Dad's papers

  We can’t wait to all be together this weekend. Mama and I were talking last night about when the next time we might all be together at home again after this weekend and she mentioned it might not be until April Conference time next year. So needless to say we are really looking forward to this weekend. I will keep it short today with a simple invitation. Throughout this week leading up to General Conference and hearing the words of prophets, ask yourself this question: What do you know and have in your life because there is a living prophet on the Earth today?  I think your thoughts will lead you where mine have, and that is to a place of gratitude. No wonder we often sing: We Thank Thee O God, for a Prophet! Love, Dad

  Another week gone. A lot of change here on the home front this week. We had a new bishopric called in our Ward, with Bishop Tuft released and Bishop Hawkes called. Also last night there was a special meeting at the Stake for a boundary realignment of our ward. It is a good reminder that change is inevitable, and how important it is to be grounded in things most important. We had a sweet Come Follow Me this week. It is so impressive to me to see the strength of the kids testimonies and to witness them implementing the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. I wish you could have all been there to hear Avery’s testimony, it was sweet, and powerful. It gives Mama and me so much comfort knowing you kids have developed testimonies of your own. Pretty special! I also enjoyed so much the chapters we were reading in Come Follow Me this past week. They are another confirming witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon for me. These chapters remind me of our time now....

  Hello Family, I hope you’ve had a great week as you get deeper into school, and Bug, good luck with starting your new semester today! This week in Come Follow Me we learned more about the message of Samuel the Lamanite, which was repentance and preparation for the first arrival of Jesus Christ. In our day, the message is the same. Repentance and preparation for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Graham, for his part of Come Follow Me was given a talk by President Nelson back from 2019 at the Priesthood Session of Conference entitled Be Better and Do Better. I had recently read that talk and had written some notes I had learned into the margin of my scriptures. It was so cool to me when Graham gave his part of our lesson. He shared these same things I had written down. They were powerful to me, and they were powerful to him. So I thought I would share these thoughts with you this week. One of the things President Nelson has taught us with more clarity is how to apply repentance in...

  This week we had our Stake Conference with a visiting General Authority Seventy, Elder Jorge M Alvarado. One of the things that the Spirit emphasized and impressed to me, and that I wanted to share with you this week, is the importance of “REMEMBERING”.   Invitation: In your personal study this week, here is an activity I invite you to do. It’s not math but it does have a coordinate grid. :) The x-axis will mark time and the y-axis will mark spirituality.  o     On a piece of paper make a timeline. On the left, place a date and time you felt at a spiritual high in your life. It doesn’t matter how long ago it was, just a time you felt in a great place spiritually. o     Above this mark place a corresponding mark at the top of the y-axis indicating this spiritual high. o     Now go out and place a mark at the end of the time line indicating today, and a corresponding mark of how you feel spiritually. o   ...

  It was fun to have all the “bigs” together this past weekend in Utah when dropping Miles off at school. Nothing beats being together! Thanks for the fun times! A talk from this past Conference that keeps resonating and I keep going back to is Elder Christofferson’s message The Testimony of Jesus. He encourages us to constantly reevaluate our day to day discipleship, and to refining our efforts where needed.  It seems like a new school year, when our schedules change up a bit, is a great time to look at our daily pattern of the “small things”.  Here is a quote I love from Elder Christofferson’s talk. “True disciples do not ignore the seemingly small things that sustain and strengthen their testimony of Jesus, such as prayer, study of the scriptures, Sabbath observance, partaking of the sacrament, repentance, ministering, and worship in the house of the Lord. President Nelson reminds us that “with frightening speed, a testimony that is not nourished daily ‘by the good wor...

Mon, Aug 26 at 5:17 PM It was fun to be with Miles yesterday as he reported on    his mission to the Stake High Council. He did a great job!    I commented to mama afterwards how rewarding it is as a parent to hear your children be able to articulate so well on the the fly of how the gospel of Jesus Christ influences not only their life, but the lives of those they share it with. This made me think of the blessing a mission has been for me and for you older kids, and how much it will impact Avery, Graham, and Lainey lives in the near future. As you think about the temple endowment and covenants we make there, ponder on how those covenants have been strengthened because of your missionary experience. I think you will see a pattern of how the Lord has taught and instructed each of us through serving Him as a full time missionary.  Think about about it. You learn very early on in your mission the importance of exact obedience, so you can be worthy to call down God’...

  Happy Birthday Emma! I hope you have a great day and Sadie and Noah spoil you a little bit. As Grandpa Miller would say, “23, you’re going to catch up to me! Save me a piece of cake!” We love you so much and hope you feel extra special today! This week we’ve all been studying the war chapters of Alma. It’s a testimony to me that even in these detailed chapters of strategy and war, the name Jesus Christ appears in nearly every chapter. There is so much we can learn from these people in their time of spiritual and physical struggle as they choose to turn to Christ for added power and strength. One verse that stood out to me is found in Alma 48:7 “Moroni ….  had been preparing the minds of the people to be faithful unto the Lord their God.” I had the thought or the question: How are prophets today trying to prepare our minds “to be faithful unto the Lord their God”? A talk from this last General Conference by President Oaks stood out to me. Like Moroni with the Tile of Liberty,...