Temple Covenants & Ordinances Are Rooted In Something Much Deeper

 

From youtube channel   -   True Millennial

Blessing To The Sisters of the World From President Russel M. Nelson on March 17, 2024

Quote From 

Worldwide Relief Society Devotional 

and Testimony Meeting

President Russell M. Nelson 

and the Relief Society General Presidency 

speak to women on March 17, 2024, 

in a devotional to commemorate the founding of the 

Relief Society on March 17, 1842.

To watch click on link

President Nelson's talk starts at 30:38

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tEq_H4Yjyc&t=2s&ab_channel=InspirationfromTheChurchofJesusChrist

 

The Value of One Member

Ten little members, standing in a line.

One disliked the president, then there were nine.

Nine ambitious members offered to work late.

One forgot her promise, then there were eight.

Eight creative members had ideas good as heaven.

One lost enthusiasm, then there were seven.

Seven loyal members got into a fix.

They quarreled over projects, and then there were six.

Six members remained with spirit and drive.

One moved away, then there were five.

Five steadfast members wished there were more.

One became indifferent, then there were four.

Four cheerful members who never disagree-

'Til one complained of meetings; then there were three.

Three eager members! What did they do?

One got discouraged, then there were two.

Two lonely members, our rhyme is nearly done.

One joined an athletic club, then there was one.

One faithful member was feeling rather blue-

Met with a neighbor, then there were two.

Two earnest members each enrolled one more-

Doubling their number, and then there were four.

Four determined members, just wouldn't wait

Til each one won another, and then there were eight.

Eight excited members signed up sixteen more,

In another six verses, there'll be a thousand twenty-four!

I've seen a couple of authors for this poem

and also some words changed -

So I will leave it authorless!

The Visitor

by Ken Merrell

When I was 18, as I was preparing to serve a mission, my bishop called me to teach the Sunbeams. I had never before learned to love others more than myself until I had served those children in such a simple assignment. With time and patience I learned how to keep those seven children in their seats and listening to a simple lesson.

One day I invited Mike to come to church and sit in my class. Mike was my age but had stopped attending church completely by the time he was 12. We had remained friends over the years as I had served as the deacons quorum president, the teachers quorum president, and first assistant to the bishop in the priests quorum. He had been the topic of many fellowshipping discussions and was often part of my prayers as the years had passed. Once in a while Mike would accept my invitations to come to an activity. It always surprised me when he did, so I kept inviting him.

At that time, Mike had long, black hair and a beard. His complexion was dark and pleasant. I don’t remember when I invited him to my Primary class, but one day he showed up.

“Class, I would like to introduce you to my friend Mike,” is how I began my lesson. “He is visiting us today.”

Mike sat next to me in front. The children sat in a semicircle with their eyes fixed on him. They were much quieter than usual. I was about five or six minutes into the lesson when one little boy got up from his chair and walked across the room and stood directly in front of my friend. The boy paused for a moment and then climbed onto his lap. I continued with the lesson as I watched the two of them from the corner of my eye.

The boy sat looking into Mike’s face. Mike was quite uncomfortable but did not interrupt the lesson or turn the boy away. The other children watched the two of them for a few minutes.

Then one of the girls climbed off her seat and approached Mike. I was intently interested in seeing how Mike would react and did not want to instruct the two children to return to their seats. The girl stood with her hand on Mike’s knee looking into his face.

Then it happened. The boy on Mike’s lap reached up with both hands and turned Mike’s face directly to his. I stopped my lesson to see what was about to unfold.

With the innocence of a child, he said to Mike, “Are you Jesus?”

The look on Mike’s face was total surprise. It seemed, as I glanced at the children’s faces, they all had the same question on their minds.

Mike looked at me as if to say, Help, what do I say?

I stepped in. “No, this is not Jesus. This is His brother.”

Mike looked at me as if in shock.

Then without hesitation the boy in Mike’s lap reached up and wrapped his arms around Mike’s neck. “I can tell,” the boy said as he hugged Mike.

The rest of the children smiled and nodded in agreement as their simple question was answered. Mike blinked back the tears in response to the love he felt from this small Sunbeam. The lesson went on, but that day the teacher who taught the most was a three-year-old child.

Mike spent more than a year getting ready to serve a mission. It thrilled me to learn that he left for the mission field a few months before I returned. I still think of the scripture in Matthew 18:5: 

“And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.”

Find original story HERE

May 2000 - The New Era

Promised Blessings for Reading the Scriptures

From

John Bytheway

Facebook Page

February 2, 2024

Look them all up!

Do it!!

 

"God Comes To Women"

Have you ever noticed how in the scriptures men are always going up into the mountains to commune with the Lord?

Yet in the scriptures we hardly ever
hear of women going to the mountains.
But we know why — right?

Because the women were too busy
keeping life going;
they couldn’t abandon babies,
meals,
homes,
fires,
gardens,
and a thousand responsibilities to make the climb into the mountains!

I was talking to a friend the other day,
saying that as modern woman
I feel like I’m never “free” enough
from my responsibilities,
never in a quiet enough space
I want with God.

Her response floored me,
“That is why God comes to women.
Men have to climb the mountain to meet God, but God comes to women where ever they are.”

I have been pondering on her words for weeks and have searched my scriptures
to see that what she said is true.
God does in deed come to women
where they are,
when they are doing their ordinary,
everyday work.

He meets them at the wells
where they draw water for their families,
in their homes,
in their kitchens,
in their gardens.

He comes to them
as they sit beside sickbeds,
as they give birth,
care for the elderly,
and perform necessary mourning and burial rites.

Even at the empty tomb,
Mary was the first to witness Christ’s resurrection,
She was there because she was doing the womanly chore of properly preparing Christ’s body for burial.

In these seemingly mundane
and ordinary tasks,
these women of the scriptures found themselves face to face with divinity.

So if — like me — you ever start to bemoan the fact that you don’t have as much time to spend in the mountains with God as you would like. Remember, God comes to women. He knows where we are and the burdens we carry. He sees us, and if we open our eyes and our hearts we will see Him, even in the most ordinary places and in the most ordinary things.
He lives. And he’s using a time such as this to speak to women around the world.

-Heather F

LDS Church Leaders Preparing Us For The 2nd Coming of Christ

People of all faiths, LDS, Protestants, Baptists, good men and women all over the world are preparing to meet Christ. I personally look forward to the day.

davidkat99 - youtube channel Posted in 2008

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqaesQ2EE8w&ab_channel=davidkat99

From youtube

Preparation for the Second Coming conference talk by Dallin H. Oaks

April 2004 

Below link from -   https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2004/04/preparation-for-the-second-coming?lang=eng

Be Of Good Cheer - Prophet Quotes

 

Six Reasons We Really Do Need the Church!

By Eric B. Murdock and Joshua J. Perkey
Church Magazines - August 2018

A lot of things in life are optional. But to become the person you were meant to be, you have to follow the plan Heavenly Father has made for you.

Have you ever heard someone ask why we have a church? Or maybe why we need one? Why can’t they just be spiritual on their own—go to the mountains or the beach or another special place and feel close to God—and call it good?

It’s certainly true that you can be close to God wherever you are (in fact, it’s a really good idea!), but Heavenly Father has so much more in store for you than generic spirituality. He wants you to become the best you can be. In fact, He wants you to inherit all that He has and gain eternal life. And He has a plan and an organization so you can do that. The plan is the plan of salvation, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the organization—“the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” (D&C 1:30).

Here are six reasons why we really do need the Church.

1. To Learn and Participate in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
One of the blessings of being a member of the Church is that we can learn the fulness of the gospel (see D&C 1:17–23). If we have a sincere desire to learn, and if we are humble, prayerful, diligent, and obedient, we can gain a testimony and have hope in the Resurrection and in the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Through Church leaders and Church materials, we also learn about other essential doctrine, including the Restoration of the gospel, the calling of prophets today, and the true nature of the Godhead. Living in accordance with true doctrine brings us joy and happiness.

2. To Receive Essential Ordinances and Covenants
Heavenly Father’s work is to “bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). But sometimes we might forget that His work requires some work on our part too! We qualify for the blessings of eternal life by obedience to the ordinances and covenants of the gospel. President Russell M. Nelson has said: “We cannot wish our way into the presence of God. We are to obey the laws upon which those blessings are predicated [see D&C 130:20–21].”1

The ordinances we participate in and the covenants we make are necessary for us to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father and live with Him. Those ordinances and covenants require the priesthood—which is available only in God’s true Church. Without those covenants, we’d be lost.

3. To Help Each Other Along the Way
Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught, “A major reason the Lord has a church is to create a community of Saints that will sustain one another in the ‘strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life’ [2 Nephi 31:18].”2

At church, we can develop caring relationships with others. We can help each other get through tough times as we lead, guide, and walk beside each other (see “I Am a Child of God,” Hymns, no. 301; Ephesians 2:19). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has said, “We are all children of God, and we must teach each other; we must help each other ‘find the way.’”3 The Church is the perfect place to do that!

4. To Help Families Qualify for Eternal Life
Another major reason we have the Church is to help families qualify for eternal life. The sealing ordinance in the temple allows families to be together forever. For that to happen, we have to live worthy to receive those blessings. The Church helps families help each other do that.

As Elder Christofferson has taught, “The point of gospel teaching and priesthood ordinances administered by the Church is that families may qualify for eternal life.”4 Thus, the Church helps us live up to those covenants—and helps us support each other along the way.

5. To Bless People All over the World

Elder Christofferson said that as we work together in the Church, Heavenly Father can “achieve needful things that cannot be accomplished by individuals or smaller groups.”5

Did you know that every year for the past 30 years, the Church has donated US$40 million worth of welfare and humanitarian aid and service projects? The generous donations and volunteer service that Church members offer accomplishes things that could be done in no other way.

Through our extraordinary missionary program, missionaries share the light of the gospel with people all over the world. Nearly 105,000 missionaries (including young adults and seniors) are serving. Wow! That’s more people than the population of some cities!

And because of members’ charitable donations, the Church has the resources to build temples all over the world. As of April 2018, there were 182 temples in operation, under construction, or announced.

6. To Establish the Kingdom of God on the Earth
One of the most important reasons God established a church is that it is the kingdom of God here on the earth (see D&C 65). The Lord bestowed upon Joseph Smith and all the prophets and apostles since him the keys of the priesthood. Elder Christofferson taught, “In the authority of these keys, the Church’s priesthood officers preserve the purity of the Savior’s doctrine and the integrity of His saving ordinances.”6

Through the Church leaders, the Lord can administer His work and minister to His children. Without such leadership, all kinds of false ideas and teachings would threaten to lead us into dark, forbidden paths. In other words, to help us know how to achieve eternal life, we need the protection provided by truly called and ordained prophets and apostles. That happens only in His Church.

FIND ORGINAL ARTICLE HERE

Why God Led Me To Marry A Felon Instead Of A RM

By Juli Jaime May 31, 2018 01:58 PM MDTerest

• By Juli Jaime May 31, 201By Juli Jaime May 31, 2018 01:58 PM MDT

By Juli Jaime May 31, 2018 01:58 PM MDT

My husband and I weren’t always “my husband and I.” We both have very different pasts that only God could bring together. I grew up in the Church while Victor, my husband, grew up in the streets. I enjoyed playing sports, being involved in clubs at school, and spending time with friends and family. Victor enjoyed using drugs, being involved with women, and utilizing friends and family. By the time I graduated I’d gone to state track meets, been the Laurel class president, and had a boyfriend that was serving a mission. When Victor graduated, he’d gone to jail, was now a father, and had a mission to be on top. I grew up in Burley, Idaho. Victor grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada. So how did our paths collide?

My Story

A year after graduating high school I decided I needed to get out of Burley for a little while and decided to apply to be a nanny. I got a job in New Jersey with a wonderful family and spent the next year of my life learning and growing in all aspects of life, but mostly, I learned how to build a relationship with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

The ward I attended was made up of mostly converts to the gospel and one day I heard a testimony of an investigator that changed my life forever. This man had just started missionary discussions and got up to bear his testimony of how true the Book of Mormon is and how it had changed his life. The Spirit was so strong, and I’d never heard such a powerful witness of the Book of Mormon. However, that spirit soon changed when he said the word “but.”

“But, the Doctrine and Covenants is not true” was the next thing out of his mouth, and everyone in the chapel was flabbergasted.

“Don’t just take my word for it, though. I encourage you all to go home and pray and find out for yourself that the Doctrine in Covenants is false.”

“Pray about the Doctrine and Covenants?” I thought to myself. “That’s something I’d never thought of before! And if I need to pray about the Doctrine and Covenants, shouldn’t I pray about the Bible, too?”

Growing up in the gospel I had never had these thoughts before and I couldn’t believe it. What else had I been missing while going to church all these years? So I decided that from then on, I was really going to start paying closer attention to the things I heard on a regular basis at church and try to grow my testimony.

After I did that, I truly started to see how the gospel and the Atonement changed people’s lives and how it was changing mine! I watched as people let Christ change their lives from being members of a gang to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and finally gained my own testimony that this Church is true.

His Story

From the age of 10, Victor grew up in the streets of Las Vegas, Nevada. His mom worked hard to keep food on the table, but as a result, she wasn’t home much. This left Victor and his sisters to fend for themselves and really learn the ways of the world. He started smoking, doing drugs, selling drugs, drinking, being promiscuous, and stealing in his teenage years. By the time he had turned 18 he had fathered a son, was on the fast-track to jail, and was living a life far from anything I could’ve ever imagined.

A few years later, after having another son and a set of twins, Victor landed himself in prison with a two-and-a-half- to five-year sentence.

While being locked up, Victor started to move up the “ranks” and soon found himself doing all the dirty work around the prison for his “clique.” One day, after he had completed another task, he was told he could receive his prison tattoos, so they tattooed his arm from shoulder to wrist.

While they were doing it, Victor started to think, “Is this really the life I want to live? Being stuck in prison my whole life? What kind of example am I setting for my sons? Will I ever get to see my sons again? Will I ever get to see my family again? Do I really want to become this kind of person?”

He realized that he was scared. Not of anyone else but of who he was becoming and what he would become if he continued down this path. That night he said his first prayer that went something like this; “My mother’s God, I don’t know if you’re there, but if you are, I need to ask for your help. If you will keep me safe and out of harms way for the rest of my sentence, I promise that I won’t go back to the lifestyle I’ve been living. I promise I won’t go back to the abusive relationship I was in, and I promise my faith in you will never shake.”

A short time later Victor was told he was moving to a new place where he would be able to “rest” and not have to be involved in dirty work anymore. Victor knew God was there and that he had to now hold up his end of the deal.

His Conversion

When Victor got out of prison, he moved to Burley, Idaho, where his mother had moved. While he was working for a construction company, there was a pesky 18-year-old kid who wanted to be Victor’s friend.

Victor wasn’t interested and thought, “What can an 18-year-old kid who has no life experience do for me?”

Day after day, this kid would approach Victor asking him if he wanted to go to church, FHE, church basketball, etc., and every day, Victor would shoot him down. And every night, Victor would go home and pray, “God, what do you want me to do? How do I keep up my end of the deal?” And every day, Victor would get invited to another activity.

It took Victor a little while to realize that this kid was the answer to his prayer and that he needed to give him a chance. So, one day when he was asked if he wanted to go to “Feed the Flock” for FHE, Victor said sure. “Ya’ll gonna go feed the geese or something?” he asked.

From that time on, despite his tattoos, his eyebrow piercing, his gauges, and the scent of smoke that followed him, he was accepted into the singles ward. Not long after he started going to activities, he started meeting with the missionaries and had a baptismal date set for March 9, 2013.

Victor on his baptism day

Minutes before Victor was to get baptized, he looked in the mirror and saw his gauges still sitting in his ears. He realized that if he truly wanted to change and have a fresh start, he needed to let go of all of his past. So he took out his gauges and walked into the water. As soon as he arose from the water, he said, “Now get me out of this filthy water!” And he’s never looked back since.

Our Story

Victor and I first met about eight months after he got baptized when he shared his story in my singles ward’s sacrament meeting. It had been years since I’d been home from New Jersey and hadn’t heard a story like his in a long time, so I approached him after and simply told him, “Thank you.”

We became great friends over the next few weeks. When he asked me out on a date my mom asked me if I saw a future and I assured her that we were just friends. Six months later, Victor proposed and we were sealed in the Idaho Falls temple on September 12, 2014.

Juli and Victor in front of the temple

That day I didn’t just become a wife, I became a stepmom to four awesome boys. I was pretty nervous to take on that title not because I didn’t want to be a mom, but I was worried what people would think. “A 22-year-old with four stepkids! What was she thinking?” “He’s a felon and an addict!” “Is she sure about what she’s doing?” “Has he really changed, or will he fall away?”

All these comments and more have been made since we’ve been married and it’s been hard. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cried after hearing comments about how Victor shouldn’t be at church because he has tattoos or how Mexicans shouldn’t marry white people or how he will fall back into addiction. But despite all of the negativity, we’ve never once felt alone or felt like we weren’t accepted by those who truly understand the Atonement. Despite the negative comments, there has always been an opportunity to share the gospel with those who don’t yet understand how real the Atonement is.

Because of Victor’s past, I have four beautiful boys to be a mom to while we’ve been struggling to have kids of our own, we’ve had opportunities to share the gospel and give hope to those struggling with addiction and their families, we’ve been able to grow and learn from different perspectives because we were both raised so differently, we’ve been able to let God be the head of our marriage and guide us in the directions He wants us to go, and we’ve been able to see miracles as we continually convert to the gospel every day.

I’ve often told myself that I didn’t choose an easy life, but I did choose the life I want. Not just the life I want on this earth, but the life I want forever. I want to be with someone who will help me grow and become a better me. I want to always remember that this life isn’t about getting to the end but about growing and learning and becoming like our Father in Heaven. Jesus Christ came to this earth and showed us that life was not supposed to be easy and that hard things would happen. He showed us how to love, to teach, to learn, and how to face even the hardest of trials.

The Jaime family all together

My life is nowhere close to where I thought it would be or where others told me it should be. Growing up I was taught to marry a returned missionary. No one ever told me that my returned missionary would be a man that went on a “mission” to sell drugs and “returned” from prison to be a better man. No one told me that I would have a family of six the day I got married. No one told me that it was okay to marry someone with tattoos. No one can tell you what your future holds or how you need to live your life. The Lord has a plan for each one of us that only He can prepare you for. Don’t let the influence of others stand in the way of receiving personal revelation from the One who knows you best. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and that He not only provided it for us to use, but He also showed us how to use it. I know that the Lord doesn’t give us any challenge He can’t help us learn from. I know that learning is the only way to become like Him. I know that my life isn’t the way I planned. I know it’s even better!