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Archive for May, 2011

A Thankful Heart!

Posted by On May - 31 - 2011

“And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious;

 and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.” 
 D & C 78:19
It is good to kneel as a family and to hear daily expressions of gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the blessings we enjoy. The Lord intended His children to enjoy the good things of life. With all that we have, we must also have grateful hearts. We must teach our children not to take all that they have for granted. Thank you is a wonderful phrase. Use it. It will add stature to your soul. Never let a day go by without saying thank you to someone for something – and especially to your Heavenly Father. – Marjorie Pay Hinckley
Today, I have thinking about how richly blessed we are. Perhaps these thoughts are prominent  because of my first visit to our new ward as part-time Inner City Missionaries.
As I stood at the door and greeted members of the ward and introduced myself; I felt at home.
I could tell that these brothers and sisters were good, humble. and faithful people. We have been assigned to assist 4 families; plus a more challenging assignment. We have been trying to contact these members. We did meet one very dear sister who I will be helping to find  medical care and also better employment opportunities.
One of the homes we attempted to visit was in a poverty stricken area. I felt so sad to realize that so many of our brothers and sisters have few material  things. Having visited a third world country; this one home would have been common  in that country. Some what surprizingly  in the Salt Lake Valley there are many homes just like this one.  Surrounding us are many homeless individuals and families. There are many resources to help these brothers and sisters if they knew where to go.  Also, the Gospel of Jesus Christ could lift many of them out of their present circumstances.
The Bishop of our new ward and his councilors are young and energetic. We hope to assist the Bishop in his work by taking some of the load he carries. We hope to help those in need within the ward boundaries improve their circumstances. We will be responsible to help those in need of temporary assistance in different areas and also work with them to improve their financial situations and employment opportunities. The goal is to help these brothers and sisters to become self-reliant. I have a desire to just love them and lift them. This one scripture  describes exactly what I feel.
D&C 81:5 – Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knee.
I do have a grateful heart today. My heart is full of gratitude for my many blessings. I know that having a grateful heart is one way to worship our Heavenly Father. It also is a good idea to think about what you are grateful for each day and perhaps even make a daily list. Here is my list for today:
   1. I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ.
   2. I am thankful for our Living Prophet; President Thomas S. Monson.
Our Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson
  
 3. I am grateful for our Twelved Apostles who serve us all.
Our Twelve Apostles

   4. I am thankful for the testimony that I have of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
   5. I am grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

   6. I am thankful for my Eternal companion. I have a very dear and cherished  husband that has blessed my life in countless ways.
   7. I am thankful for each of my children, grandchildren, and great grandchild.
  8. I am thankful for a nice warm home, food, sufficient clothing, and cars to travel in, and computers to write my thoughts. The material blessings are endless.
  9. I am thankful for the scriptures that guide me and often provide answers to my prayers.
10. I am thankful for the our calling as Inner City Missionaries. To serve with my husband is a very sweet blessing.
11. I am grateful to serve  as an ordinance worker in the Jordan River Temple.
Jordan River Temple
12. I am thankful to have many extended family members that bless my life in many ways.
13. I am thankfull for good friends that enrich my life.
14. I am grateful for our two dogs; Sammy and Suesue that give us comfort on stressful days and fun on the good days.
15. I am grateful for our ancestors that have given us a path to follow and courage to push forward.
16. I am thankful that my husband has a good job that provides for us and the ability to help others.
17. I am thankful for this beautiful earth that provides for us so many resources.
18. I am thankful for journals, histories and genealogy work.
19. I am so thankful for good parents who taught me well and whom I miss everyday.
My Dear Parents
20. I am thankful for my brother and his family.
21. I am thankful for my oldest brother who passed away last year. I miss him more than I can even say.  I am grateful for his family and love them all.
22. I feel deeply blessed to have had many miracles in my life.
23. I am grateful for the priesthood that my husband holds that can bless my life whenever I have a need.
24. I am grateful for all of my blogging friends and thank them for all of their posts that enlighten my mind and lift my soul each day.
 25. I am very very grateful for Chocolate!

Take a moment and check out my sweet daughter’s blog – She shares a powerful testimony

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ʻO le Alope ma le Leona Maʻi

Posted by On May - 31 - 2011

ʻO le manatu mo lenei aso e mai le tusi a Misi Palate, ʻO Faataoto ma Tala Faatusa mai Atunuu Eseese:

ʻO le tala taualii, ua gasegase le Leona. Ua solo ane manu uma o le vao e oooo lona pulupulusi. Ua naʻo le Alope ua le i ai. Ona alu lea le fesili ia te ia, Po o le a ea ua ese ai o ia i manu uma, ua faalealofa i le gasegase. Ona sauni lea le tali a le Alope, ua fai mai, ua mataʻu o ia, auā ua oo i le gutu o le ana e taʻoto ai le faatafa o le alii, ua vaai atu, ua ia iloa tulagavae uma ua aga atu i le ana, ae leai ni tulagavae ua aga mai. ʻO lea ua masalo ai o ia, ai lava ua ʻaina ia manu uma e le Leona.

ʻO le faatatau o le tala e faapea:

ʻO le Leona, o le tiapolo lea; ua faia e ia mailei e maua ai nisi. ʻO le Alope, o le tagata mafaufau lea; ua na mataulia i latou o e ui atu i le ala o le tiapolo, e oti i latou; o le mea lea e fefe o ia e ui ai.

Sa faapea foi ona fetalai le Alii Faaola o Iesu Keriso i ana soo:

ʻAua foi tou te matataʻu i e fasioti le tino, ae latou te le mafaia ona fasioti le agaga; ae lelei ona outou matataʻu i le ua mafai ona fano ia te ia le agaga atoa ma le tino i Kēna. (Mataio 10:28)

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ʻO le Alope ma le Leona Maʻi

Posted by On May - 31 - 2011

ʻO le manatu mo lenei aso e mai le tusi a Misi Palate, ʻO Faataoto ma Tala Faatusa mai Atunuu Eseese:

ʻO le tala taualii, ua gasegase le Leona. Ua solo ane manu uma o le vao e oooo lona pulupulusi. Ua naʻo le Alope ua le i ai. Ona alu lea le fesili ia te ia, Po o le a ea ua ese ai o ia i manu uma, ua faalealofa i le gasegase. Ona sauni lea le tali a le Alope, ua fai mai, ua mataʻu o ia, auā ua oo i le gutu o le ana e taʻoto ai le faatafa o le alii, ua vaai atu, ua ia iloa tulagavae uma ua aga atu i le ana, ae leai ni tulagavae ua aga mai. ʻO lea ua masalo ai o ia, ai lava ua ʻaina ia manu uma e le Leona.

ʻO le faatatau o le tala e faapea:

ʻO le Leona, o le tiapolo lea; ua faia e ia mailei e maua ai nisi. ʻO le Alope, o le tagata mafaufau lea; ua na mataulia i latou o e ui atu i le ala o le tiapolo, e oti i latou; o le mea lea e fefe o ia e ui ai.

Sa faapea foi ona fetalai le Alii Faaola o Iesu Keriso i ana soo:

ʻAua foi tou te matataʻu i e fasioti le tino, ae latou te le mafaia ona fasioti le agaga; ae lelei ona outou matataʻu i le ua mafai ona fano ia te ia le agaga atoa ma le tino i Kēna. (Mataio 10:28)

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Never Say It Again!

Posted by On May - 31 - 2011
Have these words ever passed through your mind or come from your mouth…
“I don’t get inspiration. I just have to have faith to follow those who do.”
 Or
 “The Lord doesn’t talk to me. He talks to others but not to me.”
 Or
 “I can’t ever find an answer in the scriptures. They don’t speak to me the way they do to others.”
Well, if those phrases sound familiar (Guilty! I’ve said them before.) then this post is for you! Read on and by the end, I hope you will know that all of those statements are lies from what’s-his-no-face and you will never allow yourself to utter them or think them again.
I know. I know. You are thinking…”but Lisa Love, those statements are true. I really don’t get inspiration. The Spirit doesn’t talk to me. I really just have to have faith and trust that things will work out.”
Well, I know. I hear ya. I’m right there with ya. Remember I said in an earlier post that satan twists the truth? So the truth in all of that is that “yes” we do need to have faith and trust. The lie is that we don’t get inspiration and that the Holy Ghost doesn’t talk to us.
Those of you with children, ask yourself this question…would you ever decide that you were only going to talk to a couple of your children and then make the others listen to them to find out your thoughts and feelings and guidance? NO WAY!! Even a imperfect parent (all of us) would never completely ignore some of our children while talking and interacting and sharing our love with the others. Our Father in Heaven is a perfect parent – He doesn’t work that way. He wants to talk and guide and help every single one of His children. If it is important to us, it is definitely important to Him. I can’t stress that enough. Even the teeny, tiny, small things in life, He wants to be involved in all of it.
Yet! So many of us think that He doesn’t talk to us. I have come to believe that when we utter statements such as, “I don’t get inspiration.” We are in a sense saying, “My Father doesn’t talk to me.” and slamming the door to inspiration in His face, thus bringing about the fulfillment of our statement. Does that make sense? What if your kids did that to you? OUCH…triple OUCH!! That hurts! Although our Father in Heaven is perfect, He still feels that pain of rejection from His child.
Okay? We’re never going to say that again! EVER!! But now comes the job of LEARNING HOW TO RECOGNIZE HIS MESSAGES. It can be a little bit of hard work and trial and error and it takes a life time and we can’t give up.
I have had the amazing opportunity to teach a  Continuing Education adult religion class for the past 4 years. I’m not a professionally trained religion teacher. I have a degree, but not a PhD! This assignment has been an experiment in trusting that my local leaders know how to get inspiration. Teaching institute is not like any other teaching assignment I have ever had. People expect me to KNOW what I’m talking about. I need to back myself up with scriptures, the words of modern day prophets and powerful testimony. I can’t just spend an hour before class gathering some thoughts and hope that a cute hand out will make up for the rest. I must study daily, and deeply and PRAYERFULLY. (btw…I’ve learned this is how we should approach any teaching assignment because teaching is the greatest responsibility.)
As anyone who has ever been asked to teach something knows, the teacher learns the most. Of all the lessons the Holy Ghost has taught me over the past 4 years, the lesson that has been the most life changing, the most valuable to my eternal salvation is this: I have a responsibility to seek out personal guidance and revelation from the Holy Ghost…and even more eye opening…I have a right, a BIRTHRIGHT to receive guidance and inspiration from my Eternal Father.
Read these verses very carefully. It is long but oh so worth it with the new direction that you are not going to slam that inspiration door ever again… (Doctrine and Covenants 76:5 – 10)
“For thus saith the Lord – I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end.” What word does He use to describe how He feels about blessing us? DELIGHT. He loves to bless us. Just as we love to give our children way too many presents at Christmas time, He loves to bless us as much as we are willing to receive. (When the Savior talks here, He is telling us His desires, as well as those of our Father as they are one in heart and purpose.) The next verses tell what He WANTS to give to all of us. While you read the next verses, replace the words “they” and “their” and “them” with your own personal name and open that door to hearing the Savior and our Father talking to you… (I’ll make those words small so it will be easier for you to mentally replace them.)
“Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.
“And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom.
“Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to come will I show them, even the things of many generations.
“And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to heaven; and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught.
“For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will – yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.”
Just sit for a moment and let yourself take all of that in.

Does that sound like someone who doesn’t want to talk to you?

Up to this point you may have been someone who would have read those verses and just seen the word “they” as someone who is anyone but you. But that is going to change now…right? Because now you are going to start leaving yourself open to inspiration and guidance and LOVE from our Father and our Brother.
They WANT to give you and tell you and show you EVERYTHING. Truly. Why wouldn’t They? God is your Father – your perfect Father who wants you to learn and grow and become all He knows you can – just like you want for your children. The difference is, we only have earthly aspirations for our children. Whereas, He has ETERNAL aspirations for us.  Jesus Christ joins Him in these aspirations – He’s the one who made them possible, remember?
Now I need to say here that there is an order to things and some inspiration must go through certain channels. For example: if the Lord needs to give a message to the whole world He tells it to His prophet so that there is no confusion. When a mom needs inspiration for her child, the Lord tells that mom, not the mom around the corner. There is an order just like we have stop signals in our streets, otherwise there would be mass chaos.
But when we hear the words of the Prophets, we too can know what they know. The Holy Ghost can witness to our hearts that what they are saying is true. We can know for ourselves. We should know for ourselves. As the scriptures up above make very clear, we can know ALL THINGS for ourselves.
All of this is leading up to something, I promise. :)
A couple of posts ago, I wrote that I wanted to study more about the Savior’s Second Coming and that I would post some of my notes and thoughts on this topic. The Second Coming isn’t one of those warm fuzzy topics that people love to hear about. That is probably due to the fact that when we study the Second Coming, we must study the events that will lead to the Savior’s return and they aren’t pretty and we also wonder if the signs are already happening and it just seems so overwhelming that what has been prophesied for centuries will really happen.  So we tend to want to study other topics – topics that make us happy and give us hope. But I think this topic is of great worth, as it will happen and we need to be ready and knowledge is power. :)
I want to show how we can and should have hope while studying the Second Coming but I also want to show that anyone can study anything and find directions and answers because that is what our Savior and our Father WANT to give us. (are you getting that yet?)

When we study we need to not slam that inspiration door. Instead, leave it as wide open as you can by praying and believing and jotting down your thoughts (no matter how random the thought may be because sometimes the Holy Ghost has been trying to tell us something but the door has been closed so when we finally open the door, we may get messages that have nothing to do with what we are studying.)

While pondering how I wanted to go about studying the Second Coming a little more in depth, I came across two quotes by President Ezra Taft Benson which I had forgotten about…
“The record of the Nephite history just prior to the Savior’s visit reveals many parallels to our own day as we anticipate the Savior’s second coming.” Ezra Taft Benson, “The Savior’s Visit to America,” Ensign, May 1987, 4
“In the Book of Mormon we find a pattern for preparing for the Second Coming. A major portion of the book centers on the few decades just prior to Christ’s coming to America. By careful study of that time period, we can determine why some were destroyed in the terrible judgments that preceded His coming and what brought others to stand at the temple in the land of Bountiful and thrust their hands into the wounds of His hands and feet. … Can anyone doubt that this book was meant for us and that in it we find great power, great comfort, and great protection?” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1986, 5–6; or Ensign, Nov. 1986, 6–7).

With this in mind, I’m going to focus my studying this time around the Book of Helaman and 3 Nephi, both found in the Book of Mormon. Maybe I’ll get side tracked along the way and find myself studying something entirely different. That’s okay. It all leads back to our Savior right? You can join me if you like and one more time…LEAVE THAT INSPIRATION DOOR OPEN!!!
The Second Coming

Happy Birthday, Dear Grandma!

Posted by On May - 31 - 2011

Dear Grandma,

We are so grateful that you are our grandma. You are so fun to be around and always make us feel like we are the most important thing in the world. We feel so blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you for being so sweet, kind, patient, and fun! We love you!

Love,
Aurora and Cassie

P.S. Mommy and Daddy say Happy Birthday too!

Birthday, Video, Videos

Pentagon: Cyber Attacks Are Acts of War

Posted by On May - 31 - 2011

In other words, the Pentagon has declared that the Iranian regime has the right to attack the United States with missiles.

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Mormon Motherhood: A Mother in Need

Posted by On May - 31 - 2011

Mormon woman reflects on motherhood and God's help

~by Janet

I awoke Sunday morning still feeling sick. I’d spent most of Saturday in bed so the home was in disarray. I’d expected to be well by morning and had not made arrangements for a substitute to teach my church class. Besides, I wanted to attend, and to participate. I wanted to be well!

Compelled by this desire, I slipped out of bed and onto my knees, pleading, “Bless me with strength for my church assignment.” I suddenly seemed to feel stronger, and thanking Him continued with my prayer, “And bless me with a peaceful day, a worshipful day, and personal time to ponder….” Is that possible for a mother? I wondered. My Sundays seemed always consumed in the busy-ness of family, far removed from quiet personal time.

I arose and stepped down the stairs, a growing awareness emerging. I actually felt well! My heart swelled with gratitude. He was there for me! In my mind I recommitted to Him and I vowed to serve Him more fully on His day.

In the kitchen I quickly set the table with cereal bowls and cold cereal (our usual Sunday breakfast.) As I opened the fridge for the milk, my eyes rested upon a carton of eggs and an impression came, “Make your family a breakfast.” I hadn’t been grocery shopping in days but noticed I also had potatoes and orange juice. “Yes,” I responded, “I’ll make breakfast for my family.”

Minutes later, while standing over the stove stirring potatoes, a nagging thought persisted, and again I pleaded, “This whole day could be swallowed up in the needs of my family, and then how would I serve you dear Lord?” The impression that came was immediate, “And how better can you serve me on my day?” I stood awed by what I had just understood and felt as the lesson continued. “Always remember Janet, your work IS my work and there is nothing greater you can be doing for me. Now go forward and serve your family.”

I don’t remember the rest of the day; just an ordinary Sabbath. But it presented a lesson never to be forgotten — a truth revealed to a mother in need.

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The Tragedy of Immigration Enforcement

Posted by On May - 31 - 2011

You can see,
then, that this crack down has nothing to do with nationalism or
racialism or securing the borders or anything else. It is all about
bolstering the power of the state and its unions over the American
economy, and making the rest of us poorer.

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Video: The Real Pledge of Allegiance

Posted by On May - 31 - 2011

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Video: Honesty – You Better Believe It!

Posted by On May - 31 - 2011

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Holograms for virtual meetings and performances

Posted by On May - 31 - 2011

Developers of holographic display are perfecting a technology that lets speakers and performers deliver speeches and entertain audiences without being there. They do it via hologram video projection of a 3-D image, like Princess Leia’s message to Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars.

The video below is a performance by The Black Eyed Peas in January at the NRJ Awards (France’s equivalent to the Grammys). This performance features Fergie and Taboo performing as holograms alongside Will. I. Am. and Apl.De.Ap using the Musion Eyeliner System. You can get the essence of the video by watching from 4:00-4:20. You can barely tell that the 2 people in the center are holograms.

Learn more about hologram technology for virtual meetings.

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Wisdom for well-being

Posted by On May - 31 - 2011

It is not God’s will merely that we should be happy, but that we should make ourselves happy. ~ Kant

William James: I don’t sing because I’m happy; I’m happy because I sing.

We are, each of us angels with only one wing; and we can only fly by embracing one another. ~ Luciano de Crescenzo

Stephen Covey: Live out of your imagination, not your history.

Plant and your spouse plants with you; weed and you weed alone. ~ Rousseau

You must live for another if you wish to live for yourself. ~ Seneca

And one of my favorites from PItterle Postings:

Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain!

Bless you!

attitude, happiness