Dear Seiko

Dear Delysia,

I have a friend that I adore. She is from Japan and I went to school with her. She is a bit older than me but you wouldn't know it by the way she looks and behaves. She is a wonder and a firecracker for a woman from Japan. She speaks her mind and gets straight to the point. All of those attributes I admire. But above all the ones that are naturally appealing to me, I admire her spiritual strength the most. She has it hard or at least has gone through hard things and has remained ever splendid. She was engaged once and then the guy broke it off and then decided to marry another person. Her heart was seriously broken. I remember seeing her and her fiance and Wal-Mart while I was with Tristy. She was so happy. She found out that her ring was from Wal-Mart because that is all he could afford, being a poor college student and coming from a family of small means. Yet, I remember how happy she was and so in love with the idea of being in love and taking care of a man.

I felt impressed to send her a note after she had written this to me:

"I am doing fine. My life has been pretty crazy lately but having fun.

I am sorry to hear that you are working a lot Are you enjoying working there though? I hope so!!!

I just wanted to let you know that I have a boyfriend now. He is not Korean nor Japanese. Crazy, huh? He is from Canada and is 21 years old… Do you know how old I am??? Lol A crazy thing like this happens sometimes, right? Hahaha

Anyways I just started to date him about 10 days ago, and he is now worried that he is not feeling the spirit if this is right thing to do or not… I am not sure why he even told me that he likes me and wants to date me then… haha All things happened pretty quick so he is maybe freaking out or something? I don’t know… I like him but not sure where this relationship is going to be end. I will wait and see for a couple of months I guess.

SO, I am still in the middle of craziness kind of but I just need to trust in God and go forward. When I am kind of confused and such, I always remember you and how wise you are to give me such wonderful advice. Miss you friend! Thank you for your great example of faith and be strong in the gospel of Jesus Christ."

My response:
Seiko,

I wanted to just say, it may seem hard and frustrating to be in the situations that we're in. I mean, I think that you are in a worse situation than I am. You're in your home country, where people don't like to accept compliments or the life is so busy, that you can't enjoy the beauty of being alive.

I put your name in the temple last Saturday and I wanted to share with you this idea that I've been thinking a lot about:

I'm not sure that being married and having a family is necessary for us to make it back. I mean, I think that being a mom/dad and having a spouse is grand, yet, it seems like it doesn't necessarily have to be a thing we need to be like Christ. The gospel of the Savior mentions very little about marriage. It talks about being kind, generous, loving, virtuous, lovely, bright and strong. I think that perhaps some of us can't really become Celestial without having to really rely on the Savior. Would we be so willing to look to Christ, if we were always looking to our spouse or our children? Probably not. I feel like since we are single, it is a great time for us to really become well acquainted with God and His Son.

In my mind, to know the Heavens, to hear His Voice, to See His Hands, to have His Spirit fill our cup to overflow to a brilliant light of Celestial glory is what we all want, yet how we obtain it is different for all. I like that, because we are single, we are on a fast track to see the powers of God manifest more visibly and brightly before our face.

I admire your strength and I admire your ability to see things as they really are. I would suggest that you really reach to be able to see God, for Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see His Face! I am working on that right now, with Temple attendance, fasting, prayer and service. I believe that you'll find marriage, but I also feel you'll be able to to have both blessings in this life.

May it be that you'll never lose hope and always be sensitive the warmth of our God and His presence and that others will see it in you too... for I have, and will continue to see it in you from all the way from the USA.




************************************



She didn't respond, but I hope she felt strength and peace because of it.

Sniffles

My baby girl passed away today. My mom told me that she had acute kidney failure and she needed to put her down, so she did. Mama said that Sniffles was crying and crying. Then mama called to her and saw her at the bottom of the stairs not moving, unresponsive. So mama went down and picked her up and saw that blood was coming out of her mouth. So she took Sniffles to the vet and they ran some test and found that her levels were too high to save her. Mama decided to put her down.

I have cried and cried and cried all day today. I've cried so much that my eyes hurt and my nose hurts and I'm so drained, that I am too tired to cry.

I miss my baby sooo much, because she was mine.

Aug 17, 2017

Dear Delysia,

I have been having a lot of conversations lately with Traci, that have revolved around his blessings and revelations about how his ex-girlfriend is coming back to him. It has been so exhausting to have to listen to him about her. I hate her, as you know. I just hate her. She is a awful human being and he has never learned how to let go of the past, especially when it comes to his Ex-girlfriends. Time and time again, he looks back to try and solve the riddle of the ex girlfriend and it cannot be solved with the past. It can only be solved with a future girlfriend. The ex-girlfriend is gone. She won’t play the game anymore.

I have grown tired of the subject, yet that is pretty much all he wants to talk about. So I am happy to listen. That is all I can do at this point, but it will have to do for now. I love him. I can’t help but want to help him, but I’m not sure much help that I can be to him for much longer. Soon, his lady will come back to him and will bring him the happiness that he’s been looking for his whole life. It brings me a lot of peace that I am able to assist him in some way to help him feel like he is worthwhile.

I love hims. :D

My Talk in Church: Sacrifice

Dear Delysia,

Listed below is the talk that I gave in church yesterday. I hope you like it.

Prior to the Atonement of our Savior, the children of God offered blood sacrifices as a symblol of their reverence and devotion to God. (Moses 5:5-7). Such sacrifices served as both a similitude of the Savior’s Atonement and an offering of something of great worth. In the beginning, Adam and Eve, they were asked to give the best of their flocks and the fruits of the field. The effects of this law demonstrated that the best that the earth had to produce was not for self, but for God. At this particular time of history where it was very difficult to make sure your family was fed, those who sought to worship God, were asked to sacrifice the best source of the mortal life to Him. 

Over time and because of the rebellious nature of the Jews, how to fulfill the law of sacrifice was altered to help the Children of Israel focus on the Savior and His atonement. During the time of Moses there was an expansion in the number and variety of offerings under the law of sacrifice. The Mosaic sacrifices consisted of five major offerings that fell into two primary categories—obligatory and voluntary. The difference between the obligatory and the voluntary offerings might be compared to the difference between the law of tithing and the law of fast offerings. The part of sacrifice that most strongly paralleled the Savior was the offering itself. The priest acted as the bridge between us and God, as the Savior does for us now. 

Here are some small details of how the Law of Sacrifice had been altered to fit the need of the Children of Israel: 

First, like Christ, the animal was chosen and anointed by the laying on of hands. (The Hebrew title Messiah and the Greek title Christ both mean “the Anointed One.”) Second, the animal was to have its life’s blood spilt. Third, it had to be without blemish—totally free from physical flaws, complete, whole, and perfect. Fourth, the sacrifice had to be clean and worthy. Fifth, the sacrifice had to be domesticated; that is, not wild but tame and of help to man (see Lev. 1:2–3, 10; Lev. 22:21). Sixth and seventh, for the original sacrifice practiced by Adam and the most common sacrifice in the law of Moses, the animal had to be a firstborn and a male (see Ex. 12:5; Lev. 1:3; Lev. 22:18–25). Eighth, the sacrifice of grain had to be ground into flour and made into breadstuffs, which reminds us of our Lord’s title the Bread of Life (see John 6:48). Ninth, the firstfruits that were offered remind us that Christ was the firstfruits of the Resurrection (see 1 Cor. 15:20). 

Once the Savior came into His mortal experience, fulfilled His life mission and saved us all and provided a way for us to return, He then again altered the way that we should fulfill the Law of Sacrifice: a broken heart and a contrite spirit. So with this in mind, what is Sacrifice? What is a broken heart and contrite spirit? I gave sent out a survey on social media to get a scope of what we, as the rising generation of the church thought of what this word means. The major of my peers said something very similar to this phrase: Sacrifice is giving up something for something better. 
With this definition in mind and the knowledge that we poses, this answer is incomplete. 

 Here is a list of things, a majority of my peers said were the hardest things for them to give up: Time, Personal satisfaction for sake of spouse/child/friend, relationships online, comfort zones, school, missions, girlfriends and boyfriends, play dates, jobs, clothes and money. There were more looming answers that I came across. 

Girl 1 said: When I joined the church, I was the only one that did at the time. I chose to get married to the love of my life. I sacrificed having all that I loved to be there at the ceremony to see me be married in eternal glory to my husband. I wanted my mom and dad and all my family to be at the temple to celebrate with me. Those in attendance were my husband, his parents, his Bishop and the parents of one of his mission companions. 

 Girl 2 said: I joined the LDS church when I was 17. That was the best decision I have ever made but also the hardest. I have lost family and friend relationships as a result and it have brought me a lot of pain and judgment as well as loss of respect from people that I love. The positive parts are much greater and well worth it, but it is hard. 

Girl 3 said: Having a family has made me completely lose myself. I have found myself in moments of horrible depression, unsure of who I really am. I've given up things I really love. Activities I love, my body, and my mind, all in the name of family and my children. I wouldn't give them up for anything, but the sacrifices I've made have taken their toll. 

Girl 4 said: When my father passed away, I had to sacrifice my after school life when my mom needed me to be a mom the last two years of high school. I helped raise my siblings instead of having a lot of freedom to do what I wanted to do. 

Boy 1: I have sacrificed my hope to live a life with a spouse and a family of my own in this life. Being gay, I have decided that remaining celibate is the only acceptable way that God would have me live. But this decision has come at a great cost: being lonely, seeing others around me have what I want, being thristy, being despised by society and ridiculed by my own peer group because of my choices to remain faithful, make it all really hard. But I hope that all will work out, it has too. 

One way to think of sacrifice is that reputation, social standing, popularity, and success must be burnt on the altar as a sacrifice. Since our lives are going to be lost anyway and all that the world has to offer is meaningless, the exchange is illusory. We are asked to give up what has never been ours to keep. Life is brief and fleeting. Viewed in the proper light, the sacrifice of all things is nothing. You gain everything by giving up what is truly nothing and was never yours to begin with. 

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “Real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed!” 

 So, what are the benefits? Revelation: The Jews sacrificed because they were preparing to be sanctified and to hear the word of the Lord. “And ye are to be taught from on high. Sanctify yourselves and ye shall be endowed with power, that ye may give even as I have spoken.”(see D&C 43:16) 

Cleansed from Sin: We being willing to sacrifice our hearts and souls allows for the cleansing of sin. “And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood’ yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings. And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost.” (see 3 Nephi 9:19-20) 

Eternal Life: When we are willing to sacrifice all that we poses to return to our God, He allows us to return. “And unto him that repenteth and sanctifieth himself before the Lord shall be given eternal life.” (see D&C 133:62) 

May it be my brothers and sisters, that as we strive to believe that we are and will make it back to our Celestial home, from whence we came, it will become a reality. As in the beginning of time, the law of Sacrifice demanded the best of what the earth had to offer: animals and fruits of the field. Now in the days of the second coming of the Savior, the law demands the best of what heaven has to offer, the hearts and souls of God’s eternal children. 

May it be that we all may be willing to sacrifice the animals in ourselves that hide and corrupt the most precious things that are actually ours to give: our heart, our will, our souls. May it be that in our dispensation of prosperity that we will not emulate the rich young man of the Jews in the Saviors time, but that we may be as the Lamanites of the Book of Mormon. King Lamoni and his father who were willing to give up all they had: their flocks, their families, their traditions, their Kingdom and their sins to know God. My promise to you is this, if you struggle to remember your value, sacrifice. If you struggle to remember how to hear God’s voice, sacrifice. If you struggle to remember what it is like to feel God’s love for you, sacrifice, ‘…that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.’ (see Moroni 7: 48).

The Past Revelation

Dear Delysia,

I went to the temple last Friday and I received a lot of help and understanding, so I wanted to share that with you.

I went to the Temple but I was really rushing to get there on time for the endowment session. I didn't want to do anything else really but the endowment session. I knew that iniatories would be full or have a long line and I didn't have any names for the baptisms and I HATE doing sealings. I had also decided that I was going to go the night before with Traci.

I forget that when you become determined to go to the Temple, you really get hit hard with a lot of opposition. I was hit all day Friday with stuff. I was hit with a bad attitude, I was hit with having ugly thoughts come to me. I even had a melt down in the parking lot of the temple and just bawled thinking that I couldn't go because I was hurting and angry. But I pulled myself together and missed the endowment session and had to do a sealing session.

The session was hard to do for me. The sealing session is about marriages and families with kids. There was 5 couples that were there. 3 of the husbands were so handsome. There was a Finish woman and a woman who didn't have her husband, so it was me, 5 couples and 2 ladies. I just started to cry. I was thinking about what it was going to be like with my siblings being in the temple. But the truth is, I am the only one that probably goes as often as I do. The siblings that can go, I'm not sure that they go very often and I do have siblings that can't go. I did a lot of sealings with sons to their parents.

But while I was having a mini melt down, I started to think to myself, Why is this happening? I shouldn't be having a meltdown. I should be feeling at peace and I should be feelings like this is the best thing ever, not me having a meltdown moment. Then when the sealing session was over, I realized that the feelings of hurt and pain were gone. Then I felt this overwhelming sense of peace and calm. I then went into the Celestial room and started to pray.

The lesson I learned was: The refining fire comes to all of us who enter into the Temple. The refining fire burns all the ugly things out of us, if we let it. I had a lot of refining to happen to me that day, especially for me to have the revelation that I requested to have. The Lord was going to give me what I requested for, but I needed to be more holy in order to receive the answers in the way that He choose fit to give me. A refining fire comes to all of us. 3 Nephi 24:18 to the end; talks about that refining fire. All of God's children will pass through the refining fire but only the children that rely on the atonement and grace of the Savior are able to withstand the fire.

So when I was in the Celestial Room, it was full of people. The other other temple in the valley was closed for cleaning for two weeks. But I didn't have any problem concentrating and clearing out the noise of the many whispers and shuffling of the crowd.

I asked the Lord about Traci. Traci wanted to know if Adi comes back to him and that that opportunity is one that will lead to marriage. I asked about that and the Lord shared with me that she does come back and that if Traci wants to marry her, she'll be ready for it and if he wanted it, he could marry her if he wanted. I saw it! I saw him and her in wedding clothes.

Then I asked the Lord about my friend Reid. I asked Him what needed to happen more for Reid to obtain the things that he wants: a wife and a good mother of faith. These answers didn't come so freely. It was as if it was an act of mercy that the Lord was allowing for me to ask about Reid. What the Lord shared with me was, Reid needed to humble himself and put his life back together. Reid needed to be more dedicated to the gospel and not be so reliant on his own skills.

What is interesting about it is, I spoke with Reid the day before about his concern for the future. Reid has a great job and is pretty much set for life when it comes to resources. But what Reid cannot provide is an environment of faith. His family wouldn't make it back to God if he can't provide that environment. So I told Reid that if he can't provide the best environment for his family to flourish in the gospel, then why would God give him a wife and children? He wouldn't in my mind. So Reid said he'd humble himself and try to be the best person he could be.

Then I asked about myself. Traci had told me in a conversation a couple of days ago, that I would be given two new friends that are as good or better than Traci. So I asked the Lord about this and found that one of them, is coming to me in Aug/Sept time. I know what he looks like too, I don't know his name or what he's about, but I do know what he looks like and when he'll come to me.

I am very happy and very pleased about these answers and I hope that I can be ready for it.

Love you Delysia.

The Fading days with my Puppy

Dear Delysia,

The past couple of days, as I have spoken with Traci and the things that are coming to him, he has shared with me that I need to find more close friends. Traci's life is getting to a point where he won't have a lot of time to interact with me. The reasons are, his business is about to launch, his dating life is picking up and he's finding friends and is feeling the pull to be with people to help them.

This news made me really sad. Though, I know that I've had to find new friends. My support system is really diminishing. I don't know what to do about this yet.

The Wedding of Boo Boo Kitty

Dear Delysia,

Boo Boo Kitty got married and I am so happy for her. She married Kody and she looked and seemed amazing!

I took two days off to help with the planning and execution of the wedding. All 8 of her sisters came to support the wedding. And to my surprise, I was put in the procession. Boo Boo put me in as a bridesmaid! I had joked about being a bridesmaid with her a long time ago, but I didn't actually believe that she would put me in as one of them. Her dad was a little concerned that I might be offended, but I wasn't offended. It also made sense that Boo Boo was asking me a lot on what I was going to wear to the wedding. I kept telling her that I was going to wear a gown, with lace and it was going to be champagne color. That was funny to say that, because her wedding dress is the same color and lacey.

The wedding was so much fun. Mikayla and I were in charge of the Bachlorette party. I brought over teeth whitening stripes, charcoal masks, essential oils, sugar scrubs and fruit that was dipped in chocolate. We just had a great time, where we just had masks on, and just chatted about the good times in our lives. It was really nice to have that with most of the sisters and Boo Boo's mom.

I was really happy that I was involved and included in the wedding like I was family. I was a bridesmaid with all of her sisters and Mikayla was also a bridesmaid. It was just really nice to be included. I felt like I was a part of the Cooper Clan!

I'll send some pictures to you soon, but I am really happy that I was able to participate with the wedding.

OH,

So, the sealing in the Temple was really amazing! So the Sealer spoke about some really amazing things. He spoke about how in the marriage ceremony, the man and wife don't make covenants with each other, they make the covenant to God. And the covenant is really them promising to God that they'll be nice and take care of each other. The wife and husband aren't accountable so much to each other as they are to God for the marriage! I was really blown away by this truth!

The other thing that I really liked about the sealing ceremony, prior to the actual ceremony, he spoke about how the sealing ceremony and the baptism ceremony are the only two that use all three names of the God Head! All the other ceremonies don't use all the God-Head's names. I thought that was pretty awesome.

The last thing that I really liked about what he shared before he performed the ceremony, was when he said that Baptism and it's covenant open up the gates to Heaven. The Sealing covenant opens up the gates to the Celestial kingdom.

These three things were absolutely amazing! But I just really enjoyed the moments and my opportunity to go to the temple and enjoy the moment!