Prayer Poem

I often say my prayers, but do I really pray?
And do the wishes of my heart go with the words I say?
I may as well kneel down and worship gods of stone
As offer to the living God a prayer of words alone.
A prayer uttered without faith, the Lord can never hear,
Nor can He to those lips attend whose prayers are not sincere.

– Author Unknown

Tips for a Patriarch

We had a new Stake Patriarch called last Sunday. The previous patriarch had served for the past 30 years. The new patriarch bore his testimony and told the congregation that he had visited with the previous partriarch the night before. He said, “He gave me some good counsel I think I will find useful in my new calling. He said, ‘Don’t swear and don’t make things up!'”

Uplifting Internet

Larry Richman wrote a recent post on his blog entitled “Why use the Internet?“. I highly encourage you to read his post.

It brought back memories of my first exposure to the internet. I graduated in 1996. My senior year (1995) was the first time I ever got on the internet. After graduating, I worked for the Duchesne County School District. I would set up computer labs, fix computers & printers, and run CAT5 & fiber optic cabeling. It was a fun job. My boss gave me a laptop to take home and gave me internet access through the Utah Education Network. I used to get on some kind of chat room often, though I have no idea now which one and I doubt it still exists. I would often bring up the subject of religion. There was one occassion in which I talked in length to a girl about the church. She had never heard of it before. She agreed to read the Book of Mormon if I sent her a copy. A couple days later I happened to run into the missionaries and they gave me a copy. I sent it off to here in the mail. The last I heard from her, she had received it and started reading it. I never did hear from her again though because shorty after that time I turned my laptop in and entered the mission field. I always wonder if she read it and what became of her.

Has anyone had any internet missionary experiences they would like to share?

Thankful for Cake

Last Saturday my wife was making cake for a funeral in our ward. Our neighbor had died after a long battle with cancer. My wife tried to explain this to our 3 year old who is always by her side when she’s making cookies or cake. After the cake was in the oven we made lunch and our daughter said the prayer. Now this is really sad and I don’t think my daughter fully grasps the concept of death, sadness, and grief, but we had to smile and shake our heads at her innocence when she said, “I thank thee that the lady died so we can make cake.”