FInale Part 3

Rachael: I meant to say that I need you to teach me the scarf folding thing. Don't know how to fold it diagonally . . .

Sorry about the dogs. Sometimes I imagine murdering them. They are so mean and unhappy. Sorry about thoughts of murder on Christmas.

Lindsey: I meant to say that I now agree with you. I DO remind myself of Emma Stone. I think we even sound alike! I don't know where any of that came from.

Family! I will skype with you soon, but right now you are asleep in your little beds dreaming.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD LIFE.

Finale Part 1

12 drummers Drumming & this is a GIANT finale PART 2

12 drummers were something about the apostle's creed that I don't really know anything about. Today is Christmas Eve. I think I have enjoyed this blog more than anyone. I sought to bring the Christmas Spirit to others, but instead I found myself being at peace with all the troubles around me, including the giant one of not being home.

Tonight, I want to share with you something I started realizing a few years ago. These next thoughts, ponderings, scriptures, and words are some of those most precious to me. I am about to impart to you a Megan Whitlock Christmas Eve moment.

Imagine a prophet standing on a wall. Arrows, rocks, and anything throwable fly past him as he proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ. Helaman 14: 2-8

2 And behold, he said unto them: Behold, I give unto you a sign; for five years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God to redeem all those who shall believe on his name.

3 And behold, this will I give unto you for a sign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day.

4 Therefore, there shall be one day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born.

5 And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.

6 And behold this is not all, there shall be many signs and wonders in heaven.

7 And it shall come to pass that ye shall all be amazed, and wonder, insomuch that ye shall fall to the earth.

8 And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall believe on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life.

Helaman 16 chapter heading: The Nephites who believe Samuel are baptized by Nephi—Samuel cannot be slain with the arrows and stones of the unrepentant Nephites—Some harden their hearts, and others see angels—The unbelievers say it is not reasonable to believe in Christ and his coming in Jerusalem. About 6–1 B.C.

3 Nephi 1

5 But there were some who began to say that the time was past for the words to be fulfilled, which were spoken by Samuel, the Lamanite.

6 And they began to rejoice over their brethren, saying: Behold the time is past, and the words of Samuel are not fulfilled; therefore, your joy and your faith concerning this thing hath been vain.

7 And it came to pass that they did make a great uproar throughout the land; and the people who believed began to be very sorrowful, lest by any means those things which had been spoken might not come to pass.

Imagine one day that this scenario will be ours. Imagine that people all around us will be mocking us and saying "you were stupid for believing." Stop for one moment and think of these faithful people. These people who believed. When the day comes for us to stand as they did we will know that the next verse is what is asked of us.

8 But behold, they did watch steadfastly for that day and that night and that day which should be as one day as if there were no night, that they might know that their faith had not been vain.

9 Now it came to pass that there was a day set apart by the unbelievers, that all those who believed in those traditions should be put to death except the sign should come to pass, which had been given by Samuel the prophet.

10 Now it came to pass that when Nephi, the son of Nephi, saw this wickedness of his people, his heart was exceedingly sorrowful.

11 And it came to pass that he went out and bowed himself down upon the earth, and cried mightily to his God in behalf of his people, yea, those who were about to be destroyed because of their faith in the tradition of their fathers.

12 And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:

13 Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.


And here we have the real cause to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. He is the one who fulfils all prophecy. The very moment he came to this earth, he was saving lives.

14 Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son—of the Father because of me, and of the Son because of my flesh. And behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given.

15 And it came to pass that the words which came unto Nephi were fulfilled, according as they had been spoken; for behold, at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came.

16 And there were many, who had not believed the words of the prophets, who fell to the earth and became as if they were dead, for they knew that the great plan of destruction which they had laid for those who believed in the words of the prophets had been frustrated; for the sign which had been given was already at hand.

17 And they began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear; yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land south, were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the earth.

18 For they knew that the prophets had testified of these things for many years, and that the sign which had been given was already at hand; and they began to fear because of their iniquity and their unbelief.

19 And it came to pass that there was no darkness in all that night, but it was as light as though it was mid-day. And it came to pass that the sun did rise in the morning again, according to its proper order; and they knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born, because of the sign which had been given.

20 And it had come to pass, yea, all things, every whit, according to the words of the prophets.

21 And it came to pass also that a new star did appear, according to the word.

Treasure these words. These words are words that Jesus Christ spoke to the prophet in his last moments in his premortal mission. Then, the sign was given that Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, was born. Lift up your heads and be of good cheer. One day, no one knows the hour, he will come again. One day all of the believers will be looking steadfastly for the signs to come. He will come again. FOR HE LIVES. JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SAVIOR, THE MESSIAH, THE LIGHT AND THE WAY.

This is precious to me. I hope the spirit can testify to all of you the truth of these words. Believe. Believe. Believe.

113 were faithful

11 pipers piping were the 11 faithful disciples. Reading that made me think of one of my favorite Ammon moments, I have a lot. I like to pretend he was my teacher in the preexistence. I think we have a lot in common.

After years of being separated by missions of life, two best friends (out of a group of best friends) found each other again, remarkably, in the jungle.

16And it came to pass that as Ammon was going forth into the land, that he and his brethren met Alma, over in the place of which has been spoken; and behold, this was a joyful meeting.

17Now the joy of Ammon was so great even that he was full; yea, he was swallowed up in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength; and he fell again to the earth.

18Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness.

19Now the joy of Alma in meeting his brethren was truly great, and also the joy of Aaron, of Omner, and Himni; but behold their joy was not that to exceed their strength.

More than finding each other, they found each other faithful. I have always regarded this story as a portrayal of how I feel about my friends. We have gone our separate ways because, honestly, I really think the world needs us to be spread out a little. Otherwise, our amazingness would overpower wherever we live. I feel like we have missions all over the world to accomplish. My dears, when we meet again, we will meet each other as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. Let us be penitent and humble seekers of happiness, that we might fully feel the magnitude of God's grace when we see each other again.

I truly love you. You know who I mean. 113.

<3 megan jean <3

The Great Commandment- before the other ten

Ten lords a leaping are the Ten Commmandments. But, the first and greatest commandment is to "love the Lord thy God." The second is like unto it: "love thy neighbor as yourself."

A classic tale of neighborly love begins with one of the author's many fantastic opening lines:

Marley was dead: to begin with.

A Christmas Carol tells of a transforming journey taken by Ebenezer Scrooge. The said Jacob Marley described his accessories, the chains that he carried by saying: "I wear the chain I forged in life, I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is it a pattern strange to you?"

Then, as he tries to convince Ebenezer to prevent this fate from becoming Scrooge's own, he declares: "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

As I read this book and thought about the twelve days of Christmas these words ran through my head over and over again: "And there was no poor among them" (Moses 7:18)

The other day a man trying to get money was washing windows. He came up to ours and I said "No" over and over again. Gaia started laughing. My heart was breaking. I have seen a lot of beggars, cripples, children, etc. That day it just weighed upon me. Did I have money in the car? No. The man saw my face and started to wash it. I kept shaking my head and he stopped. I don't know the answer to this experience. It seems impossible to have no poor among us. I guess what the scriptures teach us is that righteousness of one heart and one mind, a place where there is no malice, no greed, and no enmity gives us the power to have no poor.

9 ladies dancing with fruit

Yes. I guess there are nine fruits of the Spirit. The best assignment I was ever given was called "The Still Small Voice" journal. For extra credit in my Research Methods class (which I strangely loved) we were assigned to record all impressions of the Spirit in a journal we were to have with us at all times. Furthermore, we were to act on the prompting and record the results. If you feel like you are missing the voice of the Spirit in your life, do this assignment. It teaches you how the Spirit speaks to you.

The greatest lesson I learned from this assignment was the difference between "my own thoughts" and the Spirit. I learned that there is no difference. I am a child of God. His Spirit is in me. One place to go to understand what I am trying to say is D&C 88:50-68. Just as some of our earthly parents traits are genetically in us, our Heavenly Father's traits are also in us. All good thoughts that come are of that spirit. We have the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide us and to comfort us and to testify to us. But, people often worry about choices they have to make and think "What if it is just my thought? What if I offer to give that girl a ride and it doesn't end up changing her life or mine? What if I choose the wrong class? What if I feel nervous about something? That must mean I shouldn't do it." The more decisions I make, the more I believe there is no such thing as a mistake. Especially when the idea overall is good.

I saw in my journal that almost all of the impressions that came to me were ideas to help other people. The results were sometimes unnoticeable, sometimes petty, and sometimes amazing. No matter what, the fruits of the Spirit are discernible only if we first recognize the voice of the Spirit.

This Christmas, let it sing.

8 geese a laying

8 geese are the beatitudes. I remember a time when we broke down the beatitudes in my English class and I marveled at how poetic they were. I used to write poems and I wrote a really sad one called "Dear Santa". I wish that I knew where it was. I remember showing it to my mom and she was so sad. It was about a cold, homeless child. Mom, I know it is SOMEWHERE in the office. Someday if you want to find that old folder with my Christmas poems, that would be awesome. They weren't all sad. Maybe Lindsey has a copy. I used to give her all my poems. What is worse is that she kept all of them and reads them out loud to me every once in a while. Don't get me wrong, it still makes me smile. But I can't help the redness from rising in my cheeks. With embarrassment I sit, and with laughter her voice creaks.

Let's read this poem. We probably all know the first line, but to be honest, I have never read it. This changes tonight.
THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
by Clement Clarke Moore
or Henry Livingston

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."