Church
We went to church today and the first meeting was uplifting - testimonies. Our ward is full of sage wisdom and faithful experience and today it really showed - testimonies were brief, direct, and powerful.
We went to church today and the first meeting was uplifting - testimonies. Our ward is full of sage wisdom and faithful experience and today it really showed - testimonies were brief, direct, and powerful.
Second hour, I taught the second half of the first lesson from he Marriage and Family Relations class. We talked about what the members of the class have learned from the The Family: A Proclamation to the World. The couples in the class had several comments and confirmed that many of them had read the lesson from last week. I think the part of the class that I want to remember is testifying about how we become eternal families and grow to become like God himself through eternal family relationships. D&C 132:20 - "Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all...Then shall they be gods, because they have all power..." It really is important to me to remember that though straight is the gate and narrow the way, and few there be that go in thereat - still, a small percentage of infinity is still infinity - therefore "they continue as innumerable as the stars; or, if ye were to count the sand upon the seashore ye could not number them." Heavenly Father is a successful parent.
Third hour was a fine lesson from our Elder's Quorum president about planning purposeful lives: We were asked to discuss what our long-term goals were that we wanted to accomplish before we die and how we want to be remembered when we are gone - then do things in our lives to accomplish that. It was simple and potent.
Nathan says that he learned "I don't remember" from church today. Hayley says she learned "about Joseph Smith." Nathan states he remembers learning the same thing now that Hayley says it. They both learned about the First Vision. Hayley's teacher caught me in the hall afterward and said, "I just have to tell you what your daughter did in class today." The teacher stated that she had somewhat lost her voice and would normal have sung the song for the children because she thinks that is important. So she got the book and began reading the words and Hayley started singing it. So Hayley was invited to come up and sing the song, and the teacher told me, "It was just beautiful! It was just what our class needed. Thank you for raising your daughter to do that." I told her I would pass on the praise and thanks to my wife where it belongs.
Nathan's teacher similarly praised him when I went around to pick him up from class. He had already gone with his mother and the teacher and I were able to talk briefly. She said Nathan is wonderful in class and that "he really knows his stuff!" Incidentally, Matthew's nursery teacher also told me that he was "very cute" and Matthew was SO EXCITED to show everyone his picture he colored and ran down the hall to find his mother to show her when class was over.
I took a nap after church. That's such a great relief!
I took a nap after church. That's such a great relief!
Hometeaching
After the nap, I went hometeaching at 2 pm. I talked to the couple about the First Presidency Message from Elder Uchtdorf and shared how I had learned about the First Vision one night at about 3 am when I was sitting up trying to finish my math homework so I wouldn't fail the class when I was about 16. I dismissed the story of Joseph being visited by Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father thinking he was obviously a liar & a fake - until I read Joseph's reaction that followed: " So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying,I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation."
And so it was with me - I knew that Joseph, at least, believed what he was saying. His response was that of an honest man. It caused me to think seriously about what he had said and at least consider it. I realized that early early morning that if what I was reading - If what Joseph was claiming was true, then it changed everything! If God was speaking to someone that was something! If God really was organizing a church, teaching the truth about Eternity, giving mankind the answers to questions they had been trying to figure out on their own for centuries - if those Mormons were actually right about that - that was HUGE!
So I couldn't sleep. I wanted to wake up Dan Paulson, who had fallen to sleep next to me doing math problems. I wanted to let him know what I had just discovered. But I also knew I should not wake him - so I went out in the living room and folded a load of laundry that had been left there. I kept thinking about the words I'd read - so I read them again. Again I wanted to wake Dan up and I couldn't sleep so I went out and did the dishes. Again I went back and read the words and again I had to do something, so I commenced making breakfast. I made several kinds of food and laid out every breakfast item I could come up with in the house for a feast of a breakfast. When Dan finally awoke, he could tell that I had something unusual on my mind, but he dared not ask, and simply sat down to eat. After several minutes of me smiling he asked, "What is it?!" I said, "I've been WAITING for you to ask - I read something last night!..." I proceeded to read the account of the First Vision to my friend, stopping expectantly when I got to the words "This is My Beloved Son; Hear Him!" Dan sat with essentially no reaction. I thought he must have missed something, so I read them again. Then I read him the reaction (above) of Joseph Smith and his feelings about the need to tell the world the truth about his having talked with God and Christ. "Don't you see what this means??" I asked Dan. He didn't. I realized then that there was something that had happened for me that was more than just words on the page. Something else more than the text had effected me.
From that day until this, I have never doubted the reality that God is real, that He talks to men on the earth once more, that He loves us and wants us to learn the truth about Him and that he has organized His church on the earth today to help us to be prepared to come back home to live with him again, to become as he is, and to take our place in the Eternal Family of God. I have often doubted my ability to live up to it. But I have known since that day that the God's own message and truth are here once again for us to understand and follow.
http://www.mormon.org/
http://www.jesuschrist.lds.org/So I couldn't sleep. I wanted to wake up Dan Paulson, who had fallen to sleep next to me doing math problems. I wanted to let him know what I had just discovered. But I also knew I should not wake him - so I went out in the living room and folded a load of laundry that had been left there. I kept thinking about the words I'd read - so I read them again. Again I wanted to wake Dan up and I couldn't sleep so I went out and did the dishes. Again I went back and read the words and again I had to do something, so I commenced making breakfast. I made several kinds of food and laid out every breakfast item I could come up with in the house for a feast of a breakfast. When Dan finally awoke, he could tell that I had something unusual on my mind, but he dared not ask, and simply sat down to eat. After several minutes of me smiling he asked, "What is it?!" I said, "I've been WAITING for you to ask - I read something last night!..." I proceeded to read the account of the First Vision to my friend, stopping expectantly when I got to the words "This is My Beloved Son; Hear Him!" Dan sat with essentially no reaction. I thought he must have missed something, so I read them again. Then I read him the reaction (above) of Joseph Smith and his feelings about the need to tell the world the truth about his having talked with God and Christ. "Don't you see what this means??" I asked Dan. He didn't. I realized then that there was something that had happened for me that was more than just words on the page. Something else more than the text had effected me.
From that day until this, I have never doubted the reality that God is real, that He talks to men on the earth once more, that He loves us and wants us to learn the truth about Him and that he has organized His church on the earth today to help us to be prepared to come back home to live with him again, to become as he is, and to take our place in the Eternal Family of God. I have often doubted my ability to live up to it. But I have known since that day that the God's own message and truth are here once again for us to understand and follow.
http://www.mormon.org/
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