A little change of pace

During the summer, I was a CIT at a Boy Scout Camp. Yes, I am a female, and this works because I am also a venture scout. Its basically a branch of Boy Scouts that co-ed. It is amazing! I spent 6 weeks in the Adirondacks, living in a community with about 10 other males. It totally changes a person's point of view being around the other sex so much. I had very limited contact with females for that time period. I absolutly loved it. Not because I was surrounded by boys, but because I was surrounded by the woods. Yes, I am a nature lover. I meet some interesting characters while I was there, and they all had some influence on me, some more than others.
One of the staff, Dan, is a rather out there kind of guy. He plays guitar and has a sultry voice. He introducd to me Ray Lamontagne, who just came out with a CD. Absolutly amazing! i feel in love with it right away because it is so simple. So calming and inspiring all at the same time. I also read Into the Wild while i was up north. Totally inspiring. I gained a connection with Chris McCandless. We both come from rather disappointing families and want to find ourselves. He ran away, which I don't think I will be able to do. But I do want to escape from the complicated lifestyle that is fasioned for us as children. I need to discover who I am, and what I want without the influence of my parents, especially. I want a simple life, and that is what Chris, or Alex, symbolized for me. A simplier life without the complicated things that tie people down to a job in a cubilce. Man wasn't created to live in a box. I need to see the sky and hear the birds. I think that is also what Ray gives me, is a little sense of the Adirondacks, with his simple voice and just the guitar music. No big bands, just him, his guitar, and his music. So simple, and so comforting.
It is hard to be completely independent when so many people are holding you down. I yearn for the road. I plan to trip across the United States to see my country that I call home for now. I feel so restless, and I want to expand my horizons, meeting new people and seeing new places. I want adventure. I've lived in a box for way to long. This summer gave me a sense of what that would be like, and I loved it. I would be content to live in a tent, sleeping under the stars as my ceiling and going to a new place each day. I would just want someone to share this with, even though that seems contrary to what I have been saying. But this person would have to be intelligent and good company. Also would have to be quiet, but know when to have good conversation. Then again, maybe I'll just go by myself. But then my parents would never let me go. They can't seem to get their heads around the idea that I am growing up and I long to leave soon. I want to miss them. I want to honestly miss them, and the way that they nag me. Right now, its just a bother. I guess religion doesn't really fit in with all of this, except I want to experience the beauty and nature that Heavenly Father has created for us. Humans are destroying it slowly, and soon it will be gone. I want to see it all. I want to be able to say to my children that I had amazing adventures! Not just the boring living in the box. Chris' life is just amazing. I am so jealous of his ambition and guts to go out into the world. I want to do that. i want to live!!
Living at Floodwood truely liberated me, but only for a little while. I soon had to come back down, tie my soul to this uniform that I put on each day, and do the same monotonous routine each and every day. Nothing changes, except for maybe my moods, but even those get into a routine. It is pathetic and NOT how I am suppose to live. I feel the road calling my name, and I must answer it!!

Death

Recently, I have been faced with the question of death, in my own personal life when a close teacher of mine died of cancer. She is a wonderful lady. I say "is" because I do believe there is a sort of heaven. To explain fully, I have to go back a little further than birth. I believe in a spirit world before we are even born. We all existed before this world was even created. we all lived with Heavenly Father in the heavens, really. This world did not exist yet. It was a great council in heaven, and Lucifer, who will later be known as Satan, presented a plan not giving us free choice but that everyone would come back to Heavenly Father, but it was all by force. we would not have any say in it. and then, Lucifer wanted all of the glory. Then Jesus came forward and said that he would go down among us and sacrifice himself so that we could have the choice, or will, to make our own decisions. Jesus would sacrific himself selflessly, and break the bonds of death.
Now, those of us who have bodies (every human being since the beginning of the world) chose to follow Jesus' plan for us, because that was adopted. Satan was expelled from heaven, and denied a body. 1/3 of the host of heaven followed him, and they as well were denied a body. this is a very long explenation, but i am getting to my point. because we existed before our bodies were created, we will exists after they have died. I believe that we do not just cease to exist, but that we have a spirit, or soul if you will.
All of this knowledge is almost a comfort to me when she passed because I know where she is.
there is a spirit world, split up into two different parts: one for those who accepted Jesus Christ as the savior and one for those who rejceted Him. but this isn't the end of ends. Those who rejected Him, or never heard of Him still have the oppurtunity to accept Him and be brought into His church. After this stage, when He comes again, we will all be resurrected, just as he was. That is a pretty awesome thought. our bodies will be restored to their perfect state and reunited with our spirits. So, all of this to say: i know where we go when we die. it is not a mystery to me. I am not confused about what happens and I am really not scared.
I know where my teacher went, and she was a faithfilled lady. I know where she is and she is not in pain, and only looks towards the future.

R.I.P. Gordon B. Hinckley

A great man of our times passed away in January. The man touched many lives, including mine. He was a strength, a guide, and a wonderful example. He was an instrument in the Lord's hands and was able to accomplish many wonderful and beautiful accomplishments. He was a father, a grandfather and great grandfather. Not only was he a family man, but a man of the Church. He had faith and a strong testimony which many people could hold on to for support. I saw him once, pretty up close, and he was so happy. He was such a joyful man. His name was Gordon B. Hinckely. the 15th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was not afraid to talk with the media or talk about our religion openly. He encouraged it, if anything else. He encouraged the education of women, and loved the youth. I will miss this man, but he is in eternity with his wife, whom he loved and missed dearly. He is at peace, with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

God Head

one of the most controversial parts of Mormonism, beside the plural wives thing, is the First Vision, as we "cult" members call it. So, as we believe it happend, from a first hand writting of it, was that Joseph Smith (the founder of the religion) had questions about religion (and not to offend anyone here) he went into the woods to pray to God because of a scripture that he had read in James 1:5: if any man lacks widsom, let him ask of God. So Joseph, who was only about 14 at the time, went to ask God about religion. he wanted to know which church to join, which I think shows a lot of maturiy.
The contraversial part comes in the next part: Joseph claims that he personally saw not only Jesus Christ, but also God the Father. this totally debuncks the whole trinity theory of the Catholic, along with the "God is love" theory. This (if believed, of course) shows that God has a body and that He and Jesus Christ are two different personages. If this is not believed by people, then the whole religion seems like a cult, or a scam. I believe it. and here are some reasons of why I believe it:
Prophets of old, such as Abraham, Jacob, and Moses, were able to talk face to face with God, if the Bible is to be believed. It is also said in the scriptures that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and forever. so, if he is so constant, then why would he change this basic principle of having not only a prophet, or a leader, on the earth, but one that He personally talks to and gives direction to.
Another reason is during Jesus Christ's baptism, how can God the Father talk from Heaven and be in the form of a dove AND be present as Jesus Christ all at once? That would be defying the laws of nature, and since God created the laws of nature He also has to abide by them.

In the Beginning...

I'm kinda tired of all the anti-Mormon stuff coming out with Mitt Romney running for the Republican nomination. So Mormons, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, (LDS for short, not to be confused with lsd) have to defend themselves in public circles and clearify to people that "no, we are not a cult. we do not worship Joseph Smith. We do believe in Jesus Christ, it is kinda in our name. We are Christian, hence beliving in Christ." There is so much anti- stuff out there, and even if people do do their research, they will get stuff about how LDS do not believe in Christ or take our beliefs and twist them around to make them sound really bad.
So, with this blog, Im going to try and clearify some of the misconceptions that there are about the LDS religion. Cause, yes we are a religion, not a cult. Even when you look up 'cult' in the dictionary, you get a lot of different definitions, one being "the members of such a religion or sect" (dicionary.com) so from that definition, then everyone who belongs to a religion is part of a cult. that would include just about 1/2 of the human population probably. But other ones do say that a cult is a group of people, normally a religion or sect, that are isolated basically from society and do things that are not genearlly accepted conventional society. Well, I am pretty sure that LDS are not isolate. well, not in the present day at least. In the early days of the LDS Church, they moved over to Utah, not to purposly isolate themselves, but because the rest of the United States kinda pushed us out of all the rest of the states. Yeah, I can see how that could be called 'exculsive.' I really do not understand why LDS is considered a cult. Just cause LDS are not as public with their religion does not mean that we are all secrets. Just ask, and I am sure someone (an LDS someone) will fill you in.