Easiness of the way

We have many situations and experiences in life.  Some of them are easy, some of them are hard.  But the scriptures are what give us guidance and a road map.  That is something that I have come to love and learn more about with the scriptures.  They have a straight and simple road map of those things that we need to do to be happy and successful in this life. 

In the Book of Mormon, a prophet by the name of Alma was teaching his son Helaman what he needs to do to receive life eternal. 

Alma 37:32-34
"...Teach them an everlasting hatred against sin and iniquity.  Preach unto them repentance, and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ; teach them to humble themselves and to be meek and lowly in heart; teach them to withstand every temptation of the devil, with their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.  Teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls."

Sometimes we need to be careful of how easy this may sound.  We were driving the other day on the road and I was following my Garmin and wasn't paying attention because the "way had become easy" and I completely missed our street to turn down.  Now, if I was paying close attention and not allowing myself to be slothful, I would have made the right turn.  Alma also counsels his son to not be lazy with how repetitive and 'easy' the way can become.

Alma 47:46
"O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way...The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever."

As we read the scriptures and learn what we need to do to return to our Father in heaven, let us not become slothful or lazy with the importance of staying focused and striving to do each thing better each day!

For YOUR benefit

God is a God of love.  He loves each one of us and trust us to do the right thing in this life.  But what happens when we recognize that we have done something against God's commandments?  God still loves us.  God still wants us to turn to Him and repent and come unto Christ.  As we begin doing this, we will experience blessings again in our life.  We will begin to feel the love of God come more fully into our life.  We should never have to question why do I deserve God's blessing?  We do!  We do because he is a God of love.  When we do the things that He asks us to do, even when we have messed up, He blesses us because He loves us.

"There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated-And when we obtain ANY BLESSING from God, it is by OBEDIENCE to that law upon which it is predicated."  D&C 130:20-21

When we are willing to do the things that God asks us to do, He has to bless us.  He willing pours out those blessings that have been set with that commandment that you followed.

God wants to help us and He allows things to happen that will benefit us.  As I read this scripture, I tried to liken this scripture to me.

"He doeth not anything save it be for the BENEFIT of the World [ME]; for he LOVETH the world [ME], even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men [ME] unto him.  Wherefore he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation."  2 Nephi 26:24

God loves each and every one of us.  He wants us to succeed and He is doing everything in His power to help us be successful.  Everyday is a new day.  Strive to be a  little taller, a little smarter, and a little more righteous and God WILL pour out the blessings upon you!

Favorite memories from Middletown

I wanted to share some fun moments that I have had here in Lake County.  As well as share some things that I have learned over the last 6 weeks!

First off, I was officially welcomed into Lake County!!  Here we go!

We went to Bro. van der Boon's home and he plays accordion.  If any of you are wondering, it's a lot harder than it looks!  D&C 60:13 "...Neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known."

I got a new bed!!!!  It is a small thing, but made a huge impact on my rest!  

1 Nephi 16:29 "...And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things."

Sometimes you don't know what to expect.  We found a frog on the toilet seat in our church!!!  "The nearer we get to our Heavenly Father, the more we are disposed with compassion on perishing souls.  We feel we want to take them upon our shoulders and cast their sins behind our backs."  Joseph Smith

There were many, many funny signs found throughout our area, but this one is pretty funny.  We didn't realize until later that it is a code message from Hank to Don...  

Alma 32:21 "And not as I said concerning faith- faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."

 Christmas was a lot of fun here.  A member of our ward gave us a 7 ft tree to decorate to have the Christmas spirit in our apartment.
Luke 2:10-11 " And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

 This is Clearlake, the largest lake in California!!            This is Hidden Valley Lake and the
                                                                         view of the valley.

  Alma 30:44 "...And all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator."

We decorated a gingerbread house with 2 of the girls from our ward.  We had a blast!!!!

3 Nephi 14:24-25 "Therfore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock- And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock."

We opened presents, and discovered Silly string in our stockings.  We decided to have a little fun with it and decorated the Elders Christmas Eve.

2 Timothy 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love and of a sound mind."

 We got the chance to go to the Oakland, California temple together!
                                        Psalms 122:1 "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord."

I found my MAN!!! haha, just kiddin'! 

Genesis 2:24 "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, 

and shall cleave unto his wife [companion]: and they shall be one flesh."

We may have gotten turned around a few times here and there...

Matthew 10:39 "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

Our district is the best!!!  The elders even made us pancakes for our last district meeting!  YUMMY

Mosiah 2:17 "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

We celebrated New Year's Eve with a member and roasted hot dogs and s'mores!!  

3 Nephi 12:47-48 "Old things are done away, and all things have become new.  Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect."

We went to this County jail in Lower lake... It was the first jail in Lower lake.  By reading the bottom sign, the  first inmates and escapees were the men that built it!  Yes! 

Jacob 6:12 "O be wise; what can I say more?"

We were on Cobb mountain and it was so pretty with the fog.            And of course the beautiful mountains.  It is very pretty up here!

And in all, I learn everyday that "He that loveth not knoweth not God; GOD IS LOVE.  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son... If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."  1 John 4: 8,10-11

I KNOW

So, I don't have a great analogy today with anything that I have seen, but I was sitting in this chair and was trying to decide what I wanted to blog about.  The only thing that kept coming into my mind was to testify.  Write out your testimony.   So here you go.

I know that God exists. I know that He loves each and everyone one of us.  I know that He is my Father.  I know that He is happy when we obey, and sad when we disobey.  I know that He wanted us to come to this earth, and that He wants ALL of us to return to His presence through baptism and keeping the commandments.

I know that His Son Jesus Christ lives.  I know He loves us.  I know that He performed the atonement for me because He loves me.  I know that the Atonement is there to allow us to be forgiven, to be cleansed, to right any wrongs that happen to us in this life, and to allow us each to return to live with our Father in Heaven.

I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God.  That he had the faith it took to go in to that grove of trees and kneel down and ask God himself which church was true.  And that God the Father came down and His Son, Jesus Christ, and told Joseph Smith that none of the sects were true and that he, Joseph Smith, was to be a prophet.  A prophet that is called by God himself to lead and direct His children back to Him.  To bring back those ordinances and covenants we need to do to enter God's presence.  Joseph Smith did translate the plates that contained the Book of Mormon through the power of God.  

I know that the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints has been restored to the earth and that it is the same church that Jesus Christ established when he was on the earth.  I know this because I have asked God, my Eternal Father, and He has told me it's true in my heart and in my mind.




I know this clip is a little long, but it is SO amazing!  These are the testimonies of Apostles of Christ.  Apostles are to represent Christ and testify of Christ.  In the Bible dictionary it states:
"The calling of an apostle is to be a special witness of the name of Jesus Christ in all the world, particularly of his divinity and of his bodily resurrection from the dead."

So, grab a cup of hot chocolate, or a little bag of popcorn, or some of that Christmas candy you got and take the time to be uplifted as you listen to apostles of the Lord testify of Jesus the Christ.

Christmas on a mission!

So, I wanted to share with everyone our Christmas Eve day.  It was fun, exciting, and different to have Christmas away from home.  But here are some of the things that we did.

1. I got A LOT of candy!!

 At my house, we get silly string in our stockings, and so we went out back and had a little silly string war.

Sister Cluff getting ready for war!

 The damage done...

But then we had a brilliant idea, we were to save the rest of the can and use it tonight at dinner with the Elders.  So we put our cans safely away and went to visit some people.

This is the view from the van der Boon home.  Yes, this is the view of where I serve.  That is Hidden Valley lake in the middle.

Another angle from their porch.  It was 70 degrees on Christmas Eve, so we spent as much as possible outside!

 Then we went to dinner early, spoke to the people that invited us over.  Told them our plan and were completely up for it.  Then we hid in the back, She asked the Elders to come and "move a chair for them out back."  They willing did so and then we pulled out our cans and sprayed them down!!!  It was epic!

The results... Oh it was funny!

We did not have time on Christmas to open presents, so we did them German style and opened them on Christmas Eve.

Thanks for ALL the wonderful Presents everyone!!!
You are the best!  :)