Family

One of my favorite videos on http://www.mormon.org/ is called Swashbuckler. It is a great video that shows how family time can be made fun. I'll put a link on the comments so that you can all check it out. Family is the most important thing in this life. God has made it that way. We read in Genesis, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." He created Adam and Eve, later after the Fall of Adam, they had children and we read about those children and their families in later chapters and books. An awesome proclamation on the family comes from the First Presidency, it is called, "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." http://lds.org/family/proclamation?lang=eng that is the link to check out the full proclamation. It says in there, "...the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children." There is so much in this that it is hard to do it justice. I love having a living prophet on the earth today who leads and guides us. Remeber that families are important to our Heavenly Father and Satan is trying his hardest to break apart the family.

Scriptures

The scriptures are our main source of help in this life. They teach us exactly what we need to be doing in order to return back to live with our Father in Heaven. That is why we have been commanded to read and study our scriptures daily. It the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord says, "And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith." There are so many scriptures that tell us we need to study them. We all need to make it part of our daily lives and to continue to "search, ponder, and pray," as the childrens song book says.

Temples

I love the temple. It is one of the best places that we can go. There is a video that does a great job of describing why we build temples. I would put it on here but it isn't working at the moment. So if you go to mormon.org there is a video that says, "Why Mormons Build Temples." It does such a great job. There is so much work for us to do, both for the living and the dead. I am so grateful to be apart of this wonderful work of spreading the gospel and I can't wait to be able to help those people redeem the dead when I get home.

Prophets

We can learn so much about prophets from the scriptures and from our online resources. I found this about prophets on http://www.lds.org/, "As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are blessed to be led by living prophets--inspired men called to speak for the Lord, as did Moses, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, Nephi, Mormon, and other prophets of the scriptures. We sustain the President of the Church as prophet, seer, and revelator--the only person on the earth that receives revelation to guide the entire Church. We also sustain the counselors in the First Presidency and the members of the Quorum of the Tweleve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators." It also says, "Like prophets of old, prophets today testify of Jesus Christ and teach His gospel. They make known God's will and true character. They speak boldly and clearly, denouncing sin and warning of it's consequences. At times, they may be inspired to prophesy of future events for our benefit." I know that it is such a benefit for us to have a prophet on the earth today. He helps lead and guide us in our times of need. I am so excited to go out and teach people about this wonderful gift that our Father in Heaven has given us. I know that Thomas S. Monson, the President of the Church, is a Prophet of God and that he leads and guides this church by the power and guidance of the Spirit.

Prayer

One of my favorite quotes about prayer comes from the Bible Dictionary, "As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part. Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship." So we may ask, "What is prayer? How do we pray? Is it necessary?" The Bible Dictionary again tells us, "Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. the boject of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure fro ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional upon our asking for them." Alma 37: 37 tells us, "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." That leads us to how we should pray. We, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, know that we should pray with all of our hearts unto the Father in the name of Christ, and so we open by addressing our Heavenly Father, then express the feelings of our hearts (expressing gratitude for our blessings, asking for blessings, asking specific questions--such as is the Book of Mormon true?), we then close by saying, "in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." It is very simple and can produce great results. The greatest example of prayer we have is Jesus Christ. All throughout the New Testament and Book of Mormon we see and read about times when Jesus Christ prayed unto the Father. He is our example in everything. Prayer works. I know it does. Without prayer we wouldn't be able to get anywhere in this life. It is our most powerful tool to help us conquer Satan. I love the opprotunity we have to be able to talk with our Heavenly Father. It is only by His love and through is Son Jesus Christ that we can come to live with him again. I love you all!