This week I was thinking about a topic for this blog post and was led to something I didn't expect. I thought I would write a post about "What is a testimony?" But instead, as I typed in a search on lds.org for bearing testimony - I discovered something else.
I found a section on lds.org called Gospel Topics. Here is what the introduction of that section says:
"Each Gospel Topic includes a brief overview sharing what Latter-day Saints believe about the topic, links to resources that will help you learn more about the topic, and ideas to help you teach it to others. Learn more about therole of the Holy Ghost in your pursuit of truth and how to become a more self-reliant gospel learner."
I clicked on Testimony and came to an amazing page of basic information, links to related scriptures, talks, lessons, etc. Curious - I decided to see what equivalent there might be in the Gospel Library app on my phone. While the mobile app doesn't provide the same presentation of the information - my search for testimony within the app still produced a large list of potential resources for me to review.
Another very nice feature of lds.org is the Notes. If you are signed into lds.org while reading and studying, you can make notes and create tags and links - your own personal annotation system. These notes will sync between what you do on lds.org and the Gospel Library app on your mobile device. That is very helpful! It's like having a personal copy of all those scriptures, books, manuals etc. that you are able to highlight and annotate AND carry with you where ever you take your mobile device or can log into lds.org. Truly we are blessed through this technology to have the words of the Lord and His prophets and apostles, the teachings of general Church leadership, the uplifting messages of the publications, etc. always within our reach.
If I had written a blog post about "What is a testimony?" or "What does bearing testimony mean?" - I had at my fingertips a multitude of useful and relevant resources to guide me. My post would have included these paragraphs from the Gospel Topics page for Testimony:
"A testimony is a spiritual witness given by the Holy Ghost. The foundation of a testimony is the knowledge that Heavenly Father lives and loves His children; that Jesus Christ lives, that He is the Son of God, and that He carried out the infinite Atonement; that Joseph Smith is the prophet of God who was called to restore the gospel; that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Savior's true Church on the earth; and that the Church is led by a living prophet today. With this foundation, a testimony grows to include all principles of the gospel.
Testimony grows gradually through experiences. No one receives a complete testimony all at once. It grows as individuals show willingness to serve in the Church and to study, pray, and learn. It increases as individuals obey God’s commandments. Testimony grows as it is shared.
Part of a testimony’s development comes when it is shared. In the Church testimony is shared often in fast and testimony meetings, in Church classes, and in conversations with family members and friends."
Today is Fast Sunday and with it we have the opportunity to bear our testimonies in our Sacrament Meetings. Let me end this post with mine.
We have a Father in Heaven who knows us individually and loves us. He knew that as we came into this life, we would make mistakes, we would fall short, we would sin. Because of His great love for us, He provided a plan of salvation. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that it is through Him, the Father's plan of salvation is made possible. I know that as I daily strive to keep the commandments, to live the Gospel, to repent and apply the healing power of Christ's atonement - that I am blessed. How grateful I am to know that my prayers are heard by a loving Father in Heaven, who along with my Savior is waiting to help me succeed and return to live with them again. I bear witness of their love and of the peace that comes through following the principles of the Gospel. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
"Keep trying, be believing, don't get discouraged, things will work out."
When I was newly married, about 9 months, one of my visiting teachers gave me a beautiful print out of this quote by Gordon B. Hinckley. What she didn't know at the time, was that I had just found out I was pregnant with our first child.
What a shock that was to me. Even though I had just turned 22, I still felt like a teen mom. How were we going to provide for a tiny human when we were both still in school? Where would we put a baby in a one bedroom basement apartment?
I looked at that quote often throughout my pregnancy and subsequent years. President Hinckley was an eternal optimist. His example helped me to rely on others for support in my time of need and most importantly, to rely on the Lord. I kept believing, remained courageous and things did work out.
Turn Our Hearts Series - a Guest Post from Lisa Larson
I LOVE family history! For me, it’s as addicting as chocolate – but with fewer calories and more eternal blessings!
I think my great interest in family history began when I visited my grandmother about 16 years ago and she brought out this huge box of old pictures and began sharing stories about the people in those pictures. Then she shared a family Bible and there were names and dates in there that went back for more than 200 years. Those pictures and those names were part of who I am! They were real people with real stories and I wanted to find out everything I could about them. It’s been a great adventure with many amazing stories along the way. My grandmother passed away not too long after that visit and how I wish I could share all that I have learned with her and ask her more questions. I wish I had taken more opportunities to ask questions from her and from others who have since left this earth.
I have truly felt over the years a turning of my heart towards my fathers. Even as I sit here and should be writing this article for the blog, I opened up my Family Tree on FamilySearch and started looking around at my ancestors to decide what story I might share. I stumbled upon a great-great-great-great-great grandfather and thought I’d look at the record hints that were listed. I was led to Find A Grave and there was a picture of him on it! And it’s a picture I have never seen. He was born in 1794 and just looking at his picture makes me want to learn as much as I can about him. Two and a half hours later and I’m back to writing this post again. See - addicting!!!
I don’t have any amazing stories to share. But I have had some cool experiences and have learned much about how to do the research. Earlier this month I even discovered a missing child. My grandmother’s family is from Canada and I was able to find birth records on FamilySearch. I could have stopped by just seeing that there were records and attaching them to the individuals in my tree, but I chose to look closer at each record. I noticed at the top of the record that it was listed which number child it was for my great-great grandmother. The last child was listed as child #12. I looked at my tree - I only had 11 children. There’s a missing child. I tried to find the child in the birth records, but had no luck. I went to Find a Grave and found the cemetery where some of the family was buried and discovered a child buried there with the right last name. I was able to take his name and I did eventually discover his birth record and his death record with the names of my great great grandparents listed as his parents. Here was my missing child. He died when he was only 1 year old. My heart broke for his mother. To lose a child so young must have been difficult. But he is no longer missing from my family tree and my husband and I will go to the temple and have him sealed to his family soon.
I am a true Maryland native. I was born and raised here – but so were so many of my ancestors. I find ancestors that date back to the 1700s here in Maryland – and some were right here in Howard County. Sometimes I wonder why the Lord has kept me here – but maybe it’s because I have work still to do right here for my family. And I feel so blessed to be able to walk around the places that they once lived and to be able to show my children so that their hearts can also turn to their fathers. As I have searched for my ancestors I have learned about their lives, who they were, where they lived, what they did for a living, and even what they looked like. As I have learned about them, they have become real people to me and I have grown to love them and appreciate them. President Monson has said, “We discover something about ourselves when we learn about our ancestors.”
Technology has advanced so much and the records provided from the Indexing program have really helped to move the work of family history along. My grandfather (my dad’s dad) was born in Italy in 1909 and then came to the US with his parents when he was a year old. He passed away 25 years ago and I never really had a chance to get to know him. My father’s mother passed away when my dad was only 2 years old, so I also never knew her. And my father passed away 20 years ago, so he is no longer available here to help answer my questions. I feel such a desire to learn as much as I can about my grandparents. With the release of so many records to FamilySearch, I have been able to piece together so much about their lives and the lives of their families. For so many years we were at a brick wall on the Italian line, but just in the last few years, my brother and I were able to find all kinds of records from Italy and have now been able to take my father’s line back to Italy to the 1700s.
Last fall, we took a trip to Connecticut for the Hartford Temple open house. My dad’s side of the family is from that area, so we were able to visit several cemeteries around the area, the Catholic church where many weddings and funerals took place, and we ended our adventure with a trip to Ellis Island, where my grandfather and his parents arrived over 100 years ago. It was a great experience for my kids and for me.
I know that as we turn our hearts toward our fathers, the Lord will bless us in our efforts to seek and find and discover our ancestors and their stories and that we will be able to keep our promises to them and provide them with the saving ordinances they have been waiting to receive.
This is a picture from my trip to Connecticut and Massachusetts last fall.
Sisters we enjoyed a wonderful Stake Conference this past weekend. Here are my notes from the Sunday session. I hope they will be helpful to you in recalling the things you heard and the impressions you had.
Brother Ramirez
He spoke of the blessings we receive from the temple. Specifically he talked about his personal blessings from participating as a youth in baptisms for the dead. He bore a strong and firm testimony of the power that comes from standing in holy places and the courage to stand up for what is right.
Sister Bartles
She spoke of what she has done to increase her testimony of the Savior and His Gospel. She said that every time we talk to others about our beliefs and our values we are sharing testimony. We strengthen our testimony in sharing because the Spirit bears witness of the truth.
Sister Valentin
She spoke of ways she has built her faith in her Savior, Jesus Christ. She began by reminding us that faith is a principle of action and that developing faith in Jesus Christ requires practice and work. She then shared three ways that she has been able to build her faith in Jesus Christ.
1. By reading and studying the word of God in the scriptures - reading the teachings of the Savior and His promises to us. The scriptures teach truth and open the door to revelation.
2. Recognizing the importance of prophets - she read from 3 Nephi 5 about the changes the people experienced as they began to listen to the prophets and to remember the Lord. She quoted from President Thomas S. Monson's most recent General Conference talk in April 2017 on the importance of reading the Book of Mormon. She noted that his promise to us was specific: "I implore each of us to prayerfully study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so, we will be in a position to hear the voice of the Spirit, to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive heaven’s help in our lives." 3. Patriarchal blessings provide personal instruction. She provided a personal witness and tender story of feeling the comfort and love from her Heavenly Father and her Savior, Jesus Christ as she read the words of her patriarchal blessing at a time of distress and need. Brother Johnson He began by sharing his personal witness that our stake president, President Mitchell, was called of God. (For those who may be new to the Columbia Stake - this witness was especially tender because Brother Johnson was our stake president for those many years prior to President Mitchell being called. How blessed we have been and continue to be through the humble service of these good men.) Brother Johnson currently serves as a sealer in the Washington DC Temple and he spoke to us about the sealing power. He made special note that the last two verses in the Old Testament (Malachi 4:5-6) are the only two verses of scripture repeated in each of the standard works of scriptures.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
And
he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the
children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
He pointed out that when Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and quoted
these verses, there was the additional phrase "if it were not so" in
verse 6. Brother Johnson bore witness that Elijah the prophet did come
and restore the sealing power which enables us to receive the sealing
ordinances that bind families together forever. He ended with his
witness, his instruction and his invitation - Elijah came and did his part, now
we must do out part. We must become sealed on both sides of the generations.
He encouraged us with urgency to have the temple ordinances part of our
life and the lives of our families.
Sister Folger
She began with the parable of the ten virgins and pointed out that in the Joseph Smith translation of Matthew 25 it reads, "Very I say unto you, ye know me not." rather than "I know you not."
She asked the question, "How do we come to know the Lord?" She answered with these points:
- treat others as He did
- spend time in His house (meaning temples)
- serve God's children by seeking our ancestors and doing temple ordinances for them
- thankfully keep our covenants
- listen to the witness of the Holy Ghost
She concluded with her testimony of the Savior and her witness that by receiving and honoring the ordinances of the temple, we come to know Him.
President Folger
He began by bearing testimony that our stake presidency has been called and is sustained and inspired by God. He expressed gratitude for the opportunity to feel the Spirit in stake conference meetings.
He then focused his remarks on the Book of Mormon and the temple ordinances. He compared them both to giving a man a fish and teaching the man how to fish at the same time. The Book of Mormon "feeds us", but it also provides instruction which helps us learn to "feed" ourselves and others. He said that Moroni provided us the perfect formula to seek truth in all things.
And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. (Mormon 10:4-5)
"My dear associates in the work of the Lord, I implore each of us to prayerfully study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so, we will be in a position to hear the voice of the Spirit, to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive heaven’s help in our lives. I so testify with all my heart in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."
He then explained that the temple endowment is a special gift of blessings from the Lord (the fish) and that the endowment also teaches us how and empowers us to become like Jesus Christ (teaches us how to fish). He concluded with his testimony of the Savior.
President Peterson He shared the story of the Martin and Willie handcart pioneers and their testimony that through their extreme circumstances and sacrifices, they became acquainted with the Lord. He reminded us that sacrifice has always been part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sacrifice is different individually and generationally. For our generation the real sacrifice is of time - time serving to build Zion and time for the salvation of the living and the dead. He mentioned several things that as we involve ourselves in doing them we sanctify ourselves and others. Home and visiting Teaching, sharing the Gospel, serving in our communities, temple and family history work, Sabbath Day observance, scripture study and prayer. He share the following quote from Sister Carol F. McConkie's talk at the recent General Women Session of General Conference in March 2017: "Most often it is the sacrifices we make to keep our covenants that sanctify us and make us holy." He concluded with his testimony of our Savior as the perfect example of sacrifice. President Towne
He addressed his remarks to the Primary children. He shared a story from his childhood of having the opportunity on a hot day in Arizona to stand outside the temple and shake the hand of the prophet. He said, "It is always great to be at the temple." He told the children that they are not too young to go to the temple. They won't be able to go inside until they are 12 years old, but he told them they can feel peace even from outside. He told them, "Every time I can go to the temple I feel good inside." He encouraged the children in ways that they can participate in temple and family history work: - help your parents know you'll be okay with a babysitter so they can go to the temple - help your parents prepare names for the temple - learn to index - you can maybe read the names better than the old eyes of your parents - you can have your own FamilySearch account when you are 8 years old He said there were 265 days before the closing of the Washington DC Temple (counting from 11 June 2017). He explained that it will be closed for a long time as needed work is done, but that when it reopens there will be events that they as children can be involved with. He encouraged the children to be ready to invite their friends to the temple open house in 2020. He told the children, "There are so many good things about the temple, but the most important thing is that it is the house of the Lord." He bore testimony of the sealing ordinance and encouraged the children to help the Savior in the work of salvation by sharing the gospel with their friends and by helping with temple and family history work. President Mitchell He began by expressing gratitude to the parents for bringing their children to stake conference - for providing that pattern of faith. He also expressed gratitude to the Lord for the many blessings of the Gospel. He reminded the youth of his invitation to read a chapter from the Book of Mormon each day this summer. He encouraged us all to read and study the Book of Mormon daily and he quoted from President Thomas S. Monson's most recent Conference talk in April 2017: "I implore each of us to prayerfully study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so, we will be in a position to hear the voice of the Spirit, to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive heaven’s help in our lives." He told us that temple work - the building of and the work performed inside - is the work of our generation. We need to find our ancestors and take their names to the temple. Our salvation is dependent on theirs. He quoted from President Russell M. Nelson:“I invite you to prayerfully consider what kind of sacrifice—and preferably a sacrifice of time—you can make to do more family history and temple work this year." He encouraged us to do so while the Washington DC temple is still open. He shared from Doctrine and Covenants 98:16 "seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children" and encouraged us to seek diligently for our ancestors. He also shared from Doctrine and Covenants 127, "And again, verily thus saith the Lord: Let the work of my temple, and all the works which I have appointed unto you, be continued on and not cease; and let your diligence, and your perseverance, and patience, and your works be redoubled, and you shall in nowise lose your reward, saith the Lord of Hosts. And if they persecute you, so persecuted they the prophets and righteous men that were before you. For all this there is a reward in heaven." He said he felt this counsel and promise applied to us as well. He then shifted focus and spoke about justice and mercy as principles in the plan of salvation. Adam and Eve received commandments - chose to partake of the fruit and then faced consequences for their choice. There are two types of death - physical (a separation of body and spirit) and spiritual (a separation from God). The probationary time of this life is all part of the plan of happiness. The consequences of Adam and Eve's choice (known as the Fall) were perfectly just. The atonement overcame the consequences of the Fall and provides mercy. The atonement provides the way for all of us to return to our Father in Heaven - whether we can stay there is the question. He shared a story told by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in General Conference April 2015 about two brothers climbing without any safety precautions.
President Mitchell continued - We make foolish decisions. We will always fall short. We should strive to make good choices. If we break just one commandment, we suffer consequences, but all it not lost because we have a Savior! Let us always look to Him. The joy of mercy is that it overcomes justice. The choice is ours to accept the atonement - to believe in Him. He spoke about what unconditional love truly is and shared this from Elder D. Todd Christofferson's General Conference October 2016 talk: "There are many ways to describe and speak of divine love. One of the terms we hear often today is that God’s love is 'unconditional.' While in one sense that is true, the descriptor unconditional appears nowhere in scripture. Rather, His love is described in scripture as 'great and wonderful love,' 'perfect love,' 'redeeming love,' and 'everlasting love.' These are better terms because the word unconditional can convey mistaken impressions about divine love, such as, God tolerates and excuses anything we do because His love is unconditional, or God makes no demands upon us because His love is unconditional, or all are saved in the heavenly kingdom of God because His love is unconditional. God’s love is infinite and it will endure forever, but what it means for each of us depends on how we respond to His love." He testified that Jesus Christ is our Savior - that He is mighty to save - not because of our own goodness but because of His greatness. We must utilize the atonement in our lives! This is the good news of the Gospel - that Jesus Christ has suffered for and redeemed us.
Indexing has been around for years and years. When I was a child it was called the Extraction Program. Indexing is the means whereby historical records are made available - through searchable indexes - for people to use in their family history research. Technology has made family history research remarkably accessible, because the historical records can be digitized and indexed for searching and viewing online. I can look at records for my Scottish ancestors without leaving my home - not that I wouldn't love to travel to Scotland and look for the records there!
As technology developed, the Church created a computerized Indexing program that we downloaded to our personal computers. Now with the amazing resources of web based applications and the also amazing resource of the FamilySearch website, the Church has introduced the latest improvement to the indexing efforts. It is called Web Indexing. No longer do we need to download a program to our computers. We simply login to FamilySearch and click on the Indexing tab.
The Web Indexing program enables users to pick up where they left off from any device that will log them into FamilySearch - provided it has at least a 7 inch screen and obviously they need to have an internet connection. The application is easy to use and has great features to make the indexing process faster as well as more accessible.
You can try a Guided Tour of the Web Indexing program by logging into FamilySearch - then click on Indexing and then Overview. About halfway down the Overview page is a link to the Guided Tour.
Indexing is a great way to provide service to both the living and the dead. It is also a great way to give back - to show gratitude for the records that we have available which enable us to search out our ancestors and offer them the blessings of the temple ordinances.
This past week I had an experience that provides a good teaching moment. I am currently serving as a Church Service Missionary for FamilySearch and the mission uses Skype as it's primary communication tool. Each day one particular sister posts a spiritual thought in the mission Skype chat. There was one that particularly caught my attention which she attributed to Marvin J. Ashton and I wanted to share it with both my daughter serving a mission and with my friends via Facebook. So I copied the quote she used, found a lovely picture and created a shareable picture for social media. I posted it to Facebook. Within a couple seconds, a thought went through my mind, "double check the source". I quickly went to lds.org and searched for the quote. I found it, BUT it was not from Marvin J. Ashton. Even more quickly, I pulled my picture quote off Facebook and fixed it with the correct source.
The obvious lesson here is that not everything posted on social media - regardless of how credible it may appear - is accurate. When we use quotations in our social media posts, in our teaching, in talks we give at Church, etc. we need to be certain we are attributing it to the correct person.
In our lives we are presented with many quotations - ideas, philosophies, thoughts, agendas, instructions, directions - all seeking to influence us in some way. How truly important it is that we know the source.
The words of the Christ as recorded by Moroni in Ether 4:12: And whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do good is of me; for good cometh of none save it be of me. I am the same that leadeth men to all good; he that will not believe my words will not believe me—that I am; and he that will not believe me will not believe the Father who sent me. For behold, I am the Father, I am the light, and the life, and the truth of the world. We as sisters in Zion, as parents, as teachers, as leaders, as visiting teachers - as disciples of Christ - have a responsibility to accurately represent our source of truth, of light, of goodness. Each year that passes, it becomes clearer that we are living in a time of sifting. We truly need to cling to the sources of truth - the scriptures and especially the words of our living prophet and apostles and locally the counsel we receive from our stake president. Both our prophet, President Monson, and our stake president, President Mitchell, have consistently and recently encouraged us to make the Book of Mormon part of our daily lives. What better protection from incorrect sources could we ask for? As we read daily from the Book of Mormon, we are daily inviting the Spirit to be more fully in our lives and in our homes. The outcome of such an invitation is the blessing of more fully knowing the true source of light - even our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know I desire such an outcome for myself and for my family. -Lorie Pierce
Bonnie Peterson - Ellicott City Ward I am grateful for this opportunity to review the teachings of President Gordon B. Hinckley and the influence they have had on my life.
This great man was such a fun prophet. He loved to see the lighter side of things, and share funny anecdotes or even tell jokes. You could really see that he just loved life. He was happy because of his beliefs. This is one of my favorite quotes from him, "Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great and strong purpose in your heart." And he did just that.
He spoke frequently about the strength that lies within a family, and the effects that a strong family has on a community. He was not shy to chastise the Saints and tell us to do better at teaching our children to live the gospel of Jesus Christ and to be a good example to the community. He taught that we also need to teach our children morals and values. He also taught us that we need to be more kind and loving of each other. We need to uplift and support each other, give service with a kind heart, and respect all people equally, regardless of our differences. To strengthen these teachings, he helped to introduce "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." He helped to initiate the Perpetual Education Fund to make sure that all missionaries were able to obtain an education after they completed their service. He tried to teach us to love each other as much as our Father in Heaven loves us.
More then anything, I most remember him for his desire to build as many temples as possible. He wanted all members of the church to have easy access to a temple to obtain their saving ordinances. He said, "Each temple built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints stands as an expression of the testimony of this people that God our Eternal Father lives and that He has a plan for the blessing of His sons and Daughters...Every temple is an expression of our testimony that life beyond the grave is as real and certain as is mortality." This desire of his to build many new temples further taught that we are to love and minister to each other. Our loved ones that have passed on also deserve that same kind of love and service. These beliefs strengthened my own desire to do family history research.
I am so grateful for President Hinckley's funny, humble, and strong testimony of our Savior. I know that as we strive to serve and love each other, we will be blessed.
