Institute June 7th, 2012

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frighten us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to SHINE...as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone, and as we let our own light SHINE, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
~Marianne Williamson: quoted by Nelson Mandela

• Matthew 5:14-15 "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house."
• "The 'B' Attitudes" ~President Gordon B. Hinckley
1. Be Grateful
2. Be Smart
3. Be Clean
4. Be True
5. Be Humble
6. Be Prayerful

• Doctrine and Covenants 10:5 "Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work." {Be Prayerful}
• 3 Nephi 10:10 "And the earth did cleave together again, that it stood; and the mourning, and the weeping, and the wailing of the people who were spared alive did cease; and their mourning was turned into joy, and their lamentations into the praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord Jesus Christ, their Redeemer." {Be Grateful}
•  Doctrine and Covenants 93:53 "And, verily I say unto you, that it is my will that you should hasten to translate my scriptures, and to obtain a knowledge of history, and of countries, and of kingdoms, of laws of God and man, and all this for the salvation of Zion. Amen." {Be Smart}
•  Jacob 6:12 "O be wise; what can I say more?" {Be Smart}
• 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." {Be Clean}
• 1 Timothy 4:12 "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." {Be True}
• Hymn #254 "True to the Faith" {Be True}
• 1 Nephi 13:16 "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them." {Be Humble}
• Principles of Leadership: Setting a good example
• A LEADER leads by example, whether he intends to or not.
• Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.
• We can be walking witnesses and standing sermons to which objective onlookers can say a quiet amen.
• We worry about sensory deprivation because of noise pollution, about nutritional deprivation because of poverty-and we are right to be so concerned. But emulatory deprivation-being without models and exemplars-may be the greatest deprivation of all. For exemplars not only show us that walking the straight and narrow way is possible, but that it is worth doing!
• A good example has twice the value of good advice.
• Every Father should remember that one day his son will follow his example instead of his advice.
• Nothing is so contagious as example!
• If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a LEADER.
• Whatever you are, be a good one!
• We can't be examples if we're on an ego trip, if we are preoccupied with our needs rather than the needs of those who we serve.
• As in all things, the Ultimate Example is Jesus. I never tire of bearing witness of Him-not alone that He lived and lives-but also HOW He lived! Even in what might be described as small episodes, He gave us such large lessons. He was a fully integrated, righteous individual, perfectly congruent in character. {"Integrity...The Evidence Within"}
• A good LEADER inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great LEADER inspires people to have confidence in themselves.
• When we learn to "shine as lights in the world" {Philippians 2:15} there is no need to seek to be in the spotlight. Such lesser incandescence is of no interest.

Faith without works is dead

"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."
~James 2:17

  Remember that even though you may have faith in something, you need to put forth the effort to keep it strong, to build it up and make it grand. But if you linger, and you don't continually try to do your best and do those things that are good, both big and small things, it will become small and eventually will not be there.
  Let me remind you though, that none of us are perfect. We have our moments, our days, our months, maybe even years... but it is never too late to try building up that seed of faith again. Heavenly Father is always near, always wanting to help and encourage us. Just remember to read and ponder the scriptures as often as you can, and always have a prayer in your heart, along with praying to your Heavenly Father [preferably vocally] each and every day. The list could go on and on...service, going to church, paying your tithing, reaching out to others, etc...
  I definitely have a lot to work on, but I can't give up on something so great, something that I believe so strongly in. I don't want to give up on the faith and hope that I've worked so hard to get. I want to try my best to keep feeding that seed of faith, and to allow it to grow, along with myself. I know that if I do this, my eternal blessings will be greater than I can ever imagine. And that is my ultimate goal; to live with my family forever, to return home to my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ, to be happy forever...and to continue to grow, always and forever, with the ones I love.

10 Suggestions on Improving the Spiritual Rewards of Fasting

by Victor Ludlow

1. Plan ahead, prepare your schedule so that you can start the fast properly on Saturday, and yourself spiritually so that you can be ready for the fast.
2. Have a particular purpose or goal in mind as you begin the fast. Perhaps you desire some answers to doctrinal questions, help in solving a problem, or inspiration serving others. Select one primary goal on which you would like to concentrate while you fast.
3. Start the fast with a private prayer-preferrably vocal-while you are alone on your knees. Remember, fasting without prayer is simply starving, and the Lord has not commanded us to starve ourselves.
4. Keep the Spirit; use Saturday evening as part of your fast period. Keep activities uplifting. Prepare yourself in all ways for the Sabbath.
5. Fast a full 24 hours, refraining from all food and drink, if possible. In case of health problems, fast according to your own limitations.
6. Prepare to reach your goal; study the scriptures, draft possible solutions to problems, talk with your family and home teachers, write in your journal, etc.
7. Attend all your church meetings on Sunday.
8. Pay a full fast offering as determined by what you feel you should contribute to help the poor and needy. (Remember Isaiah's counsel in 58:7, 10)
9. Just before concluding your fast, set aside 20-30 minutes to ponder, meditate, sort out possible solutions to a problem, etc. Read Moroni 10, especially the first 5 verses, for helpful counsel.
10. End the fast with a private prayer and be sure to take time to listen for answers.

"Happy we should be"

I believe just about everyone has those things that you don't quite understand, and you know you never will...in this life, at least. For me, this topic would be "Eternity". I do believe all the church stands for, what Heavenly Father and all the prophets have taught us through time regarding "The Plan of Happiness", or "Plan of Salvation", etc...I do believe it. Completely. But when I think about the word "eternity" and the meaning of it, and how there was no beginning of time, and there will be no end of time...it literally gives me a headache. The topic has actually brought me to tears, on more than one occasion. I know that one day I will understand it all, because right now I have the "veil" that is keeping me from that understanding. But, when it gets brought up, or I am brought to the thought of this topic, it really concerns me. It's because I just don't get it. And I am totally fine with it! But this is why I try to avoid the thought of how the whole time/eternity thing works...because I don't get that perspective that those beyond the veil get.

Okay, so there's a little bit about me that you might have not cared to know...it's quite pathetic, actually. Through frustrations and trouble with this topic, I have received comfort through it. It's like Heavenly Father is telling me that "everything will be okay, you will understand all in good time." Well, okay, I can accept that answer. Especially when I receive instant comfort from the thought of it. Let me tell you my recent experience with my "eternal" topic discussion.

On Sunday, we discussed the 7th chapter in "Teachings of Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith". The chapter was called "The Immortality of the Soul." Yeah...soooo, much of "eternity" was touched in this discussion. I had to actually get a breath of fresh air. The moment I got back in, I said a little prayer to ease my mind. The teacher had us each go through, reading a paragraph at a time. The moment came that it was my turn, and I began to read, "What a happy people we should be with the knowledge we have that this probation is not to prepare us to die, but to live; that the Father's desire for us is that we may avoid every error and receive every truth, and by applying truth in our lives become more like Him, and become worthy to dwell with Him." As I was reading this, immediate comfort and realization came to me. I knew the Spirit was speaking to me personally. I know that Heavenly Father wanted me to read that, because I needed it. The first sentence, "What a happy people we should be...this probation is not to prepare us to die but to live.." Now, I already knew this. But the part where it says "live", made me realize that this is only but a small moment in time. If I really want to live a happy eternal life, I must do my best to make that happen! Why do we mess up in life? Because we are human. But we can control most of what we do! We can try our best in all that we do so that we can live with our families forever!! And most especially, with our loving Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus Chris, forever!!! Why would He put us on this earth to gain an eternal life that is only "So-so"...or even miserable and unending? Obviously, that's not going to be the case. He loves us and wants us to be happy. There is a reason to it all. He has a plan. We need to show Him that we want to be a part of His plan!

Now, I do want to make it clear {in case I didn't before} that I have always believed, and continue to believe in Exaltation, and Eternal Life. These thoughts of concernment have not waivered my beliefs...it has merely just been hard for me to comprehend. Not that I was believing in something blindly, but I was merely just trying to have faith in my Heavenly Father, knowing that all will be well and that we will understand soon enough. I don't really know anyone, though, that completely understands how the whole "eternity" thing works...maybe I'm not the only one out there that gets like this with this subject, or any other for that matter..so I hope you understand where I'm coming from, or what I mean by what I have said.

If you would like to know more about anything that I have talked about {i.e. Plan of Salvation, Eternal Life, veil, etc..} or even just want to know more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, please click HERE for more information. Thank you for listening to me ramble on, you've been great! Have a great week!! =]

The Questions of Life...

How do you know there is a God?

If there is a God, then why must we suffer so?

How do you know that what the scriptures hold are actually from God?

Is there really a life after death?

Okay, so there are many questions out there that we all search the answers for...but sometimes because of what we go through in this life, a lot of them are void because you can't believe that God would put you through such hardship and pain. Well, let me tell you something, I do know that your Heavenly Father is real and He is there and loves each and every one of us with a love that none of us can even comprehend.

A lot of these answers must come by faith, but there are scriptures and personal revelation and even facts out there that tell us the truth of these things. Although, there are still things that I am trying to grasp and figure out myself..but one day, I know that those things will be open to me for me to understand.  "Seek not for riches but for wisdom; and, behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich." (Doctrine & Covenants 11:7).

How is it that you should know if these things {scriptures} are true?
  "Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

  "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

  "And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." (Moroni 10:3-5).

So how do we know if God loves us? "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." (1 John 4:7). Okay, so why must he give us so much hardship in our lives? Well, it's because He wants us to grow through our trials, and come closer to Him. That is why we are here on earth, to prove our love to Him and to gain bodies and experiences, and to learn and grow through Him. Heavenly Father does not and never will give us a trial that is too hard for us to take on.

The trials that we are given are to test us and to push us to a greater you. If we get through our life "tests" well, with the Spirit by our side and the faith of Heavenly Father in our hearts, we will be blessed. But you must remember that not all things will be given unto you without that trial of faith. "And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith" (Ether 12:6). So if things aren't going so well, continue to try your best and have faith in the Lord and then you may receive a witness of truth, and that is when the blessings may pour down upon you in your life. Everyone is faced with hardships in their lives, sometimes even multiple trials at once, or many of them one after another...this is Heavenly Father giving you an opportunity to learn and grow and be strong in faith and in Spirit. But if you push Him away and let sour thoughts come to your mind, then those blessings will be held back until you prove your worthiness of it; which is to rely on the Lord in all things.

As for a life after death; or in other words, Eternal Life (Plan of Salvation, Plan of Happiness, etc..), in Alma 12:24, "And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; nevertheless there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead." This scripture can also answer the question, 'what is the purpose of this life?' I do know and believe that there is a life after this. This life is not all, there is more to come! There is hope in this life and there is a chance for each and every one of us to receive the greatest blessing of all, which is exaltation. We have the chance to be with our family forever. Listen to the words that Nephi says:

"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

~2 Nephi 31:20~