Why Keep It Holy?

How are you spending it?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As I overheard some young women talking about Sabbath day observance and why they don't understand why Sunday is so "sacred" to LDS members, I felt sorrow come over my heart. I didn't know how to explain to these girls, in this situation, why it is so important to LDS members.  I could tell them why it's important to me, as I have done on this blog, but they wanted more.

Today I am going to share just that. I found an article called "A Day to Focus on What Matters Most" I want to ask you to read this article and watch the videos included. Click here to read and watch.

I just want to end with a quote I heard in sacrament. "Some things are good, some things are important, but only few things are essential." What is essential for you to return to live with our Heavenly Father and what are you doing to get there?
I know The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints is true. I just want you to know that I know our actions every single day will effect our eternal destination. I know that keeping the commandments blesses our lives. It's not easy, but the blessings you receive from obeying the commandments are blessings you cannot receive anywhere else. I know these things are true.

In the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen

Love,
Samantha

In Behalf Of The Family

What are you doing in the walls of your home? 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Another week has come and gone, and it is time yet again for me to update my missionary blog on your behalf. I pray that as I share with you my thoughts from the passing weeks, as this has been on my mind for some time, that today it will make sense, and you will find answers to prayers and questions. I pray that the Spirit will guide my fingers as I type and that I will share the things Heavenly Father needs someone to know.

This week's topic is Family! I have been thinking a lot about families lately and how different routines in families effect the children and parents. I've been thinking a lot about how a strong family becomes strong, because I know it takes a significant amount of work. After weeks of talking to people, children and adults alike, today as I sat in Relief Society the answers came to me- very simply and very real. It is not a magic power that makes the family strong- rather a very real effort to have the Spirit in the home continually and also the effort to let the kids know from their parents that they are the most important things in their life. It's not as easy as it sounds however, I know that it is something that has to be a team effort. It is something that takes time, and commitment. Hopefully what I share today will help you see a way that you and your family can commit or (re)commit to being a strong family- as a team. [Please, do not be hard on yourself if these lists make you feel bad- just choose a few things to work on, remembering that it will take time, and work on that. It will all come a little at a time, no one is perfect and God still loves us all!]

I want to share with you two lists that were given in the manual we are studying in class. This manual  is called "Teaching Of Presidents Of The Church- Ezra Taft Benson"
The lesson today was entitled: "The Sacred Callings Of Fathers and Mothers" **

The first list is for the Fathers as is as follows:
"Fathers are to provide spiritual leadership in their families." 

1. Give father’s blessings to your children. Baptize and confirm your children. Ordain your sons to the priesthood. These will become spiritual highlights in the lives of your children.

2. Personally direct family prayers, daily scripture reading, and weekly family home evenings. Your personal involvement will show your children how important these activities really are.

3. Whenever possible, attend Church meetings together as a family. Family worship under your leadership is vital to your children’s spiritual welfare.

4. Go on daddy-daughter dates and father-and-sons’ outings with your children. …

5. Build traditions of family vacations and trips and outings. These memories will never be forgotten by your children.

6. Have regular one-on-one visits with your children. Let them talk about what they would like to. Teach them gospel principles. Teach them true values. Tell them you love them. Personal time with your children tells them where Dad puts his priorities.

7. Teach your children to work, and show them the value of working toward a worthy goal. …

8. Encourage good music and art and literature in your homes. Homes that have a spirit of refinement and beauty will bless the lives of your children forever.

9. As distances allow, regularly attend the temple with your wife. Your children will then better understand the importance of temple marriage and temple vows and the eternal family unit.

10. Have your children see your joy and satisfaction in service to the Church. This can become contagious to them, so they, too, will want to serve in the Church and will love the kingdom.

Oh, husbands and fathers in Israel, you can do so much for the salvation and exaltation of your families! Your responsibilities are so important.

Then next for the mothers.
"Mothers should love, teach, and spend effective time with their children."

Mothers in Zion, your God-given roles are so vital to your own exaltation and to the salvation and exaltation of your family. A child needs a mother more than all the things money can buy. Spending time with your children is the greatest gift of all.

With love in my heart for the mothers in Zion, I would now like to suggest 10 specific ways our mothers may spend effective time with their children.

[First,] whenever possible, be at the crossroads when your children are either coming or going—when they leave and return from school, when they leave or return from dates, when they bring friends home. Be there at the crossroads whether your children are 6 or 16. …

Second, mothers, take time to be a real friend to your children. Listen to your children, really listen. Talk with them, laugh and joke with them, sing with them, play with them, cry with them, hug them, honestly praise them. Yes, regularly spend one-on-one time with each child. Be a real friend to your children.

Third, take time to read to your children. Starting from the cradle, read to your sons and daughters. … You will plant a love for good literature and a real love for the scriptures if you will read to your children regularly.

Fourth, take time to pray with your children. Family prayers, under the direction of the father, should be held morning and night. Have your children feel of your faith as you call down the blessings of heaven upon them. … Have your children participate in family and personal prayers, and rejoice in their sweet utterances to their Father in Heaven.

Fifth, take time to have a meaningful weekly home evening. Have your children actively involved. Teach them correct principles. Make this one of your family traditions. …

Sixth, take time to be together at mealtimes as often as possible. This is a challenge as the children get older and lives get busier. But happy conversation, sharing of the day’s plans and activities, and special teaching moments occur at mealtime because parents and children work at it.

Seventh, take time daily to read the scriptures together as a family. … Reading the Book of Mormon together as a family will especially bring increased spirituality into your home and will give both parents and children the power to resist temptation and to have the Holy Ghost as their constant companion. I promise you that the Book of Mormon will change the lives of your family.

Eighth, take time to do things as a family. Make family outings and picnics and birthday celebrations and trips special times and memory builders. Whenever possible, attend, as a family, events where one of the family members is involved, such as a school play, a ball game, a talk, a recital. Attend Church meetings together, and sit together as a family when you can. Mothers who help families pray and play together will [help them] stay together and will bless children’s lives forever.

Ninth, mothers, take time to teach your children. Catch the teaching moments at mealtime, in casual settings, or at special sit-down times together, at the foot of the bed at the end of the day, or during an early-morning walk together. …


A mother’s love and prayerful concern for her children are the most important ingredients in teaching her own. Teach children gospel principles. Teach them it pays to be good. Teach them there is no safety in sin. Teach them a love for the gospel of Jesus Christ and a testimony of its divinity.

I know that this is a lot to read, and probably to comprehend all at once, but really it is just the simple every day things. I just want to end with my testimony that I know that doing all the little things add up to the big things. It is the little things that someday your children will look back at and be so grateful for! I know that as I am entering adulthood and moving onto things where I have to be responsible for me completely, I am so thankful for the little memories, the little things, and the lessons I have learned. Please take time for your children. Take a back ache tonight from playing with your kids rather than regret tomorrow. Your back ache will leave you, your regret will not. Your kids just want you. I know we may be annoying and sometimes you do need a time out as a parent, but not every day. Your family needs you, your time, and your memories to hold onto and learn from. What are you doing to show them that they are the most important things in your life? I know that we will be blessed eternally for our efforts to be together, even if Family Home Evening turns into Family Fight Night. As we make the effort and learn together the Spirit in our homes will grow stronger, the effort will become easier as it becomes routine and we will love each other more. I know this is true and Heavenly Father loves to see us together as families. He loves each of us and will help us.

To close I want to share this video called: "Good, Better Best" and I want to challenge you to look over your life and see where your time is being spent. Is it full of "good" activities, "better" or the very "best" ones? And what are you going to do to make them the "best" if they aren't already?
Click here to watch this video from Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

In the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen

Love,
Samantha

**Here is the link to the rest of the lesson from President Benson if you'd like to read it! Click here :)

The Holy Ghost

Always listen and act quickly! 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This video made me realize the significance of listening to The Holy Ghost and I wanted to share it with you today along with my testimony. Video link

I just want to share my testimony that I know that the power of the Holy Ghost is real. He does in fact speak to us. I know that He can be with us always if we choose the right. I know that He does in fact do everything He can to whisper to us words of knowledge, warning, and peace- but we must listen. I also know that we must be the ones to act on the things He tells us. If we hear the voice of the Spirit speaking to us we must never postpone that prompting. We must act immediately. If we do not, bad things can happen for our Spirit and/or bodies. I know that Heavenly Father has sent The Spirit to be with us so that He (the Spirit) can help us return to our Father In Heaven. He is our helper in this life to get us back home to our Father. I know we need to listen to His small, quiet whisperings. He will not yell at us, we must seek Him, and listen carefully to His voice at any given moment, and we must ACT quickly. I just want to bear testimony that I know from experience that The Holy Ghost will strengthen us if we will let Him in our hearts to teach us and guide us. Please brothers and sisters- never postpone a prompting! When the Spirit speaks to us, the Lord is speaking to us. When the Lord speaks- listen, and go and do as He asks quickly. I know if we do, we will live with no regrets. We must follow the Lord 100%. I know these things are true.

In the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen

Love,
Samantha

Keeping The Sabbath Day Holy

What will you with your Sabbath Day?? 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today I wish to share an article I found about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. I know that The LDS Church is putting an emphasis on ways to keep the Sabbath Day holy. Most LDS members know that this is a basic doctrine of our Church, but some of us look at it as a restriction- being told the things we should not do on Sunday. Rather, let's focus on the things we can do to make Sunday more meaningful and more worthwhile. I personally believe that Sunday is a blessing- with "restrictions" or not. This is a day where I know I can be with my family and friends to rejoice in the Gospel's truthful message. Sunday is my day set aside from the world, set aside to serve others and do His work. I love Sundays. And although I have to work on some Sundays- I do everything I can do to make Sundays a little different, and a little more special.

Let's take a look at the article I found on LDS.org. Click here to read "Five Ways to Celebrate the Sabbath as a Family". This article has 5 main ideas- with some sub heading ideas to help you get to the "big idea".

The way I have looked at this is to find some things that I know I need to work on- picking only 3 or 4, and focusing on those until I feel I can add more things to work on. (Don't over whelm yourself!!)

Here are the few I have chosen:
1. Make the Sabbath Different- specially "Make Sunday Feel Different" &
2. "Make Sunday Sound Different"
For number one, I want to do my part to participate in wholesome activities with my family, especially on Sunday. I want to do my part to help us participate in activities that we wouldn't normally do everyday. To do this I will have to make the effort on Saturday to make sure that we accomplish the things we need too so that Sunday can be focused on the Savior.
For number two I want to make sure that I am listening to LDS music. I have found on Pandora Internet Radio that there is a station called "LDS Hymns of Worship" and this station has beautiful music that invites the Spirit and helps you to be happy! I am going to try and play this music more often to help set the mood/tone for Sunday Worship.
3. "Perform Family Service"- To set this into motion I want to try and invite my family to help me make cookies or other desserts for families in our area who may be in need. We can take the treat together and write them a "thinking of you" card to let them know things will be okay and we are here for them. We may also invite other families to participate with us in serving others, or in Family activities.

These are three things I decided I want to try to work on. I just want to challenge you to look over the list of suggestions and find a few things that you feel you could do better on, and make a plan to execute them! Write it down, put it on the fridge, on the calendar and do it! I know that by making an effort every week to make the Sabbath more special, and different than all the other days of the week- by giving our Sabbath to our Heavenly Father, we will be truly blessed. Our days and weeks will be better, and we will be so much happier. I know that Heavenly Father will bless us when we strive to follow Him. I know He lives, and He loves every single one of us.
Of this I testify, In the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen

Love,
Samantha

The Power Of Prayer

Make Him a Priority 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today I want to share a message with you about prayer. I'm not really sure what I need to share except for I need to share a video and bear my testimony so that is exactly what I am going to do!

This is the newest Mormon Message called: Building Families The "details" explaining this video are as follows: "Whether your children are grown or still growing, opportunities to teach them truth will never run out. That fact is brought to life in this sweet and simple story of a dad doing his best to set an example of service, love, and prayer for his young boys. It is a perfect reminder that true success comes to parents who don’t let distractions—no matter how worthwhile—get in the way of living basic gospel principles and teaching their children to do the same. "How can you seek opportunities to teach?

The part of this video I want to focus on is the end when the boys pray with their dad. First, the boys tell their dad "it's time for prayer dad!" And the dad replies "I'm still working on something; do you think you could do prayers on your own tonight?" And as soon as the boys walk away the dad realizes that he's missing out on the things that are most important- like saying prayers with his children.

I just want to bear testimony that I know that the power of prayer is real. The influence that parents have on their children is real and very powerful. And the power of family prayer, morning and evening is a beautiful thing. I know from seeing and participating in family prayer that we can take it for granted. I know that we also sometimes forget these little things, because there are so many bigger things begging for our time. But in fact, those "bigger things" are not bigger. The small simple things, like family prayer, build your family relationships, and they add up to the big things. It provides a protection and a unity in your family that Satan cannot easily break. I know these things are true. I see them work every single day. I beg you to make the little things with your family your priority. All the other things of the world can wait. Your family cannot.

I know that if we put God first in our families we will be blessed. Our days will be happier, we will be able to do more, and we will be guided to serve others. I know that Heaven's help is waiting at our doorstep, but we must open the door and let them in. Don't wait till tomorrow. You have to choose and act today.

In the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen

Love,
Samantha

Choose This Day

What do You Choose?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today I want to share a video with you about choosing to follow our Savior. This has been on my mind a lot lately because I have been trying to make some very difficult decisions in regards to mission preparation and going to school this fall. Things are not always as we may expect. The Lord's plan for us is defiantly not the plan we have for ourselves and this past week I have been learning that a lot. And the question is always there: "Are you going to serve The Lord this day? Or are you going to keep putting it off to someday?"

Click here to watch "Choose This Day" By Elder Eyring of the First Presidency of the Church.

Are you willing to ask God " "Please let me serve, this day. It doesn't matter to me how few things I may be able to do. Just let me know what I can do. I will obey this day. I know that I can, with Thy help."

Brothers and Sisters I want to invite you, no matter what stage of life you are in right now, to humbly knee and ask God what you can do. Because I know with His help you can do whatever you are called to do. I want to invite you to remember Elder Eyring's promises concerning this question.

1.  "Hard as things seem today, they will be better in the next day if you choose to serve the Lord this day."
2.  "By choosing to serve Him this day, you will feel His love and grow to love Him more. You would not want to delay receiving that blessing. And feeling His love will draw you back to His service, wiping away both complacency and discouragement."

I just want to add my testimony to Elder Eyring's, that I know that Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ live and They love every single one of us. I know that if we choose to serve Him this day, no matter how hard it may seem: we can do it, and we will be immensely blessed with power to overcome and to be His true disciple. The Lord will know He can count on you to do His work, if you will just pray, ask for His guidance, and Act/Obey His will. I know these things are true, and although it will almost never be easy for any of us: it will all be worth it in the end.

Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Elder Brother and Savior,
Amen

Love.
Samantha

This Life- What are you doing with it??

Provo City Center Temple

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This weekend was a crazy one for my family and I. This week we had many events happening because it was the 4th of July! We had the biggest Military truck outpost in Utah County, the Freedom Festival Parade, The Candy bomber candy drop, a live bald Eagle demonstration, retiring of the American flag, and many more things. It was the craziest week of my whole life! I learned so many lessons, and spent so much time surrounded by family doing what my family does best. I loved every minute of it- and a lesson was learned every hour. I wouldn't trade it for the world! 

I wanted to share one experience I had that really stuck out to me. This happened during the morning of July 4- at the Freedom Festival parade. We were all very tired, as this was our last day of our huge event. We were supposed to have volunteers to hold our banners for the parade, but last minute found out we did not. I wanted to help my dad in any way I could- so last minute, my siblings and I stepped up and instead resting and watching the parade like we were supposed too, we jumped in and offered to be the sign holders. This had been a long, long, long week for us- and although 3.5 miles doesn't seem very long, when your holding a banner, you've had very little sleep that week, you've been in the sun for 4 days prior, and it's humid- 3.5 miles seems like the longest walk of your life. But I was going to do it without complaining because my dad needed me. 

Before the parade we were given instructions of what we could and couldn't do with the banners. We were instructed to not spin our banners, as we could fall and get hurt and the banners could get ruined. While I walked I thought "Oh no biggie! I got this. I've walked parades enough to know what to do." However I was wrong. As we walked, the crowd would yell at us to "spin the sign!" At first I thought it'd be easy to ignore the people, until they started calling us names and being rude. Suddenly all I wanted was for the parade to be over. But then up ahead, I saw the Provo City Center Temple. As I looked at the temple in the distance, I was filled with peace and I got to thinking. 

This life is much like that parade. We were all given instructions before we came down to earth, then we crossed the line into mortal life and we had to make the choices for ourselves: Do we obey those instructions, or rebel? The parade route is like the straight and narrow path back to our Father in Heaven. There is only ONE way back to Him- and that is through obedience, Faith, and action on our part. Just as I had to obey the parade instructions, have faith that I could make it to the end, and have action in my body to walk and endure the path no matter what the crowd yelled at me. The crowd is like the world. They will always be screaming at us that we aren't good enough, calling us names, and making us doubt the instructions we were given. But we must keep our sights on the temple and the Celestial Glory found there. If we falter on our path and give into the ways of the world, we could get really hurt, physically or spiritually. If we want to be successful and end the "parade of life" smiling and ready to meet God, we must always have our sights set on the temple. We must do all we can to be worthy. We must become one with the Atonement of Jesus Christ and use it to be cleansed and have strength every single day of our life. We cannot walk this "parade" alone. We must always have the temple in our hearts and mind and overcome the ways of world- no matter what they say about us or to us. As long as God is with you- you will never lose. 

In closing I want to share this song with you. It is called "This Life". Click here to watch. 

I want to challenge you to think about your "parade of life" and the lyrics of this song: 

"Let's make every second count. This life is a matter of time, we've only got so much before we leave it behind what will we do with it? What are you doing with this life? "

I just want to bear my testimony that I know our Savior lives and loves each one of us. I know that with Him and the Atonement He blessed us with, we can overcome the world and we can stay on the path to the temple. I know that the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints is true and I love it with all my heart. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, 

Amen 

Love, 

Samantha