Education Week Notes -- Thursday

MINISTERING ANGELS--ATTENDING TO SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL NEEDS (DONALD W. PARRY):  The older we get, the more we will be aware that there are angels.  This refers not alone to the angel Moroni, but also to those more personal ministering angels who are with us and around us, empowered to help us and who do exactly that.  Angels are translated beings who have not entered into so great a fulness as those who are resurrected from the dead.  John was translated and became a ministering angel. Melvin J. Ballard had an experience when he was a young bishop, in 1884.  Their daughter came in with a newspaper for her dad, while he was busy giving temple recommends.  She said a man came to her while she was out playing on the sidewalk and gave her the newspaper.  It contained the names of dead relatives who needed their temple work done.  It had been printed in England, in the home town Elder Ballard had come from.  And the paper was four days old.  At that period of time is was absolutely impossible for a newspaper to travel from England in four days.  It would have taken weeks.  They decided that the man who brought the newspaper must have been an angel.  They have an advanced travel system.  They can show themselves to those they have permission from the Father to do so.  They have no pain like mortals have.  When the three Nephites were cast into a pit with beasts, they played with the beasts and suffered no harm.  If your grandmother or your father or whoever was a righteous person, they are not far from us and they understand our thoughts and feelings.  They are often pained by them.  After the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young sought the Lord's will about what to do.  While fasting and praying, Brigham Young had a vision of Joseph Smith.  Joseph showed him a vision of Ensign Peak and told him to build under it, and he would prosper and have peace.  Wilford Woodruff said that he had had many interviews with Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and others who had died, and said that they had attended conferences and meetings.  One time Wilford asked Brigham to speak to the conference, but he said no.  He said he'd finished his testimony to the saints on earth, but he told Wilford to tell them to seek and keep the Holy Spirit with them at all times.  Angels attend the rank and file of the church.  They are not only for prophets and apostles.  They are also for Relief Society presidents and other faithful members.  While a man was sealing children to parents in the Cardston Temple, he stopped and asked the mother if the list contained all her children.  She said yes, it contained all her children.  He proceeded but stopped again and again asked her.  This happened three times and finally the mother said that she had had a baby who died shortly after birth.  He then continued with the sealing and sealed that baby as well.  He later told her that every time he tried to do the sealing he heard a child's voice calling out "Mother, don't forget me!"  An angel brought food and water to a prophet of God, Elijah.  An angel provided money for Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball.  They were on a mission, doing the Lord's work.  They had to pay for food and lodging.  They had only had $13.  But later they figured out what they'd spent and realized they'd spent $86.  The money only could have come from an angel.  A man who had been in the Martin handcart company was so weary he could hardly put one foot in front of the other.  He later said, "The cart began pushing me.  I knew then that the angels of God were there."  Our loved ones who have passed away from this earth having been faithful and worthy, may have a mission given them to visit their relatives and friends upon the earth again, bringing messages of love, or warning, or reproof and instruction.  Little children have special privileges with regard to angels.  Jesus said the greatest in the Kingdom was a little child.  In 3 Nephi it tells us that angels descended out of heaven and came down and encircled those little ones about and ministered unto them.  A girl was recovering from a 14 hour operation and her parents were by her bedside.  They were praying that she would make it.  When she awoke, she said there were people in the room and started naming them. They were deceased relatives she had never met.  She said one of them looked like her dad and said his name was Jimmy.  He'd had a brother Jimmy who had died when he was 10.  She said these people had helped her calm down when she was really in pain.  And also said that all the children in the hospital had similar people helping them.  He showed a picture of a phone from 20 years ago which was state of the art back then.  It plugged into the wall and had buttons that you could assign to various people so all you had to do was push one of the buttons and it would automatically dial that person.  Back then this phone was the latest technology and when he got it he thought it was really cool.  But now it is archaic, compared to a modern cell phone.  If we could understand the ways angels communicate, we would think of our ways of communicating are archaic by comparison.  Their ways of communicating are so much superior to anything we can understand. 

FORENSIC DNA TESTING:  HOW ARE CRIMES SOLVED WITH DNA ANALYSIS?  (JOHN M. BUTLER): In the OJ Simpson case, the DNA actually matched.  There was blood on his boot that matched Nicole Brown.  There were 100 pieces of DNA evidence submitted, but like the defense said, "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit!" One of the things that came out of the OJ trial was that the public became more aware of DNA testing.  It has helped exonerate 297 people.  We've made a lot of progress since 1995.  The DNA testing took 8 weeks back then.  Now it can be done in 8 hours.  This has changed the way DNA is used.  DNA could be used in an airport to decide if someone should come into the country.  CSI has real instruments but real labs have better lighting.  Also, you can't get results during a commercial break.  He showed a funny that showed a child at a science fair.  It said, "We need to take back your first place ribbon.  Your parents' DNA was found all over your project."  When comparing printed information with genetic information:  Library=Body, book=cell, chapter=nucleus, page number=chromosome, line on page=locus.  You get half your DNA from your mother and half from your father.  Each person's DNA is unique unless they are an identical twin.  DNA typing must be performed efficiently and reproducibly for information to hold up in court.  We are not looking at genes.  We're looking at regions of DNA to read out their sequence.  STR are short tandem repeat markers.  The FBI has selected 13 core STR loci that must be run in all DNA tests in order to provide a common currency with DNA profiles.  Applications for Forensic DNA Typing:  Forensic cases, paternity testing, missing persons, military DNA, convicted felon DNA databases, mass disasters, putting pieces back together, historical investigations. A DNA profile by itself is fairly useless because it has no context.  DNA analysis for identity only works by comparison--you need a reference point.  August 17, 1998 the FBI did an analysis on a stain on Monika Lewinski's dress which matched President Clinton.  Biological relatives served as references to determine Saddam Heisein. There will be no more unknown soldiers due to DNA testing.  175,000 crimes have been solved due to DNA testing.  Different states have different number of samples they have collected.  Utah only has 77,199 profiles.  California has 1,400,221.  In Utah 58 crimes have been solved, but 21,667 have been solved in California.  Utah has one lab and California has 22 labs.  Victims of mass disasters can be identified through DNA.  More than 20,000 bones were processed from the World Trade Center.  DNA samples were given from toothbrushes by family members.  Without DNA testing only 736 victims would have been identified.  The Romanovs, Russia's royal family were captured and imprisoned by the Bolsheviks.  In 1918 the family was killed.  The 11 bodies were stripped of their clothing and thrown down a mind shaft.  Grenades were exploded to try and collapse the mine, which fragmented the bodies.   In 1991 9 bodies were found and excavated.  They used DNA to identify them.  Prince Phillip is a relative of the Tzarina and they matched his DNA to her and the children.  Two of the children were missing.  But in 2007 they found the remains of the other two.  They only found a few charred bone fragments and one nail.  They still had bone samples from the ones they did in 1991 and were able to compare them.  They matched perfectly.  A living male relative was found to confirm Y chromosome testing. He was a distant cousin, and was a perfect match to their samples.  So they verified though other means that the bodies of the entire family had been found.  All the family members have now been identified.  Mystery solved!  DNA testing will continue to play an increasing role in the future.

HOW TO STOP TAKING AND GIVING OFFENSE (S. DEE BARRETT):  Mark on a piece of paper how many times you pull your heart away.  It's the beginning process of recognizing how often we pull our hearts away over little things.  As we start to recognize them, we can have less of them.  We can learn from watching people, seeing how they handle things.  You can watch a parent losing it at a children's sporting event.  We remember that one person who went ballistic, but didn't pay attention to all the parents there just quietly supporting their kids.  When we're driving, we'll focus on the traffic accident, but don't pay any attention to the thousands of other cars we pass.  We tend to focus on the few bad things instead of the many good things.  He was in a restaurant where a waitress accidentally dumped a salad all over a guy.  He just laughed and said, "Well, I really don't like Ranch, but okay."  The waitress gave him napkins to wipe up and offered him a free meal.  He said that wouldn't be necessary, he was having a great time.  A guy sitting nearby heard this and said, "I've got some salad dressing on my shirt.  What about a free meal for me?"  What a difference in attitude!  We need to be a preventer of contention--a peacemaker.  As you read the New Testament, watch the Savior interact with other people.  He tried to minimize situations where people began to get offended.  There are people out there struggling with anger and we'll still have to deal with them. But a lot can be taken care of with our actions.  As the second coming gets closer, more and more of grace will be given to us to become peacemakers.  There is hope.  As the world gets more and more angry, we'll see more peace as we live our covenants.  It's easy to evaluate how good your relationship is with your Heavenly Father by seeing how your relationship is with your spouse, your neighbor, your co-worker.  If you wife ticks you off and you're mad at the neighbor, you probably don't have a good relationship with your Heavenly Father.  Work on doing better in your relationships with your family and friends.  How is your heart?  If you want to improve communication with other people, get better at receiving revelation.  The better you can communicate with Heavenly Father, the better you'll be able to communicate with other people.  When people asked Peter if Jesus paid tribute, he said yes.  Jesus later pointed out to him that he didn't need to pay tribute. Notwithstanding, lest He would offend, he instructed Peter to find a coin in the mouth of a fish and pay it as tribute.  The Savior often gave up rights to keep from offending someone.  There was a dispute about eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols.  Should you eat meat sacrificed to an idol if you're invited to a barbecue by an idol worshiper?  We should base our decisions on charity.  An idol is nothing so it doesn't really matter if we eat the meat or not.  But we need to avoid becoming a stumbling block to someone who is weak.  If you're at a party and the host serves meat sacrificed to an idol, we eat it.  But if we're at another party where there are people present who have a real problem with the issue, we don't eat, to avoid upsetting them.  To put this as an issue for today, we could use the example of coke.  Some have been raised in families that don't drink coke, others think nothing about drinking coke.  Do we make a big deal out of someone drinking coke around us?  Coke isn't the issue.  It's how we treat other people around us.  There are some things we have to hold true to, and it's better to offend the world than compromise on them.  But other grey area issues, it might be a greater offense to not compromise on them.  Can we defuse moments that could turn to contention?  Jesus is very good at not wanting to offend, but He stood up and told the people that He was the Bread of Life and they needed to follow Him.  Many people were offended and left.  We cannot compromise on core doctrines, even if it offends others. When Jesus was heading through Samaria on His way to the feast of the passover, He administered unto the Samaritans.  This was a problem for some Jews, who would travel far out of their way to avoid Samaria.  They accused Jesus of being a Samaritan and a devil.  Jesus doesn't take offence, or defend Himself by saying he's a Jew. He did not correct their comment about being a Samaritan, but did correct their statement that he was the devil.  How do we react when people call us names?  They might have meant to insult us.  But we need to try to create unity.  We might respond "Thank you!"  That defuses their comment.  If you get offended, your judgments become unjust. We get pride involved.  Be careful of listening to people who are offended and who are making judgments.  They want to feel justified in feeling what they're feeling.  Contention results.  Our commission is to become skillful peacemakers who calm troubled waters before harm is done.  To do this we need revelation, we need to be humble, and we need to speak well of others.  We want to get better at this.  Satan goes about spreading rumors and contentions so he can harden the hearts of the people against that which is good.  Contention is destructive because it hardens the hearts of the people against the Savior.  Peacemakers soften hearts so that people can feel the presence of the Savior and come unto Him.  May we get better at being peacemakers and calm the troubled waters. 

LESSONS FROM THE SAVIOR:  MANAGING STRESS BOTH MENTALLY AND EMOTIONALLY (E. KAREN SHORES):  You can't get rid of stress, but you can learn to manage it.  Stress is part of our eternal progression.  It was given to us by design.  Stress is not an event, it is a process. It goes from the event to your brain where you perceive it and then you give a physiological response.  Our bodies, minds, and spirits are connected.  As a man thinketh, so is he.  Let our thoughts be directed to the Lord.  Cast away your idle thoughts.  Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.  What are the filters in your brain?  Definitions, past experiences, current situation, resources, past wounds, values, beliefs, self esteem, explanatory style, optimism/pessimism.  Which ones are we drawing from?  It could be the most recent filter we put in our brain.  Or it could be one that's really strong because we had a past experience with it.  Or it could be something repetitive.  Something that has happened more often will stick in your brain more than something that happened infrequently.  Something your mother said might stick more than something a stranger said.  Where did the information come into your brain?  Some filters are automatic, and may be negative.  Always/never, black/white, negativity, blame, personalization, labeling, fortune telling, mind reading, believe feelings, guilt.  Worry and anxiety.  The Savior told us not to take thought what we'll eat or drink.  Heavenly Father knows what we need.  We need to put our faith and trust in the Lord and not be consumed with worry and anxiety.  Worry causes us to be apprehensive.  Worry is future oriented.  Anxiety is excessive worry about many things and tends to be pervasive.  Most of what we worry about never happens.  It is wasted energy and unnecessary physical response.  Worry and anxiety have a significant physiological impact.  Medications for worry and anxiety are one of the most frequently prescribed and used medications in the United States.  Worry can wear you down and harm the nervous system and brain.  It can sever the connections inhibiting memory function.  It can increase blood pressure and asthma. Learn to solve problems efficiently.  Create wiser, more rational ways of thinking.  Stop yourself.  Is there a different way to look at the situation that doesn't have so much worry in it?  Quiet the physical stress by paying attention to your breathing.  Close your eyes.  Get comfortable.  Focus on your breathing for one minute.  Think about nothing but your breathing.  Inhale and exhale to the count of five.  Breath slowly and deeply.  Do you feel more relaxed?  Try this when you're stressed.  Breathing alone will help break a physical response.  Sometimes we take a small event and turn it into a huge one.  One lady gets stressed over breaking a shoe lace.  If her shoe lace is broken, she can't run her errands, she can't get groceries, she can't feed her children.  It keeps escalating until in her mind her children are in the hospital.  If you break your shoe lace, tie it together and move on!  Focus on what is going right.  Challenge the perceived danger or threat behind the anxiety or fear.  Challenge your selective perception.  Look for evidence that your thoughts aren't true. Change your perception from worry to excitement.  One lady at the Olympics look at it as excitement instead of being paralyzed with fear like some others.  She didn't focus on worry, she focused on excitement.  Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel.  Have you been around somebody that's really angry?  Their anger is hot.  Cease from anger and forsake wrath.  He that is soon angered does foolishly.  Many people have angry filters.  When somebody accidentally bumps their grocery cart, they are enraged.  Other people are just "Oh, that's okay."  Anger is a transient emotional response that depends on the way one chooses to think about events, usually triggered by perceived provocation or mistreatment or unmet expectations. If we have unrealistic expectations, like that our children will never spill their milk, we're  not going to have our expectations realized.  Hostile people usually are angry.  Any little thing will trigger their anger.  Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.   Angry and hostile people also tend to be pessimistic, lack social support, be overweight, sleep poorly, and have increased health problems.  Anger and hostility cause significant negative events because of the way you interact with other people.  If you're angry and hostile toward other people, you'll increase the negative events that will occur in your life.  Physical results of being angry and hostile are headaches, pain sensations, increased blood pressure and nose bleeds, increased muscle tension, slowed digestion, decreased immune system.  How do you keep yourself from getting angry?  Distract yourself.  Meditate/visualize.  Listen to calming music.  Pet a dog or cat.  Take 2-3 slow deep breaths.  Smile or laugh.  Learn to forgive and practice it.  If you can forgive, you're not angry as much.  Get socially connected to others.  Stop!  Look at the negative thoughts that triggered the anger.  Consider that you might be wrong in what you're thinking.  When we feel overwhelmed, let us recall the assurance that God will not over program us.  He will not press upon us more than we can bear.  Let us simplify our lives a little.  Let's make the changes necessary to refocus our lives on the sublime beauty of the simple, humble, path of Christian discipleship--the path that leads always toward a life of meaning, gladness, and peace.  Hurry sickness--We're running from one thing to another. Instead of trying to be in five meetings at the same time, attend the most important one and figure out other options in not going to the others, such as delegating someone else to attend for you.  Daily hassles--If life and its rushed pace and many stresses have made it difficult for you to feel like rejoicing, then perhaps now is a good time to refocus on what matters most.  If we over commit ourselves, we need to learn to just say no.  There is a plimsoll line on ships that shows them what their capacity is.  Even if there seems to be more space in the ship, once the ship goes down to the plimsoll line, they need to stop loading more cargo on it.  Since they passed a law about this plimsoll line, there were fewer ships sunk and fewer lives lost.  We need a plimsoll line on our lives, so we stop loading more and more on ourselves after we've reached our limits.  Throw out the non essential things that are making our lives too heavy.  A sense of being constantly overwhelmed causes much stress.  Don't labor for the non essentials.  Seek first the Kingdom of God and other things will be added to us.  Set your priorities straight.  When you're overwhelmed, think about the needful things and see if you can get rid of unnecessary things.  Plan your time wisely.  Don't plan multiple high stress events in a close proximity of time.  Plan "downtime" to give yourself a break.  Expect things to take twice as long as you anticipate.  Allow time for others to do their part.  Manage daily hassles.  Be honest with yourself on what you realistically can handle.  It is okay to say no to things that will overwhelm you.  Remember the 02 mask principle from the airplane.  Put the mask on yourself first before you put one on your child.  If you pass out, you can't help your child.  If your child passes out, you need to make sure you're okay to take care of them.  Avoid the BusyNess trap. Expect surprises.  Factor in your physical strengths and social supports.  Don't waste your time watching others break the commandments.  Think about movies, music videos, pornography.  Don't waste your time watching others break commandments.  Prioritize.  If you're trying to put various sized rocks in a jar, put the big ones in first.  If you fill it up with little rocks first, there will be no room for the big rocks.  Organize yourselves.  See that all things are done in wisdom and order.  Set your houses in order.  Keep slothfulness and uncleanness far from you.  The Lord's house is a house of order and not a house of confusion.  Are we committing our time and energy to the things that matter most?  When we sacrifice something good for something better of eternal value, the Lord is pleased.  Judge not that you be not judged.  There is no way we can know of the intentions of the person we're criticizing.  We don't know all the facts.  Judgments are your negative thoughts about another person.  When we have judgment filters in our brain, the information that we receive about another person becomes distorted.  Our thoughts will also condemn us.  Negative judgments can lead to criticism and relationship problems.  How does it feel when someone judges you wrongfully?  Don't do that to someone else.  Assume you don't know all the facts about the other person, because you don't.  Change your focus to the blessings you've been given.  Ignore the annoying part and focus on the good part.  Cultivate a spirit of happiness.  There are over 800 glad passages in the Bible.  Optimism is a virtue that allows us to see God's loving hand in the details of our life.  The pessimist sees the ravages of war and has no hope.  The optimist has hope but doesn't see the ravages of war.  A realist sees the ravages of war AND has hope.  We know what the challenges are, we're not blind to them, but we focus on having hope.  Pessimists see one negative event as an omen that the rest of their life will turn out bad as well.  They think the problems will never go away.  Focus on gratitude.  Have thanksgiving and cheerful hearts.  See a glass as half full.  Practice looking for the good in everything.  Optimism increases the belief that you can do whatever you need to do.  Optimists are 9% less likely to develop heart disease and live 9.5 years longer than pessimists.  Even in the darkest times, trials and challenges, there is always reason to have hope and optimism that things will get better. Laughter boosts our mood.  Once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.  Thoughts produce energy.  Light energy is high and fast.  Dark energy is low and slow.  Negative dark energy is anger, depression, built, anxiety. Positive ones are love, joy, service, peace, trust, forgiveness.  When you bright the light energy to dark places, it lifts it.  Change the dark filters in your brain to light ones.  These are the lessons from the Savior.  Bring light to what feels dark.  Bring hope and love to what brings stress.  The Savior teaches us to build our capacity to deal with stress. 

PRACTICAL TOOLS TO HELP US LOVE WHAT COMES (SHERRIE MILLS JOHNSON):  The Spirit will keep you in truth.  But if you let the body overcome the spirit, it will destroy you.  Sometimes there's such a large distance between where we are and where we want to be, the adversary will tell us it's hopeless and we can't make it.  But if we allow the Spirit to take over, it will take us the rest of the way.  All you need to worry about is stopping the negative emotions that are sinking you.  Truth tools will help us stay in the realm of truth.  If you go to build a house, you need a hammer.  But a hammer isn't enough.  Just like building a house, you need more than one tool.  You need a whole toolbox.  If you pull out the hammer and it doesn't work for you, pull out the saw.  Keep trying until you find something that does work.  The more you do this, the more you'll find what works best for you in various situations.  You get in the pit of illusion by thinking things should be different from what it is.  When you assume you're not happy because somebody else didn't do what they were supposed to do, you start thinking you're not happy because of other people.  You can't change somebody else just because you want to change them.  The truth isn't about what your spouse or the bishop should or shouldn't have done.  The truth is what happened, and that's all you have to deal with. A truth tool that helps with deep seated problems is identifying your story.  Start by saying "I feel.... angry, sad, hurt, offended, worried, fearful, or whatever...because....."  Get all that negative feeling out of your system in writing.  Writing it out will make it more effective.  What is my expectation?  With every should there will be an expectation.  The truth is that they did it,  Don't deal with what other people shouldn't have done.  Deal with the truth.  What is the truth.  Instead of saying "My father should not have abused me" and becoming a victim, deal with the truth.  When confronted with the truth, you have two choices--can you fix it or do you need to learn to live with it?  One woman whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver could not bring her daughter back, but she became involved with a group to prevent drinking and driving.  Ask if what you're feeling is necessary or unnecessary pain.  If it's a vexation, it's usually unnecessary pain.  Your expectation is what is causing the problem.  How would you feel if you let go of the expectation?  If I stopped expecting my spouse to do such and such, what would be the result?  Sometimes we need to accept that fact that our spouse will never do certain things.  By coming to the truth, the Spirit will speak to you.  What is the Spirit saying to you, and telling you to do right now?  A woman had a child who died and her in-laws accused her of not being righteous enough or the child wouldn't have died.  Take that situation through the truth test.  Her expectation is that the grandparents shouldn't say the things they're saying.  People say awful things all the time.  It's the reality of life.  It happens.  The fact that they shouldn't say it isn't the truth.  She has to deal with what they ARE doing.  It is unnecessary pain, by taking offense at what they said.  You don't have to feel it.  You have a choice.  How would she feel if she stopped expecting them not to say such things?  She'd feel fine.  What is the Spirit telling me to do?  The answer can be a myriad of things, sometimes surprising.  The Spirit might prompt her to go to the in-laws and ask for forgiveness for her ill feelings because of what they said.  That is something that could be done, but isn't always the right answer.  It might not be the right answer all the time.  Listen to the Spirit.  Maybe you need to realize that their thinking is wrong.  Think, "Those poor grandparents have shut themselves off from spiritual experiences because of their wrong thinking."  The Spirit might prompt you to love them all the more, even though they're saying hurtful things.  There are always a myriad of answers.  People get depressed because they can only see two alternatives and they don't like either one.  But when you depend on the Spirit, you begin to see that there are many options.  You can use these on short term things.  A married daughter invited her parents to have dinner with her on her birthday.  She decided on an Italian restaurant.  The mother asked her if she'd rather go to her favorite restaurant.  The daughter snapped at her, and screamed at her for not respecting her choice of going to the Italian restaurant.  They got through the dinner, but the mother had hurt feelings, continuing to think about about her daughter snapping at her.  Later she overheard her daughter telling her siblings the same story from her side--how her mother had tried to manipulate her in her choice of restaurant for her birthday.  What was the truth?  Sometimes we think others are manipulating us when they aren't.  She realized that if she kept telling this story, she'd continue to have negative feelings.  From a new neutral viewpoint, she realized the problem wasn't suggesting the restaurant, but maybe she'd tried to change her mind in the past.  Maybe she was upset about something else.  For whatever reason, what happened had happened and that was the truth.  The mother felt an overwhelming increase in love for her daughter, something that would not have happened if she'd persisted in her negative story.  The truth test is powerful.  If you write your feelings you might be afraid of other people reading them.  Just take your paper to a metal garbage can and burn it!  She had an MRI for over an hour.  It made loud noises, but that doesn't begin to cut out the noise.  She was worried that she had cancer and she'd be dead in six weeks.  She anchored herself.  She put herself in the present moment and engaged all her senses in that.  Let the feelings of the present moment fill you instead of worry about the future or thinking of the past.  Experience anchoring.  Just engage your senses and feel what is here in this present moment. You feel peace and security.  You feel lighter like you're floating.  You feel the Spirit.  The Spirit is always available in the present moment.  If our minds are so full of the past or worried about the future, we can't feel the Spirit.  We can feel separated from our worries and see them more objectively.  We can feel less hopeless.  We can feel gratitude.  In the present moment there is always joy.  When she was in the MRI she anchored herself in the present moment and listened to the repetitive noises the machine made and it became music to her. Instead of worrying that she was going to die or go blind, she felt like dancing to the music.  If she went blind later, worrying about it wouldn't do her any good.  Breath in the hope and move on.  Another tool is to revise, or rewrite.  Stop and rewrite your story.  When you know that something WILL bother you, in a non-threatening, quiet moment rewrite what you will do next time you encounter the situation.  Good courage.  Be not afraid nor dismayed.  The Lord will be with us wherever we go.  It's a commandment to be of good courage, not just good advice.  When the Bible was translated, courage did not mean bravery but meant feelings of the heart.  So we're told to only let good feelings into our heart.  We can do this because the Lord is with us.  He is with us and will help us.  She wrote on her mirror, "I have commanded you, Sherrie!  Be strong and only let the best of feelings into your heart.  Don't ever be afraid or discouraged because I, the Lord your God, am always with you."  Put your name in place of hers.  There is something powerful there!  Say it out loud!  It is empowering!  Sometimes when she questions things, she finds herself laughing.  We can see how ridiculous some of our thoughts are.  Surrounding yourself with good music can keep you in truth.  Take good music with you.  Make up your own music.  You cannot be mad and sing it.  There was a rule in her house, with 9 daughters, that if you were feeling upset, you had to sing it.  She'd hear one of her daughters singing, "You took my blouse and you didnt' wash it."  You cannot stay mad when you sing it.  You're late for work and you have a flat tire.  Sing it!  "Oh, why did this have to happen today?"  It brings laughter.  Sing your troubles away.  Humor.  Be careful you don't use humor in sarcastic ways to hurt.  Her father was mayor of Centerville, Utah back when she was a teenager.  He was trying to put a curb and gutter on Main Street and the farmers didn't want it.  They got mad in a big meeting.  One farmer told her father to go to hell.  Somebody else got up and said he'd read the laws on the books and the mayor didn't have to go to hell if he didn't want to.  This got everybody laughing and they were able to work together. One time her husband was in a grumpy mood.  When they sat down to dinner, one of her daughters dumped a bunch of sugar on her father's plate of food.  He demanded, "Why did you do that?"  "Because I thought it might make you sweeter."  That got them laughing.  Learn to laugh at yourself instead of getting so upset.  Realize that you made a mistake but you have a Savior who will take care of it.  Move on.  Distraction.  Remove yourself.  Do something else.  Go for a walk.  Read.  Curiosity.  Instead of worrying use your sense of wonder.  What new doors will open because of this?  What does God want me to learn from this?  Tell yourself you can do it.  Always set goals and give yourself instructions in the affirmative.  Eat healthy.  Get to bed on time.  Don't beat yourself up.  Learn from your mistakes.  Gospel principles are truth tools. Gratitude.  Service.  Forgiveness.  Repentance.  Sacrament.  Prayer.  Scripture Study.  All of these are truth tools.  They keep you in truth.  They help you.  Use truth tools to live in joy. 

THE HOLY CRUSADER--TZAR ALEXANDER I, THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA, AND EARLY MORMON MISSIONARY WORK (RICHARD E. BENNETT): The Lord is involved in all the nations.  What does Tzar Alexander have to do with the restoration of the gospel?  The Congress of Vienna was 1814-1815, the era of profound peace.  The purpose is to show by what international means the Lord prepared the nations for the oncoming Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Tzar Alexander interpreted Psalm 91:2, 5, 7 as a thousand falling by his side but no harm coming to him.  He felt like he was the king of the north mentioned in Daniel chapter 11, and that many countries would be overthrown.  Tzar Alexander's grandmother was Catherine the Great.  She made Russia into a great super power.  She modernized Russia and instituted liberal reforms.  Russia has a troubled past.  Catherine tried to change serfdom.  She wanted Russia to become the greatest nation of all.  However, she disdained her own son Paul who she thought was weak and without vision.  So she looked beyond her own son to her grandson Alexander.  She spent her life trying to make him the greatest ruler of Russia.  She'd have him sleep in a bed of straw so he'd know what it felt like to be a peasant.  She'd have cannons go off outside his bedroom so he'd know what it felt like to be in the military.  All those cannons going off effected his hearing.  Catherine made sure Alexander's parents had nothing to do with his being raised. She chose Alexander's wife.   Her name was Elizaveta.  She was charming but not overly forceful.  She was only 15 years old when they married.  Alexander was 16.  Elizabeth was loved by everyone except her husband.  It was a marriage of convenience.  However, they had a good friendship and they talked to each other.  They gained strength from each other.  Paul I was the Mad Tzar, Alexander's father.  He became the Tzar when Catherine died.  Alexander learned from his mother to be kind and tender.  He didn't get to know her until Catherine died.  He rediscovered his parents.  Paul was only Tzar for three years.  He could not run Russia.  He was incapable.  His mother was right about him.  He was an embarrassment.  In 1799, the Mad Tzar, who feared everyone and everything, is murdered by his own countrymen.  We don't know if Alexander had anything to do with it.  He says he didn't do it, but maybe he was aware of the plan to get rid of Paul.  There is always a shadow on Alexander's reputation.  At the age of 23, Tzar Alexander is crowned Emperor of all of Russia.  He was adored.  They looked at him as the savior of Russian, molded and prepared for that moment.  He started out his reign positively.  He's going to pass laws to provide greater freedom, but that won't be easy.  He wanted to make Russia into what his grandmother wanted.  His hero was Thomas Jefferson, and also Napoleon.  He loved the French Revolution.  He wanted Russia to capture the reforms of France and spread them.  The Battle of Austerliz was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, effectively destroying the Third Coalition against the French Empire.  French troops, commanded by Emperor Napoleon I, decisively defeated a Russ-Austrian army, commanded by Tzar Alexander 1, after nearly nine hours of difficult fighting in many sectors.  The battle took place at Austerlitz. The battle is often regarded as a tactical masterpiece.  Alexander goes back to St. Petersberg, weeping as a child. After he regroups, he realizes he's going to have to work out things with the French.  Treaty of Tilsit, 1807.  It was the carving up of Europe and an uneasy alliance with the two emperors.  The Russian people said they must not abide by this treaty. Napoleon got wind of this and felt betrayed by Alexander.  He concluded that the only thing that would work would be to attack.  Napoleon invaded with 600,000 troops, going into Moscow in 1812.  The Russians can't stop the French tidal wave.   Alexander was so depressed.  But he gets a great big Bible and it falls open in his lap to Daniel Chapter 11.  He interprets himself as being the king of the north and Napoleon as the king of the south.  He feels like the Lord is on his side.  The emboldens him.  He played some of the 1812 Overture to us.  Napoleon and his army crawls back. There are only 50,000 left.  This is one of the greatest military defeats.  Alexander heads west.  He enters into Paris.  The Allies call him Freedom's Morning Star.  All the nations of Europe think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread.  He even dances with Josephine, Napoleon's wife.  The Congress of Vienna convenes in 1815.  This is the most important thing that comes from the peace treaties of the great nations.  The main characters at this congress left out the French.  They sat in the hall and drank a lot of the time.  The Battle of Waterloo was June 1815.  Napoleon came back.  It was one of the greatest battles of all time.  Napoleon came close to winning, but finally they put him away. He is banished to St. Helana.  They established the Quadruple Alliance of Great Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia; insured participation of France in future deliberations.  Established Tzar Alexander's Holy Alliance, a precursor to the League of Nations.  Reduced the power and size of France but not overly punitive.  Recognized the new order, inspired by the French Revolution. After 1815, we had the restoration of the gospel.  If Europe had been at war, how could that have taken place?  It was not coincidental that the gospel came forth in this time of remarkable peace.  This was the greatest peace treaty and it came five years before the restoration of the gospel. 

TURNING FROM DOUBT TO TRUST (KRIS BELCHER):  She grew up in Northern California.  She lives here because it's where her husband's from.  She grew up in a beautiful place with a wonderful family.  Many times they'd travel to Utah for vacation.  They went to Aspen Grove and her dad decided he'd take them on a hike.  Even though it was July, there was still snow on the mountain.  She just had her Keds on.  They started on the path, which was paved until the ice started.  At that time she could still see out of her right eye, although she had limited vision. Her father tied one end of a rope around his waist and the other end around her waist.  She was a teenager and her dad was tying a rope to her waist.  Her younger brothers were running around free. She threw a hissy fit.  Her father said she'd either climb the mountain tied to him with the rope or they'd go back to the car.  Numerous times she slipped on the ice  because she had no depth perception and was wearing Keds.  Her father was able to catch her with the rope and kept her from falling off the mountain.  She went from being irritated and angry to having trust in her father and feeling gratitude to him.  She wouldn't have made it without him.  Coming down was difficult and there were a lot of pictures taken of her wet rear end.  When she thinks about trust she thinks about her relationship with her Heavenly Father.  Think for the next few minutes of your trust for your Heavenly Father.  Are you irritated and bitter because your life hasn't gone the way you think it should or you think He hasn't answered your prayers?  We need to get over doubt in our Heavenly Father's care for us.  It's easier to have a more trusting relationship if we have a good relationship with our Heavenly Father.  Not all of us have good fathers.  Some of us were abused by our fathers, or abandoned by them.  But Heavenly Father is perfect and gives us a perfect love.  We can safely trust in Him.  She lost the sight in one eye when she was very young and lost the sight in the other eye over 30 years later.  There is nothing easy about blind obedience.  When she walks with a sighted person, there is nothing easy about trusting them.  There is a lot of work when we're being blindly obedient.  She questions, "Why are you taking me that way? Why are you running me into that door?"  She is now stronger than when she first went blind.  And she's more trusting.  When she came today her sister lead her through all the people and all the hallways and didn't run her into any doors.  Our goal is to have more experiences with our Heavenly Father so we can have more trust in Him.  We need to trust willingly even though we don't know the end from the beginning.  Our trust in our Savior needs to be stronger than our trust in our own abilities.  Sometimes we think we know what to do and we're stubborn in thinking we don't need anybody to tell us what to do.  If we want to be happy, we need to learn to trust more in our Heavenly Father.  When we're angry it stops progression.  She's had times like that in her life.  She has always loved a good mystery.  There are always patterns to lead us to Christ.  The Lord touched the stones of the brother of Jared to give them light.  If we ask the Lord to touch our testimony and give it light, our testimony will be strengthened.  Can our testimony get is through our journey?  The Jaredites had air and light and provisions and then they got aboard their vessels.  We need to get aboard the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We need to make a conscious decision to get aboard.  She's been in many MRI tubes.  Think of it as being tight like a dish.  What if the Jaredites were claustrophobic?  They commended themselves to the Lord.  We might say, "Thy will be done."  When she found out she had more cancer and her eye had to be removed, she knew that Heavenly Father was a God of healing.  He had healed her many times in her life.  She felt that if she prayed hard enough, He could heal her without the loss of her eye.  But she had to learn a lesson.  As she went for a second and third opinion, everyone told her that her eye would need to be removed if her life was to be saved.  So her option was to not have the surgery, lose her sight, and die.  Or have the surgery, lose her sight and live.  She stood by the temple, felt the sturdiness of the granite, and thought of kneeling across the altar with her husband.  She felt sad feeling like she'd never see him again in this life.  But she felt like this was her time to sacrifice.  She gave Heavenly Father her life and her vision and she put her will on the altar.  She said, "Thy will be done."  All the other times she'd prayed about this, she'd told Heavenly Father what she felt needed to be done and told Him she had the faith to make it happen.  But this time she put her trust in God and told Him "Thy will be done."  The Jaredites got in the barges and then the wind started blowing, a furious wind.  It was blowing them toward the promised land.  Heavenly Father provided the blowing of the wind to get them where they needed to go.  Sometimes the wind is fierce and scary.  What is our barge?  It's our testimony and our commitment to Christ. Is it tight like a dish or is there a crack in it? If it's tight enough, the waters can't hurt us.  Maybe we need to strengthen our barges.  We need to be tight in the safety of the Lord.  We can be safe and secure.  He loves us and is watching over us.  He knows how hard it is to keep going and face difficult things.  Elder Richard Scott said "Trials, disappointments, sadness, and heartache come to us from two basically different sources.  Those who transgress the laws of God will always have those challenges.  The other reason for adversity is to accomplish the Lord's own purposes in our life that we may receive the refinement that comes from testing.  Is our problem connected to sin we're guilty of?  Through the atonement of Christ, we can be forgiven.  What about the trials we don't deserve?  In John is the story of the blind man begging for food.  The apostles asked  Christ who sinned, the blind man or his parents, that he was born blind.  Christ teaches them that the man is blind so that the works of God could be made manifest in him.  All of us are subject to disability and the trials of mortality.  Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously.  When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more.  He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit.  To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain.  What a trust that is in us!  Heavenly Father knows what needs to happen in our life to get us from where we are to where we need to be.  When things are hard, sometimes we're tempted to dig in our heels and want to do things our way.  But we can dig in our heels and trust in the Lord, knowing we can get through our journey.  Trust is obeying when we don't know the end from the beginning and looking to the Lord in everything we do.  We keep getting trials because we're not to where God wants us to be yet.  If we're anchored to our Father we can make it because we can rely on His strength.  Look to God and live!  We may not have the golden plates.  They're laying deep in the mountain side.  But we have sacred things.  We have knowledge, truths, covenants we've made.  We've had miracles and revelations and promptings.  We have sacred things that have been given to us.  Look to God and live.  Live looking to God.  It becomes a way of life.  Take our normal complaints and doubts and put "Dear Heavenly Father" in the beginning.  We may find that sharing our complaints with Heavenly Father will help us look up to Him.  If we put "Dear Heavenly Father" in front of it, it will change our language. We can look to God and live.  When the Jaredites arrive in the promised land, they build an altar and give thanks.  It's hard to say we're grateful for our trials, but as we look to God we'll see a better perspective.  You show your trust in Him when you listen with the intent to learn and repent and then you go and do whatever He asks.  And if you then go and do what He would have you do, your power to trust Him will grow, and in time you will be overwhelmed with gratitude to find that He has come to trust you.  We need to listen to the promptings and go and do.  President Monson does that.  He has honed that skill.  He's to the point where Heavenly Father trusts him.  The more you trust, the more He can trust you.  Listen with an intent to repent.  That's not an easy thing when we're told to make a course correction.  But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord ave in the first place \ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ.  That he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that they performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.  Whatever we do, we're asked to pray first and do it unto the Lord, and then He will consecrate it for our good.  Even if we're busy with mundane tasks and feel like we're not accomplishing anything, we can do it to the glory of God and the efforts we're giving will be returned for our growth.  When we consecrate our lives to God, that is a deeper level of trust.  We can put away our doubts and fear and pride and trust in Heavenly Father so He can come to trust us more.  We need to anchor ourselves to Him.