Regional Stake Conference

Today was Regional Stake Conference. Over a 100 stakes in Utah County gathered together in different church houses and also at the Marriott Center at BYU. It was amazing! Six speakers gave wonderful talks on attending the temple, family history, being single, having faith, knowing who we are spiritually, and having His spirit with us. Richard J. Maynes talked about who we are. He asked the question "who am I?" When asked this we say oh, I'm a teacher, doctor, or whatever your profession is. But we must remember that we are all children of God! We really are! We always forget that in this day and age when people bombard us with things of the world and we forget who we really are. He also talked about remembering. In Helaman 5:12 it says "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." It is the most important thing to do. He said "when we remember who we are we can overcome Satan."
Sister Rosemary M. Wixom talked about keeping on the path towards Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ is our anchor during stormy times. we are to bring the spirit in our homes and strengthen our homes. She said "When we focus on Christ we'll know what's important." We also need to prepare our children to live the gospel and hold strong to our Anchor.
John A. McCune said that "life would be easier if lived through Christ." We should make righteous choices and continue to make righteous choices and be free. Ultimate freedom comes from faith in Jesus Christ. Be engaged in His work and invite others to come unto Christ.
Sis. Sydney S. Reynolds talked of temples and family. "As we attend the temple we will be taught to serve Heavenly Father."
William R. Walker also spoke about temple and temple work. Doing baptisms by proxy for our ancestors will bring us closer to them. We will come to know and love them more. Blessings come through the temple and are powerful and wonderful.
Sister Oaks (wife of Elder Oaks) spoke on being single. She got married to Elder Oaks when she was in her fifties. Elder Oaks had been married before but his wife passed away and he later married Sister Oaks. She said to change our behavior, and involve ourselves in activities. We need to study the scriptures more and become familiar with them. We should ask "what more can I do right?" instead of "What am I doing wrong?" when it comes to finding a future spouse. She said "Step up and be the best you can be."
Elder Dallin H. Oaks talked about many things. He said we must choose Christ's way over the world's way The world will hate us for following Christ and doing what is right and will try and pull us down. We must keep the commandments and always have His spirit with us. Trust in the Lord's timing. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ helps us through life. Commit to put the Lord first in our lives. And we should always be a witness to the Lord.
General Conference is coming up. I'm looking forward to hearing from our beloved prophet Pres. Thomas S. Monson. I have a ticket to the Saturday afternoon session! It will be wonderful. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church on earth today. The Book of Mormon is true. Joseph Smith did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He was a true prophet just as Pres. Monson is a true prophet leading and guiding us today. I love this Gospel with all my heart, might, mind and strength. I'm so happy to have been raised to know this. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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!