This is the How to Find My Ore!

"Why must we love the Lord? Because as we do so, we become refined, pure, and holy. When we love the Lord, the benefits of the Atonement can wash away our earthly stain. Though our sins be as scarlet, they can become white as snow (see Isaiah 1:18), and we can become new creatures, filled with new life, new thoughts, and a renewed desire to do good continually."

Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Two Guiding Lights," Ensign, Aug. 2007, 66

How? Love the Lord! Trust the Lord! Serve the Lord!

What amazing promises will come!

Refinement, purifying, and holiness!

Well that was painless.

A few weeks ago I got the call from the library saying that my items had come in. Swheeet! I love when goodies come in! So I got my bag and headed to pick ‘em up. On my way out after check out I had the feeling to look at the information table that has all the fliers on it with what’s happening around town. I saw a flier and was super excited!

What was it you may ask? Go ahead, ask…

It was a flier that had information about a volunteer opportunity within Foster Care. The flier gave basic information, but it was mainly saying that they are looking for volunteers to be on one of the Review Boards here in town. It totally jumped out and screamed at me that it is something that I want to do!

So, I called the number and requested more info. Cool thing was that I called at 5:30pm, and someone actually picked up the phone. She said she had stayed late, she normally was gone at 5 and felt she should pick up my call. She was really nice and was able to answer all of my questions. She got my info to send me more details about what it all entails along with the application.

I got the application two weeks ago, filled it out and today went and got my fingerprints taken. Side note: It is totally weird to give someone else control of your hand. Try and relax and let them roll your fingers around in ink and press them down on some paper. Just weird. Anywho, it took all of about 10 minutes and was completely painless.

I also turned in my application and was told that it will take awhile for the fingerprinting to go through, but as soon as it did, I would be asked to observe a real meeting, and if I was still interested, I would then meet with a Judge who would either approve me for the board or deny me. Here is hoping for the two thumbs up!

I know, I know. What am I thinking? This is going to be HARD! Yes, I capitalized it for a reason. Even though it will be hard, I know that it will be worth it to be able to help God’s children in need. I can at least try it. Faith is an action word, remember? (I was saying that for me, not for you ;) I know Heavenly Father will help me and that I will learn things from this that I wouldn’t be able to learn in any other situation. It will also be an opener to foster care in the future.

I’ll let ya know what happens.

Jakob's Easter Talk

I had the chance to help my nephew Cake with the talk he gave in primary today. What an amazing perspective on Easter! I want to share it with you guys. Cake came up with all of the things that happen in springtime and I helped him tie it together with Christ. I can say it was really cool that the Spirit prompted me to the scripture in Helaman that is in the talk. Here ya go, I hope you like the simplicity of a primary talk and Cakes testimony...

Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.

It’s springtime.

Seeds are planted, lambs are born, hibernation is over, and the sun, moon, stars are closer and brighter.

Jesus Christ represents springtime because, He rose from the dead as a flower rises from the ground, He is the Lamb of God, three days He was in the tomb and then He awoke and came forth and He was resurrected.

I want to read Helaman Chapter 14 Verse 20. It says:

But behold, as I said unto you, concerning another sign, a sign of his death, behold in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his light unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of three days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead.

The sun, moon, and stars are lit again and seem even bigger and brighter because Jesus Christ lives, He is our Savior and Redeemer.

I have a testimony of springtime and Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that Jesus Christ will come again. I know that our families were together in Heaven, I know that we can be together forever; I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Interest Weaning... Interest Gone?

So Mr. Peanut update.

When a crush doesn't show interest back, well "enough" interest back... time to move on and get over said crush. He is a great guy, he's obviously just not interested, so he's goin in the friend zone. Not as many perks when they're only in my friend zone, but hey, friend zone is better than no zone.

More adventures in dating are sure to come, here is hoping for them. Stay tuned.

Can we say WOW?!

Can we say WOW?!

The 181^st Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was AHHHHMAZING!!! And I only was able to participate in the Sunday sessions so far. Sad, I know! No more internet use at work and when I went to the library after work, the wifi started acting all kinds of funny. Thankfully it was after President Monson’s opening remarks, so I heard the announcement of the three new Temples! Yay! I LOVE Temples! I’ll have to watch Saturday’s sessions tomorrow, which is okay by me, at least I do get to watch them and receive some more insight on me life.

Now onto the amazing “light” I received today.

A few weeks ago, I was reading again in 1 Nephi chapter 17. Instead of just reflecting on the same versus about “finding my ore”, the Spirit also gave me a sweet perspective while I was reading verse 13. I was only originally encompassing versus 7-10 when I started my blog, so I never really looked past 10 for that much insight. Boy was I wrong for not delving and looking further into the scriptures, but the Lord knows how I learn, He knows how to teach me and He gave me time to be prepared for said sweet perspective. So here is the verse and see if you can figure out where I am going with it…

13. And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led.

Well, it’s not a hard one to figure out, but I want to expound on it with all the amazingness that I felt in Conference. Also, I received the answers to my questions... I might delve in to those specifically in a later post, but for now, broader picture of learning… Here goes.

Jesus Christ is leading each of us towards the “promised land”, as we read in the above verse. (Remember I said in a previous post that the “promised land” is Eternal life with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in this little analogy, okay, really in every analogy it can be seen as eternal life. Hmmm. That’s pretty cool!)

Anywho, I was sitting in the chapel for the Sunday morning session and was in awe that each talk I could personally apply to my “finding my ore” analogy. The first three speakers, President Uchtdorf, Elder Johnson, and Bishop Burton all used the word REFINE at some point during their talks. Even Elder Christofferson used REFINE in his talk during the afternoon session.

Service and consecration REFINES our spirits, the furnace of affliction helps to REFINE us, Christ will bless, REFINE, and exalt each of us as we do the same for those we serve, and one of the three purposes of correction is to REFINE.

I looked up REFINE in the Index of the Book of Mormon and went to the scripture in 3Nephi 24:2-3 which tells us that Jesus Christ is “a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap” and that He “shall sit as a refiner and purifier…”

I then went to the Bible Dictionary and looked up Refiner: A man who separates the precious metals from the dross with which in nature they are usually found mixed. Part of the process consists in the application of great heat, in order to bring the mass into a fluid state, hence the term “refiner’s fire.” Christ is the great Refiner.

Say it with me: CHRIST IS THE GREAT REFINER!

It is only in and through Him that we can be purified. How amazing it is to think that the dross or the “natural man” can be refined out? I think that because of mortality, aka “nature” (which is the plan of our Father in Heaven), that the dross and the precious metals will always be mixed. The combination of those things is Ore.

We are the ORE folks! And each of us has the chance to choose Christ, to let go of the natural man and be REFINED so that we can be exalted! It will be done by heat! Lots and lots of heat! We are told that we are refined through keeping His commandments, service and bearing our affliction well. Going back to verse 13 we also see that He will be our “light in the wilderness; and [He] will prepare the way before you…”

Again, back to good ole GC, now what Elder Bednar said (not direct quotes folks, the Ensign will come out next month if you want word for word, but for now, you should get the idea.)

Elder Bednar spoke about light (I think if we can even apply verse 13 to this, but that’s not where my thinking is going, but you go right ahead and expound on it if you wanna *grin*)… he spoke about light being revelation and he actually referenced Nephi and ship building! He talked about how Nephi was instructed slowly and by the teaching of line upon line, precept upon precept.

It was awesome and made me realize that to be able to build a ship, an eternal family, I have to be ready because the Lord will more often than not, be giving me revelation, line upon line and precept upon precept. Elder Bednar also emphasized that a sincere desire and personal worthiness invites revelation into our lives. We need to be worthy to receive the “light” of revelation when it comes our way and have a sincere desire to heed it when it comes!

I see that the Lord LOVES me and is bringing me comfort from the words of His Apostles and Prophets. I really did get other amazing insights from each of these talks, REFINING just jumped out at me at this moment in my life a little bit more. I feel really blessed that I can see the Lord specifically speaking to me in a few of the talks. The Lord knows that preparing for my ship building is a big part of my life and any “light“ He is willing to share with me before the blessing of building that ship is completely welcome.

Finally, there is one last thing I want to touch on from the morning session and that was President Monson’s closing talk about Temples! He even referenced MINING! Funny, right? I received some good perspective to remember from his talk. He said, mining requires a lot of digging, it will have heavy loads, and is back breaking work… but by mining, we can make it to the Temple!

I am thankful for the perspective that we, my ore and myself; are both being REFINED. That truth does make it easier and even more important to find the right ore, someone who is willing to be REFINED in the REFINER’s FIRE with me. It is going to require some hard work because living the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not always easy, there will be heavy loads and sometimes be back breaking work. I know it’s worth it though, because it will allow both of us, as President Monson said, to make it to the Temple. Where we will make covenants with our Father in Heaven and be together forever.

I am SOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!

I am SOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!! about General Conference this weekend. Since now I fully appreciate General Conference, Saturday AND Sunday (and Axillary Sessions!) I get all excited when it comes around. Lucky me, it's twice a year! *wink*

What is even nicer is that, this weekend I am not sick. For Conference last October, I had the flu and was bed ridden for 2 days. Boooo. I have since watched those sessions, but it wasn't the same as watching them as they are happening. Hearing the voice of the Lord through His Prophet and Apostles is pretty much amazing.

I have also come to appreciate and gain a testimony that if I go to Conference with a question or questions... I will ALWAYS receive my answer there! Whether it is the actual speakers words that enter my heart, the subject of their talk, or the thought process the Lord has allowed me to have when a certain speaker says a certain thing.

So this Conference will be no different... the only difference is, I'll put my questions on my blog and follow up with the answers I have received. Okay, I'll only follow up with them on here if the Spirit so directs, but these are some of the questions swimming around in my brain.


Am I on the right path of finding my "Ore"?

What more should I be doing to better prepare myself to be a better wife and mother?

How to recognize where faith is lacking?

Where should I be? (very broad I know, but I know the Lord knows what I am asking;)

Where can I help? Where should I be serving more?

How can I help my visiting teachees and the children in my primary class?

Appearance: how important is it? and how do I make sure not to lose myself in the process of fine tuning it?

Careers for single woman... How much should I dive in?

Those are a few of the things floatin' around in my noggin'. Not to say there aren't other questions, those are just the ones I feel comfy telling you all about. lol

I'll re post after Conference and let ya know what I find out. Have a great weekend and ENJOY General Conference!

If you want to watch it, check out... www.lds.org

Mr. Peanut

Who would have guessed that March 2011 would be my mass blogging month? I sure didn’t. haha

Seriously though, this has been fun!

Well now, what to talk about… How about a new guy?! I think I’ll stick with a nickname until he gives the thumbs up to use the name his mother gave him, so for blog purposes, his name is Mr. Peanut (thank Cake for this one). I told Mr. Peanut last week about my blog, where the idea came from and encouraged him to read it. He seemed to think the insight to the scripture was cool, so I really hope he is reading it, but even more, I really REALLY hope he’s not being freaked out by it. I also told him that I hadn’t written about him yet, but not to freak out to much when I actually did. *grin* So no freaking out since today is the day you’re getting written about, k? k. Well, you can freak out a little… just get over it quickly.

I was planning on going a different route with this post, but I read this article at MormonTimes.com Take time, not tests, to get to know your date | Mormon Times and have decided to make a simpler post. Mainly by not thinking so much, which is something I have been continually trying to work on. You can tell I’m getting older and hopefully a little wiser… My thought process about a guy I like is way more simple than it was a year ago. Seriously Yo, this Mr. Peanut crush is different. Kinda refreshing.

We have been on two dates (one of them is referenced further along in the post), not including when I invited him over to dinner with the Missionaries, so if you want to be technical, I can say even dinner with the missionaries was a partial date… It was paid for, planned ahead (OK, a little planned ahead, I called him that morning to see if he wanted to come over for dinner :), and we did pair off after the Elders left and went for a walk and talked.

This Mr. Peanut is an awesome guy! Funny enough, he came highly recommended from a mutual friend and I am liking that we have so much in common. It’s a simple concept, but having things you like to do and some thought processes in common does really help when getting to know each other. Question asking is easier and understanding each other is easier. I really like that talking comes pretty easy, don’t get me wrong, I still get a little nervous, because he is a cute boy *wink* and I am Sarah, I'll get over it eventually, but for now, humor my fast talking and my lack of making eye contact sometimes. Thankfully, I usually get over my weird shyness and am able to be myself.

We’ve been able to talk about things in the world, things about ourselves, and most importantly, spiritual things. I really appreciate his testimony, not only when he shares it in a conversation we are having, but when I see him actually trying to live up to it. He’s a return missionary and has a love for the Temple which is a COMPLETE plus.

So is he a good guy? Yes. Cute guy? Yes. Funny guy? Yep. He is polite, smart, and loves learning new things. I like him, but some good perspective I’ve learned from previous dating experiences has taught me that I need to be just as open to seeing his “not so complimentary traits” too. I know that having the idea that someone is without flaws, is just dumb because we are all human and we’re here in this life to learn. Each of us have a few “not so complimentary traits”, but I think that each of them can give us an opportunity to grow if we let them. Mr. Peanut has been very open about his forgetfulness and his procrastination traits and I’m glad I can see them, but they haven’t bothered me thus far. Who knows, what if I bug him with my freaky thinking ahead and being organized traits. Only time will tell I guess.

Here is the aforementioned date story…

Last week we went on a double date; a picnic (Antipasto yumminess) and Frisbee date in the park with some of my good friends, Tyler and his wife, Gina. I had a really good time and I hope he did too. We all got to talk and I think he saw that I was serious when I said I loved to cook because Tyler brought up that we still need to open up our restaurant. (Side note: Our future goal is a Diner with emphasis on specialty pancakes.) It was a fun and comfortable night with good people, nice weather and a pretty view. I for sure made some dumb moves that night, I’m still awkward at this dating thing, but I’m willing to practice, practice, practice, because I do here practice makes perfect, lol. It seems I wasn’t that awkward though, he’s still talking to me *wink*

After the date he had to head off to a meeting, so I hung out with Tyler and Gina for a bit. It was nice that Tyler and Gina liked him. Good sign, friends like guy I like and they said he was really nice. I did tell them that I wanted him to ask me out for another date which Tyler replied back, “maybe he doesn’t know that.” I said “he should know that”, but then I remembered I’m a girl and we think differently than guys. So if Tyler thinks he might not know that I want to go on another date with him, maybe I should really tell him.

So… I did.

Last night I saw him at an activity. We got to talk a little bit, but because so many people were around, we didn’t have any kind of in depth conversation. Which is totally ok… remembering the article referenced above and the thought of “slow and steady” that keeps popping in my head whenever Mr. Peanut happens to wander into my thinking, has me trying to just enjoy whatever time I happen to be around him. It’s nice. Anywho, back to the telling him he should ask me out story…

On my way out to my car, he was standing, ok kinda playing on the bike racks by our cars, I’m assuming waiting for other people to come out that he needed to talk to, or maybe it was me he was waiting to talk to ;) anyway, as I passed by to say goodnight, this strange courage to go out of my comfort zone overcame me. So instead of just saying goodnight after making my usual funny face I make to guys I like, I sincerely smiled and told him he should probably ask me out again… there may or may not have been some eyebrow lifting encouragement on my part, he did reply with a smile, “reeeally?” ,in a cute way, so I smiled right back and said, “yep, really”. I then headed towards my car where folks were waiting to get in and I then turned and smiled again.

Awkward flirting coming from Sarah? Check. Sorry if you laugh when you imagine it *grin*

We’ll see what happens. I like spending time with him, it’s really comfortable to be with him and I really like talking to him. Two big perks! I’ll let ya know if there is any return from this "ore" *grin*