My Great Grandmother Clinging to that which is of most importance

I have a great grandmother on my fathers side. She was an amazing woman, well she grew up in New Zealand and her parents at the time hated the LDS church and thought that it was an a cult. But she had her own doubts. One day when her parents were not home the missionaries dropped by and she listened to them, she had a feeling that her parents had been misguided about the church. Anyway she read the Book of Mormon and took the discussions and decided that she wanted to be baptized. When she talked to her parents about it, they said if she went through with it she would no longer be a part of the family. Well she ended up making one of the hardest decisions in her life: Whether or not to Be part of a great churcha and gospel of Christ, or stay with her family? She pondered and prayed, and decided to get baptized. So she went and did just that, however when she returned home her bags were packed with a note saying that she was now considered Not a part of the family, and to never return. Forlorn she returned to the missionaried to tell them what had happened, one of the missionaries sent her to his family in Canada, and not too much time passed before they were married in the temple. I have always loved this story of her, she had much courage and faith. She decided to follow Christ despite losing her family, but gained another family, the Family of Our Heavenly Father. She was blessed ten fold and she is a great example for me in my life and I am so grateful for her decision and I hope that I can be as faithful and devoted to the Lord as she was.

My Birthright

My Birthright
Many and wonderful are the privileges that are mine because of my birthright. First of all, I am a child of GOD—born in the infinite realm of Eternity of divine spiritual Eternal Father and Mother. I am mortal because n my body is placed the seed of death. I am immortal because in my soul is the germ of Eternal Life. I am naturally and literally the daughter of Celestial Beings. I was acquainted with them and I know and loved them in the home beyond my remembrance. Then I walked by sight. Here I have to walk by faith. I was at the great council in Heaven before the foundation of the earth was laid. I was taught the principles of the Gospel in that Heavenly Home. I rejoiced in the Heavenly plan that was accepted there requiring all men to work out their own salvation and through the redemption of the Savior to receive Eternal Life in the Celestial Glory as has been exemplified to by our Father. As man is God once was. As He is man may become. I was doubtless taught what my mission was to be on earth and advised in the way of life by my Heavenly Mother. I was endowed with divine attributes, GOD like power and my free agency. I kept my first estate and did covenant with my Father to keep my second estate. How do I know? Because I would not have been here had it not been so and the Lord has taught me through the Patriarch. My blessing tells me “Thou art from Ephraim.” Ephraim who received the greater blessing n his generation came through the lineage of Israel, Abraham, Shem, Noah, Enoch and other back to Adam who was one of the GOD’s who created the earth in the beginning. Adam called his wife Eve because She is the Mother of all living. They kept their second estate. This is my heritage from our great progenitors the first man and woman. I was born of goodly parents under the covenants making me heir to all the blessing and privileges of the Celestial Kingdom.

My Aunt Kona

I was going through my family histories, I have been typing them all and saving them and backing them up on discs so they may not be lost. This morning at 4 am I felt the impression that I should work on it a little bit more. I found a little story that she wrote, I have no idea how it came about, but it has inspired me. Its called "Inviting the Savior into our lives":
Inviting the Savior into Our Lives
One day when I was feeling very humble and thankful for what Jesus had done for me, I decided to invite Him into the home of my heart. He came without hesitation and filled my house with job.
I said to Him, “I hope you will stay and feel at home here,” He said “I’m sure I will. Why don’t you show me around,” the first room we went into was the Library. This was a small round room with very thick walls. It contained everything I had ever read, listened to or watched. Suddenly I felt very embarrassed over some of the trivia I had collected there. I’m sure he felt y embarrassment because he suggested that if we worked together, He could help me add more worthwhile items. He said “You know the Library is a very important room because it is sort of control room for the rest of the house,” Then He said He would like to see the dining room. I took Him into this big room filled with appetites and desires. I told Hi I had a hard time ever finding anything here that satisfied my hunger. He suggested a new diet and told me that if I follow it closely, I would never feel hungry again. I have had just a little taste of this new diet and I think He is quite right.
Next we went to the basement to see my workshop. I have a lot of tools in my workshop but I always seem so busy and everything just looks half done. Again I felt embarrassed and started making excuses about being awkward and clumsy. He said “ Would you like to be able to use the tools in your workshop better?” and I said “Oh yes, would you help me?” and He said “ I was wondering if you would ask me,” and so He stood behind me and put His great powerful hands over mind and guided them, and then He showed me how to use the tools in the workshop. I marveled at what we were able to produce together. “Will you always help me?” I asked. And He said “Yes, if you invite me to, but I never come unless I am invited,”
After the workshop we went to the Drawing Room. This is a small, quiet, peaceful place for deep thoughts and meditation. He seemed pleased with this room and was very comfortable. He said, “Lets meet together often here-at least twice a day. We can talk about your activities, plans an problem’s,” I thought that was a wonderful idea and I set the time for the appointments.
Now I was beginning to feel that his was a very one-sided relationship and so I said “Isn’t there something I can do for you; you have done so much for me?” and He said, “Yes, there is a great deal you can do for me. I was wondering if you would want to help me,” and then He told me of His endless projects and how some of them took money(none of which he had). I told Him I would be honored to serve on His projects and that He would be more than welcome to use some of my money. I could see right away that all of these projects were for the benefit of people just like me
Then I could tell something was bothering Him. He very kindly said “ There is a peculiar odor in this house and it’s coming from that locked closet. Why don’t we open it and see what the problem is?” Now this really made me made! Here I had let Him into every room in my house. I had promised to run errands for Him, let Him use my money and now he wanted to look in my secret closet. “It’s very small and the rest of the house if quite comfortable and very presentable so it shouldn’t make any difference what’s in the closet!” He said “ I cannot stay in this house if you do not give me the key to the closet.” And so He left.
I was so mad. Despair, gloom and depression came over me. Nothing seemed to go right. Because you see, once having had Him as a guest in my home, life was unbearable without Him. And so I went and tearfully pleaded with Him, “Please come back. I will give you the key to the closet. I will hold nothing from you,” He came, I have Him the key, and He opened it. Quickly and efficiently He cleaned out all that refuse I had been trying to hide, ignore or pretend did not exist. He fumigated, painted, and made the closet perfectly acceptable. I bowed my head and said “I feel so ashamed that you know what I have been hiding in my closet,” and He said “You know I have cleaned out so many closets I can never remember afterwards what was in any of them. It’s a strange thing. All I see here now is a house that is totally acceptable to me,” And then I knew why I loved him so much.
Later I got to thinking how much better everything would work out if I just signed the whole house over to Him. So I got the deed and did that very thing. He seemed pleased and did a lot of remodeling that strengthened the house and made it an all around even better place to live. He then told me that eventually He would move my house to another area but I was not to worry about a thing. He would take care of all the arrangements. I was not to even worry about the day or way it would take place. He said I would be thrilled with the new neighborhood!

The Vital Importance of Geneology

Throughout my entire life, I have always had an interest in my ancestors, who they were, where they come from, and what they became. I had grandparents who traced their ancestors all the way back to the 1300's on some lines. That is amazing, and has shown me how important it is for us to learn about our ancestors, to learn of and from them. There is so much to learn from them, and as we learn more of them, we become to know them as real people, and we come to the point where we love them, as we love any other family member.