You're Not Going to Blog That Are You?

Sarah and I had a really great conversation the other night after a family home evening lesson she gave on Joseph Smith. She really thinks about things much deeper than I ever did at 8 years old. She had questions about the church. Specifically, what if our church isn't the right church? I was impressed with her thoughtfulness.

One of the basic doctrines of our church is that the LDS church is the only church that has the fullness of the gospel as it was set up when the Savior was on the earth. Many important components of the church that Christ set up during His short lifetime were lost or changed by corrupt governments and church leaders after the apostles that served with the Jesus all died. This is the time we refer to as the Apostasy. Then in the 1800's Joseph Smith, at only 14 years old was trying earnestly to figure out which church to join - they all had such varying interpretations of the bible, he was confused and wondered who was right. He wanted to know and one night while reading James 1:5 he read that 'if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God'. His prayer the next day, in a grove a trees, was simply to learn which of the churches he should join, which one what correct. The answer, that none of them were correct, was not at all the answer he was expecting and was the humble beginning of the LDS church. (click on the title for more info on the Apostasy and other Mormon beliefs if you're curious - FYI if you want to learn about our beliefs go to mormon.com - for correct information - don't trust other sources because there are a lot of lies about our church out there on other sites.)

That was the lesson Sarah taught for a Faith in God goal for primary. She did a great job, but it got the wheels turning in her 8 year old head. She wondered as many people do - could that really have happened? Is that true? Then she asked me about people in other religions and asked something I thought was very profound. "Don't the people, like daddy's friend from India, in other religions think that their church is true too?" (The friend referred to is Hindu.) Her next comment made me smile. "If we are right and he is wrong, he is going to be really confused when he dies and things are different from what he thought." Then she added, "But if he is right and we are wrong, then we are going to be the ones confused." (o:

I told Sarah it was good to question things because it motivates us to find out the answers for ourselves. I'm glad she is already trying to figure out big things like religion out early on. I was grateful for the opportunity to teach her about personal revelation. We can do the same thing that Joseph Smith did and if we lack wisdom, "ask of God". I believe that God answers prayers, but told her that we have to be doing good things in our lives to invite the Holy Ghost to give us the right answers in our hearts. He cannot be around us if we are not being kind and good. Then Sarah asked, "What if the Holy Ghost doesn't give us the right answers?" I told her that it is impossible for the Holy Ghost to give us the wrong answers because he is one in purpose with God and would never tell us anything contrary to what God himself would tell us. If we aren't humble and doing good things in our lives, however, then it is easy for Satan to whisper lies to our hearts.

Then she asked, "Well, he could make a mistake couldn't he? We all make mistakes. Like what if he told me 'there's a pickle in your pocket' when he really meant to say, 'there's a nickel in your pocket." At this point I totally lost it and couldn't stop laughing for about 5 minutes. She was laughing too and then I reasurred her that the Holy Ghost was not prone to the same weaknesses people are and he wouldn't make a mistake - especially not about pickles and nickels. (o: I encouraged Sarah to work on gaining her own testimony by reading her scriptures and praying for answers. She looked a little disheartened and acted a little disappointed because she knew that she wouldn't get to have Heavenly Father and Jesus answer her prayer like Joseph Smith did. I agreed that this probably would not be the case - but that an answer from the Holy Ghost - while not as spectacular visually - can answer prayers just as powerfully as if we were in the presence of Heavenly Father and Jesus. The feelings can be just as amazing as I'm sure the feelings Joseph Smith felt. I hope she will work on finding out her own answers and loved this conversation with my sweet Sarah.

Sarah keeps referring to daddy's new phone as his blueberry. You can probably guess what kind of phone he just got last week. Close enough. (o:



Sarah said something so hilarious to me that unfortunately for this audience I cannot divulge because I promised Sarah. It was something that would be very embarrassing if anyone outside of our family knew what she said. As soon as she said it, I laughed and laughed and laughed. When I was done, her face went pale and she said, "You're not going to blog that are you?" I promised I wouldn't, but thought it was funny that immediately she thought of where I write all the funny things she says.




This was Sarah's journal entry regarding that scary incident I wrote about in my "Guilt-o-meter" entry...


4-03-09 Dear Journal,

Well, what I did with my grandparents and my aunt Chrissy was, we went swimming in their swimming pool. And that was my favorite part because I became a life guard because Angela got into the deep part of the water while I was in the shallow water but I was the only person in the water with her. So I quick swam under water over to were Angela was and I dove down to get her and brought her up to the edge where mom picked her up. But the problem is they never got me and award. They're lucky I don't throw tantrums anymore. [heart] Sarah

After general conference today Natalie asked, "Dad, you're not going to go on a mission again are you?"
Sarah replied, "No, he's too old to go on a mission - he's not flexible enough." I'm not sure why you have to be flexible - I don't think doing splits is a requirement.

Sarah loved the funny April Fool's trick I played on her this week when the milk for her cereal magically turned blue! I got the idea from Family Fun, of course. (o: