"The most important covenant we prepare for is being sealed in the temple"


Thursday, October 31, 2013

Package Numero Uno!!

 
When Easton was on a visa wait I the states I used to send him little packages a lot, but since he has been in  Peru ( almost 4 months now?) I've sent him one.
I was really nervous about sending him a package because I had no clue if he would even get it! well, luckily enough it got to him!
I received a lot of advice about how to do it right and it worked!!
His package got to him fairly quickly as well! (I'd say about two week! That's almost faster then a letter!!!)
 
What do you even send a missionary in Peru??
 
This package was a random one, here are some of the things I sent him...
 
-A tie (have to include one in every package)
-Tons of pictures!
-His favorite salad recipe along with some of the ingredients (salt, sugar.. etc..)
-Chocolate milk powder
- A letter
-Sour candy (his favorite)
-Big league chew bubble gum (also his favorite! I should have included a tooth brush!)
-Ramen
-A key
 
and...  I think that's all.
 
Next package will be our one year together!!
 
TIME FLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
"There are times when you simply have to righteously hang on and outlast the devil until his depressive spirit leaves you."
-Ezra Taft Benson
 


Sunday, October 27, 2013

Happy Halloween

 
 
Happy Halloween from the Westberg retirement home!
 
You better believe we won for a third year in a row at our annual family Halloween party!
 
I love my family!
 
May your Halloween festivities be as BOO-tiful and bright at you are!
 
 


Friday, October 25, 2013

Thank you for coming

The term "Thank you for coming" is used quite often. There are many ways it can be interpreted. Perhaps the following story will help you to understand the way we should always see the phrase "Thank you For coming."
 
The following story was taken from a book called "Becoming His" by Emily Freeman.
 
"Many years ago I had an experience I will never forget. I was serving as a visiting teacher. My assignment was to a woman who was struggling with a trial that had the potential to destroy her life. I had been visiting this woman for four years. She was one of my dearest friends.
On this particular night, things were not going well, and at nine thirty in the evening we ended up at the bishops office over at the church building. We counseled together with the bishop for a time, and then, in an attempt to try to find some solutions, we called a private counselor this woman had been working with to see if he could help us. He happened to be driving home from a party with his wife and agreed to come to the church.
When he arrived, he left his wife in the car with a book and spent an hour and a half counseling with this woman, the bishop and me. At eleven o'clock that evening we finally came up with a solution. The course we settled upon would include changes that had the potential to affect the rest of my friends life for good. It would require strength. It would require great sacrifice. She had chosen to make the decision we had all been praying about for weeks. I was so proud of her, and I found myself humbled by the magnitude of the journey that lay ahead of her and grateful for the encouragement of a good bishop and a kind counselor who helped her reach that decision. As we prepared to go home, my friend walked over to the counselor, took him by the hand, and said, 'Thank you for coming.'
I thought of the sacrifice he had made to be there that night. It wasn't regular office hours. he had dropped everything to come. His wife had been sitting in the car in a dark parking lot in the middle of winter for an hour and a half. In the quiet recess of my heart I echoed her gratitude, yes, thank you for coming.
I will never forget his reply.
Most people would have said, 'you're welcome.' But that wasn't his response. When my friend said 'thank you for coming,' the counselor replied, 'you're worth it.'
He taught a powerful sermon in three simple words. He knew the potential she had. He knew she was meant for more. In his eyes, she was worth the sacrifice."
 
I hope that story touched your life as much as it touched mine. The man showed a Christ-like attitude that night. Every time we kneel down in prayer to thank our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ for all that they have done for us, I know they always respond "You're Worth it." Our worth is great in the sight of God. May we be more responsive to people with a heart full of love and an attitude of the savior.
 
 Our response to "thank you for coming," should always be "You are worth it."
When we help others and follow the example of our savior, we are showing them that we know their worth is great and that we see them as the Savior sees them. As a son or daughter of God with divine potential. In our eyes they should always be worth the sacrifice.
 
Am I the type of person who would help someone under any circumstance simply because I know they are worth it and because I see the potential for more with in them?
 
"With this commitment to who we can become, the spiritual door swings open. There is a new freedom to feel and to know, a freedom to become."
-Neil L. Anderson

Friday, October 18, 2013

If the Savior Stood Beside Me

 
Would I do the things I do?
Would I think of His commandments and try harder to be true?
Would I follow His example?
Would I live more righteously?
Would I say the things I say?
Would my words be true and kind if He were never far away?
Would I try to share the gospel?
Would I speak more reverently?
Would my thoughts be clean and pure?
Would His presence give me strength and hope, and courage to endure?
Would His counsel guide my actions?
    Would I choose more worthily?
Would I often kneel to pray?
Would I listen to the Spirit’s voice, and hasten to obey?
Would I count my many blessings?
Would I praise Him gratefully
 Would I comfort those in need?
Would I try to show the Savior’s love in every word and deed?
Would I give to those who hunger?
Would I serve more willingly
He is always near me, though I do not see Him there
And because He loves me dearly, I am in His watchful care
So I’ll be the kind of person that I know I’d like to be
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me.
 
The Savior is always near. He is by our side, and with that knowledge we should ask ourselves...
 
Do I think of the commandments and try hard to be true?
Do my words remain true and kind?
Do I share the gospel?
Do I speak reverently?
Do I keep my thoughts clean and pure?
Do I often kneel down to pray?
Do I listen to the spirits voice?
Do I hasten to obey?
Do I count my blessings?
Do I thank him every day?
Do I Serve willingly?
Do I show my Saviors Love in every word and deed?

If the Savior stood beside me is one of my favorite primary hymns. If we kept it in our thoughts and minds on  daily basis I do believe our thoughts words and deeds would be different and be more turned to Christ.

I know that the Savior is never far away. I know that he stands beside us! I know that his presence gives us strength, hope and courage to endure because I have felt his strength, I have felt his hope, I have felt his encouragement and most importantly I have felt his love! I know that the Savior live and that he loves each and everyone of us with an everlasting love and that his Love is there for ANYONE who is willing to accept it. He Loves us more then we can comprehend and because of that, we can always have the strength to move forward and press on!

 


Sunday, October 6, 2013

Confirmations and Answers to Prayers



I'm not sure where to start with this but I have a lot of thoughts running through my head that I think will be very helpful to a lot of us. Myself included.
 
I have had a lot of questions lately about how you know you have received a confirmation and how you receives answers to  prayers.
 
Everyone receives confirmations and answers differently so I can't speak for everyone, I can only speak for myself. 
 
I have needed a lot of guidance in my life. I've needed guidance ever since the beginning of my existence in fact.
 
I've received confirmation and answers to my prayers in many ways: while on my knees, while reading the scriptures, in the temple, and while being obedient.
My answers usually come when I actively and diligently seek for what I am looking for.

Answers don't always come when we want them to, sometimes they come right away, but other times we don't get answers at all. When we don't receive answers we shouldn't be frustrated but rather we should be grateful. By Heavenly Father not giving you an answer he is saying that he trusts you to make the right decision and that you don't need his help.

Sometimes we don't get the answer we wanted. When this is the case, we must trust in our Heavenly Father because he knows you and what is best for you better then anyone else! A lot of the times we don't know why Heavenly Fathers gives us the answers he does, or why he guides us down certain paths, but as we are obedient and do what he asks we will eventually come to know why he had us do something a certain way or go down a specific road. Blind obedience brings blessings.

Sometimes we pray to receive confirmation and when it is given us we tend to doubt it. Why do we do this? Simple. because we are human and that is what we do. Not to long ago through the spirit Heavenly Father confirmed to me something I had been asking and praying about for a really long time. I had a lot of patience in waiting for it to be the Lords time to tell me what I should do about this situation. "God has perfect timing; never early, never late. It take a little patience and it takes a lot of faith but it's [always] worth the wait."  After I had received the confirmation I had been looking for, I began to doubt it! Why would I doubt it? because that is what Satan tell you to do. As I was sitting there doubting the Lord, all of a sudden I was slapped in the face by the spirit and the spirit testified to me that the Lord does not confirm things to us and then take away that confirmation. He does not confirm things to us just so that we can doubt him. He confirms things to us so that we can feel peace and so that we can show him that we have faith and that we will obey.

Obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles. Trust in the Lord, trust in the spirit, but most importantly... trust in yourself enough to follow Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ!  Heavenly Father Lives, He loves us, and he wants what Is best for us. I know these things to be true.