Where the Wendts Went

Below is a picture of the last 10 verses of The Book of Helaman which describes how the people were reasoning away the words of the prophets. They relied on their own knowledge instead of inspired revelation.

I feel like I'm reading a page out of a current newspaper when I read their arguments! Does this sound familiar?:

"Some things they guessed right, but not everything the prophet has said can happen."

"It's not reasonable to believe a Christ will come."

"This is a traditional story from our ancestors, not something real."

"We're too smart as a society to believe in this now."

"How can I know it's true if I can't even see it?"

"They are trying to control us."

Well, what do you know?  Same arguments from 2,000 years ago!

We learn later in the Book of Mormon that Christ was born and the people believed because they saw the signs were true. But then they let the same prideful thoughts harden their hearts AGAIN and many didn't believe Christ would come.

Do we see people today that refuse to believe what the prophets teach because of the reasonings listed above?  

Do we see people today that refuse to believe in prophets at all?

Throughout time, we have relied on prophets to teach the words of Christ.  Just like Moses, Samuel, and Peter were prophets in their time, Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today.  The Lord's pattern of calling men to lead His church was not just for 2,000 years ago. It continues today! What a blessing!

I like to think that if I lived when Samuel was the prophet I would have been a believer.   Sometimes things just don't make sense to the natural man. I see the sun go across the sky every day so if I heard "surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun" would I be humble enough to believe?

{Helaman 12:15}

What have the prophets told us today?

Avoid pornography.

Get out of debt.

Keep the Sabbath day holy.

Marriage is between a man and woman.

Keep the commandments.

Christ will come again.

I'm so thankful a prophet of God speaks to us. 

 " What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, 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." {D&C 1:38}

I pray that we can be humble enough and strong enough to always follow the commandments of God given to us by the prophet. 

In the last verse, Jesus was talking about the people in the Americas.

The Book of Mormon is a record of these people and a testament of Jesus Christ. 

Some might say, "We don't need any more scripture. The Bible is all we need."  

But two is better than one. With the clarification of the Book of Mormon, many truths that are unclear in the Bible are explained more fully.  

One truth that I love is that families are forever.

I had the opportunity to go to the temple in LA this past week. {Thanks for watching the kids Mom!}

I'm so proud of Nolan! He went on his first temple trip since turning 12 to the Medford, Oregon temple.    He was able to perform baptismal work for people that have died. 

Here he is {below} before they left on the 3 hour drive.

Isn't that amazing? Heavenly Father gives everyone a chance, regardless of life circumstances.

I'm so grateful that families are forever. I want to be with my husband and children for all of eternity.  In the temple, we are married for time and all eternity. 

It's not "till death do us part".

 Here is a picture of my brother Russell and his beautiful bride Carolyn at the Salt Lake Temple a few weeks ago.  I'm so happy for them!

I believe that God spoke to ancient prophets and that he still speaks to them today. The heavens are not closed.  I'm so thankful for the Book of Mormon and the Bible. They compliment each other. Having two records that independently testify of Christ is a powerful testimony.  

Here is a short, {3 minutes} video of a current apostle speaking of the Book of Mormon.

This guy is left alone more than usual... yikes!

The classes are all online. We gather at the church for a discussion group every Thursday night called a Gathering. There are Gathering groups ALL over the world. Yes, the WORLD. From South Africa to Italy. From Russia to Brasil. It's an amazing, inspired program.

Danny was traveling this last week and attended a gathering in Washington.

One great thing about the Thursday night gatherings is that I can play the piano! I do love to play- especially hymns- but I don't play at home very often. 

But really, the greatest thing about Pathway is studying the Book of Mormon. Not just reading it... STUDYING it.  I'm learning so much. The stories I knew from my childhood are seen in a new light, from the parent's perspective... from the rebellious brothers' perspectives. I'm asking more questions and consulting the footnotes.  We've only read 5 chapters and already there is a wealth of information.  This book was NOT MADE UP. It is too intricate and profound to be written by Joseph Smith. This is a history of peoples in ancient America. It is another testament of Jesus Christ.

Can I share something that I hadn't thought of before?

If you are LDS you probably know the verse highlighted below:

 We sing a song in Primary inspired from this verse.  It goes, "I will go, I will do, the things the Lord commands. I know the Lord provides a way, He wants me to obey."

It's the most quoted verse from 1 Nephi 3.

BUT, after listening to an excerpt from a talk given by Stan Kivett, a religion teacher at BYU-I, I'm struck more by verse 15:

Isn't that incredible? Nephi wont stop until his task is accomplished. How many times have I given up after failing one time?  From verse 7 we know that He will provide a way to finish. Is it good enough to say, "Well, I tried to follow the commandments but it didn't work." Or, "I went to visit ___ but she wasn't home so I guess that's good enough." Or, "I wanted to sign up to help but I didn't get the sign-up sheet."  

I could go on.

One classmate brought up the point that Nephi was a young boy. He doesn't say his age but he says he is large for his age. That makes us think puberty age maybe?  His older brothers were still living at home and his mom wasn't done having babies, so Nephi was young.  But he endured. He worked to find a way. He didn't give up. We have to put forth work to gain a testimony. We have to be diligent in magnifying our callings.  Like Nephi, I know that the Lord will bless us when we are doing our best to follow the commandments. Faith without works is dead.(James 2:26)  

I'm thankful for these new insights. I challenge you to pick up The Book of Mormon and see what you can apply to your life today!

Empire State Building

Les Miserables on Broadway. So dang good.

 Library

 Times Squaare

Manhattan LDS Temple

 Near Rockefeller Center

 Central Park

 On our way  upstate to see the beautiful colors...

Taughannok Falls

 Sacred Grove

 Smith Family Cabin

 LOL! 

 Buttermilk Falls

I'm glad we got to go visit some places on my bucket list!

Ripping stuff up!!! The transformation begins! Buwhahaha!

P.s. Oh man, I sure missed my sink for the 2 days it was unhooked. You never know how much you use that thing until it's gone. That's a good life lesson, right?

No, but really, I'm like a 50's housewife: barefoot and in the kitchen. All the time.

AFTER:

Ta DA!!!

Here she is!

Now every time I walk into the kitchen I stop for a second and whisper, "oh ya."

If I'm going to be in here all the time, at least I can like what I see!

And when I get tired of looking at these walls, I'll just move cause living without a sink is not worth the money saved in closing costs.