Madriglace

AS we grow in the gospel if we follow in the Masters footsteps our reverence and care for all of His creations will come through. As a kid we didn't have alot and if my father hadn't been able to hunt we would not have been able to eat. When things got better he quit hunting ... said his heart wasn't in it because it wasn't necessary anymore. Our ward had a regular work project where we adopted an 7 miles stretch of highway and did clean up on it. Just a couple of examples ... the church teaches the gospel principles ... the home needs to be the place to implement them ... how about Family Home evening? Children learn what they see ... if parents have a reverence for all life so will their children. The church can only do so much .... we have to step up and do the rest. JHO ... don't get me on my soap box about PETA .... highest kill rate of any shelter in the US ... they are anything but ethical. Research is suggested.

I think that we can belive anything we want but if we are actively involved in any of these groups ... say out protesting for abortion etc with organized groups then these are the ones that fall under the recommend question. Many moons ago we had a group in our area call Saints Alive (they called themselves a church and have since gone the way of the Dodo) who's soul mission in existing was to lure people away from the LDS church. This would be one of those org covered by that question.

Follow the prophet and honor your temple covenants ... endure to the end and do it well. After that not much else matters ... it isn't going to be easy but looking to the eternal makes any sacrifice worth it. When teaching a RS lesson once I asked the question .. If the Bishop walked in the room right now and said Sister X please pack your family and head to Missouri would you do it? I was shocked at how many said no that they would need more information. For me my answer was How long do I have to pack!

Nope animals do what they do ... if they were where they belonged they wouldn't have been let out and had to have been killed ....

I LOVE working with the teens in the church ... the primary kids scare the bejeebers out of me!

Once again animals suffer for some humans stupidity.

You are thinking in the here and now ... alter your view to an eternal perspective. If you love each other as much as it sounds take a look at it another way ... would you rather be without her now or without her for eternity? The way I see it the choice is simple. Asmall time here or all blessings promised for eternity. I have to remember the first thing I thought when Pres Hinkley died ... now he gets to be with his sweetheart forever.

Go to your Bishop and take care of business ... you know you have been forgiven but you still need to go through the steps. I was in the same position ... told my Bishop I knew I had been forgiven but I need to make it offical. For me that was all it took ... I had my temple reccommend a week later.

I have to speak in Sacrement Meeting on the 23rd .... the topic I was given was "Jesus Christ , the Master Teacher". I feel like instead of talking about what He taught that I need togo with HOW He taught and then tie it into how He invites us to join Him in teaching the world. So ... suggestions on examples of his teaching methods ... parables is one I am looking at, having people essentially teach themselves by asking the questions so they have to work it out for themselves and of course the most powerful is by His example. Any other suggestions .. Thanks in advance for your help

The squeaky wheel gets the grease ... instead of asking if you can have HT or VT ask who they are and what their phone numbers are. Many Many moons ago I was in a ward for sveral months and had no visits at all so I got up in fast meeting and bore my testimony of home HT & VT and then said I had had neither and that I was going t ofind out who they were. They were on my door step the next day. As for not having a route .. I am currently routless (sp?) ... I had to ask to be released from the one home I had because there was a saftey issue and I still work to support my self and my dogs ... I have asked many times for a new route and am ignored ... I miss the visits and the blessings I got from the service. Guess I am going to have to squeak louder!

Get the small pretzels (the loopy ones), line them up on a cookie sheet covered in waxed paper, put a Hershey's Kiss on top, put in an low (150') oven for abt 3-4 minutes and then press a holiday colored M&M into the soft chocolate, put in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour .. fast easy and way good! One thing my dad likes to do is mix up a batch of his special bread dough, put it in a tin bread pan and take it to his families with baking instructions ... nothing better than fresh HOT bread!

Family Search says 70 years ... after that the names are fair game with a few exceptions ... famous people, reserved names etc. I am not sure why we ask permission to do work for the dead from their relatives ... it involves no one but the person who the work is for ... but I guess it is courtesy. I have started several family members without permission because of very strong promptings ... but that's family and they don't want to get into it with me ... I may be 2nd to the end in the family but I am way pushy when I am right.

You have been given a great deal of good advice to your questions ... so I will just add a couple of points. My basic point of view is we get out of something what we put into it ... you need to be the very best wife to your husband that you can be ... and shame on the sisters who think leaving is an option ... if you look for the good and act on it that will be what you get out of your marriage. While you work on that ... be the best you you can be as well ... get yourself temple ready and take out your own endowment ... it will be a huge help to you ... then walk in the footsteps of the Master ... your example and the changes in your life will go farther to turning your husband to the church than anything. And when the children come ...don't worry about the lack of a sealing to their father ... as long as you live the way you should it will all work out ... never doubt that a loving Father would not take your children from you because of someone else's choice. Your commitment to what you believe is going to be the your greatest asset. Good luck.

There is a contract ... of sorts ... concerning the garment ... go back and do some intiatory. I was able to do for 21 of my ancestors a couple of weeks ago ... I can pretty much quote it. Not a wise move to disrespect them or that contract.

I was able to spend most of the morning in the temple doing initiatory for 21 of my ancestors and then arrived in our stake just in time for dinner and the broadcast ... after Pres Uchtdorf's (sp?) I knew I had been blessed with a very spiritual day. The salmon was wonderful ... we had ice cream for desert along with handpicked and hand made blackberry cobbler which the stake RS pres did. I love our stake!

OK ... don't mean to sound harsh but you need to be happy with you before you can be happy with anyone else. These girls cannot make you happy ... only you can be happy. Being needy never works ... needing and wanting are 2 different things. Get busy, be of service, find a new hobby, fill your callings, do all you can to be the best you you can be and if it is meant to happen it will. But just be happy with you. Learn that there is nothing wrong with being single as long as you do it right. I think when you finally really stop trying and worrying about it things will change. BTW this is coming from some one who is nearly double your age and still single and quite happy about it. I just wish I had more time to do all the stuff and go all the places I want to.

In our stake they hold a salmon derby and the preisthood serves the sister the most fabulous fresh BBQ salmon dinner before the broadcast .. what a great girls nite out! The derby winner ..... biggest salmon caught ... wins a quadruple combination set of scriptures. This has been going on for about 4 years now.

My national identity is deeply engrained .. I have yet to find a family line that came through Ellis Island ... my ancestors have been here (US) since the beginning and have served in every war the US has been involved in and I am so proud of my heritage. How ever if you look at our history from a gospel perspective ... things here had to be set in order and conditions in place for the restoration of the gospel ... we did not have time to sit and talk ... and compromises had to be made. We declared our independence in 1776, the constitution was signed in 1787, Joseph Smith was born in 1805 and the gospel was restored in 1830. The founding fathers left slavery alone because of the urgency they felt to get the constitution signed to preserve the union that they had fought so hard to form. They knew that the slavery issue would come up again. The Lord uses the conditions at hand to accomplish His work. As much as I love traveling, and have had the priviledge of seeing some truly wonderful parts of this world (even if the Canadian border people hate me) ...for me the US is the only game in town.

An eccentric old lady at almost 50 ... man am I in BIG trouble. I am nearly 58, single, and a life long member of the church (well since I was 8 anyway). I have never turned down a calling or asked to be released from one but that doesn't mean that some of the Bishops couldn't wait to get rid of me either. A couple months ago someone told me that I was intimidating ... can you believe that? Just be who you are .. that is what you have been given to bring to your brothers and sisters ... and if folks don't like it ... well ... they can just get over it. I say what I think and mean it and if they don't like it ... oh well! As I said I am single, never been married or had kids but I currently have 10 kids. I teach the teens in Sunday school and love it ... most would rather cut off their arm than work with the teen agers ... we each have our spot that we can grow and be of service ... we just have to look for it and then go for it. You will never be asked to do anything you can't handle and as Pres Eyring (I think) said the Lord magnifies those who magnify their callings. It amazes me what I can do when I rely on the Lord for help. The Priesthood may be the backbone of the church but the sisters are the heart and soul and stand behind the priesthood reminding them to stand up straight! One saying goes that if you want a job done call the Relief Society. (We had a request in our area for 144 quilts in 2 weeks during a flood here, our stake turned out 1400 in 5 days) Read some of the stories of the early sisters .. those ladies were amazing. Mary Fielding Smith is my all time hero ... or I guess heroine is more correct. That lady had a backbone of steel, an iron will and faith beyond belief. Just always remember who you are ... a daughter of God and that who you are is who He will use to His purposes. Be the best you you can be.

The evidence is there ... if you have the faith to recognize what you see. When you walk the sites in central and south America and see things like the tree of life and baptismal fonts and represetations of the degrees of glory it adds to ones testimony of the Book of Mormon ... however unless you have faith that the book is true already you will miss what you are looking at, as most of the world does.

Letting ones self go is a state of mind .... the result of which shows up on the outside. I am over weight but make an effort to be clean, dress nicely and appropriately, and generally take as good care of myself as I can ... this I do for me. Just because someone is over weight doesn't mean they have let themselves go ... medical issues can be involved. I don't wear makeup because of allergies and because I sweat like crazy! So anyone who doesn't like what I look like ... tough nooggies!

If one belives that the Jews killed the Savior then they need some serious soul searching as regards their testimony of His divinity. The Jews did not killl Christ ... He gave up His life and as He was dying He petitioned the Father to forgive the people who tormented Him ... because they didn't know what they were doing. To me this is an essential part of the atonement ... becuase of His divinity he could have easily come down from the cross and punished his tormentors ... he chose to complete His mission. The things that were done to Him were a means to an end. The following quote was written and published on LDS Living by Keith Hamilton, a black member of the church. His article speaks of his experiences and his testimony. It really touched me to read his insite into the issue of blacks and the priesthood. To him his race was a gift. "I do not know when or why the restrictive practices against my people were adopted and carried out by the LDS Church, but I do know that the policy and practices were the Lord’s doing and not the autonomous or unilateral act of any man or men. I know this by faith in God and through personal revelation from the Holy Ghost. According to God’s wise and just purposes, He allowed the restrictions to be placed upon my people for the trial, growth, and benefit of all His children, especially my people and those of His church and kingdom on earth. Simply put, like unto the blind beggar healed by Jesus central to the story in John 9, I was not born black because I sinned as a premortal spirit or because my parents, real or imagined (i.e., Cain, Ham, or anyone else), sinned in mortality. Rather, I am black, and of the lineage once subjected to priesthood and temple restrictions by the LDS Church, because I chose to accept the mortal mission given me by my Heavenly Father. It is a mission that required me to come into mortality as a black American at a time when the gospel was restored upon the earth, and when the priesthood would be made available to all worthy males, so that in some small way the works of God might be made manifest in and through me."

JMHO .... several years back while studying to teach a lesson the lights finally came on ... I realized that the atonement was about one person ... me. The pain, the drops of blood, the anguish were because of me. The Savior atoned for my sins and through His grace for me I was saved ... then having realized my part in His suffering it was up to me to do something about it. How could I as as a child of a loving Heavenly Father accept a gift like that and not make a HUGE effort of show my gratitude. So for me ... while I am saved by grace it is up to me to follow in His foot steps with a whole heart to make that sacrifice for me to not have been in vain. The harder I work to follow Him the better I become .. the more I put on the whole armour of God and draw closer to Him. Consider it a pay it forward situation ... Heavenly Father loved us so He sent His son who loved us so He atoned for us so we loving him in turn love our brothers and sisters as we have been loved. Makes a whole lot of sense to me. But then I tend to have a very simplistic view of the gospel.

Look at this as a learning experience, a time to gain strength, faith and committment. You will need it. Once your papers are in the adversary will work over time. My folks served 5 missions and everytime just after the papers went in things started to go wrong. Keep your faith firmly centered on the Master and work hard. Good luck.

Works for me ... I have seen spirits my entire life ... so not the least bit scary for me. If one bothered me I just told it to leave. BTW I don't believe in ghosts but know that spirits visit us from time to time.