Tuesday, April 30, 2013
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Friday, April 19, 2013
My Talk for Church
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
It
has been a long time since I have given a talk in this ward, and there are a
lot of new faces I see who I don’t know and a lot of you probably don’t know me
yet. My name is Arianna Brown, and I’ve lived in Chapel Hill since 2005 when my
family moved from Washington. For the past year and a half I haven’t been
living here, which would explain why many of you have no idea who I am, or at
least haven’t met me. My talk this morning is about Conversion, with a focus on
how youth can be converted.
So
what exactly is conversion? From looking up the word Conversion on LDS.org I
found this definition “Conversion is a process, not an event. Conversion
comes as a result of righteous efforts to follow the Savior. These efforts
include exercising faith in Jesus Christ, repenting of sin, being baptized,
receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end in faith.” “Conversion
also includes a change in our behavior, but it goes beyond behavior; it is a
change in our very nature. It is such a significant change that the Lord and
His prophets refer to it as a rebirth, a change of heart, and a baptism of
fire.” So how do we (as youth and as people make this change of heart in our
lives? As a youth being converted isn’t
really something we think about, at least I didn’t in my early teenage years.
Some people in my opinion are already converted and being a good follower of
God comes easy, but for others it takes dedication, and a will power and desire
to be converted and to be committed to our Heavenly Father and his will. When I
was baptized of course I believed in God and that our church was true, but I
never had any adversity to challenge my belief until later in my life, and that
is when I truly became converted. I have always had the desire to be a good
person, to be happy, and to strive to be better, but as most parents of
teenagers and my fellow teenagers know, life for some reason becomes a lot more
difficult and challenging. So as I said before I haven’t been living here for
the last year and half, I won’t tell the whole story, because the story is like
a novel. For the past year and a half I have been living in two different
places, the first place I was living was in the wilderness of Utah for three
months, in the west desert. The time leading up to me going to wilderness was
full of anger, confusion and sadness, back in 2011 I was a lost soul, but the
one thing I still knew in my heart was that God was real, that he loved me, and
that was all that really mattered to me. In wilderness I had nothing but the
clothes on my back, the food in my pack, and the sleeping bag I carried. I
hiked more than 100 miles in 3 months, through rain, sleet, snow, the freezing
cold nights and the blazing sun. I don’t have the normal high-schooler life
story, the three months I spent in the wilderness taught me a lot about God. As
children we are taught to pray every day, and to read our scriptures, and it
seems pretty easy, but how many of us actually pray 3 times a day and read our
scriptures everyday too, especially as teenagers, some of us get lazy, and forget
to save time for God, it’s not that we don’t care about God and our faith, it’s
just that sometimes we get caught up in everything else that goes on in our
lives. But when you have 3 months without a phone, without a computer, without
fashion, without makeup, without boys, without parents, without friends and
without anything that we are used to, you have a lot of time on your hands. This
is the story of my true conversion to God, it reminds me a lot of the story of
Enos in the Book of Mormon. I didn’t just pray to my Heavenly Father, I cried
to him, I talked to him, I told him everything, I talked to him like he was
right next to me. “And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my maker,
and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and
all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did raise
my voice high that it reached the heavens.” Enos 1:4 I know without a doubt
that Heavenly Father listened and he was there for me, I felt his love, I feel
his love, and I know he knows each and every one of us. But I haven’t always
known my Heavenly Father, and for many of us in the church, we still don’t know,
and we haven’t been truly converted. This “mighty change in your hearts” is
what conversion is all about. President Joseph Fielding Smith said, “People are
converted by their hearts being penetrated by the Spirit of the Lord when they
humbly hearken to the testimonies of the Lord’s servants” (Church History and
Modern Revelation, 2 vols. [1953], 1:40). “Converted means to turn from one
belief or course of action to another. Conversion is a spiritual and moral
change. Converted implies not merely mental acceptance of Jesus and his
teachings but also a motivating faith in him and his gospel. A faith which
works a transformation, an actual change in one’s understanding of life’s
meaning and in his allegiance to God in interest, in thought, and in conduct.
In one who is really wholly converted, desire for things contrary to the gospel
of Jesus Christ has actually died. And substituted therefore is a love of God,
with a fixed and controlling determination to keep his commandments.” President
Marion G. Romney. The Savior said: “Will ye not now return unto me, and repent
of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you? … If ye will come unto me
ye shall have eternal life.” And in order to have God’s word impact our
lives—to receive the promised blessings—(of Eternal Life) we must follow the
commandments and follow Christ’s teachings. “One who is converted and committed
will not simply “go through the motions” in fulfilling a Church service
assignment. A converted home teacher will not be satisfied with just making a
visit to one of his assigned families so he can report to his quorum leader
that his home teaching is “completed” or “done.” A converted Primary teacher
would not be content to merely “give” a lesson but would want to teach by the
Spirit, thereby making a real difference in the impressionable lives of the
children entrusted to his or her care.-General Conference 1996 W. MACK LAWRENCE”
A Quote BY ELDER DAVID A. BEDNAR “Knowing that
the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony. Consistently being true to
the gospel is the essence of conversion.” We all make mistakes, we all mess up,
and we all sin, that is what we are here to do, to live a life full of
blemishes and still turn to God, to repent of our sins, become meek and humble
and submit to our Heavenly Father. As long as we strive to follow the
commandments and if and when we sin again we repent and cry unto the Lord and
seek forgiveness. We can all become truly converted, but remember, conversion
is not an event; it is a lifelong process, a rebirth and a change of heart. There
are some things that will help with the process, don’t just pray, pray with
intent, cry to God and speak to him, act as if Christ were in the same room as
you, focus on others instead of yourself, love everyone, even those who have
hurt you, and most importantly learn to love yourself, and to Love God and his
Son.
In
the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
Monday, April 15, 2013
Flash Back to Middle School, Laugh at me, because I am!
So Facebook has this Favorite quotes part that I havent touched for about 3 years. Most all of these quotes I put up on my Facebook in Middle School. Please enjoy the comedy of being 13-14
Favorite Quotations
"SQUIERL!!!!BUNNY!!- - again?--why does this always happen"-inside joke con Grace
"What am I suppose to do When the best part of me was always you.. and What am I suppose to say When I'm all choked up and you're okay?.. I'm falling to pieces, yeah I'm falling to pieces.. They say bad things happen for a reason.. But no wise words gonna stop the bleeding.. 'Cause he's moved on while I'm still grieving And when a heart breaks, no it don't breakeven, even, no"
"A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same"
"Friendship is one mind in two bodies."
"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself." haha so true
"hahahahaha.. wait what happened?"
"All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height."-- teacher fail
"Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you."
"All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired."
"Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe."
"A hug is like a boomerang - you get it back right away."
"I don't wish to be everything to everyone, but I would like to be something to someone."
"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
"OW!!! you just shoved that up my butt and gave me butt splinters!!"
"boom boom. ow!! MeOw"
"you know, you wouldnt never think that Arianna would be like this if you didnt know her.. shes all sweet and quite and girly but then when you know her shes like BOOM!"--favorite quote ever thank you meredith!
"Square.. erggh"-- haha gayane
"PEOPLE DO NOT DO THAT TO YOU
THERE LIKE NEWW KID! WHERE! HOLY FUDGE MONKEYS THAT GIRL IS LIKE ON FIRE! SHES SO HOT THAT MY SKINS MELTING OFF
AND ALL THEM GIRLS ARE LIKE OH CRAPPERS I GOT SOME COMPITITION UP IN THIS JOINT"
"God made us Best Friends because he knew our moms couldnt handle us as sisters"
"If i was les and you were les we would be in love and we would get married"
"What am I suppose to do When the best part of me was always you.. and What am I suppose to say When I'm all choked up and you're okay?.. I'm falling to pieces, yeah I'm falling to pieces.. They say bad things happen for a reason.. But no wise words gonna stop the bleeding.. 'Cause he's moved on while I'm still grieving And when a heart breaks, no it don't breakeven, even, no"
"A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same"
"Friendship is one mind in two bodies."
"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself." haha so true
"hahahahaha.. wait what happened?"
"All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height."-- teacher fail
"Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you."
"All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired."
"Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe."
"A hug is like a boomerang - you get it back right away."
"I don't wish to be everything to everyone, but I would like to be something to someone."
"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
"OW!!! you just shoved that up my butt and gave me butt splinters!!"
"boom boom. ow!! MeOw"
"you know, you wouldnt never think that Arianna would be like this if you didnt know her.. shes all sweet and quite and girly but then when you know her shes like BOOM!"--favorite quote ever thank you meredith!
"Square.. erggh"-- haha gayane
"PEOPLE DO NOT DO THAT TO YOU
THERE LIKE NEWW KID! WHERE! HOLY FUDGE MONKEYS THAT GIRL IS LIKE ON FIRE! SHES SO HOT THAT MY SKINS MELTING OFF
AND ALL THEM GIRLS ARE LIKE OH CRAPPERS I GOT SOME COMPITITION UP IN THIS JOINT"
"God made us Best Friends because he knew our moms couldnt handle us as sisters"
"If i was les and you were les we would be in love and we would get married"
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