Participate in Sincere Prayer

I am embarrassed to say that, yes, I am an end-of-the-month visiting teacher. And, that I procrastinated until today to read the Visiting Teaching Message from the Ensign. It isn't that I don't like to do visiting teaching, because I really do, especially since the girls I visit I consider good friends. But, I just don't make it a huge priority until I really need to do it to make it count :)

Sincere Prayer:

I LOVED the quote in here from Bruce R. McConkie:

"Prayer changes our lives. Through it we draw near to the Lord, and he reaches out his finger and touches us, so we never again are the same. Prayer is a great tower of strength, a pillar of unending righteousness, a mighty force that moves mountains and saves souls."

I LOVE this quote! I know that my life has been changed many times because of prayer. I would not be where I am right now if it weren't for the power of prayer. I am SO grateful that we are able to pray to our Heavenly Father and that he can answer our prayers!

James E. Faust lists five things that prayer entails:

1. acknowledgment that God is our father, that Jesus is our redeemer

2. confession of sin

3. recognition that we need help

4. opportunity to express thanksgiving and gratitude

5. privilege to ask for blessings

Heritage Park

Today Cindy (my mom-in-law) took me and Allie to Heritage Park (This is the Place Memorial) and we walked through the Pioneer Village and such...It was really neat! You can really feel the spirit there and it really opens your eyes to the way people lived back then. We walked into most of the homes (which were mostly replicated) and talked to the people reinacting to learn more about the early settlers of Salt Lake Valley down to just past Nephi.

The best house we went into was the house of ancestors of Marjorie Hinkley's (Cindy knew this because she knows a lot about church and family history.) There was a cute old lady sitting inside that told us to come in and she would tell us more about the house. She was excited to tell us that her father was born inside the house and that her family had helped rebuild it after they transported the remains from a town outside of Nephi. So of course we asked her if she was related to Marjorie Hinckley and she is her sister! She goes up to the park just on Fridays to tell people about the house and because she loves being there. She was so sweet and told us some of the stories of the family that traveled to the Valley.

At the front of the park is where the big statue is there is a scripture from Isaiah that is also found in Nephi 12:2 "And it shall come to pass in the last days, when the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it..."

I always wondered if that was talking about the Salt Lake Temple, and I think that it is...this, in a way, confirmed it for me. When I read that and thought about the pioneers and all they went through to get to Utah and build the temple I just wondered what they would think if they saw Utah right now. Would they be excited and happy about how many people are here now and how the church has grown? Would they see all the wickedness here and wonder how it got so bad? I just wonder, and I hope that they can see all the good and growth that has come from the sacrifices they made. I have a real appreciation for the early members of the church, and I hope that I am living my life the way they hoped their future generation would.

Be of Good Cheer

Well, I have been in a bad mood the last 2 days so I decided to read President Monson's conference talk in the ensign today...

2 Tim. 1:7 - "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

2 Ne. 2:25 - "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."

D&C 68:6 - "Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you."

2 ne. 9:18 "Behold the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in [Him], they who have endured the crosses of the world,...they shall inherit the kingdom of God,...and their joy shall be full forever."

This talk was such an awesome one - I just love to listen to Pres. Monson speak. In it he tells three stories of people that have perservered during difficult times. The last story about a young mother of four children living in Europe, widowed by war and forced to travel during the winter on foot accross Prussia to Western Germany. It made me cry! It is the saddest story, but, like waking up from a nightmare, it gives me perspective on my life and how blessed I am! I don't even deserve to have a bad day or two with how blessed I am!

Anyone with the gospel in their lives should be shouting for joy every day. I need to be doing that and I need to be looking for ways I can share the gospel with more people.

Mother's Day

Since today is Mother's Day I wanted to find scripture that related:

When Nephi was delivered from the bondage of his brothers on his ship at sea he a few words of advice (1 Ne. 17:55)

First, they said "We know of a surety that the Lord is with thee, for we know that it is the power of the Lord that has shaken us." And they fell down before Nephi and were about to worship him... Nephi said,

"I am...thy younger brother; wherefore worship the Lord thy God, and honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee."

If I was Nephi I would probably have said "Don't worship me, but please stop being so stiffnecked about the gospel and stop hurting me!!!" The fact that Nephi said first worship the Lord and then honor thy father and mother shows how important it is to show your parents the honor and respect they deserve.

I know most of us have probably had some rough patches with our parents growing up, but I hope that we all let our parents know how much we love them and how grateful we are to them for what they have done for us.