Personal note 3 Feb 2010:
We are preparing for full time service in the temple, a place for spiritual renewal, hope, and peace.
We have volunteered for a church service mission in Guayaquil, Ecuador. If we are accepted, we will be in the temple five days each week for at least 18 months. We will likely be learning something about the Quechua people.
Soon after Jesus was born, his parents took him to the temple, where Simeon and Anna shared their testimonies (http://www.cantos.org/music/cantata/PraiseGod.pdf).
We next see Jesus in the temple when he was 12 years old (Luke 2:42-49). during His ministries he taught both in the synagogues and in the temple (John 18:20). In the turbulent last days, it is important to "stand in holy places" (Matthew 24:15) and be as often as possible in a house built in "Holiness to the Lord" (Zechariah 14:20,21), for the Lord will come to His temple (Malachi 3:1). Our resolution for 2010 is to serve in the temple.
As you resolve to stand in holy places, may God bless you and yours with a prosperous and happy new year.
Information about temples: http://www.lds.org/temples/purpose/0,11298,1897-1,00.html
In October, 1967, Edward L. Howard Jr. started a weekly sermoncito that has continued ever since. He wrote without fail every week until he passed on at age 90. The tradition has continued with other members of the family. "For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins" (2 Nephi 25:23,26). I have written a "Letter to my Children" in the old tradition of our family (my autobiography). You can download it to your computer and read it when you have time. Here is the link: http://www.cantos.org/ShakeIt.pdf
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These are written by Roy E. Howard and others as indicated.