Spiritual Thought: Be A Friend.

so here is what i have been thinking about... a lot of church members (and I'm not saying any of you... just in general) only run to someone's aid only when they have fallen away from church, and they think as a duty of being a church member they must bring that person back, and only for the sole reason of bringing them back. This my friends is the wrong reason, in my opinion, to run to someone's aid. You shouldnt just run to someone just because it is your duty as a member of the church.

I think that the best way to bring someone back to church is to be a friend to them, granted this was a thought ive had before but the lovely Amanda Hudson has made is stick in my mind and this is definitely something we should all remember. It may be our duty as members to do missionary work and help people, but that shouldnt be the sole reason we do it. Missionary Work is a work of love & friendship & trust. I think the most important way for people to feel comfortable coming to church isnt by constant pestering or promise of baked goods, its by letting them know that whether or not they want to come you are always there for them, through thick and thin!

It may seem harsh the way im putting that, and i dont mean for it to be, but i know that when i was struggling and people i barely knew were just saying "oh you should come!" , or "hey just come back to church its fun." every once in awhile but never caring to just talk to me as a person that i got even more angry and frustrated, all i really wanted was to see was that someone actually cared about me enough to be there for me even if church wasnt exactly what i wanted for my life!

Being a friend isnt hard! its as easy as texting or calling someone every once in awhile and asking them how their day is or asking them to hang out ! friendship is the best way to get someone to come back, but reach out to them genuinely, because true friendship is the strongest thing & it opens so many doors in a persons heart, more than you could ever possibly try and fathom!

so here is my challenge, i was going to say invitation but i feel that challenge is a better word to use, and any great missionary knows that you are always supposed to challenge the people you are trying to teach a lesson to& i guess that is sort of what i am doing! BUT I CHALLENGE all of you to be a friend, not to the people you are already friends with (though you shouldnt negelect them) , but reach out and genuinely make a new friend, it could be with someone already in the ward or someone thats is inactive or someone that isnt a member, doesnt matter who it is, just make friends with someone you arent very close to right now, and i know that that friendship, maybe not now, or even soon, but your friendship is going to make a difference in that persons life somewhere down the road! but it will also make a difference in your own life. I know it is true, because so many people have been friends to me even though i may not have deserved it, and they stuck by me even though i was a jerk, and i can honestly say those people really effected who i am today! and im grateful for that, try it !

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU STAND FOR (:

Temple Conference !

(click picture to see bigger version.)

so there is a lot of information about Temple Conference! first of all its going to be super spiritual and is an amazing event every time so there is every reason to come & enjoy this event!

So it is important that you register for the event before September 9th and 10th, they arent going to tell you to go away if you dont, but it makes it easier for them to plan food wise if they can get an idea of eveyone who is going to be there, the place you should register for this at is: newenglandysa.org  .

okay so the scheduel for temple conference is as follows:

Friday: there will be a casual dance and games from 7-11 pm

Saturday: keynote speakers &workshops

• 10:00am-7:00pm is the entire length of the day and it is Church Dress!
• 10:00am-10:00am- registration and a light breakfast
• 10:00am-12:00pm- Keynote speaker ELDER CLAYTON CHRISTENSEN
• 12:00pm-1:00pm- Lunchtime !
• 1:00pm-5:00pm- WorkShop Speakers (I'm sure they will give you a list of those!)
• 5:00pm-5:30pm- Closing Remarks
• 5:30pm-7:30pm- Dinner!

there is alot of stuff going on the whole weekend of temple conference, come check it out!

the address for the Belmont Chapel if you dont know it is 15 Ledgewood Place, Belmont, MA 02478

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU STAND FOR (: &come to temple conference! 

Announcements That You're Going to Want to Know About !!

so there are a lot of really exciting things happen in these upcoming weeks & i think everyone could have a lot of fun with everything we have coming up !!

• the usual Institute and FHE are this week! FHE today at 7:30 ! GO! fhe is a great activity to attend, friendly faces, fun times, and good snacks, those make for the best activities !

• Institute is on Tuesday at 7:00 there is also Mission Prep class that all you Mission aged people should be coming to because its a great preparatory course!

On to some newer stuff that im not sure you know much about! well this week we have a few things that are definitely worth coming to:

• on the 25th there is a Temple trip to do Baptisms , and usually we have maybe 5-6 people coming to these, so if you are free please consider coming! Temple Work is good (:
• on Saturday the 27th there will be a dance in Exeter, which will have a live band playing Salsa music & there will be Salsa lessons, seems like a different dance than usual so everyone should try there best to be there it will be a fun time!

& also make sure you come every third Sunday because birthday Sunday was a hit! i think we all had fun together and were able to enjoy some delicious cake made my Elva and some wonderful cupcakes made by Erin!

in the following weeks there is a good amount of activities to mark on the calender:

• Temple Conference, which is going to have an entire post to itself because there is alot going on, so dont fret in just a few minutes you will have all the necessary information about that, but the dates for that is September 9th-10th , come!
• Tri-Ward Campout is coming up on September 16th-18th , this i guess is an annual event with alot of enthusiasm , we are figuring that we may not fully to compete in the festivities of it this year, but next year we will show them our Heritage Park fiyahhh (fire) ! there will be a sort of talent show where each ward must come up with a 3-5 minute musical number with whatever sort of music we have chosen to be our wards genre, acting, singing, dancing, instrument playing, whatever we can incorporate to make is an awesome number! then there is also a Ward film festival , this one IS  a competition ! the film has to be 3-5minutes long it can be an original screenplay or a remake of a familiar movie show etc. the topic must be YOU COME TOO, a theme of unity (Moses 7:18) ! due date for that is september 6th, and it must be submitted on http://triwardfilmfestival.blogspot.com/ so like i said we are just knowing this pretty last minute, but if anyone is interested in trying to get something together we surely can try and
  do that (:
  
  for now i dont think i have much else but there are alot of fun things to look forward to and i hope everyone is interested in participating !!

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU STAND FOR (:

Activity: Multi Ward Beach Activity

hey, sorry i have been slacking, i have been putting off writing this because i havent had any pictures to put up ! but overall i think this was a very successful activity, most of us from Heritage Park, actually probably all of us showed up at least an hour late & had a hard time finding the rest of the YSA group, after all what does a Mormon really look like?! (David or Chris said that, don't want to credit myself for that joke cause it isn't mine.) but once we all put our heads together we (I) found the other group!

it took some effort to put up the volleyball net but once it was up everyone was pretty excited to start a game up! of course we all enjoyed some delicious food thanks to SUBWAY before we went our separate ways to enjoy the beach, some played some beach soccer, others enjoyed the ocean, and a whole ton of us played volleyball until it was time to go!

i think everyone had a really great time and im glad so many people showed up for the activity! i hope that everyone met new people and friends or got to know the old friends even better! i know i had a good time & plan on making Scarborough beach a more frequent hang out spot!! so i hope everyone enjoyed themselves!

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU STAND FOR (:

Multi-Ward Beach Party Activity !!

alright so BEACH PARTY with like 3 to 4 other wards, thats pretty exciting! its going to be good, i made an event for it on FACEBOOK so estimate the amount of attendance we will have for our ward so that the other ward can plan accordingly with food and such! so please RSVP & if i did not invite you, thats my bad i am not friends with everybody from our ward group on Facebook and i have too many friends on FB that its hard for me to get everyone! sooooo click attending, EVERYONE IS WELCOME & their friends are also welcome!! INVITE FRIENDS!! (: make it a missionary opportunity! the facebook event link is:

• https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=146191785466353

ANYWAY..... there will be food CATERED BY SUBWAY (: yummm . and us Heritage Park people are supplying the activity so we chose a bunch of stuff cause we couldnt just pick one, we picked VOLLEYBALL, FRISBEE, BOCCIE BALL, and probably some other fun activities! free parking at the beach starts at 4pm in case you wanted to show up early (: it will so be a fun activity...and just so you know, so your not surprised,


I AM GOING TO PESTER YOU PEOPLE ABOUT COMING, because our wards attendance at church activities isnt particularly high and we would realllllllly like to see each and every one of you!! so im warning you all now so you know(:

 check out the flier that the other ward has prepared for this event, you should read it (you can click on the image to see a larger version that you will be able to read clearly ) !

Announcements From Church; Week of August the 14th.

LOTS OF FUN STUFF COMING UP!

sooooo this should get everybody even more excited for church on Sunday.... this Sunday coming up we are starting a new tradition i guess you could call it, every third Sunday we are going to have BIRTHDAY SUNDAY!! known what that mean?! well every third sunday we are going to celebrate everyone who's birthday was that month by bringing a cake, or some yummy dessert, it'll be like a break the fast, so stay after, chat with your friends, and have some cake and enjoy !!

next on the agenda is beach party this Saturday, AUGUST 20TH!!! come, im going to write a separate post about it though because i am in  the mode of advertising an event until the day of (: so prepare yourself for that, love you all :p

also on the day of the the beach party multi ward thing there is a Endowment temple trip at 9:00 in the morning try and make it to that as well as the beach trip

• on august 25th there will be a ward baptismal trip, we would really like to see more people attend those so try and come, it will be at 6:30 pm there will be a carpool from Lowell at 6:00 !

on AUGUST 27TH there will be a dance in Exeter NH, there will be a live band playing salsa- they will be teaching salsa also! it is from 7pm -11pm , sounds like a fun dance! we should all try and make that a fun night! and dance like crazy!

TEMPLE CONFERENCE IS COMING UP IN SEPTEMBER!! September 9th-10th to be exact, and from what i hear this is an amazing regional conference, is will be held in Belmont, I am assuming that means the Belmont chapel right next to the Boston Temple, so you should come enjoy that! 

the next activity after that is a Tri-ward camp out in Raymond NH at Zion's Camp, i dont know many details on this activity just yet, as soon as i find them out i will keep you guys posted, but the dates for this are September 16th-18th a nice weekend to enjoy nature and get to know some new people and continue to grow with the ones we already know! hopefully you guys can make it to this also....

prettty sure i tell you you should go to everything, sorry if i am getting redundant, its my job to encourage your attendance, but also i am wicked excited about all of them and i want everyone else to get as excited and loving the activities that we do cause they are all super fun if we make them fun!! love you all please put all these dates and times on your calenders!!

congratulations are in order to a number of people:

• TIM & JEN! congratulations on your marriage, hope you both have an amazing eternity together & we will miss you in the ward, wont be the same with out you guys!
• ARTHUR SILVA! hes leaving on his mission tomorrow ! yay, we'll miss you arthur! return with honor & do the Lords work with all your heart, cant wait to see you in two years!
• DANIELLE & ANSON! congratulations on your upcoming wedding, we are all so happy for you & hope you have an amazing eternity! and we will miss you in the ward !

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU STAND FOR!!!(: 

Spiritual Thought: Don't Let Others Tear You Down, Lead By Example.

Recently I have been pondering on faith, but mostly on the issue of others tearing down your faith! This issue has been troubling my mind because many people have been making me feel less than human, so to say, and I have been having trouble shaking it, but now that I have emerged from the darkness of those feelings, I have something to say about the issue.

Many people will try to tear you down, whether they are attacking your faith, appearance, interests, family, or whatever it may be! people can be unrelenting, but it's your faith and agency that can effectively get you through these things! what do I mean by faith AND agency, well i will tell you exactly what I mean! Agency is so important in fighting off attackers (mental ninja's) because you DECIDE how you are going to react to things, given this is definitely not easy; sometimes you just want to give that person a piece of your mind, or fist in my case, or you just can't shake the things they are saying to you. in these cases you really just need to talk yourself through it (i promise you wont look crazy), tell yourself it is not true, that you are better than that. On top of agency, faith is your number one strength in the face of contention from other people!

when people break you down & hurt you, your faith can take a beating. This is the point where you feel like your worthless, you'll never be anything, and that everything everyone is saying about you is true, you wonder how you can ever be happy with who you are ever again! and it hurts, it hurts so bad for so long, UNLESS you remember that your faith can bring you back from the hurt, that it can ease your pain. you are so loved by so many people, especially your Father in Heaven, if you keep that in mind those feelings have no possible way to take root! the reason so many people lose faith is because they forget the power it has to heal your hurt. 

In my life I have forgotten the happiness that having Faith in something more than the opinions other have of me has brought my life! Others used to say horrible things to me, and about me, i got a lot of bullying from elementary school to high school and i used to get super defensive, and hurt, and it brought me into very dark places that i don't usually like to think about. it is hard to look back and think about how unhappy and hurt i used to feel on a regular basis, BUT you know what i realize now? that no matter what anyone said, thought about me, or did to me, I know who I am now, because of the Faith that i found almost two years ago, and it's been the best two years of my life, GRANTED i did mess up MANY times, but why did i mess up? because i forgot what Faith in this religion has done for me, i forgot how it had changed my life soooo drastically. If you forget what you know is true, you're not going to be nearly as happy, and i promise you that from experience. i look back and see that a lot of trial and error from the time i was baptized to this very moment and time has changed me and, I AM SUCH A DIFFERENT PERSON! (in the best way possible.)

Faith is so important, no matter what anyone says, you are an amazing person with more potential than you can even imagine, and if a single person tell you any differently they are so wrong it is not even funny. You are on this earth for a reason and if you have the Gospel in your life you are going to feel so much more happiness in your life then most people will ever feel, and it is sad to think about, but if people tell you you are nothing, tell them you have everything you need to be happy, and you can share that with them (kill them with kindness :p). but think about it .... cause i think you will find i'm right, not that im being arrogant, i just know the power the Gospel has on lives, ive seen it in my life and many other people. anyways, the church is true, Joseph Smith restored to true church on the earth, and it can change lives, i promise if you put in to the test you can feel that what im saying is true (: love you all!

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU STAND FOR (: !

The Week of August 7th Announcements !

We have so much going on this month that we are going to be very occupied !!

lets start off with the most obvious things that are going on this week:

• FHE is at 7:30 in the relief society room, come have enjoy everyones company, be spiritually nourished, and play some basketball !
• Institute is at 7:00 in the relief society room on TUESDAY, be sure to read the talks from General Conference 2011 by Elder Oakes & Elder Ballard!
• Mission Prep is also at 7:00 on Tuesday, either will be in the elders quorum room, or the one right next to the kitchen! do your HW & read chapters 9 and 10 in the Missionary Preparation Student Manual !

other events that will be going on throughout the month! :

• Well... THIS FRIDAY we are having a Movie Night at Bishop Sears house @ 7:00 , see facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=215999888450257
• on AUGUST 20TH we are going to have an awesome Beach Activity, Multi-Ward with the Warwick Rhode Island ward, Hingham ward, and possibly the Weston ward, its at Scarborough Beach in RI, activity will start at 5:00pm and end around 9:00pm, there will be a carpool from Nashua and Lowell around 3:30 that day since it is a long drive! there will be food, and activities. if anyone has a beach volleyball net that would be willing to volunteer, let Bishop Sears know or a member of the Bishopric!
• that same day (August 20th) there will be an Endowment Trip at 9:00am
• on August 25th there will be a Baptismal Trip at 6:30pm there will be a carpool from Lowell at 6:00pm

i think that is all the events going on for now & if any more come up, or anyone has other things going on, LET ME KNOW, and i will throw it up on the blog for everyone to know about....

ALMOST FORGOT;; 

• congratulations to Sam Burgess and Rachel Hardy (Rachel Burgess that is... ) on their marriage!
• another congratulations to Richie Whatcott and Jennifer Wilkes (Whatcott :p) on their marriage also, both of whom were married on the same day on different sides of the temple.

Upcoming things in need of an early congratulations:

• Jennifer Shirley and Tim Lapin are to be sealed in the temple this upcoming weekend! heres to wishing them a beautiful life together. (: we'll miss you guys in the ward!
• Danielle Knowles and Anson Adams are also to be sealed in the temple this month, we love you guys and wish you the best in your marriage, we will miss you two in the ward also!
• Arthur Silva has gotten his Mission Call to New Jersey, he will be leaving in 9 days i believe and going straight to New Jersey, i hope you have an amazing mission, FHE and the ward wont be the same with out you! Good luck on your mission!

alright NOW i think their arent anymore announcements, so until i have more, farewell.

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU STAND FOR (:

Activity: Missionary BBQ

soooooo,
today was the BBQ and a lot of time and effort went into this event, and i think it was a success !
in preparation me chris and david bought 20 chicken breasts, 3 types of sauces for marinade, lots of vegetables, chips, and soda. we marinated the chicken & the next day lugged a huge grill into the suburban and headed to the chapel to set up, hoping a ton of people would show up so we didnt have to gorge ourselves with pounds of food!
so our pleasure at least 15 to 20 people showed up with great big appetites, i grilled my butt off and made tons of chicken and burgers for everyone, and hopefully everyone thought it was good?!?! lol (: and of course lovely  Andrea brought us some delicious cake that all of sort of devoured like savages, all we needed was 6 forks to take that think down! after we ate and mingled we filed in for the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration  movie, and that is always a great flick to watch, nothing more spiritual than that!

the food and the movie was great, not many people from the ward layed basketball, so luckily we had some visitors who were some crazy good baller's to play with the four of us from the ward that wanted to play, basketball went right up until 9:00 o'clock & of course we were all the last ones to leave, but overall i think we all enjoyed each others company very much and were able to have a fun time. hopefully we can have more events like this to get to know each other better and grow closer as a ward family, love youy all, thanks for showing up and enjoying the day with us.

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOUR STAND FOR (:

BBQ SATURDAY!

hey everyone! i already put up a post about this event but here it is again, another reminder to make sure no one bails out on this awesome event ;) here is the flyer i posted from last time,to enlarge it so you can actually read it click on the picture:

invited anyone you know that would interested, its a great missionary opportunity! and hey itll be a lot of fun too i promise! and if it isn't well i guess i owe you one, but ill take that risk because im pretty sure its going to be sick (: bring yourself, maybe a dessert, maybe some chips, a good appetite, A FRIEND, and your basketball shoes ! cause its going to be a fun filled afternoon/night (: here is the facebook event so after you read this you better go RSVP :

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=136775673078080 CLICK ATTENDING(:

remember who you are and what you stand for!

Homework For Institute & Mission Prep Students !

Institute reading for next week:
-April 2011 conference talks by Elder Oakes and Elder Ballard

Mission Prep Homework:
-first we are supposed to be reading Chapters 9 and 10 in preparation for next lesson!
-second we are supposed to try and find someone we can talk to about the Gospel, we are supposed to find an opportunity for us to do missionary work, weather is be a friend, family member, or a stranger!


anyway thats all the Homework from this week, DO YOU HOMEWORK! but also don't forget.......

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU STAND FOR(: