E-Mail April 16, 2012

Hello Familia!
So, this past Sunday we had the Conference of the Stake. It was good stuff! I got alot out of it but, there were a few things that stuck out that I felt impressed to write home about.
Privileges = Blessings
There was a Sister who gave a talk during the adult session. It was kind of a weird talk just because of how she was speaking and everything. She was just called to serve in Argentina with her husband but she was talking like she had just gotten called to be the next General Primary President. It was super weird. BUT, super good! She brought up the point that Privileges are blessings. She told us what Webster had to say on the two words. They dont really use the same words but, the connotation seemed to be surprisingly similar!
We have all been given many "privileges" in our lives. Randi and Jessica were privileged to get married in the temple. Ryan has been privileged to have Chelci in his life. Katie is privileged to take over my job and Mom and Dad have been privileged to have all of us as their children! I have been especially privileged to be able to serve a mission. These privileges that we have been given have all taken us in a direction that our Father in Heaven would have us go. We need to capitalize on these "blessings." The blessings we receive in this life are not always for our benefit but, for the benefit of others. The blessing of the Holy Ghost in our lives is one that is given to us for the salvation of others while, in some instances, is for our personal welfare.
Follow His Promptings
The promptings of the Holy Ghost are not something we should take lightly. It is something that we would strive daily to understand. A gentleman got up and spoke on this topic. He gave the experience of one Sunday in Elder's Quorum. He said that the teacher had given a great lesson of the Gift of the Holy Ghost and how powerful it can be in our lives if we utilize it. He felt the Spirit strongly and had gained a testimony of the truthfulness of what this teacher was saying. At the end of the lesson the teacher then invited all of his fellow brethren to share their testimony if they felt prompted to do so. Five minutes of an awkward silence passes. The teacher then gets up and asks for a volunteer for a closing prayer. During that five minutes, the brother sharing this story had a prompting to get up and share his testimony. He ignored it. He felt the prompting, recognized it, and got too caught up in his own self consciousness of what others would think if he misspoke. I have definitely been guilty of this myself but, now realize the importance of it after having come out on my mission. If there is anything I would urge you all to do is to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost, regardless of how strange it may seem.
Integrity is the Foundation of Life
The last speaker, one of the counselors, spoke on this subject. Integrity is what we should build our moral codes upon. He likened this to the building of the Salt Lake Temple. When building the Temple, Brigham Young was faced with a dilemma. After 7 years of hard work and careful measurements, there came a time, because of extenuating circumstances, that they had to bury the foundation that had been laid. After digging it back up they found that the foundation was severely cracked and would have to either remove their 7 years of hard work and start anew or, build a much smaller, less extraordinary temple. He pondered on this decision for hours. He came to the conclusion that it was something that needed to be done and that they would remove the foundation. The temple now stands as a monument to the world. We should also be able to stand upon the foundation we build and become immovable to Satans immoral society he has built around us.

I love you all very much and miss you just as much.
~Elder Daniel Peterson