Heidi Swinton

Listening to sister Heidi Swinton, who wrote the biography of President Thomas S. Monson, was such a privilege. The spirit was so strong in tuesdays devotional, it testified to me the truthfulness of President Monson as the holy prophet called of God. I'm grateful that Sister Swinton was able to speak to us.

She shared a scripture in Jacob, "We knew of christ and had a hope of his glory and also all of the holy prophets which were before us wherefore we search the prophets and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope and our faith becometh unshaken insomuch that we truly can command in the name of jesus christ, and the very trees obey us or the mountains or the waves of the sea"

Do you have that kind of faith in Jesus Christ? and then place into that the reverence "wherefore we search the prophets", because from the prophets can come to that understanding of Jesus Christ and help us to develop that faith in him that can move mountains.

Everyone has some sort of a mountain in front of them that seems very hard to climb. what do we do about that? Where do we go for the guidance, direction and help so we can essentially move mountains? What do you do about those things in your life that seem to be berriors to where it is you want to go, that seem to stop you dead in your tracks sometimes, or that just seam to eat at you?

Where do you turn? You turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is so conscious of what's in front of us and the power we need to face it, that he has given us a prophet that is on the earth today, a living prophet.

There is no other church today with a living prophets with the priesthood power and all the keys that Thomas S Monson holds. He is the lords chosen prophet on the earth today. If you know that and have a testimony that Thomas S Monson is a prophet of God then everything else in the church will fall in line. You will come to understand all of the doctrines and principals on the plan of salvation. He is the one on earth given the responsibility to speak for God. What they give us to understand simply adds to our capacity to receive that faith and that spirit of the lord jesus christ.

There have only been 16 prophets in this dispensation.

President Monson when he is speaking to you is speaking to you one by one.

Sister Swinton shared the story how she was called by President Monson to write his biography. Sister Swintion at the time was on the mission field with her husband as mission president. It was in interesting experience. She had the office send her all the talks he had ever given. As she read every talk the words of Jacob took a whole new meaning to her, what it meant to search the words of the prophets. There will be things that the spirit knows you need to hear, as you listen for those things know that they are messages coming from the lord. Know that when you go to conference those words spoken are for you individually with that same spiritual strength behind them, that the lord is speaking to you through his prophet of God. There is no one else on the earth who has that same kind of responsibility or connection to you individually then our prophet Thomas s Monson. If you are not sure about about your testimony of Thomas s Monson as the prophet if you okay that he is a prophet then get down on your knees and pray for a witness that he indeed is the prophet today, that he speaks for God and that those words are for you. The spirit can answer that prayer in your heart, and once you know that you are a different person. To see him and hear him and study his life and his words gives you access to the strength and the power described in that verse, "Our faith becometh unshaken" our faith in Jesus Christ, his representative on the earth as his prophet Is Thomas S Monson.

Everybody is carrying a burden on their shoulders, everyone has something that they are trying to work through and they are in your eyes mountains and trees and waves of the seas, there is power and strength in the words of a prophet to help you grasp what to do next.

Think about what president Monson has asked us to do, what has come into your heart and your mind as you have heard this prophet of god speak to you?

President Monson grew up in a very humble environment. God placed him in a home where he could come to understand that charity is the pure love of Christ.

Its not the rescue of people stranded someplace, Its the rescue of individuals of people who have lost contact with who they are. Everyone of us at one point that will have one of those moments when we ask ourselves heavenly father are you really there? President Monson is a prophet of god and conforms to us that not only is heavenly father really there but he has put someone in front of us to lead us and guide us and what he is teaching us to do is reach out and care for one another it is a remarkable message. President Monson is teaching us to follow prompting. When the spirit prompts us, what we may be asked to do is move the mountain for someone else. That the spirit may be saying you have the faith and you have been given the assignment go move a mountain, and we say mmm not right now.... think about those times in your life when people have come to you and it was at the right then. Have you recognized the lords hand in your life, we learn that from president Monson time and time again. President Monson told a story of how he was prompted to ask a gas station attendant clerk who was young and had a style with piercing everywhere, if he was getting ready to go on a mission, the man responded with " i don't really go to church anymore." It was several months later that the young man as his parents were watching general conference saw man at the gas station that asked him if he was preparing to go on a mission. Because President Monson acted on that prompting this young man went on a mission and is now married in the temple. He had written to president Monson from the mission field and told what had happened in his life.

Do you get those kinds of promptings from the spirit, and when you get them do you act upon them?

D&C 84:88 I will go before your face i will be on your right hand and on your left, my spirit will be in your hearts and mine angels round about you to bear you up." the lord often uses us to be his hands and be the angels and we have to be prepared to do that. The impression comes into our hearts. We are those angels. If we put the pieces together we suddenly understand that faith in the lord Jesus Christ is not just for us at a solitary life moving forward, but faith in the lord Jesus Christ lead by a prophet of god is the power to make a difference in this world. We can change the landscape but more importantly we can change lives.

Search the prophets understand their words grasp what in their lives makes a difference in your life.

Steven C. Wheelwright- Setting worthy goals

Sorry i didn't post this up earlier, i got sick. But this talk was amazing none the less.

President Wheelwright started his talk with setting worthy goals and explained how, when you are younger you set goals so know where your going and you feel like you're making progress. He went on to say that one of the primary reasons why we set goals later on in life is not only to make sure we're on the track we want to be on, and heading for the end goals we would like to achieve its also so we can find a balance in our own lives.
It was so sweet, he had his wife talk to us about their experiences in setting and keeping goals, when their life was hectic. She mentioned that through his job when he had to travel a lot they came up with a goal of how he be an involved husband and father. They decided one way he can spend more meaningful time with his children was to take each of them on an individual trip to where ever he went. As the children got older and started leaving home, his job started wot slow down, but one of the things he wanted was to spend more time with his shrinking family. He told his wife that he had taped a note to the telephone in his office that read "would i rather do this then spend time with my family?" and so every time an offer to travel came up, he would read that note and turned down 90% of those trips.
After his wife made an end of her speaking, president wheelwright spoke about how we can actually set goals.
He shared a story of how he received a letter from a former missionary that asked him 2 specific questions.
#1 How did you come to know exactly what rout to pursue and why?
#2 What goals did you have for your career as you started your career?
As graduation was coming up, he and his wife were unsure what path he should take.
Setting effective goals can have a great impact on your peace of mind, your confidence, and most importantly where you're going to end up.

He gave us 3 simple aspects of setting worthy goals.

1. Understanding the blessings that come from worthy goals as outlined in the scriptures and by the prophets.
   The lord and his father in heaven have a very specific goal for us, which is immortality and eternal life. The savior as he related to his apostles has a specific goal in mind with regards to this life, which is life eternal is to know the only true god and Jesus Christ. these are specific goals and they have great blessings attached.
   Joseph smith said in D&C 58 that we need to be anxiously engaged in a good cause and do many things of our on free will and choice. We need to decide what is the intermediate path that is going to lead us to these very long term worthy goals. The lord expects us to make our choices, because he gave us free agency. The choices that we make about our goals will impact our ability to reach the long term goal that God and Christ have for each of us.
   
   How are we going to decided whats between here and the end of our lives and be prepared for the eternities?
   When you think about goals think about Matthew chapter 6. he gave specific scriptures.
   Matt 6:19
   Matt 6:24
   Matt 6:33
   proverbs 3:5 trust in the lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding
   If we try and set goals that are too specific we end up closing off the options that the lord has for us because we are leaning to our own understanding. Let him direct you.
   


2. Types of goals that you might consider setting (3 types of goals)
   Josephs from Egypt's story. Look at his goals.
   
   A. Joseph knows who he is, he is the son of a patriarch and the son of a loving heavenly father. His identity is a type of goal, is that of being a worthy, righteous, Faithful son. and you see this throughout his life. His First goal is to be worthy son of a loving father, and loving heavenly father. Who are you? how do you identify yourself?
   
   B. His second goals is how he will conduct himself. the way he will do his work is with integrity. What characterizes your behavior and the way you do things? Setting standers.
   
   His temporal success was due to the first two goals that he had set, knowing himself and characterizing his behavior with integrity.What are the challenges in setting following and achieving your goals.
   
   C. Set Temporal Goals. Its is fine to have temporal goals. As long as they are worthy.
   
   


3. What are the challenges in setting, following, and achieving these types of goals. Seek the council of god in everything you do. If you will seek his council he will lead you down a path that will give you far more opportunity then you would ever imagine for yourself.