followers of my faith [Mormon Monday 47]

My ward is so big on family history right now. For our fifth Sunday discussion we were challenged to start reading family histories, looking up ancestors, etc. Since I just happened to have my grandfather's personal history (that he personally invited me to read, um, a while ago) I picked it up that day.

(My dad is described as having "limpid intelligence" which takes a lot of visualizing. An aunt that shall not be named is surely thrilled to go down in history as "somewhat peevish as an infant.")

Then we had a ward activity yesterday at the Salt Lake Cemetery. We met some people's ancestors and other famous Church history people buried there. Here's a quote that stuck out to me:

Each of us will be greatly blessed if we know the stories of faith and sacrifice that led our forefathers to join the Lord’s Church (William R. Walker, "Live True to the Faith," General Conference April 2014)

So I poked around on FamilySearch a little bit to find some ancestors that joined the Church. I found one really interesting story so far and I am sure there are more.

All in all, reading Granddaddy's personal history and some other ancestors has been a nice experience. I'm trying to collect some other histories and documents so I can know better what came before.

followers of my faith [Mormon Monday 46]

Last night I was feeling kind of sad about the news, so I prayed if I should have the priesthood. (Was that too much of a non-sequitur? It made sense when it was late.)

It took me almost no time to realize I was asking the wrong question. What I need to be asking is, "How can I best build the kingdom of God?" And for me, the answer is definitely not by getting the priesthood. In fact, there is so much God would have me do to serve that I don't think I would ever have time to say, "All right, I've reached the extent of my usefulness. In order to continue I must be ordained." I'm not saying that no woman could feel that way, but that for me it is so far from my needs and wants at this time.

That's just how I feel. Trying to reach a place that I can see.

and the words, they're everything [04]

Twitter changed its layout since last I got around to posting some of my favorite bot-generated statuses, which is a disappointment in screenshot consistency. But I don't even care. Robots are still hilarious (when they're helped out by me).

Sometimes there got to be real patterns in what was generated:

And I can never resist extremely esoteric popular culture references:

Chances are I'm going to have fun with this forever.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

followers of my faith [Mormon Monday 45]

On Friday we were talking about...some basketball player. Not sure who. Anyway, he has really huge hands (in case that narrows it down). Apparently his hand is 9 in. long and he has an 11 in. span. Or something like that.

(For reference, I have a 7-in. span and a 6-in. hand. I'm little, but I haven't met anyone with 3 full inches on me.)

Later on in the temple I was reminded of this scripture we talked about in my Isaiah class four years ago:

Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? (Isaiah 40:12)

Talk about an enormous span.

I like this scripture because it reminds me that God truly is all-powerful. Things that are unfathomable to us (like all the water on earth, or the entire universe) are within His comprehension and His power.

And yet...

This is a paradox of man: compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God. While against the backdrop of infinite creation we may appear to be nothing, we have a spark of eternal fire burning within our breast. We have the incomprehensible promise of exaltation—worlds without end—within our grasp. And it is God’s great desire to help us reach it ("You Matter to Him," President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, in General Conference October 2011).

followers of my faith [Mormon Monday 44]

Last week had a RS BBQ. No men allowed! We were ostensibly planning for our Elders Quorum Appreciation dinner next month (yeah, you know you're jealous of my ward) and there was a little bit of that, but mostly we just chatted and had a good time. I ... didn't meet anyone new but some people met me, so I'll just say I met some fun new people!

We started off with a spiritual thought, as you do, and it was appropriately from the Priesthood session. President Monson's talk, to be specific. We actually didn't talk a lot about how this applies to the men (sometimes we need reminders that they're not entirely stupid), but I feel like this is universally applicable, pretty much:

Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God’s approval.Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue when it is regarded not only as a willingness to die manfully but also as the determination to live decently. As we move forward, striving to live as we should, we will surely receive help from the Lord and can find comfort in His words. I love His promise recorded in the book of Joshua:
“I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. …
“… Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”

I really like this quote. It's always good to know how to make God smile in approval (and apparently it is attractive so that's a win). My favorite part is probably "the determination to live decently" because isn't that everyone's goal? And that takes courage (helped along by a healthy dose of the Atonement).

followers of my faith [Mormon Monday 43]

Another one of the MM drafts I made right after stake conference says "careful and troubled about many things."

I think I know what it's about, but stake conference was a while ago so I'm mostly just guessing.

In our stake we do this cool thing where not only do they have priesthood leadership meeting for the guys, they also invite all the Relief Society sisters in the stake to a stake Relief Society meeting as part of stake conference. This quote is from one of the girls in our stake, who I really like even though I don't know her all that well (I see her in the cafeteria though, since we both work here).

Well, I mean, the quote is from the scriptures. Specifically, this story:

38 ¶Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
(Luke 10:38–42)

 We really tend to be careful and troubled about many things. I'm in a good place in life and I'm still troubled about many things (and I am being very careful not to fall off my shoes). But sometimes we just need to take a second. Have faith. Do this thing:

16 Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God. (D&C 101:16)

And...there were some other cool things she said in her talk that meant a lot to me, so I hope I wrote them down. My notes aren't here, though. So I'll let y'all draw your own conclusions about how to apply this to your life.