HT Message: How Great Shall Be Your Joy

This past month's Home Teaching Message (February) is by President Henry B. Eyring (Who is from Princeton, NJ yayyeah!).

It is titled, "How Great Shall Be Your Joy."  It's interesting, because January's Home Teaching Message was about missionary work, and this month's message is about missionary work...So it seems to me like missionary work is pretty important.

This month focuses more on how members of the church can be missionaries.  President Eyring says, "Full-time missionaries are to have the power to teach those who are not yet members of the Church. Members of the Church are to have the power to find those the Lord has prepared for the missionaries to teach."


He goes on to say... "We need to exercise our faith that the Lord has prepared people around us to be taught. He knows who they are and when they are ready, and He can guide us to them by the power of the Holy Ghost and give us words to invite them to be taught."


That is really great to know that the Lord will provide us with opportunities to be a missionary, and He will lead people that are ready to hear the Gospel to us.  Then, what do we do?


President Eyring says, "There are many ways you can better meet your personal obligation to help find people for the missionaries to teach. The simplest way will be the best."  Yes!  I like simple.  What do you think is the simplest way?  As I spoke with my home teaching companion and my home teachees, we came up with the thought that being kind, being an example, bearing your testimony, and just being a good Christian are all ways that we can subtly and simply do missionary work for members and non-members.


I really enjoyed this month's Home Teaching Message.


You can read it online at lds.org or Click Here.


Love,
Sean

Seattle Trip

Sorry this took me FOREVER to get posted. I have been EXTREMELY busy this past week with work, parent meetings, lesson plans, furniture shopping (pics to come soon), and trying to have somewhat of a social life.

But, alas, here is my Seattle trip.

Friday, February 18th:

-Fly to Seattle.

-Dinner in Downtown Seattle at Brazilian Steakhouse

-Found a GUM WALL!! See vlog below!

Saturday, February 19th:
-Drove around Bellevue to do some sight seeing and found a beautiful view of Seattle.

-Walked around Seattle in the beautiful, sunny (but kind of windy) weather.  And taste tested everything at Pike Place Market.

(found Justin Bieber)

(visited the gum wall...again)

(we didn't get coffee...duh)

-Went to Space Needle area to see museum and laser show.

(I didn't get soaked this time!)

 -Found a troll under a bridge.

-Explored the Bellevue Mall

Sunday, February 20th:
-Went to church.  Met some cool people.
-Hiking in a forest in Bellevue.  We found some pretty awesome waterfalls.  Washington is a beautiful state.

-Played Wacky Six and Pit.

Monday, February 21st
-Panera for lunch
-Fly home

And...That's my trip to Seattle, Washington with Isaac, Calie, and Katie to visit Matt, Carrie, Danny, and Kalie.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and vlog.  I love my family.  It's so great to be so close with my extended family.  My cousins are my best friends.

Love,
Sean

Seattle Sunday School

So a large Seattle post is coming soon with pictures from my trip, but I just wanted to quickly post about something I realized at church this past Sunday in Seattle (more specifically Bellevue).

I went to the 17 year old age Sunday School class (because my cousin Matt teaches it), and the topic was: Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament.

We were going through the Beatitudes and deciphering what each meant.

Matthew 5:4 reads: "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted."  My cousin said that mourning typically has a negative connotation to it, so why would be we blessed for mourning?  Why would we want to mourn?  I've never really thought about this concept, but my thought was that Christ mourned for each and every one of us.  He felt, knew of, and suffered for all of our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Christ is able to fully and perfectly empathize with all of us.  So, when we mourn for others or even ourselves, we are feeling a similar feeling to what someone else felt.  When we mourn, we learn to empathize.  Therefore, we are becoming more Christ-like.  I'm not saying that I'm right, but that was just my thought.

Love,
Sean

Jetsetting To Seattle For The Weekend

Hellooo!

This weekend I most likely will not be blogging for I will be in Seattle, Washington with my cousins that of whom I love so much, Isaac, Katie, and Calie.

This is what happened to me last time I was in Seattle.  Let's see what happens this time...

Love,
Sean

An Awesome Weekend With Mom

My Mom flew out this weekend to hang out with her son that she loves oh-so-much.  To summarize: Food.  We did a lot of eating!  Pei Wei, California Pizza Kitchen, and more.

And we went to a basketball game!  BYU vs. Utah.  Cougars won (as expected). :)  Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra Gooooo Cougars!

And there was a lot of laughing.  "Are we already at the end?...Wow, that was quick."  And Mom, Jesus did not have a daughter (not that we know of anyways).

Oh, and we went to BYU to see Carl Bloch's display in the Museum of Art.

I was talking to a friend the other day about how moms are just the best.  It's like...The world is okay when mom is around.  My Mom definitely makes my world feel safe when she's around.  It's like all my worries and concerns go away because, "It's okay, Mom's here."

I cherish and love every moment I get to spend with my Mother.  She's the best!  Thank you Mom for coming out to see me.

I love you!

Love,
Sean

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,
Sean

Sea Turtle

At church this past week...I learned a fun mnemonic device.

If you ever have trouble remembering the 3 Kingdoms of Glory (Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial).  Just think:

SEA TURTLE.

SEA = "C" = Celestial

TUR = "TER" = Terrestrial

TLE = "TEL" = Telestial

...I loved this!  Turtles are my favorite animal.

Hope it helps.

Love,
Sean

FAT Meeting: Pounding On The Pulpit

This past Sunday was Fast And Testimony Meeting at church.  And I felt prompted to get up and bear my testimony.

When I got to the pulpit, I said, "My non member friend is sitting next to me, and keeps nudging me to get up...So I kind of felt like I needed to come up!"  As I was saying this, I was like, pounding on the pulpit.  I have NO idea why...I think I was just really excited or something.

In any case, I always love listening to others' testimonies, because it helps to strengthen mine.  But, I also value the opportunity to get up and bear my testimony to share with others the things I know to be true.

Love,
Sean

Pictures From Manti Trip

So, I went out and bought a new camera cord, since mine is still MIA (watch it show up tomorrow...).

Here are pictures from my Manti trip with Warren and Mark.

Love,
Sean

Thursday Night Temple Square

Thursday night after doing a Happy Chinese New Year dinner with my Uncle Jerry, Aunt Angie, and cousins Tim (and family) and Matt, I felt like I stop by Temple Square in SLC.  I don't really know why I felt like I needed to go, but I did.  I walked into the Visitor's Center and started talking to one of the Sister Missionaries.  We talked for 40 minutes.  Our conversation started like, "Creative Recreations!  Nice!  I love your shoes."  Turned into, "Where are you from?"  "New Jersey."  "Would you happen to know a Julia D?"  "What!?  Yes!  I'm good friends with her!"  It's amazing what a small world it is.  I won't go into too much detail about our discussion, but she complimented me on my family and how it sounds like I come from a very strong and stable family.  And she's right...I am very lucky to have the incredible family that I do.  I really needed to hear that.  You never know who you might bump into at Temple Square.

Love,
Sean