Stripling Warriors: A Tribute to Our Mothers

My mom had a HUGE influence on my mission. I like those 2000 boys did not doubt that my mother had a burning testimony. I saw and heard it much while growing up. But i think, like others, my mothers influence started probably from the day i was born. Her love and nurture helped me become the missionary i was. Not to mention her firm hand and her powerful words of wisdom. Some of which were " Dont wait to be told to do something, if you see something thats needs to be done, then do it" one of my favorites is." take a step back and look at the bigger picture and what really matters" these short phases would come to mind at different times and situations of my mission. Those i gave were only a few. So in essence my mother had a huge part in my mission. We grow up and our mothers tell us and teach us things, and at the time we blow them off or dont really take it to heart, But i testify that the lord worked through my mother, and her little comments, throughout my early life to help me become who i am today. She inspired and blessed my life. I knew that i could be good cause my mother believed i was.
Adam Sherrow


How did my mom help me in my mission? I think some of the things my mom told me before i left were really important. I remembered alot of the things she told me and it helped me to stay motivated. My mom has always helped me and supported me in my life and i knew that even though she couldn't directly help me, that she was proud of me and wanted me to do what was right. Of course her
e-mails and occasionally sending cookies were nice too. My mom is awsome.
Jason Bohnet

Everyone loves their mother, but I never fully realized the positive impact she had on my mission. Of course the emails came every week and those are always great. The phone calls always pumped me up and helped me focus on the work. But perhaps the best communication my mom had wasn't between me and her; but with her and Heavenly Father. I will never know how much she has prayed for me; and how those prayers have come true. And she has always prayed for us our whole lives. If I had to pick one thing that improved on my mission it would be my relationship with God through prayer. And I have a mother to thank for that. Brian Webber

My momma's infulence. Ha, where to start. Well I never could really appreciate fully the influence my mother had on me while I was on my mission. I had the chance to get a letter from her each week, not one missed, and that made a big difference in my week. Not in a trunky way, but my mother send me talks and great quotes, all of which seemed to fit my very circumstances or challenges. It is no doubht that my mother (and father) are righteous and are blessed with revelation concerning their children. I have always enjoyed and admired my mother's perspective of the gospel and her willingness to just be obedient and be believing. That example helped me though hard times, because I could reflect upon her many teachings and moments of comfort and counsel to me. My mother's righteous influence made a huge impact of my mission and continues to in my life each day
Michael McBride


My mom positively influenced in who I am, which of course helped me on my mission. She taught me that the Lord loves us, and that we can talk to him through prayer. I cannot count the times when I would fill her in on all of the problems that were in my life and she responded by asking me, "Did you pray about it?". She taught me that prayer is such a powerful tool, which helped me on my mission find strength and guidance. I love my mom and she has positively effected me, and I cannot type enough "thank you"s to express the gratitude in my heart.
Jared Scott



We Do Not Doubt Our Mothers Knew It.

We Do Not Doubt Our Mothers Knew It.

One of my favorite stories in The Book of Mormon has always been the story of the stripling warriors. As a kid, I remember just feeling fired up when reading about their faith and their success in fighting for the right - knowing that I myself was engaged in that same kind of battle. As I have grown up, the story has come to have a different meaning to me...

In the Fall of 2010, I was sitting in a sacrament meeting one Sunday alone in one of the back rows of a chapel in Illinois. I was listening to a woman talk about her son who was serving a mission at the time and the thought came in my head to read in Alma 56. I immediately opened my scriptures, and the rest of the chapel fell away, it was just me and the words. My eyes quickly found verses 47 - 48 which read:

Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

...as I read those last words I felt like a chorus of people were reading words along with me. I sat in that chapel feeling surrounded by something - something like calm and gratitude - and I let myself cry. I reached down towards my bag and pulled out the papers I was working on to send in for my mission and my decision became unshakeable and final. I had always been certain I would serve a mission, but that didn't mean I didn't have some worries and "but what ifs" - but in that moment I was done with all of them. I wanted to serve my Lord and my King, show Him how much I love Him and His gospel - and I wanted my children to never have a doubt that their mother knew it.

This scripture has become a strength to me every time I want to take a break or listen to the adversary, I think about my future children and how nothing means more to me in the world than them knowing that I know that Jesus is the Christ and God is our loving Heavenly Father and that they appeared to a young boy and called him as a prophet so that the gospel could be restored, and I press on. I find myself being motivated a lot by them. As I know that my entire life and testimony has been influenced by the life of discipleship that my mother has lived. I owe her everything.


In this weekend of celebrating Mothers I've decided to start a series of posts containing the short testimonies of some stripling warriors that I know - and how their mothers have influenced them in this fight for the cause of Christ and boldly declare that

We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

Motherhood is doing God's work.

A part from Elder Holland's talk Because She is a Mother has really touched me and strengthened my testimony that I know that motherhood is the greatest calling we can hope for.

A part I particularly liked and wanted to share:

One young mother wrote to me recently that her anxiety tended to come on three fronts.

One was that whenever she heard talks on LDS motherhood, she worried because she felt she didn’t measure up or somehow wasn’t going to be equal to the task.

Secondly, she felt like the world expected her to teach her children reading, writing, interior design, Latin, calculus, and the Internet—all before the baby said something terribly ordinary, like “goo goo.”

Thirdly, she often felt people were sometimes patronizing, almost always without meaning to be, because the advice she got or even the compliments she received seemed to reflect nothing of the mental investment, the spiritual and emotional exertion, the long-night, long-day, stretched-to-the-limit demands that sometimes are required in trying to be and wanting to be the mother God hopes she will be.

But one thing, she said, keeps her going: “Through the thick and the thin of this, and through the occasional tears of it all, I know deep down inside I am doing God’s work. I know that in my motherhood I am in an eternal partnership with Him. I am deeply moved that God finds His ultimate purpose and meaning in being a parent, even if some of His children make Him weep.

“It is this realization,” she says, “that I try to recall on those inevitably difficult days when all of this can be a bit overwhelming. Maybe it is precisely our inability and anxiousness that urge us to reach out to Him and enhance His ability to reach back to us. Maybe He secretly hopes we will be anxious,” she said, “and will plead for His help. Then, I believe, He can teach these children directly, through us, but with no resistance offered. I like that idea,” she concludes. “It gives me hope. If I can be right before my Father in Heaven, perhaps His guidance to our children can be unimpeded. Maybe then it can be His work and His glory in a very literal sense.” ⁷

The very fact that you have been given such a responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust your Father in Heaven has in you. He knows that your giving birth to a child does not immediately propel you into the circle of the omniscient. If you and your husband will strive to love God and live the gospel yourselves; if you will plead for that guidance and comfort of the Holy Spirit promised to the faithful; if you will go to the temple to both make and claim the promises of the most sacred covenants a woman or man can make in this world; if you will show others, including your children, the same caring, compassionate, forgiving heart you want heaven to show you; if you try your best to be the best parent you can be, you will have done all that a human being can do and all that God expects you to do.

It's Mama Week!

This week is the time to celebrate the sacred calling of Motherhood. Starting today with a quote from one of my favorite authors, Victor Hugo:

“She broke the bread into two fragments and gave them to her children, who ate with eagerness. ‘She hath kept none for herself,’ grumbled the sergeant.

“‘Because she is not hungry,’ said a soldier.

“‘No,’ said the sergeant, ‘because she is a mother.’”

This video can cure any bad day...

"Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come till heaven, but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ - they come" - Elder Holland.

This video is short, but powerful and it makes me cry as my heart realizes the truth of it - the gospel of Jesus Christ gives us hope and lets us be able to believe in good things to come - no matter how hard our current circumstances.

Who is Jesus Christ to me?

Last Fall, I got a letter from a friend asking "who is Jesus Christ to you?"

The idea of me trying to compile words that adequately express the answer to that question is absolutely impossible for me. I don't think I could convey exactly who Christ is to me through word, music, art, dance - anything.
I think that is why I do what I do. Why I chose to leave "my life" behind for a year and a half to preach His gospel and testify that I know He lives - because that is the only way I know how to show Him what He means to me. The only way I know how to show Him what He means to me is through obedience to His commandments and serving Him and others. I can only express it through the way that I live. I think that is the foundation of my understanding that "faith without works is dead" (James 2:26).



But if I must try to express who Christ is to me, I am going to have to use the help of some more eloquent sources:

Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.
He is the Son of God.
He is my Redeemer.

Jesus Christ is the firstborn of the Father in the spirit and the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. He is Jehovah, and was foreordained to His great calling in the Grand Councils before the world was.

Jesus Christ is the only way by which we can return to live with our Heavenly Father. Jesus suffered and was crucified for the sins of the world, giving each of God’s children the gift of repentance and forgiveness. Only by His mercy and grace can anyone be saved. His subsequent resurrection prepared the way for every person to overcome physical death as well. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and He will be our Lord forever. (ref: http://mormon.org/jesus-christ/)

He is the greatest Being to be born on this earth - the perfect example - and all religious things should be done in His name.

He is Lord of lords, King of kings, the Creator, the Savior, the God of the whole earth, the Captain of our salvation, the Bright and Morning Star. He is in all things, above all things, through all things, and round about all things; He is Alpha and Omega, the first and the last; His name is above every name, and is the only name under heaven by which we can be saved.

He will come again in power and glory to dwell on the earth, and will stand as Judge of all mankind at the last day.
(ref: http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/christ?lang=eng&letter=c)



And my small and simple words to convey the great emotions this question awakens within me are these:
He is the reason for all and any hope in my life. Without Him, every moment of my life would be worthless, cold, and sorrowful. With Him - my life is full of peace, purpose, and true joy. He saves me from the sting of death, the bitterness of heartache, He is the reason I can change, He is the reason I can do ANYTHING. He saves me from sin, guilt, and regret. He suffered and died for me. He heals me. He loves me and knows me perfectly. I love Him and I try to live like Him - again relying on His grace and mercy.
He is my best friend. He is my Savior. He is my King.

Celebrate Easter With Us!!!

(Photo from mormon.org)

THIS WEEKEND! Come celebrate Easter with us! Mormon.org is helping us all worship our Savior Jesus Christ together on this special and sacred weekend. They have created a special Easter page and HERE you can post YOUR answer to the question:

"Why is Jesus Christ important to you?"


Then on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of this weekend there will be a live feed of people sharing their thoughts and feelings of our Savior. There are also Bible videos to watch of His life and ministry.
As for me and mine? I know that He lives! and I am so grateful for the opportunity to share that beautiful truth that defines my life with the rest of the world.

Happy Easter!