Good Riddance Fidel Castro!

The death of Fidel Castro should be celebrated, not mourned.  All these leftist cry babies praising Fidel Castro and mourning his death make me absolutely sick.  Fidel Castro was an evil oppressive tyrant.  Rush Limbaugh had a good segment yesterday about this.  The whole thing is really good and you can read it by clicking on the link below but here is just one small quote:

"This, folks, is mind-boggling. When you stop and consider who Fidel Castro was. Fidel Castro imprisoned, tortured, killed, executed his own people for the crime of pursuing life, liberty and happiness. He conducted a 50-year war against human nature. The left, which includes Barack Obama, has romanticized what should be itemized, condemned, and defeated." -- Rush Limbaugh, November 28, 2016

Interestingly, just a few days before Castro's death I read an article about the ignorant lowlife scum of the earth, Colin Kaepernick wearing a T-shirt with Fidel Castro on it.  A reporter questioned him about it and he gave some ridiculous nonsensical idiotic reply.  It's obvious that Kaepernick hates America.  Fidel Castro also was an America hater.  This is precisely why so many leftist liberals revere Castro.  Because they are all America haters.

The irony of this whole thing is that the very thing that Fidel Castro stood for is what the left liberal crybabies claim to oppose -- oppression. Yet they wholeheartedly embrace it.  Hypocrites!  And Colin Kaepernick is their poster child.

How can so many people be so stupid?  If you want to know why Donald Trump won the election just take a look at his response to Fidel Castro's death -- which is true and accurate.  Versus Barack Hussein Obama's ridiculous response.

Good riddance Fidel Castro!  I hope you enjoy weeping, wailing, and gnashing your teeth while you burn in H!

That's my two cents.

College Football Picks 2016 Week 13

1. Rex -15 tie breaker 49
2. Mercedes -19 tie breaker 39
3. Kingston -19 tiebreaker 50
4. Lisa -19 tie breaker 72
5. Juliet -22 tiebreaker 54
6. Mom -22 tiebreaker 56
7. Dad -23 tiebreaker 53
8. Tammy -26 tiebreaker 53
9. Derrinda -27 Tiebreaker 49
10. Chanelle -29 tie breaker 62
11. Elijah -30 tiebreaker 38
12. Cody -31 tiebreaker 62
13. Brandon -36 tiebreaker 27

Actual tie breaker: 38

Who's on the Lord's Side?

This morning Juliet and I were discussing this hymn. Who's on the Lord's side? Who? Hymn number 260 in the LDS hymn book. We tried singing it but couldn't remember the lyrics very well. It has a really catchy tune which I remembered easily. We were hoping it would be one of the hymns we sang in church today but it wasn't.  :-(  Anyway so after church today I looked it up to sing along to the Music library version on LDS.org --click on the link and you can too. It's really fun. :-) I do it all the time to different hymns.

In singing along today and remembering the lyrics I decided to post it because it is so pertinent to all of us in this world we live in. Whose side are we on? There are no fence sitters.  You are either on one side or the other.

Some of my favorite lyrics from this hymn include: "We wage no common war, Cope with no common foe." -- This is good versus evil. The enemy -- Satan -- is awake. He is coming at us with everything he has.  He is a very formidable opponent. Whose side are we on? "We serve the living God, and want his foes to know that, if but few, we're great" -- I love this. Such confidence. I'm a big fan of confidence. If you're on the Lord's side, you will exude confidence. "We ask it fearlessly" "No coward bears our flag" -- This fight isn't for pansies. And my favorite part, "We're going on to win" -- The winner of the war is already known. The Lord will prevail -- Satan will lose. Do you want to be on the winning side or the losing side? "Now is the time to show".

That's my two cents.

Who's on the Lord's Side?

1. 1. Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
   Now is the time to show.
   We ask it fearlessly:
   Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
   We wage no common war,
   Cope with no common foe.
   The enemy's awake;
   Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
2. (Chorus)
   Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
   Now is the time to show.
   We ask it fearlessly:
   Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
3. 2. We serve the living God,
   And want his foes to know
   That, if but few, we're great;
   Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
   We're going on to win;
   No fear must blanch the brow.
   The Lord of Hosts is ours;
   Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
4. 3. The stone cut without hands
   To fill the earth must grow.
   Who'll help to roll it on?
   Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
   Our ensign to the world
   Is floating proudly now.
   No coward bears our flag;
   Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
5. 4. The pow'rs of earth and hell
   In rage direct the blow
   That's aimed to crush the work;
   Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
   Truth, life, and liberty,
   Freedom from death and woe,
   Are stakes we're fighting for;
   Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
6. Text: Hannah Last Cornaby, 1822-1905
   Music: Henry H. Russell, 1818-1900, alt.

My Good Good Boy Abinadi

Lisa took this cute picture a few days ago.  :-) My good good boy Abinadi posing for the camera.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I read this on Rush Limbaugh.com yesterday and thought I would post it for you all.  I didn't take the time to edit much out so it's basically the entire transcript.  But it's a good read.  I hope you enjoy it and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

From Rush Limbaugh.com:

The True Story of Thanksgiving

November 23, 2016

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: The Real Story of Thanksgiving is a tradition on this program.  ...This is my favorite time of year, starting now and going through Christmas.  I just absolutely love it....

But "The True Story of Thanksgiving," written about in Chapter 6 of See, I Told You So, which is book two. It's the chapter titled "Dead White Guys, or What the History Books Never Tell You."  And, by the way, this chapter and this story served as the foundation for the first book in the Rush Revere series, which was Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims,where, in addition to The True Story of Thanksgiving, we have the true story of the Pilgrims, who they were, where they were.

Why they risked everything to get on a rickety little ship and travel the Atlantic Ocean to a place that was foreign and unknown. They had no idea what they would encounter.  And it was all for religious freedom.  And the real story of Thanksgiving, I wasn't even taught it, and I was in grade school in the late fifties and early sixties, and I wasn't even taught.  I was taught that Thanksgiving was about the Pilgrims being saved from starvation and deprivation by the Indians, and learning to grow food and thanking the Indians for saving us, the Native Americans. 

Everybody was taught this, but it's not true. 

"The story of the Pilgrims begins in the early part of the seventeenth century ... The Church of England under King James I was persecuting anyone and everyone who did not recognize its absolute civil and spiritual authority. Those who challenged ecclesiastical authority and those who believed strongly in freedom of worship were hunted down, imprisoned, and sometimes executed for their [religious] beliefs," in 1600, England, the 17th Century.

"A group of separatists first fled to Holland and established a community. After eleven years, about forty of them agreed to make a perilous journey to the New World, where they would certainly face hardships, but" at least the promise was, "could live and worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences."  It's a powerful belief, the belief in freedom of religion to engage in this kind of activity in order to be able to do it, to be able to cross an ocean to a place where you have no idea what to expect. 

"On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established," essentially socialism, "just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible. The Pilgrims were a people completely steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments.

"They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example. And, because of the biblical precedents set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work." They were people with incredible faith. "The journey to the New World was a long and arduous one. And when the Pilgrims landed in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford's detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no friends to greet them, he wrote. There were no houses to shelter them.

"There were no inns where they could refresh themselves. And the sacrifice they had made for freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims -- including Bradford's own wife -- died of either starvation, sickness or exposure. When spring finally came, Indians," the Native Americans, indeed, "taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats. Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper! This is important to understand because this is where modern American history lessons often end."

That's where the traditional story of Thanksgiving ends: The Indians helped 'em and they learned how to plant corn, had they had a big feast, and that's what we celebrate today.  No!  "Thanksgiving is actually explained in [way too many] textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than" what it was. Thanksgiving was "a devout expression of gratitude" to God -- and if you doubt that, go look at George Washington's first Thanksgiving Proclamation, when Thanksgiving became a national holiday because of George Washington. 

You cannot escape the fact that it was a national holiday rooted in thanking God for America, for the blessed nature of our country, and this is exactly what the Pilgrims did.  That's what they were thankful for.  "Here is the part that has been omitted" from the traditional textbooks, and was omitted when I was in school. "The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into" on the Mayflower, they all... They had merchant sponsors.  They didn't have the money to make this trip themselves.  There were sponsors, merchants in Holland and London that paid for it.

They had to be repaid.  So, the contract that they had "called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the community as well." It didn't belong to any individuals, and everything they produced, "[t]hey were going to distribute it equally." Everyone would get the same, and everybody would be the same. "All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the community as well.

"Nobody owned anything. They just had a share in it. It was a commune, folks." It was a Humboldt, County, California, commune -- minus the weed.  "It was the forerunner to the communes we saw in the '60s and '70s out in California," with organic vegetables. "Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh winter" after settlement. He decided to take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage," and it was theirs. 

Whatever they produced was theirs to do whatever they wanted. Sell it, keep it, use it, but it was theirs.  Well, you know what happened.  This was, in effect, the unleashing of the power of competition and the marketplace.  The "Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only be described as socialism," and it failed miserably. "It didn't work!" Drastic action taken by William Bradford got rid of it. "What Bradford and his community found was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else," because no matter what you produced, you got the same as anybody else. 

If you didn't produce anything, you still got the same amount that everybody else got.  They were "trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it..." The rest of the world's been doing that since the beginning of time, but there's no way to refine it and perfect it.  They dumped it.  The Pilgrims dumped approximate.  "What Bradford wrote about this social experiment should be in every schoolchild's history lesson. ... 'The experience that we had in this common course and condition. The experience that we had in this common course and condition tried sundry years...that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing -- as if they were wiser than God,' Bradford wrote.

"For this community [so far as it was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense...'" What he's saying is, "Why should we [be] working for people not doing anything?"  It didn't work.  It was a resounding failure.  "Why should you work for other people when you can't work for yourself?"

From his own journal.  The Pilgrims found that people could not be expected to do their best work without insensitive.  "So what did Bradford's community try next? They unharnessed the power of good old free enterprise..." They let every family have its own plot of land to work and they were permitted to market the products, the crops that they grew, and the result was, Bradford wrote, "This had very good success.  For it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been."

RUSH:  So the result of free enterprise after the Pilgrims had tried socialism, well, William Bradford wrote about it. "This had very good success, for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been."  Bradford doesn't sound like a committed leftist, and he wasn't. 

So the Thanksgiving that was had: "Pilgrims found they had more food than they could eat themselves.  Now, this is where it gets really good, folks, if you're laboring under the misconception that I was, as I was taught in school. So they set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians."

In other words, there was capitalism going on.  There was buying and selling going on.  There were profits.  A group of people arrives on a boat committed to being equal and the same.  It fails.  They end up turning out industrious activity, creating that by virtue of competition and being able to keep what you produced.  They produced more than they needed.  They ended up setting up trading posts.  They exchanged goods with the Indians, and the profits finally allowed them to pay off the debts to the sponsors, the merchants in London who had sponsored them. 

"The success and prosperity of the Plymouth settlement attracted more Europeans and began what came to be known as the 'Great Puritan Migration.'"  In other words, the Pilgrims had such overwhelming success at growing their community, word spread all the way back to England, and it began this humongous migration of people. 

Remember, the Pilgrims preceded the founding of the country by hundreds of years.  They really were the ones that got it started and showed how it could be done.  And it was -- I don't want to use the word "rich."  It was so plentiful, this was what they were thankful for.  They thanked God for the guidance found in the Bible for restructuring their community, and shared their bounty with the Indians, who did teach them how to do things they didn't know how to do, basically be farmers.  That's The True Story of Thanksgiving.  

END TRANSCRIPT

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

CFP 2016 Week 12 Results

1. Tammy -10 tie breaker 37
2. Mercedes -11 tie breaker 45
3. Rex -13 tie breaker 37
4. Juliet -14 tie breaker 52
5. Lisa -17 tie breaker 64
6. Dad -18 tiebreaker 46
7. Mom -18 tiebreaker 49
8. Kingston -22 tiebreaker 45
9. Chanelle -22 tie breaker 49
10. Derrinda -22 tiebreaker 59
11. Elijah -24 tiebreaker 72
12. Brandon -29 tiebreaker 27
13. Cody -30 tie breaker 43

Actual tie breaker 26

Thoughts from Stake Conference

We had our regular Stake Conference today.  I just want to share a few thoughts on what I got out of it.

President Manwaring, one of the counselors in our Stake Presidency gave my favorite talk.  He talked about being a missionary in Brazil and how he became conceited and thought that they were having success because of him and how great he was.  It just so happened that one of the AP's was going home soon -- for those of you unfamiliar with missions, an AP is an assistant to the mission president.  I guess it could be considered the highest calling a missionary can have in terms of responsibility and status.

President Manwaring decided that he was such a great missionary that he would certainly be called to fill the vacant position of AP.  In fact he was so sure that he packed his suitcases in anticipation of transfers awaiting the call.  When he was told he was staying in the area and Elder Olson was called as the new AP, President Manwaring was certain that the mission president was not in tune with the Spirit and made a mistake.

He paid extra close attention to the job that Elder Olson was doing, fully expecting him to fail.  But to his surprise, and perhaps chagrin, Elder Olson did a wonderful job.  Through this experience, President Manwaring learned a valuable lesson.  Actually several lessons not the least of which was that the Lord's work would continue to roll forth with or without President Manwaring.  He had to decide if he was going to be a part of it or not.

The Lord chooses humble servants who rely on the Spirit and understand that He is our source of strength, not ourselves.  Are we going to reap the blessings of being part of the Lord's work and his Church?  Or will we choose to be on the outside looking in and one day wish otherwise.

President Manwaring went on to say that there are still many great important things yet to happen in this Church and in the world.  Great things that would rival things in history.  We can all be a part of these great things yet to come in helping to advance the Lord's work and His Kingdom. If we so choose.

Something that stuck out from the Mission President's talk was a quote from Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the quorum of the 12 apostles.  I couldn't find a transcript but I found an article from LDS news that I will quote from.  This is from a missionary broadcast given on January 20, 2016.

“Who are you? You are sons and daughters of God! Everything else you and I are is subordinate to that. Think of it! We are royalty—the sons and daughters of God!” 

And what are missionaries called to do? 

“You are not called to preach what is politically correct or personally comfortable,” he said. “You are not called to invite people to join a social club whose rules are made by its members. You are called to testify of Jesus Christ and to invite people to do what He has required to come unto Him and walk the path He has defined by His doctrine to reach exaltation in the celestial kingdom.” 

...Elder Oaks taught that it is critical that missionaries understand the role of Christ’s Atonement in their lives and in the lives of those they teach. The Savior came to redeem men “from their sins” upon the “conditions of repentance” (Helaman 5:11).

“When a person has gone through the repentance process, the Savior does more than cleanse that person from sin. He also gives him or her new strength. That strengthening is essential for us to realize the purpose of the cleansing, which is to return to our Heavenly Father.”

Missionaries, he added, do not preach and teach in order to bring people into the Church or to increase Church membership. They do not find and teach just to persuade people to live better lives. They offer something more. 

“The fundamental purpose of our missionary work is to teach the word of God that men and women cannot be saved in the highest degree of glory, the celestial kingdom, without faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and that the only way to lay claim to the ultimate merits of that Atonement is to follow the commands of its author: repent and be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and the ordinances of the temple and endure to the end. Those who do this can be exalted in the celestial kingdom.” 

No one else can do this, declared Elder Oaks. Other churches cannot do it. Good Christian living cannot do it. Good faith, good desires, and good reasoning cannot do it.

“Only a man or woman teaching the fulness of the gospel with priesthood authority can teach this, and only a man exercising the priesthood of God can administer a baptism that will satisfy the divine decree: ‘Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God’ (John 3:5).”  -- Church News, January 22, 2016

 I put a little more on here than the one quote which I highlighted.  :-) I thought was excellent.

And just a few thoughts on President Wells' talk.  His talk was basically about being prepared ahead of time for things that will come when you don't expect them.

He used the example of when he was doing his medical residency.  He was having a meeting with all of the people over his residency basically all of his professors and mentors.  They were discussing the future of the residency program.  As chief resident he was invited to attend.

He suddenly became very uneasy as the topic turned to training residents to do abortions.  He said the person discussing adding this new training portion to the residency was very excited about it.  Then, the director asked for the chief resident's opinion on the matter.  President Wells said a quick prayer and then told them that one of the reasons why he chose that particular residency was because they did not perform abortions nor were they required to train in such.  He went on to explain why he was opposed to it.  He then stated that his fellow residents felt the same way that he did.

I thought that was a good example of always being ready to defend the Gospel and the Lord's doctrine at all times.  It does seem to occur when you least expect it.  That's why you always have to be ready.

Anyway those are just a few of my thoughts from our Stake Conference today.

On a side note, I ran into one of the Elders I served with on my mission.  I knew him from my mission because we were from the same town.  Graduated from the same high school even.  He is now serving as bishop in one of the wards in my stake.  It's a small world!

How to Prepare to Serve a Mission

As I was perusing LDS.org I came across this article that went along swimmingly with my lesson on repentance last week.  So I thought I would post it.  I was going to just put a couple of quotes but ended up putting the whole thing except for one section I removed.

Hope you enjoy it. Here it is:

Want to Prepare Your Child to Serve a Mission? Teach Repentance

Contributed By the Young Men General Presidency and Board

20 OCTOBER 2016

"Recently, one of our board members—Brother Mark Pendleton—was at a breakfast with several stake presidents and stake leaders, during which a sincere father asked a question:

“What do you feel is the most important thing I can do to help my son prepare to serve a mission?” the father asked.

"Because Brother Pendleton works in the Missionary Department, he often gets questions. Usually the questions are more general and tend to focus on various topics such as mission preparation classes, obtaining a job, going off to college, how to create outlets for stress, turning weaknesses into strengths, and helping young people be able to do hard things and not get discouraged when things don’t go their way. The list is expansive, and there has been much written and spoken on the subject of mission preparation.

"Without hesitation, the response given to this man was: “Teach him how to repent.”

"The father wasn’t prepared for this answer and appeared a little confused.

"Missionaries’ purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement and repentance.

"Preach My Gospel states, “As your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase” (p. 2). Missionary work is helping people to repent, and in order to do that, a missionary has to know what it feels like to repent so he or she can help others know how to repent. Preach My Gospel also states, “We must understand what an investigator must feel in order to receive conversion” (p. 92).

"Our youth need to understand that repentance denotes a change of mind and a fresh view about God and about oneself. Then repentance comes to mean a turning of the heart and will to God and a renunciation of sin. Without this there can be no progress in the things of the soul’s salvation. If a young person understands that true change is repentance, he or she will look at missionary work very differently.

"Repentance is an important part of a missionary’s life both personally and for teaching investigators of the Church....

..."The conversation with this father ended with this statement: “There is nothing more important for your missionary’s preparation than to help him come to know the Savior and His Atonement in this special way. Help him see repentance in a new light as a blessing and privilege and a positive lifelong experience as he learns to take the gospel from the mind deep down into his heart.” The father nodded with grateful appreciation.

"Often our youth look at repentance in a negative way, believing it's only used for the most serious of sins. This approach to repentance may include a period of time not partaking of the sacrament and keeping oneself completely free from the sin for six months or a year. Though this is part of repentance, if the focus becomes a box to check off, or ticking off the months in place of turning one’s heart and will to God, then there might be a change of habit with little change of the heart.

"We hope that every young person works on changing their heart by repenting every day. “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). One of the most precious commandments is to repent of all our sins. Repentance is the only way to return and live with our Heavenly Father."-- LDS.org, October 20, 2016 -- click on the title link above to read full article.

Self-Reliance and Independence

"Independence and self-reliance are critical to our spiritual and temporal growth. Whenever we get into situations which threaten our self-reliance, we will find our freedoms threatened as well. If we increase our dependence on anything or anyone except the Lord, we will find an immediate decrease in our freedom to act."

—L. Tom Perry, "Becoming Self-Reliant"

This is a great quote for today when the American people have just repudiated the current presidential administration, Democratic Party and all liberals who want to make us dependent on them so they can take away our freedoms. 

I love how the prophets and apostles always warn us ahead of things that will be detrimental to us.  This quote was given in 1991 but 25 years later is more pertinent today. We been counseled for decades to be self-reliant.  Now, as we are seeing our freedoms eroded, this prophetic counsel is more valuable than ever.

I'm so happy that the American people still value their freedoms enough to vote in a president who vows to stop the liberal destruction of our country and freedoms. 

That's my two cents.

CFP 2016 Week 11 Results

1. Rex -13 Tie breaker 51
2. Tammy - 15 tiebreaker 29
3. Lisa -16 Tie breaker 54
4. Dad -16 tie breaker 60
5. Derrinda -17 Tie Breaker 52
6. Chanelle -19 Tie breaker 53
7. Elijah -20 tiebreaker 58
8. Juliet-21 tiebreaker: 52
9. Brandon -21 tiebreaker 27
10. Mom -22 tiebreaker 56
11. Mercedes -22 Tie breaker 52
12. Kingston-22 tiebreaker: 45
13. Cody -26 tiebreaker 68

Actual tiebreaker 54

FHE Lesson -- Repentance

I did double duty on Sunday and taught Relief Society and family home evening.  I'll admit I was a little lazy on preparing my lesson for FHE.  I basically just took the lesson from gospel principles verbatim. It was so good I didn't feel like I need to change it much.  If at all.  I did take out a few things and added stuff in brackets.  Anyway here's my lesson including my handouts.

Tammy’s Family Home Evening Lesson – Repentance -- November 2016

From Gospel Principles, Chapter 19: Repentance

[Ask someone to repeat the fourth article of faith.  Then ask, "what is the second principle of the Gospel?"]

We All Need to Repent

Faith in Jesus Christ naturally leads to repentance. There has been the need for repentance in the world from the time of Adam to the present day.

We come to earth for the purpose of growing and progressing. This is a lifelong process. During this time we all sin (see Romans 3:23). We all have need to repent. Sometimes we sin because of ignorance, sometimes because of our weaknesses, and sometimes because of willful disobedience.

What is sin? James said, “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). John described sin as “all unrighteousness” (1 John 5:17) and “the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4).

That is why the Lord said, “All men, everywhere, must repent” (Moses 6:57). Except for Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life, everyone who has lived upon the earth has sinned. Our Heavenly Father in His great love has provided us this opportunity to repent of our sins.

Becoming Free from Our Sins through Repentance

• What is repentance?

Repentance is the way provided for us to become free from our sins and receive forgiveness for them. Sins slow our spiritual progression and can even stop it. Repentance makes it possible for us to grow and develop spiritually again.

The privilege of repenting is made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. In a way we do not fully understand, Jesus paid for our sins. President Joseph Fielding Smith said of this:

“I have suffered pain, you have suffered pain, and sometimes it has been quite severe; but I cannot comprehend pain … that would cause the blood, like sweat, to come out upon the body. It was something terrible, something terrific. …

“… There was no man ever born into this world that could have stood under the weight of the load that was upon the Son of God, when he was carrying my sins and yours and making it possible that we might escape from our sins” (Doctrines of Salvation, sel. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [1954–56], 1:130–31; italics in original).

Repentance sometimes requires great courage, much strength, many tears, unceasing prayers, and untiring efforts to live the commandments of the Lord.

Principles of Repentance

• What are the principles of repentance?

1-  We Must Recognize Our Sins

To repent, we must admit to ourselves that we have sinned. If we do not admit this, we cannot repent.

Alma counseled his son Corianton, who had been unfaithful in his missionary calling and had committed serious sins: “Let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance. … Do not endeavor to excuse yourself in the least point” (Alma 42:29–30). The scriptures advise us further not to justify our sinful practices (see Luke 16:15–16).

We cannot hide any act of our lives from ourselves or from the Lord.

      2-      We Must Feel Sorrow for Our Sins

In addition to recognizing our sins, we must feel sincere sorrow for what we have done. We must feel that our sins are terrible. We must want to unload and abandon them. The scriptures tell us, “All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and … have truly repented of all their sins … shall be received by baptism into his church” (D&C 20:37).

     3-      We Must Forsake Our Sins

Our sincere sorrow should lead us to forsake (stop) our sins. If we have stolen something, we will steal no more. If we have lied, we will lie no more. If we have committed adultery, we will stop. The Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, “By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them” (D&C 58:43).

     4-      We Must Confess Our Sins

Confessing our sins is very important. The Lord has commanded us to confess our sins. Confession relieves a heavy burden from the sinner. The Lord has promised, “I, the Lord, forgive sins, and am merciful unto those who confess their sins with humble hearts” (D&C 61:2).

We must confess all our sins to the Lord. In addition, we must confess serious sins—such as adultery, fornication, homosexual relations, spouse or child abuse, and the sale or use of illegal drugs—which might affect our standing in the Church, to the proper priesthood authority. If we have sinned against another person, we should confess to the person we have injured. Some less serious sins involve no one but ourselves and the Lord. These may be confessed privately to the Lord.

     5-      We Must Make Restitution

Part of repentance is to make restitution. This means that as much as possible we must make right any wrong that we have done. For example, a thief should give back what he has stolen. A liar should make the truth known. A gossip who has slandered the character of a person should work to restore the good name of the person he has harmed. As we do these things, God will not mention our sins to us when we are judged (see Ezekiel 33:15–16).

     6-      We Must Forgive Others

A vital part of repentance is to forgive those who have sinned against us. The Lord will not forgive us unless our hearts are fully cleansed of all hate, bitterness, and bad feelings against other people (see 3 Nephi 13:14–15). “Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin” (D&C 64:9).

     7-      We Must Keep the Commandments of God

To make our repentance complete we must keep the commandments of the Lord (see D&C 1:32). We are not fully repentant if we do not pay tithes or keep the Sabbath day holy or obey the Word of Wisdom. We are not repentant if we do not sustain the authorities of the Church and do not love the Lord and our fellowmen. If we do not pray and are unkind to others, we are surely not repentant. When we repent, our life changes.

President Kimball said: “First, one repents. Having gained that ground he then must live the commandments of the Lord to retain his vantage point. This is necessary to secure complete forgiveness” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball, 43).

How Repentance Helps Us

• In what ways does repentance help us?

As we repent, the Atonement of Jesus Christ becomes fully effective in our lives, and the Lord forgives our sins. We become free from the bondage of our sins, and we find joy.

[Share the story of Alma the Younger]

Alma recounted his experience of repenting from his sinful past:

“My soul was harrowed up [troubled] to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.

“Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.

“… So great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.

“… It came to pass that as I was … harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy … concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.

“Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me. …

“And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more. …

“And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!

“… There can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy” (Alma 36:12–14, 17–21).

• How did repentance and forgiveness bring Alma joy?

The Dangers of Procrastinating Our Repentance

• What are some possible consequences of procrastinating our repentance?

The prophets have declared that “this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God” (Alma 34:32). We should repent now, every day. When we get up in the morning, we should examine ourselves to see whether the Spirit of God is with us. At night before we go to sleep, we should review our acts and words of the day and ask the Lord to help us recognize the things for which we need to repent. By repenting every day and having the Lord forgive our sins, we will experience the daily process of becoming perfect. As with Alma, our happiness and joy can be sweet and exquisite.

Additional Scriptures

• Matthew 9:10–13; Luke 13:3; Ezekiel 18:30 (repent or perish)

• Alma 7:21 (no unclean thing can dwell in God’s presence)

• 2 Corinthians 7:9–10 (godly sorrow)

• Mosiah 4:10–12 (steps to repentance)

• Isaiah 1:18; Mosiah 26:28–32 (repentance brings forgiveness)

• D&C 58:42 (sins remembered no more)

• 2 Nephi 9:23 (repentance necessary to salvation)

• 2 Nephi 2:21 (repent while in the flesh)

• D&C 19:15–20 (the Lord has commanded us to repent so we will not have to suffer as He did)

My handouts:

Rush Limbaugh today

I've mentioned before how I read Rush Limbaugh.com every day.  He is the only media person I trust.  I really liked what he had to say today.  I shortened it just a little bit but it's still pretty long.  I think it's worth reading.  Rush is the only media person who tells the truth and whose predictions are always right.

From Rush Limbaugh.com today:

"RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, I'm getting nervous.  I am already getting nervous.  I know it's early.  I'm not getting nervous because of anything I've heard President-Elect Trump say.  I'm getting nervous because of things I'm hearing other people say, things totally unnecessary.  And I want to take some time today to try to explain why I'm nervous and destroy some myths that seem to always pop up after elections about unity and crossing the aisle and working together and almost apologizing for winning."

"I'm sick of it.  I'm fed up with it.  I have watched it happen for now 29 years, and I'm not gonna sit here and stand or sit mute while it happens again.  We have been governed against our will for the last eight years." ... 

"...Hillary Clinton got six million fewer votes than Barack Obama in 2012.  In 2014, the next set of midterms, the Democrats lost another 700 seats.  The Democrat Party has been decimated.  They have no bench.  They don't have anybody bringing up the rear in case Hillary lost.  They have literally been shellacked.  We have been governed by a minority against our will, and the illusion has been that they are the majority and gaining the majority and growing the majority."

"The illusion has been that we are the ones dwindling away to nothing, and it's been the exact opposite.  The pollsters didn't miss anything.  They didn't get anything wrong.  They just didn't tell us the truth about what they were seeing in these polls.  ...if we're not gonna believe them all of these months when they report the news, why believe the polls that they produce?"

"They didn't miss anything.  ...They didn't miss it.  They didn't tell the truth.  They weren't honest about what they were finding. ...They know exactly who the Trump voter is.  They ignored them.  They impugned them.  They knew exactly where the Trump supporter was coming from and they chose to ignore it.  They chose to report that it didn't exist.  They chose to report that it wasn't relevant."

"So now we have all these riots going on, exactly as I predicted. And, folks, aside from these little snowflakes that are melting on campus today, the kids, all of these riots that you're seeing in New York and Philadelphia and Chicago and Los Angeles are bought and paid for.  They are not real in terms of springing up genuinely and organically.   They're bought and paid for, and we know this from the WikiLeaks email dumps from John Podesta, and we know it from Project Veritas videos."

"We know that all of the protests at Trump rallies were bought and paid for primarily by George Soros, but by the Democrat Party.  We are still being treated by the media to a picture be America that isn't true.  They want you to believe that a majority of Americans is fit to fit to be tied and angry over the election of Donald Trump and as one of which we can never unify unless Trump caves on everything in order to get peace.  That's what they're trying to make everybody think, and that's what's making me nervous, when I hear so many on our side talk about now the need to cross the aisle and the need to unify."

"The time to unify is after we have forced them into surrender just like we did the Japanese in World War II. But the days of unifying with the losers because they're mad and we don't want the media saying mean things about us, they lost.  And, folks, they have been losing since 2010.  Obama would not have won his two elections were it not for his race."... 

..."His policies were unilaterally rejected in this election, folks.  The presidency of Barack Obama was sent packing.  That is exactly what was on the ballot... Part of his campaign -- his ego couldn't help it -- he's out there campaigning (imitating Obama), "My legacy is all about this. My issues are on the ballot.  Hillary Clinton represents a continuation of everything and all the progress we made." 

"What happened?  A total repudiation.  ...The Democrat Party and the agenda of Barack Obama were entirely, totally repudiated in this election, as was the Democrat Party.  It was a bloodbath.  That is how bad it was.  And what people are now learning, they didn't know just how bad it was on the Democrat side." 

"All of our Never Trumpers and all of our wishy-washy RINOs are so self-absorbed with what's wrong in their own party and who's traitorous in their own movement that they were not paying attention to the real enemy -- in a political sense, of course -- and that's the Democrats and the left.  And once you look at what has happened to them 2010, 2014, and Tuesday of this week, they have been sent packing.  Their policies, the substance of what they tried to do, the substance of what they say they believe, things like Obamacare, the stimulus, various economic policy, it has all been repudiated, and not because of personality.  It's because of substance." 

"Six million fewer Democrats showed up to vote for a person who thought she was going to be coronated, so loved and adored we were told she was by the Democrat Party.  She had to steal her own nomination from Bernie Sanders.  Folks, we are lied to every day by the Democrat Party, which is the media.  We are lied to about how we are viewed in the country.  We are lied to about how they are viewed.  We are lied to about how the country loves their policies and loves them.  We are lied to each and every day, and it is the daily soap opera that I have warned about and talked about that the media gets together and scripts, the daily narrative."

"Look at Colin Kaepernick.  Did you see what Colin Kaepernick did on Election Day?  He didn't vote!  Here's a guy who may be one of the primary reasons the audience levels in the NFL are plummeting to the cellar -- here's a guy who claims he's doing it because of social justice, that he can't stand to sit in a country and be in a country where minorities are so poorly treated -- and on the one day where he really has something to say and do about it, he sits on his butt and doesn't go vote." 

"As far as I'm concerned, Colin Kaepernick is a nonperson and doesn't deserve one second more of media coverage, which raises a question: Why did he get any media coverage in the first place?  What was it?  Colin Kaepernick used to be a great quarterback.  Now he has fallen to, basically... He's a bad quarterback.  There's nothing worth watching when Colin Kaepernick takes the field, unless you like car wrecks.  Yet look at all the attention that the media gave him." 

"Why did they give him so much attention?  What was he doing, really? When you get down to brass tacks, what was he doing?  He was ripping America, and that's what they liked, and that's what they wanted to promote -- and the American people have had their fill of this.  The American people love their country and are sick and tired of people who hate it being celebrated and elevated and made celebrities and getting rich.  They are sick and tired of it, and we have the election results to show for it on Tuesday."

"And we also have the plummeting fortunes of the Democrat Party to back it up.  The Democrat Party happens to be the receptacle for anti-Americanism in America today.  If you don't like America and if you've got problems with America, that's where you go.  You go to the Democrat Party.  It is undeniable.  Now, I warned everybody about this rioting. I warned about it constantly.  I want you to hear, because, folks, it isn't real.  I am begging you to ignore it.  Do not let it affect you."

..."It is being bought and paid for.  Organized leftist protests the day after the election in seven cities?  It's not organic like Occupy Wall Street wasn't organic.  If it was, where is it now?  Where is Occupy Wall Street?  It served its purpose; it's gone away?  No, it hasn't.  This is Occupy Wall Street.  This is Black Lives Matter."

"It's all the same people, it's all the same money, it's all the same thinking. And Project Veritas videos exposed how the Democrat Party buys, pays for, and orchestrates this stuff.  Here is me all the way back on June 30th on this program.  And Politico was outraged by what I said here, and they wrote a story on July 1st expressing how they were outraged how anybody could dare say what I said, given the campaign as it was.
This is it.  This is what I said.  You probably heard it, June 30th of this year." 

BEGIN ARCHIVE CLIP 

RUSH: I want you to fast forward to November to Trump winning the presidency in November. And I want you to think, using your intelligence guided by experience, what's gonna happen that night?  What's gonna happen the next day?  What's going to happen every day thereafter?  What's gonna happen the day Trump gets inaugurated?  What is the left gonna do?    They're not gonna just sit idly by and accept this and say, "Good fight.  We gave it everything we had, but we lost."  They're gonna do everything they can to undermine it." 

"And I think we're gonna see levels of violence that we have not seen.  I think people are gonna be shocked at the degree to which the left intends to intimidate people into reversing that result.  I think they're gonna do everything they can to see it that Trump never does get inaugurated.  Whatever, it's gonna be unlike anything. And the point here is that the election, if we win it, is just a small step forward.    It's gonna take fortitude. It's gonna take guts.  It's gonna take steel spines." 

"It's gonna take courage to implement the victory and then to maintain the victory and then to grow upon the victory.  And I'm telling you, the left is gonna be out there attempting, in whatever fashion they can -- whether it breaks the law or not -- to thwart the results of the election should Trump win. ... [M]y sense is that there isn't gonna be any peace.  There's gonna be anger.  There is going to be rage.  There are gonna be lawsuits."

"Everything about the victory is gonna be attacked.  The Democrats will throw lawyers and who knows whatever else at that outcome demanding recounts here, recounts there, whatever. No matter how close it is.   No matter if it's a landslide loss for Hillary Clinton. They just don't put up with it, and they're certainly not gonna be of the mind to put up with it in November.  And it's not just because it's Trump.  Trump will be icing on the cake." 

END ARCHIVE CLIP 

RUSH: "ACLU has already announced they're going to sue Trump.  Folks, there is no desire for unity by the people on the left.  It's a trap, it's a sucker play, and what makes me nervous is that we have Republicans who want to fall into that trap.  I don't know about Trump yet.  Way too soon for that."

..."They do not want unity.  The protests, the college snowflakes melting before our eyes? They do not want unity.  It is a sucker trap. 

"It's a sucker play designed to get us to essentially act like we didn't win.  We've seen it before.  I made this prediction numerous times.  Last October 21st made the prediction again." 

RUSH ARCHIVE:  "Let's say Trump wins a narrow victory, say gets 285 electoral votes or 280, 275, whatever.  Do you think they're just get sit there and accept it for the honor of the tradition of accepting the election results? They've got themselves convinced, 'cause of their own polls, that they're looking a landslide of Goldwater proportions here.  They think Hillary may get 500 electoral votes. (laughing) If Trump... Folks, there will be rioting election night, and we will witness the dignified and accepting tradition of going with the outcome of an election as we have come to expect." 

RUSH:  Right.  So everything I predicted is coming true... 

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Republican Party... Let me put this in perspective for you -- and this is among the things that nobody saw, and stand by for even more delightful detail on this.  The Republican Party is stronger in Washington than it has ever been since the 1920s!  We have more power in Washington, DC -- the Republican Party -- than at any time since the 1920s.  It is huge!  The Republicans have expanded their... The Republicans didn't; Donald Trump did." 

"Another key element here to keep in mind, for all the Never Trumpers, for all the wishy-washy RINO Republican types. They enjoy this power because one man decided to take on the illusion of this gigantic, unbeatable left." -- Rush Limbaugh, November 10, 2016

 Rush Limbaugh is a master orator.  There's not much need to comment on what he just explained. Although I will say a few words.  :-) I really liked his statement that you don't unify with the enemy until after you have made them surrender.  All of this talk of unifying with the left is ridiculous.  Of course that's what the left wants.  That's why you're hearing so much about it.  They want to infiltrate themselves wherever they can.

And this Colin Kaepernick joker is a farce. He claims to be an advocate for social justice yet he doesn't vote?  What a crock. He is just a puppet used by the media to promote anti-Americanism.  Liberals are such hypocrites.

And one more thing, anyone who is sad or angry that Hillary Clinton lost the election is brainwashed by the enemy -- the Democratic Party.  Look at the facts people and wake up to reality. Hillary Clinton is a criminal who belongs in prison.  She had absolutely no business being a candidate for President of the United States of America. Quit letting the media infiltrate your brain.  All they do is lie and fill your mind with liberal propaganda. I have not watched mainstream media news since the last election four years ago.  I'm better off because of it.  No brainwashing here.  I see right through their liberal lies.

That's my two cents.

President-elect Trump

Today is a good day for America.  The Donald -- President-elect Trump -- just beat Hillary or should I say Hilliary in a landslide.  He beat her handily, flipping several states that have voted Democrat for many years.

America made a statement.  America has had a gut full of liberalism, victimization, corruption, and bad policy that has steadily been destroying our country.  The left can say what they want about why they lost-- and believe me, they will.  They will make up all kinds of excuses -- but what it comes down to is that the American people have had a gut full and want their country back.

It's nice to know that the majority of citizens of this country are still decent, patriotic, hard-working, God-fearing people who want what's best for themselves, their families and their country.

Congratulations President-elect Trump.  The American people have put their trust in you.  Now go make America great again!

That's my two cents.

Election Day

Today is election day. I cherish the privilege I have of being able to vote. As a citizen of the United States of America I consider voting a civic duty and sacred privilege. I hope you will also study the issues and candidates and exercise your right and duty to vote.

Edmund Burke who was an Irish statesman born in 1729 has many well-known quotes. Here are a few pertinent to today:

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ― Edmund Burke

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." -- Edmund Burke 

"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." -- Edmund Burke

"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." -- Edmund Burke

Every vote counts!  Please don't let evil triumph by doing nothing.  Do not let tyranny gain a foothold by remaining silent.  GO VOTE!

The church has always encouraged us to study the issues and vote our moral conscience.  They periodically issue letters to be read over the pulpit.  Here is the latest one:

The following letter was issued by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 5, 2016, to be read to Church congregations throughout the United States: 

Dear Brothers and Sisters: 

Political Participation, Voting, and the Political Neutrality of the Church 

As citizens we have the privilege and duty of electing office holders and influencing public policy. Participation in the political process affects our communities and nation today and in the future. We urge Latter-day Saints to be active citizens by registering, exercising their right to vote, and engaging in civic affairs.

We also urge you to spend the time needed to become informed about the issues and candidates you will be considering. Along with the options available to you through the Internet, debates, and other sources, the Church occasionally posts information about particular moral issues on which it has taken a position at www.MormonNewsroom.org.

Principles compatible with the gospel may be found in various political parties, and members should seek candidates who best embody those principles.

While the Church affirms its institutional neutrality regarding political parties and candidates, individual members should participate in the political process. The Church also affirms its constitutional right of expression on political and social issues. 

Sincerely yours, 

Thomas S. Monson
Henry B. Eyring
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
The First Presidency

I honestly don't know how a known serial criminal  is on our ballot for President of the United States, but we all need to make sure she isn't elected.  She belongs in prison not in the White House.  The only person who can keep her out of the White House is Donald Trump.  It's really a no-brainer.  Please go vote for Donald Trump today.

That's my two cents.

CFP 2016 Week 10

1. Rex -8 tiebreaker 61
2. Mercedes -12 tiebreaker 43
3. Tammy -14 tie breaker 47
4. Dad -16 Tie Breaker 52
5. Lisa -18 tiebreaker 39
6. Derrinda -20 tie breaker 52
7. Mom -22 Tiebreaker 56
8. Chanelle -23 tiebreaker 63
9. Brandon -23 tiebreaker 27
10. Cody -24 tiebreaker 67
11. Elijah -24 tiebreaker 58

Actual Tiebreaker 80

Relief Society Lesson -- Faith and Testimony

On the evening of the day of the resurrection, Jesus appeared and stood in the midst of his disciples in the closed room. He showed them his hands through which had been driven the nails and his side which had been pierced by the spear. Thomas, one of the twelve, was not present when this happened, but the others told him they had seen the Lord and that he had spoken to them. … Thomas was skeptical, and he said to the disciples:

“… Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25.)

… In a sense, Thomas represents the spirit of our age. He would not be satisfied with anything he could not see, even though he had been with the Master and knew his teachings concerning faith and doubt. … Faith does not take precedence over doubt when one must feel or see in order to believe.

Thomas was not willing to stand on faith. He wanted positive evidence of the facts. He wanted knowledge, not faith. Knowledge is related to the past because our experiences of the past are those things which give us knowledge, but faith is related to the future—to the unknown where we have not yet walked….

A week later, the disciples were again together in the same house in Jerusalem. This time Thomas was with them. The door was closed, but Jesus came and stood in the midst of them and said, “Peace be unto you.”

“Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.” (John 20:26–27.) …

“Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” ([John] 20:29.)

This occurrence stands as one of the great lessons of all times. Thomas had said, “To see is to believe,” but Christ answered: “To believe is to see.” …

If we turn back to the ninth chapter of John, we read of another incident that took place in Jerusalem in which a man who had been born blind received his sight. It was the Sabbath day, and Jesus was apparently in the vicinity of the temple when he saw the blind man, and his disciples asked him:

“… Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

“Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

“I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:2–5.)

Jesus then spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle mixed with the dust of the earth. He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. If this had been Thomas, would he have gone as he had been commanded or would he have asked the question: “What good can come from washing in the stagnant waters of that dirty pool?” or “What medicinal properties are there in saliva mixed with the dust of the earth?” These would seem to be reasonable questions, but if the blind man had doubted and questioned, he would still be blind. Having faith, he believed and did as he was directed. He went and washed in the pool and came back seeing. To believe is to see. …

My handout: