Thoughts and stories, by Pal

I found this on LDS Living, and it is very good! 7 Important Things You Should Study in Addition to the Scriptures GREG TRIMBLE - DECEMBER 27, 2014 Want to start the New Year right by learning more about the Gospel? Check out Elder McConkie's list of important Church materials that can enhance your study. Not too long ago, there was an apostle by the name of Bruce R. McConkie who gave us some of the most doctrinally rich sermons we have in the Church. Some of you might remember him! He was known for his thorough research, dry humor, and bold style of speaking. While his primary focus was always the scriptures, he had a little advice for us when choosing other "works" to study in our quest to improve our gospel understanding. Here are  McConkie’s five suggestions  of the most important things that we should study (other than the scriptures), plus two additions of my own. I'm including the following as it gives places where those 5 can be found.  A...

New Year's Resolution Re-make Written by Jack S. Marshall 2014-12-31 Giving up on New Years' resolutions is common because most people don’t understand the purposes of New Year's resolutions! Many believe resolutions are made once and then lived perfectly thereafter. That is a formula for failure if I’ve ever heard one! A resolution is to resolve to do something then go at it with all our energy, recognizing we are apprentices and not the master. Apprentices are expected to have set backs but as they continue trying eventually they master what they resolved to do.  C.S. Lewis understood this principle concerning continual effort versus continual success. “We may, indeed, be sure that perfect… charity will not be attained by any merely human efforts. You must ask for God's help . Even when you have done so, it may seem to you for a long time that no help, or less help than you need, is being given. Never mind. After each failure… pick yourself up,...

I found this on mormonchannel.org.  It has a lot of wisdom in it!. Why You've Been Setting Goals Wrong We’ve all set goals at the new year. We’ve all attempted to keep them. We’ve all failed. That might be a sign that you’re doing it wrong. It’s a ritual for a lot of us. Just as you’re packing away the Christmas decorations and drinking the last of the eggnog, you anticipate the new year and picture the possibilities. You dream of all the goals you could accomplish.  • Lose 30 pounds. • Run a marathon. • Start a business and make a million dollars. Setting goals? That’s easy. Achieving goals? That’s another story. Fast-forward a few weeks. You haven’t lost any weight. One of these days, when you finally have some free time, you’re going to start running. And you still can’t figure out what that new business is going to be. You’re too busy making PB&Js, paying the bills, and spot treating laundry. Elder M. Russell Ballard learned a lesson almost 20...

This last year has been quite eventful, as I have become to realize, each year is also!  I wish I had kept a more daily journal.  When we wrote our life stories at our Golden Wedding time, it seemed I didn't need to write more of the happenings of our lives.  It had already happened!  BUT THAT IS NOT TRUE!  Each year brings new joys, and problems. This year was no different.  Our children and us, left to right, Wayne M., Delsy, Anita, Allen, Wayne, me (Pal), McKay, Angie, Tacy, Pam, and Jeremy. Taken Sept. 20, 2014, at our birthday reunion. I don't remember details until about March, just Church callings, me accompanying musical numbers, and Wayne as a Temple Ordinance worker..  Our granddaughter Skye had been on a 12 week mini-mission, starting December 18th, 2013, and came home a week in March, went through the Temple, and had her official farewell to go to the Irvine, California mission.  We were up there a week at that time, and wer...

Today I'm including a quote from Pres. Thomas S. Monson, and  an article from Meridian Magazine:  "15 New Year's Resolutions from the Prophets for 2015."   I am very busy here, getting ready for a daughter's 2nd wedding -- making a painting of the St. George Temple where she will be married on January 15, 2015.  We're also sewing her dress.   My husband Wayne got out of the hospital on Sunday, the 2nd time in the hospital in one week, 2 days before Christmas, and 2 days after Christmas.  He was home for Christmas and a half day after! We are really being careful, as his problem seems to be too much sodium -- along with high blood pressure, close to diabetes, lung problems which keep him on oxygen, and possible heart problems and prostate cancer coming back!  But we have been blessed in so many ways, I can't enumerate them!  Tomorrow, I'll write highlights of our past year, 2014. At the advent of a new year, I chall...

This was in LDS Living on Dec. 29, 2014.  It is very comforting, as Elder Jeffrey Holland always is!  He is our special apostle from St. George, Utah! Elder Holland: How to Improve Even When We’ve Failed Before EXCERPTED FROM ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND'S NEW BOOK,  TO MY FRIENDS  - With New Year's resolutions right around the corner, learn what advice Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has for those of us who long to change our ways. Be the first to read an excerpt from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's new book, To My Friends. This is not the full excerpt from this chapter. To read the rest of it, go to  deseretbook.com and order a copy of this fabulous book! Photo from  Millennial Mormons . As you might suppose, in the course of more than a quarter century as a General Authority, I have met, spoken with, and sometimes had to interview hundreds of people who have had problem s—people who have struggled or are sorrowful or who feel blocked in their progress...

With the New Year coming, it would be an excellent time to make a goal of doing more FAMILY HISTORY WORK! I'm not sure where I got this old photo, and I honestly don't know who they are, but the photo is so interesting!  If you recognize any, let me know! I've taken the liberty of putting some of our old photos inserted in Brian Mickelson's article.  Each of these have a story, and want their Temple work done, if it hasn't been already.  I love genealogy and Temple work! New post on  Brian Mickelson.... From the Other Side of the Veil: “Please Try and Help Us…” by  BJM I had an interesting, though not-as-dramatic-as-it-is- going-to-sound, experience  on Saturday ... I had spent a week and a half  planning  to do  family history  work. But projects got in the way, and nothing came of it. Finally, I determined to sit down and just do something. Anything , really. So I spent about three hours browsin...