Preach My Gospel: "My Testimony" by Sharon Hansen

Dear Sisters, I asked Sister Hansen to write this up for me for our August newsletter, but it's too great not to pass on. It's plain to see, Sister Hansen will be a fabulous addition to our Relief Society. Penny Freeman

From: Sharon Hansen
Date: Sun, Jul 6, 2008 at 10:41 AM

Dear Sisters: Sister Freeman has invited me to take a minute and share my testimony with you, thank you for this opportunity Sister Freeman.

What a wonderful opportunity it has been for my husband and I to accept a call to serve in the Houston Texas Mission. We love everything about Texas including ya'll, howdy & fixin to, blue bonnets, Blue Bell ice cream and Texas BBQ, the members of the Olde Oaks Ward, the temple and our dear Missionaries. We love the Lord and have great gratitude for his precious resurrection and atonement for us all.

I think of the magnificient scene on the day Jesus was baptized as referenced in Matt. 3:16, where we have a witness of God the Father, his son Jesus Christ and that great testifier, the Holy Ghost. You might remember that when the Savior arose from the waters of baptism the heavens opened and the spirit of God descended like a dove, witnessing the Holy Ghost. Then followed, "Behold this is my beloved son...", verifying the presence of the Father, as the Savior stood before those who were present. What a sacred event.

I testify of the reality of these three. They live! They extend tender mercies upon us daily, as we are tutored through lifes experiences learning good from evil. I love the words in 2 Ne. 25: 26 "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".

I look forward to meeting each one of you and pray to walk arm in arm with you as disciples these next three year. With love and in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Blog of the Week: I Love Pretty Paper

I Love Pretty Paper

• In the interest of full disclosure, I should state here that the author of this blog, Tomi Ann Hill, is my niece -- one of my favorite, in point of fact. However, the dipping into my gene pool hasn't prevented her from becoming a fabulously talented and creative person. I have very carefully avoided catching pretty paper preoccupation, but I know some of you have it bad, so here it is.
• If you are into scrap-booking or card-making, this is truly a great site. Not only does Tomi share tons of photos of her charming ideas, but she also gives step-by-step instructions on how to make them. She reviews her wide assortment of tools, introduces new papers and other materials, and shares tips and secrets on how she works her magic.
• Finally, her list of links to other paper-craft sites and blogs is extensive, many of which are absolutely fabulous. If you are inclined to venture into the wonderland which is the world of paper craft, Tomi's site is the perfect rabbit hole in which to fall. http://tomiannie.blogspot.com.
  

Today's Additions

• I found a few more files on my computer from our Southern Comfort Cooking Club Class, the recipes for cornbread casserole, broccoli cornbread, and lemon squares which have been added to the site.
• Link of the Week: Geni: Everyone's Related http://geni.com
• The sub-index pages of the OORS Google Group now appear more uniform.
  

Link of the Week

Geni: Everyone's Related

Whether you're a serious genealogist or simply looking for ways to strengthen the connections with your family, Geni is a great place to start. A social networking site with a twist, Geni's construct is family connections, and only your family can see your family tree. More than just a family history site, its purpose is to put people in contact with one another.

The screen-capture above shows a bit of my family tree page, zoomed out to conceal the names, with a navigation bar at the bottom giving a wide-angle view. You can see the chart even goes off both ends of that. (The white square left of center represents me, while the top blue square represents my 3rd great-grandfather, William Nuttall.

Geni has lots of features, like places to compile contact lists, photo albums to share and in which to tag family members, email birthday reminders, etc. My favorite is the tie-in. When I started this, I added my parents' family, including the in-laws, but then my sisters-in-law added their own connections. If I click on their name, their family tree is altogether different, showing connections to their in-laws, and so on. It creates a fabulous web of connection and an awareness history of not only yourself, but those who touch you.

Back to William Nuttall: if you could explore his connections (which you can't unless you're related to him), you would see that one of his sons was my 2nd great-grandfather, while another was the 1st great-grandfather of our very own Ginger. I'm not certain if my mother or hers filled in the branches, but I know Ginger filled in her own family and her husband's, etc., and so forth, and so it goes and goes and goes.

Best of all, if some other descendant of his multitudinous children started on Geni entirely unaware of my existence, when they entered William Nuttall, Geni would notify them of more of William's descendants claiming him as the guy who crossed The Pond and then the plains to worship as he pleased and dedicate his life to service of the Lord. We could then tie in our family with theirs if it suited us.

It's also a great resource for doing your family history. My father stumbled upon one of his second or third cousins, they connected their own information with ours, and together we clarified some of the confusion inherent in trying to keep track of the progeny of a man living more than a hundred years ago, with four wives, half named Olga and the other half Katrina

Preach My Gospel

LDSBlogs.com

• As a forum of discussion, with posts from many different contributors, this site is an ideal reference for positive information about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and yet independent of it. Share this with those investigating the Gospel who want to hear the voice of 'normal' people. Like FAIRlds.org, LDSBlogs.com is not owned or affiliated with the Church, expresses the views only of the contributors and not necessarily those of its sponsor, The More Good Foundation, also unaffiliated with the Church. However, LDSBlogs.net is, well, a blog and based on opinion by its very nature, whereas FAIRlds.org addresses the issues from a more scholarly angle.
• The More Good Foundation also sponsors several other web pages and applications, including the LDS application on Facebook, Mormon Testimonies, and LDSFind.com, a Mormon search engine.
• Their Share The Gospel Online offers several excellent suggestions as to how you can follow Elder Ballard's counsel.