Out of ancestors?

One study calculated that if we went back 10 generations and did the work for their cousins and the cousin’s descendants, there is the potential for about 8 million people if there were only 4 children per family. Many had much larger families.  If you have done 8 million names perhaps you are done and can help other people. But if you haven’t done 8 million names, there are names to find.

Good one, Elder Packer. The rest of the talk is here, and it is a good one: https://www.lds.org/topics/family-history/rootstech/elder-packer?lang=eng&cid=facebook-shared

The Enoch Letters: Zion and the Lord's work

I just read The Enoch Letters by Neal A. Maxwell. It is a unique piece of fiction coming from a General Authority (I think it was written when he was assistant to the twelve), and a really interesting study of how the commandments and doctrines must be applied in order to prepare Zion for the Savior's presence. Very important for our dispensation especially. Here is one of many quotes I liked; this one focuses on a few points that I have pondered on quite a bit in the last years and tried to incorporate better into my daily life:

The Lord's work is work, but it is sweet labor. It is work usually done step by step in the process of time. Small daily duties well done have led to a big difference... for it is by small means that the Lord can bring about great things. There is no easy way to rush righteousness. it is as if our very neighbor is all mankind, and thus we can see how much there is yet to do in the combining of our time and talents before we can truly be said to love our neighbors as ourselves.

-p. 29

The Family Stories that Bind Us

This is a really cool article posted earlier this year in The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/fashion/the-family-stories-that-bind-us-this-life.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&adxnnlx=1384968298-DwqHlAH7D4YIh/JZFGCwrw

Turns out family history is just as important for us to know as it is for us to "do." So true!

True Believers, Discipleship, and Commandments

Clearly, we cannot become true believers in Christ merely by keeping the sixth commandment--"Thou shalt not kill."

Discipleship, therefore, means being drawn by seemingly small and routine duties toward the fulfillment of the two great and most challenging commandments.

-Neal A. Maxwell, True Believers in Christ, BYU Devotional 7 October 1980.

I think I could post a new Maxwell quote that I love every single day for the rest of my life and not run out.

The Laban Affair

Some interesting thoughts here on Nephi's struggle with the command to kill Laban. Click on the link, and scroll down to the section entitled "The Laban Affair."

http://rsc.byu.edu/archived/book-mormon-first-nephi-doctrinal-foundation/6-prophet-nephi

When I searched for this quote to share it, I found out that the whole book, The Book of Mormon: First Nephi, The Doctrinal Foundation, is available online! I have some reading to do...

Read the whole book here!

The Book of Mormon--Keystone of our Religion

I love this talk by President Ezra Taft Benson. An oldie but a goodie. I just read it the other day and I want to read it again. It is so powerful!

http://www.lds.org/ensign/1986/11/the-book-of-mormon-keystone-of-our-religion

Of course there is power in studying all of the scriptures, but the implications of the Book of Mormon for our day make it imperative that we not take its contents for granted; we need to know and do what is in that book!

Presiding

I really liked this description of what it means to preside in this article by therapist Randy Keyes from the June 2012 Ensign:

The husband’s patriarchal duty as one who presides in the home is not to rule over others but to ensure that the marriage and the family prosper. President David O. McKay (1873–1970) explained that one day every man will have a personal priesthood interview with the Savior: “First, He will request an accountability report about your relationship with your wife. Have you been actively engaged in making her happy and ensuring that her needs have been met as an individual?”

The husband is accountable for growth and happiness in his marriage, but this accountability does not give him authority over his wife. Both are in charge of the marriage. In righteous marriage councils both spouses share a set of virtues that when applied help them focus on each other.

We can study some of these virtues in Doctrine and Covenants 121:41: “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned.”


We cannot use the priesthood to assert power and influence. Therefore, we can’t use unrighteous means to establish dominance in marriage. True power comes only when we work together in righteousness and so qualify for blessings from the Lord.