Change :)

Well, today I start my new commute down to Riverton. It will double my commute time. I getting up a lot earlier to start my day off, so I can avoid traffic. Change is always refreshing to me. We'll see how this goes. We went camping up to Mirror Lake this past weekend, and Ashley turned 9. I'll have to post some pictures when I get time this week.

A simple prayer

Here is how Alissa's prayer went last night...

Heavenly Father
please bless mommy's foot to get better
please bless Ashley and Linsey not to fight
Help me get married in the temple.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Alissa just turned 4. It is amazing how powerful, simple things like this prayer can be learned and applied at such a young age. We can learn so much from children. This prayer was sincere, I felt it as I knelt with her.

What one Righteous man can do.

Alma 46:12-24

12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—aIn memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.
13 And he fastened on his head-plate, and his abreastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the btitle of liberty) and he cbowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of dChristians remain to possess the land—
14 For thus were all the true believers of Christ, who belonged to the church of God, called by those who did not belong to the church.
15 And those who did belong to the church were afaithful; yea, all those who were true believers in Christ btook upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or cChristians as they were called, because of their belief in Christ who should come.
16 And therefore, at this time, Moroni prayed that the cause of the Christians, and the afreedom of the land might be favored.
17 And it came to pass that when he had poured out his soul to God, he named all the land which was asouth of the land bDesolation, yea, and in fine, all the land, both on the cnorth and on the south—A chosen land, and the land of dliberty.
18 And he said: Surely God shall not asuffer that we, who are despised because we take upon us the name of Christ, shall be trodden down and destroyed, until we bring it upon us by our own btransgressions.
19 And when Moroni had said these words, he went forth among the people, waving the arent part of his garment in the air, that all might see the writing which he had written upon the rent part, and crying with a loud voice, saying:
20 Behold, whosoever will maintain this title upon the land, let them come forth in the strength of the Lord, and aenter into a covenant that they will bmaintain their rights, and their religion, that the Lord God may bless them.
21 And it came to pass that when Moroni had proclaimed these words, behold, the people came running atogether with their armor girded about their loins, brending their garments in token, or as a ccovenant, that they would not forsake the Lord their God; or, in other words, if they should transgress the commandments of God, or fall into transgression, and be dashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, the Lord should rend them even as they had rent their garments.
22 Now this was the covenant which they made, and they acast their garments at the feet of Moroni, saying: We bcovenant with our God, that we shall be destroyed, even as our brethren in the land northward, if we shall fall into transgression; yea, he may cast us at the feet of our enemies, even as we have cast our garments at thy feet to be trodden under foot, if we shall fall into transgression.
23 Moroni said unto them: Behold, we are a aremnant of the seed of Jacob; yea, we are a remnant of the seed of bJoseph, whose ccoat was rent by his brethren into many pieces; yea, and now behold, let us remember to keep the commandments of God, or our garments shall be rent by our brethren, and we be cast into prison, or be sold, or be slain.
24 Yea, let us preserve our liberty as a aremnant of Joseph; yea, let us remember the words of Jacob, before his death, for behold, he saw that a bpart of the cremnant of the coat of Joseph was dpreserved and had not decayed. And he said—Even as this remnant of garment of my son hath been preserved, so shall a eremnant of the seed of my son be preserved by the hand of God, and be taken unto himself, while the remainder of the seed of Joseph shall perish, even as the remnant of his garment.

Let us stand for truth and righteousness. Why let the wickedness of the world get you down? Within each of us there is a captain Moroni. Remember, by small things great things come to pass.

The woman of my life

I love my wife! She lifts me and strengthens me! She inspires me to be someone great. I will always be in debt to her. Stacie, you've always given me wings to fly.

Are you committed?

Yesterday I attended a ward conference. I heard the same talk that our Stake President gave at the last ward conference I attended. I'm in the Stake Young Men's, and part of my calling is visiting different wards in the stake. This is the second time I've heard this talk, and the Spirit has pierced my heart and soul both times. In his talk, he told a story of when he played high school basketball. He had been in the game, scored a few points, grabbed a few rebounds. He was feeling good about himself. The coach pulled him out of the game, and asked him, "Are you committed?" The coach instructed him to sit on the bench and watch the game, and see if he was committed. As he watched players dive for the ball, and jump back up into the game, he realized that he was contributing, but not fully committed. He told the coach after some time, that he was ready to go back in the game, and he was ready to be committed. Although, he had scored a few points, and grabbed a few rebounds, he was capable of doing a lot more. Unfortunately for him, the coach told him to sit on the bench for the rest of the game. It was a painful lesson. He then compared the story to life and the gospel. Are we just contributing, or are we committed? I've found in the past few months, I've been contributing, but have I really been committed? The atonement that was made by our Savior allows us to be like Him, to better ourselves, but it requires us to be committed. The nice thing is that we don't have to sit the bench. We can jump into the game now! The only thing that is stopping us is ourselves. I've experienced many times in my life when I've stretched and committed, the Savior stands right by my side and pushes and pulls and lifts and carries me to be the son of God that I've been called to be. I testify this is true for all of Heavenly Father's children. Now let's play the game!

What a great July!

This is me and my brother Mike on the Bear Lake golf course. We love going up to Bear Lake. We did it twice in July. The kids love playing on the beach, and especially going swimming in the pool. I had no stake calling meetings in July. It was really nice. Now it is August, and due to the lack of meetings in July, Aug is always really busy. I read a scripture this morning that is a good reminder on making sure we are not "slothful" and we keep the course. It is in Alma 37:46, where it reads:

46 O my son, do not let us be ^aslothful because of the ^beasiness of the ^cway; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would ^dlook they might ^elive; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.

Even though we are facing tough economic times, it is still easy compared to other times and other places. It was a wake up call for me when I served in Portugal on a 2 year LDS mission. We really don't realize the easiness and all that we are blessed with in the United States. It is important to remember the often quoted scripture that states:

"If ye will keep my commandments ye shall ^cprosper in the land—but if ye keep not his commandments ye shall be cut off from his presence."