I’m very excited to see where Elder Wilberg will take the choir. What an special calling.
From The Mormon Times
Excerpt
Mack Wilberg was officially named today as the new music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir by President Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Photo Credit:
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
I’d like to highlight a few things this morning that I think you’ll find of interest…
Mormon Techie - A neat site that uses takes a “techie” (how appropriate right? given the sites name) slant to sharing the Gospel. They also highlight tech products too!
On the site just mentioned I found a blog that linked to to this story - horizontal rule
Called to Blog: Fighting for the Church Online.
Excerpt
An Orem woman posted a video of her testimony on YouTube. A man in another state watched it four times and emailed, asking for a copy of the Book of Mormon.
A man in Vegas wrote on his blog that he was grateful for the law of tithing. A questioning reader asked him why Mormons like commandments. After several online conversations, the missionaries began meeting with the man.
This makes me feel good, because I hope that whatever I’m doing here will make a difference for The Church. I encourage others to do the same thing.
Here is an impressive site, it’s called Scripture Cast and what it does is allows you to set a rate in which you want to read a scripture. Then it creates individual podcasts that you can listen to every day to reach that goal. I just set mine up, and I’ll be done reading The Book of Mormon by the end of November (or listening to it).
Here is another service like the one just mentioned, only this one sends you emails every day of the scriptures to read.
I know that plenty of us could use this service. It sets up lists and reminders online so that you don’t forget stuff that you need to do. Pretty neato mosquito to me.
I’ll try to highlight other things that can only help us in our daily lives and with our spirituality.
I was looking for a talk on comfort this evening, and there was something about this talk that really drew me in so I opened it. I can definitely say that I am better for doing so. What a powerful talk, and reading it made me miss President Hinckley that much more. What a dear man he was, and goodly man. In the end it gave me the comfort that I so needed, we are so fortunate as Latter-day Saints to have Prophets, Seers, and Revelators. How blessed we are.
Get ready to be inspired, because this one is going to do it. I especially liked the beginning of the talk as he discussed a conversation he had with a young man in South America.
Personal Peace and Freedom
I recall a very troubling conversation I had years ago with a young man in a South American airport, where we were both delayed by late planes.
His hair was long and his face bearded, his glasses large and round. Sandals were on his feet, and his clothing such as to give the appearance of total indifference to any standard of style.
He was earnest and evidently sincere. He was educated and thoughtful, a graduate of a great North American university. Without employment and sustained by his father, he was traveling through South America.
What was he after in life? I asked. “Peace—and freedom” was his immediate response. Did he use drugs? Yes, they were one of his means to obtain the peace and freedom he sought. Discussion of drugs led to discussion of morals. He talked matter-of-factly about the new morality that gave so much more freedom than any previous generation had ever known.
He had learned in our opening introductions that I was a churchman; and he let me know, in something of a condescending way, that the morality of my generation was a joke. Then with earnestness he asked how I could honestly defend personal virtue and moral chastity. I shocked him a little when I declared that his freedom was a delusion, that his peace was a fraud, and that I would tell him why. …
Can there be peace in the heart of any person, can there be freedom in the life of one who has been left only misery as the bitter fruit of indulgence?
Can anything be more false or dishonest than gratification of passion without acceptance of responsibility? …
No family can have peace, no life can be free from the storms of adversity unless that family and that home are built on foundations of morality, fidelity, and mutual respect. There cannot be peace where there is not trust; there cannot be freedom where there is not loyalty. The warm sunlight of love will not rise out of a swamp of immorality. …
Is there a valid case for virtue in our world? It is the only way to freedom from regret. The peace of conscience which flows therefrom is the only personal peace that is not counterfeit. 1
Peace and WarWe are people of peace. We are followers of the Christ who was and is the Prince of Peace. But there are times when we must stand up for right and decency, for freedom and civilization, just as Moroni rallied his people in his day to the defense of their wives, their children, and the cause of liberty (see Alma 48:10). …
We must do our duty, whatever that duty might be. Peace may be denied for a season. Some of our liberties may be curtailed. We may be inconvenienced. We may even be called on to suffer in one way or another. But God our Eternal Father will watch over this nation and all … who look to Him. He has declared, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Ps. 33:12). Our safety lies in repentance. Our strength comes of obedience to the commandments of God. …
Are these perilous times? They are. But there is no need to fear. We can have peace in our hearts and peace in our homes. We can be an influence for good in this world, every one of us. 2
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only element that will destroy the hatred that exists among people. If they will bring this gospel into their lives and recognize the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man and the effects of the Atonement of Christ, there will be a far greater measure of peace in the world. We will not have peace until that happens more generally. That is why you and I are here, brothers and sisters. That is the objective of our work—to teach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and touch the hearts of people so that they can look upon one another as brothers and sisters, as children of our Father in Heaven. 3
Peace and DeathThe pain of death is swallowed up in the peace of eternal life. …
Whenever the cold hand of death strikes, there shines through the gloom and the darkness of that hour the triumphant figure of the Lord Jesus Christ, He, the Son of God, who by His matchless and eternal power overcame death. He is the Redeemer of the world. He gave His life for each of us. He took it up again and became the firstfruits of them that slept. He, as King of kings, stands triumphant above all other kings. He, as the Omnipotent One, stands above all rulers. He is our comfort, our only true comfort, when the dark shroud of earthly night closes about us as the spirit departs the human form.
Towering above all mankind stands Jesus the Christ, the King of glory, the unblemished Messiah, the Lord Emmanuel. In the hour of deepest sorrow we draw hope and peace and certitude from the words of the angel that Easter morning, “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said” (Matt. 28:6). We draw strength from the words of Paul, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ … all [are] made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22). … 4
Peace and the TempleTake advantage of the blessings of the house of the Lord. What a privilege. Every man or woman who goes to the temple comes out of that building a better man or woman than he or she was when entering into it. That’s something that’s remarkable that happens with all of us. Is life filled with cares for you? Do you have problems and concerns and worries? Do you want for peace in your heart and an opportunity to commune with the Lord and meditate upon His way? Go to the house of the Lord and there feel of His Spirit and commune with Him and you will know a peace that you will find nowhere else. Take advantage of it. What a great and wonderful blessing it is. 5
Peace and the Holy SpiritWhile there may be thorns and disappointments, while there may be heartache, even heartbreak, there can be peace and comfort and strength from the Lord for those who follow Him. For it is the Lord Himself who has said:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matt. 11:28–29).
It is the Lord who has said that if we keep the commandments “the Holy Ghost shall be [our] constant companion” (D&C 121:46) to buoy us up, to teach us, lead us, comfort us, and sustain us. To obtain this companionship, we need to ask for it, to live for it, to be loyal to the Lord.
I think Mormon knew very well from his own experience the truth of his words that the “Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God” (Moro. 8:26). Though we may sometimes be alone while among those of the world, we need not be lonely, for the Lord has given us the Holy Ghost to be our companion to walk with us. …
Though discipleship with the Lord requires times of standing humbly and courageously apart, the Lord will not forsake us. He also gives us the association of others who can edify and strengthen us as we go about our work of blessing others in the world. And if we are prayerful and loyal to Him and His commandments, the Lord’s promise can be applicable to us: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (D&C 84:88).
This is a promise from the Lord. I believe it. I bear testimony to you of its truth. May the Lord bless all who step out of the darkness of the world into the light of the everlasting gospel. May He bless us all to walk humbly and courageously and to know in our hearts that peace which comes from squaring one’s life with principles.
Notes
1. From Ensign, Aug. 1989, 2, 5–6.
2. From Ensign, Nov. 2001, 72, 74.
3. From Ensign, Apr. 1996, 73.
4. From Ensign, May 1996, 67.
5. From Ensign, Apr. 1996, 72.
6. From Ensign, Sept. 2001, 5.
Text Credit: LDS.org
I know that I’m not perfect in all the respects of the talk, and I know that I need to work harder to be more of a “Mother Who Knows” but I wanted to present this talk for others with the hopes that we all can strive to be the best Mother that Knows.
This talk was taken from the following link:
Mothers Who Know off of LDS.org
Julie B. Beck
Relief Society General PresidentThere is eternal influence and power in motherhood.
In the Book of Mormon we read about 2,000 exemplary young men who were exceedingly valiant, courageous, and strong. “Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him” (Alma 53:21). These faithful young men paid tribute to their mothers. They said, “Our mothers knew it” (Alma 56:48). I would suspect that the mothers of Captain Moroni, Mosiah, Mormon, and other great leaders also knew.
The responsibility mothers have today has never required more vigilance. More than at any time in the history of the world, we need mothers who know. Children are being born into a world where they “wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).1 However, mothers need not fear. When mothers know who they are and who God is and have made covenants with Him, they will have great power and influence for good on their children.
Mothers Who Know Bear Children
Mothers who know desire to bear children. Whereas in many cultures in the world children are “becoming less valued,”2 in the culture of the gospel we still believe in having children. Prophets, seers, and revelators who were sustained at this conference have declared that “God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.”3 President Ezra Taft Benson taught that young couples should not postpone having children and that “in the eternal perspective, children—not possessions, not position, not prestige—are our greatest jewels.”4
Faithful daughters of God desire children. In the scriptures we read of Eve (see Moses 4:26), Sarah (see Genesis 17:16), Rebekah (see Genesis 24:60), and Mary (see 1 Nephi 11:13–20), who were foreordained to be mothers before children were born to them. Some women are not given the responsibility of bearing children in mortality, but just as Hannah of the Old Testament prayed fervently for her child (see 1 Samuel 1:11), the value women place on motherhood in this life and the attributes of motherhood they attain here will rise with them in the Resurrection (see D&C 130:18). Women who desire and work toward that blessing in this life are promised they will receive it for all eternity, and eternity is much, much longer than mortality. There is eternal influence and power in motherhood.
Mothers Who Know Honor Sacred Ordinances and Covenants
Mothers who know honor sacred ordinances and covenants. I have visited sacrament meetings in some of the poorest places on the earth where mothers have dressed with great care in their Sunday best despite walking for miles on dusty streets and using worn-out public transportation. They bring daughters in clean and ironed dresses with hair brushed to perfection; their sons wear white shirts and ties and have missionary haircuts. These mothers know they are going to sacrament meeting, where covenants are renewed. These mothers have made and honor temple covenants. They know that if they are not pointing their children to the temple, they are not pointing them toward desired eternal goals. These mothers have influence and power.
Mothers Who Know Are Nurturers
Mothers who know are nurturers. This is their special assignment and role under the plan of happiness.5 To nurture means to cultivate, care for, and make grow. Therefore, mothers who know create a climate for spiritual and temporal growth in their homes. Another word for nurturing is homemaking. Homemaking includes cooking, washing clothes and dishes, and keeping an orderly home. Home is where women have the most power and influence; therefore, Latter-day Saint women should be the best homemakers in the world. Working beside children in homemaking tasks creates opportunities to teach and model qualities children should emulate. Nurturing mothers are knowledgeable, but all the education women attain will avail them nothing if they do not have the skill to make a home that creates a climate for spiritual growth. Growth happens best in a “house of order,” and women should pattern their homes after the Lord’s house (see D&C 109). Nurturing requires organization, patience, love, and work. Helping growth occur through nurturing is truly a powerful and influential role bestowed on women.
Mothers Who Know Are Leaders
Mothers who know are leaders. In equal partnership with their husbands, they lead a great and eternal organization. These mothers plan for the future of their organization. They plan for missions, temple marriages, and education. They plan for prayer, scripture study, and family home evening. Mothers who know build children into future leaders and are the primary examples of what leaders look like. They do not abandon their plan by succumbing to social pressure and worldly models of parenting. These wise mothers who know are selective about their own activities and involvement to conserve their limited strength in order to maximize their influence where it matters most.
Mothers Who Know Are Teachers
Mothers who know are always teachers. Since they are not babysitters, they are never off duty. A well-taught friend told me that he did not learn anything at church that he had not already learned at home. His parents used family scripture study, prayer, family home evening, mealtimes, and other gatherings to teach. Think of the power of our future missionary force if mothers considered their homes as a pre–missionary training center. Then the doctrines of the gospel taught in the MTC would be a review and not a revelation. That is influence; that is power.
Mothers Who Know Do Less
Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord’s kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power.
Mothers Who Know Stand Strong and Immovable
Who will prepare this righteous generation of sons and daughters? Latter-day Saint women will do this—women who know and love the Lord and bear testimony of Him, women who are strong and immovable and who do not give up during difficult and discouraging times. We are led by an inspired prophet of God who has called upon the women of the Church to “stand strong and immovable for that which is correct and proper under the plan of the Lord.”6 He has asked us to “begin in [our] own homes”7 to teach children the ways of truth.
Latter-day Saint women should be the very best in the world at upholding, nurturing, and protecting families. I have every confidence that our women will do this and will come to be known as mothers who “knew” (Alma 56:48). In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
NOTES
1. See Gordon B. Hinckley, “Standing Strong and Immovable,” Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Jan. 10, 2004, 21.
2. James E. Faust, “Challenges Facing the Family,” Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Jan. 10, 2004, 2.
3. “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Liahona, Oct. 2004, 49; Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102.
4. To the Mothers in Zion (pamphlet, 1987), 3.
5. See “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.”
6. Gordon B. Hinckley, Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Jan. 10, 2004, 20.
7. Gordon B. Hinckley, Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Jan. 10, 2004, 20.
Photo Credit: LDS Newsroom
My daughter Jessica will be turning twelve in the fall, and I’m looking forward to the opportunities it will give her. The thing that I’m concerned the most about is that she has a disability. She has seizures, and because of oxygen deprivation when she was younger after one she has suffered brain damage. She also has learning disabilities, and communication problems. She’s an absolutely lovely child though. She’s kind, caring, and about as compassionate as they come. If any of her siblings are hurting, or just need someone although she can’t really hold up her end of the conversation she’s an astute listener. She’s also very affection (she loves to give hugs). My concern is that the other girls aren’t going to be accepting of her because of her disabilities. What advice would you give to a very nervous Mommy, as her daughter is about to enter Young Women for the first time?
Keep in mind that this is a purely satirical site, and not to take any of it seriously.
Army Holds Annual ‘Bring Your Daughter To War’ Day
Only 4 girls were killed, down from 12 last year, making it the least accident prone on record.
Whenever it gets towards the end of the month I get to thinking about Devon. We’re coming up on three months since he died. While I realize that he isn’t here, there are just times when I get to thinking and it’s just absolutely unbelievable. When I look at his pictures from last summer, when he looked so healthy it’s just unreal to think that he’s been gone almost three months. I really miss that kid, and I so wish I could pick up the phone and just say hi.
I wish I could send him orange tic tacs. I’ll never be able to look at a pack of them again and not think of him. He was just so kind, precious, and sweet. I know that he’s gone on to do much more important and greater things than we’re doing on earth, but it still doesn’t deaden the pain. It’s makes it not hurt so bad, but nothing will ever take it away completely.
I also wanted to include a video that was on the slide show of all his pictures at his funeral. It’s One More Day, sung by Diamond Rio.
This video shows the dramatic changes in the world, workforce, and technology in such a short span of time.
Seems the nastiness going on between Sens Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are making them both dirty, and beneficiary of all the dirt is Sen. John McCain the guaranteed Republican nominee.
You can check out the article at Reuters.
Highlights:
The poll showed Arizona Sen. McCain, who has clinched the Republican presidential nomination, is benefiting from the lengthy campaign battle between Obama and Clinton, who are now battling to win Pennsylvania on April 22.
McCain leads 46 percent to 40 percent in a hypothetical matchup against Obama in the November presidential election, according to the poll.
Cross Posted at ComMITTed to Romney.
The following is a dramatization, it’s what the writer of this blog envision happened when the proposed law discussed was hatched.
A couple of idiot lawmakers in the state where I reside came up with a “splendid” idea. Let’s come up the most asinine law that we can come up with. After scratching their heads and surfing the web they came up with their “plan”. Let’s make a law where any interactive service provider has to ask for the most personal of information for their comments to be allowed on their forums or blogs, and let’s fine those interactive service providers if they don’t. Sounds like a great idea eh? Well, they say that the reason they did it was to stop internet bullying. Now they couldn’t have come up with more educated ways of doing this like, eh, getting a search warrant, getting ISP’s to hand over IP addresses, and then target those people. No, that was much to easy. They had to come up with a hard way to do this.
To read more about this idea, and it’s conclusion you can read two fine pieces penned by my husband over at Why I May Be Forced To Move My Business, and Follow Up On Kentucky HB775. What fine politicians we have here in Rep. Couch and Rep. Higdon. Maybe now they can come up with more worthwhile legislation.
I caught this on NBC News, and I find it very cool. I have kids with developmental disabilities, and we’ve not gotten one yet. I think with our tax refund upcoming we will though, it would probably do a world of good for their hand eye coordination.
Dad, Jessica, and Shadow (the horse that he had to give to someone else after he had an injury) - Not the greatest photo, but the only one I had available on my new computer.
For the longest time my Dad has said that if he ever won the lottery he’d invest the money into an animal sanctuary. I believe him, he practically has one living at his house already. He has Big Boy (who’s had countless health problems), Sandy (who he adopted at the same time we adopted our two dogs), Mama Dog (who shares her time between his and my Aunt Ruby’s house next door), Henry (one of our two dogs that has taken up residence there because of the magnet [my Dad]), Scruffy (being our other dog), and then there’s Sophie. Sophie is something else. She lives a few doors down at another person’s house, but she really loves my Dad. So she scampers on over all the time. She also likes me, and ends up sleeping in my lap every time I go to visit. Along with the dogs, Tigre the cat resides there. And if that were not enough animals he boards two horses (which escaped the property last week that he ended up chasing down to get them to safety) at his farm across the street from the house he lives.
I preface this story talking about my Dad because this story out of CNN this morning about Mrs. Bonnie, reminds of what my Dad would like to have if he had the financial resources to do it. I won’t tell you the story of Mrs. Bonnie, I’ll just tell you that once you read it if you’re an animal lover you might be misty.
Mrs. Bonnie
Photo Credit: CNN
Here’s the story:
Tornado takes ‘Mrs. Bonnie,’ animal lover
For more info on Mrs. Bonnie Visit Flint Hill Kennel
What a sad story :~~(
The General Young Women Meeting of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be held on Saturday, March 29, 2008. If you’re unfamiliar with the Young Women’s Program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, follow the link at the end of this post.
Speakers include the Young Women general presidency and a member of the First Presidency.
This meeting will be held on March 29, 2008, at 6:00 p.m. in the Conference Center.
Visit LDS.org for further information on this event, and watch it with your friends. Make it extra fun by inviting a non-member, what a wonderful missionary opportunity that would be.
Resources on the Young Women’s Program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Text Credit: LDS.org
This is absolutely absurd. I’ve never been a Dr. Laura fan, but this pushes me over a cliff when it comes to her. I mean give me a break. Have we ever heard of Self-Control? And what about the wives’ needs? There is no way that in any circumstance that you can blame the spouse that’s being cheated on for the cheating, that is just giving a free pass for immoral behavior. If the man is not happy to the point of having intimate relations with another woman than I think he should be getting a divorce first. What a winner that Dr. Laura. Now I’m not saying that spouses should not care for one another, and that it’s right to ignore the needs of your spouse, but it is not reason enough to allow for infidelity in my opinion. Watch the following clip, and give me YOUR OPINION.