Have you heard of Ring Masters?

You haven't? Well, let me tell you about them! They have LDS jewelry and other items you may want. It's awesome! That's where my CTR rings are from. Love that place. It's so cool. Here's the link: http://shopringmasters.com/ Go there! Go get your CTR rings or whatever else you want! I love my rings. I wear my CTR ring all the time. So so check it out. You won't regret it.

General Conference

General Conference comes every 6 months. April and October. It's a time to gather together as Saints and listen to our Church leaders. Latter day Saints gather all over the world at home or at church. Or if you're lucky, in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. It's two days Saturday and Sundays. They have Priesthood session Saturday night. There are a total of 5 sessions. The leaders talk about family, faith, loving others, the Lord and other things like that. It's a very spiritual Conference. I love listening to Pres. Monson and the rest of the leaders. I can feel their spirits no matter where I watch Conference. They are called of God to lead His Church today. The Ensign comes out the next month and we can go back and read the talks. It's also on lds.org where you can listen to it and read the text. I love technology so we can go back to listen to it. I always take notes when listening to the speakers so I can write down something they said or how I felt or any inspiration I may feel. I go back to that to read what I had felt. I love the Spirit I feel when I listen to them. This Church is true. Pres. Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God. Joseph Smith did see the Father and the Son. the Book of Mormon is true. It is the second testament of Jesus Christ. Amen. If you have questions if these are true, pray to the Father if it's true. As my seminary teacher once said "if you want to know if Joseph Smith really saw God, ask Him He was there." Pray and ask in faith as Joseph did in the grove. You'll get your answer.

Family History I am doing it!

And I'm also teaching it! ha ha. I love Family History. I loved my mission because that is what I got to do. I helped others find their families and I also found mine! My mom's family are not members of the Church so I got to find their names and info and do their work. Of course I had my family helping me with it. One story I want to share is about my Great Great Uncle Clarence Moore. He went to war during WWII. He was a POW and was killed. Ok so this is the story I had always heard was that he was a POW and was killed by the Japanese but it was unknown where. Supposedly 2 of his brothers were on a mission to find him and other POW's and saw the Japanese attack the ship Clarence and others had been on. Ok, so skip to my mission. I was in training to learn how to find my ancestors and also learn the New Family Search. So my trainer, Sister Christensen and I decided to find Clarence. His name is something I'd always heard when I was growing up. My mom told me of a dream she had about a man named Clarence and he kept saying to her "find me." She asked her grandma who Clarence was and that's when she found out about him. My mom didn't do anything about it. So when I went on my mission I decided I HAD to find Clarence! So we looked. We found his army number! When I was done with my training in the Joseph Smith Building I went to Access Services in the Family History Library. I continued looking then. I hit a dead end! So I prayed to Heavenly Father and said "what do I do? Where do I go from here?" A voice told me "look up Arisan Maru." So I did. It was a Japanese POW ship. The POW ship Clarence was on! I found out that the American's bombed it because it wasn't marked a POW ship like it should have been. They didn't die from that. The Japanese killed them! 8 out of 1800 survived. Clarence wasn't one of them. I could see it in my minds eye. I sat at the computer and cried. When I was looking for Clarence I had a dream where I was in a market place and I kept asking everyone if they knew where Clarence was. Nobody knew. I kept seeing a shadow turn a corner so I'd follow it. I never saw it just the shadow and kept asking if they'd seen him. This was when I was trying to find out how he died and where and when! The next few days I finally found his info. After that the dream stopped. We've done his work except for sealing to his family. I'm still a little sore at my brother for not doing his work when I was there. When we can seal Clarence to his family I WILL be there! I love genealogy. It's a wonderful thing to do. I love the stories, I love the hunt! It's a treasure hunt to find your ancestors! When I pass on I want to hold my head high saying I helped them! I helped them out of spirit prison. I helped them to progress! I want to hear them say "thank you" to me. That is a great reward right there! I want to hug Clarence and tell him how much I love him. I feel so close to him. I feel like he's watching over me. I feel all my ancestors watching over me. John H. Groberg said in April 1980 Conference "By writing personal and family histories and doing the research required thereby, we inevitably have our hearts turned to our fathers as well as to our children. The Lord says this must happen, “lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Mal. 4:6). Let us not be part of a curse." Let us not be part of a curse! Let us do our family history! Let us find those who are lost. Let us do the work of those who's work hasn't been done! It's a wonderful work to be apart of and the blessings will be great! I cannot wait for that reward of seeing my family who have passed on! I love them and I know they love me. I hope that you will do your family history and realize the importance of it! Let's get our family out of spirit prison if they haven't had the chance to hear the message of the Gospel when they were alive! Let's do their work. Let's make them proud of us!

Happy Birthday, Pres. Monson!

Today we celebrate Pres. Thomas S. Monson's birthday! He was born on August 21, 1927 in Salt Lake City, Utah to G. Spencer and Gladys Condie Monson. He helped serve and take care of his neighbors especially the widows. When Pres. Monson was young he developed a love for swimming and fly fishing. Other interests that continued from boyhood include raising Birmingham roller pigeons (performing birds that roll over backward while flying) and watching football, basketball, and baseball.

President Monson graduated from West High School in Salt Lake City, served in the U.S. Navy during the closing months of World War II, and studied business management at the University of Utah. In 1948 he graduated and on October 7 married his sweetheart, Frances Beverly Johnson, in the Salt Lake Temple. The couple later became the parents of three children and have nine grandchildren. he was called to be a bishop at age 22. Bishop Monson’s 67th Ward had more than 1,000 members, including 85 widows.

Every Christmas the young bishop took a week of his personal vacation time to visit and bring a gift to each of the widows in his ward. He continued to visit these sisters at Christmas for the next 47 years until the last widow passed away in 1998.

At age 27, President Monson was called as a counselor in the Temple View Stake Presidency, and a few years later he was called to serve as president of the Canadian Mission. On October 4, 1963, he was ordained an Apostle at age 36 (the youngest Apostle in 53 years), and on November 10, 1985, he became a counselor in the First Presidency at age 58 (the youngest in the 20th century).

When Pres. Hinckley passed away in January of 2008, Pres. Monson became the 16th prophet February 4, 2008. He continues to lead and guide us today! We thank thee O God for a prophet! I love our prophet.

Here's something I don't understand

So I've been thinking about things lately. Ok, for quite awhile. Why is it people persecute the Church? Why did they have to tar and feather Joseph Smith and other leaders of the Church for worshiping God? Why kill others for their religion and beliefs? Now I know it's Satan planting those seeds of contention and whatnot in people. They need to break down their pride and just attend a meeting or talk to a member of the Church about what they believe instead of mocking and ridiculing them? You don't see members of the LDS Church protesting others church meetings or whatever they may be doing. You don't see us mocking and ridiculing other religions. You don't hear us preaching about other religions and bringing their religion down in our meetings. So why should those "Christian" churches do such things? I'd like to know where in the Bible it says to preach "bad things" about other religions! Where does Christ say "tear down my children and tar and feather them" Where does it say that? So for those who don't know about the LDS Church, don't listen to the anti's. Talk to a member of the Church! Learn the truth for yourself! Just had to get that out. :)

June 27, 1844

On this day in 1844, Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred in Carthage Jail. Joseph, Hyrum and others had been taken to Carthage to await trail. Joseph, Hyrum, John Taylor and Willard Richards were the only ones left in the room on that fateful day. Joseph had John sing "A Poorway Fairing Man of Grief." They did things to keep their minds off of what could happen to them. At 5:00 pm, a mob rushed the jail. They were painted to disguise themselves. The four kept the door shut as best as they could. Shots were fired through the door and the window. Hyrum was the first hit. he was shot in the face. He said "I'm a dead man." and he died. Joseph mourned for his brother. John Taylor tried to jump out the window but was shot in the leg and in the chest but his pocket watch stopped the bullet forever reminding everyone the time of the martyr. Joseph jumped out of the window and was shot in the back and front. His last words were "my Lord my God." He and his brother Hyrum were not divided in life nor in death. Joseph restored Christ's Church on this Earth. He was a man of God. Hyrum was a great brother to Joseph helping him through his trials and also with translating the Book of Mormon. John Taylor later wrote and was included in Doctrine and Covenants 135:3: Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!
John Taylor did survive and had surgery. He became the third president of the Church. Willard Richards also survived and left without a scratch. He helped John Taylor to the basement where there were other jail cells to keep him safe in case the mob came back.

They are my heroes! I cannot wait to meet them in the next life. I'm grateful for Joseph for going in the grove in the Spring of 1820 to ask God which church to join. I don't know where I'd be or what I'd be doing or even how I would be if I was not part of this restored Gospel. It's true! And something I'm grateful for and hold dear to me.

Happy Birthday, Jane Johnston Black

Yesterday was my 4th Great Grandma Jane Johnston Black's birthday. I did a little thing for her.

Jane Johnston Black was born June 11, 1801 in Antrim Ireland to Daniel Johnston and Margaret Chambers. Her father was a minister for the Wesleyan Methodists. She took over for him when she was 16 and was a minister til she was 20 when she lived with William Black, who was her guardian when her father passed away. William "Y" Black was in the British army and came home and courted Jane. They married July 31, 1822. They had four children: William Valentine, Mary, George and Joseph Smith Black (he's my 3rd Great Grandpa!). In 1834 or 35, they moved to Manchester, England for work. While there, they heard the Mormon Missionaries. William Clayton (who wrote "Come, Come Ye Saints") and Joseph Fielding spoke of the restored Gospel. They both believed and were baptized Jan. 14th, 1839. They were also friends of John Taylor's and Brigham Young's who were also serving there. William desired to become a missionary and went with John Taylor and others to Ireland to preach the gospel. While William was on his mission, Mary had gone to Kirtland with a few Saints and in 1840, Jane and her 3 boys sailed to Nauvoo. There was a bad storm. One of the older boys had said something in tongues and Jane interpreted it saying that they'd dock in England and they'd continued on and be safe. The ship Chaos was docked the next day a few got off but they continued onto Nauvoo. They arrived in Nauvoo and met the Prophet Joseph Smith. She was excited to meet the Prophet of God. He had called her to be a midwife.

When Joseph, his brother Hyrum, Willard Richards and John Taylor were in Carthage, Joseph and Hyrum were murdered. Willard Richards was the only one not harmed. John Taylor was hit twice. One in the leg and the other in the chest but his pocket watch had stopped the bullet. John Taylor wouldn't let them operated until Jane was there. She had asked him later why he sent for her. He said "Because I knew there was none better at such a job, and wanted you to stand at the morning of the resurrection and testify to the Lord against the assassins who murdered the Prophet and his brother Hyrum." She helped nurse him back to health. William had come home before then and had to go to Canada to get his pension from the army. When people where trying to figure out who was to become the next prophet, Brigham Young spoke and Jane heard and saw Joseph in Brigham. She knew, as with others, that he was to become the next prophet. He had called her to become a midwife when they crossed the plains and told her that she wouldn't lose a mother or child. She didn't.

When they were going to cross the Mississippi, the mobs were trying to take their fire arms. She had one in her bosom. She pulled it out and said she'd use it before they could take it from her. They left her alone. Another time she was hiding the guns under a quilt. The mob asked her what she was doing. She told them that they had the power to resurrect and that's what she was doing. The men said she was crazy and they left her alone saving the arms!

They crossed the plains and settled in Utah. Brigham and called them to move to Manti. They later moved to Rockville. Jane was called to amputate a man's leg. The man was swearing and mad. She said that he should be thankful. He asked why and she said "because you didn't lose both legs." She had amputated his leg with just a butcher knife.

When she passed away she was in her home and her daughter in law came to help her. Sarah's 12 year old son Parley came. He said ‘I remember I was sitting on a chair in the front room by Grandma and she called my mother, who was in the kitchen, and wanted her to open the door. She came in and said, ‘there is no one out there.’ Grandma said, ‘Joseph and Hyrum is out there.’ Uncle Parley said, ‘I was just a young boy but I remember it seemed like every hair on my head stood up. Mother walked over and opened the door to satisfy Grandma, then mother walked back into the kitchen and Grandma just slumped down in her chair and was gone.’ Uncle Parley really felt Joseph Smith and Hyrum came to escort Grandma Jane to the spirit world. From Rita N. Black who married a decedent of Joseph Smith Black.

Jane was a woman of courage and strength. She is my hero. I love hearing and reading the stories about her. She's just a wonderful woman and one of my heroes! I can't wait til I pass on and can meet her and my other ancestors. That will be an awesome family reunion! That's one I'll REALLY be looking forward to. So Happy Birthday, Jane! You're in my heart! I want to be like her firm in the faith.