Tuesday, February 20th, 2018

Hong Kong, China

48th operating temple

Dedicated: 26-27 May 1996

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ Authority of

John 12:49

 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

Book of Mormon

2 Nephi 10:18-11:8

*These verses show, quite simply, that we only have two sides to choose between: the Lord's side, or the Devil's. Why then is it so difficult for us to make the right choices when we're presented with what the devil wants?

Old Testament

Leviticus 17-18

17 Sacrifices are to be offered only to the Lord at the tabernacle of the congregation - Israel is forbidden to sacrifice to devils - All eating of blood is forbidden - Shedding of blood is required for an atonement for sins.

18 Israel shall not live as the Egyptians and the Canaanites - Marriages to many close relatives and others are forbidden - Homosexual behavior and other sexual perversions are an abomination - The land expels those nations that practice sexual abominations.

Old Testament Favorite Scriptures

Exodus 18:19-21

19 Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to Godward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God:

20 And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.

21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:

General Conference

Exceeding Great and Precious Promises

Elder David A. Bednar

" Please not that the Sabbath day and the temple, respectively, are a sacred time and a sacred space specifically set apart for worshipping God and for receiving and remembering His exceeding great and precious promises to His children. As instituted by God, the principal purposes of these two divine sources of help are exactly the same: to powerfully and repeatedly focus our attention upon our Heavenly Father, His Only Begotten Son, the Holy Ghost and the promises associated with the ordinances and covenants of the Savior's restored gospel."

Happy Birthday Sheri!

Three years ago on Sheri's 40th birthday

when we tried to surprise her.

From 'Rescuing Wayward Children': "By living in a way that we always honor our baptismal covenants, we retain a remission of our sins, and the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost." (p. 25)

It's snowing and it's a winter wonderland outside, something I have been waiting for. We had four and a half inches of snow this morning but by afternoon much of it had melted. 

I wished Sheri a happy birthday and she thanked me for her birthday card and Amazon gift card.

I did pretty much all of the things on my schedule today. I blogged, cleaned the family and living room, washed our sheets, did some more laundry, walked over 12,000 steps, fixed lunch, and went with James to get gas in his truck at Stanford. I got sandwich stuff for dinner and come more candy to go with my visiting teaching handout. I also found a recipe for broccoli cheese soup.

Happy Anniversary to the Lamb's

59 years and counting!

Another Anniversary

Arizona Desert Beauty

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Birmingham, Alabama

98th operating temple

2 Nephi 18:1-22

Christ shall be as a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense - Seek the Lord, not peeping wizards - Turn to the law and to the testimony for guidance - Compare Isaiah 8.

Alma 5:41-7:10

The Good Shepherd calleth his people - Those who do evil works are children of the devil - Alma testifies of the truth of his doctrine and commands men to repent - Names of the righteous shall be written in the book of life. 6 - The Church in Zarahemla is cleansed and set in order - Alma goes to Gideon to preach. 7 - Christ shall be born of Mary - He shall loose the bands of death and bear the sins of his people - Those who repent, are baptized, and keep the commandments shall have eternal life - Filthiness cannot inherit the kingdom of God - Humility, faith, hope, and charity are required.

DC 32:1-5

How can this section give us confidence that the Lord is always with us?

Song: "Be Still My Soul"

GC:            'The Doctrine of Christ' by Brian K. Ashton

Douglas D. Holmes, First Counselor in the YMGP, has written: 

 "The ordinances of baptism and the sacrament symbolize both the end result and process of being born again.  In baptism, we bury the old man of flesh and come forth to a newness of life.  

In the sacrament, we learn that this change is a step-by-step process, where little by little, week by week, we are transformed as we repent, covenant and through increased endowments of the Spirit, become like the Savior."

GC:                       'Serve' by Elder Carl B. Cook

"Brothers and sisters, accepting and fulfilling a calling is an act of faith.  President Monson says:

'Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies,' and

'When we are on the Lord's errand, we are entitled to the Lord's help.'"

We attended the 8 o'clock session at the Snowflake temple this morning.  There are a few regulars in this session: Jerry Frost, and the little Filipino sister and her husband.  Also in this session Brother Peeler and Bishop Miller from our ward.  We did our regular after session selfie.

 A couple of oldies and the Angel Moroni.

I tried something at El Cupido's that I've never had before, a carna asada burrito.  I think it is my new favorite.  At Walmart we got some pork chops and walnuts, two staples at our house.  

Painting or photo?  You tell me.

After my nap this afternoon I spent some time doing my regular gospel study that I normally do in the morning.  I read from my book, "Contrite Spirit," and then from the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants.  We listened to two conference talks on the way to the temple.  While I was working on my blog James came and ask me to go with him to see if we could find where Brother Slaughter lives.  James has been called to be his visiting teacher.  He doesn't have a phone number but we do have an address for him.  

James stopped at the place with his address but they had never heard of him.  There was no other possible place around that could have been his.  It was a little like the "Twilight Zone."  Did he just disappear?  James reported it to the ward membership clerk and he said he would send his records to Salt Lake.

This is a picture of Ben helping Adam celebrate 

his birthday.

It was a cold day here in Vernon so of course James built a fire.  I am tired of the dusty footprints so this is what I have devised until I can get some more rugs:

A trail to the fireplace

In our "Lady of the Lakes" book Walter Scott and Charlotte are falling in love.  It is starting to get good.  

We had pork chops and applesauce for dinner.  The applesauce is some that I canned at the cannery in Mesa in 2001 but it is still good.  

I was too tired to study my Primary lesson this evening so I decided I would get up at 4 a.m.  

Fun Photos and Starbucks

You're too expensive anyway!

Kim and Brian went to Tucson last night to

this concert.

A younger Evan at school.

Adam helping Gpa on his shed.

Visiting Teaching goodie basket.

Jared posted this last year.