A Night In Pictures...

Moved

I moved to Riverton with 2 friends. I am now 2 miles from work, instead of the 45minute plus commute I had before. With all the construction on I-15 my commute was usually about an hour, give or take depending on accidents and construction. 

A few pictures. Kitchen, my room, my bathroom.

Elder Bednar Notes

ICS Devotional

Elder Bednar

August 25, 2011

Elder Bednar spoke at our devotional today. Such a great experience. He wanted to highlight three main points: The reality of revelation, the importance of acting in doctrine, and the power of grace through the Atonement.


Reality of revelation – Within this topic, he specified 3 main events/things that have strengthened his testimony and understand of revelation. The first one is the pattern and process of assigning missionaries. Only the Brethren assign missionaries. Only they know exactly how the process works, only they will ever know. They are presented with a picture, background information, and recommendation from the Bishop and Stake President. They take this information, and they just know where this missionary is to go. The Brethren have been to almost every single of the 300+ missions. They have been there, know the mission, and have been involved in some capacity with calling the Mission President. As they look at the picture, the background, the recommendations, a spirit comes and manifests where the missionary should go. They know where they are to go based on their experience with the mission. Some missionaries need to not necessarily go to a place, but to a certain mission president.


Applicable to my life – what would the Lord see if he saw my “papers”? If he saw my picture, my eyes, read my background and the recommendations of my Ecclesiastical leaders who know my history? Where would He assign me if i were assigned to a Glory after death based on my application? Would I make the Celestial Kingdom?


The second event he mentioned is the process of calling a stake presidency. He shows up, and has to Interview 30+ people in 2 hours- he gets 3 minutes with each Brother. Elder Bednar described it as, “when you see him, you know. You are finding who the Lord has already called.” He said you sit there and interview all these men, and you have 3 minutes. It has nothing to do with what they say, but when the spirit says, “that’s your guy!” you know. Elder Bednar described his first experience in selecting a Stake President, when he was assigned to go with Elder Scott. They had over 60 interviews to do. They went through 30 something of them, and Elder Scott asked, “David, do you know who the stake president is?” Elder Bednar sort of scrambled a bit, put on the spot like that. He said “no, but you do, don’t you?” and Elder Scott asked again, “David, David, do you know who the stake president is?” Elder Bednar told him he hadn’t felt inclined towards anyone. So Elder Scott said, “then let’s keep interviewing.”


After they had finished interviewing the last of the candidates, Elder Scott again turned to Elder Bednar and said, “David, do you know who the stake president is?”. Elder Bednar again raced in his tracks, not sure what to say. In the end, he said he felt like three individuals (out of the 60) felt right. Elder Scott told him to write down the three names, and Elder Scott did the same. They then showed each other, and both had written the same names. Elder Scott asked which of the 3 was the Stake President (the other 2 would be his counselors)? Elder Bednar said he didn’t know, and asked if he could take a minute to think and pray. He want into the hall, and came back. He said the name he had felt impressed was the Stake President to be called, and Elder Scott said, “me too”. They called him and asked him to immediately (10 minutes) give them his two councilors to be called. The new Stake President wrote down the same 2 names Elder Scott and Elder Bednar had, independently of each other.


He went on to say that that pattern is the same but each time is different. The Lord is able to do His own work. He is powerful and great enough. But he chooses to do it through us. Hearing this example was so powerful. What an incredible experience, to see the Lord’s had so specifically. He’s done this so many times, and every time it is the same pattern. It is no coincidence or “miracle” or lucky guess. Logic can’t describe it, common sense refutes it, but it is there. I can’t imagine having such a repeated spiritual experience, such a witness that the Lord is watching out for us and really does give such direct revelation.


The third event he specified is General Conference. He specified that there are no assignment for topics at General Conference. They are given an invitation to speak, a day and session, and a length. That is it. He gave specific instances of how he was awed that God is the one writing the theme/outline of General Conference. He mentioned how he wrote and gave a talk entitled "mothers who know”. Two speakers later, sister Beck got up and spoke about “mothers who know”. His talk had perfectly set the tone and stage for her talk. He mentioned another occasion where he was going to be in Europe until right before GC. So he wrote his talk before he left, and turned it into translation. He came back on Sunday night. Monday morning, he woke up feeling unsettled about his talk. He told Sister bednar, and she said, “If you don't feel settled, get to work”. So he did. He felt impressed to write his talk on Temple Covenants. After he spoke, a member of the 70 got up and spoke on Temples and Family. After that, President Monson got up and concluded the conference, and spoke about the Temple. Elder Bednar was in awe of how the talks had related and complimented each other. How he had been impressed to change his conference address, and now it fit so well in the overall theme God had wanted it to fit into. He lastly mentioned a conference where Elder Uchtdorf got up, and towards the middle began to give Elder Bednar’s talk. He was slightly panicked, thinking his talk was already being given! But Elder Uchtdorf touched the very basis of the concept Elder Bednar was to speak about, and then he related it to another topic entirely. But he had completely set the tone and the foundation for where Elder Bednar would go in his own address. He mentioned that had they sat together for a year, trying to incorporate their talks in the most subtle and complimentary way, they never could have done it better than the Lord did, without them having any idea.


Hearing this testimony was extraordinary. Can you imagine being able to see, first hand, through personal experiences, how the Lord has guided you and others to make the most perfect General Conference for Latter-day Saints?


Elder Bednar emphasized that we are all entitled to revelation. As we honor covenants and maintain holiness in ourselves and our lives, these blessings are here for us 24/7 - The power of Godliness is ours to have. They are our right 24/7 if we are worthy.


Importance of acting in doctrine - D&C 101:78 “That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.”


Elder Bednar told us that in general, most people tend to think of doctrine as thinking, or studying. But do we think of it as an action? Act in agency. In doctrine.


We tend to pray as objects not agents. When Nephi’s brothers beat him and tied him up, Nephi didn't pray for someone to deliver him, but he prays for strength that he may break the bands. He prayed not as an object (save me! Send someone to beat my brothers and loose these bands!!) but as an agent (give me the strength to break the bands!)


1 Nephi 7: 17-18


17 But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound.


18 And it came to pass that when I had said these words, behold, the bands were loosed from off my hands and feet, and I stood before my brethren, and I spake unto them again.


I had never thought about this in that context before. If I had been in Nephi’s position, I’m pretty sure I would have prayed for someone to come help me, or for the Lord to loosen the bands. But Nephi prayed that the Lord would (through Nephi’s faith and pleading) give HIM the strength to break the bands. He didn’t leave his own life in the Lord’s hands – he prayed to be able to take action (faithfully and in accord with the Lord’s will) in his own life.


Elder Bednar went on to say that he does not believe that the Lord broke the bands immediately. He said he believes Nephi worked very hard and for a very long time to break the bands.


Then he encouraged us to have the prayers of an agent. He went on to say that so many times we say some form of this in our Church prayers, “please help those who are not here to be here next week.” That is the prayer of an object. What, just because we said that are these people going to just magically appear?? Go and get them!! Instead of that prayer, an agent would pray something like, “Heavenly Father, there are many people not here at Church today. Please help us to have the courage and love to go find them! To bring them to Church.” That is the prayer of an agent!! Dont just sit and read your scriptures. Act!! Go into it with a question or principle. Be in agent in the scriptures. Do what you know is right and the power follows. Open your mouth and it will know what to say. Don't pray to know and hesitate. Go and do!!!!! If you are acting instead of waiting for action to happen, that effort is a powerful invitation to the spirit. Joseph smith showed us such a good example of this. When he was prayingto know which Church to join, he didn’t just say “help to know” or “show me which is true” but he specified so that he could know to join one or to join none of them. He specified an action. Faith is the principle of action and power. He prayed so he could go do something!!!


The power of grace through the Atonement – “When he is weak he is strong” - Paul. When he is strengthened by God he can do anything. Book of Mormon is full of examples of the strength of God. Grace of God's Atonement. Trust if you do your very best God will strengthen you and bless you beyond your own capacity. We are not fully aware of how much the Lord will strengthen us and bless us. This power is not reserved for apostles. We are all entitled to those blessing. We have received the ordinances that entitle us to the blessings.


This whole talk was so incredible to me. I learned so much. I realized I need to be much more of an agent in my life, and especially in my prayers.


I loved when Elder Bednar went to sister Bednar about feeling unsettled, and she said “well then get to work.” There are so many times I am unsettled about things, or have questions, etc. And I just waver and suffer with indecision, when I should simply get to work.


This was a much needed talk in my life. I so love being a member of the Church or Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am so grateful for the apostles and the words of wisdom they give to me!


Love,
Brittney

Elder

As of 8-14-11 at 7:00pm - Taylor Wesley Johnson is an Elder.

So proud.

Love,

Brittney

Life is like one big-fat-giant-corpulent-awesome-muchly anticipated surprise!

So I love surprises. A LOT! I get as excited about surprises as children do.

In fact, to be honest, I still don't sleep much on Christmas Eve because I'm so excited about Christmas morning and all the presents and fun to be had.

A friend was mentioning my love of surprises to me the other day. And then I was thinking about an institute lesson I recently had, and one of the themes from the lesson was about how God is constantly trying us to mold us into something great, and how we need to make a correction plan for our life. To expound on that concept – there are things in life we are doing/not doing that need to be modified. Going over our life and seeing those things, and making a plan of action, a plan of correction.

The next morning on the way to work I was listening to one of my favorite talks ever, "The Infinite Power of Hope" by Elder Uchtdorf.

And suddenly all of those ideas/concepts game together.

And I thought, what if I looked at life like a surprise?

We all want something – are searching for something or working towards something. The ultimate goal is exaltation of course – but there are other steps along the way: Schooling, career, marriage, family, relationships, etc. We have hope that God is looking out for us and good things will come. But sometimes that hope is hard to hold on to, and seems like nothing more than a flimsy dream.

Well, what if I related hope to the feeling of anticipation before a surprise? Like on my birthday. I know I'm going to get surprises and I love it. What if I looked at certain events in my life like that? And instead of getting upset I don't have the present now, applying the anticipation to the power of hope. The faith of knowing something good is happening, and the hope to keep a good positive attitude.

Like a surprise!

Also on an allegorical level – you know when you have a surprise for someone and you tell them you have it? The Lord has done that for us. He's told us through personal revelation, Patriarcle blessings, Priesthood blessings, etc – that he has blessings – aka - surprises - in store for us – if we just stay strong!!

Some people when you tell them you have a present for them, but the time isn't yet – they get moody and cranky – they want the surprise NOW and don't want to wait. How pathetic that seems to us… yet we do that to the Lord ALL THE TIME! We want our surprise now and don't want to wait, don't want to ENJOY the time of anticipation (preparation) until we are ready for this great surprise.

We have a sour attitude, and as the giver – who wants to give a gift to someone who is behaving so childish? You just want to say, "I told you there is a surprise!! Just calm down and enjoy the time to prepare for this gift! Enjoy the anticipation!"

And there are so many levels of gifts… just think about the progression of gifts in your life. As we age – the gifts change. We get toys, progression in age ranges – then we start to get electronics as we are ready, and it keeps going from there. It is the same with us in the spiritual sense. As we progress spiritually, the gifts change. We never know what gift we're going to get, what the Giver thinks we could enjoy or benefit from the best. And often the gift is something we didn't even want! Or know existed. But there is always a gift that is selected specifically for us, and as we progress and grow, those gifts will progress and grow with us.

In relation to hope vs faith, which is a concept I struggle with – both practicing them and in understanding how they differ, I think in this analogy, faith would be knowing you're getting the gift. And hope would be remembering that you are getting the gift, and doing whatever you can mentally and spiritually to prepare yourself to get the gift.

Here's to all the surprises waiting for us in life, and to enjoying every second of anticipation until those gifts arrive!

 Love,
Brittney