What is your “Dream Calling”

Among conversations I have with people, this topic will occassionally come up. What calling in the church do you most aspire to? For me it is “Stake Sports Director!” Why? Well, I’ve always loved sports. Growing up in a small town there wasn’t much else to do. I played every sport available to me. Now that I’m married with small kids, the opportunity to be involved with sports is much less available to me. It’s hard to leave my wife at home with some ornery babies to go “play.” I’m guessing that with this calling, when I go play, or I go referree, or I go “oversee” a sports program, I would simply be fulfilling my calling. Plus, I don’t know much about this, but I would assume there is not a lot early morning meetings that need to be attended or lessons to prepare each week – not that I mind that stuff…

So what is your “Dream Calling?”

What will we know in the Spirit World?

I was thinking recently about the Spirit World, and how much we will know when we get there. Will a full knowledge of our pre-earth life be restored at that time? What will non-believers think when they realize that death wasn’t the end? Will it be easy to see that Christ’s church is leading the Spirit world or will there be just as much confusion as there is here?

A well-known scripture shed a little light on this for me today.
D&C 130:18:

Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.

Of course we won’t have the full knowledge of our pre-earth life restored unto us in the Spirit World. That will not come until the Resurrection. Our time in the Spirit world is still part of the test of “mortality”. That makes sense because many people accept the gospel in the Spirit world and we can still change and repent there (although we’re told it’s much more difficult to repent there than here – see Alma 34:33-35). The judgment will not have happened yet either, which means the test is certainly not over.

Primary Songs for 2006

My daughter just started Primary this year. She is really enjoying it. After he first day she came home singing “Scripture Power.” It’s quite the catchy tune!

My wife asked me to help her find the words & actual song if possible on LDS.org. I came across all the songs that the kids will be singing in Primary for 2006 and made a CD for my daughter to listen to to help her learn.

You can find all the words to the songs and download MP3s here:
http://www.lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,6413-1,00.html

Or, to make it easier on you, I’ve downloaded each of the songs and put them in a zip file which you can download here.

Praying in a foreign language

A post on Times & Season brought back some mission memories I thought I’d share…

I went to South Africa (Cape Town) on my mission. It is an English speaking mission. I bought a tape from the mission office that had some basic Afrikaans terms. Among them was a simple prayer. It was really simple. It was your basic “Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for our many blessings. We ask Thee to bless us with thy Spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

On the a couple of occassions when Afrikaans families would ask me to say a prayer, I would use that prayer. Sometimes they I would add a few words in English, but that prayer was normally sufficient and the family would be surprised and delighted that I took the effort to learn to pray in Afrikaans.

One of my fondest memories was about 2 – 3 months into my mission. I baptized a 17 year old young Afrikaans speaking girl. The day of the baptism after a dinner appointment at a member’s home, the father of that house suggested I say the prayer in Afrikaans. He wrote it all down for me and I had about an hour to learn it beforehand.

I shocked everybody (except my companion and the witnesses) when I said the baptismal prayer in Afrikaans. I was sure nervous but I was told I sounded fluent the way I spoke it. :mrgreen:

In case you’ve read my other post, this was Emily’s daughter that got baptized. This was another big part of your progression toward the waters of baptism. She was crying after the baptism and said she had never felt that good inside before.

Its somewhat funny because as a teenager I prayed that I would go somewhere foreign yet English speaking. (I really struggled in Spanish class). I have no regrets about where I went. I definitely wouldn’t change that. But sometimes I kind of feel like I missed out because I’m not fluent in another language. Yet I did pick up a lot more Afrikaans & Xhosa than I ever thought I would.

Old Testament Reading Schedule

After completing our Stake Presidency’s challenge to read the 5 gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, 3 Nephi) by September 1st, 2005, and President Hinckley’s challenge to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year, I’ve decided to issue myself a challenge. In light of the fact that we are studying the Old Testament this year in Sunday School and the fact that it is the only book of scripture I have yet to completely read, I’m going to challenge myself to read the entire Old Testament by the end of the year. My wife is going to do it with me, which will be a fun experience.

I found it useful to track my daily progress with an excel spreadsheet for the other two goals, so I’ve created this spreadsheet to help me with this goal.

Explanation:
The spreadsheet simply lists the books in the Old Testament with the number of chapters in each book. (I find it easier to track my progress by chapters rather than pages.) In the box next to it, list the number of chapters you have read in each book. The box on the right will display how many chapters you’ve read, how many are remaining, how many days are left, and, most importantly, how many chapters you have to average per day in order to finish by your goal date (you may change the goal date if you wish).

Click the image below to see a larger view:
OT Reading Chart

Click Here to Download the spreadsheet.

Recall Notice

My Grandma just sent this to me through e-mail. I’m sure it’s an old one, but still fun:

The Maker of all human beings is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to the serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart. This is due to a willful malfunction, in the original prototype units code, named Adam and Eve, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect has been technically termed, “Sub-sequential Internal Non-morality,” or more commonly known as SIN, as it is primarily expressed. Some other symptoms:

[a] Loss of direction
[b] Foul vocal emissions
[c] Amnesia of origin
[d] Lack of peace and joy
[e] Selfish or violent behavior
[f] Depression or confusion in the mental component
[g] Fearfulness
[h] Idolatry
[i] Rebellion

The Manufacturer, Who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing factory authorized repair and service free of charge to correct this SIN defect. The Repair Technician, Jesus, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. There is no additional fee required. The toll free number to call for repair in all areas is: P-R-A-Y-E-R. Once connected, please upload your burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure. Next, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, Jesus, into the heart component. No matter how big or small the SIN defect is, Jesus will replace it with:

[a] Love
[b] Joy
[c] Peace
[d] Patience
[e] Kindness
[f] Goodness
[g] Faithfulness
[h] Gentleness
[i] Self-control

Please see the operating manual, HOLY BIBLE, for further details on the use of these fixes. As an added upgrade, the Manufacturer has made available, to all repaired units, a facility enabling direct monitoring and assistance from a resident Maintenance Technician, The Holy Ghost. Repaired units need only make Him welcome and He will take up permanent residence on the premises!

WARNING: Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction voids the Manufacturer’s warranty, exposing the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list and will result in the human unit being permanently impounded. For free emergency service, call on JESUS.

DANGER: The human being units not responding to this recall action will have to be scrapped in the furnace. The SIN defect will not be permitted to enter Heaven so as to prevent contamination of that facility. Thank you for your attention.

— Author Unknown