Shall I falter, or shall I finish?

“Finishers Wanted”

By President Thomas S. Monson

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=543227cd3f37b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1

Here's a quick summary of what the First Presidency message is about...................

Times change and circumstances vary, but the true marks of a finisher remain. Note them well, for they are vital to our success.

1. The Mark of Vision. It has been said that the door of history turns on small hinges, and so do people’s lives. We are constantly making small decisions. The outcome determines the success or failure of our lives. That is why it is worthwhile to look ahead, to set a course, and at least be partly ready when the moment of decision comes. True finishers have the capacity to visualize their objective.

2. The Mark of Effort

Stick to your task ’til it sticks to you;
Beginners are many, but enders are few.
Honor, power, place and praise
Will always come to the one who stays.

Stick to your task ’til it sticks to you;
Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it, too;
For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile
Will come life’s victories after a while.

3. The Mark of Faith. “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.” (Ps. 118:8–9.)

4. The Mark of Virtue. “Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.” (D&C 121:45.) This counsel from the Lord will provide staying power in the race we run.

5. The Mark of Prayer

6. The Mark of Courage. Have the courage—

To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go.
To right the unrightable wrong,
To love, pure and chaste from afar,
To try, when your arms are too weary,
To reach the unreachable star!

And you will thus become a finisher.


1 comment:

TIMING

"Commit yourself to put the Lord first in your life, keep His commandments, and do what the Lord’s servants ask you to do. Then your feet are on the pathway to eternal life. Then it does not matter whether you are called to be a bishop or a Relief Society president, whether you are married or single, or whether you die tomorrow. You do not know what will happen. Do your best on what is fundamental and personal and then trust in the Lord and His timing." ~Elder Oaks

A great talk on Timing by Elder Dallin H. Oaks,
where he talks about the Lord's timing, the agency of others,
application to our lives, and the importance of timing.
3 comments:

I love kids!!!!


Since I have no kids of my own to brag about, I want to pretend that I've been able to adopt all of my Autistic kids so I can brag about them!! I love them so so so much! They are completely different from another, yet are all labeled as Autistic. Because it's Sunday, I'm going to relate it to Mormons. We're all labeled as Mormon, but none of us are anything alike in our personalities or characteristics.... =) I love the days when I figure something out about them or understand why they do a certain thing- like today. I was teaching our group how the "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" song works and of course was singing along while I was doing the actions. One of the boys kept turning the music up extremely loud and another one kept holding my knee....?????? It was definitely distracting me because I couldn't do the actions with him hanging on, and I was getting a headache from the loud music. I decided to stop singing and just play the song, while I took the one who was holding onto my knee and helped him do the motions in order. All of a sudden everyone was following along and loving it! So I started to sing along again and you know what happened? He turned the music up even louder!! He was doing it because he didn't like my singing!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! And the other one kept holding my knee because he didn't understand what I was doing or what the order was. Cute, huh??? It's so much fun to figure these things out because when none of them are able to talk, I usually have no idea what they want. But each of their mannerisms and their personalities are so revealing as to who they are and what they want, I just have to remember to slow down and pay attention to every characteristic they're acting out. I LOVE AUTISTIC KIDS!!!!

This is their FAVORITE song and every time I play it,
they all start laughing and dancing!! It seriously is the cutest thing.

1 comment:

Book of Mormon



"There is a power in the Book of Mormon which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the straight and narrow path, and you will find it in greater and greater abundance." ~Ezra Taft Benson



Great blessings are promised to individuals and families as they study the Book of Mormon. Now, for the first time on convenient DVD, you can listen to the word-for-word narration of this sacred book while you follow along with the highlighted text on your television screen. Listen and watch while exercising, working around the house, or relaxing as a family. Studying the scriptures has never been easier. Other DVD features include:
  • Gospel Doctrine reading assignments--a special menu helps you study the specific chapters for each Sunday School lesson.
  • Reading calculator--this chart helps you see how soon you will finish the Book of Mormon by studying for a specified number of minutes each day.
  • Interactive menu system--quickly navigate to any book or chapter with the click of your remote.
  • Bonus audio talk--includes the classic talk by President Ezra Taft Benson, The Book of Mormon Is the Word of God.
  • Over 25 hours of Dolby Digital Stereo Audio narrated by Rex Campbell.
  • Randomized Play option for a different chapter each day.
3 DVD Set/5 VHS Set

Length: 6 hours

http://deseretbook.com/store/product/4674999

No comments:

None were with Him

This is a great video, not just for Easter, where Elder Jeffrey R. Holland describes the Savior’s solitary journey to overcome sin and death and testifies of the resulting blessings to all mankind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpFhS0

REMINDER: Conference talks are now available online and I've already used some of the talks in my lessons because I couldn't wait until next month's Ensign. Conference gets better every year! =)

No comments:

Mosiah 2:17

"..when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

This is the cutest book that one of the Special Ed teachers bought for our social skills lessons. It's so funny!
3 comments:

Autistic behaviors



The Kirton's are a family that lives in Murray and has 6 Autistic children. They have the most biological Autistic children in one family in the USA. (They are also neighbors of David Archuleta!!) There's a family in Orem that adopted 9 children that are deaf, but this family in Murray gave birth to 6 kids who are on the Autistic spectrum. The Kirton's are LDS and I first figured it out by the names of their kids- Nephi, Ammon, Emma..... All 6 of them are labeled as Autistic but are on different levels of the spectrum. Some of their kids speak and some of them don't, some of them read and some don't, some still wear diapers at older ages but others are potty trained, and their family proves that no two Autistic kids are the same. However, they do share some of the same characteristics. Autistic children are known to become easily obsessed with an item or an action and constantly repeat it. My little guy is obsessed with turning pages. Every page over and over again, even when we're not reading a book! He'll just hold it in his lap and turn pages while I talk to him- it's so cute!! Ammon, one of the Kirton children, is obsessed with doors and one thing you should notice about him in this video is how intrigued and mesmerized he becomes as he watches the door open and close. My little boy becomes just as intrigued and mesmerized as he watches the pages turn. And then I become intrigued and mesmerized as I watch how involved he gets in his page turning!!! It is the most fascinating thing in the world to watch how stimulating these things can be for Autistic brains. So this video is of Ammon at the zoo, caring less about any animals because he found a door!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbdkstTZhOE&feature=channel


I took my little guy to the gas station the other day and he ran around like he was at the circus! I then had to chase him around and around and around the store because he kept putting candy bars in his pockets and running faster!! hahaha- I love him!! In the video, the Dad had to keep calling him back and that's exactly what it's like being with Autistic children. They become so engrossed with something and then they're done, so they run. We'll be playing a computer game and he'll just get up and leave right in the middle of it. Autistic kids have a lack of focus, as well as short attention spans, so they don't know how to do just one thing and stick with it. I love watching him open and close that door! The next video is a Channel 2 news story they did on the whole family. I think the parents say mean things about their family and they have a website called Autism Bites, which I think is totally rude, but maybe you'll have a different opinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4BitBkaE_Q&feature=channel

P.S. They live in an 1100 sq ft home with 1 bathroom......OH MY!
2 comments:

Seven Pounds


In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, the central character demands the payment of a pound of flesh from those who are in debt to him. The 'pound of flesh' refers to an onerous debt, one that is either unable to be paid (but demanded), one that is far in excess of the amount owed, or one in which the payment is set to adamantly exacting standards.

Before Seven Pounds was released in December 2008, the studio refused to reveal the details of the movie in the early trailers. Now that the movie is out, it's become common knowledge that Will Smith is playing a man who arranges to donate parts of his body ("seven pounds" of his flesh) to individuals in need of transplants, as atonement for the death of seven people in a car accident that he caused. Ben has a debt to repay for the seven lives he took, so the phrase is both metaphorical and literal since the debts are repaid with his actual "flesh".

I wanted to include the synopsis, but that would give the whole story away and I want all of you to watch it. Watch it as many times as you can!! There's one scene that I fast forward (due to my comfort level) but other than that, it is sensational. I want my whole life to be like Will Smith's character and serve others. You'll notice in the movie that he doesn't look for beautiful people, rich people, educated people, or the most healthy people, he chooses the ones who are in need. It doesn't matter what they look like or what they may be guilty of (some of them haven't paid taxes in years), he narrows it down and chooses those with a kind heart. He says several times during the movie, "You deserve it because you are a good person. You heart is pure. If you wonder why I've chosen you, don't. Just be you and live life to the fullest." MAN- if the whole world worked like that!!!! If everything was based on our good intentions and who we really were! I can't wait for the next life!!!! =) I loved the role he played and how he spent everyday getting to know people by serving them, and by serving them he came to know who they really were. I LOVE THIS MOVIE. It makes me want to work harder so that I have more to give others. Then I'll be able to spend my life prioritizing their needs, and not judging them by any other factor of their life. GO WATCH IT!!!!
3 comments:

Spring Cleaning

Even though it's snowed the past few days, every calendar is marked that Spring has begun. So it's time for Spring Cleaning!!! To my family- I promise I will only spring clean MY stuff! There's a talk by President Hinckley that I love, called "Be Ye Clean", and he talks about different aspects of what spring cleaning is. The talk is somewhat long, but don't skip anything because it's all great. Here are some of the things he talks about:

-Pres. Joseph F Smith presenting himself as clean
-Pres. Hinckley's spring cleaning story of his house
-Being clean in dress and manner and in mind
-Our bodies are the crowning creation of Deity
-Having a clean and pure heart
...with so much more!!!

President Hinckley "Be Ye Clean"
3 comments:

What Superhero are you??!!

Teachers at a Special Needs school in Bangkok alerted authorities when an Autistic student, scared of attending his first day at school, crawled out on the third-floor ledge and refused to come inside. The eight-year-old ran out onto the ledge after he had a panic attack, and neither his mother nor teachers could coax him back inside. Despite their many efforts to beckon the boy inside, he refused to budge. Until his mother mentioned her son’s love of superheroes, which prompted a fireman, Sonchai Yoosabai, to take a novel approach to the problem. Yoosabai pulled on a Spiderman outfit ,which was kept by a school guard for alarm practices. The Autistic boy ran back inside as soon as he saw his hero at the door of the classroom, and giggled as he threw himself into Yoosabai's arms!


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