March is coming

It's almost March again and that means it is time for... March Madness-Book of Mormon style. Okay, so I've yet to come up with a good name for this event/activity, but it is pretty simple. Starting March 1st everyone is invited to read 17 pages in the Book of Mormon. On March 2nd you do the same thing. You keep doing this until March is over and you will have read the whole book in one month! Not only that, but you will be happier, your testimony and faith will be stronger and you will feel pretty good about yourself.

Don't worry, I'll post more info. later, including a schedule in case you get behind (I usually do). I'm posting this today so that you have a little while to toss the idea around in your brain and let it sink in until you realize that you really CAN do this and you WANT to give it a shot.

The Book of Mormon will change your life.

Leave a comment if you're in.

huh?

they are closing my temple for a year and a half. did you even know they could do that? i didn't.

Longish, but oh so good!

Here's a little story from devotional yesterday. Elder Kieth R. Edwards from the Second Quorum of the Seventy spoke. He was sharp, witty and very thought provoking.

"Some time ago I was interviewing a young missionary who had been in the field for about 3 months. He indicated that he wanted to go home. As I made inquiry he explained that things had really gone sour for him. The first challenge was adjusting to the funny food he was having to eat. I asked if that was the only reason why he wanted to go home. He explained that that indignity was followed by jet lag and a cold.

I then asked, "Is there anything else?" He said that his companion didn't think the way he did and was hard to get along with and hard to understand.

My response again was, "Is there anything else?" He answered that he was miffed that his language skills didn't come faster and that it was hard to understand the people.

Finally he shared the "coup de grace" -- he got a "Dear John" from his girl friend back home.

I asked him, "Which of these problems that you have had was a surprise to God?" He seemed startled and asked me what I meant.

I said, "Do you believe in an omniscient (all-knowing) God?"

He stammered for a second and replied, "yes."

Then I asked, "So if you believe in an omniscient - all-knowing - God, did He know that you were going to have all of these problems before you came into the mission field?"

He answered, "well, I guess so." I then said something that really caught him off guard. I said, "He must really hate you!"

After he got over the shock, he smiled and said, "No. Father in Heaven loves me."

I then asked him the question that he was now waiting for: "If God knew that you were going to have all this torment before you came into the mission field, and if He doesn't hate you, why would He allow all these things happen to you?"

Again, he smiled and suggested, "maybe I'm supposed to learn something."

His challenge was that he wanted the lesson without paying the price. He wanted faith, but did not want to act or persist or endure. Faith is an "action word."

Click here to read the rest. (Or you can watch it--way more powerful that way.)
Only 11 more days until General Conference!

Happy Sunday Morning

These words...

Because you are so valuable, some of your trials may be severe. You need never be discouraged or afraid. The way through difficulties has always been prepared for you, and you will find it if you exercise faith.

are true.

For more go here.

Happy Sunday!

Meet the temple in Orlando. It is really pretty. I can't wait to go inside!