June 6th - June 30th

 In Our Family This Month...

* June is always a fun month because we get to celebrate Seth's birthday! He turned 25 on the 14th! Aubrie and Lexi went all out to design and create a Dungeon's and Dragons cake for him. They did a fantastic job and it turned out amazing (and soooo tasty!). The bottom portion of the cake are "dragon scales" and the top was a custom made DND dice! We had the whole family over for a fajita dinner and all shared their favorite memories of Seth. 

* We also celebrated Grandpa Vogt's Birthday (in conjunction with Father's Day!)... We had the entire Vogt clan over and had a BBQ. It was really a nice evening visiting with family and recognizing Grandpa turning 76! Aubrie took the time and baked/decorated a cookies and cream cake for the occasion. Grandpa also was able to get a picture with ALL of his grandkids (minus Ben since he had already left for work by this time) so that was pretty neat. 

* Earlier this Spring, we received a letter from our HOA stating that our fence was in violation and needed to be re-stained. Well, for that to happened, we needed to pressure wash the entire thing first to get all of the water stains off of it. The girls took on this task and did a fantastic job!  They've even since decided to try and make a business out of it and will be promoting their pressure washing skills to the neighborhood!

* McKendra found these adorable matching outfits for Henry and Luka and so of course we just had to take them to the park for a little photoshoot! Too precious! Also, a couple of pictures of their cute family after church one Sunday.

* The kids have been having (pretty much) daily hangouts with friends. Sometimes it's a huge group and other times it'll just be a few extras here at the house. Dad and I feel very fortunate that they have such a good group of kids to spend time with. They'll do all sorts of things from playing board games, watching movies, playing Rugby, going to the park and of course eating all the foods! haha... They also do service together - they've done yardwork for us and even went out to the Vogt Farm and did some manual labor for Grandpa (although he surprised them all and paid them at the end of their work). Dad took them all bridge jumping downtown at the Boise River (which everyone had a blast - despite the frigid temperature of the water!!) and he even took a few of them early one morning to hike Table Rock. Dad's the coolest ever!

* And of course a family update wouldn't be complete without the mention of RUGBY! haha... Dad and the girls have done weight lifting on Monday's and Wednesday's and then practices on Tuesdays and Thursday's. They've been working hard to be ready for the summer tournament in Salt Lake next month. Also, the girl's Rugby team was in the Meridian Dairy Days Parade. They performed line outs, threw Rugby balls between each other (and the crowd) and gave out lots of candy! Thousands of people lined the streets for the 3 mile parade route (and they even made it onto the news that night!)

Spiritually Speaking...

* Today as I opened up my personal scripture studies with prayer I felt impressed to read Alma 37. By the end of my studies, I felt I had been enlightened and I was excited about some of the different principles that were found in this chapter. I wanted to share a few of my takeaways.

#1) By Small and simple things are great things brought to pass. The Lord uses small things to make a big impact! Relating this to our current unemployment trial, he has asked us to do small, simple things like reading our scriptures, doing family, history, making time for Come Follow Me and attending the temple and I know as we do these things they will create a big impact!

#2) in verse 13 a profound doctrine is reiterated again, which is “If ye will keep my Commandments, ye shall prosper in the land…” again, I feel in my heart that as we keep his commandments, and continue doing the simple things he has asked us to do, I’m not going have to worry about making a living, and that we will prosper.

#3) in verses 16 and 17, I had something really touch my heart! It reads “God is powerful to the fulfilling of all his words. For he will fulfill all his promises, which he shall make unto you.” It was immediately brought to my mind that when we receive priesthood blessings, those are His words to us directly. My mind then went to the incredible blessing that Ben gave John back in December and Heavenly Father was just reminding me that He will fulfill all his promises that He made to us in that blessing!

#4) in verses 32-34, Alma is preparing Helaman, his son, to become the next leader of the church and is counseling him on things he should teach the people - who will be the future leaders of the church. I then thought how I am raising and teaching the future leaders of the church in my own children! and that I should be teaching them these exact same things! These things include:

• Teach them an everlasting hatred against sin and iniquity
• Repentance
• Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
• To be humble and meek and lowly in heart
• To withstand every temptation of the devil (and doing this with their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ)
• Never be weary of good works

#5) Another gospel principle we learn is in verse 35 when we are counseled to “…learn wisdom in thy youth. Yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God.”

Then in the following verses, they teach us how we can do this! We can do this by counseling with the Lord in all our doings. We can do this by praying morning and night. We can do this by giving thanks to God. We do this by having all of our thoughts be directed unto the Lord, and we do this by letting the affections of our hearts be placed upon the Lord.

#6) towards the end of this chapter, Alma is reflecting back on Lehi and his family leaving Jerusalem, and coming to the promised land. They were given the Liahona to help show them the way. As we know, this only worked by faith, and sometimes Lehi and his family, weren’t the best at giving heed to this compass. Alma then relates how it was an easy thing for the people to just look at the Liahona and believe that it would show them the way to the Promised Land. The same is true for us by giving heed to the word of Christ and how that will point us to a straight course to eternal bliss. In fact in verse 44 I wanted to memorize this as I liked the way it said “for behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you, a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.” Isn’t that just beautiful?! As we learn and implement the word of Christ into our life, that will point us to eternal BLISS! What a great word bliss is and I love how the Scriptures use it in this way. Alma ends by giving a warning and counsel to not be slothful because of the easiness of the way. This reminds me from some of the different stories we’ve been studying in the Bible about how some of the miracles that Jesus performed had simple and easy instructions (I’m thinking of washing in the water or just going to the priest, etc.. ) and how those were easy things to do but brought about huge miracles and made a big impact. That just goes back to the beginning of this chapter with the principle of how the Lord can use small and simple things to bring about miracles and big impacts in our life! But that we shouldn’t be slothful just because of the “easiness of the way.”

As I ended my studies with a closing prayer and shared all of these thoughts and takeaways with Heavenly Father, I asked him if I had gained everything that he wanted me to get and I felt that I had “hit the nail on the head!” I did have one additional thought as I closed my prayer (and not surprising, it was a reminder from a previous impression John had received earlier this year), it was this: The Lord has asked us to do the simple things, and the more obedient we are to them, the sooner our trial will come to an end. The thought came that this is the time to make these new habits of daily personal scriptures and couple scriptures and making time for family history, etc become a part of our life - of who we are.… because if we aren’t being diligent and faithful to those Commandments right now, in our time of need - when we truly should be turning to the Lord, then how do we expect those to stick around and be part of our daily life after the miracle(s) have come and life is more easy and we aren’t consumed by turning our will to His in finding the right job. I think Heavenly Father is just trying to help us be better versions of ourselves, improve each day, and become who He wants (and needs!) us to be!

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* 3rd Nephi chapter 1 tells the account of the Nephites, five years after Samuel the Lamanite’s prophecy, foretelling the signs of Christ’s birth. This chapter starts out with the unbelievers saying that the time has already passed for the signs to have come and mocking them that they had believed in Samuel the Lamanite’s prophecies in vain. I think it would only be natural for some of those believers to start doubting and second-guessing that maybe their faith had been in vain. Of course with all my studies these past several months, I have related that to our current unemployment trial. I have faith, that all of the promised blessings that have been given to John will come to fruition. However, sometimes the adversary whispers doubts into my heart and mind, and it’s easy to think “Hmmm… Maybe all my faith has been in vain?!” This is when I need to remember to plead to the Lord to “help thou mine unbelief”.

I can also follow the example of these believing Nephites, and to keep looking steadfastly for the signs promised! In verse eight it says that they did this (looked forward with steadfastness), so that they might know that their faith was not in vain.

As we know, the unbelievers set aside a day to kill all the believers if the sign had not been given. This makes me think how believing hasn’t hurt anybody - so why are they going to kill them all?! Anyway… as I was studying this chapter along with Seminary manual there was a question posed that asked “When the adversary tries to get me to doubt, how will I maintain faith in Jesus Christ?” I like how this question is presented and starts off letting me know exactly who is behind my doubts! Of course, the adversary wants me to feel down, discouraged, depressed and fearful, but when he does, how will I maintain my faith? I will come back and read these journal Entries and the spiritually speaking sections of our family history books and they will remind me of all of the blessings, promises, and personal revelation that the Lord has given to me!

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Dad and I had a great scriptural discussion on Ether 12! As we finished our studies, we were rejuvenated with an increased feeling of Faith and felt more anchored to Christ! I was truly energized and felt motivated and felt my faith multiplying right then and there! There were many beautiful doctrines and principles in Ether 12 (in fact, there are TWO Doctrinal Masteries in this chapter!) One of those is in verse 6 which reads in part, "...faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye  see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."  So BEFORE we can receive a witness (or miracle), we need to have faith.  There was a conference talk snippet from Elder Packer that went along with this where he shared a story of a time when he and his wife were faced with a major decision. After praying they still were uncertain on what to do, so they went to Harold B Lee and talked things through with him. Harold B Lee counseled them to proceed forward. Sensing that the Packers were still unsettled, Elder Lee stated that "...the problem with you is that you want to see the end from the beginning." He then quoted this verse in Ether to the Packers and added how they must walk a few steps into the darkness and then the light will turn on before you. This really struck our hearts because we were like "Yes! We want to see how this unemployment trial will end and how we will get there!" But, like the Packers, we need to walk a few steps into the darkness and exercise our faith.

Additionally in Ether 12:6 it calls it a "Trial of your Faith." In the Seminary manual, it states that some people mistakenly interpret "trial of faith' to always refer to hardships BUT that the phrase "trial of faith" can describe ANYTHING that gives us an opportunity to demonstrate or exercise our faith in Jesus Christ. There was a quote by Elder Richard G. Scott on his explanation of this phrase that says:

     "You can learn to use faith more effectively by applying this principle taught by Moroni... 'ye             receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.' Thus, every time you try your faith, that is ,         act in worthiness on an impression, you will receive the confirming evidence of the Spirit. Those

     feelings will fortify your faith. As you repeat that pattern, your faith will become stronger."

I really liked this quote and how it referred to the "trial of faith" as an opportunity to TRY our faith by acting on impressions. Dad shared a neat analogy with me about faith and exercise. He said Blessings come when we exercise faith but we must exercise that faith first . It's like actual exercise with physical fitness - you can't say once I'm healthy, fit and strong then I'll start exercising.. you have to start exercising first to get those end results. We can't have faith once the blessings have come in... we must have the faith first for those blessings and miracles to come in!

So the principle we learn from verse 6 is IF we desire a spiritual witness, then we must first exercise faith in Jesus Christ and His gospel. It's also important to note that MIRACLES are included as these "witnesses" that come after we have exercised our faith. 

One final thought on Verse 6 - it says how faith is a hope in things that are not seen. In True to the Faith it teaches that "When we have hope, we trust God's promises. We have a quiet assurance that if we do the works of righteousness, we shall receive our reward, even peace in this world and eternal life in the world to come." Dad and I loved this! We hadn't really thought about the connection between Hope and Faith and how when we have hope - we TRUST IN GOD'S PROMISES!