Layne's Lunch

One of my goals for this quarter is to find and take a name to the temple to do their temple ordinances. Over the past couple of years I have been a bit frustrated because it is getting harder to find people in my family tree who do not have their ordinances done. With so many people in my family working on it, I have found it difficult to find work that needs done. Hence my low goal of simply finding one person who needs ordinances done. Yesterday I had the thought to try again, so I did a search my family tree using Take a Name . It took the app about most of the day and into the night to search through the 63,494 names in my family tree, but it returned 20 people's names who needed 63 ordinances done. This is fantastic! We all understand I now need to go in and validate each one of these 20 people to make sure they are not duplicates. There is still much work to do, but I haven't had these kinds of results in quite a while. Most of the time I have seen a...

Today as I'm sitting on the same bus that I ride to work each day the guy next to me leaned over and told me that he likes the hats that I wear.  I thanked him and answered his question about where I get my Ivy caps.  After a short discussion about my favorite hat shop he said something very interesting, "I wish more people wore hats".   This caused me to pause and consider two things.  Why don't we wear hats anymore? and Why aren't you wearing a hat? The first question is fairly easy to answer.  When John F. Kennedy was elected as president of the United States he was the first president that didn't wear a hat.  That fashion statement, combined with the fact that in the mid 1950's more people started commuting to work by car and couldn't wear a hat in the car, caused the demise of the men's hat.  The harder question is if you think people should wear hats, why aren't you wearing one?  This quote by Gandhi immediately popped into my mind...

The other day as I was reading my scriptures and using a few of the available colors to do some highlights when I realized that I wasn't fully utilizing the entire pallet of colors. In the Gospel Library app there are 10 colors available.  Each of these colors can be used in the underline, highlight, or text color mode.  I asked extended family what they do and one of my niece's responded with this color code: Red- doctrine Orange- clarifications or explanations of doctrine Yellow- commandments and specific instructions Purple- promised blessings and how to attain them Grey- power phrases Blue- favorites Dark blue- ones with a deeper meaning (I always attach a note with a dark blue)  Pink- examples of Gods love/charity Brown-specific for our day Green - Not used This "Come, Follow Me" color code seems to be all over Pinterest.  I'm not sure where it came from, but it is based on the 12 colors in a small box of crayons. Here is a color coding ...

It does not matter how many times you have read the Book of Mormon you will find something new hidden in a verse that you have read many times.  As I read 1 Nephi 10 I stopped an pondered a couple of phrases in verses 17 and 19. After hearing about his father's vision of the tree of life, Nephi said in verse 17: "I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him..." Two verses later in verse 19 he restated this idea: "For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost" The thing that caught my attention about these two passages was the "Power of the Holy Ghost".  We often talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost, but we don't often talk about the power of the Holy Ghost like we talk about the power of the priesthood. Think about this qu...

I've read the Book of Mormon many times.  I lost count many years ago.  Besides it doesn't really matter.  What does matter is that you read it every day.  During the October 2017 LDS General Conference , several speakers referenced a quote made by President Thomas S. Monson during the April Conference.   He said: "I implore each of us to prayerfully study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so, we will be in a position to hear the voice of the Spirit, to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive heaven’s help in our lives." Russell M. Nelson gave a talk titled, "The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life Be Like without It?" In that talk he stated: "Since President Monson’s challenge six months ago, I have tried to follow his counsel. Among other things, I’ve made lists of what the Book of Mormon is, what it affirms, what it refutes, what it fulfills, what it clarifies, and what it reveals. Looking at the Book of Mo...