I am amazed at when I think back to my mission, and my amazement goes even further at my mission President, when he encouraged me to read from my scriptures (mainly the Book of Mormon) for 30 min a day after my mission. My amazement came not from the request, but from the time he had told me to allot. I mean come on, I was reading the scriptures all day and personally at least 2-3 hours per day if not more. I really had not clue what would happen in life after my mission, but my mission President knew, and thats why he encouraged me to do the what almost seems impossible task now.

Life catches up with you fast (as the Nationwide commercial states) and before you know it you are married with kids (multiple kids) and getting up early to make sure everyone gets bathed, dressed, fed and off to school on time. Doing all this without even giving yourself any consideration still. Then picking kids up, dropping off, church callings - before you know it the day is gone and you feel like you accomplished nothing. Oh yea, and did I forget to mention a little thing called … work. You have to work for a living, so throw that into the mix and I am surprised more people in the Church don’t have a nervous break down when extended a calling.

I can’t even seem to find 10 minutes to read the Book of Mormon right now, let alone 30. I know, I know … turn of the TV you are going to say, but at the end of the day and I am beat thats all I wanna do. I just wanna jump into bed, and turn the TV on, talk with my wife (finally after a long day) and just relax. I feel that I have to be in the proper mind set to read and really study the scriptures. Plus I just got done with an hour of reading to and with the kids because of school assignments…so my reading nerves are all about spent.

So whats someone in my situation to do? Its simple - No matter how hard it may seem, no matter how tired I think I am, no matter if I have to turn off the TV (I mean I do have DVR for goodness sake I can watch it anytime really) and just DO IT … as President Ezra Taft Benson use to say … DO IT. Its remembering to do the small and simple things that good things will be brought to pass. I see the benefit of reading the animated scriptures with my kids everynight and the lessons it is teaching them, but I need to get spiritually fed too from my research and study. The only way I am going to get it is by doing it.

I didn’t mean for this post to turn out as a self confession or anything, but I really do feel the urge to share that we as members of the Church (the only true and living one on the whole earth) have a duty to remember the small things because they really do bring huge and amazing things to pass.

*****Update
I am turning off comments at this point because I must again state my position in this - This is MY LDS BLOG and LDS IN NATURE, and I do not go around to Catholic Blogs debating their points of doctrine that we (as LDS Church members) do not believe in. I do appreciate the comments up to this point, and everyone has a point of view to share I understand that, but it was never my intent to start going back and forth so much over me sharing something that was simply MY OWN EXPERIENCE. Again, this being LDS in nature, and MY LDS BLOG, I can talk about the things I want, and allow the kind of content I want on it as well. God Bless Everyone who has commented on this post, I really do appreciate it.

I am talking about the difference between the way I felt when I walked into a Catholic Church (when I was in Sedona Arizona over the weekend), and how I feel inside an LDS Church. I have to admit the structure of the Romain Catholic Church built into the side of a rock in Sedona, AZ awe struck me at first. It was an amazing vision by the lady who had the idea in the first place to do it there, but thats where the amazement and awe stuck ends for me!

Here is a picture so you can get a visual of what I am talking about:

My wife and I did a “trolly tour” of Sedona, Arizona and this is one of the stops that the tour took us to. I wanted to get out and check it out because it was a way cool looking structure. My wife and I walk up the path, and walk inside. I keep walking and looking and turn around to talk to my wife and shes gone (out the door). I went ahead and followed her because I wanted to make sure everything was ok, and when I asked her she shared something with me that I wanted to share here.

I am not a hater of any faith. I served a mission in Fiji and feel I got a pretty good education on all types of faiths, and I see good in all, but that is not the point of this post. The point of this post is to share with you how I feel about the LDS (Mormon faith) and share my testimony as to the power of our Church. With all that said, please do not get offended by what I am about to say - again - I am only sharing mine, and my wifes experience here. My wife told me that she got an empty feeling when she was in the Church, and she looked over and saw a sign with gift shop hours and that really threw her off, and she wanted to run the other way. I never noticed the gift shop sign, but I could feel the empty that was in the building, and I just wanted to get out because I did not feel it was a place where the spirit would dwell.

When did this Church become so commercial? In our (LDS Faith) Church we do not profit from inside the worship places, or any of our chapels, and the feeling you get when you go inside one of ours is apparent and very different from this feeling my wife and I got upon entering this chapel.

I am very thankful for the LDS faith and the knowledge we have, and the way our Church is ran. I am also very thankful for the spirit, and letting us know the right from the wrong. I appreciate having experiences like these to help make my testimony even stronger.

Any experiences any of our readers have had similar to this that have helped their testimony grow?

I have had some time to think the last few days about what the Church is worth to me based on some conversations I have had with my brother-in-law while I was down visiting him for his daughters baptism.  My brother-in-law was born and raised Catholic, then married a Mormon girl (my sister) and there is where this story really begins.

You know in the Church we always say to date those who have the same faith, and share the same beliefs.  It is not because we are stuck up, or do not believe anyone else out there is worthy of us, it is because of major problems that could be faced down the road if you want to be staying faithful to the LDS Church.

For example, the family members (and their faith) of the other person, what faith the kids will be raised, how the family interactions will be, which church functions will family members go to (like baptisms) etc.  Let me throw in another huge twist for you; what if your FIL (Father-in-law) was a Deacon at the Catholic Church, and was well known and respected.  Also one who had been serving for many many years.  These were some of the issues that my sister has faced over the years, and I mean just some of them.

I do not want to get into the specifics of what both her and my brother-in-law have had to go through, but it was pretty rough until recently, but I will share one thing.  My sister knew that she wanted to raise her kids Mormon, and get married in the Temple.  She got to the point (even though she loved her husband dearly, and I mean dearly) where she was ready to get a divorce because she feared that she would never get to enjoy all the blessings of the Church.  Because of this, my brother-in-law figured out how important her faith was to her, and took it upon himself to learn more about this “Church” that was about to end his marriage.

Many sets of missionaries later, prayer, fasting and many many trials he learned of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the LDS Church and got baptized.  I am giving you the cliff-notes as to what happened, but there were so many trials he and my sister faced together during those first few years of marriage.  My brother-in-law was pretty much dis-owned by his family at first.

They have come a long way since then, and that is the point in this post.  My sister, who was willing to give up the one she loved because of her faith was an example to her husband (a Catholic) who joined the Mormon Church, and (who probably could never see it happening at the time) last week saw his father (Catholic Deacon) step into a Mormon Church and watch his grandchild (my niece) get baptized (along with about 20 other of his family members - all Catholic).

My brother-in-law is such a powerful example to me in so many ways when it comes to sacrifices and the Church.  My sister as well, and what she almost had to give up because of her convictions.  Anything is possible with Jesus Chris, and this is proof as to his love for us, and awareness of our needs!

I just wanted to thank My LDS Direct for the CTR Necklace I received this week. Everyone in my first grade class asked me where I got it and I told them about your website! Thanks for how fast it came to me also. I will come back to your site and buy more LDS stuff! Thanks again,

Ivy
Lehi, Ut

One of our recent customers sent us the testimonial below. As a Young Men’s leader, he and his other leaders have given each young man in the ward a tie of a certain color. In reply to our questions about the ties he said:

Yes, everyone likes the green. Now we need the red ones for the Priests – Deacons have the green, Teachers have the blue, Priests have the red. Everyone thinks it looks real sharp and I’ll admit it does.

So, send the reds as soon as possible.

Thanks,
Russ

We got this testimonial the other day from one of our recent customers. I thought it was significant so I wanted to post it. Thank you for sharing Jennifer! Any of you can share your testimonials by submitting them on our contact us page or by calling us directly. We always appreciate hearing back from our customers.

Dave,
My dad has wanted that ring for years….so I gave it to him. And he loves it. I think he almost started to cry. I just wanted to thank you for your help and for the beautiful ring that has brought a lot of joy to our family. Thanks again,

Jennifer
Ionia, Michigan

Today we received another testimonial from a recent customer talking about the LDS product she purchase the other day. I thought it was a great one so I wanted to post it for your review.

MyLDSDirect.com
I just received my ring today and I love it! It is so cute!! Thanks so much!!! I wear it all the time!!!!

Michelle
Edgewood, New Mexico

Well…the testimonials just keep rolling in. Here is one we received from someone getting their Valentine’s gift just in the nick of time. For any of you out there that are just realizing that Valentine’s day is just around the corner…you better order quick. We can overnight any thing from CTR rings, Joseph Smith rings, and other LDS Gifts until Monday and get them to you in time for your special day.

MyLDSDirect.com,
I appreciate your help in getting the ring here to me by Valentine’s Day. The ring is nice and the size worked out perfectly! Thank You.

Jackie
Blanding, Utah

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

Yesterday, we received this wonderful testimonial from one of our customers. I thought I should post it and just let everyone know how much we appreciate our customers. Thank you so much for visiting us and for shopping with us. If we can ever do anything better please let us know.

TESTIMONIAL BELOW:

MyLDSDirect.com,
You guys are so awesome! My daughter and I both appreciate your excellent customer service and making sure that we were able to receive our rings! We are definitely going to buy from you guys in the future! Thanks again,

Tammy
Nevada, USA