Faith - by J'net Johnson

2 Timothy 1 (For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.) has become one of my favorite scriptures. It gives us courage to speak up and faith to try.

A great example is found in 1 Nephi when father Lehi asks his sons to return to Jerusalem for the brass plates. In 1 Nephi 3:7 it says:
“And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and Do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which He commandeth them.”

Faith is the power that leads knowledge to action. I would like to share a personal experience where faith gave me the power to put one foot in front of the other in order to get of a treacherous mountain side.

While looking for the trail up Crystal Creek canyon we got sucked off onto a trail that only mountain goats and mules should go on. It started out OK but after about 100 yards on a narrow trail which got smaller each step of the way, Doug decided that we had better get off our horsed (Flash & Bama) and turn back. The trail was going around the side of a very step and treeless mountain side and it was practically straight up and down.

Turning the horses around and then moving up the side so Doug could get in front was the 1st obstacle. Needless to say, I was terrified! Doug could have been a tight rope walker in the circus but he was nervous also. However, with my bad knees and ankle, I was a wreck looking to happen. I turned Bama loose and she followed Doug and Flash and I crept along the trail, holding onto grass, for security. Pretty frightening to know that grass is going to be the only thing to save you. Doug and I said many silent prayers.

I learned about faith while clinging to the grass and working my way off the ledge. I learned that I had faith in Heavenly Father and that Faith leads to action.

KNOW WHO YOU ARE - by Ryan Johnson

One of my favorite events to go to each year is Hannah’s fireside dance recital. A couple of weeks ago, I was enjoying this recital and watching Hannah dance to the song Child of Light (by Mindy Gledhill). The song begins: “Do you ever wonder who you are? …” this question, or rather the process of finding the answer to this question has been on my mind a lot lately, since there is nothing more that I would want for my kids, nieces and nephews than for them to search, ponder, and pray and understand who they really are! We opened our family home evening with singing I Am A Child of God. This hymn is sung so often that I am not sure we really internalize the literal meaning.

When I was a youth, I put my confidence into my ability to perform at sports, trying to stay up on the latest fashions, lifting weights and trying to get ripped. I always felt like I had a good “self esteem” and was confident in myself. I know the following is very shallow and weak, but while in high school I really thought that everyone knew who I was since our football team was doing pretty well. A while back I wrote the following in my journal regarding this time in my life:

As High School years came it seemed that being the High School quarter back gave me my identity (I even started to talk to girls a little bit since I thought that was what the QB was suppose to do). My brothers and I joke about being quarter back in High School and driving up Spanish Fork main street and thinking that everyone we passed knew who we were. It is funny to think about that now, as we have a new knowledge that 99.9% of the people we saw had no clue whether the team played on Friday night or not. And surely they didn’t know who won. And never in a million years did they know or care who the quarter back was. Sports were fun and I would be lying if I didn’t say that they didn’t teach me a lot of good principles (hard work, determination, good sportsmanship, competitor, enduring to the end, example), which helped me on my mission, through college, marriage and profession. I have not taken a survey, but I would probably say that in High School I was probably perceived as someone with confidence. A mission friend (Rob Morris) often talked about “fake it until you make it” now I don’t know if that is a true principle but that is what I did in High School years. My confidence was fake. And I did make it, eventually.

A very wise person once taught me, the following about the sources of self-esteem: There appears to be two main sources of self-esteem. From the world’s view our self-esteem seems to be determined by how well we perform in the various aspects of our lives. If we feel attractive, do well in school, feel intelligent, feel like we are a good athlete, successful in a career, or have a good income we have high self-esteem. The world bases self-esteem on performance. This is other-esteem more than self-esteem. God and Christ have a different method of determining our self-worth. They love us unconditionally and without measure. Our worth is already established because we are who we are. We are unique, one-of-a-kind individuals. Regardless of what we do or don’t do does not change our worth to them. Our challenge is to see ourselves as they see us. We lived for eons of time in the pre-mortal life with our Heavenly Father, Mother and Savior. Each of us were created in the image of God and blessed with his attributes. Our worth was established with God before we were born. Our purpose in coming to earth is to receive a body, have earthly experiences and prove myself worthy to return to God’s presence.

If we could truly understand that we ARE CREATED IN GODS IMAGE, WITH HIS ATTRIBUTES, then that should give us the confidence that we need to know that we can endure and overcome everything that is placed before us, we can excel in school, sports, church, professions and lif. Because, we have immortal and Godlike attributes and the ability to create and overcome anything!

There was one thing in my younger years that I did not like about myself, I was blessed with many little red friends on my face (otherwise known as zits). This caused some insecurity, because my security came from what others thought of me. I tried all sorts of medication and acne treatments but seems like they only got worse as time went on. As I was preparing to go on a mission, I had many defining moments where the Lord helped me understand who I really was, I gained a burning testimony that Jesus died for me and suffered for everything that I suffer through. I knew that he loved me for who I really was, despite my weaknesses and faults. I started to gain true confidence and wished that I would have gained this true testimony earlier in my youth, as I know that I could have been even happier and successful in my goals. I am not a dermatologist so medically I can’t back it up but personally I equate my acne to the emotional roller coaster of Jr. High and High School and the on-going stress of putting trust in superficial/material things. Within weeks, if not the first few months of my mission, my red friends went away.

Mindy Gledhill’s song, Child of Light, continues with the statement: “… You were made to fly!” I know that Heavenly Father created us to fly, and like the saying goes: “God don’t make junk”. I know that our Heavenly Father wants us to fly! Meaning, we can do whatever we put our minds too as we have faith, pray and work hard in accomplishing our dreams. I know that Heavenly Father cares about us and cares about our personal lives, dreams, aspirations, and goals. I know that as we understand that we are literal children of God and have his attributes then we can share our talents with others and be able to bless our own lives and the lives of our family and friends. I PRAY WITH ALL MY HEART THAT MY CHILDREN, NIECES AND NEPHEWS CAN GAIN SEARCH, PONDER AND PRAY ABOUT THE BOOK OF MORMON, THE GOSPEL TRUTHFULLNESS AND THE UNDERSTANDING AND KNOWLEDGE OF WHO THEY REALLY ARE!

I DON'T BELIEVE IT, I DON'T BELIEVE IT - by J'net Johnson

Gossip is idle talk of rumors, especially about personal or private affairs of others. It is one of the oldest and most common means of sharing (unproven) facts and usually does harm to the person being talked about.

We started our family home evening, by playing the gossip game. I whispered a rather long story about Josie saddling up Delbert and going for a ride all by herself. Hannah then started the story around the group. It didn’t make it very far, the story was completely altered. This is a great way of showing how a story when repeated many times is completely different at the end.

I would like to share a brief quote about my Great grandmother Hannah David who is the mother of Dr. Joseph Hughes and grandmother of Reed G. Hughes.
“Hannah was a petite little woman with dark brown hair which was usually pulled back into a bob. She had a charming and winning personality. In Spanish Fork she was known as the peacemaker.
She would tolerate no gossip whatsoever. Her reply was always, ‘I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it.’ It wasn’t as though she didn’t know what was going on; her son, Mog (Morgan John), was her source of information. Every day he walked the two blocks east to Main Street and joined the “Spit and Whittle Club” to carefully listen to all the town news which he faithfully brought back to his mother. All this, she considered at length, reserving and discarding, according to the source, but ultimately choosing not to believe any of it. Because of her generosity of spirit, she never repeated anything that was not good and praiseworthy. Thus she earned her reputation and was loved by everyone. She always maintained that ‘if there is ever any question in your mind, always remember that the kind thing is the right thing.” Our Forefathers, history of Joseph Hughes & Delila..

Gossip is one of the meanest things that we can do and we should never be found participating in it. I remember a card that Emilee Dewey sent me a few years ago in which she told me that she could not remember me saying anything unkind about anyone. I was a little nervous about the comment because I am sure that I’ve said some mean things, but it made me think that I needed to make sure that I lived up to what she thought of me.

We can always do better and, if needed, we can tell someone that we have hurt them and we are sorry, and ask for their forgiveness. When we hear gossip, we should always come back with Grandma Hannah’s reply: “I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it”. We should always raise ourselves to a higher level, just as Grandma Hannah.

Gossip Quote:
“Live your life in such a way that you wouldn’t be afraid to let. The town gossip take care of the family parrot.”

PROMISES OF THE LORD - by Doug Johnson

One of the great blessings that we have today with the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is the fact that we have a prophet at the head of the church. It is the prophet that the Lord has designated as His “mouthpiece” or “spokesman”. Prophets are entitled to receive inspiration and revelations from the Lord. We are taught that when the Lord speaks he will speak through his prophets. In the D&C 1:38 the Lord told the prophet Joseph Smith, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken…my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”
The Lord has also given us a promise, if we are obedient to his commandments. In the D&C 82:10 the Lord said, “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” It is important to be obedient to God’s commandments, if we want to receive the Lord’s blessings.
I want to share with you a story about one of your ancestors who is able to teach us about the principles of “obedience” and the “blessing” of a prophet by his example. This story is about your great, great, great, great grandfather. His name was John Thomas Richard Hicks. John T. R., as he was called, was born April 29, 1825 in Falmouth, England. His father was a sailor; however, John T.R. was only 3 years old when his father did not come back after a sailing voyage to South America. It was believed that all of the men that were on that ship had drowned at sea. His mother was Johanna Richards Hicks. Johanna raised John T. R. and his two sisters. John T. R. married Harriet Yoe on July 7, 1850. It was a couple of years later that he and Harriet were taught by the Mormon missionaries and were baptized. John T. R. and Harriet immigrated to the United States and were part of the Hunt handcart company that was rescued on the plains of Wyoming in 1856. John T. R. became skilled in making and repairing shoes. John T. R. did not just make shoes, but he took pride in his skill as a craftsman. He would measure the person’s foot and then fit the shoe to the individual’s foot. President Brigham Young and other general authorities were some of his faithful customers. John T. R. did well enough at his vocation that he was soon able to buy a building lot and to build a two room house at 340 West North Temple in Salt Lake City. John T. R. and his wife Harriet were faithful members of the church.
At a meeting one day in the Bowery (a thatched roof open-sided assembly place that stood where at the site where the current Salt Lake Tabernacle now stands) President Brigham Young was speaking on the principle of tithing. As he was chastising the saints for their lack of obedience to this commandment he said that he did not know of a man in the Church that paid an entirely honest tithe. At the conclusion of his sermon, a Brother Woods arose and said that he knew of one man who paid an honest tithe. President Young asked who it was and Brother Woods said it was John T. R. Hicks, of the 16th Ward. President Yong asked if John T. R. was present and if so, to stand up. John T. R. arose and President Young gave him a blessing then and there. He promised John T. R. that neither he nor his family nor their posterity should feel the want of food.
President Young’s blessing is especially powerful when coupled with the Lord’s promise, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken…my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” The Lord’s promises will be fulfilled if we are faithful to the Lord’s commandments.

DIVINE NATURE - by Kari Johnson

While I was at Girls Camp last summer something really simple happened that reaffirmed to me my divine nature as a daughter of God, and the fact that Heavenly Father loves us and is mindful of us and our lives, even in the smallest details.

One night we were supposed to gather all of the girls and leaders that were at Camp Koholowo and do a stargazing activity. We gathered all the girls together on the front lawn of the Lodge and the man who had come to teach us about stargazing indicated to everyone that we may not be able to do the stargazing activity because it was so cloudy. Looking up you could not see a single star, there was a very thick cloud cover making it impossible to see anything in the night sky. The Girls Camp leaders decided to go ahead and get started with a prayer, and see if the clouds might clear. One of the leaders gave the prayer and simply asked that Heavenly Father would allow the clouds to clear so that we could participate in our stargazing activity. After the prayer the man who was there to teach us began telling us about some different constellations, and as we looked up, it was amazing, the clouds were clearing, and fast! It seemed to me a miracle that so quickly the sky went from not being able to see one star, to clear skies and thousands of stars shining bright. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who cleared the skies for 200 girls at Girls Camp that summer and sending us the message that we are his children and he loves us in a very real way.

PRAYER & OBEDIENCE - by Zac Johnson

I was on my mission (Recife, Brazil) and in my last area that was called Bonito. This area just had been recently opened and only had about 7 or 8 active members. We lived above a garage (is the best I can compare it to). In the garage is where we would meet. My companion (Elder Araujo) was able to teach me the value and importance of prayer. Since this was a recently opened area there was a lot of work to be done; however, there were many times that appointments would fall and we would have nothing to do. Times before when this would happen I would go straight to the area book or knocking doors, etc. My companion though would go straight to the Lord through prayer.

One afternoon a few appointments fell and we didnt have anything on our schedule. My companion suggested that we slip into an alley accross the street and say a quick prayer. Following the prayer we a gave a few seconds to see where or what we should do. 25 to 30 seconds had past when my companion looked across a swampy marshy area and pointed at a house that he thought we should visit. I looked at the swamp and noticed that we will probably be getting muddy and wet in order to reach the house. I than looked at the houses and saw that they all had the same color of roofs except for the house he pointed had a blue roof. I asked Elder Araujo "is the only reason why you thought we needed to vist that house, is because it has a blue roof and it sticks out" and he said "no, that is where we need to go". I said "Ok, lets do this". As we started to make our way across the swamp Elder Araujo began to have second thoughts because he started to get muddy and wet. Elder Araujo said "maybe we arent suppose to go to that house". At that time the possible scripture might of crossed my mind (1 Nephi 3:7) "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandements unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." I than told my companion that we were directed to go to that house and no matter what it takes to get there we will go. We hopped from rock to rock and patch of grass to patch of grass. We ended up getting muddy and wet; however, we made it to the house. We came to the fromt of the house and clapped and waited. Nobody came to the door... We clapped and waited. Nobody came again... We went around back and yelled to see if anyone was home. We waited and nobody answered... We know we were suppose to teach someone so we went back to the front door and clapped again. A guy finally did answer the door and let us in. We were able to teach a lesson. I dont know if we were able to teach a follow up discussion; however, I know we planted a seed and I was able to learn a valuable lesson with prayer and obedience.