Seeking Happiness and Joy

I was supposed to go camping this weekend. My friends and I attended a concert at an outdoor venue on Friday and had intended to camp near a local reservoir so that we could enjoy some trout fishing come morning. We drove to the campsites near the reservoir only to find that they were all full. Of course they were; it's a holiday weekend. We ended up going home for the night. Come morning, we decided to try again. This time, we went to a lake up in a different mountain range. When we arrived, we found a camp site a few miles from the lake. We set up camp and tried fishing in the river for a bit. We started the fire and were just beginning to enjoy the evening when one of my friends needed to leave; he had only come with the intention to stay for a little while since he had made plans with others for the evening. I opted to go back into town with him even though I wanted so desperately to stay and camp. It was Saturday night, and I really wanted to be home so that I could g...

I moved to Tooele a year ago July. I graduated from Dixie State College and took a position as a 5th grade teacher at Excelsior Academy, the charter school in Erda. I will be teaching there again this year as a 6th grade teacher. I didn’t know anyone when I moved here. I don’t have any family that lives in the area. I came here alone. In fact, I took my teaching job having never even been to Tooele County. Fortunately, I made some great friends almost immediately and have had so many wonderful experiences this year and have learned so many things about myself. One of the unanticipated byproducts of moving here was the opportunity for me to realize how much control I had on the outcomes and consequences that come with each decision I made. Because of the nature of human interaction, we are interdependently connected, meaning that our decisions not only affect ourselves but also affect those we interact with and who surround us. For example, the decisions my parents...

The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead. The other two members of the Godhead are God the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ. As is taught in the New Testament in the 14th Chapter of John, Jesus would not leave us comfortless after He left the mortal realm. He would send us the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, to "teach [us] all things, and bring all things to [our] remembrance". The Holy Ghost plays many vital roles in our lives. He is a Comforter, bringing the love and strength of the other members of the Godhead to any one of us who stands in need of comfort. He is a Guide, teaching us all things and helping us to discern good from evil. He is a Revelator, testifying of truth and aiding us in our quest for personal revelation (the power to know for ourselves). As is taught in the Book of Mormon in the 10th chapter of Moroni "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things ar...

I was fortunate to be born into a family of Mormon parents. My mother is a convert. She was taught by the missionaries when she was a freshman in college. She knew that what they taught was truth (because of answers to prayers and personal revelation) and chose to be baptized. She later met my father, who was raised in the Mormon Church in a family who had been members for a few generations. They were married in the Washington, D.C. Temple. Membership in the Mormon Church is important to my parents. They taught be about the Godhead: God the Father, Jesus Christ, and Holy Ghost. They taught me from the scriptures. They shared with me their testimonies of the gospel. They took me to my church meetings when I was young and encouraged me to go as I grew older. As I grew and learned from them, I sought to find out for myself if the things they were teaching me and the things I was learning at Church was true. I have prayed and asked God about specific commandments, precepts, and principles ...

My 5th grade students and I are reading Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. I have never read this book prior to this reading with my students. We are enjoying it and learning a lot from it. The book starts with a tribe of people living on an island far from other civilization. A ship full of men comes to shore one day. These men want to hunt seal on this island. The captain of the ship makes a deal with the chief of the tribe as to how the hunted seals will be shared. When the men have hunted and gathered sufficient seals for significant profit, they begin loading the ship to leave. Although a certain amount of seals and other goods were promised, they shortchange the island tribe. This offense results in a bloody fight between the islanders and the seaman. Many die from each group. One of the dead is the chief of the tribe. The seaman leave. Although numerous members of the tribe remain, the chores must be redivided amongst those that are left. The women are a...

I've read the Book of Mormon and know that it is true. It contains the words of God as received by prophecy. Living the principles outlined in the Book of Mormon has brought so much happiness to my life--a happiness I have never found elsewhere. Reading the Book of Mormon has helped me develop a stronger relationship with my Savior Jesus Christ. It testifies of His life and His teachings. I treasure up His word.

I want you to ponder this statement from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and determine in your mind what commandment he is referring to. Elder Holland said, "I submit to you, [this] may be one of the Savior's commandments that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed; and yet I wonder whether our resistance to this invitation could be any more grievous to the Lord's merciful heart." 1 With this statement, Elder Holland was referring to a commandment found in John. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. ...Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." 2 Elder Holland said in that same talk, "The Lord has probably spoken enough such comforting words to supply the whole universe, it would seem, and yet we see all around us unhappy Latter-day Saints, worried Latter-day Saints, and gloomy Latter-day Saints into whose troubled hearts not one of these innumerable consoling words seems to be...