Sabbath Day Talk

On Sunday, June 13 I gave a talk in church on keeping the sabbath day holy. Alot of people wonder about our Sunday rules. This talk explains it....

The Sabbath Day

Hi, I’m Mandi Johnson and Brother Edwards asked me to speak on Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy.

Let’s start with the definition and the commandment.

The Sabbath is the Lord's day, set apart each week for rest and worship. In Old Testament times, God's covenant people observed the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week because God rested on the seventh day when He had created the earth. After the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which occurred on the first day of the week, the Lord's disciples began observing the Sabbath on the first day of the week, Sunday (see Acts 20:7).

The Sabbath can be a joyful day.

Doctrine and Covenants 59: 13 And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be full. D&C 59:13

It is definitely a day of rest for us, but a different kind of rest—a rest from the worries of the world and a rest from the things that distract us from the Lord.

Because the Sabbath is a holy day, it should be reserved for worthy and holy activities. Abstaining from work and recreation is not enough. In fact, those who merely lounge about doing nothing on the Sabbath fail to keep the day holy. In a revelation given to Joseph Smith in 1831, the Lord commanded: "That thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day; for verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High" (D&C 59:9-10).

Here are some things that President Ezra Taft Benson said are good to DO on Sunday.
“—Engage in activities that contribute to greater spirituality.
“—Attend essential Church meetings in the house of prayer.
“—Acquire spiritual knowledge by reading the scriptures, Church history and biographies, and the inspired words of our Church leaders.
“—Rest physically, get acquainted with your family, relate scriptural stories to your children, and bear your testimony to build family unity.
“—Visit the sick and aged.
“—Sing the songs of Zion and listen to inspiring music.
“—Pay devotions to the Most High through prayer (personal and family), fasting, administration, and father’s blessings.
“—Prepare food with a singleness of heart: simple meals prepared largely on Saturday.
“—Remember that Sunday is the Lord’s day, a day to do his work.”

We receive great blessings for keeping this commandment.

He has promised that if we obey this commandment, we will receive "the fulness of the earth" (see D&C 59:16-20).

Why should we keep the Sabbath day holy? Because it is a commandment but it is also a blessing. In giving us the Sabbath as His day, the Lord has actually given us a gift of time. The Lord knows we need a day of rest. Regardless of the type of work we do, we need to renew our bodies by resting from physical labor. We need to refresh our minds by using them in a different way. We need to feed our spirits by worshiping the Lord. The Sabbath is our opportunity to take care of these needs, develop spiritually, and find joy and peace. The Sabbath should be the best day of the week. The Latter Day Saint Women: Basic Manual for Women, Part B The Sabbath Day

The Sabbath Day can help us step away from the world and not let it influence us.

Elder Tingey said, “Several years ago I accompanied President Gordon B. Hinckley to a regional conference in which he expressed to the priesthood brethren some of his concerns about members of the Church. One of his concerns was “our tendency to take on the ways of the world.” He then said: “We don’t adopt them immediately, but we slowly take them on, unfortunately. I wish I had the power to convert this whole Church to the observance of the Sabbath. I know our people would be more richly blessed of the Lord if they would walk in faithfulness in the observance of the Sabbath” When President Hinckley expressed concern that our people may “take on the ways of the world” by not observing the Sabbath day, I thought of the revelation of the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith in the 59th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. In verse nine, the Lord states, “And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day.” Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy By Elder Earl C. Tingey
Of the Presidency of the Seventy

One way to more effectively keep the Sabbath day holy is to prepare in advance. Elder Benson gave us the following additional suggestions. These practical suggestions might well be performed by all members of the family, with husband and wife and all children cooperating together before the Sabbath in order to be prepared and ready for the Sabbath:

“—Houseclean, straighten up, refuel the car, and prepare clothing and meals in advance on Saturday.
“—Provide for recreation and amusements during the week and provide for a holiday during the week, if possible.
“—Get a good rest on Saturday night.”

3 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall give thee rest, from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve. (2 Nephi 24:3)

I feel that the Sabbath day is a really good and refreshing day. Its always a relief when it comes because I don’t have to go to school and I don’t have to do any chores and it is always a good day to work on personal progress and get closer to Heavenly Father. I always look forward to it. Even when school is out and it seems like just the same as any other day, it is still special and I love that Heavenly Father gave us a day to relax from the world.

Baby Boy!

My mom is about to have a baby boy this February. She is starting to look really big. This would be our sixth kid. Thats a lot of kids, but we plan to have more! I hope.

Sister Wilson's Primary Class Party

Sister Wilson was our primary teacher last year. She has all these fun class parties. Just last week, we had another one. It started with her picking us up in her awesome bright red car. Paige, Holly, Hannah and I couldn't wait to party!


When we got there, she went right to the garage and brought out the first puppy, Mr. Big, and handed him to me. Isn't he cute??!!

She kept going back and bringing out puppies until everyone had a favorite. She even let us name some of the unnamed puppies! Of course, we named our favorites after ourselves.

I had two favorites, Mandi and Mr. Big. I held both of them and kept track of them. On the left is Mr. Big. On the right is Mandi.

Here they are again Mandi, Mr. Big and BJ. BJ wasn't my favorite, but nobody would go near him since he pooped on the floor twice.

When it was time to go, I could tell all the puppies were sad to see us leave. We had had so much fun together!

Oregon Trip

On June 19, 2008 we left for Oregon for a family reunion. It was so much fun!!
All of our cousins came. On the left is Sarah, Janie, and me. In front of me is Tessa. At the end of every family reunion, we have pictures. This is me in front of grandma's huge pine tree.
We got to ride horses on the fourth of July. I rode Tubby.
There were a lot of horses tide up to fences that we could pet and look at.Every chance we got we would go boating in grandpa's new motor boat.

On are way to the Skillet Handle!! It was very pretty and grandpa tought us the fine art of grass chewing.
We brought Pepper and let her go. She ran and ran and ran. She always came back though.
Our theme this year was cowboy. We were all supposed to dress up like cowboys and cowgirls.
Grandma tought me and Sarah to sew and we each sewed an apron.
June 8, was grandpa's birthday. He got an ipod, candy, and gum. He turned 60 and wasn't too happy about it.
We roasted marshmallows two nights during the trip.We went golfing almost every day. Sarah and I loved it.
Grandpa was a pottery champ and tought us how to do pottery on the wheel. I made a plate a bowl and a little pot.


We went kite flying. It was so much fun!! Only Ben's, Sarah's, and mine went up.

Me and Ben flying our kites together.


Today is Sunday. We had to leave tomorrow. I gave Pepper like a million hugs before we left.

I love Oregon!!!

Killing Hike

On November 20, 2007 in the week of Thanksgiving, we drove to the Grapevine lake to go letterboxing. Letterboxing is when you look someone's letterbox on the internet and it will give you clues to were the stamp or letterbox may be. When you find it, you put your stamp in the logbook that will be in the box you find and their stamp in yours. Now you have found a letterbox! This is such a pretty trail, right on the water. This was quite a hike! At least a two mile trip. We didn't like it at all. Mom was so proud of us tired kids. Audrey wanted to walk a large part of it. That made it take even longer. About halfway there, we weren't entirely sure that we were on the right trail. We thought about going back but I was determined and encouraged them on. Ben agreed. We had to vote and Andrew was given hope. He didn't complain but he could hardly lift his feet. We kept going and saw the bridge that ment both stamps were close. When we found the letterboxes, we were so happy. It felt good to know that we didn't have to go any farther. We were all so tired. The walk back along the H2O was faster, shorter and more fun but it was still a long, long ways. Audrey fell asleep so mom held her and Andrew's hand on the steep and gravelly parts. We could see the car across the way.It sure helped to see your destination in sight.

I started off needing mom's jacket. I didn't need it very long though!

Braces

On April 24, 2008 I got my braces. I really like the colors I got, blue and green. My orthodontist is great, his name is Dr. Shroeder. I have a really good friend in my 4th grade class named Isabella (she goes by Izzy) who also goes to Dr. Shroeder. She has braces and we always think of ourselves as twins. A few weeks before the 24th, I got an impression. If you don't know what that means it is a way to make a model of your mouth. They put flavored molds on a cup thing that fits in your mouth, then they stick in and hold it there for 25 seconds. when it is done, it dries and you have a model of your mouth! It didn't hurt at all when they put the braces on. When I got there we had to wait a really long time in the waiting room, probably about 30 minutes. But when they were finally ready for us, I went to get an x-ray of my mouth. They said they had to do that for records. Then I came into the room were they do the braces and other stuff, I sat down in the chair and they took a lot more pictures. They said they had to do another impression, but I think they changed their minds. Then finally it was time to get on with the braces. They used a green thing to hold my mouth open and wide. With that in there they put the cement on my teeth and then the brackets. The brackets are the metal part of braces that the wire goes through. To dry the cement faster they shined a bright blue light on my teeth. Then they scraped off the rest of the cement that didn't need to be there. Then they told me to rinse. At the sinks I looked at myself in the mirror. I think I looked really cool. When I was done I went back to the chair and they put the green thing back in. Then they stuck the wire through the bracket and told me to pick a color. I asked them how many colors I could get and they said I could have as many as I wanted. I chose two colors, blue and green. Now that the braces were on, we had a lot of things to talk about. They told me what kinds of food I can and can't eat and talked about a lot more things I didn't and still don't understand. Then we could leave. At the front desk mom made more appointments for me. Right as we were about to walk out the door, the orthodontist came running out and gave us the dried impression of my mouth that they took a few weeks ago. I got to get a milkshake and didn't have to go back to school that day.

I LOVE MY BRACES!

My Horses History

I started riding horses when I was seven. I’ve been to lots of really cool places, Ride with Pride was first, Wagon Wheel second, then Showtime Farms, and last, Shady Oaks. The history of all these places is a very long story, but I will tell it to you anyway. I went to Ride With Pride for about a year and decided that I wanted to go to a more advanced place and went to Wagon Wheel. In between all that I met a really nice girl named Katie.

Mandi is on John and Katie is on Rio.

She liked horses as much as I did. We also noticed we had a lot in common. Well, we wanted to take horseback riding lessons together and went to all of these places together starting with Wagon Wheel. I was there for a really long time but then I got the news that they were moving their ranch to far away in Texas. So we had to find another place to take lessons. We had heard a lot of great things about Showtime Farms and went there. The lessons were only thirty minutes long and it was really expensive so we looked for another place. We found Shady Oaks and that’s where Katie and I go to this very day. There are four horses. Their names are, Sinclair, Sandy, Tia, and Doc. We ride Sandy and Tia. The teacher of Sandy is a really nice teenager named Charlotte. She owns Sinclair also, but she just got him and is warming him up to the new place and to herself. Tia’s owner, Carol, teaches me dressage on Tia.