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When I was 14 I started taking the missionary lessons, I had friends who are members and also I was not activate my own religion, Nora particularly studying at the time, my friend shared Pitkin bits of the gospel with me. my friends and I were definitely not perfect but they seem to have a knowledge and Hammerly that I did not have. perhaps looking back it was that they had a knowledge of the place with God and it's time I was unsure of my old standing with God. So I started meeting with the missionaries was 14 and my friends house about on the second or third lesson they showed the Joseph Smith's first vision story. What a fantastic story I thought. I was skeptical to say the least. I had no way to tell whether or not the story was true. I couldn't go back in time and see it for myself. Yet as a missionary explained his feelings on it and shared his testimony about the spirit, feeling came over me so powerfully that never felt that magnitude before, the missionary recognized it in my eyes and told me "and youre feeling it right now". I knew that what I felt did not come from within myself I was on splits with a member in Hamilton Ohio in 1991 we were visiting with a part member family named the Plowmans. Her sister had expressed an interest in learning about the church, can we had one or two discussions with her. We decided to kneel and pray about these things that she was learning. As She and prayed, she started to cry. She said that the feeling that she felt as she prayed , she had only felt one other time in her life. that was the time that she gave her life to Christ. Good afternoon brothers and sisters I would like to start off my talk today thinking Johns wonders for the opportunity to talk. When I have been given assignments, I don't recall ever having said no. There is a culture in the Church of accepting opportunities and challenges, because we have been taught that we should learn through our trials candlewick road from tests. Along with the adage that which does not kill us makes us strong. All trials help us to grow, even knows that we crumble with and Chris are locked or wonder why God is punishing us, or not blessing us with our rights to the blessings we so for you think we deserve because of our stalwart this. I am amazed as I grow older and as I look around me at all of the examples of people that continue to show up and continue to work at the skin perfect system call the church. there have been many times that I have struggled with not wanting to come to church. people, disagreements power mean spirited unintentional her marginally intentional. We are in perfect games dealing with other in perfect games can we are doing it in perfect way. But I believe that God is smart enough to use all of that imperfections and all of our mistakes still accomplish his work. He has to. Otherwise there would be no way for him to get anything done. To work on the earth what she's completely. Because he relies on us tickets complete his work, im perfect beings. So then what? We all know or should know that we are in perfect. So I do look at others can be critical of their imperfections?. Christ said the parable of the mite in the eye that there was also a beam in the eyeof the accuser. Another words to look around at each other and point out all of the flaws each other has, when we don't see her own flaws, should not be. There is only one true judge of all of us and he was the only one perfect enough to do the judging. Consider when you're frustrated with someone that they may have struggles greater than your own or that there is something to learn from the experience to look at it as a trial of your own. Will you grow from the experience or will you receed? I decided while ago not to let anything affect my church attendance. This is my church. Stand strong in holy places" Temple Church Home With friends Individually Beam in your eye First thought that comes to my mind can stand in holy places his the temple. the temple in and of itself is a holy place where central ordinances and promises are made. To get to the temple we must have already been standing in holy places. We have been conducting our lives in a way that is pleasing to our Him the father. When another temple was destroyed after the Saints left its Ellen to ruin and eventually was to my last. It was not a temple in the spiritual sense that was destroyed, it was a building. It stops being a temple when the saints stopedp performing the ordinances within it. Regular attendinf the temple allowsl attendance helps to keep stand in holy places has to keep or the to enter takes a beating to sacrifice on your part. Your body is a temple the Spirit of God can dwell within you. It is not the physical manifestations of what is done inside the temple but is thea covenants ande promises and spiritual nature if we internalize it helps to be we're fine arts and helps us to live a happier life. Forgiveness comes easily thru the atonement of jesus christ. Ask and ye shall recieve seek and ye shall fi d knock and it shall be opened unto you. It takes a lifetime to work out who you are inside. Everyone has darkness and light within. The darkness grows the light chases out the darkness. Hopefully ove time the darlness is diminished and light shines forth. Careful! Even moonlit dewdrops, if we are lured to watch, are a wall before the truth. This phrase is always intrigued me it's from Lao Tsu What are youre moonlit dew drops? mine was music. As I listened I realized I didn't think as much, and my thoughts were scored to the mood of the music. silence then became my teacher because it allowed me to think on my own and allowed my mind in my spirit to by open to inspiration. Silent water Everything in life is perfect balanced, between good and evil, wrong and right, faith and nothingness, There exists as much proof that God does not exist as there is he does. When we look around this beautiful and sometimes tragic world that we love in we see both of these evidences. We see suffering and pain that we cannot comprehend a god allowing all this injustice. And at tue same time we see blessings and miracles that we cannot fathom how they came to pass in our lives. We are truely free to choose whether or not god is there or not. My yoinger sister was invovled in an offroad accident that took her life. I could not understand why god would allow such a young spirit to have such a tragic end to a short life. I questioned wether he existed or not. Wether he was involved in our lives, and if so, wether he had any cause in the orchestration of these events. Many questions circled through my mind and troubled my spirit. What eventually vame to mind was my experiences with eelimg the spirit and knowing what was it I need to do in my life. I reflected back on my discussions with missionaries, the plan of salvation and the feelings that I knew were true. In this life you see what you want to see. There is just as much as a chance that the Book of Mormon people were here as there is that they were not. We have the testimony of the witnesses who said they saw the plates, and yet the plates are not here. If they were they would still be squabbles and debates on whether they were man made in the 600's or in the 18 hundreds. Heavenly Father wants us to see the evidence and proof of a good life and choose that for ourselves. There are those who believe soley on evidence rather than spirit , and they will turn away at the show of so-called evidence to the contrary. Our heavenly father wants to choose for ourselves and in this life and I believe that he does not want to influence our decisions but will rather bless us for doing good and what is right hence allowing us to "see" that he exists.