But with joy, wend your way

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons. Each Sunday, I discuss some things related to my faith and what I believe. Regardless of your own beliefs, I hope this gives you a chance to get to know me and my religion a little better. For previous installments, click here.

On this day in 1847, the first company of Mormon pioneers, under the direction of President Brigham Young, arrived in the Salt Lake valley to settle a land of their own, away from the persecution of many non-believers in the East.

Over at least the next 20 years, Mormons migrated to Utah from all over the world in wagons, with handcarts, on foot, and eventually by train (the transcontinental railroad was completed in Utah). Many gave up all they had and lost even more on the way to make it to the Great Salt Lake Valley, yearning for the peace the Lord had promised and with which they were eventually blessed.

Some of my own ancestors were among their numbers, leaving Nauvoo in the dead of winter or sailing from England. A few didn't make it to see their promised land, but their effort and faith were rewarded in the next life.

It's become almost cliche in the church to, when discussing these 19th-century pioneers, to recognize the other pioneers in the church - those who did something first and brave in their one way. For example, my own father is a pioneer, as he was the first, and thus far only, member of the church in his family, joining as a young man. Cliche or not, they are still examples to us all, as we all have something we must do before anyone else we know.

I am grateful for all the pioneers. My ancestors. My family. My friends. It's because of them that I know I can do hard things, like my own cross-country trek to a land I'd never seen five years ago, though I had A/C and made it in three days and slept inside each night.

May we all find our own ways to be a pioneer and emulate those who have gone before.

You make the rockin' world go 'round

Things I learned from biking to work today:

• Choosing the hottest day of the summer to restart such a habit is a bad idea.
• Pack a complete change of clothes for work, and I mean complete.
• I need to find a way to air out the clothes I have to wear on the ride home.
• If I do an upper body workout in the AM, bike to and from work, and do yoga in the PM, I will be exhausted by 8:30 PM. 
• I am awesome.

God Bless Our Prophet Dear

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons. Each Sunday, I discuss some things related to my faith and what I believe. Regardless of your own beliefs, I hope this gives you a chance to get to know me and my religion a little better. For previous installments, click here.


6We believe in the same ^aorganization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, ^bprophets, ^cpastors, ^dteachers,^eevangelists, and so forth. (AoF 1:6)

Most Christians, Jews, and even Muslims believe in prophets of ancient days - Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Mohammed. As Mormons, we believe in current, latter-day prophets. The man called as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is also called as prophet, seer, and revelator. To date, there have been sixteen of these men, with President Thomas S. Monson currently filling that role.

But what does that mean?

By definition, a prophet is one who testifies of Jesus Christ, makes known God's will and character, and denounce sin and warn of its consequences.

A revelator is one who receives communication from God regarding His will for His children, including guidance, chastisement, and anything else the Lord needs us to know.

A seer can prophecy of future events, or is simply one with extraordinary moral and spiritual insight.

But can't many people testify of Christ, receive revelation, and possess such insight?

Of course!

However, only one man is ordained to be the prophet, seer, and revelator for the entire Church and even the world. The other members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have priesthood keys to also act as such, but they must do us under the guidance of the President of the Church. A bishop may receive revelation for his ward/congregation, a father for his family, or a person for themselves, but only President Monson is ordained to receive and prophecy for us all.

I see a red door and I want to paint it black

Apparently, I have been in a mood to DYE ALL THE THINGS!

First, I dyed Cabeza's hair blue.

 

Sometimes people make us laugh while taking our picture.

Then, I dyed some cake.

Hooray for America!

And since we're talking about kitchen-y things, here's my latest kitchen toy

It has the capacity to mix the dough for 13 dozen cookies. Too bad that would take 5.2 hours to bake 13 dozen cookies in my tiny toaster oven, which doesn't even account for the taking them out of the oven time! Guess I'll just need a bigger oven.

Oh, and yes, Myrna, I work at a custard shop (continuing on the kitchen theme) part-time now - 10 hours a week. It's called The Dairy Godmother, and it's adorable. The food is pretty tasty too. If you can't come visit me in person, you can always check me out on the Custard Cam! It's like the PandaCam, only with less cuteness.

What's random in your life this week?

The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons. Each Sunday, I discuss some things related to my faith and what I believe. Regardless of your own beliefs, I hope this gives you a chance to get to know me and my religion a little better. For previous installments, click here.

Over a year ago, at least, a house on my street burned down. It was a tragic, early morning fire wherein two men died, and I can only imagine how the family must have grieved. A few, maybe several, months later, insurance and fire investigations must have been complete as the remains of the house were torn down and a new foundation was started.

And that's all that was there for another long set of months. I have to pass this house everyday and everyday I wondered if they'd done anything at all to the house, as any changes were imperceptible to my untrained eye. 

Then one day this week, I passed the house early in the morning on my way to and from the gym - nothing. A bit later, I drove by on my way to work and there were a few new trucks on the street that looked like walls, or windows maybe? Finally! Progress!

Little did I know just what the contractors had planned. I almost got into an accident that evening, as the lot now looked like this:

Not just frame and flooring, as I was expecting, but an actual house! With walls AND windows! All that time with just a foundation and now this beautiful building has sprung up in one day.

And I got to thinking about the foundations in our lives. If we, too, take the time to build a solid, sturdy foundation in our beliefs, relationships, and our lives in general, anything we build on top of it can go up even more quickly then we'd ever imagine and will be stronger for it. 

In the gospel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our foundation is Jesus Christ.

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the^arock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your ^bfoundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty ^cstorm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. (Helaman 5:12)

Believing in Him has truly given me the foundation I need to get through the hard things in life. Sometimes I may feel like I'm headed for rock bottom, but as I do, He is there to catch me and lift me back up. For that, I am truly blessed. 

I've grown accustomed to her face

After posting yesterday's photos of my new hair, I started blog surfing my own blog (please tell me I'm not the only one who does that), and came upon this post from November. I considered the photo from then and the one from now and noticed a very distinct difference between the two. Check it out.

Okay, so my hair, makeup, clothes, and location are all different, but did you notice the jawline? The cheekbones? How you can see them!? (Pardon my hack and slash MSPaint editing of iPhone photos taken in bathrooms, but you can click on the photo to enlarge it slightly.)


SO. AWESOME. I can tell I've been successful with my new fitness regime in how I look, feel, and how my clothes fit, but to look at two profile shots with six months between the two? Great motivation to keep going!

The Song of Purple Summer

One of my favorite books as a kid was the Lois Lowry novel Attaboy Sam! A chapter book about a 4 year old boy seems an unlikely favorite for a pre-teen girl, but there you have it. At one point in the story, Sam's mother gives herself a buzz cut, for no other reason than to do something a little crazy. She suggests that to get oneself out of a sadness or a funk, they should do something a little out of the ordinary to shake things up and help them feel better.

For the last week or so, I've been in such a mood. Now, I didn't buzz my head (I have to be SERIOUSLY sad to consider that), but I did color it purple.

 And I'm in love, and I even feel a little better because of it. Purple victory rolls? Yes, please!

 What do you do to pick yourself up?

Families Can Be Together Forever

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons. Each Sunday, I discuss some things related to my faith and what I believe. Regardless of your own beliefs, I hope this gives you a chance to get to know me and my religion a little better. For previous installments, click here.

Happy Father's Day!

I was all set to talk about God as our Eternal Father, but it seems I already did that in February. So! Today I'll be discussing another of my favorite doctrines - eternal families.

We believe that when married by the proper Priesthood authority in the proper place (the temple), a husband and wife and all children born to them can be together forever in this life and in the eternities to come as long as they are worthy. This ordinance is called a sealing. In some countries, this counts as a legal ceremony, though in others the couple is wed civilly before their sealing. A sealing can also performed after an already married couple joins the church or when an adopted child joins the family.

I actually discussed this, briefly, once before, but that's just how much this means to me. The blessing of being with my current family and any family and husband that are yet to be is such a wonderful promise, full of hope and good things to come.

Does this mean that we're going to be living in one big house together, sharing bathrooms and space for always? Or what about those who don't have as wonderful an immediate family as I do? I'm not entirely sure. Sometimes, I think that it means we'll be living with our spouse, who is a person of our choosing, wherever it is we live after this life, but have access to our family any time we'd like.

It certainly sounds good to me.

You Know What It Is

One New Yorker recently polled his fellow urbanites about what they were listening to, which I found fascinating. Some of the answers are surprising, some are not.



Tracklist:

1 The Bee Gees: More Than A Woman
2 Fenix TX: Abba Zabba
3 Eminem: Not Afraid
4 Keni Burke: Keep Rising to the Top
5 Beyonce: Smash Into You
6 LCD Soundsystem: Dance Yrself Clean
7 The Black Keys: Too Afraid To Love You
8 Kanye West: Blame Game
9 Kinky: Mas
10 Lil Wayne: Lollipop
11 Oasis: What's the Story Morning Glory
12 Frank Sinatra: The Best Is Yet To Come
13 Korn: Counting on Me1
14 Britney Spears: How I Roll
15 Panic! At the Disco: From A Mountain In The Middle Of The Cabins
16 Kid Cudi: Day 'n' Night
17 Bob Marley: Buffalo Solider
18 Wiz Khalifa: Black & Yellow
19 Big Punisher: Still Not A Player
20 NPR2
21 Tub Ring: No One Wants To Play
22 Lady Gaga: Just Dance

So, now I turn it to you - what are you listening to?

Sidenote: The title of today's post comes from #18, Wiz Khalifa's Black and Yellow. I'm not ashamed to admit that no, I don't know what it is, but I still like that song.

Sidenote on the sidenote: This probably means that IT is probably something I don't actually want to know, doesn't it?

Oh, and I'm currently listening to Good Life by OneRepublic.

Millions shall know Brother Joseph again

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons. Each Sunday, I discuss some things related to my faith and what I believe. Regardless of your own beliefs, I hope this gives you a chance to get to know me and my religion a little better. For previous installments, click here


We believe that the church established during the time of Christ was restored to earth in our days through the prophet Joseph Smith, who had prayed to God to ask which of the churches at his time were true. In response, both Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith to tell him that none contained the fullness of the gospel, and thus began the process of the restoration of the gospel.

The story of Joseph Smith and his part in establishing The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints is told in a beautiful film that was recently made available online.  I invite you to watch it by following the links below and learn more about the early days of this church.

Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration

LDS Church News article about the film

As a fun little side note, since I was a theatre student at BYU at the time this was being filmed, I know several of the actors involved in this production. The muddy fight scene, in particular, canceled class for me for a day since our teacher, TA, and a couple of students were involved in filming it. The class? Stage Combat.