I am in need of this scripture in my life, so I’m memorizing it using the help of these beautiful images from lds.org.
Charity
Category: Church
A Baptism Day
My niece Ruby was baptized this weekend. This was the cousin shot, and this was the best they could do to hold still after the loooooooong program. They love each other. Can you tell?
My parents were there and I’m grateful that I can see them so often. Sitting with family at baptisms was a blessing that I missed when we lived far away. That little Ruby is such a pretty and kind little girl! She is learning to speak Chinese, too. Wow.
Clean
Occasionally we have the opportunity to clean the Draper Temple after hours. This means we go from 9 to 11:30 p.m. or on a Monday afternoon. We have a cleaning supervisor who sees that we are thorough and know what to do. We present our temple recommends to enter and we change into white cleaning clothing. The temple is meticulously cleaned often. In fact, it’s difficult to find any evidence of debris on our cleaning rags and dusters.
On my last trip to clean the temple I was given the task to vacuum the sealing rooms and two additional rooms in the hallway. I spent two hours beneath chandeliers and between mirrors with the afternoon sun coming through the stained glass windows. The air in the temple always feels tight and hushed and even the vacuum cleaner I was given was especially quiet. I suppose that the people who were cleaning bathrooms will receive additional blessings, but I felt pretty blessed that day to be able to spend so much time caring for these beautiful sealing rooms in the House of the Lord.
I envisioned the families who had gathered there to witness marriages. I thought about my own family and my hopes that my children will be married in temples someday. It was a good way to spend an afternoon. I looked into the mirrors. When I see myself in the mirrors at the temple I feel more beautiful than I do at home.
Mormonism at a Glance
httpv://youtu.be/7o-ByARPf9w
My Conference Notebook
This morning I am finishing my conference notebook. I got this idea from a religion course my mom took at BYU. The idea is to find the quotes that are meaningful to you from the words of the prophets and compile them by topic into a document.
This summer I read the General Conference addresses from the May Ensign and marked the passages that meant something to me. Next, I went through the marked passages and placed a post-it note at the top of the page with a topic written on it. I color coded these post-it notes, pink for motherhood, yellow for revelation, etc.
Using an electronic version of the Conference addresses, I am copying and pasting the quotes by topic into a Word document.
Through this exercise I have discovered that these are the topics that were important to me this year:
- Motherhood
- Priesthood
- Revelation
- Trials
- Chastity
- Marriage
- Prayer
- Media
- Peace
- Missionary Work
- Obedience
- Atonement of Jesus Christ
- Mormonism IS Christianity
Youth Conference 2013
Paige and I went to youth conference with our Stake in June. We spent a day doing yard work and painting in an older neighborhood in SLC. The next two days we spent at Heber Valley Camp doing ropes courses, canoeing, going to classes, and hiking. The first four rows of kids in this photo belong to our ward.
I love being a youth leader.
How I Know
This is #14 (and the last) in a series of posts in which I share some of the things I have experienced because I am a Mormon. In each of these posts, I will give you a basic background and share a small experience. I hope that through the sharing of these small things you can have a glimpse into my experience as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I will also try to explain principles and doctrines of my faith that bring me so much happiness.
When I first set out on this project, I listed many experiences, but chose only a few to write online. I have only written experiences that I would feel comfortable sharing in Sunday school. I have many sacred experiences that would be trivialized by sharing them on the internet with inadequate words and without my voice and person to help convey my message. I have not been able to come up with a post that adequately expresses what I feel about the Savior. The experiences that have led me to know him best are deeply personal.
I hope that you have not found my posts about Mormonism “cocky” or “self-righteous.” It’s been a difficult project, more difficult than you know. What I have shared has been a big deal…for me.
How I Know
There are hundreds of experiences that have confirmed to me that my religion is true, but my experiences won’t sustain faith in another person. So in this last post I will just tell you the things that help me to maintain my position that this Church is true.
I read the book (present tense): I read the Book of Mormon. I read the Bible. I personally love the Bible best. Thousands of times I have felt that these are the words of God.
I live it. In true experimental fashion, I live what my religion teaches and see if I’m happy. The more closely I align my life to the teachings of Jesus Christ, the happier I am. ALWAYS.
I pray and I receive answers in the Lord’s time. I can tell you that the mode and timing to the answers to my prayers are always meaningful and memorable.
That’s it. I read, I live, I pray. Then I wait upon the Lord, who is so, so generous.
Angels in the attitude of singing
This is #13 in a series of posts in which I share some of the things I have experienced because I am a Mormon. In each of these posts, I will give you a basic background and share a small experience. I hope that through the sharing of these small things you can have a glimpse into my experience as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I will also try to explain principles and doctrines of my faith that bring me so much happiness.
Angels, in the attitude of singing
I was probably four years old sitting in the old chapel with peachy colored pews without cushions. The windows were full of light and I looked around, studying the things a child studies during church, such as the shape of the light fixtures, the tall ceiling, and the curtains on the windows. I know we always attended church, but childhood memories of church meetings are few; this one became very important.
The white-haired chorister, a widow named Lera Whittle, sister of Ezra Taft Benson, stood up with her baton to lead the hymn, Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel. The congregation stood up to sing. Sister Whittle’s baton moved with the music and her emphatic face and hand movements inspired the congregation to sing out. The novelty of discovering the power of music made my little chest swell as I joined in with fervor, “Put your shoulder to the wheel, push along; Do your duty with a heart full of song, We all have work; let no one shirk; Put your shoulder to the wheel!” I was in raptures by the end of that song.
This was the beginning of my love of the hymns of the Church, which have comforted, inspired, and helped me through the years.
When I think of a difficult time in my life, I can usually associate a hymn that helped me through it.
- Lonely days: The Lord is my Shepherd
- Feeling lost after a big transition in my life: How Gentle God’s Commands
- Saying goodbye: Come, Let us Anew
- Times of mourning: Abide with Me; ’tis Eventide
- Times of repentance: Lead, Kindly Light
One of my favorite things is to hear my little Mark singing the hymns at church. I’ll put my arm around him and lean in. The purity and sweetness usually brings tears to my eyes. I’ve decided that heaven has got to sound like that.
Yea, methought I saw…God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and praising their God; yea, and my soul did long to be there. (Alma 36:22)
If you have a few minutes, here’s one of my favorites: Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Wait–and buy this.
This is #12 in a series of posts in which I share some of the things I have experienced because I am a Mormon. In each of these posts, I will give you a basic background and share a small experience. I hope that through the sharing of these small things you can have a glimpse into my experience as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I will also try to explain principles and doctrines of my faith that bring me so much happiness.
One of the young men in our ward was in the hospital. A seizure had brought him to the sudden reality of a brain tumor. Within hours, his life and his family’s lives had changed completely.
Many rushed to the hospital that first evening to visit. Someone told me that there were 36 visitors that first night.
I prayed to know what to do. I felt inspired to wait a day before visiting, gather notes from the mother’s friends, and pick up some personal care items from the store. A the checkout stand I saw a display of prepaid phone cards. It was an unexpected choice, but I felt inspired to buy one.
I sat with the mother at the hospital during her son’s first surgery. The hospital room was quiet. The crowd had left many gifts of food and well wishes the night before. As we sat and waited, I showed her the notes we had collected for her, along with the gifts. The notes meant a great deal to her; but she was restless and feeling like she needed to do more than sit around and wait for news.
The phone card turned out to be the thing she needed most at that moment. With it, she could make long distance calls from the hospital to Houston where they would seek further cancer treatment. (This was in the day before cell phones were in everyone’s pockets.) She expressed real gratitude for this card which would allow her to DO something, rather than just sit, feeling useless at the hospital.
The gift of the Holy Ghost is powerful. After baptism, we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. The companionship of the Holy Ghost is so helpful in our decisions and our capacity to serve. Alone, I probably wouldn’t have waited to visit and I would have just come and given a hug; with the Spirit, I felt inspired not only to Wait, but to purchase something I didn’t set out to buy.
A Soldier, a Mother, and a Quilt
This is #11 in a series of posts in which I share some of the things I have experienced because I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In each of these posts, I will give you a basic background and share a small experience. I hope that through the sharing of these small things you can have a glimpse into my experience as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. I will also try to explain principles and doctrines of my faith that bring me so much happiness.
A Soldier, a Mother, and a Quilt
I was at a viewing for a young soldier. It was the first time I had ever seen this young man, but it shouldn’t have been.
Four or five years before his death, this young man was on the list of kids who were seminary age, but I had never contacted him to invite him to my class. His family had not been to church for years, and I didn’t reach out to him.
When the young man was killed in the war, the family called a friend from the Church, and many members ran to the family to help in their own way.
My feelings were poignant, and the words that formed in my mind that evening at the viewing were full of regret. I deeply regretted that I had not known him. It was a terrible to face a missed opportunity for friendship in such a way.
It took courage to introduce myself to his mother, surrounded by women of another religion at the viewing. “I’m Angie Ross and I’m your Relief Society President,” was all that I can remember saying.
With a flash of recognition at the title, but not my face, she looked at me and paused. The moment was quickly gone, but she knew that she was not forgotten by the Church in which she was still a member, but no longer attended.
My individual failings aside, I knew that she had never been forgotten by the members of the Church. Her visiting teachers, two women assigned to visit her monthly were faithful. These sisters had continued to maintain a friendship with her for many years. These women were marvelous.
We made a quilt for this grieving mother with squares made by individual members. Some squares were made by her visiting teachers; some were made by her friends; one was made by a child, and one was made by a set of missionaries about the age of her son. However, the majority of the quilt was made by women she had never met, who had covenanted at baptism to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort.
The Church is made of individuals full of faults and personal failings. Individually, we are inadequate in our efforts, but together, we can help compensate where there are failings. I had failed to reach out to the son, but others had maintained a friendship with his mother, and she was able to feel the strength of the Church when her son was killed. As members of the Church, we have a network of people in place to support each family. The organization of the members watching out for one another is one testament to me that this is Christ’s Church on the earth today.
For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection. 2 Corinthians 13:9