Peru el segundo

I am in Peru! One of these pictures is of the Place I'm at right now called Niños Hotel. It is very wonderful! And yes, that's my brother. We'll be back in the states on the 15th If you wanna see him. Peru is pretty sweet! What a party.

(sorry about the no Bueno picture quality, I will fix it when I get back a Los Estados. Y Sí, I am bilingual now)

Peru

I am currently in Peru with my brother Curtis! What a treat! And look who else I found at the airport! So sick.

So does anyone need me to pick anything up for them while I'm down here?

Summed up Sunday

Yes, General Conference was once again wonderful.  I simply loved it!  I tried to pay close attention to the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, because I didn't want to be like the guy in the story from last week who couldn't recall what the Lord had told us through the Prophet.

Anyways, President Monson's story about being in the Navy was awesome.  He gave it during Priesthood session.  The first sunday in the Navy, the chief officer commanded them:  Today everybody goes to church.  All of you Catholics, you meet at camp decader.  Don't come back until 3 o'clock. Forward march.  Those of you who are Jewish, you meet in camp Henry.  Don't come back until 3 o'clock.  The rest of you protestants, you meet in the theaters at camp fairgood.  Don't come back until 3 o'clock.

Instantly it flashed through Thomas' mind:  Monson you're not a catholic, you're not a Jew, you're not a protestant, you're Mormon!  So you just stand here.  He then stated that he is glad to be alive today.  President Monson felt completely alone.  Courageous and determined, but alone.

This got me thinking.. How easy would it have been for President Monson to have simply walked out along with the sailors of one of the other faiths?  But he didn't.  It takes courage to stand up to adversary, and oftentimes you will be by yourself.  It's easier to go with the flow and allow others to determine your actions.  But it is much more gratifying to decide for yourself, and to decide the right thing.  I wonder if sometimes loneliness is the price you must pay in order have courage and determination.  If this is so, it is well worth the cost.

The prophet went on to quote a poem:

Dare to be a Mormon
Dare to stand alone
Dare to have a purpose firm
Dare to make it known

I add my voice to that of President Monson.  Dare to stand alone.  "This is a time to do what is right regardless of the consequences that might follow."(Gordon B. Hinckley) While you may physically be standing alone when standing up for what's right, you will never stand alone spiritually.  You can do what is right.  You simply need to be willing to.

The tough guys

These are some tough guys.

from left to right: Nate Crosland, Carson Wilde, Hunter Cannon, Danny Harding

This is the day before Carson left us.

Talk about a party!

not pictured

Jeremy Jensen

Rickey Callister

GC BABY!

You may or may not have heard this story from your home teacher:

A fine member of the Church was talking with a neighbor who was not of our faith. When the topic of discussion turned to general conference, the neighbor asked, “You say you have prophets and apostles? And twice a year in a worldwide conference they reveal the word of God?”
“Absolutely,” the member replied with confidence.
The neighbor thought about that for a moment. He seemed genuinely interested and then asked, “What did they say in the last general conference?”
At this point the good member of the Church went from feeling excited about sharing the gospel to feeling embarrassed. Try as he might, he couldn’t think of the details of a single talk.
His friend found this troubling and said, “You mean to tell me that God speaks to man in our day and you can’t remember what He said?”

In 3 Nephi 19, it was "noised abroad" that Jesus would be coming the next day, and "there were many, yea, an exceedingly great number, did labor exceedingly all that night, that they might be on the morrow in the place where Jesus should show himself".  To what extent would you go to see and hear the savior speak? Well He is going to speak to us.  This weekend.  Through his Prophet and apostles.  You might remember when I said that General Conference is coming up.  That is exactly what I'm referring to.  In this awesome display of affection towards us, God is literally telling us what we need to know in our day. Our Heavenly Father is talking to us, so we better listen to what He is teaching, and remember.




Everybody has different needs.  That is why it's so amazing that the needs of everybody.. The needs of every single person.. are going to be communicated during General Conference.  The speaker is not always going to be the one telling you what you're supposed to do, or giving you the comfort you need.  Often times it is the Holy Ghost that will be communicating to you what you need to hear.  Listen to it's promptings, as well as the words of the speakers.  I know how hard it is to pay attention, especially when you're in your Pajamas and on the couch, but there's an easy fix for that. Pray for help to listen to General Conference and for answers to your questions, and then do your best to stay awake and focus, and God will do the rest.  Your questions will be answered at General Conference.  This is the only living church; We receive personal revelation and we have a living prophet to guide us.  Listen to the teachings of General Conference and you will be blessed.  This much I know.

Dear Piggy Bank,

Thank you for the 53 dollars.

You totally rock!

Sincerely, Danny Harding

(your owner)