,

Share Goodness: Meet the Mormons Review

Meet the Mormons

As a I mentioned earlier this week, T.J. and I went to see the new movie, Meet the Mormons, which is coming to theaters on October 10th. Before seeing it, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the whole thing. I do love the I’m a Mormon campaign and all of the social media projects the church is working on, but it seemed a bit odd to do a whole movie in theaters about Mormons. I thought it was going to be about our theology, but actually it rarely talked about the doctrine of our church. Instead, they focused on six people with beautiful life stories–six people who happen to be Mormon.

There’s this misconception about Mormons that people have about us. They think we are all “cookie-cutter”, white people from Utah. But let me give you some facts:

  • We have 15,082,028 members worldwide, more outside of the US than inside.
  • We have 29,253 congregations and 189 Published Languages.

Let me tell one more fact. Come to Jersey City Second Ward and you will immediately see a congregation full of people who are NOT like the stereotypical Mormon. Can I get an, “AMEN?”  

So, back to the movie. The movie gives the narrative of six diverse people all across the world. It tells stories of six people who don’t fit the typical mold of a member of The Church of Jesus Christ. And you know what, it was refreshing. Sure, some of us ARE your average Mormon here in the United States. We have dozens of kids and LOVE talking about Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon. But even the typical mom in Utah has a unique story to tell. And that’s precisely what this film accomplished.

Meet the Mormons

Other than the diversity that the film portrayed, it was so uplifting. As T.J. and I were walking home from the movie which was at a theater in Times Square, we couldn’t get over how we had just watched a beautiful, clean, uplifting film here in the city. Do you know how rare that is?

So, I don’t care who you are. I don’t care if you don’t believe in our doctrine. I don’t care if you have no interest in ever learning about our church or becoming a member. Whatever! Stand up for good. Support this positive and uplifting entertainment. Share goodness. 

If that’s not enough of a push for you to see it, then here’s the actual music video with David Archuleta which is featured at the end of the movie. Just rewatching the clips of the film make me tear up again! Please share it with your friends and most of all, please request this film to be shown in your area right now. It takes five seconds.

Meet the Mormons: The Candy Bomber

#sharegoodness

/0 Comments/by
, , ,

Meet the Mormons

Tonight we have tickets to a screening of Meet the Mormons in the city! We are very excited to see the film (and have a double date night). I saw online that David Archuleta has a new song out that will be in the movie. I love David so much so I had to share the song with you. Listen and share, and even download the song here! I just wish that they released a music video instead of just the track… maybe that’s coming?

/0 Comments/by
,

Spencer’s Baby Blessing

Over the 4th of July, I saw my new nephew for the first time. Guys. He is perfect. Ah, I’m in love. The Sunday after the 4th, he was blessed at church. It was so special to be there. I’m so grateful we have some family close to us! We love you Baby Spencer!

DSC_0120 DSC_0116 DSC_0161DSC_0147 DSC_0137 DSC_0134 DSC_0171 DSC_0173 DSC_0180

/0 Comments/by

A Relief Society Activity

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, we had a great church activity for the women on organization and interior design (and also a RS b-day party). It was so inspiring and still has me motivated (although my house is a disaster right now… it’s a constant work in progress with a two-year old.) The activity was so cute and well planned out. Cute party hats, adorable decorations, perfect boxed lunches, framed pictures of the temple to take home, and a great presentation. Thanks to the ladies who were in charge!

Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 6.10.01 PM

/0 Comments/by

The End of Winter + Thoughts on Prayer

I am so behind on blogging. It’s been a busy couple of weeks with work, trying to figure out insurance plans, and deciding whether or not to move. Well, it’s April 1st and we renewed our lease for another year, signed up for insurance, and I’m still busy with work but I need to play catch up on here! What a crazy couple of weeks it has been!

I bore my testimony at church for the first time in quite a while. It was something I have really been thinking about recently and so I just want to document it on my blog too because I want to remember these things. So, basically what I said was this:

A couple months ago in the dead of winter, I realized I had been really slacking on saying my prayers and I just felt done with everything. Done with living here. Done with the winter. Just done with everything. I just had a bad attitude about everything and noticed I hadn’t been saying my prayers as regularly as I should. Sometimes it’s hard as a parent because when you wake up in the morning, it’s to the sound of your baby crying and so you just get up and go into mom-mode. Then around 4 pm or nap time, you realize you’ve been going for hours and haven’t even taken time to pray.

So, I decided I needed to pray more. Goodness knows I’m still not great at it. It’s something I have to really work on every day and make an effort with. But, I have had three incredible experiences with prayer this month that has certainly strengthened my testimony on the power and importance of prayer.

1. We have been uninsured for about a year. Since it was open enrollment recently, we decided to start searching out all of our health insurance options and think about getting insurance. We wavered on it almost daily. The plans were expensive, the coverage was minimal. One day we’d decide we shouldn’t get it. The next, I’d think maybe just for Eva. The next I’d think we should all have it. Another day, I thought we’d get the cheapest plan offered by T.J.’s HR department. I mean, I’ve never looked at so many insurance plans in my life. Every free moment of my day, I found myself looking over all of our options. We prayed about what to do but never felt anything about one way or another. So, we said… okay… this is it… we’re getting it just for Eva because that was a cheaper option but still covered Eva if anything happened to her. But I almost felt sick about it. Each day I still found myself back at the marketplace looking up plans. After talking to a couple of family members and going over our finances for the final time, we thought we should take the plunge and get it for all of us. Within minutes of making that final decision, we both felt instance peace. PHYSICAL chills. I’m not kidding. Immediately we knew we had our answer to the prayers. Heavenly Father let us study it out in our minds and then gave us the assurance that we had made the right decision.

 8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

2. One night I was very upset about something going on in my life. I was angry and felt that I should kneel in prayer and ask for Heavenly Father’s help concerning this situation. But because I am prideful, I thought… no… I can do this by myself! I continued to be so upset and just pouted. Within minutes, the words from the hymn, Be Still, My Soul, came into my mind. I was amazed at how Heavenly Father answered the prayer in my heart through music (a hymn I had chosen to play for church the week before), even when I was not in the mood to actually kneel down and pray. My heart was softened, my mind became clear, I was able to deal with my situation and get in control of my emotions.

3. The past week or so, I have been praying for a missionary opportunity. We were having the missionaries over the next night when I decided to invite my neighbor from across the hall (Hi, Mingming! haha 🙂 ). She said yes and we had a great night with the missionaries on Sunday! After she said yes about coming over, I realized that was another answer to my prayer! I had asked to be a missionary in some way, and Heavenly Father gave me the opportunity to invite a friend over! It was a simple, yet concrete, answer.

Anyway, I just wanted to share all that with you guys too! I am so grateful for prayer. I am also so amazed at how prayers can be answered through so many ways. Through the advice of a friend, through the whisperings of the Spirit, through words of a song, through peace. Prayer can do amazing things and work miracles. It can also help us in the little things we encounter every day in life. As a parent, I understand now that a parent wants all the best for their children. Heavenly Father is the same. God cares about us and He wants to hear from us so he can help us.

 

/0 Comments/by
,

Cupstoration

My friend Emily is serving a mission in Tennessee right now while she is waiting for her visa to Brazil. Part of her work is with social media and so she posted this video of her and her companion singing their version of the cup song.

I had to share it. And you’ve got to watch it.

Post by Sister-Emily Culp.
/1 Comment/by
,

Faith over Fear

I worry a lot. It’s not just here in New Jersey, I’ve always been this way. I just worry and think about all the things that could happen. I’m guessing a lot of the worrying comes from TV shows. SVU is one of my favorite shows, so that doesn’t help the situation for obvious reasons. And then just the world we live in… crazy things happen all the time, and they’re happening more and more frequently. Rapes, murders, robberies, shootings.

For instance, I’ll be walking by myself at night and pass a man wearing a hood. Nevermind the fact that it’s 10 degrees outside and he’s probably just trying to keep warm, no… in my mind, I think he’s wearing the hood so he can come mug me and I won’t see his face. And then he’s going to rape me too, because that’s what hooded figures do.

Well, turns out , I’m a crazy person. I should probably be more afraid of my imagination than the man wearing a hood in the winter.

My worrying at one point got WAY out of control. I used to think T.J. was going to get in a car accident all the time. Once I was for SURE my imagination was a prompting so I gave him extra kisses as he left. At that point, when T.J. arrived back home without getting in an accident, I really knew I needed to get help. I remember hearing a talk by President Monson saying,

Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time.

It’s a little out of context. I think he was talking about having faith in the gospel. But his words are applicable to this situation as well. And I think I need to relearn the lesson again.

When I’m constantly worrying, I’m not having faith that Heavenly Father will take care of us. Everyday I pray for our safety, yet I am doubting things will be okay. I need to cast out the doubt and have faith over fear.

But at the same time, we need to listen to the Spirit and act on our promptings because things do happen. That’s why it’s important to live the gospel so we always can recognize if our worries are real promptings or not. And of course, we need to be cautious and be aware of our surroundings. I was walking to the grocery store a couple weeks ago and I noticed this couple screaming at each other ahead of me. They were pushing each other a bit, but it wasn’t a full out fight yet. I was going to have to pass them if I were to continue on my normal route to Target, but I felt like Eva and I should go the long way around so I wouldn’t get in the middle of it. No big deal, but better to be safe, right?

Well, one more story, which is why I wrote this post in the first place. Today, Eva and I were walking around the mall, just like we do about every day. We walked into JCPenney, and all of a sudden I met eyes with a man and noticed he was with another man across the escalator gap. They were both big, middle-aged men, leaning over the railings, looking down over the first floor and something just felt off about them. They were wearing long trench coats, kind of creepy clothes to be honest. But it knew it wasn’t just their clothes that made me feel like something was off, because I see a lot of different styles and people out here in Jersey City.

Okay, so I’ve told you I worry a lot, and I’ll just think of things like oh, that guy might come after me. But I never really feel like I’m in HUGE danger. I usually now can recognize that it’s just my imagination and tell myself I’m just being crazy, chill out. But guys, when I saw those two guys, for some reason I immediately felt sick to my stomach. My pulse started going crazy fast all of a sudden. And I just felt like I needed to get out of the mall right away.

I grabbed Eva, put her in the stroller, and we bolted out of there. Who knows what would have happened. Probably nothing. But, man. Something did not feel right about being there. Who knows. But with all of the shootings (there have been two shootings at malls near us just in the past couple months), I couldn’t take a chance especially with Evabug there.

So, I guess the point to this post is that we shouldn’t let worrying take over our life. We need to have faith and trust in the Lord (and probably watch a little less SVU on TV). But we also need to live righteously so we can always have the Spirit to be with us, so if something is actually wrong, we can be aware of the situation.

I’m sure I’m not the only woman out here in the blogging world who worries… I’d love to hear some of your stories and comments about how you deal with it.

60f38e655816546dd95db4e908048b67

We live in perilous times; nevertheless, we can find hope and peace for ourselves and for our families. Those living in sorrow, despairing at the possibility of children being rescued from where the world has taken them, must never give up. ‘Be not afraid, only believe.’ Righteousness is more powerful than wickedness. –Pres. Packer

Remember that faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other. Cast out doubt. Cultivate faith. –Pres. Monson

As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. –Mark 5:36

Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come. –D&C 68:6

/5 Comments/by
,

Jersey City Ward Christmas Party

The Saturday before I left for Utah, we went to our Ward Christmas party. It was in the afternoon, so there was a lunch, gingerbread house decorating stations, and tons of dancing surprisingly. It was a great turn out and a lot of fun. Our Ward sure knows how to throw great parties! From the decorations to the activities, they’re great!

Screen Shot 2013-12-19 at 10.07.50 PM

(I stole the rest of these pics from Allie Bell on Facebook… Thanks, Allie!)

999798_10102446299368352_494081222_n 1512552_10102446297492112_844531201_n 2556_10102446298225642_1728422609_n 1462866_10102446297851392_26306472_n 1471079_10102446298500092_1389380199_n

The only downside is that T.J. and Eva got food poisoning that night… I think it’s safe to say we won’t be eating at a pot luck for quite a while.

Screen Shot 2013-12-19 at 10.08.14 PM

I wore this makeshift mask all Saturday evening so I wouldn’t throw up watching Eva or T.J. throw up. Worked like a charm.

/0 Comments/by
,

“Where was your God that day?”

I posted this video on Facebook last week, but I keep thinking about it, especially the part where the mother of Emily, one of the 20 people killed last year at Sandy Hook, explains how God can let something so horrible happen, a question that I often struggle with when I see such awful things happening around the world and in others’ lives.

“People ask ‘where was your God when this happened’? ‘Why didn’t he stop it?’ God allowed others to kill His son. He allows for all of us to make our own choices – good and bad – because that’s the only way good can be in us is if we freely choose it over all else. Evil didn’t win that day, we will carry that love like she had. It’s quiet, it’s not on the news, it takes effort to find. But what I’ve realized through all of this is how strong and how big God’s love really is.”

This mother, who has suffered such pain that I can’t even imagine after losing her little girl, explains a question that most people have asked at one point or another. Where was God? How could he let this happen? We all have agency-the ability to choose between good and evil. But when horrible things happen, or maybe just a series of things happen that just add up to tear us down, we have to choose. We can let it destroy us, or we can learn and grow from the situation and continue to love when all else fails.

This Christmas season, my goal is to remember Jesus Christ, the meaning of the season. It all started in a humble manger, but it ended as a sacrifice for all of us, so that we can choose to do good in this world amidst all of the evil. God gave us the best gift of all for Christmas, and I hope we can all remember that this season.

Please share this video with others on social media. I think everyone can benefit from listening to the mother’s powerful words and story.

 

/0 Comments/by
, ,

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

I’ve read a couple of blog posts and Facebook statuses recently about people getting annoyed with the November gratitude lists. I almost found myself joining in with their negativity. But then I started thinking more about holidays and what they really mean. Aren’t all holidays, in essence, just days set apart to help us remember that we have been given so much? So, shame on me for momentarily judging. The lists are such a great way to celebrate the Thanksgiving season and to remember all of the blessings our God has given to each of us. I’ll be writing up mine soon in a blog post!

“We should thank God for our adversities and pray for guidance in meeting them. Through that attitude and through our faith and obedience, we will realize the promises God has given us. It is all part of the plan.”

/0 Comments/by