1 - Tammy -15
2 - Michael -17
3 - Dad -20
4 - Derrinda -21
5 - Juliet -24 (tiebreaker 39, actual 41)
6 - Lisa -24 (tibreaker 38, actual 41)
7 - Mom -27
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Quote of the Day
This morning, I was listening to my new John Bytheway collection on CD. I know the target audience is teenagers but I really enjoy his talks. The message is universal. In one of the talks he uses a quote from Pres. Benson. Which I thought was really profound. So I took the time to look it up and post it on my blog. Here it is:
President Ezra Taft Benson said: “Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us.” (“Jesus Christ—Gifts and Expectations,” in Speeches of the Year, 1974, Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1975, p. 313.) Quote taken from Pres. Henry B. Eyring's conference address May 1991 Ensign.
By the way, no pun intended :-), if any of you want to borrow my John Bytheway CD collection, let me know. I think there are about 10 or 11 different talks. I've listened to three so far and they are all really good. I'm sure you would enjoy listening to Brother Bytheway, and it would be beneficial to you.
President Ezra Taft Benson said: “Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us.” (“Jesus Christ—Gifts and Expectations,” in Speeches of the Year, 1974, Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1975, p. 313.) Quote taken from Pres. Henry B. Eyring's conference address May 1991 Ensign.
By the way, no pun intended :-), if any of you want to borrow my John Bytheway CD collection, let me know. I think there are about 10 or 11 different talks. I've listened to three so far and they are all really good. I'm sure you would enjoy listening to Brother Bytheway, and it would be beneficial to you.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
College Football Picks Results Week Seven
1. Tammy -19
2. Dad -20 tiebreaker 56 actual 36
3. Michael -20 tiebreaker 63 actual 36
4 Derrinda -21 tiebreaker 55 actual 36
5. Lisa -21 tiebreaker 57 actual 36
6. Mom -22
2. Dad -20 tiebreaker 56 actual 36
3. Michael -20 tiebreaker 63 actual 36
4 Derrinda -21 tiebreaker 55 actual 36
5. Lisa -21 tiebreaker 57 actual 36
6. Mom -22
Friday, October 15, 2010
Truth
It came to my attention a few days ago that there have been protests and uproar about a talk given by President Boyd K. Packer at general conference last week. My first reaction is why would anybody protest the words of the Lord?
Why would people who are not members of The Church, be so concerned about what a religious leader teaches? After all, isn’t freedom of religion still one of our rights? Then I learned that many of the protesters are actually members of The Church. That’s even worse. I would say it’s unbelievable but, in today’s world, nothing is unbelievable.
This morning, I watch the Sunday morning session of general conference again, which happens to contain Pres. Packer’s “controversial” talk. I found nothing controversial about it. There was nothing said that we haven’t been taught before.
It saddens me that people would persecute a servant of the Lord for teaching truth. As president of the quorum of the 12 apostles, Pres. Packer is set apart as a prophet, seer, and revelator. As are all members of the first presidency and quorum of the 12 apostles. So, anything Pres. Packer teaches is truth. It’s what the Lord would teach.
I find it ironic that people are crying intolerance, hatred and hostility. Yet this is exactly what they are doing by persecuting Pres. Packer.
I came across this quote by Pres. Benson:
“The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.
Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of “my will and not thine be done.” As Paul said, they “seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” (Philip. 2:21.)
Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled. (See Alma 38:12; 3 Ne. 12:30.)
The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives. (See Hel. 12:6.) They pit their perceptions of truth against God’s great knowledge, their abilities versus God’s priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works.
Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers. The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren’t interested in changing their opinions to agree with God’s.” -Ezra Taft Benson, May 1989 Ensign
Gay rights activists, for lack of a better term, are not content to let people live their lives, and believe what they choose to believe, they want you to not only tolerate their sinful lifestyle, but embrace it. And if you do not, they persecute you, and call you hateful, intolerant, and are in fact, very hostile towards you.
This is evident by their reaction to Pres. Packer's conference address. Which I found to be actually quite loving, yet firm in the truth.
Another evidence is the violence and hatred shown towards members of The Church in California during proposition eight campaigns.
1 Nephi 16: 2
"And it came to pass that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken hard things against the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I justified, and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center."
Yet another example is from the news a few days ago. I don’t remember the details very well but a politician was speaking to a religious group, I believe was Jewish, and he mentioned that homosexuality was wrong, and he didn’t want children being brainwashed into thinking it was right. Well, he spoke truth. I agreed with everything he said. Yet, the media jumped all over him and painted him as Luciferic and hateful, and intolerant, and all those other things we keep hearing. When in actuality, the politician was in the right, he spoke the truth.
I really wasn’t going to do this blog, I’ve already covered this subject several times. But it was really bothering me today. So I decided I had to say something. Do what you will, say what you want, but you cannot change truth, the Lord’s work will not be halted.
“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”-Joseph Smith
That’s my two cents.
Why would people who are not members of The Church, be so concerned about what a religious leader teaches? After all, isn’t freedom of religion still one of our rights? Then I learned that many of the protesters are actually members of The Church. That’s even worse. I would say it’s unbelievable but, in today’s world, nothing is unbelievable.
This morning, I watch the Sunday morning session of general conference again, which happens to contain Pres. Packer’s “controversial” talk. I found nothing controversial about it. There was nothing said that we haven’t been taught before.
It saddens me that people would persecute a servant of the Lord for teaching truth. As president of the quorum of the 12 apostles, Pres. Packer is set apart as a prophet, seer, and revelator. As are all members of the first presidency and quorum of the 12 apostles. So, anything Pres. Packer teaches is truth. It’s what the Lord would teach.
I find it ironic that people are crying intolerance, hatred and hostility. Yet this is exactly what they are doing by persecuting Pres. Packer.
I came across this quote by Pres. Benson:
“The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.
Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of “my will and not thine be done.” As Paul said, they “seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” (Philip. 2:21.)
Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled. (See Alma 38:12; 3 Ne. 12:30.)
The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives. (See Hel. 12:6.) They pit their perceptions of truth against God’s great knowledge, their abilities versus God’s priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works.
Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers. The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren’t interested in changing their opinions to agree with God’s.” -Ezra Taft Benson, May 1989 Ensign
Gay rights activists, for lack of a better term, are not content to let people live their lives, and believe what they choose to believe, they want you to not only tolerate their sinful lifestyle, but embrace it. And if you do not, they persecute you, and call you hateful, intolerant, and are in fact, very hostile towards you.
This is evident by their reaction to Pres. Packer's conference address. Which I found to be actually quite loving, yet firm in the truth.
Another evidence is the violence and hatred shown towards members of The Church in California during proposition eight campaigns.
1 Nephi 16: 2
"And it came to pass that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken hard things against the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I justified, and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center."
Yet another example is from the news a few days ago. I don’t remember the details very well but a politician was speaking to a religious group, I believe was Jewish, and he mentioned that homosexuality was wrong, and he didn’t want children being brainwashed into thinking it was right. Well, he spoke truth. I agreed with everything he said. Yet, the media jumped all over him and painted him as Luciferic and hateful, and intolerant, and all those other things we keep hearing. When in actuality, the politician was in the right, he spoke the truth.
I really wasn’t going to do this blog, I’ve already covered this subject several times. But it was really bothering me today. So I decided I had to say something. Do what you will, say what you want, but you cannot change truth, the Lord’s work will not be halted.
“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”-Joseph Smith
That’s my two cents.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
College Football Picks Results Week Six
1 - Lisa -16
2 - Derrinda -20
3 - Tammy -21 (51)
4 - Mom -21 (43)
5 - Dad -21 (42)
6 - Mercedes -23 (42)
7 - Juliet -23 (41)
8 - Michael -24
actual tiebreaker was 72.
2 - Derrinda -20
3 - Tammy -21 (51)
4 - Mom -21 (43)
5 - Dad -21 (42)
6 - Mercedes -23 (42)
7 - Juliet -23 (41)
8 - Michael -24
actual tiebreaker was 72.
Friday, October 8, 2010
A Fork in the Road
Yesterday I was browsing deseretbook.com and came across an excerpt from a book titled Fathers of Faith. I will try to paraphrase what I remember from that excerpt. It was written by Matt Holland son of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.
Matt mentions an experience when he was about eight or nine years old. His family was on vacation in St. George, Utah where his mom and dad are from. They were visiting his grandparents and Elder Holland decided to take his son Matt on a road trip to the Grand Canyon. They used his grandpa’s old truck and a handwritten map. The dirt roads were bumpy and windy. They finally made it to the Grand Canyon and before long Elder Holland said they needed to get back before it got dark because they were unfamiliar with the way back.
After a while, driving on the dirt roads they came to a fork in the road. They didn’t recall any forks on the way out and there was no fork drawn on the map. They decided to pray to know which road they should take. After the prayer Elder Holland asked his son Matt what he thought they should do.
Matt said he felt impressed that they should take the left road. Elder Holland agreed that he had received the same impression.
So, they headed down the left fork in the road and after about 10 minutes came to a dead end. Elder Holland quickly turned the truck around and went back to the fork in the road, and took the right fork.
There wasn’t much conversation on the drive back. Matt was a little disconcerted that he felt impressed to take the wrong road. Finally he asked his father why they both received inspiration to take the wrong road.
Elder Holland replied that he had been thinking about that also and came to the conclusion that if they had received the impression to take the right road that Elder Holland would have driven on that road for 30 minutes and turned around because it was unfamiliar. But, since they had taken the wrong road first, he was certain he was on the right path and didn’t make the grave mistake of turning back only to find out that they were on the right path all along. If they had made that mistake, it would have been too dark for them to make it home safely.
The moral of the story is, sometimes we are led down a path which appears to be wrong, or we may not understand. But in the end, it was necessary to go down that path so that we can be confident that we are on the right path, without doubts, and arrive at our destination safely.
Lest anyone be confused, the Lord would never lead us to the path of sin. But, He does lead us down roads that can be quite bumpy, with many twists and turns, to give us valuable experiences. These experiences will help us learn and grow and strengthen us.
We should always trust in the Lord. Even though we may not understand why we are going down the road we are going down. He will never lead us astray. If we trust in the Lord, and follow His Commandments, we will arrive at our final destination (eternal life) safely.
That’s my two cents.
Matt mentions an experience when he was about eight or nine years old. His family was on vacation in St. George, Utah where his mom and dad are from. They were visiting his grandparents and Elder Holland decided to take his son Matt on a road trip to the Grand Canyon. They used his grandpa’s old truck and a handwritten map. The dirt roads were bumpy and windy. They finally made it to the Grand Canyon and before long Elder Holland said they needed to get back before it got dark because they were unfamiliar with the way back.
After a while, driving on the dirt roads they came to a fork in the road. They didn’t recall any forks on the way out and there was no fork drawn on the map. They decided to pray to know which road they should take. After the prayer Elder Holland asked his son Matt what he thought they should do.
Matt said he felt impressed that they should take the left road. Elder Holland agreed that he had received the same impression.
So, they headed down the left fork in the road and after about 10 minutes came to a dead end. Elder Holland quickly turned the truck around and went back to the fork in the road, and took the right fork.
There wasn’t much conversation on the drive back. Matt was a little disconcerted that he felt impressed to take the wrong road. Finally he asked his father why they both received inspiration to take the wrong road.
Elder Holland replied that he had been thinking about that also and came to the conclusion that if they had received the impression to take the right road that Elder Holland would have driven on that road for 30 minutes and turned around because it was unfamiliar. But, since they had taken the wrong road first, he was certain he was on the right path and didn’t make the grave mistake of turning back only to find out that they were on the right path all along. If they had made that mistake, it would have been too dark for them to make it home safely.
The moral of the story is, sometimes we are led down a path which appears to be wrong, or we may not understand. But in the end, it was necessary to go down that path so that we can be confident that we are on the right path, without doubts, and arrive at our destination safely.
Lest anyone be confused, the Lord would never lead us to the path of sin. But, He does lead us down roads that can be quite bumpy, with many twists and turns, to give us valuable experiences. These experiences will help us learn and grow and strengthen us.
We should always trust in the Lord. Even though we may not understand why we are going down the road we are going down. He will never lead us astray. If we trust in the Lord, and follow His Commandments, we will arrive at our final destination (eternal life) safely.
That’s my two cents.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Humility
Yesterday in between sessions of conference I listened to President Uchtdorf's priesthood session talk from the previous night. Yes, I discovered that you can listen to all of the conference talks including priesthood session on LDS.org. They don't have the text up yet though.
Anyway, President Uchtdorf is my favorite speaker so I selected his talk to listen to while I had a few minutes before the next session started. It was such a wonderful talk. I would like to relate one of the quotes from his talk. I will probably butcher it, but it goes something like this:
You do not become humble by thinking less of yourself. You become humble by thinking less about yourself.
My interpretation of that means that you don't need to lower your self-esteem to be humble. But to be humble you need to be less selfish, vain, and of course prideful. Prideful meaning you don't think you're better than other people. For whatever myriad of reasons you conjure up.
I think humility is something I struggle with, and need to work on. Perhaps this is why this quote stuck out to me.
You can come to your own conclusions about Pres. Uchtdorf's talk on pride from the priesthood session of Gen. conference by clicking here: October 2010 General Conference then scroll down to priesthood session and click on the link next to Pres. Uchtdorf's name.
That's my two cents.
Anyway, President Uchtdorf is my favorite speaker so I selected his talk to listen to while I had a few minutes before the next session started. It was such a wonderful talk. I would like to relate one of the quotes from his talk. I will probably butcher it, but it goes something like this:
You do not become humble by thinking less of yourself. You become humble by thinking less about yourself.
My interpretation of that means that you don't need to lower your self-esteem to be humble. But to be humble you need to be less selfish, vain, and of course prideful. Prideful meaning you don't think you're better than other people. For whatever myriad of reasons you conjure up.
I think humility is something I struggle with, and need to work on. Perhaps this is why this quote stuck out to me.
You can come to your own conclusions about Pres. Uchtdorf's talk on pride from the priesthood session of Gen. conference by clicking here: October 2010 General Conference then scroll down to priesthood session and click on the link next to Pres. Uchtdorf's name.
That's my two cents.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
College Football Picks Results Week Five
1 - Michael -15 (47 tiebreaker, actual 47)
2 - Dad -15 (61 tiebreaker, actual 47)
3 - Mom -19 (54 tiebreaker, actual 47)
4 - Lisa -19 (67 tiebreaker, actual 47)
5 - Tammy -21
6 - Derrinda -25
7 - Juliet -26 (63 tiebreaker, actual 47)
8 - Chanelle -26 (65 tiebreaker, actual 47)
9 - Mercedes -30
2 - Dad -15 (61 tiebreaker, actual 47)
3 - Mom -19 (54 tiebreaker, actual 47)
4 - Lisa -19 (67 tiebreaker, actual 47)
5 - Tammy -21
6 - Derrinda -25
7 - Juliet -26 (63 tiebreaker, actual 47)
8 - Chanelle -26 (65 tiebreaker, actual 47)
9 - Mercedes -30
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Utah State University Aggies Rule Supreme
Yesterday we hosted a pizza party/BYU versus Utah State University football game viewing party. What made it so fun was that we had alumni from both schools present. Three of us attended USU. (Me, Lisa, Michael) And three attended BYU. (Mom, Dad, Derrinda) Of course, we were cheering for our respective alma maters. Among the other attendees, the overwhelming majority were cheering for BYU. So it was even sweeter when Utah State creamed BYU! Final score: USU 31 BYU 16. It was such a fun game to watch. The last time BYU lost to Utah State was in 1993. I believe it was 56 to 54. I was at that game! It was right after I got home from my mission and started school that fall. It was awesome!
The pizza was exceptionally divine also. I found a recipe for Pizza Hut pan pizza crust and sauce. The pizza was as good or better, if possible, than Pizza Hut. Thanks to mom for making the pizza dough and Lisa for rolling it out and assembling the pizzas.
It was a wonderful evening with good food, good company, and the best football game of the year! Way to go Aggies! Go Big Blue!
The pizza was exceptionally divine also. I found a recipe for Pizza Hut pan pizza crust and sauce. The pizza was as good or better, if possible, than Pizza Hut. Thanks to mom for making the pizza dough and Lisa for rolling it out and assembling the pizzas.
It was a wonderful evening with good food, good company, and the best football game of the year! Way to go Aggies! Go Big Blue!
Friday, October 1, 2010
Continue in Patience Video Clip
A small video clip from the Conference Talk by Pres. Uchtdorf entitled Continue in Patience. I know I already posted my notes from the relief society lesson I gave using this talk but, I think it's worth repeating. Everybody needs more patience.
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