Mormon Bloggers

Today is definitely a very productive and busy day. Cleaning up after Megan is always a constant chore. My wife uses the analogy of trying to shovel away snow in a blizzard – you are not going to get very far. While there is still much to do around the house, the fact of the [...]  Read More →

23 Sep 2010: Why Audioblog?  Read More →

23 Sep 2010  Read More →

“therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days” Sometimes we assume that the book of 1 Nephi is like a journal – that Nephi kept it as he went along. Maybe that’s the case for the other plates he kept, I don’t know, but with the version we have access to, Nephi wrote his record 30 years after Lehi’s family left Jerusalem, and well after the time they arrived in the Promised Land. (see 1 Nephi 19:1-5 / 2 Nephi 5:28-31) 1 Nephi 19:1-5 4 Wherefore, I, Nephi, did make a record upon the other plates, which gives an account, or which gives a greater account of the wars and contentions and destructions of my people. And this have I done, and commanded my people what they should do after I was gone; and that these plates should be handed down from one generation to another, or from one prophet to another, until further commandments of the Lord. 5 And an account of my making these plates shall be given hereafter; and then, behold, I proceed according... Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the diary of William H. Freshwater that I mentioned in my last post. . . . May 8, 1862: I, in company with my father, William Freshwater; mother, Martha Freshwater and sister, Valora L. Freshwater, and Hertford, England, my native city and country with several other Latter-day Saints, all en route for Utah, U.S. A. We arrived Watford at 1:30 p.m., went to W. Kaffal and stayed all night. We went in a cart from Hertford to Watford. I am not quite ten years old. 10th. We left Watford at 8 a.m. by railroad. We passed through several tunnels, in one of them Mother fainted. We had a good trip to Liverpool where we arrived at 6 p.m. We took a berth on a sailing ship named William Tapscott which was bound for New York, America. This ship was chartered to carry the Mormon emigration this year. 13th. The ship raised anchor and left the dock with seven hundred and eighty five Mormons on board and went into the River [p.248] Mersey. There were thirty more Saints came on board while... Read the rest of this entry »

I set up Google alerts to tell me when Google finds anything on the web containing the names of my ancestors. It picks up a lot of spam sites, but probably 2-3 times a month it comes up with something good. Last Sunday I checked my alerts and it had a link to a BYU record of LDS immigrants in the pioneer days. To make a long story short, I found excerpts from a diary of my great great grandpa, William Henry Freshwater.  I didn’t even know he kept a diary. The reference quoted on the site was to a book I knew I’d seen once at the local library, so I checked it out and found an even longer excerpt of his journal. If anyone out there knows where the rest of his journal can be found, PLEASE TELL ME!!! If you know of a site, send me a link. If you have access to actual hand-written books, I’ll bring my digital camera, and in 20 minutes make a full digital copy of it. I’ll even give you a CD of the digitized version so you can share it with others if you want. Anyway,... Read the rest of this entry »

Four Simple Ideas For Keeping A Daily Journal is a post from: Rickety Though I keep a journal now, it has not always been a part of my life. I always thought of journal writing as something that is done for my children, or grandchildren. Planning on writing for these future generations, I systematically rationalized myself out of writing in my journal thinking that the events in my life were too trivial to write to about. My journal consisted of an entry once every few months, but sometimes going years between writing. One day on my mission I read an old Ensign article about the anniversary of Wilford Woodruff’s birth. President Woodruff is known in part for his journal writing, so there were several quotes in the article about journals. One impacted me deeply, encouraging children to start keeping journals early in their lives. He said: “If my young friends will begin to do this and continue it, it will be of far more worth than gold to them in a future day.” (Journals: “Of... Read the rest of this entry »

If you are like me, you’ve spent a lot of time considering writing your life story. And, if you’re like me, you’ve spent a lot of time putting it off because either you don’t have time or you don’t know where to start. Or perhaps you can’t think of anything about your life that Is worth writing about. Maybe you don’t consider yourself a writer and don’t feel confident in your literary skills. Have you ever considered that the biggest thing holding you back is you? I suspect that you really do want to write your life history, but you’ve just procrastinated it so long that you’ve collected a lifetime supply of excuses. Here are a few thoughts that might help you get the motivation you need to just start writing! “I’m not a good writer.” One of the differences between an average writer and a great writer is that the great writer doesn’t try to make their writing great. While you are reading a great book, do you think... Read the rest of this entry »