Funny in a sad way.

you know I am not sure if I really should have titled it this way. Maybe more of sad. I was just reading an article on ksl web site and in the religion pages it talked about the Catholic Church now putting into the works to have their Priests Psychologically screened before they can become priests. That way that the church can save themselves some headaches for the future as it happened several years ago with the priest molesting the young boys.
Than i look at what we have in the church. We have the Bishop, pre-screen in a way, each brother who after he turns 12 to hold the Priesthood. When a brother who is 18 and older is interviewed, there are some very direct questions that have to be answered. If they have been through the temple, other questions are added to make sure of his worthiness. All of it is done by the spirit of the Lord. The Catholics need an outside source to help them make sure these new guys are worthy to be priests. We go by the spirit of the Lord, where we have the blessings of discernment to find one worthy. I am grateful for a way the Lord can tell his servants by the spirit what they must do. When I had my court with the Bishopric, they knelt in prayer and in unanimous feeling, they felt I needed to have my blessings restored and work towards getting my blessings restored. I remember when the Lord wanted to show the Book of Mormon to the 3 witnesses, they all knelt in prayer, each one offered prayer. Martin Harris felt he was the one holding everyone back and he left. A glorious vision was opened to them that were there. After that, Joseph went to Martin and asked him what he needed to do to repent. Martin did as such and another vision was opened to them.
When we are united, in prayer, the spirit of discernment can be there. I know there has been times where a temple worker has stopped a session and asked if there was someone there that should not be. Someone got up and left the session. I wonder if the Catholics can do that in their confessionals. I think not. So just sharing something I thought was neat. Here is the link to the article.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27453318/

Too cute to pass up.

Chris and I found in JC Pennys a month or so ago a suit for Ben. we didn't at the time have the money to buy it, so we said when we did have it, we would. Well just a few weeks ago we found this suit in Wal-Mart and it was $10 cheaper than JCPennys. So we bought it. He looks so cute, he is the future Priesthood holder for our family, and boy is he sharp. Chris took the pic and sent it to me here at work and I have it on my desktop. So enjoy.

Counting the days

On Sunday morning I had an interview with my Stake President. It went rather well. He will make up his letter and then send the packet to SL to get it done. He says that if he does not hear back in 60 days he has to call down there and find out what is going on. Per information on the way it is done. So we shall see. So I titled this blog what it is. We should know something by Christmas. What a great gift that would be. My guess would be more of New Years, but we will see. I think of the last time I was able to attend the temple. It was in 97 and I lived in Seattle, or I had gone there to visit Barbara. Just over 11 years ago. It was to do the work for a name I got there while I was attending. The last time I was able to enter a temple was in 06 for the Sacramento temple open house. Someone from my messenger list who had been a member before but never was able to go to the temple, who lived in the area went to the open house themselves. They thought it was really beautiful. There was just one concern. There was a glass door between the ordinance room and the Celestial room that wasn't open. It wasn't until I went there and understood what she was meaning. In the days of Solomons temple and even the days of moses when they built their temple, there was a space between the ordinance rooms and the holy of hollies that was most sacred and was a place for the Priests who were to officiate in the HoH's could prep themselves and enter that most holy and sacred place. We have the same in our temples. It is a preparatory place where, as the Prophet Brigham Young said in his Discourses, that as we enter heaven, we give unto the Angels who stand as sentinels, the key gifts we receive when we are at the temple. That place symbolises the angels who stand waiting to accept the gifts and allow one to enter the HoH's. It must have been a little different in the times of the Old Testament, as they were looking for a Savior to come.
Yes it has been some time since I have gone, but the impressions that have been imprinted in my heart about the temple are still there. The endowment is full of symbols and full of spirit, if one who comes to the temple, open to the teachings taught there, goes away with more then he came in with. I know of several occasions that someone has gone that they could not find the answer anywhere. Have gone to the temple to ask of the Lord with everything he has to offer and found an answer. It may be through the scriptures, it may be in the blessings, it may be someone else who helps them find the answer, but they do receive it. I remember a couple on my mission who after they had both served missions, went to the temple for a date. After they got into the Celestial room, he waited for the room to clear. There was one patron working there and she would not leave but had tears streaming down her face. When she finally left, he proposed to her. She said yes, and then they went back to the dressing rooms to change. As they were leaving the patron came up to both of them and asked if they were engaged now? He was shocked and asked, "How did you know?" She just smiled and said, "The Lord told me as I watched you come in." On a personal note, when I went to the Oakland temple for the first time, I did not know what to expect. I went with an open mind and heart. When I was welcomed into the Celestial room, I sat down on the couch and just pondered the feelings and blessings I had received there. When i looked up, I saw my grandmother, who had passed away nearly a year earlier. Standing in white, with a smile on her face, and her words have stuck with me since them. Welcome home. She was there for just a brief moment. But as Joseph had said on his first vision, 'I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two aPersonages, and they did in reality speak to me.' I saw my grandmother, and she did in reality speak to me. Though she was gone, she was there for me.
I cannot wait to take Chris to the temple and go many more times after. It may overwhelm her in the beginning, but after she has gone, then we can talk together and read what the sacred things that are there, and the meaning for them. I remember when still on my mission the lessons I learned from members when we went to the temple with them. It opened my eyes of my understanding. I hope I can help Chris with those too. Well I have said enough. I am just so grateful that this is finally going on an upward ladder. It has been so long, since I was able to bless, pray, or do anything to help others. I will be so grad to be able to do that again. Its all about serving. That's what i want to do.

My new band(sort of)

1 - Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Random quotations: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. If you want to do this again, you'll hit refresh to generate new quotes, because clicking the quotes link again will just give you the same quotes over and over again.

3 - Go to flickr's "explore the last seven days" http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Put it all together, that's your debut album.

Athar Abbas

For the whole family

Time to share

Its been a week or so since I last wrote anything. There has been so much going on that I wonder how I am catching up on ot all. Just recently I found out my MTC companion and his wife have a blog on here. His name is Michael. Her name is Lila. they met while on their mission. They both finished honourably and then kept in touch after the mission. They have been married now over 11 years and have had no kids. So in catching up with them, I found out they are adopting a boy from a woman who feels it was better to giver her son a better life then what she had. So their blog was all about the work to get him. And they formed a bond with the birth mother that I know was an eternal friendship before they came to earth. This last week Tuesday, Evan was born. They had to drive to Atlanta Georgia to be there for the birth, but just reading what they wrote on the blog was so beautiful. They have ason now they can call their own, take him to the temple to be sealed to them. And the pics they have on their blog are so cute of the little fella. Mike and I didn't always see eye to eye, but I hope he knows that as my brother I loved him no matter what. He was a convert to the church and wanted to go and do like the missionaries did. So he got himself ready and a year and a half after he was baptised, he came on the mission. He brought some of his former life pictures. Those were fun to look at. Long hair, big goat-tee, raggly shirts, one pic even made him look evil. I see him now and I see what i have done in the last several years. I am not the person I was ten years ago. Back then, I choose to live unrightchously and do my own thing. One could say I would have said, Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die and it is well with me. Today i have a different view on that. I like to bring up also that in the scriptures, IF you were to take them literaly, it was ok to commit suicide if you were given to appetite. Says so in Proverbs. In teh Book of Mormon, it says they delighted in fatness. I'm obese, where does that fit in? (No punn intended). In the book, "Miracle of Forgivness" President Kimball had an itnterview with a brother who was trying to come back to the church. He asked the young man several probing questions that made the young man hang his head and tell President Kimball, he didn't think it was so inclusive and felt he had just started to repent. Bishop Stubbs in California and I went through those when I gained my membership back in 2006. He knew as my Bishop knows now, that when i answered them truthfully, I was ready to return. The leaders of the church know what the Lord has for us. They forewarn us of the dangers that lie ahead, if we just harken to their council. One such person is the Patriach. After recieving my blessing, I did read it, and thought, "Oh, some of this may never come to pass." When I think and reflect on what my life has been through the last 10-11 years, I am reminded of what I was told by the Lord, through His servent. Did I follow the council given? I'll be honest and say no. I did not. I have paid for these years and suffered the words Alma has said, the pains of a Damned soul. If God were to come today, during the time I was not following the council, I would have asked that the rocks be covering me. I would not want to meet my maker. Now? I do not know. But i do not fear Him anymore. I know He is there, watching over me along with the other billions/trillions of people on the earth today. I may grumble, I may mumble, I may gripe and moan, but I know he is there. I have just learned to have a voice. I grew up not knowing where my voice was. Sometimes I over step the boundries and pay for it, but I know who I am, I know where I come from and I know why I am here, and where I am going in the life to come. Thats my little snippet for today.

Alone for the weekend

Well its a Saturday night and I am home alone, well not entirely. But Chris is at work and I am not doing much. Got to get some dishes done, some laundry done, and that's about it. Ben is sick with a cold so he is not feeling all that well. Its tried to snow, and it has succeeded and then stopped 5 minutes later. If it does snow over night that will be fun. Chris' mom called her up on Thursday saying that Rick had the day off and they wanted to get the storage unit that they are paying on cleared out and Chris and I could have our own. So Chris calls me at work and leaves a message for me to call her back. So I did and she tells me this and that she will be on her way down to go get the key from the van. So let me just tell you what that means in Nancy's language. 'Oh boy, I get a slave to go with me all day long and do my bidding since I am driving and they have to be with me and do what I do.' So after spending 3 hours on base, because of a lock down, they finally get over to the storage unit to get out their stuff and Jerry's since he is their pride and joy. And leave Chris stuff there to be moved by us. To our new unit. So I get home from work and turn right around and move Chris' stuff mainly into the new unit. Took all of 2 hours, I was starving, Ben was hungry, and so was Chris. McD's in Clinton was having a special for .59 cent cheeseburgers. As we discussed getting a few with what money we had, i realised that my money was at home, along with my drivers license. So I was driving illegally. (Still am until I can pay the $60 reinstatement). We get home and I start right to work on dinner. Homemade stoganoff. Boil the noodles, heat up the cream of chicken soup and add sour cream to it. Add a little bit of spices. Noodles done, drain them, and put them in with the sauce. Oh yeah forgot to add the turkey chunks. You can use cream of mushroom with beef chunks and it works well too. So with that done I just went to bed since I had to get up early again for work. Ben kept us up late that night. Him being sick he did not go down well. So when i got up Friday, I was not in a good mood. So I just dealt with it and tried not to rub off on anyone wrong. But the day did get better. So now I am going to go and play Battlefield 1942 and go kill some things legally.

Work

What can I say? Work is work. BUT, I am really enjoying my job. It is a Tech Support position for H&R Block and their TaxWorks program. So today, we got all out computers up and running then we got to install the program and play with it. They gave us the beta issue, so just to let you know that the final one will be sent out in late December. For right now, there are some really cool features and it looks like a good program to get our feet on the ground. And we got our log ins, but we have no net access to our comps right now. So who knows tomorrow. All I know is that next Friday is payday and that will be a good day. Plus we will be finished with training and we get on the phones the next week. Mon-Fri 8-5 job. Until Tax season then we do shift bids and see what we come up.
So tomorrow after work, Chris and Ben was waiting for me when I got done with work. We went over to Barnes and Noble since C and B had not got me a birthday present, so they asked if I wanted a book. So we went and looked. Wasn't anything I could live without, so we went to the Mall. We stopped at the tie shop and they bought me a new tie. It says, "Worlds Greatest Dad." Sometimes I wonder if I am doing all I can to live up to that, but it has really touched me. I am so grateful for a wife who stands by me and a son who loves me no matter what. So they can say it all they want, I just hope I can live up to that. My parents sent a package to us last week and my mom sent Ben a pair of socks with horses on it and a tee shirt from the Carousel on teh Salem Waterfront there in Salem, OR. Really cute stuff. Mom sent me a tie also, that has santa and bugles. Chris got a beanie babie of a cow. It was cute.
So just to let you guys know that IF you buy the TaxWorks software for tax season next year, and need tech support, you may get me on the phone. Or if you need to know something right away or how to do something on it, email me and I will do the best I can to help. I do have the instruction book for the software, so let me know and I will do what I can to help. I am also going to offer the service to my ward here. So let me know.

General Conference

I wanted to comment on a talk and I know there will be more later, but I wanted to comment on Elder Andersons talk. On a recent post, I titled it, 1/10th of a grain of a mustard seed, is that enough faith? What an incredible talk. Just to have enough faith to know, to have the faith to continue and be blessed. Maybe that has all I have been going on for some time. Just enough faith, to realise when I have known it all along, and have to be reminded by those whose faith is stronger then mine. There have been so many times I have wanted to give up, so many times I have just moved to end of the rope, so many times I wonder if God does love me. It is those times, that He sends His servents and brings me back from the brink of oblivian. Sometimes I wonder and ask, What is so special of me? Why should I have to do all that, why can't I just stay on the path to the terrestial ot telestial kingdom? That is my choice, my agency. Yet, when I am touched by the Lord, I try to bring myself back. Yet I keep going back to my ways. It is so hard some days to remember that He loves, me, that we wants me to come to Him for all things. Then He sends His servents. And for a time, all is well. Thanks to Elder Anderson, that has helped me understand, no matter what, if I do have the faith somewhere buried there, I need to bring it out. Or I'll be visited. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who does knows me and loves me enough to help me in so many ways.