Saturday, June 18, 2011

Here comes Pageant!!!

Its that time of year again!!! Time for the Hill Cumorah Pageant!! Come feel the excitment!!! Every year our church puts on the largest outdoor play in the United States. Its all about different stories and scenes from the Book of Mormon. There is song, dance, and, action for the whole family. Its also a great way to feel the power behind the Book of Mormon, and the Spirit that it brings.

They build the stages right out from the side of the Hill Cumorah



















There is water, fire, and the occasional Angelic vistor.


















Dances and Drama.


















And a cast of hundreds


















But the focus is having fun as a family, and you just might see a missionary or two!!!!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Emergencies by Appointment Only

My companion and I were walking by a medical office. And on door it said, "Emergency Visits by Appiontment Only." Think how nice it would be to be able to plan our emergencies and our trials. They have to come, but what if we could set them up like an exercise routine or a payment plan.


Even though I know I don't like to have trials they make us stronger and refine us. It remindes me of one of my favorite quotes by one of my favorite people, C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity.



"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."



We may set a program for our own betterment. But God has us on his plan, the Plan of Salvation, so that we can become far more than we wanted ourselves to be. He tells us in the scriptures,"For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). That is His purpose and ours.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Waiting Along the River

A couple weeks ago we went on a Preparation day to Letchworth State Park. Its called the Grand Canyon of the East. As we walked along side the mighty Genesee River I thought of what Joesph B Wirthlin, a modern-day Apostle, said, "Those who stand at the threshold of life always waiting for the right time to change are like the man who stands at the bank of a river waiting for the water to pass so he can cross on dry land."

So I waited...

And the water never passed. It never even seemed to slow down. It just kept on its path. It really was a silly experiment, but it seemed to prove Joesph Wirthlin right. If we expect for life to slow down long enough for us make the changes we want to with ease, we will probably be waiting until we just give up.

Thomas S. Monson, another apostle, spoke about the master bridge builder, Jesus Christ. He has built the bridge of change for us to cross over. He has overcame our problems and challenges when he completed the Atonement. He built the bridges for us to cross so that we can be lead through change.

The bridge that we found at Letchworth isn't visible until you come right to it. You have to go through the woods, and trust the signs. But it makes it easy to cross the river. Just as in life we have to step with faith into the woods, and follow the scriptural sign posts.

In Thomas S. Monson's talk he quotes the poem "The Bridge Builder." I quote it with the changes he made.

An old man, going a lone highway,
Came at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast and deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way;
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide—
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?”
“There followeth after me today
A vast throng whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been naught to me
To that great throng may a pitfall be.
They too must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for them."


I Am a Mormon