"Come, follow me"

One year when I was about 14 years old and my older sister, Kaylin, was about 17, her, I, and my parents were on a hike. Kaylin and I, being teenagers, had no desire to hike with our parents so we pulled back a little ways behind them so we could have our own conversation. As we were walking we noticed we were following almost exactly in our parents footprints. We began to laugh as we pointed out that we could just hear some old church leader using that experience as a way to teach a gospel principle. We joked about how some of those leaders always seemed to find gospel principles and thoughts using the smallest things in everyday life, and we then proceeded to figure out what they might say to share this thought on following exactly in your parents footprints. I don't remember exactly what we planned out for this dynamic talk but I'm sure it was very spiritual. But, as I can't remember what Kaylin and I came up with, I thought I'd share some thoughts I've had on my own about this gospel application and hope she'll forgive my memory and the fact that I'm turning into one of those old church leaders myself..not in age or leadership role but in applying the gospel to obscure situations.

Whose footprints do you follow in? Whose footprints would you like to follow in?

I would like to focus on the second question: "Whose footprints would you like to follow in?" There are many great answers to this question. The example of the parents footprints that originally spurred this idea can be a very good one. If you have good, faithful parents who love and teach gospel principles then following in their footprints is an excellent idea. Also, following in the footprints of older siblings, or church leaders (yes, even old ones) can be very uplifting. But I'd venture to say the very BEST footprints we could follow in are our Savior, Jesus Christ's. "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12) We are promised as we follow the Savior that we will have the light of life. Because the Savior lead a perfect life, as we do our very best to follow in His footsteps we will be able to free ourselves from sin and worldly sorrow. No, we will not be perfect. Yes, we will make mistakes. But as we strive more and more every day to follow in His footsteps we WILL find more joy and strength. We will be kept from much heartache and we will be able to move forward with faith.

 Come Follow Me

(vs.1)
"Come, Follow me," The Savior said.
Then let us in his footsteps tread,
For thus alone can we be one
With God's own loved, begotten son
(vs. 2)
"Come, follow me," a simple phrase,
Yet truths sublime effulgent rays
Are in these simple words combined
To urge, inspire the human mind.
(vs. 5)
We must the onward path pursue
As wider fields expand the view,
And follow him unceasingly,
Whate'er our lot or sphere may be
(vs. 6)
For thrones, dominions, kingdoms, pow'rs,
And glory great and bliss are ours,
If we, throughout eternity,
Obey his words, "Come, follow me."

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart"

Before coming out on my mission my mother made me a beautiful quilt with messages and scriptures from many of the people that are most important to me. It took months to get all the messages gathered and the quilt put together. I received the quilt one Sunday afternoon after I spoke in church. I had a week and a half before I left on my mission and I decided to bring the quilt with me to visit friends so I could catch the few of them that hadn't signed it yet. My mother put the quilt in a big, black garbage bag and set it by the front door, among many other items she wanted my dad to carry out to the car. I then followed my parents into St. George where we attended the temple and did some shopping. When it was time for us to part ways I went to get the quilt out of their car and couldn't find it anywhere. My mother and I pulled out practically everything that was in the trunk to no avail. When we asked my dad about it, and explained that it was in a garbage bag, he responded calmly: "Oh! I threw that away" ... "You, WHAT?!" Yes, mistaking the bag for garbage my father had done the dutiful thing and taken it out to the dumpster. Something else worthy of noting is that this so happened to be garbage day (of course). My mother and I were speechless. Then and there I gave up hope. I thought "Well, it's gone. Can't do anything about it". I was heartbroken. This quilt that had been months in the making, that had special messages just for me written on the fabric, was gone. With nothing else to do I climbed in my car and drove away, feeling forlorn.

My mother, however, did not give up hope. She immediately started making phone calls as her and my father drove back towards home. She found out that yes, in fact, the garbage man had come. She contacted the garbage company who told her that they were welcome to search the dump but the likelyhood of finding the quilt was slim to none. They expressed to her that there is no rhyme or reason for how they bring in garbage and dump it so it could be anywhere. And still, my mother did not give up hope. Instead she did the one thing I should've done immediately. She prayed. She prayed and she prayed and she prayed. All the way home (2 hours) she told me she was saying silent prayers. When her and my father arrived back in town they immediately headed to the dump. Upon seeing the mess they had to sort out they headed home and changed into grubby clothes, grabbed shovels and rakes and gloves and prepared to dig through trash. On the way to the dump my dad came up with a game plan for how to find this quilt. He assigned my mother and area to start and himself an area to start. He figured they could begin at the outer edges and work their way in to the middle. When they arrived, he began unloading the tools, and my mom started heading straight for the middle of all the garbage. He, of course, asked what in the world she was doing. "I had a plan!", he expressed, "we start at the edges then work toward the middle". My mom simply waved him off and told him to just wait a minute. She then proceeded to walk directly to the middle, move one item out of the way, and pick up my quilt, still in it's deceitful garbage bag. 

She expressed to me that she was guided by the Spirit on exactly where she needed to go to find that blanket.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."-Proverbs 3:5-6 

This is the perfect example of what occured on this day. My mother put her trust in the Lord, not wavering, and her path was lead directly to that quilt. I, on the other hand, leaned unto my own understanding. I thought there was no way we were ever going to find it, it wasn't logical. If it had been up to just me, I'd be without that precious quilt today. But because of my mom's complete trust and faith in the Lord, He answered her prayers and lead her exactly where she needed to go. In the long run losing that quilt wouldn't have been a huge deal. Lives wouldn't have been lost and I would've still served my mission, but because it was important to myself and my mother it was important to Heavenly Father. He loves each and everyone of us so much that he cares about those things that are important to us. That is a true Father's love and I am so grateful for that and so grateful for the faith of my earthly mother, who was able to be lead by the Spirit. Because of that, I get to sleep under that quilt every night here in Montana and get to receive constant reminders of the love my family and friends, as well as my Father in Heaven, has for me :)

Trying to be like Esther

Whenever I hear the word "courage" I automatically think of the biblical heroine, Esther. But as I have studied the story of Esther more in depth I have come to realize that she emulates a lot more than just courage. She is also a beautiful example of faith, humility, love, and wisdom-to name just a few.

To sum up the story of Esther, she risked her life to save the lives of all her people, the Jews. An evil man named Haman asked the king to sign a decree saying that all the Jews would be killed. Unbeknownst to the king, his wife, Esther, was a Jew. Mordecai, Esther's uncle, asked Esther to go in to the king and let him know who she truly was and ask him to spare the Jews. This wasn't such an easy task though, because in this kingdom anyone who requested an audience with the king without being invited could be put to death if the king desired, even if it was his own wife. Esther tells this dreadful fact to Mordecai who responds by saying: "Think not with thyself...more than all the Jews...who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:13-14) In other words, Don't think of yourself more than all of your people, who knows if saving the Jews isn't the very reason that you were chosen to marry the king? Esther then responds by asking him to have all the Jews fast and pray for her and concludes by saying "If I perish, I perish." (Esther 4:16) Esther's response of having everyone pray for her is one of the things that show me of her great humility. It isn't easy to admit that you need help, both from those around you and from Heavenly Father. But Esther did just that. She knew she could not do this task on her own. Her great faith shows when she states: "If I perish, I perish". She was putting her life into Heavenly Father's hands and accepted whatever He had in store for her, and her courage is also very apparent in this statement. Esther then requested an audience with the King and thankfully, the King permits her to live and asks what her request is. Instead of just jumping in and asking him to save the Jews, she requests his attendance at a banquet that she had prepared for the following day. This, to me, shows Esther's wisdom. She took the time to plan and prepare. She thought it out, and created the best possible situation for the King to grant her request. And of course, Esther's love shows throughout this story. She loved her people, her uncle, and her God more than her own life. This causes me to think of the verse in John 15:13: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Fortunately, Esther did not need to lay down her life for the people. The King realized Haman's true colors and instead of all the Jews being killed, Haman was killed. Esther was able to accomplish the mission set forth for her in becoming queen.

The motivating thought that Mordecai shares with Esther: "who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" causes me to think of the "kingdoms" that each one of us are in. I know that where we are, and the people that we are with, are there for a purpose. God has specific missions that he would like each of us to accomplish in the situations he puts us in. Lives we can touch, situations we can change, people to touch us. As we strive to develop these divine attributes that Esther possessed, we will be better prepared to accomplish those things our wise Heavenly Father has in mind for us, and we have the ability to save lives as Esther did.

Good Morning!

The alarm goes off at 6:30 on the dot every single morning, and every single morning immediately following I hear "good morning!" with an impressive amount of enthusiasm considering the hour. This comes from my companion, Sister Green. She is such an example of having a positive attitude and a general enthusiasm for life. When she first became my companion, I'd mutter "morning" back while stumbling out of bed. Now, however, I've taken this as a new challenge and I try to say "good morning!" before she can. Sometimes I win, sometimes she does. But now if you were to over hear us in the morning you would hear two very enthusiastic greetings coming from a dark room, and probably worry about our sanity.
We hear the phrase "attitude is everything" all the time, and I hate to repeat what has already been said, but the realization that attitude truly is everything has really caused me to reflect. What if everyone in the world attempted to be bright and cheery the second they opened their eyes in the morning? Can you imagine how different your day would go? Think of the difference between the rude cashier and the happy one. Think of the difference between the friend who is negative all the time and the friend who is positive. Can you see what an effect small things can have? William James, a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher, wrote, “The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives." I echo William James in saying that our outer aspects truly can change as we change our attitude.
 Waking up with a bright "good morning!" contest seems small but the simple fact that we attempt to wake-up with an excitement for the new day has really affected me. Days that I have woken up with a bright attitude seem to just go better. I may still face challenges and hard work, but if I approach those with a smile, somehow, they don't have as much of a power over me. Let's all try to wake up with a "good morning!" tomorrow and attempt to change the outcome of an entire day.

Choose The Light

A few weeks ago I was reading a talk entitled "The Fourth Missionary" by Lawrence E. Corbridge. In the talk he states: "As you consider what kind of person you want to become, what choices do you have? The choices are more limited than what you might think...overall they are a choice between the qualities of light or the qualities of darkness." So I immediately thought: "I'm going to choose the light!", this then gave me the idea to change the commonly used phrase in the LDS church from CTR (Choose the right) to CTL (Choose the light). I have since discovered a few other significant meanings behind "Choose the light".

First: As our choices reflect the qualities of light we will become a better person. We will become the person we want to be as we continually strive to choose the light.
Second: Who is the Light? I'd like to answer that question with a verse from the bible:

 "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12). Jesus Christ is our light. As we choose the light we are choosing Jesus Christ. Choosing to follow him, to look to him, to trust in him. Who better to choose?
Third: "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16) By choosing the light we are choosing to be an example. We are choosing to let that light shine so that they may see who we are and follow after that example.

As we make the decision to choose the light we will better ourselves as a person, become more christlike, we will find a greater love for him and for the people around us, and we will become the kind of examples others would like to follow. So I invite you all to CTL :)


As I've been studying my scriptures I've come across many more verses that discuss light: Micah 7:78, John 12:46,  Romans 2:19, Romans 13:12, 1 John 1:7,Mosiah 16:9, 3 Nephi 15: 9-12, 3 Nephi 18:24, D&C 6:21, D&C 10:58, D&C 10:70

Be of Good Cheer

"Lift up your head and be of good cheer..." 3 Nephi 1:13
"Be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you..." D&C 68:6
"...In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" John 16:33
"...be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee." Matthew 9:2


"Be of Good Cheer". What a beautiful phrase of comfort, hope, peace, forgiveness and love! This gospel truly is about being of good cheer. In 2 Nephi 2:25 it tells us: "men are that they might have joy". Our Heavenly Father created us and sent us here to earth so that we could have joy! This shows me how loving He truly is. That joy and love is exactly why I decided to serve a mission. Living the Gospel of Jesus Christ has brought so much joy into my life. Everyone deserves that opportunity! Everyone should "taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste" (Alma 36:24) by realizing that they do have a Heavenly Father who loves them and a Savior who atoned for their sins. By realizing that true happiness CAN be achieved through Them. This message that I have to share is a message of JOY and of good CHEER and I want all the world to hear it. In this blog I would like to share this good cheer with all that I can, and cause you to realize the good cheer in your own life.

Additional "Be of Good Cheer" verses: Matthew 14:27, Acts 27:25, 2 Nephi 10:23, D&C 61:36, D&C 78:18, D&C 112: 4