An invitation to the Boise Temple Open House

I am excited to be here for the Boise Temple Open House, in preparation for the Rededication of the Temple in November. I invite you all and to invite your friends and family of any faith to come participate in this beautiful event.

Open House Information

Open House starts October 13th through November 10th

Reservations can be done at http://boisemormontemple.org

The Temple will be formally dedicated Sunday November 18th

For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint’s, the Temple is a very sacred building In the temple we are taught, we make covenants, and we are promised blessings. We receive ordinances that enable us to live in the presence of God. (http://temples.lds.org)

More information can be found at http://boisemormontemple.org

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Why are Temples Important?

 The Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is probably most recognized by its beautiful temples worldwide. With currently 138 temples operatings worldwide and dozens more in construction and announced, these Fascinating building are very sacred to us and where we turn to to get away from the “worldly” things and focus on our eternal progression as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father and uniting our families for eternity. So let me explain further why temples are important and why members are willing to sacrifice so much to go to a temple.

From http://temples.lds.org we learn that “From the days of the Old Testament, the Lord has commanded His people to build temples-sacred structures where He could teach, guide, and bless them. When Jesus was On the earth the only temple was the temple of Herod, which he was found there often

After the rejection and deaths of Jesus’s Apostles, there were no temples on the earth for many centuries. When the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in the early 1800s, the Lord again commanded His people to build temples (see D&C 88:119; see also section 95).

In the temple we are taught, we make covenants and we are promised blessings. We receive ordinances that allow us to live in the presence of God. Families can be sealed here for all time and eternity in marriage.

Temples are the holiest place on earth where we can go to find comfort, peace, blessings and receive eternal blessing and ordinances that will only bring us closer to our Father in heaven.

I testify that I know this church is true and that the blessings of the temple are real and can change your life forever and ANYONE can receive the blessings of the temple and I invite all who are interested as well.

If you are a non member you can order a free copy of the Book of Mormon and have missionaries deliver it by visiting http://mormon.org/free-book-of-mormon

Featured Photo of San Diego Temple by Jennifer Wyeth- to see more outstanding photography by her, visit http://jenniferwyethphotography.com/

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And Is not this Endless?

 I believe we truly learn line upon line and precept upon precept, and knowledge is power, and everything we learn here, we will take with us into the eternities. All throughout scripture we read that there are prerequisites to receive the spiritual and temporal blessings of God and to be revealed the mysteries of godliness happens in steps. Many people think that in a twinkling of the eye, we will know all that there is and ever is and will be, the moment our spirit departs from our bodies. Though we are made known of an enormous amount of knowledge concerning our preexistence and godliness once that veil is lifted, it is but a speck of sand compared to what we will continue to learn when we are exalted,  and yet, to learn more as we grow spiritually and in that day the Lord comes again He will reveal ” Things which have passed, and hidden things which no man knew, things of the earth, by which it was made, and the purpose and the end thereof— Things most precious, things that are above, and things that are beneath, things that are in the earth, and upon the earth, and in heaven.” (D&C 101:33-34)

Ever since I started reading the scriptures more, received the Melchizedek Priesthood, and been endowed in the House of the Lord, the “eyes of my understanding”have truly opened, and I have learned many new things and continue to learn things I could not grasp nor comprehend previously, and that are finally making sense when they didn’t even as little as 6 months ago; all this by the promise of God by recieving the Priesthood and keeping His commandments. And through the Holy Priesthood the power of godliness is made manifest an He who keeps the commandments will be given the mysteries of the kingdom, (D&C 63:2) . I have had one thing stuck on my my mind and that is the nature and being of God the Father. How he became to be, and how is always was and is and how he creates. Mostly I’ve been adored in the thought of how He creates. Not from nothing, but by organizing unorganized matter. That is it.

Spirits are Matter

“there is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; we cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.” (D&C 131:7-8)

From this, we realize that in the premortal life, though we did not have a body of flesh and bone, we were still matter, just more pure and fine. In Mathew B. Brown’s book ” The Plan of Salvation”, he notes where the matter came from that was utilized in the creation of spirit entities:

” There seems to be an abundant supply of these particles, elements or atoms scattered throughout the universe. According to Brigham Young ‘ the matter composing our…spirits has been organized from the eternity of matter that fills [the] immensity’ of space.”

From describing this, we can further break down, what it means to be eternal, to be in the beginning and end, always was and always be, and as God said to Moses: ” Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name; for I am without beginning of days ; or end of years; and is not this endless?” (Moses 1:3) Many people have a hard time grasping what it means to be everlasting. No big bang, but God organizing matter. He organized the Earth from elements, the rocks, water, sun, moon all by the organization of elements, particles, atoms, and even His children. As we organize wood from a tree into a House that becomes a home, we can better comprehend the work He does and understand “As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become.”

This is so deep and awing, that once you grab hold of it, there’s no letting go. I’m truly amazed and astonished by the work of His hands, the creator of all things, and can’t stop yearning to know more about all things. As I constantly read books upon books that I know I can now comprehend and understand many things are coming together, like finding that last piece of the puzzle. If we learn more and read the scriptures I promise you the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven will be made known unto you.

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The Importance of Temples

Most of us may have seen atleast one temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints sometime somewhere. These beautiful buildings are as beautiful on outside as they are in the inside. But the more important thing that matters most of these Temples, are the work being done within.

While the Boise, Idaho temple has started remodeling , and a new temple announced in Meridian, Idaho, I have pondered through all these things and have felt the spirit of the Lord poured out upon me and all others as I see his will and work progress. Nothing can stop the Lord’s work to be done. With hard work and sacrifice of the Saints who built the first temple of this dispensation, the blessings given within are foretold:

“Yea the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servant have been endowed in this house” (D&C 110:9)

All these blessings are still in full effect today and for all generations to come.  The temple is literally the House of the Lord and he may choose to visit there and there have been temples build around the entire world for all the rejoice and come unto christ.

“For behold, I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here; and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house. Yeah I will appear unto my servants, and speak unto them with mine own voice, if my people will keep my commandments, and do not pollute this holy house.” (D&C 110:7-8)

And now there are temples all around the world as promised:

” And the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands; and this is the beginnings of the blessing which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people. Even so. Amen.” (D&C 110:10)

The importance of Temples is that is where we receive all the necessary ordinances and covenants for our salvation. We go to the temple to learn more of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We go there to get direction. We are sealed to our families and spouses, baptisms are performed and that is wehere we recieve our endowments. The key to our salvation lies within those walls.

I urge and encourage all those, with whatever sacrifice, to attend the Temple and as much as possible. If you haven’t recieved your endownments, I urge you to work hard to recieve that beautiful gift from the Lord. Your lives and the lives of your posterity for all generations to come will be blessed for your righteous actions.

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Doing the Impossible

I recently watched a great movie  called the  Mountain of the Lord , a feature length film about the pioneers and building up of the Salt Lake Temple. Its a great movie, and I would reccomend all to see the movie!

Now after watching this, it really got me thinking about a few things. How on earth did pioneers who walked thousands and thousands of miles , and which had nothing at all on them but their oxen and means of transportation, build such a fine and beautiul temple? The work is the finest of all the world, the craftsmanship, design, architecture, artwork  – everything.  I’ll tell you how: by the grace and power of the Lord.

A couple interesting quotes from the movie caught my attention. When you are doing the Lord’s work, you are blessed in your lives, and plus it was a commandment from the Lord to build a temple.

“And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” 1 Nephi 3:7

Every detail of that temple, the walls, the design, down to the doorknobs (seirously, click on that picture on this post, and think to yourself how long it would take YOU to just carve out ONE doorknob!? ) , were all built only using the finest material, and finest designs. I truly believe that the Lord will bless each and everyone of us if we obey His commandments and do His work. It is an amazing thing that these people could have build such a beautiful building with arriving into the Valley with almost nothing at all.

“…If I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:10

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That Feeling in your Bosom

Never in my life has a scripture hit me as hard as the one I will show you in a second. It had been merely 2 years ago, when my life was not heading in the right direction. The spirit of the Lord was completely withdrawn from me. I was left to face the world alone; and I did not win.

As I sat in my room pondering my lifie, finances, and what I want in the future I didn’t know what to do or where to go. What is good in life? How do I know what is the right thing to do? So I texted my best friend, a faithful member of the church. I texted him the following:

 

ME: ” How do I know what to do and when something is right?”

This was the reply:

FRIEND: ” Let me find out…”

That’s all. I felt sad, and stupid for even asking the questions.

Well about 5 days went by, and I had actually forgot about the question I had asked. I was coming home from a long night with friends, and the same routine had happened. I ended up alone and sad in my bedroom.

My phone vibrates. TEXT MESSAGE.

I opened the text message and to my surprise it was my best friend. I thought he forgot about my question. And this is all he said on this text message:

FRIEND: D&C 9:7-9

Thats it. Thats all that was there. At first I thought, geez thats all you give me, you didn’t even answer my question. But I went to my desk to grab my scriptures, and open to that section. What I read forever changed my life. This is what I read:

” Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shal burn within you ; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong ; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me. ” (D&C 9:7-9)

I immediatly felt numb. My whole body had tingles and I had a burning feeling in my bosom. All this time I was waiting for something to just miraculously happen! I was waiting for some vision to just open up and all things to be revealed unto me. I was so wrong, and I had finally found out how to know which direction to go!

The next 2 years was spend learning more about the gospel, recieving the Melchizedeck Priesthood, recieving my endowments and being eternaly sealed and married for all time and eternity to my beloved Wife who I love most in the House of the Lord, all because of this scripture.

I hope this helps all you who are in need of direction of life and to know that God does love you and want you to be happy.

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The Importance of Temples

Salt Lake Temple

Most of us may have seen atleast one temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints sometime somewhere. These beautiful buildings are as beautiful on outside as they are in the inside. But the more important thing that matters most of these Temples, are the work being done within.

While the Boise, Idaho temple has started remodeling , and a new temple announced in Meridian, Idaho, I have pondered through all these things and have felt the spirit of the Lord poured out upon me and all others as I see his will and work progress. Nothing can stop the Lord’s work to be done. With hard work and sacrifice of the Saints who built the first temple of this dispensation, the blessings given within are foretold:

“Yea the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servant have been endowed in this house” (D&C 110:9)

All these blessings are still in full effect today and for all generations to come.  The temple is literally the House of the Lord and he may choose to visit there and there have been temples build around the entire world for all the rejoice and come unto christ.

“For behold, I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here; and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house. Yeah I will appear unto my servants, and speak unto them with mine own voice, if my people will keep my commandments, and do not pollute this holy house.” (D&C 110:7-8)

And now there are temples all around the world as promised:

” And the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands; and this is the beginnings of the blessing which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people. Even so. Amen.” (D&C 110:10)

 

The importance of Temples is that is where we receive all the necessary ordinances and covenants for our salvation. We go to the temple to learn more of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We go there to get direction. We are sealed to our families and spouses, baptisms are performed and that is wehere we recieve our endowments. The key to our salvation lies within those walls.

I urge and encourage all those, with whatever sacrifice, to attend the Temple and as much as possible. If you haven’t recieved your endownments, I urge you to work hard to recieve that beautiful gift from the Lord. Your lives and the lives of your posterity for all generations to come will be blessed for your righteous actions.

Read Full Post »