True Religion....it’s in my genes

Be True 

Peter Whitmer Farm

"You who are members of this Church must have a loyalty to it. This is your church. You have as great a responsibility in your sphere of action as I have in my sphere of action. It belongs to you just as it belongs to me. You have embraced its gospel. You have taken upon yourselves a covenant in the waters of baptism."

-President Hinckley

 

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints. I have learned the valuable lesson of being true to the church that I belong to. I remember one of my first weeks in High School, a boy had asked me about Mormon's. I decided to tell him all of the negative things that I thought about the people in it. Inside I could feel my heart drop, but was so angry at the people. Earlier that week, I had been greatly offended and as a 15 year old I took it pretty personal. So I decided to take it out on the church. I had easily forgotten that the people in the church are not perfect but the organization is and so was Heavenly Fathers love for me. I can tell you that to this day I regret not standing up for my beliefs. Now as I serve in the sacred sites of Palmyra New York, I get to bear testimony of the church and its organization. I get to stand in the top of the Peter Whitmer home where the first church meeting was held on April 6, 1830 and tell how I came to know that the church was true. At the end of every tour, I stop and say a prayer, thanking my Heavenly Father for letting me come here and testify of the truth, I know that I can not make up for the things of my past, but I can do my best now.

Through out my youth I found it very hard to get along with members of the church. It was stuck in my mind that Mormons, as a whole, were judgmental people and that I did not fit into their category. As a teenager those are pretty common feelings. I decided to do whatever I wanted to do. This included not reading my scriptures. It was not until my second year at Utah State that I decided to read the scriptures. My best friend had started to meet with the missionaries and they asked her to read the Book of Mormon. So I decided to secretly accept that challenge, that I had never before conquered. I finished it for the first time on my 20th birthday. I knelt down and prayed, and received the perfect birthday present, an answer. It was true, and I was at peace. I had come to know for myself that the things in the Book of Mormon were for me. I could see within myself a change for the better. I realized it has nothing to do with people in the church but things I gain from the church. Now I get my second chance to be true. I get to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it changed my life and saved me. I can tell you what it is like to not have it in your life as the corner stone, and it is something you do not need to experience. Last week I got to go to the Hill Cumorah where the plates were found, and as I stood in the middle of the Forrest, I heard a whisper just as I did on my  20th birthday, Its all true...

"Be true to your own convictions. You know what
is right, and you know what is wrong. You know
when you are doing the proper thing. You know
when you are giving strength to the right cause.
Be loyal. Be faithful. Be true, my beloved associates
in this great kingdom"

-President Hinckley 

www.mormon.org

http://lds.org/churchmagazines/2001/Jan2001Ensign.pdf

CLV(C)

It hurts the way you lie.....

HONESTY

It hurts to lie, even if its just one!




Capital's State Team 2008

I have been golfing since I was in third grade. It has been the only thing that has come naturally to me. I absolutely love golf and all of the experiences I have gained from it. The first day on the High School golf team, I made a goal. I wanted to make it to state. My school had not done it in 18 years, and so I wanted to change that. Together, our team practiced hard every day. We did everything we could to do our best because we wanted to go to STATE!

Qualifying Tournament for State

In one of the bigger tournaments, our team was not doing very well. I was defiantly doing the worst that day. I had already hit like 6 balls out of bounds, and my game was totally off. We came to the 15th hole and our four some was already behind. We decided to do quick play. One of my opponents got up and hit her ball out in to the rough grass. The two other girls went to help her find her ball while I went to hit mine. I had put my bag up just right in front of my ball. I got all set up to hit it, when I heard the girl yell  "I found it!" I had jerked up to look and in the process my club hit the ball and it moved about two inches forward. I looked around as fast as I could. Then I quickly looked around and hit the ball onto the green. I thought YES, no one saw, I don't have to count that hit. As I walked the remaining 150 yards to the green I had an internal struggle. To tell the truth or not. I was trying to rationalize it, no one knew, it was only one stroke, and it was a HUGE tournament. When we finished the hole, I did it, I lied. I told them I got a 5 when I had shot a 6. We continued to the next hole when I realized I had the worst feeling inside. I had this thought come into my head, you will be blessed for telling the truth. So with that in mind, I told what had happened and to change the score. Some of the girls said it was not a big deal and they wouldn't count it, BUT I knew I needed to that day we did not finish even close to first, but I knew that my Heavenly Father would bless me, I did not know when or how.

I received my blessing only weeks later. We were in the qualifying tournament for State. I was playing with the top two golfers in Idaho, and I was nervous. I was playing okay but these girls, were rockin' it. I was not doing well enough to qualify individually, but I knew my team could. My group was the last ones on the course. I had heard that my team was only 5 strokes away to qualifying, and my last hole was a par 5. All I could think was I need to get a PAR! It was the 18th hole, and I got up and drove the ball, it was my longest drive ever. I was getting pretty excited, my next shot I got up and hit it with all my strength hand had put it right above the green. When I got up to the ball again, I was scared. All that in front of me was the hole and then the lake. I said a little prayer, and then this thought came into my head, you will be blessed for telling the truth. My coach turned his back, I closed my eyes and I chipped the ball.......IT WENT IN!!!!!! I had shot a 3 on a par 5, which is basically a hole in one. I fell to my knees and said a silent prayer of gratitude. My team made it to state for the first time in 18 years. I can tell you, that being honest pays off and that Heavenly Father will bless you!

FOR THE STRENGTH OF THE YOUTH

Dream Big

One of my Life Ambitions is to join a Motorcycle gang and ride across the United States on a Harley. Today as we were walking the streets talking to people I met a man named Mike. He was working on his Honda Bike. He had torn it apart and rebuilt it. I asked him why he had to rebuild it. He said that some of the parts were bad and that it was not working right.

Mike asked us what we were out doing. I told him that we were out sharing a message about Jesus Christ. He continued to tell us that nothing made sense, there were so many religions and that a lot of things have been messed up through time. I had to agree with him. We started to tell him about the GREAT APOSTASY. We talked to him about how when Christ was on the earth we had all of the truth. Just like when is bike was brand new, it ran perfect and brought him the most happiness. However when he got in a wreck some of it got pretty beaten up and it did not work. A lot of the parts still were okay but all together the bike just did not work! I found it so similar to when Christ died. There where still many truths on the earth, but none of them had all of the pieces.

My friend Mike, said how he was frustrated with his bike and how it was broken. So he decided to break it down and fix it back up. After a few years he was able to fix it completely, and today was the day it ran for the first time. He said we must have been the luck he needed to get the bike running! It makes perfect sense to me when relating it to how the Church of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth again today. There was a boy named Joseph Smith who wanted to find truth. He did the same things Mike did to fix his bike. Joesph read the Bible while Mike read a Bike book. Joesph pondered and prayed about it and acted upon the words in James 1:5. Mike acted upon his readings and fixed his bike up again. 

Mike helped me to understand that there were so many good beliefs on this earth, but non that had the full truth. I know understand completely that Joesph Smith was called of God to "put the Bike" back together. 

I know how much it has impacted my life. It is like Joseph gave me my Harley, he gave me this Gospel through God the Father and His son Jesus Christ, and now its up to me to make my dream come true :)

One day :)