Testimony

"I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the Christ and Savior of the world...that he died for my sins and was resurrected. I know that I am saved by grace and not by works and will inherit heaven upon that principle. I also only know that God hears and answers prayer. I know all this not only by the feeling I have from the inner witness of the Holy Ghost but by the reliability of God's Word, the Bible, which declares it to be so. And, I also know that because of my relationship with Christ, Jesus has changed my life and continues
to bless me."

I am reading a book and this is the woman's testimony. I thought about writing my own, but it would have said the same thing. That I know. I know. I know. that I love and worship a God who is a "consuming fire," (Hebrews 12:29)

What's your testimony?

Hiking, and a personal revelation.

Saturday brought allergies, sweat, aching muscles and holes in clothes. Further explanation? Happy to.

Bright and early found us in Provo, hiking Y mountain. Holy guacamole, hiking to the Y is no piece of cake. (Did you like the two food references?) None the less, I persevered, downing my water by the 4th switchback and thinking how much altitude vs. sea level sucks.

Mid-hike view of Provo

My wheezing stopped (well, lets be fair, it slowed down) when we reached the large concrete Y. The view was absolutely breathtaking. I felt like I was standing on top of the world. (Did you know the Y is 380 feet high, making it larger than the Hollywood Sign in California?)

Trivia brought to you free.

Sitting in the middle of the Y

After trekking back down the mountain we drove to the Provo Temple for picture taking purposes. See all the pink roses? I can't even begin to describe how sweet the air smelled.

And ok, I know the Salt Lake Temple is every one's crème brûlée, but I happen to think the Provo Temple is the prettiest one I have seen. Salt Lake? Surrounded by buildings. Manti? Middle of nowhere. Provo? Mountains, my friends.

Our next adventure (are you tired yet?) led us to Bridal Veil Falls nestled in the Provo Canyon. There was a nice paved trail to the very bottom of the falls. To get to the falls themselves was a different story.

My acrylic nails helped me scratch myself up all of those rocks to the very top. My pants were wet, Nike's drenched. I didn't care though. I just plopped down on a rock, let the waterfall mist me with fresh water, and snapped a ton of pictures.

Pants after all the hiking. Tore hole in butt. Not picture worthy.

Manti Temple at night

For added fatigue, we drove a near two hours for the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti. If you're Mormon, this is like, a right of passage. It's a big deal.

I'm talking about thousands of people gathered to watch the finding of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith's death, Brigham Young leading the Mormons to Utah, and so on.

Back to the story. We arrived really early to gurantee one of the 14,000 seats available and then walked the streets of downtown Manti. We ate dinner at a local diner and then splurged on chocolate covered strawberries.

There were Christian picketers there with a cross, passing out information of our/my Jesus vs. Mormon Jesus. I had never been around controversy like it. They weren't rude, demanding, ignorant or mean in any way. But you could certainly feel the tension.

And then I thought, would I be with the picketers? Is that the right approach? Do I belong at a Mormon pageant, being not of that particular faith?

Alas, I sat in my chair and watched the play. It was interesting. It was good. The picketers left and I had a personal revelation. I am not Mormon. I am not Church of Christ. I won't label my faith.

I am a follower of Jesus Christ. A lover of God. Someone who feels the Holy Spirit deep in my soul.

And that, my friends, was Saturday.

The Spradlin Children (& more...)

Are you getting tired of me saying how amazing Utah is? I hope not, because I am not tired of being here! Like all other days spent here, it was wonderful.

We woke up and went to lunch at Bajio. I had a delectable salad complete with chicken, sweet rice, fresh greens, pico de gayo, and black beans. It was all piled on top of a warm, Bajio-made tortilla.

Afterwards Kaylee and I had our nails done in the Provo mall and then I purchased a CTR (Choose the Right) ring. Because we all need a little reminder from time to time. No- just me?

While here, Kaylee and I have been staying with her aunt and uncle, Carli & Kevin, and their 3 crazy sweet children, Samantha, Jessica, and Tyler.

We babysat them tonight while Carli and Kevin drove into Salt Lake for a concert. Since Father's Day is Sunday we decided to let the kids bake him a cake. It was somewhat of a disaster, but a fun one!

The many faces of Tyler...




I so don't want to leave...

Temple Square in Salt Lake City

This is the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. It seats 21,000 Mormons for their bi-annual conference. The organ in the picture is one of the largest in the world. Very pretty, I think. And huge- ginormous!

We also went on a tour of Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Temple Square has many buildings but the prettiest is the temple itself. I saw several brides taking pictures outside of the temple- a Mormon must. (Temple weddings, that is)

It was very pretty. Of course we couldn't go inside (especially me) but I'm sure it's equally as nice inside!

This is a statue of Jesus in the Visitors Center at Temple Square, where I was offered a Book of Mormon and a visit from "the" missionaries. I agreed politely.

Atop the Conference Center is a garden where there are trees and a variety of flowers. It was so neat to see such a lovely garden in the middle of Salt Lake City, with buildings and moutains in the distance.

Salt Lake City from the top of the Conference Center. I was aiming to get a shot of the mountains. It's impossible to truly capture their essence, but it is certainly my goal for the trip.

Even though I am not of the LDS faith, I was still able to appreciate their beliefs and their beautiful temples.

In other news, it is still 50 degrees here. See the snow on the moutains?

What the heck Utah? When is summer here?!

9 more days!

World Religion - Mormonism

Lately I've been very interested in learning about other religions.
In fact, I may sign up for a World Religions class at Harding.
My religion pick of yesterday/today to read up on was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. For short, Mormons.

Ya know, those dudes that come knocking on your door with a Book of Mormon? My interest in it was sparked by Kaylee, Nie Nie, and C Jane.
I was surprised at the controversy surrounding the Church.

I stumbled upon a blog last night of a woman who is going through the process of leaving the Church, Kelly. She made several statements about Mormon beliefs so I decided to investigate for myself.

Through Google and LDS headquarters, I found some basic beliefs/principles/practices of the Church. It definitely shed some light- I feel like most people still think of Mormons as polygamists.
Here's my fancy bulleted list of Mormon findings:

• They believe in the teachings of the Bible and the Book of Mormon
• Baptism for the dead (1 Corinth. 15:29)
• Sealing families (An ordinance performed in the temple eternally uniting a husband and wife, or children and their parents.)
• Levels of Heaven
• Pre-earth life
  & many other things which you can find here.

I am not Mormon but I find the religion interesting. If you are Mormon please comment with more information. As one of the most hotly debated religions, people are always interested in learning more!

I am also interested in learning about other Christian denominations and religion. What denomination do you consider yourself? Why do you believe what you do?