesn't seem coincidental.  Mass exposure to the church and a major upswing in the number of missionaries serving represents a hastening of the work.  

If Mitt had won last night, automatically 50% of the country would be turned off to the missionaries when they knock on their door.  As if their job isn't hard enough, now the defeated and angry losing party would have a wholesome and healthy target on which to take their frustrations out.  Could the Lord afford to lose 50% of potential converts at a time when the work is ramping up?  I don't think so.

Mitt lost with grace and class last night.  The world saw a man, humbled by defeat but courteous, kind, cheerful... in other words, being the boy scout we have always known and would expect him to be.

If he had won, the world media would have over the next four years, taken everything we consider sacred and defiled it, making it the punchline of every joke on the late night TV circuit.  How would that have accomplished the Lord's purpose?  I don't think it would have.

I take solace in knowing that 15 men are called as prophets, seers, and revelators and that their response was sincere, kind and a class move.  They aren't concerned about the state of politics; they are concerned about the state of men's souls.  The state of the economy,if it continues to spiral downward will humble the proud and when their government fails them, they will be forced to turn to their creator.  I find comfort in realizing that we are raising a generation that will "bring the world his truth" and I think that Mitt losing, as painful as it was, may just have been the launching off point for the greatest conversion cycle in history.

2012 Presidential Election Perspective

I wept for my country tuesday night..........I've been struggling so much because I know the amount of faith, prayer and fasting that so many people have offered up to see our Nation recover.........but ultimately Heavenly Father sees the whole big picture..........I found comfort in reading of Nephi's own heartache anciently and realize God is in charge.......my part is to keep his commandments and lean on His mighty arm!     


And seeing the people in a state of such awful wickedness, and those Gadianton robbers filling the judgement-seats-having usurped the power and authority of the land; laying aside the commandments of God, and not in the least aright before him; doing no justice unto the children of men;

Condemning the righteous because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money; and moreover to be held in office at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills, that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills-

Now this great iniquity had come upon the Nephites, in the space of not many years; and when Nephi saw it, his heart was swollen with sorrow within his breast; and he did exclaim in the agony of his soul:

Helaman 7: 4-6