Family History Center with CoCo

This past week my niece CoCo had a young women's activity at the Family History Center at 7pm. So after working in the office on Wednesday, I met my mom and CoCo at Hires downtown for dinner and then CoCo and I drove to the Family History Center downtown. The GPS was very confusing for the parking area and we ended driving down some alleyway, that was clearly not the right way to go. After circling the block and finally finding the correct parking lot, CoCo tells me that she is getting texts that we weren't supposed to be at the Family History Center downtown, but one that was located down the street from her house. 

So we jumped on the freeway and "flew" down to the other location. CoCo does not like to be late to anything so I know she was anxious about how late we were going to be. I could also tell because she wasn't singing along to the songs in the car. 

Well we made it, and we even made in time for the opening prayer believe it or not! We went from downtown to Sandy in no time.

CoCo just moved recently and is new to this ward that has a ton of youth. I was glad to be able to go and be helpful.

That night they worked on writing their own personal stories on the Family Search website and interviewing each other to learn how they could interview family members for family history. I actually even learned some things that I had no idea the website had.

For example, after logging in you can click on activities at the top of the page, and it gives you all of these options. You can see who you are related to historically look at how your face compares, etc. So cool. I didn't even know these options existed. Wow, just totally got side tracked going through some of those activities. One that I like is Record My Story, where it asks you questions about your own life, that other family can read your responses when you are gone someday. Anyway, I digress.

I really enjoyed attending with activity with my niece. She was also interested in understanding how we get names to take to the temple, so I got to show her that and also explained how she will need a recommend from the Bishop to be able to go do baptisms for the dead. 

I reviewed some of the questions that would come up in the interview with the bishop. She said I don't really know what a testimony is, I don't think I have one. 

I said a testimony is something that you believe to be true in your heart. Do you believe in Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ, that they are real? And she said yes, and I said, see, you do have a testimony! 

I was so grateful to be able to spend this special time with my niece answering her questions and helping her to get excited about going to the temple.

Teaching False Alarm

The Holy Ghost is so interesting. I was supposed to teach Gospel Doctrine today, or so the schedule said. My lesson would be covering two weeks of Joseph's life, you know the one sold by his brothers to Potipher, who had the coat of many colors from his father Jacob, ya, that one. 

It was so weird, for weeks, I really struggled to focus my energy to spend time preparing for this lesson. Like literally could hardly even bring myself to read my come follow me lessons on it. My mind kept hitting this blocking wall and I couldn't figure out why. 

Then it became less than one week away and I literally hadn't written one thought down, so I forced myself on March 15th, only 5 days away from teaching that I would force myself to start preparing for this lesson, I could not put it off any longer. So below is an insane rough draft, completely unfinished version of my lesson. In the time I spent preparing for this lesson, I did fall in love with some of the themes, adversity, temptation, personal revelation, forgiveness etc. And started to get a small spark of inspiration.

Now the part where the Holy Ghost knows all. On the previous Sunday our stake went through a huge change of ward boundaries and this coming Sunday would be the first time we would have new members in our ward that came from other wards.

On Wednesday, March 16th, I got a text from our Sunday School president informing me that Sunday School would be cancelled this Sunday and I wouldn't need to teach. Instead the Bishop was having a getting to know you hour with the new members.

Of course because of the stress I carry for teaching, it felt like an anvil had just been lifted off my shoulders. I was so excited to not teach, but then a little sad because I had actually grown to liking and understanding the lesson content more that I ever had of that story. 

And of course, now it completely made sense to me why for the past month, every time I would start to think about my lesson, I kept hitting a wall. Clearly the Holy Ghost knew I wouldn't be teaching, but I didn't know it yet. In my mind I thought, wish I could have known sooner so that I wouldn't have been stressing for the last month about it. But now as I sit and type this journal entry, I believe the Holy Ghost did want me to learn some things about Joseph's story that I didn't know before, so that I why I did spend some time on it.

Anyway here is my unfinished lesson-in very rough draft form. I only include it because I may need to reference it again one day.

March 20, 2022

Have Courage

Let Go and Let God

Show Refiners Fire Video

Link to Video-found by scrolling down page

Did anyone have any thoughts about this video they would like to share?

QUOTE 1:

Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Life teaches us that lesson clearly, and so does the life of Joseph, the son of Jacob. He was heir to the covenant God had made with his fathers, but he was hated by his brothers and sold into slavery. He refused to compromise his integrity when approached by Potiphar’s wife and so was cast into prison. It seemed that the more faithful he was, the more hardship he faced.

Come Follow Me

Quote 2:

But all this adversity was not a sign of God’s disapproval. In fact, through it all, “the Lord was with him” (Genesis 39:3). Joseph’s life was a manifestation of this important truth: God will not forsake us. “Following the Savior will not remove all of your trials,” President Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught. “However, it will remove the barriers between you and the help your Heavenly Father wants to give you. God will be with you”.

Come Follow Me

Through all of Joseph’s adversity, the “The Lord was with Joseph”.

What evidence have you seen that the Lord has not forsaken you in your times of trial?

-Come Follow Me-“Consider how you can share your experiences with family members and future generations”

Does anyone have any ideas they can share? Keep a blog, have a journal, have family home evenings, zoom family meetings, invite to church, bear your testimony

What can we do to prepare yourself to remain faithful when you face trials in the future? 

Cory Harris

In the coming days much of what has always sustained you and contributed to your stability may suddenly be pulled out from under you. What will become of you then? What are you truly made of? How deep and sustaining is your faith? As our prophet councils us recently, PREPARE emotionally, temporally, and spiritually. Cultivate your faith deep into the soil that your roots draw their life sustaining strength from. As this tree ye shall not FALL.

 

Cory Harris

A shadow of what the coming days may look like for the disciples of Christ. The Rock represents the world, the tree represents the disciples of Christ striving to live and follow Christ. The World closes in on us and applies pressures from the worldly influences upon us but ultimately we prevail.

Tree in hill picture

Diana Nielson 

The tree that never gives up!

This was on my news feed a moment ago...I found it appropriate to share. This tree is holding on for dear life against all odds. Nothing has been able to make it let go. His roots have become strong and deep, he has adjusted and acclimated to its special circumstances.

Many of us are holding on like this tree and though it may seem we are about to fall off the precipice we can also strengthen our roots and reach a place of safety and peace. At times we may need to acclimate and adjust to our special circumstances.

Don’t give up! Reach out to Heavenly Father, He is the water that will strengthen your roots and reduce the heaviness of your load.

Flower in crack

To grow no matter what our circumstances are

What other insights have you had regarding the adversities Joseph faced that you learned in your studies?

Personal Revelation:

Joseph received Revelation in the form of interpreting dreams- he interpreted the dream of the butler and the

Pres Nelson-watch video on his talk starting at 7:38-9:42, 12:16-17:17

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/04/revelation-for-the-church-revelation-for-our-lives?lang=eng

 

One of the things the Spirit has repeatedly impressed upon my mind since my new calling as President of the Church is how willing the Lord is to reveal His mind and will. The privilege of receiving revelation is one of the greatest gifts of God to His children.

Through the manifestations of the Holy Ghost, the Lord will assist us in all our righteous pursuits. I remember in an operating room, I have stood over a patient—unsure how to perform an unprecedented procedure—and experienced the Holy Ghost diagramming the technique in my mind.⁵

 

The Prophet Joseph Smith set a pattern for us to follow in resolving our questions. Drawn to the promise of James that if we lack wisdom we may ask of God,⁸ the boy Joseph took his question directly to Heavenly Father. He sought personal revelation, and his seeking opened this last dispensation.

 

In like manner, what will your seeking open for you? What wisdom do you lack? What do you feel an urgent need to know or understand? Follow the example of the Prophet Joseph. Find a quiet place where you can regularly go. Humble yourself before God. Pour out your heart to your Heavenly Father. Turn to Him for answers and for comfort.

Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will “grow into the principle of revelation.”⁹

 

I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation, for the Lord has promised that “if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.”¹²

 

What has helped you to prepare to receive, understand, and act on revelation?

Other images I may have incorporated:

Subbing

Today for the first time I worked the 7am-noon shift. Another Sister wanted to attend a baptism of a family member and asked me to switch her shifts, so I did. It was definitely an experience getting up at 5am on a Saturday morning to be there in time for 7am prayer meeting. 

They put me on the third floor where I rotated several positions. First starting out in the Celestial room, then the Chapel, then Chair 6 which is by the elevator, then the marriage waiting room for an hour and then back to the Celestial room, then the chapel, then Chair 6. 

Normally my shift at the temple is pretty calm but this shift felt a little crazy rotating as much as I was. The craziest part was the marriage waiting room. I had never had this responsibility before. The marriage waiting room is where all those that are coming to attend a sealing gather before they go into the sealing room. At one time there were more than 50 people in the room and unfortunately the noise level kept rising and rising and rising despite my shushing efforts. 

I think since these family members were so excited to see each other and be together they kept forgetting where they were. I was pretty astonished quite frankly that my efforts to keep the volume of the room at a appropriate level kept failing. I am not really sure what I learned from this experience, other than, if I ever go to a sealing and I have family members being noisy, I would try to make an effort to have them be more reverent. 

In the temple words are never spoken above a whisper so that the Spirit can be felt by all. This is the same reason we do not clap after talks or musical performances in our churches. Because it is much easier to feel the Spirit in the quiet reverence than in noise. 

Overall, I was so grateful to get to spend another day at the temple. Grateful to have learned new things and been able to help out in some way. 

I recently spoke to a friend and had suggested they could work in the temple. Their response was that they had already done that and didn't seem interested in doing it again. 

Maybe I haven't been doing it long enough, but at this point in my life, I can't imagine not working in the temple. It has become so much apart of me these last 9 months. Like I have said in a previous post, the Spirit of the temple feels like a living, breathing entity, and I literally feel apart of it, like it's a tree and I am one of the branches. 

I hope I will always love working and spending time in the temple in the future like I do now. It brings me so much joy, peace, and happiness. And I know it is making me a better person, because Heaven knows how imperfect I am but Heaven also knows how far I have come.

Quotes of the Week

 

Forgiveness

D&C 64:10 "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men."

I don't know about the rest of you, but for some reason this has always been a really hard commandment for me. 

When I have been hurt or even worse, when others who I love have been hurt, it has been so hard not to hold grudges against those individuals and let things go and truly forgive them. 

I believe real forgiveness doesn't come in the form of just thinking "I forgive that person", but in literally in a change of heart and not holding it against them. I feel like I have gotten much better over the years of in my mind "forgiving" others, but it is the second part that I have really struggled with. To actually treat that person as if the hurt never happened. Now I don't believe anyone in an abusive situation should stay in that situation simply by forgiving that person over and over. I truly believe we are allowed to remove ourselves from situations that cause us harm and can still forgive that person.

What I am referring to is my mental struggle with forgiving people to the point of not holding it against them in my mind whenever I think of that person. 

So maybe your response is, well then you haven't forgiven them at all. But I think forgiveness is kind of like an onion and there are multiple layers and steps. 

The progress that I feel I have made with forgiveness is when I let go of the hate in my heart for that individual. The next step is to be able to pray for that individual.

We are taught in Matthew 5:44

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;"

Maybe this step is easier for others than it is for me. To truly pray for those that have harmed me or my loved ones. But I am working on it. 

This week as I was reading one of the recent general conference talks, I had a light bulb moment. 

It is going to be difficult for me to articulate this very well, but I am going to try.

No matter how many times I have heard or known that our Saviors atonement covers our hurt and sin, and known that it covers not only my hurt and sin by everyone else's as well, the Holy Ghost shared with my mind a few thoughts and metaphors. 

First, my mind thought about a person's body who had been covered in bullet holes and shrapnel. But this was not in a bloody sense, but in an emotional sense, that while this persons Spirit had been hit with so much hurt and injustice over the years and had accumulated these wounds, the Savior's Atonement literally covered every wound and made it whole. His love was like a Spiritual coating and the Holy Ghost explained to my mind that because the Savior has Atoned for all sins including the sins of those who have wronged us, there doesn't need to be a second payment for that sin. And this goes the same for me. Those sins where I have wronged others that I have held as guilt in my heart for years upon years, not forgiving myself for, the price has already been paid for. 

In many lessons and thoughts I have had about my life, I have determined that regret is one of the worst things you can have. Because we can't get time back, we don't get do overs. There are so many things I would love to do over. And I have always thought about how awful I feel about regrets in my life. 

But with this new personal revelation I have learned that my regrets, those situations that I can't redo, don't matter. Because I have repented for them, the Savior has truly paid the price for my regrets. The Savior has truly paid the price for those that have harmed me and my loved ones. The person who harmed me does not have to pay a second price. 

The second image that was brought to my mind was of me standing and the Savior standing in front of me looking at me and the person who had harmed me or my loved one standing behind the Savior. The image of the Savior completely blocked my view of the person behind him. 

It was like the Holy Ghost was showing me how to forgive my enemies. Focus on the Savior, whatever happened is in the past and whether that person is sorry, or even knows they wronged you doesn't matter because his Atonement has already paid the price. 

Another helpful piece of advice I have heard over the years. Is if you want to forgive someone then pray to feel the love our Heavenly Father and Savior has for that person. 

I truly believe that we must forgive. I know working at the temple has helped me get a little better at this every day. Because we must forgive if we are to be forgiven. And we can't expect anything else. 

D&C 82:1 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, my servants, that inasmuch as you have forgiven one another your trespasses, even so I, the Lord, forgive you."

I know I am not perfect on any level and have harmed others intentionally and unintentionally in the past and know I must forgive in order to be forgiven myself. I am just grateful the Lord does not expect me to be perfect overnight and is continually helping me to overcome my weaknesses.

One of my most favorite scriptures is Ether 12:27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

I have felt this scripture ring true in my life so many times. I have felt the Lord help me overcome my weaknesses and I have seen my heart change. 

These personal revelations I had recently have done so much in my understanding how I can forgive others and myself because our Savior truly has already paid the price. And we must not let that price have been paid in vain by holding onto grudges and withholding forgiveness that in the end, only hurts our own Spirits.

I am not sure if I was able to articulate my experience but if you are ever struggling with forgiveness, I hope something here will be of use to you.

This is the excerpt from the conference talk that stood out to me:

With the Power of God in Great Glory by Elder David A Bednar

"I witnessed the righteousness and power of God in great glory, received through faithfulness to covenants and ordinances, in the life of a Church member who experienced the heartache of divorce. This sister’s spiritual and emotional distress was heightened by a sense of unfairness associated with her spouse’s violation of covenants and the breakup of their marriage. She wanted justice and accountability.

As this faithful woman was struggling with all that had happened to her, she studied and pondered the Savior’s Atonement more intently and intensely than ever before in her life. Gradually, a deeper understanding of Christ’s redemptive mission distilled upon her soul—His suffering for our sins and also for our pains, weaknesses, disappointments, and anguish. And she was inspired to ask herself a penetrating question: since the price already has been paid for those sins, would you demand that the price be paid twice? She realized that such a requirement would be neither just nor merciful.

This woman learned that binding herself to the Savior through covenants and ordinances can heal the wounds caused by another person’s unrighteous exercise of moral agency and enabled her to find the capacity to forgive and receive peace, mercy, and love."

Link to Full Talk