Mormons are Christians!

It seems there will always be those who are not in any way affiliated with our faith, and yet will attempt to define our beliefs.  On "Fox and Friends," the host, Ainsley Earhardt, was talking politics and claimed that Mitt Romney, "obviously not being a Christian," wouldn't appeal to Christian voters.  I honestly don't know why he thinks it's so obvious that Romney isn't a Christian, but if it is simply because he is a Mormon, then perhaps Earhardt just isn't that familiar with our faith.
Whatever Earhardt's motives for saying what he did however, I think it's important to make it very clear what we believe to anyone who has any doubt.  We do not have to attempt to convert everyone we meet, but there should be no question to them concerning our Christianity.  Yes, we are Christians! We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. We believe that there is "no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent" (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 3:17).

The Science of Peace

A speaker in church today was assigned the topic of Patience.  He brought up a very interesting observation.  The word "patience" in Spanish is "paciencia."  If you split that up into two words, it becomes, "paz" and "ciencia" which in English are "peace" and "science".  Therefore, patience is "the science of peace"!  If you think about it, it's really true! When we are patient, we feel at peace; we don't feel like we're running around worried and frustrated by life.  If all the world were more patient, there would be less crime and fewer wars.  Being patient encourages peace!

This is real!

I went on the ward temple trip today.  As always, it was a wonderfully peaceful experience.  Something else happened today though.  It was only for a moment, but I remember just getting an interesting feeling... it wasn't super strong, and it's kind of hard to describe...  In the Church we frequently talk about life after mortality, but I think we don't very often think about what that life is going to be like.  What will it be like to live for an eternity surrounded by our loved ones and in the presence of our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ?  The brief feeling I had was almost like comprehending for the first time in a long time that it really is going to happen one day.  We live our lives, constantly thinking about what we should or shouldn't do, but I realized that I don't think nearly as often about how my choices are going to affect my life after mortality as I do about how they will affect my mortal life.  But the temple, the commandments, and the entire Gospel are not just for our benefit during this life, but also the hereafter!