The Book of Mormon Experiment

Today is the first day I will be starting an experiment in The Book of Mormon for that class--second half.  I am supposed to write a summary of a three-week-long personal experiment of a scripture.  I must choose a scripture basically between Helaman and Moroni, then I must apply that scripture to my life.  After that, I must write of the scripture I chose and my personal experience with it.
It seems exciting!  This will definitely impact my life since I must pray earnestly on each scripture and then try to exercise what the scripture says.  I chose for my first out of three scriptures to be Helaman 5:30, which reads:

And it came to pass when they heard his voice, and beheld that it was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous voice, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul.


I think that is a very powerful scripture for any day and time, not just during the three days of darkness the Book of Mormon people experienced, although that must have been incredible.  But this scripture I will apply to my life by inquiring of the Lord to help me be more aware and receptive of the spirit, the "still voice of perfect mildness."  I wonder what the impact will be on my life.  I am guessing that it will be a positive one.  I love the scriptures, especially The Book of Mormon, and I am so grateful to be at a university that incorporates that into the learning of other subjects.  Of course, the founding charge of Brigham Young University is "to teach every subject with the spirit."

Wait Upon the Lord

Today's devotional by Greg Burton here at Brigham Young University was simple and wonderful, although not something I really wanted to hear, it is an answer to my prayers.  I've been so focused on school, and even recently I have been committed to serving a mission, no matter what.  I honestly have no desire to get married anytime soon or even at all in college, which might be a little strange to hear coming from a girl.  But marriage truly has been put aside so I don't think twice about it.
But I went to this dating fireside on Sunday, and there was the message that girls should put marriage as a priority.  Woah!  Blow to my list of priorities!  But I sort of just shrugged it off, thinking that I was an exception.  My roommates, however, talked about it, which caused me to think about it more, so I had the urge to pray.  I prayed for guidance from the Lord and to know what my priorities should be.  I think I got my answer.
Twice, Greg Burton said "Wait upon the Lord" or "Learn to wait upon the Lord."  He said "Sometimes our lives don't go as planned.... Events occur according to the Lord's timetable."

If that doesn't humble someone trying to take complete control over their lives, I don't know what could.  My answer was with Greg Burton.  I may still very well serve a mission before marriage (fingers crossed!) but if that is not what the Lord has planned for me, I should not object but rather live my life how God wants me to live it--according to His time and His plan.

Thus, I will continue to seek after a mission, but I will always pray to know what the Lord would have me do.

Bednar's October 2011 General Conference Talk

Every time Conference comes around, there always seems to be a sweeter spirit around to me.  This Conference was especially important to me because I have recently become interested in Family History.  I am currently taking a Family History class, which definitely increased my interest in it.  In that class I learn so much of the past scriptures and prophetic words spoken on doing family history and the spirit of Elijah.

The spirit of Elijah is so important to the work being done on this earth concerning our dead.  Elijah appeared to Joseph and Oliver in the Kirtland, Ohio temple April 6, 1836.  There, he restored the sealing powers to the earth.
According to David A. Bednar's talk during this conference, "The restoration of the sealing authority by Elijah in 1836 was necessary to prepare the world for the Savior's Second Coming and initiated a greatly increased and worldwide interest in family history research." That quote is so true--if you think about it, Family History work was never really emphasized prior to the organization of the church.  Now, I've seen commercials from companies that have no LDS ties but who advertise new and improved ways to find ancestors!
Why all this interest in Family History????  Because of the spirit of Elijah of course!  
David A. Bednar later said, "The Prophet Joseph Smith declared: "The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead....  For it is necessary that the sealing power should be in our hands to seal our children and our dead for the fullness of the dispensation of times--a dispensation to meet the promises made by Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world for the salvation of man....  Hence, God said, 'I will send you Elijah the prophet.'" That is why we have temples--to be sealed with our ancestors.
He later goes on to explain that we, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have the covenant responsibility to find our ancestors and do the ordinances to save them, which ordinances will save us.
Then he addresses the youth of the church and tells them to get started now.  He says that, "Parents and leaders, you will stand all amazed at how rapidly your children and the youth of the Church become highly skilled with these tools. In fact, you will learn valuable lessons from these young people about effectively using these resources. The youth can offer much to older individuals who are uncomfortable with or intimidated by technology or are unfamiliar with FamilySearch. You also will count your many blessings as young people devote more time to family history work and temple service and less time to video games, surfing the Internet, and Facebooking."  I believe that is why so much technology has advanced so quickly--for the furthering of the work in the temples.  I know that we need to do Family History to save ourselves and our ancestors, and David A. Bednar, an apostle of the Lord, says that same message.