The Ministry of Angels

This is exciting!!! I am learning angels and miracles are very prominent in the LDS faith. These are things I have always known in my heart are true. Angels and miracles have not ceased in our time, and what a blessing, as we need them now more than ever. Hope you enjoy these quotes and articles on angels, who are ever present. May you be blessed to see and experience angels and miracles in your life, today and always.

"I believe we need to speak of and believe in and bear testimony of the ministry of angels more than we sometimes do. They constitute one of God’s great methods of witnessing through the veil, and no document in all this world teaches that principle so clearly and so powerfully as does the Book of Mormon." (Elder Jeffery Holland)


“And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”(Jesus Christ, D&C 84:88)


"And now, my beloved brethren, if this be the case that these things are true which I have spoken unto you, and God will show unto you, with power and great glory at the last day, that they are true, and if they are true has the day of miracles ceased?
Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved?
Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased woe be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain." (Moroni 7:35-37)

"God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face."
The Ministry of Angels
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Ensign, Nov 2008, 29–31


"Christmas carols are a special feature of the season. They bring feelings of joy to our hearts as they describe the events and significance of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is interesting to note that many Christmas hymns speak of angels. This is because the biblical record contains numerous accounts of heavenly beings speaking to mortals before and at the time of His birth. An angel announced His pending birth to the young woman Mary and to Joseph, her espoused husband (see Luke 1:26–33; Matthew 1:20–21). An angel accompanied by a heavenly choir heralded the birth to the shepherds in the fields (see Luke 2:8–14), and angels kept watch over the family during the early years when Herod tried to destroy the young Jesus (see Matthew 2:13, 19–20). Not only is the story of the Savior’s birth replete with heavenly messengers, but heavenly beings were also present at significant events throughout His life.
One might ask, “Why were angels so prominent at the Savior’s birth? And why were they such an important part of His life and ministry?”
Merrill J. Bateman,
“A Season for Angels,”
Ensign, Dec 2007, 10–15


"Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o'er the plains
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.
CHORUS:
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heavenly song?

Come to Bethlehem and see
Him Whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee,
Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
See him in a manger laid
Whom the angels praise above;
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,
While we raise our hearts in love."
(Christmas Hymn)
Listen Here

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Message to New and Longtime LDS Church Members

I was confirmed in Church last Sunday. I love being an official member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In my confirmation blessing, the Bishop said I should study the Scriptures diligently (especially 3Nephi) and make this a time of preparation for what is to come.

The Bishop also said to me "Live in JOY". What a neat counsel! I'm sure that is what Jesus Christ would say to every one of us!

Online I found a great talk by Elder Jeffery Holland to new (and longtime) Church members,it has very wise counsel in sections titled "The Way of the Covenant", "The Sanctity of Service", "The Holy Temple", "Leaving the Past Behind" and "Everyday Victories". I wanted to share just a small part of the last section, since it's about blessings and it seems appropriate for this week of Thanksgiving. The whole talk can be found at the link below.

“What I Wish Every New Member Knew—and Every Longtime Member Remembered,”

Ensign, Oct 2006, 10–16

By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

"We must never allow our burdens to obscure our blessings. There will always be more blessings than burdens—even if some days it doesn’t seem so. Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Enjoy those blessings right now. They are yours and always will be.

Let me summarize only a few of those blessings. There are untold others.

Knowledge of the truth. In a world that wonders and speculates and drifts, we can be certain who our Father is, who we are, and what our destiny is if we follow the path that has been marked for us. We can enjoy the highest of all higher education—the learning that comes, in both spiritual and temporal affairs, when our spirits and our minds respond to the light that streams from heaven to the faithful.

Peace in daily living. We can walk our path day to day with comfort, hope, and direction despite the challenges and obstacles we meet along the way. We can have these blessings because of our source of strength—He who “descended below” all things and triumphed over all trials. When we center our faith in Him, we draw on His strength and our reward is, among other things, “peace in this world."

Strength in virtue and confidence in integrity. The world may wonder what the standard of moral behavior is, chasing here and there the driftwood of political correctness or the frivolous fashions of the day, but we have a sure rock on which to build and to which we cling, an absolute anchor to the certainty of our moral judgment. “Let virtue garnish [our] thoughts unceasingly,” we are taught, and the Holy Ghost will be our constant companion. When our minds are so focused and our lives so directed, “then shall [our] confidence wax strong in the presence of God."

The fellowship of good people. Surely one of the greatest strengths and joys of membership in the Church is the fellowship of good men and women, new friends with whom we have so much in common. The Church is a community—a community of believers, a community of those striving to be faithful, a community of Saints. Association with people hoping for the same things we hope for brings strength for the journey and delight along the way. “A friend loveth at all times,” says the writer of Proverbs, and many of our dearest friends will inevitably be members of the Church.

Walk with us. Stay with us. We need your company and your unique strength. We welcome you to a fellowship based on covenants, with “a determination that is fixed, immovable, and unchangeable.” We pledge to be your friend, your brother or sister “through the grace of God in the bonds of love, to walk in all the commandments of God blameless, in thanksgiving, forever and ever."

Welcome to the Church. Welcome to the blessings. Welcome to the celestial journey. Take courage and take hope. You have help from heaven and on earth. As the Lord told the missionaries (including the missionaries who taught you), so He promised us all: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

And remember, the most significant sign of your progress on this journey is not so much your location on the path at the moment, but rather the direction in which you are moving. When you come to the end of your time in mortality, you will not yet have completed the process of perfection—none of us will have done so—but if you have loved and served, sacrificed and stayed faithful to the end, you will hear those glorious words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: … enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Your journey then will continue in unspeakable glory in the company of loved ones who have gone before you and the very angels of heaven themselves.

Welcome to “the way, the truth, and the life.”

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Thanksgiving Attitudes of Gratitude

In the News:

Attitudes of gratitude

By Jennifer Toomer-Cook
Deseret News
Mormon Times
News and People


"In the United States, it's turkey and pumpkin pie.

In southern India, sweetmeats, rice and milk.

In China, moon cakes and round fruits.

Thanksgiving traditions and dates differ worldwide. But most cultures' celebrations contain the same message -- to thank God for a bountiful harvest -- at least as its centerpiece.

Here's a sample of how cultures mark the ancient tradition, gleaned online from history.com, thanksgiving.org.uk, pongalfestival.org and theholidayspot.com.

Southern India has Pongal, a four-day celebration marking a period of plenty, peace and happiness. Typically timed mid-December to mid-January, Pongal includes giving thanks for farmers' cattle and harvest and worship of cloud and sun deities. Practices include offerings of rice and milk, welcoming guests into the home and preparation of sweetmeats.

East Asians, in a tradition tracing back 3,000 years, mark the Moon Festival, a celebration of abundance and togetherness that parallels the autumn equinox. Traditions include eating moon cakes (filled with a sweet bean paste) and round fruits symbolizing togetherness, even putting pomelo rinds (like grapefruit) on the head, carrying lanterns and burning incense in reverence to deities.

Canadian Thanksgiving Day, the second Monday in October, is traced to explorer Martin Frobisher who searched for a northern passage to the Orient. In 1578, he held a ceremony to give thanks for surviving the journey.

Brazil's day of thanksgiving and prayer was born in 1949 out of the American celebration, which an ambassador brought home following a U.S. visit. Many South American native Indian cultures offer expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving as well.

American families will sit down to a feast and offer thanks for each other, for people making a difference in their lives or community, or for God's bounty.

Yet Thanksgiving also is a gateway to holiday shopping -- Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is as much a staple as football and pumpkin pie -- a fact that changed Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving decree.

The national day of Thanksgiving was set for the last Thursday in November. But the 1939 calendar brought a fifth Thursday, shortening the shopping season. So the National Retail Dry Goods Association lobbied to move Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of the month. President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed, but congressional approval of the controversial move wouldn't come for two more years.

Still, Thanksgiving maintains hold of its roots. Thanksgiving Day services are scheduled at several churches in the Salt Lake Valley alone, and Interfaith services are scheduled for Sunday.

"The idea was to provide a Thanksgiving service that allowed our broader community to come together and hear from different religious groups and their holy books," Kilo Zamora, executive director of the Inclusion Center, formerly NCCJ, said of the 19th annual interfaith service scheduled this year at the Masonic Temple in downtown Salt Lake City.

Past participants have included representatives from protestant, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Jewish and LDS faiths, and comments from an American Indian perspective, Zamora said.

"Being together with a lot of different faith traditions to celebrate and share in our interfaith spirit really allows people to think beyond themselves and prepare for their own spirituality as they move into the holiday season."

A table, he says, where all are welcome."

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Football's "holy war" BYU vs. U of U

Today is what they call "the holy war" in Utah. On rivalry Saturday, BYU (Brigham Young University) and U of U (University of Utah) face off on their last game of the season. Although BYU has won the battle for the last few years, this year they are the underdog, since U of U is undeafeated this season, and BYU has lost one game to TCU.

Both teams are competing for a BCS Bowl game.

I really like both teams, but I favor BYU, and I'm wearing my Cougars sweatshirt today.

The game starts at 4pm Mountain time, and everyone in Utah will be watching.

Go BYU Cougars!!!

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LDS Online Radio....Live In Thanksgiving Daily

"I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with Thanksgiving."
Psalm 69:30

Check out these two sites for LDS Radio to enjoy online.

Your LDS Radio

LDS Radio Online



God Bless!

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LDS Movie on BYU TV on Thanksgiving

Watch "The Errand of Angels" on BYU TV Nationwide This Thanksgiving!

Don't miss the premiere broadcast of the hit sister missionary movie The Errand of Angels in your home on BYU TV this Thanksgiving!

If you get Comcast, Dish Network, Direct TV, Cox Digital, Cable One or one of the many other dish and cable providers listed at http://www.byutv.org/getbyutv/usmap.asp you can tune in to BYU TV in your area on Thursday, November 27, at 6 p.m. and again Friday, November 28 at 9 p.m Mountain Time. You can also watch it online at http://www.byutv.org/streaming/.

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Life of Gordon B. Hinckley

A new DVD has just come out about the life of LDS President and Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, called "Gordon B. Hinckley, A Giant Among Men".

"This is the first film to dramatize how President Hinckley was prepared by the Lord from his youth. From boyhood lessons, to tender moments with his mother in their library, to overcoming rejection in the mission field, you will feel the warmth that endeared him to so many later in life. In the railroad yard, behind a typewriter, and hand-in-hand with Marjorie, the love of his life, Gordon B. Hinckley grew to become a giant among men."

Watch a video trailer of the movie here.

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Baptism - A New Beginning in Christ

I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last night! It was an incredible time of JOY and Gratitude...and just a beginning.


"Baptism into this Church is a serious thing. It represents a covenant made with our Heavenly Father. It is much more than a right of passage. It is a gateway to a new manner of living, and a new road on which to walk that leads to immortality and eternal life. It was never intended as a dead end. It was intended to open a glorious and wonderful way of life to all who would walk in obedience to the commandments of God." - President Gordon B. Hinckley

To learn more about Baptism and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, visit Mormon.org

God Bless You!

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Election Day and Moving Day!

We start moving tomorrow (11/4), so this blog will not be updated for about two weeks. Please vote and pray that the right candidate will win the Presidential election this year.
God Bless America!

We have bought our first house! After renting and living frugally for 16 years, we have finally been able to become home owners. (no, it wasn't a foreclosure, but it was a good deal!). We found the cutest house in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, the prettiest little town in the world!!!

The area is actually called, "City Between the Canyons", and it is on the east bench of the Wasatch Mountain range.

The house even has a pond and waterfall in the backyard! And the front yard has 20 rose bushes! It's a very romantic story. Every year when the first owners had a weddding anniversary, they planted a new rose bush. After 20 years, I guess they ran out of room and moved.

We take possession of the home on Tuesday, November 4th.So this will be a memorable and miraculous "election day" for me, no matter who wins. This is still the most wonderful country in the world, and I feel so blessed, privileged and grateful to live here in the United States of America!

And like the name of this blog, today truly IS a "Day of Praise"!!!

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