On Sunday I went to a fireside to hear one of my favorite speakers talk - Truman Madsen. On my mission to upstate NY his voice informed me and soothed my soul. I listened to his recordings about Joseph Smith over and over. One thing he taught perfectly answered an inquiry from an investigator that I otherwise wouldn’t have know how to respond to.

He talked about the pioneers and he’s studied so much church history that these are more than just stories to him. He got choked up at the deaths of people as if he was there or knew them. In a way I think he does know them.

He spoke about some things that I will attempt to summarize, some very poignant and moving:

• He called the Nauvoo temple the sacrificial temple. It was built as a huge sacrifice of time and money. Then it was only in use for 3-6 weeks, just long enough for people to receive endowments and then get out of town before they were killed. He said that the saints HAD TO have this spiritual strength in order to make the journey ahead. He mentioned the Donner party that came across the plains and forged the path the pioneers would use. They resorted to cannibalism but not our people. He said the saints “died in each other’s arms - not eating each other.”
• He solved what I call the Sherrie Dew dilemma (why aren’t good women in the church who want to be, married and having children?). He said that when good women like her die there will be a line of good men waiting to marry her. Then they’ll go on a 1,000 year honeymoon. He specifically talked about Eliza R. Snow and her contribution but she never married or had children. Many men died prematurely in wars and other circumstances who will be around. That is somewhat comforting, but that veil over our understanding makes it so you must take these things on pure faith.
• Supposedly Mark Twain thought that Brigham Young must be some sort of womanizer - until he saw his wives. Then he said he should get a Congressional medal for marrying such plain women. I can’t find a citation here, but I did find this fun page about Mormons. Brigham Young prophesied that the Nauvoo temple would be rebuilt and that we’d have temples all over the country. A rather bold statement at the time. If it weren’t for polygamy and lots of children who knows but we would’ve died off as a culture.

Madsen also talked about temples and families. How we are trying to reunite the families of the entire world. He talked about how families were organized before the world and that on earth it gets disorganized and confusing. But Christ will bring harmony back and traumas will be healed. So the next time your family drives you crazy, remember this. It’s not a guess or by chance that you have the family you have.

One last point: Heavenly Mother - we will see her - the mother of our spirits in the afterlife.

Obviously there was a lot of deep doctrine and powerful stories in this talk. He packs a lot of information with great intellectual and spiritual impact. So happy Pioneer Day everyone! I’m thankful that I was not there but I hope that we can watch the replay. Visit the temple this month and show gratitude by helping bring families who have died apart back together.

I’m making more effort to attend firesides like this. The crowd can be a little droopy but the messages so sweet. Besides, it gives me an excuse to write more in this blog.

Ok, I’m going to admit it — I’m not a big fan of most LDS art. Most of it just isn’t my style.

Recently though I decided I want a bunch of different temples framed in different sizes and styles for my bedroom wall. I want it to be funky and slightly modern. But so far, nothing is quite right. The idea being: if I can’t be in the temple I’ll bring the temple to me in my home (my personal temple).
I’ve never really been one to have a lot of LDS art in my home. I think it’s hokey. I really can’t stand folk art and cutesy craft sayings either. But then recently I feel images bring a feeling and I wanted to create a good atmosphere in my home with art.

I went to the church history museum and saw some excellent pieces. One I loved just had the Saviour’s feet above the ground. They had the nail marks. It’s the most beautiful image of Joseph Smith’s first prayer I’ve ever seen (I went on a mission to upstate New York so the events there mean a lot to me).

Well I found a site that has gorgeous LDS prints, framed, for around $100. I love this one of the creation, it’s just gorgeous and moving. It’s not modern art but it has a great feel to it and it’s not the same old. Check it out.

When I get married again I want a web 2.0 wedding. Plus I’d like to write about the experience for a magazine:
How I Saved $10K on my Wedding with Affiliate Marketing.

I’d like a wedding blog and have affiliate links to online stores. The wedding invitation would direct you to a web site to RSVP and get on the wedding email list. I’d like to chronicle the whole thing and how much money was saved by doing it online with affiliate marketing (you earn a % of every sale made). I’m a big fan of Overstock.com for housewares. If you can register for gifts there, you’d earn 20% on every wedding present purchased. That could help fund the honeymoon.

We’d have youtube videos and we’d podcast the wedding RECEPTION live to friends who can’t attend (since we can’t podcast or video a temple ceremony). And we can get an iTunes djay for dancing (there must be dancing). I bet even people who didn’t know us might watch if we blogged it up and sent press releases. There could be laptops on every table with the wedding site and even live pictures and video feeds from the event.

So I found a geek who proposed to his girlfriend online, with a funny spoof web site made to look like eHarmony dating site: www.daveloveselizabeth.com. It’s SOOOOO FUNNY and it’s sweet too. Google maps of where they met and the whole thing on the World Wide Wed, lol. I love how he planted comments from famous people in the blog comments. And the fake magazine articles. Hilarious. Plus they met at church and it all feels so blessed and happy. I can’t wait until these two have children!

I just have to find a groom with the tech skills to pull this off. I’m not even close on that one. If you’re even thinking about it, better get over to godaddy and reserve www.janetwillyoumarryme.com right now — before it’s taken