Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Remember... To have Patience!

Yesterday morning I was studying something that I really need to work on... Patience!!
I was reading in Preach my Gospel, a Manuel that talks about the gospel of Christ, and I was reading about patience. Something that stood out to me was when I was reading about what patience is. "Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious... It's the ability to do God's will and accept His timing." Patience means staying with something to the END!
Ah, that can be so frustrating sometimes and hard, but I know that Heavenly Father is VERY timely, and its hard to wait for some of those answers to prayers or even blessings that He might not be ready to bless us with yet. We have to be patient for those answers and those blessings.
I was reading in Romans 8:24-25, which is my new favorite scripture.:)
It says, " For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."
We have to have hope that the Lord will fulfil His promises to us, but we have to be patient to receive it. They are not always fulfilled as quickly or in the way we might hope.
I personally, need to be patient in receiving blessings and answers but I also need to be patient in the trials and hard times that I go through. In Romans 5:3-5 it says that "...tribulation worketh patience..." Remember to be patient in the hard times and the trials we go through! Yes, it is hard, but it is possible.
And be patient with yourself! Whether in school, work, or a hobby that you may have. Continue in going forward and working hard. I know that by being patient with ourselves we can progress in many things.
I'm not the most patient person in the world. I'm that person that wants things at that time and moment, so when I don't it is hard for me and I give up or quit.
When I started playing the guitar I wanted to be good at that moment. I bought it for myself for Christmas and didn't play it for a year cause I wasn't good. But one day I picked it up and just practiced and practiced. It hurt my fingers but I was patient with myself and kept going. Now, I still am not the best but I can play chords and songs. I'm happy for myself that I was able to keep going and keep working at it. Its that way with anything! Even the gospel. We have to read the scriptures (Bible and Book of Mormon), go to church, & keep the Lords commandments. I know that by doing these things we will be blessed and we can be patient.
With the Lords help, I know that we all can have that patience that we need. I know being patient will help us in everyday life.
So practice being patient. I love you all!!
Remember who you are and what you stand for!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Remember.. to be GrAtEfUl

"Lord I'm grateful for my life,
For my daughter for my wife,
For my heart aches, & my tears,
For the joy through all the years,
& I... I wanna thank you! For everything!
& Lord, I wanna thank you!
For everything and so I'll sing I'm grateful.. Lord, I'm grateful
Lord I'm grateful for thy life,
For thy sacred sacrifice,
For my knowledge for my friends,
For the love through all the years.
& I... I wanna thank you! For everything!
& Lord, I wanna thank you!
For everything and so I'll sing I'm grateful.. Lord, I'm grateful
Sing praise... to the Lord...
Sing praise... to the Lord...
Lord I'm grateful for my life,
For my daughter for my wife,
For my heart aches and my tears,
For the joy through all the years,
& I... I wanna thank you! For everything!
& I... I wanna thank you! For everything!
& Lord I wanna thank you! For everything!
& so I'll sing I'm grateful.. Lord, I'm grateful!
Sing praise... to the Lord...
Sing praise... to the Lord..."
I love this song! especially at the beginning when he says.."For my heart aches and my tears." This goes with my post that I posted yesturday. "As we regularly express our gratitude to our Heavenly Father, we cultivate an uplifting attitude. The Savior has promised, "He who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious (Doctrine and Covenants 78:19)."
Thanksgiving is over, but we should never stop thanking Heavenly Father for the many things that he has blessed us with..
Remember the things that matter most. "..and what is most important always evolves the people around us." -Pres. Thomas S. Monson.. I love this!!! I can't help but to think about my family!
 I wish that I didn't just "assume" that they knew I love them, I wish I could've showed them more. Because to me, they are what matters most. Them, and my Heavenly Father. I am very blessed to have them as my family, and that Heavenly Father let me have them as my family. So Lord, I wanna thank you! For my life, my family, for you, for my Savior Jesus Christ, for my trials, for EVERYTHING!
Remember, who you are and what you stand for! I love you all..

Friday, November 26, 2010

Rememeber.. to thank the Lord thy God..

What are you thankful for?
I love watching this video.. It makes me smile everytime. I love some of the responces to this question. One of the things I love that Elder Oaks says is "to thank God for our adversities". "God offers us oppertunities for blessings....He blesses us through our own adversities." I never thought of that before.. We should be thankful for our hard times and our struggles. They make us grow, stretch and become stronger. I know that with the help from our Father in Heaven we can get through ANYTHING!!!
I love you all.. Remember to thank the Lord for EVERYTHING!!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Remember... To Thank the Lord thy God.

I love this time of the year! I love the fall colors, the weather is great and the HOLIDAYS! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times, and not just cause of the amazing food. Thanksgiving really reminds me of family, and spending time with them. I remember from way back, when I was little, always going to my grandmas or my aunts house for thanksgiving.

I love getting together with the family and seeing everybody. I love seeing how they are doing, and just laughing and joking around with them. This is the first time being away from my family for thanksgiving, I miss them dearly. One thing I really miss is my moms razelberry pie. Ah, its so good. However, I'm so grateful to be here in California with my new family. My mission family, and to be with the friends I have made out here.
Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful and to express our gratitude.
Thank you my family and friends back home for your love and support. Thank you President Bunker and Sister Bunker for the love you show, your examples and for being here to help lead and guide us missionaries! Thank you to all the missionaries serving the Lord, and for your faith. Thank you for all of you! For all of your love and support. Thank you Heavenly Father for this chance I have to be here.
I am so grateful the Lord called me to be here in California at this time. I love serving Him, and inviting others to come closer to Him. I'm very grateful for the people He has put into my life. I have Him to thank for everything. He has helped me so much in my life, and I know He has helped many of you as well. In 2 Nephi 9:52 it says," Behold, my beloved brethren, REMEMBER the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts rejoice."
Remember Our Father in Heaven and show your gratitude to Him, and our Savior for His atoning sacrifice for us.
I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father to send His son to die for us. I'm grateful for the family He has blessed me with. I'm grateful for this beautiful earth that He created for us to come and live on for a time. I love my Heavenly Father so much, and my Savior Jesus Christ. Remember Him! Express your love and gratitude to Him, not just tomorrow, but everyday! I love you all very much!
Remember who you are and what you stand for!
Happy ThanksGiving Family! I love you!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Remember.... 9 November 2010

During my morning studies, I was studying scriptures about how we need to diligently seek the word of the Lord.
I came to Doctrine and Covenants 138 and its the Prophet Joseph f. Smith

and he was reading the scriptures. He was thinking about the Savior and His atonement. His suffering for our sins, dying on the cross, and then being resurrected. Because of this event, we can return to live with him again.
He was reading in 1 Peter 3:18-20; 4:6, Which talks about Christ suffering for our sins, and talked about the spirit world and that the gospel was preached to the dead. He said, after reading this, "As I pondered over these things which are written, the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great."
I have had a couple very good friends of mine pass away, but after the death of Rex I've been thinking alot about the spirit world. I've just wanted a better understanding for myself of what happens after we die. This section of the Doctrine and Covenants has really helped my understanding. 
Reading this verse seriously just brought so much peace to my soul. Rex wasn't able to serve a mission because of his illness. I know that he is serving the Lord now, to those souls who didn't have a chance in this life. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who continues to give us the opportunity to receive this gospel, that missionary work continues after this life. I am so grateful that life doesn't end after this one, that we continue living, learning and teaching. I know that we will see are loved ones again.! I will see my dear friends again! 
Remember who you are and what you stand for. 



Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Remembering Rex


Rex has been a good friend of mine since I was little. I remember playing night games with him and always going over to his house to watch lady and the tramp, when I was little. He and his family lived just 2 houses down from me, so it's been fun seeing him grow up. He is younger than me, so i would see him in the halls at school.
Rex suffered with this disease called cystic fibrosis, a disease that causes thick, sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive tract. 
Even with this Rex was always happy. I enjoyed seeing him and talking to him at church.
Rex was a big on camping and hunting. He would always tell me about the ducks that he... killed, shot.. whatever you call it. ha ha I enjoyed hearing his stories about his camping, hunting and fishing. It was also fun to beat him up in karate.
Rex has been waiting for a double lung & liver transplant.
On 9 November I received some very sad news. Rex passed away at the hospital. I was very emotional when I received this news. The only thing I could think of is that he is home in Heavenly Father's arms.  
I know that this isn't the end for Rex, and that his family will see him again. Rex is doing some good right now! I love Rex and his family and am very grateful for knowing that we can all see him again and be with him.
I love this gospel!
I will always remember Rex and the good that he did on the earth. Remember, life doesn't end, we continue and go on!
Remember who you are and what you stand for!
I'll miss you Rex!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Remember.. Our bodies are temples.


So, We've been talking to some people alot about the Word of Wisdom. The word of wisdom is a law of health, a revelation given to the prophet Joseph Smith from the Lord. It's recorded in the 89 section of the Doctrine and Covenants.
I think we all know how bad smoking is but how bad is it really?
Well, ya smell bad, stains teeth, bad breath, 3 times more cavities and causes smaller lungs and weaker hearts.
Smoking can effect us in so many different ways.
Our physical condition affects us spiritually, Heavenly Father gives us commandments to help us, improve our health physically and spiritually.
When we put these things into our bodies, they make us unclean. We make it so we can't have the spirit to be with us, because the spirit can't dwell in unclean places.
Having the Holy Ghost is a precious gift from our Heavenly Father. The Spirit testifies of truth, he is a companion, helps protect us, leads and guides us, helps us to choose the right.
What a blessing!! After we are baptized, by someone holding that proper authority we recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost. Why would we not want it? To have a constant companion, testifies of truth, & comforts us.
We recieve blessings by keeping the word of wisdom. We'll improve our physical and spiritual well being.
In Corinthians 3:16-17 the apostle paul refers to our bodies as a temple, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."
I truly believe this scripture. Our bodies our temples, they are precious gifts from our Father in Heaven. He gave us the Word of Wisdom to help us take care of them. We will be able to recieve guidance from God, and be able to listen to the spirtiual promptings and feelings of the spirit. Our wisdom and knowledge will increase.
I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father to give us the Word of Wisdom. I know that by living it we will be blessed and that we will recieve guidance from the spirit. Our bodies our precious to our Father in Heaven and we need to take care of them!
I love you all.. and Remember,
who you are and what you stand for!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Remembering Our True Identity

Our-True-Identity
It was fast and testimony meeting at church on sunday. I serve in the singles ward and it was amazing to me to see all these young single adults get up and express their feelings about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and of God.
In one of the meetings that we had, called relief society, where the women of the church get together and talk about the gospel from a womens point of view. It was on self worth. There are many of people in the world who struggle with this, especially women. I am one of these young women who struggle with this. I have for as long as I can remember.
I love this video, about the ugly duckling. "Think of where you come from, we are sons of daughters of God. He wants the best for us.....If we only understood who we are and what is in store for us."
I love that comment! "If we only understood who we are and what is in store for us." Obviously, because the title of my blog is Rememeber who you are and what you stand for!
I love the talk by Elder Jeffery R. Holland "To Young Women." This talk is amazing and it talks alot about how special women are to the Lord.. I mean we are all special, we are all sons and daughters.
In this talk he says something that i just love and read it often for myself..
"I plead with you young women to please be more accepting of yourselves, including your body shape and style, with a little less longing to look like someone else. We are all different. Some are tall, and some are short. Some are round, and some are thin. And almost everyone at some time or other wants to be something they are not! But as one adviser to teenage girls said: 'You can’t live your life worrying that the world is staring at you. When you let people’s opinions make you self-conscious you give away your power. … The key to feeling [confident] is to always listen to your inner self—[the real you.]' And in the kingdom of God, the real you is 'more precious than rubies.' Every young woman is a child of destiny and every adult woman a powerful force for good. I mention adult women because, sisters, you are our greatest examples and resource for these young women. And if you are obsessing over being a size 2, you won’t be very surprised when your daughter or the Mia Maid in your class does the same and makes herself physically ill trying to accomplish it. We should all be as fit as we can be—that’s good Word of Wisdom doctrine. That means eating right and exercising and helping our bodies function at their optimum strength. We could probably all do better in that regard. But I speak here of optimum health; there is no universal optimum size."
Please go to this talk and read it! The whole thing is amazing but I love this paragraph! I can really relate to this paragraph, cause this is something that I would do, we all do.
But why do we? I don't really know this answer. All i have to say is that I love this talk and I truly believe and agree with it..
We are precious daughters of God and He loves and we love Him. We are all different and thats ok. We have our own personalities, and talents. We are all special in our own way.
Remember, God created each and everyone of us individually. We are all special to Him. I know that! I'm still working on it. I know that Heavenly Father does love us no matter how we look! We are His children.
Remember,
Who you are and what you stand for!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

"Cheering each other on"

Charity: An example of the believers

When I first watched this video, I was pretty much in tears! It first caught my attention because this is my home town! My sister attends this school.
I asked my sister about this event and she said it was a very cool thing to experience, she said she will never forget it.
What an awsome thing for the cheer team to have Brittany cheer with them. These girls all showed the pure love of Christ. (Moroni 7:47)
Thats what charity is, its the pure love of Christ. In the bible dictionary it explains charity meaning,"the highest, noblest, strongest kind of love, not merely affection."
Christ had a love for EVERYONE! In Luke 7:12-15 Christ demonstrate's His love. "....the Lord God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love. And except they should have charity they were nothing. Wherefore, if they should have charity they would not suffer the laborer in Zion to perish." -2 Nephi 26:30
I love what Paul says about charity in 1 Cor. 13:2,13. "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing... And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."
I never knew that charity was so important before, until I read these two verses.
When we are feeled with charity, we obey God's commandments and do what we can to serve others. Like this cheer team.
They did everything the could to get Brittany on the cheer team.
We must pray for charity, it is a gift from God. If we do this our love for all people will increase. 
Charity takes action, look for oppertunities to serve others. 
I'm very grateful for these girls examples. I know that charity is very important to have and to show! I know that we can show Gods love for His children by serving them, showing our love for them! We can show our love for God by keeping his commandments. (John 14:15)
I love my Savior very much and am very grateful for His example for all of us.
Remember,
who you are and what you stand for!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Prayer


So prayer has been on my mind alot lately.. I just want to say that I KNOW that the Lord does hear us and does answer our prayers.
We had a mission conference this afternoon and something that was said really made me think a little more about prayer. "Consider all the prayers in your behalf. Recognize and be grateful for the prayers for you! Think about your prayers. We can make a difference with prayer."
What is prayer? Prayer is a sincere, heartfelt talk with our Heavenly Father. We pray to Him.
What a great blessing, to be able to talk to our Father in Heaven. We need to seek for His guidance daily. Pray for the guidance and strength to resist temptations. (3 Nephi 18:15)
One of the things that I love about prayer is that we can be anywhere and we can pray to Him anytime!
I remember having a discussion on how to pray in my seminary class. My teacher was telling us that we address Our Heavenly Father.... then we close in the name of Jesus Christ..(3 Nephi 18:19) But what do we pray for? That was the question that the teacher asked, there were alot of different responces like, our friends, family, food, guidance and express our gratitude. "Yes, those are all good things," she said, "but what about just telling Him about your day?" She challenged us to try it, to tell Our Father in Heaven about our day. Tell Him what happened, how we felt, what we did. She promised us that we would feel closer to Him. I felt weird at first, but I decided to take that challenge. I started talking to Him about my day, how it went what I felt, if it was a good day or a bad day. I started talking to my Heavenly Father.... like my Father. I expressed to him my feelings and now, I feel like I have a great relationship with Him. I find myself talking to Him ALL the time. I'll be driving down the road, or walking down the street and I find myself talking to Him. I look forward to kneeling down at night and telling Him about my day. I love what is says in the Bible Dictionary under "prayer" pg 752  
"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part."
I know that He does hear us and does answer our prayers! I know that Our Father in Heaven wants to hear from all of His children! He does love us and I know that we can all feel of His love if we just turn to Him and trust Him.
So, I would like you to take this challenge as well. Talk to Him about your day, express your feelings to Him, tell Him what you did that day and how you felt. I promise that you will feel His love for you and that your relationship with Him will grow.
Remember,
who you are and what you stand for!