This morning my brother and sister and I who are living here in Provo attended the memorial service of my great-Uncle Alan Ray Hansen. I find that I actually sometimes look forward to going to funerals. Often there is more cause to celebrate than there is to mourn when we reflect on the well-lived life of a loved one. That was definitely the case today. A tear or two may have been shed, but they were the type of tears that come when speaking of strong love for a wonderful friend, not tears of sadness.
My siblings and I enjoyed seeing family members we hadn't seen in years. We were there to represent all of the descendants of Alan's older brother Don (my grandfather). We felt very at home in the presence of lots of very tall men and women!
This evening I opened to Doctrince & Covenants 110. This section of the D&C is a record of a vision that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery had in the Kirtland, Ohio temple on April 3, 1836. At that time Elijah the prophet returned to restore the keys of his dispensation, to fulfill the prophecy of Malachi in the New Testament, in order "to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the father, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse." I definitely felt my heart turned to my family today. I loved pondering on the lives of my ancestors and contemporaries, and I also am looking forward to building a my own future forever family!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
I just re-read my post-script from two posts ago. My cute little plants are still growing in their cute little containers (although I think I may have given them a little too much to drink for a little bit). But one thing has changed: it is COLD outside! Andy and I joked today about the fake spring, or "fring" we've been experiencing. Apparently that's normal here?
I got some exciting news in the mail yesterday: I was accepted to my fourth graduate school! It would be sweet to spend a couple of years in Boston, but we'll see where we end up. Andy's still waiting on several schools. Both of us have friends who are getting antsy about grad school and associated issues--funding/the lack thereof, acceptance/rejection letters/the lack thereof, etc.
For my Doctrine and Covenants class today the assigned reading was D&C sections 127 and 128, which contain revelations through the Prophet Joseph Smith concerning baptism for the dead. Section 128 quotes several verses from the Old and New Testaments. 1 Corinthians 15:29 stuck out to me because I saw it on a sign as I walked through the Draper Temple Open House this past Thursday. Baptism is an essential ordinance, and a just God makes it possible for everyone to have the opportunity to accept or reject it. This is accomplished through vicarious baptisms in behalf of deceased ancestors. This ordinance takes place in LDS Temples, and through this verse in 1 Corinthians, we can see that it was also practiced during the time of the Apostle Paul.
I got some exciting news in the mail yesterday: I was accepted to my fourth graduate school! It would be sweet to spend a couple of years in Boston, but we'll see where we end up. Andy's still waiting on several schools. Both of us have friends who are getting antsy about grad school and associated issues--funding/the lack thereof, acceptance/rejection letters/the lack thereof, etc.
For my Doctrine and Covenants class today the assigned reading was D&C sections 127 and 128, which contain revelations through the Prophet Joseph Smith concerning baptism for the dead. Section 128 quotes several verses from the Old and New Testaments. 1 Corinthians 15:29 stuck out to me because I saw it on a sign as I walked through the Draper Temple Open House this past Thursday. Baptism is an essential ordinance, and a just God makes it possible for everyone to have the opportunity to accept or reject it. This is accomplished through vicarious baptisms in behalf of deceased ancestors. This ordinance takes place in LDS Temples, and through this verse in 1 Corinthians, we can see that it was also practiced during the time of the Apostle Paul.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Temple
In my D&C class we have been learning about how the Prophet Joseph Smith, as part of the Restoration of Jesus Christ's gospel, restored Temple ordinances and keys. This has been an interesting thing to learn about. I've been to the Temple to do baptisms for the dead, but I haven't yet gone to receive my own endowment. This is what the Prophet Brigham Young, who, as senior apostles was Joseph's successor as president of the Church and prophet, said about the endowment:
"Let me give you a definition in brief. Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell." (Discourses of Brigham Young [Desert Book Co., 1941], p. 416.)
I know the Temple is a special place. This Thursday, actually, I am going to the open house for the Draper, Utah Temple. Since it hasn't been dedicated yet, it is open to the entire public. Once it is dedicated it is open to, in the words of Joseph Smith, "all the Saints of the last days, so soon as they are prepared to receive" (History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1980], 5:1-2). The blessings of the Temple can be each of ours!
"Let me give you a definition in brief. Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell." (Discourses of Brigham Young [Desert Book Co., 1941], p. 416.)
I know the Temple is a special place. This Thursday, actually, I am going to the open house for the Draper, Utah Temple. Since it hasn't been dedicated yet, it is open to the entire public. Once it is dedicated it is open to, in the words of Joseph Smith, "all the Saints of the last days, so soon as they are prepared to receive" (History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1980], 5:1-2). The blessings of the Temple can be each of ours!
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