“Two always know”

     When Dan Simon's was our Bishop, he always used the phrase, “Two always Know”. Sometimes we think when we do or say something that is not nice, no one will ever know, but that is not true. Our Savior knows, because He watches over us. That is something I recognized as a very young child and it has stayed with me ever since.
     I was listening to the “Music and the Spoken Word”, a Sunday morning program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and they started singing this song. I was reminded again of this phrase that Bishop Simon's taught. When I leave my house in the mornings I imagine myself walking out the door with my arm wrapped in the Savior's arm, taking Him with me. If my arm is wrapped in His I know that I can’t go anywhere that He would or could not go and it is easier for me to remember to be kind in all I say, because I would not want to offend Him.

     This is such a beautiful song and it is such a sweet remembrance of what I can be when the Savior stands beside me.

If the Savior Stood beside me, would I do the things I do?

Would I think of His commandments and try harder to be true?

Would I follow his example? Would I live more righteously

If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?

If the Savior stood beside me, would I say the things I say?

Would my words be true and kind, if He were never far away?

Would I try to share the gospel? Would I speak more reverently

If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?

If the Savior stood beside me, would my thoughts be clean and pure?

Would His presence give me strength and hope and courage to endure?

Would His counsel guide my actions? Would I choose more worthily,

If I could see the Savior standing nigh,watching over me?

Watching over me, watching over me,

He is always near me, though I do not see Him there,

And because He loves me dearly,

I am in His watchful care,

So, I’ll be the kind of person that I know I’d like to be

If I could see the Savior standing nigh watching over me.

The Story of a Monarch Butterfly

                                   The Story of the Monarch Butterfly

      When I was a young girl we lived in a small town in Nevada called Fallon. There were only about 5,000 people living there at the time. It was a farming/ranching community and there was a lot of open spaces. We lived out of town around those farms and ranches. 

     Every year the Monarch butterfly's would pass through there on there migration north for the summer. It was a beautiful site. I was very fascinated by them. I loved to see the chrysalis's formed by the caterpillars and see the magic of them turning into a butterfly from the caterpillar state they began. 

      One day I took a stem off a weed that had one of these chrysalis fastened to it and took it home and put it in a jar so I could watch it. Well after a time I could see orange and black colors appearing in the jar and the green color of the chrysalis disappearing.  Soon I could see movement in the chrysalis and I new the butterfly would soon be working his way out of the chrysalis. When that day came, I sat and watched with great anticipation. It seemed to take forever and it appeared that the butterfly was struggling and was not going to get out without some help. So I took a pencil with a very sharp point and began to help ease the chrysalis apart. When I did, the butterfly dropped to the bottom of the jar and laid there without much movement. It soon died. I ran to my father and asked him,"What went wrong? That is when I learned a great lesson.

        My father sat down with me and explained how the butterfly needed to struggle 

to strengthen its wings and to be able to dry them out. I was so sorrowful to know, that what I thought was helping the butterfly, was actually preventing it from living.

        I learned a great lesson that day about the need to struggle. Our Heavenly Father knows that for us to grow and develop spiritually, we need to struggle sometimes to prove ourselves worthy of the great blessings he has in store for us.

        President Hugh B. Brown said, "Being denied and forced to struggle, they (we) would develop those qualities which would later be needed."  We know that the pruning of a fruit tree gets rid of the surplus wood which strengthens remaining branches, increasing the yield, and improving the quality of the fruit.

        Our Heavenly Father is a perfect parent. He tells us in the Doctrine and Covenants the purposes of adversity. In sections 98:12, 14-15, and 101:4 we learn it is to try and prove us to see if we will obey his commandments. In section 122:7 we learn that it is to give us experience and to help us grow. And in section 136:31 We learn that these experiences will prepare us to receive the glory that He has for us.

        While suffering greatly in the Liberty jail, Joseph Smith wrote home to the members of the church and said this;

       "Trials will only give us the knowledge necessary to understand the minds of the ancients. For my part, I think I never could have felt as I now do, if I had not suffered the wrongs that I have suffered. All things shall work together for good to them that love God."

         President Wilford Woodruff said, " It appears plain that it is God's purpose....and I do not think we should complain, because if we had no trials we should hardly feel at home in the other world in the company of the prophets and Apostles who were sawn assunder, crucified, etc. for the word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ." "It is impossible...for the Saints of God to inherit a celestial Kingdom without their being tried as to whether they will abide in the covenants of the Lord or not."

      

       There are promises given to those who are faithful in adversity;

D&C 3;8 He extends his arm out always and supports us, with us in every time of trouble,

D&C 112:13 He will be with us, stand by us and heal us in our afflictions, and in

D&C 58:2-4 We will have a greater reward in heaven; glory, joy and other blessings will be ours.

        The Lord has descended below all things. He has experienced all things so that he might have compassion necessary to lift us up through our trials and tribulations. I know that Joseph Smith had confidence in the Lord. He understood that his trials would prepare him for eternal life and the glories that would await him.  He understood the importance of the struggle and how like the butterfly it would give him life-- Eternal Life.  It would shape him into a Celestial being worthy of the elect that had gone on before him. 

      I pray that we will all be able to hold onto this same knowledge that our Heavenly Father loves us and that he has a plan for us and we just need to have faith in that plan and know that through our trials we also will gain our salvation.

        I love you all so much and pray for you always that you will have faith during your trials and instead of turning away from your Savior during those trials that you will turn toward Him. He Loves you so much. That I know.

Love you, Nana