What We Believe - Prophets

So next week is our church's semi-annual General Conference, where everyone gets together (whether in person or through watching on TV or the internet) and we get to listen to all our leaders. And I found this video about it that I wanted to share with you, which works out perfectly because today's the day I wanted to talk to you about prophets!

As we've talked about in previous weeks, God loves each one of us individually and wants us to be happy, and wants us to return to him after this life. To help us do this, God chooses prophets to lead us. A prophet is a faithful, righteous man chosen by God to speak for Him here on earth. Apostles are prophets chosen by God to be special witnesses of Jesus Christ and His divinity.

Prophets:

• Teach about God and are special witnesses of His Son, Jesus Christ.
• Receive revelation, or direction from the Lord.
• Teach the gospel to the world and interpret the word of God.

In order to speak for God, prophets and apostles must have the priesthood, or the authority to speak and act in the name of God to lead His children.

God has called prophets throughout history. In the Bible we read about prophets like Adam, Abraham, Moses, Paul and many others. We believe that God has also called prophets to lead us today. Joseph Smith was the first prophet called in the current dispensation, or generation, of the Church, and there has been a prophet on the earth ever since. The man called to speak for God and lead His church today is named Thomas S. Monson.

Thomas S. Monson

"For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?" 

- Mormon 9:9, Hebrews 13:8

By asking us to follow the prophets, God is really asking us to stay close to Him, just like when he asks us to pray often and read the scriptures. Listening to the prophets helps us learn or re-learn what we need to do to accept Jesus Christ's Atonement and become worthy of all the blessings God wants to give us.

Thomas S. Monson, the prophet of this generation, and the apostles will be speaking next weekend in General Conference. I invite you to come listen to the prophets that God has called in our day.

Here's a one-minute video about General Conference and the prophets of our day:

What We Believe - the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Hi everyone! Sorry it's already Sunday night, I guess I'm a bit slow this weekend. :) Time for the fourth installment of "What We Believe."

Last week I explained what we believe about God's plan for us. Today I want to expand on following Jesus Christ. How do we do that?

"We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."

 "We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost."

- from the "Articles of Faith"/what we believe explained in a nutshell

So we believe that the basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ are: 1. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 2. Repentance, 3. Baptism, and 4. Receiving the Holy Ghost.

So, it begins with faith in Christ. We believe in him, trust him, and depend on him. When we have faith in Christ, we have a firm belief that he is the son of God and the Savior and Redeemer of the world. We accept and apply his atonement and his teachings.

This faith leads us to repent—to stop doing things that are wrong and continue doing things that are right. Our faith in him also makes us want to show our love by keeping his commandments, including baptism. Baptism is a "covenant," which is a two-way promise with God. When we get baptized, we promise to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, always remember Him, and keep His commandments. As we keep our part of the covenant, God promises a remission of our sins and the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost (which I'll talk about more in a future post).

And it's that simple! The gospel of Jesus Christ = having faith in him and following his commandments. As we do so throughout our lives, we'll become more like him and have peace and happiness in our lives.

I have definitely felt more happiness in my life as I strive to follow Jesus Christ and as I center my life around him. Jesus Christ, and his gospel, make me so happy. :)

Resources you might be interested in:

• Jesus Christ, a page explaining what we believe about Jesus Christ (and goes into more detail about faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost)
• Mormon.org, a website filled with answers to frequently asked questions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Chat with the Missionaries, where you can live chat with Mormon missionaries and ask them any questions you want. 

What We Believe - God's Plan for Us

Happy Sunday again! I'm continuing today with the "What We Believe" series of posts that I started a couple weeks ago. Today I want to talk about another basic thing we believe - what God's plan for us is. With the gospel, we understand who we are and what our purpose is. It gives us perspective and helps us feel peace and hope.

It's easiest to look at this in three parts - where we were before this life, what we're doing in this life, and where we're going after we die.

Where did I come from?

Before we lived here on this earth, we lived with God in heaven. God is the father of our spirits. We are literally his children; that's why we call him "Heavenly Father." God loves us and wants us to enjoy all the blessings that he has; but we couldn't do that if we stayed in heaven and never got a body and never had to choose between right and wrong.

So God created a perfect plan that would enable us to come to earth, gain bodies, gain experience, and return to him. We understood and accepted the plan before we came here.

Under the direction of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ created the earth as a place for us to live and gain experience. In order to progress and become like God, each of us had to obtain a body and be tested during a time of probation on the earth. While on the earth we are out of God’s physical presence. We do not remember our pre-earth life. We must walk by faith rather than by sight.

Why am I here?

We are here to get physical bodies, gain experience, and to use our agency to make the choices that will help us become like Heavenly Father. In a nutshell, we are here to become more like God.

Jesus Christ is central to this plan - Heavenly Father's plan. God knew that we wouldn't be perfect when we lived here, and we would make mistakes. But "no unclean thing" can dwell in his presence - so how could we return to him? This is where Christ comes in. It was always in God's plan that Jesus would come to the earth and live a perfect life so that he could redeem the rest of us - and he did. Because of Christ's perfect life and sacrifice, if we repent, his atonement pays for our sins and we are clean again. This is what enables us to return to live with Heavenly Father.

Additionally, Christ's resurrection (coming back to life) allowed each of us to also be resurrected - and to live again (in our perfected, physical bodies, never to die again) after we die.

Where am I going after I die?

For a time, before the judgement, we will live in what's called "the spirit world." This will be a place of peace and rest for those who chose to obey God during our mortal life. Those who did not obey God and did not repent will be unhappy. In the spirit world, the gospel is preached to those who did not obey the gospel and those who did not have the opportunity to hear it while on this earth. If they accept the gospel in the spirit world, it will be like as if they had accepted it here.

After a time, our bodies and spirits will be brought back together through the resurrection, and we will stand before God to be judged. We will remember everything we've done - both good and bad. If we've repented, we will receive mercy. Because God rewards us according to our works and desires, and everyone's not just all good or all bad, there are different kingdoms of glory to which me may be assigned after the judgement.

Those who continued in their sins and did not repent in this life will receive their reward in the lowest kingdom, which is called the telestial kingdom. This kingdom is compared to the glory of the stars.

People who do not accept the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ but live honorable lives will receive a place in the terrestrial kingdom. This kingdom is compared to the glory of the moon.

Those who have repented of their sins and received the ordinances of the gospel and kept the associated covenants will be cleansed by the Atonement of Christ. They will receive exaltation in the highest kingdom, also known as the celestial kingdom. They will live in God’s presence, become like Him, and receive a fulness of joy. They will live together for eternity with those of their family who qualify. In the scriptures this kingdom is compared to the glory or brightness of the sun.

*****

And so that's God's plan for us - which, in the scriptures, is called a merciful plan, the plan of salvation, the plan of redemption, and the plan of happiness. God wants us to be happy, and wants us to be able to enjoy all of the blessings that he has.

"For behold, this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."  - Moses 1:39

Resources you might be interested in:

• God's Plan of Salvation, a page explaining God's plan for us
• Mormon.org, a website filled with answers to frequently asked questions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Chat with the Missionaries, where you can live chat with Mormon missionaries and ask them any questions you want. 

What We Believe - God

Good morning! I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday. Today is the second post in my "What We Believe" series, and I'll be focusing on another fundamental of our faith - we believe in God.

(I'll be quoting a little bit from this page today, because it explains a little more clearly than I can.)

We believe in God. He is real. We believe that he is our Heavenly Father. We are His children. He has a body of flesh and bone that is glorified and perfected. He loves us. He weeps with us when we suffer and rejoices when we do what is right. He wants to communicate with us, and we can communicate with Him through sincere prayer.

Heavenly Father has a plan for us. He has given us this experience on the earth so we can learn and grow. We can show our love for Him through our choices and our obedience to His commandments.

Prayer is how I feel closest to Heavenly Father - I know that he listens to each and every one of our prayers. He knows and cares about us individually. I have felt his love so strongly in my life, and I feel it strongest when I am praying and communicating with him. know that God is real. I know that he knows and loves each of us individually. He wants us to be happy, and to return to him.


There is a simply child's hymn which I think sums it all up well. It's called "I Know My Father Lives." (If you'd like to listen to the music, you can do so here.)

"I know my Father lives and loves me too.

The Spirit whispers this to me and tells me it is true,

and tells me it is true."

"He sent me here to earth, by faith to live his plan.

The Spirit whispers this to me and tells me that I can,

and tells me that I can."

Resources you might be interested in:

• God's Plan of Salvation, a page explaining what God's plan for us is (I'll talk more about this next week)
• Mormon.org, a website filled with answers to frequently asked questions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Chat with the Missionaries, where you can live chat with Mormon missionaries and ask them any questions you want. 

Shutterfly Photo Book Review

I will never get tired of talking about photo books - I just love them. I could talk about them for hours. I think they are such a great way to get the pictures out of my camera and computer and into a format that my family can enjoy. And, lucky for me, I have a husband with infinite patience who will listen to me talk about them every day, all day long.

I've been making photo books since 2010. I don't remember how I first learned about them, but I do know the first company I really knew the name of was Shutterfly, and they were the place I went to when I wanted to make one. The first photo book I made was an 8x8 book of our honeymoon, for Jason for his birthday. When it came, I think I liked it even more than he did. (Man, I'm like those people that give golf clubs or something to their spouse, when their spouse doesn't golf and they do.)

During the rest of 2010 I made a few more 8x8 books, but in 2011 didn't really do anything with photo books until the end of the year. That's I got bit by the "record my personal history" bug - and I've never recovered. I decided that I wanted to document my entire life in photobooks, and I've been working on that since.

At some point, I researched all the photo book companies (either in 2010 or 2011), and decided to stick with Shutterfly for most of my projects because they seemed like the best fit for me in quality and price. (To see the different reviews I read, check out this post: Photobook Comparisons.) In total, I've made fifteen books with Shutterfly, and I thought it was high time I finally wrote a review on them. So, bear with me for how long this post is - I guess I've got a lot to share after having made so many Shutterfly books!

Shutterfly

Website: www.shutterfly.com
Number of photo books I've made with Shutterfly: 15

Software

For the most part,  the software is fine. It can be buggy, and there are some improvements I'd like to see made, but overall it's not at all bad to work with. You upload your pictures to the Shutterfly site and work on your book online, so you can access it from any computer (which is great). They have a large selection of page layouts, backgrounds, and embellishments. On top of that, you can fully customize each page's layout until everything is just where you want it, in the dimensions that you want it. One thing I wish Shutterfly would implement, though, is being able to save your custom layouts. Some layouts I alter in similar ways over and over again - I'd like to be able to save it so I could just select my customized layout without having to do it all over again. But, overall, the software is just fine.

Paper Quality

Very good. I've always liked Shutterfly's paper; it's nice and thick, and I've never noticed any bleed-through (being able to see the picture on the other side of the page). It's good paper.

Photo Quality

Shutterfly's photo quality is very good. In the earlier books (the ones I made in 2010), the pictures were more grainy, but they seem to have gotten better over time. The pictures are very clear and bright. With other photo companies, I've had problems with the pictures sometimes turning out too dark, but I've never had that problem with Shutterfly. With those companies, I now know I have to brighten images before uploading them to the software. With Shutterfly, I don't have to worry about that. I know it's hard to illustrate printing quality with a picture of a picture, but here's an attempt:

Nice, bright, and clear.

This is the first book I made, printed in 2010. You can tell (or at least my very picky eyes can) that the picture's a bit more grainy. 

Printed earlier this year (2013) - nice and clear.

Binding

Shutterfly's binding is good, but it can look a little bit different on every book you get. Here's the binding on a bunch of the books compared; I'll give you the page number and dimensions.

20-page 8x8 book:

20 page 8x8 book:

111-page 8x11 book:

20-page 8x11  book:

52-page 8x11 book:

20-page 8x8 book:

The binding on the four 8x11s:

And five 8x8s:

I have had a problem with the binding before, but it was successfully resolved by customer service. Last year, I ordered a 20 page 8x8 book. When the book arrived and I was flipping through the pages, I noticed that I could see right down to the glue between two of the middle pages. You shouldn't be able to see that - usually the pages are tight enough that it would take real effort to see down that far. But there it was. The pages seemed very vulnerable along that seem - they laid too flat and seemed like they could come off really easily. Here's a picture I took at the time:

So, I contacted Shutterfly customer service and explained the problem - and they offered to send me a free new copy of the book, with free 2-day shipping! I was very impressed with their customer service, and when the new book came it had no problems with the binding. So my take-away message with the binding is this: in general, it's very good. And on the occasions that, for some reason, it isn't good, customer service will replace your book with no hassle.

Cover

The cover quality at Shutterfly is very good. I always go for the regular hardcover. They have a couple different options - softcover, matte, padded, cloth, leather - that I haven't tried and I'm not likely to. I have done the premium leather cover for my layflat wedding album, but that's something I'm reviewing next month and I'll talk about it then.

Here are the covers of my 8x11s:

I do wish Shutterfly offered more cover layouts in their software. You can customize the layouts - add more pictures, move things around, etc - and while I don't mind doing that with the inside page layouts, I'd like to have some more ready-made cover options for the covers available. For some reason, they don't offer the "Get more layouts" option in the software for the cover like they do for the inside pages. You either have to choose from one of their smallish selection of cover layouts, or go into customization. I don't know why they just don't offer the same, full selection of layouts for the cover that they do for the inside pages.

Here are the spines:

And the backs:

And the 8x8s:

Book Sizes

Shutterfly offers a lot of sizes of photo books. They recently added a couple more, and now have (height x width) 5x7, 7x9, 8x8, 8x11, 10x10, 12x12, and 11x14 photo books.  I've always made 8x8 or 8x11 books. When I first started making photo books, I always made the 8x8 size because they're cheaper and Shutterfly often has "free 8x8 book" promotions. But before I made my Girls' Camp book, I did some calculations and realized that 8x11 books (which are actually 8.75x11) had 96.25 square inches of space per page vs. 64 inches per page in the 8x8 books - and that's a big difference! For a 20-page book, you get 645 more square inches to put pictures on. And ever since I made and received my first 8x11 book, I definitely prefer that size. I still make 8x8 books sometimes - they're great gifts, and they're a good size for a "single event" (one birthday, or photoshoot, or vacation) type of book. But for the types of books I usually make (year reviews and the like), 8x11s work better.

Here's an 8x8 book compared to an 8x11 (really 8.75x11) book:

Page Layouts

Shutterfly offers a very large selection of page layouts, and full customization on top of that. I use the customization feature pretty often, to nudge pictures and text around or to change dimensions and sizes of pictures.

Here are all of the page layouts in some of my 8x11 books, and the layouts of some of my 8x8 books. You can flip through the pages by clicking the buttons. (For mobile users - I don't think the embedded widget will work for you guys. I'll post a couple regular pictures of layouts after these widget things.)

My "Girls' Camp" photo book, the first 8x11 I ever made:

                                        Click here to view this photo book larger

Below is the book that covers my junior year at BYU, the year Jason and I were engaged. I went more "digital scrapbooking" with this book, creating my own layouts in Photoshop, using my own backgrounds, and then uploading them to Shutterfly. I like how the book turned out, but I'm still more of a just-do-it-all-on-the-website type of person:

                                       Click here to view this photo book larger

And here's my "Freshman and Sophomore Years at BYU" book. I think this one might be my very favorite of all:

                                 Click here to view this photo book larger

Some 8x8 layouts:

                                        Click here to view this photo book larger

                                   Click here to view this photo book larger

For the mobile users: Here are a couple 8x11 layouts -

And a couple 8x8 layouts:

Page Count

Shutterfly books start at 20 pages and can go up to 111 pages. Additional pages have an additional price per page (which is different based on the dimensions of the book you're making). When books go on sale, extra pages go on sale too.

Here's the thickness of a 20-page 8x11 book compared to a 111-page 8x11 book:

Price

Shutterfly is very reasonably priced, if you buy order your books during their sales and use special offer codes. I've gotten really, really good deals by stacking special offer codes and sale prices.

Things I've learned over the course of making so many Shutterfly photobooks:

• I personally prefer the 8x11 size. I can fit more pictures on each page and I like the layouts better. I like the size in my hands and on my shelf.
• In general, I prefer more pictures on a page vs. less. It's just how I like to tell the story. I made my first couple books intuitively like this, but then after reading a lot of reviews on the website Photobookgirl and her saying that she recommends not putting more than 6 pictures per page, I began to question my methods. "Maybe I should be putting less," I thought. "That way each picture will get more attention." So that's what I did with the "First Half of 2011" book that I made this year - I spaced out the pictures a lot more and put less on each page. And you know what? When I finished, ordered, and received that photobook, I liked those layouts the least of all. That's just not my style. I've learned just to trust my instincts about what I think looks good. And that's what you should do, too - trust what you like.
• Feel free to use as many pages as you need to tell the story. When I first started making photo books, I felt very constrained about making sure I didn't go over the first 20 pages, because I didn't want to pay for each additional page. But you know what? The extra pages are worth it. And they're usually on sale, and don't cost that much anyway. Just this week, by stacking several deals, I got an 82-page 8x11 book for $18.77, including shipping. Just do it. Just use as many pages as you want. It's worth it.
• To get the best prices: Always, always, always wait for a sale. Sign your email up with Shutterfly so that you get their coupons and special codes in your email. Search online for promo codes before you order anything. Like them on Facebook so you see the deals they post to their Facebook page. When I buy Shutterfly books, it's almost always with at least one special offer code AND during a sale, so that the offers stack on top of each other.

Whew! That was one long review. If you have any questions about Shutterfly or my experience with them, feel free to ask! Happy photo book making!

To check out more of my photo book reviews, check out these posts:

Shutterfly Premium Leather Layflat Photo Book Review
Shutterfly Calendar Review
York Photo Photo Book Review
MyPublisher Photo Book Review
AdoramaPix Photo Book Review
Collage.com Photo Book Review
Photo Book Comparisons

What We Believe - Jesus Christ

I've been thinking for a while about writing a series of posts that explain more about what we believe. As most of you know, Jason and I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And I love it. And it makes me so happy. And it has been the biggest blessing in my life, of all my blessings, my whole life.

Because my faith makes me so happy, I want to share it with you, and explain exactly what we actually have faith in. I'm going to break it down into a series of weekly posts, until it's all here.

The first, and most important thing about what we believe:

We believe in Jesus Christ.

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." 
- 2 Nephi 25:26

We believe that he is the son of God. We believed that he came to earth (just like us) and lived a perfect life (not like us), and because he was perfect and committed no sins, he was able to pay the price for our sins. He suffered in the garden of Gethsemane and died on the cross to pay for our sins. Because of this atonement we will be able to live with God after we die, even though we've lived imperfect lives here. Jesus Christ saved us, which is why he is called our Savior, and our Redeemer. 

          "He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New. Under the direction of His Father, He was the creator of the earth. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). Though sinless, He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), yet was despised for it. His gospel was a message of peace and goodwill. He entreated all to follow His example. He walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead. He taught the truths of eternity, the reality of our premortal existence, the purpose of our life on earth, and the potential for the sons and daughters of God in the life to come.

          "He instituted the sacrament as a reminder of His great atoning sacrifice. He was arrested and condemned on spurious charges, convicted to satisfy a mob, and sentenced to die on Calvary’s cross. He gave His life to atone for the sins of all mankind. His was a great vicarious gift in behalf of all who would ever live upon the earth." - The Living Christ 

In addition to saving us from spiritual death, Jesus also saved us from physical death. As the son of a mortal mother (Mary) and an immortal father (God), he was able to take up his life again after he died. He rose from the tomb, which is called being "resurrected." And because he was resurrected and broke the bands of death, we will all be resurrected, too. After we die, we will live again - not just as spirits, but with our perfected, immortal bodies. 

Jesus Christ loves us individually. He knows each one of us. He wants us to be happy. To show us how to be happy, he has given us commandments. Keeping the commandments leads us to happiness and peace. When Jesus says to "Come follow me," he means to come know him, learn who he is and his love for us, and keep his commandments. If we follow him and try to be like him, we will be happy.

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." - Revelation 3:20

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and First Presidency of our church has said:

"We solemnly testify that His life, which is central to all human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary. He was the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world. 

"We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son." - The Living Christ

I'd like to add my witness to theirs that I know Jesus Christ is the son of God. He is our Savior. He lives. He loves us. He wants us to be happy. I know these things are true. I have felt them in my life.

If you have any questions about what I've written here, feel free to contact me through email or leave a comment.


Resources you might be interested in:

• Jesus Christ, Savior & Redeemer, a page on our church's website that explains what Jesus Christ means to us, how he is our Savior, what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ, and how to follow him
• Mormon.org, a website filled with answers to frequently asked questions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• The Living Christ, a testimony of Jesus Christ
• Chat with the Missionaries, where you can live chat with Mormon missionaries and ask them any questions you want.