Why Some Receive Blessings

If you served a mission or are familiar with missionary work, you know that we promise blessings to investigators or people we teach. I heard a story on Sunday how this girl, an investigator, was promised so many blessings if she came to church on Sunday. As she started to come to church, all the blessings that were promised to her came.

My friend, J., who was sitting next to me asked me why he doesn't receive awesome blessings like the ones this investigator received. I realized that it's because we usually don't go to church expecting to receive blessings but to be taught. It's the same for all the commandments that we keep. Many times we forget to ask for blessings as we keep these commandments but we do it too casually. Do we not know that we can receive blessings from paying tithing? Windows of heaven will open (Malachi 3:10). If we were to think of blessings that we would like as we keep all the commandments, we will recognize those specific blessings.

I am not saying I do this but I want to. There are so many blessings that the Lord has promised me and I should continue to think about them as I pay tithing, attend all three church meetings, study the scriptures, pray, attend the temple, etc.

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Blessings: Small and Simple

There are two types of blessings: profound and minuscule. Many times we look for blessings that are so profound that they will knock our shoes off; however, not all the blessings are like that.

Recently, I decided to give up all the blessings I had been promised. I was so done. I gave up everything. However, something remarkable happened. I thought this was my second chance. I wanted to give all to make it work. The past four days have been so marvelous. However, it wasn't supposed to last forever. I learned much from my past experience what I needed to do. I was stubborn so I didn't want to do it but I knew it was the right thing to do. It hurt. I hurt a lot. However, S. told me that I should think about all the blessings I had received and that I should give up on all the blessings that I will receive.

So today, I went to LDS.org to read some scriptures and the video was one of the first things I noticed. President Monson stated, "I have found that, rather than dwelling on the negative, if we will take a step back and consider the blessings in our lives, including seemingly small, sometimes overlooked blessings, we can find greater happiness." and then invited us to "take an inventory of [our lives] and look specifically for the blessings, large and small, [we] have received." What a tender mercy of the Lord! He knows me. He knows what I need. He is always mindful of my existence.

The biggest blessing I have received is obviously the gospel of Jesus Christ. Without it, I would not be here. I don't mean here in Utah or in the US. I mean I would not be alive if it weren't for it. I would have lost all my hope and I would have taken my life long time ago, but I am here because I know that I am supposed to do something amazing with my life. I have faith and hope that things will work out. The Lord will take me wherever He wants me to go.

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin." -Matthew 6:28-

Related Posts 
Faith in God and in His Plans
A Change of Seasons
Worries And Fears

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Fruit of the Spirit

"...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
"Meekness, temperance..." -Galatians 5:22-23-

Last night, I was outside my apartment thinking. I thought about my feelings and thoughts. My feelings were shame, depression, sadness, hopelessness, anger, etc. Nothing particularly good. I thought about why I was feeling them. I thought about giving up. Then I remembered something; I remembered that God does not want me to fail. He doesn't want anyone to fail but return to Him. He does not give us shame, depression, sadness, or hopelessness. He gives us joy, hope, peace, faith, etc. He wants us to know that He loves us! He is benevolent! Even if I make mistakes, He will cheer me up and lift me up! He will always put His arms around me and comfort me. I particularly love this scripture talking about the fruit of the Spirit:

"For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth" -Ephesians 5:9-

Instead of giving up and letting everything go, I should think about how I can help the Lord accomplish His goals and plans. I should think of ways to serve others.

Every time I feel the fruit of Satan, I want to shout out:

"Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul." -2 Nephi 4:28-

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Fake It Till You Become It

I love TED talks and this is such a powerful talk that will change your life (and your posture). A quote I really like from this is "Don't fake it till you make it; fake it till you become it."

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Be Happy Where You Are At

I don't know if this is what you guys got out of General Conference that we just had, but as I listened to President Uchtdorf during the Saturday Morning session, I started to think about how I am always worried about what I am doing and where I am going.

I worry a lot. I sometimes forget to enjoy where I am because I am so focused on the future. The consequence of this is that I don't notice what I have because I want to make sure I am doing the "right thing" to ensure a great future. However, what I don't realize is that perhaps what I have now is exactly what I need in the future and that I need to be able to appreciate what the Lord has given me now.

If I don't take a certain opportunity now, will the Lord provide me with another chance with the same opportunity or will He bless me with a different opportunity? How could He trust me with another opportunity if I am not willing to accept whatever He has given me before? Could I make a promise to Him that I will not let go of another opportunity if He were willing to bless me with such? Perhaps, my chances are all gone and I have lost His trust.

So now I am trying to be happy with where I am and what I got. I might not have much but I am here. I am alive. I have the gospel. I have my family. I am graduating. I have work. I have a fully functioning body. I have wonderful friends. I am happy where I am now.

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My Family's Baptism

I share with you an experience of one of the missionaries who taught my family, Jeff Gardner. I asked him to write about my family's baptism in his perspective and he has sent it to me recently. I wanted to share it with all of you so that you know what it means to be a missionary and see the Lord's hand in His work.

September 23, 2012

The Kim Family experiences while on my mission

            I want start by sharing one of my experiences I have had while on my mission to Peoria Illinois Mission from 2001 to 2003. I have had many experiences that I have seen while serving the lord for 2 years. He has answered my prayers and have lead to people that have changed my life forever and who I love so much. I know the Lord loves each of them and has a personal care from them.

            While I was in the area of Macomb, Illinois my companion and I along with Brother Mueller were teaching the Lee Family the 2^nd new member’s discussion. While we were talking Brother Lee said he talked to a friend about the church and said he would be interested in learning more. As the evening went they fed us “Kimche” which of course was very new to me. While they were serving the meal Brother Lee stood up and called Hong Sik Kim to set up an appointment for tomorrow night which was so great to witness. The next evening was what they call a missionaries dream and one of the most precious blessings from Heavenly Father to teach a family of four. I remember going with Brother Lee over to his friends to meet the Kim Family (Hong Sik, Seong Hee Park, Kyoo, Kwan). They were so kind to us and they had a great desire to learn and listen to us. We didn’t know Korean so Brother Lee translated for us. It was one of those experiences were we couldn’t hardly understand one another but the spirit I felt I can never forget. That night the Kim Family asked for the Book of Mormon in Korean and Brother Kim wanted to come to Church that next Sunday. I knew the lord prepared this family. I wrote in my journal that the lord blesses those after the trial of your faith.

            Hong Sik was such a kind man, bless his heart. We had our 2^nd discussion and he came and picked us up. What investigator would pick you up to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ? That does not happen too often. They are such are such happy people. I gained a great love for them.  It was great to see the Kim family have faith as they put their efforts into studying the scriptures and hear their prayers. It is of course fun to hear them say their prayers and read scriptures in Korean.  I count my blessings to have been able to teach them.  My personal testimony has grown each day because of their examples of faith as they joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was such a great time to see them set a date for baptism (March 31, 2002). I know they are each children of our Heavenly Father. I have felt so much joy in my life as I have seen the Kim’s grow in the Gospel. We have had so much help teaching the Kim’s. We had a member, Sister Jensen from Fort Madison Iowa, travel to teach the discussions each week with us. How blessed we were to have their help. I know every time we taught the Kim’s the discussions the spirit filled my heart.

One experience that I remember teaching the Kim family is a time when we just got done teaching his family one of the discussions, the spirit filled the room. As we departed to go home Hong Sik Kim offered to take us back to our apartment. Just as we were getting out of his car in is broken English he thanked us for teaching him and his family. It was such a highlight. I know the Lord has specific plans for each member of the Kim family. I love them. I know the Lord loves each of them individually. I know the Church is true. I know these experiences will remain with me beyond the veil and into the eternities. I hope that we will always be close to the Kim Family. I admire their faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope my children will see the value of missionary work and have experiences that will build their own testimonies on their own missions.

On March 31, 2002 Easter Day the Kim family became members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was fast and testimony meeting and the Kim family was sitting behind us in sacrament meeting while Brother Shawn Mueller got up and bore his testimony.  I looked behind me to look at the Kim Family and saw that Sister Seong Hee Park had tears in her eyes. I know she felt the spirit from our Heavenly Father. That experience helped me to feel the spirit. It was one of those moments that I can’t explain but what I do know it was very touching.  The members of the Macomb ward were so helpful and showed such great love and embraced the Kim family. It helped them see the gospel in action and feel the Saviors love.  That evening the Kim Family was baptized. The members sang “I am a Child of God”  in English then in Korean,  then Brother Lee gave a talk on baptism and Sister Jenson gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. I had the wonderful opportunity to baptize Brother Hong Sik Kim and Hyung Koo Kim. Elder Dale baptized Sister Seong Hee Park and Hyung Kwan Kim. What a day I will never forget. The lord was so merciful in allowing me to be a part of the Kim family baptism and be a part of each of their lives. I hope I will always be in touch with them. I know shortly after they were baptized they got involved with church callings and it was fun to see the Kyoo and Kwan get involved with the youth and church activities.  As years pass the Kim Family received the most precious gift from Heavenly Father, getting their endowments out and getting sealed with their family in the temple. As this missionary experience continue to grows, Kwan and Kyoo received mission calls one to California and the other to New York. What example they are to me. They will be great examples to my children. I know the lord loves them individually and is aware of their needs and desires. I know that Heavenly Father will bless them for their faith each day. I love them so much. I know this is the only way to receive complete happiness for our families.  I have a testimony of the Savior and the Atonement and that if we repent we can be forgiven if we keep his commandments by following our living prophet.

Jeff Gardner

Sister Jensen on the far left. Jeff on the far right.

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Disorganized Thoughts

If you saw labels for this post, you can definitely tell that I have a lot to say. However, they all might be one-liners.

Let's start following the order of labels.

Dating
I had to re-evaluate my life and figure out few things out. I made some new commitments and learned something that I have never thought/realized before. One thing I can say here is that I need to find myself a best friend. I don't know if I mentioned this before (I feel like I have) but I don't have a best friend. I have great friends but I don't have anyone whom I can just go to (and who is always available to listen to me). I want someone whom I can talk to about everything and who wouldn't mind listening to me complaining. There are few other things I realized but I can't share them here.

Family
My brother is getting married on Dec. 15th. YAY! I am so happy for him and Lia! I can't wait to go to Macomb this December for the first time in almost 4 years.

General Conference
I am really excited for General Conference because I know I will be able to receive so many inspirations that I need at this time. I will have to take a test between Saturday morning and afternoon sessions but it will be great to hear the words of prophets, seers and revelaters.

Food

I made these for work and they were all right. I think they could have been better if I were better at baking cookies. Trial #2 will shortly happen.

Gospel

I am so humbled that the Lord is always very mindful of me and is willing to help me when I need Him. The Savior is my best friend whom I can always go to and talk about everything.

School

I know I skipped life but everything I am talking about is life. I found out that grad school applications are due in two months which means I need to start preparing to apply. I also have a test tomorrow that I have to take and two in-class tests next Thursday. CRAZY!

Oh, I also get to teach Writing Within Psychology class next Monday. I am so excited and nervous.

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I Must Write; I Must Tell

It's been forever since the last time I have written. A lot of things happened.

I don't know if I can explain anything here. I don't know if I can say anything without recalling memories that made me laugh, smile, happy, sing, dance, sad, cry, etc. I have grown up. I had to grow up. I had to learn from all my experiences so that I would never ever hurt anybody again.

It hurts to see someone get hurt. It hurts even more when you cry more than the person you have just hurt. It hurts once more when you see your friend who's hurt the same and tells you how she's feeling and you realize that that's exactly how the person you hurt must be feeling. It crumbles you inside because all you can say is "I am sorry."

I had to re-evaluate my life and make some changes. I hope I have grown up. I hope I will never hurt anyone else again.

I am grateful that General Conference is just around the corner. I will be able to learn few things that will help me become a better person so that I can care for others, serve others, brings others to Christ, and make them smile. I want to set aside the natural man that I have to make choices that are pleasing to God. I want to be a better friend to those who already are amazing friends to me.

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Faith in God and in His Plans

Yesterday was amazing! I felt like the topic of all three meetings at church was faith. And then after church, I was reading Look Up, My Soul and obviously, it also talked about faith. So this post is about what I learned yesterday and this morning.

Faith and hope definitely go together: "if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." The way I see it, faith is action and hope is your motivation/eternal perspective. If you have faith but no hope, you are merely doing repeating the same thing over and over again with no purpose. If you have hope but no faith, you are merely wishing. You have to have both (holistic monism anyone?).

This morning I was studying Preach My Gospel about faith, and one of the scriptures that I needed today was Mosiah 4:10 which says:

"Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend."

I had been kind of afraid of things that were happening around me, not because they are bad things but, because good things are happening so fast. I have never experienced so many blessings and miracles happen around me so fast. Even in Sunday school, a teacher asked us if we had trials in our lives right now and I couldn't think of anything. My life is so good! I am not saying that in a prideful way but in a very surprised way. And this scares me.

However, when I read that verse in Mosiah, I realized that I may not understand why things happen around me but God does. He has "all wisdom" and comprehends everything, even things that are happening around me. I do have faith in Him which means I need to trust Him and take every opportunity that He has laid out for me.

I had to remind myself again today to "consider the lilies of the field."

Related Posts
Worries And Fears
What I Know of Hope
Holistic Monism Pt 2

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I Work at a Zoo Called "Library" Part 21

This is a chat I received.

Patron: I am trying to find out what 76.5a.3 sexual exploitation of a minor- actually means, in terms I understand. We just had a neighbor put on the sex offender list and I'm not sure where to look.
Me: I believe the number in the front means just "sexual exploitation of a minor" in Utah.
Me: So basically, it means what it says.
Me: If you don't understand what "sexual exploitation" means, I recommend searching Google for meaning of sexual exploitation. I just don't feel comfortable describing what it means.
Patron: Do you know where I could look up court records, or how to find that information?
Me: Honestly, I am not sure if they would publicize court records, so I don't know how to look that up.
Patron: So when you need to look up a recent case, do the students there go to the county courthouse, or where do you send them
Me: I actually never had anyone ask for cases but I would probably send them to a court or to the Law Library that we have here. They would be able to help them better.
Me: http://lawlib.byu.edu/ This is their website. I don't think they have a chat service like we do.
Patron: oh, I thought I was at the law library- thanks for your help!!!!

I think the patron was also creepy.

______________________________________________________________________________________

So there is this elderly white haired Asian (Japanese) lady who comes to the library very often. She usually comes to the library to do some research and then prints out a ton of pages. She does some weird things like opening up the printer trays to smell papers before printing but this time it was a little bit weirder.

I was working at the desk when she came by. She walked to the desk as she stared at me then stretched out her head to see what I was doing on the computer. I was just reading some CNN articles so I wasn't doing anything fun or weird. After she saw what I was doing, she just walked back to her computer without saying a word.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Usually the beginning of every semester, we get basic questions about library services from patrons. That is not a big deal; however, freshmen have to take this library tour quiz after they take a tour of the library. Some times we get chats asking some basic questions but you can definitely tell after few questions that these are part of library tour questions.

Patron: What is the undergraduate check out perioud?
Patron: *period
Me: It's three weeks.
Patron: Where would I go to find an atlas of France?
Me: Down in Science/Map on the second floor.
Patron: Where should I go to find a newspaper about the day Abraham Lincoln was born?
Me: It seems that you are taking a quiz.
Me: If I help you with your quiz, it would be against the Honor Code.
Me: Are you taking a quiz?

(No answer)

Related Posts
I Work at a Zoo Called "Library" Part 20
I Work at a Zoo Called "Library" Part 19
I Work at a Zoo Called "Library" Part 18
I Work at a Zoo Called "Library" Part 17
I Work at a Zoo Called "Library" Part 16

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