Repost tribute to Paps

I don't say this enough but I love my Dad
Tribute to my Father

 I realized today that we are more alike than I thought. I think that we might even have some of the same insecurities/issues.

Issue #1 One of the issues that I thought of today is a memory from those 3 months. I remember sitting on my computer playing a game online when my Dad walked into the house with one of the seasons of Smallville. Generally when he rented one of the seasons all the boys would watch it with him. I remember that we kinda ignored him because we were to entranced into our game. "I got this so we could watch them together, but I guess that I'll just watch them by myself" he said as we ignored him. One of my main issues is that I'm a pretty loud guy. So people hear me and assume that I'm doing good and don't bother to check on me and talk to me. My father is also a loud person, and very social. So I as his son always assumed that he didn't really need me to "hang out" with him. I look back and realize that he was trying to get me to be with him. I am his son who he loves dearly. I think that he wanted our 3 months together to be a time were we bonded. And just as I get ignored because I'm loud and social, so does he. But just like I need to be recognized and loved, so does he.

Issue #2 Throughout my life I surrounded myself with some stellar friends. Alex Alvis, Brandon Packard, and Nate Jarrell. These 3 friends had everything it took. They were funny, nice, educated, sweet, sincere, worthy priesthood holders. I was all these things also but i got lost in the background because of the quality of my friends. It didn't diminish our friendship at all, in fact I loved being with them because it made me want to be better. My father married the most wonderful woman in the world. We tout her praises to everyone that we meet. My Dad is her biggest advocate. As a result, my Dads good qualities fall in the background because of the company he keeps. But my Dad has some amazing characteristics that have profoundly affected my life. I am so grateful for him. I am going to name off just a few of the characteristics that I have noticed.
#1 obedience- I learned obedience from my Dad(my mom to, but this blog is for dad, lol). I didn't just learn it through his words "obedience is the first law of heaven..." but through his actions. From driving through a ditch because a General Authority told him, waking us up at 5 a.m. to have Family Scripture study, putting up with his rambunctious kids at FHE, to something so simple as not yelling at his children. Dad, I learned unquestioning obedience to the priesthood from you.
#2 Choice- My Dad should not have been the dad that he was. He had a poor example of how a father should be. He chose to be the best dad that he could. He made time for us. He tried to do things with us(A/E working the garden). He balanced a hectic work/church schedule to make time to be home. Most importantly he decided that no matter what happened his children where going to know that he loved them. Cherished were the times on my mission when a member would get in contact with my parents and come to me with a confused expression on their face and tell me, "Your dad told me to pass this message on to you, "Guess What?""
#3 Pro-activity- I don't know how many times I went and asked my Dad to go somewhere and he would ask, "Is the yard mowed? Are your chores for Mom done?" If I could answer these questions affirmatively then the world was my oyster. If not, the answer was inevitable, "nope, come talk to me when the job is done" I learned to not even ask until I had finished the job. As a result I would do my work (usually) without being told.
#4 Priesthood- I learned how a priesthood holder should act, who they should be, and where they should be from my Dad. He was an example of the priesthood to me. He was constantly serving others and volunteering his sons to serve others. When he received revelation to do something, he did it, no matter how controversial or hard the decision was. He was an example of the the phase "When the priesthood speaks, you listen and obey"
#5 Missionary Work- I am constantly amazed by how good my Dad is at missionary work. When he came to pick me up from my mission, he was more gung-ho about inviting people to hear the message of the missionaries. While we were visiting a couple that I had baptized the wife's non-member mother and sister showed up. Before we had left the mother had committed to learn more about the Gospel. Just a couple of weeks ago he was in Austin to sit in with his sister as she began the lessons with the missionaries.

I could go on and on about the good qualities that my Dad personifies; testimony, service, love, humility, passion, determination, diligence... But I want to keep this blog shorter than 10 pages. Needless to say, my Dad is a wonderful man/father. The cool thing is that as lucky as my Dad is to have my Mom, she is just as lucky to have my Dad. This puts me in the truly blessed category to have both of them as my parents. Dad, guess what...I love you.

Childhood Imagination

When I was young one of my sisters and I would play a game. We didn't have a name for it but the game took up hours of our day. It was a story line with us performing the leading role. My sister was the more creative us the two of us so she took charge of the story line. I was more excited about spending time with her than than I was about the game, but I played my part dutifully.

The setting for our story line? We are brother and sister, wealthy because of an inheritance from our recently deceased parents.

Our story begins when we are shipwrecked on a desert island. Naturally we are the only survivors. We learn to survive bu building grass huts. My character became a hunter/fisherman providing for the family. I'm not sure what my sister did, probably something much more refined like cooking or something. We lived on this island for a number of years until our luck changed. We stumbled on a cave, the Cave of Wonders. Inside were riches beyond our wildest dreams, but most importantly, 2 lamps containing genie's. This provided the means for us to return to the civilized world.

Thus our adventure begins. Beginning with the wish for infinite wishes (its our game, we make the rules) We then stretch our imagination as big as it will go. We decided that 3 or 4 stories for a house was for sissy billionaires. For people like us, we needed a five goggle plex story house, each. For those unfamiliar with what 5 goggle plex is, it is a 5 with 100 zero's after it. In short its a huge number. Naturally, each floor had a theme. Top floor was space themed, convenient since it was well into outer space. We had the safari room, the sports room, weight rooms, every culture was represented in our house, etc...etc. Each time we played it involved us exploring/discovering another one of our rooms. My favorite was my bed room. It encompassed an entire floor. I didn't have a king sized bed, I had a water bed the size of an Olympic pool. Other than the water bed, my room had a castle theme. Grey stone walls with tapestries hanging. Artwork depicting the great football stars of our century; Jim Thorpe, Joe Montana, Steve Young...etc...etc.

I'm sure the outside world thought that at least 2 of the Ross children had issues, but it was a wonderful bonding moment with my sister, one that we still talk about on occasion. When you have 10 brothers and sisters, its not about what you do together, its about doing something.

Hero's

So ironically it took me leaving home and really being on my own to realize that my parents are my hero's. I might be their biggest fans. Its amazing how much I desire to talk to them. Its really easy to call home just to talk about anything. When I had my run ins with the cops who did I call? My parents. Why? I'm not sure what I expected them to do from 1000 miles away. Somehow they made it all better. When I'm having a bad day, I call mom. When I need to advice, I call mom. When I need to know how wonderful I am, I call Dad. When I need to laugh, I call Dad.

My parents might be the busiest people in the world but they have always made time for me. I called my Dad the other day at work. He was obviously busy but he sat and talked to me as long as I wanted. I'm sure that he could have been much more productive, but he decided that I was more important. I called my mom, just to talk, while she was trying to fill out a report for her church calling. She must have talked to me for 30 minutes.

My parents are amazing. I wish that I had realized this before I had left, it would have made my experience much more enjoyable. They are super hero's. They are my hero's.

I believe in Christ

I've decided that I love being in a choir. I actually think that my voice is made for this type of music. I don't have a solo voice, but my voice blends in very well with others.

This Sunday we had a Stake Easter fireside. It was wonderful. I particularly enjoyed our final song, "I Believe in Christ". It is a wonderful song anyway but on the final verse the congregation joined us. As the stake bore its testimony through music, the windows of heaven open up and the Spirit of God pored out upon me (I don't really know about the rest of the congregation). It renewed my testimony of the Atonement.

For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart, yea the song of the rightous is a prayer unto me and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads. D&C 25:12

My wonderful Nephew's

I realized one of the nicest things about being in Utah is being in close proximity to two of my nephews. Luckily Laurie and Michael are kind enough to let me come over and get them riled up right before bedtime.

It doesn't matter how rough my day has been. I can go over and play with them. With out fail, they make me feel like a million bucks.

Michael is Huish through and though, personality wise. Physically, he looks like a really big Hilton baby. But he is very passive aggressive. Sober is a word that describes him. He has a very serious nature and likes to be in control. When we play games its by his rules; I can only chase him so far, I can only throw pillows at him when he permits...etc...etc. So as long as I play by his rules we're friends. Its really quite cute and endearing. The nice thing is that he decided that he likes me.

Hyrum is a Ross. He looks almost exactly like I did when I was a kid, just with red hair. He has the Ross personality. Like Samuel he likes to keep things stirred up, especially with his serious older brother. Hyrum will grab something of Michael's, wave it in front of his face and take off running down the hall screaming at the top of his lungs. Michael, like so many of Samuel's older siblings, will take the bate and chase him also screaming. Hyrum is a little lovable imp.

If I'm not married before I graduate I'm going to try to live next to all my siblings at some point so that I can develop this kind of relationship with all my nieces and nephews. It has truly been a wonderful experience.

Another Testiment of Jesus Christ

As I look at church history and the order that things were done I see something interesting. Before the priesthood, before temples and family history work, before all the "staples" of a Mormon's life there was the Book of Mormon. Why was this book so important that it was the first thing that God revealed to Joseph Smith after revealing himself to the boy prophet?

Jeffrey R. Holland said "The Book of Mormon was the first and is still the greatest of all the missionary tracts in this dispensation" What does teaching with the Book of Mormon do? I find that it does at least 3 things;

1. It brings the teacher and learner to a knowledge of God and his Sons atoning mission. Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." It serves as a keystone to a deep and real testimony of Jesus Christ. It gives us examples of how great men have received testimonies of Christ and gives us the steps for us to follow in like manner.

2.It invites the special spirit of the restoration. The knowledge of the Book of Mormon is to important for our Salvation for God to allow that to go unblessed. If we read and study with real intent then we are promised that He will make these things known unto us through the Spirit. "Reading, pondering, and praying about the Book of Mormon are critical for an enduring conversion. Those who begin reading the Book of Mormon for the first time take important steps towards coming to know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and the the true church has been restored to the Earth."

3.It gives the Spirit the opportunity to bear witness of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The messianic message of the Book of Mormon brings the readers mind to Christ. This puts them in a state of being that is conducive to receiving revelation "And I did read them many things which were written...but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the [prophets]."

The Savior gives us a warning in the book of Mathew "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" As members of the Lords church, we are the elect. Joseph Smith spoke wisely when he called the Book of Mormon the "Keystone of our religion". As we read ponder, and pray over the message that it contains it will hold our testimony together just as a keystone holds an arch together. It becomes a keystone in our personal testimony of the atoning mission of the Savior.

The Book of Mormon was the first defense that God gave us in this dispensation. He knew the fight is our future. He saw the waves of filth washing over the world in the forms of violence and pornography. He has provided us a Dam to protect us from it. The Keystone of that Dam is the Book of Mormon. As we read ponder and pray from its pages we will be protected from the world.

The Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

My purpose is to convey how the Gospel of Jesus Christ unlocks the healing power of the Atonement. The Prophet Joseph Smith once said "All things pertaining to our religion are apendages to the Atonement." The Atonement is what makes our return to the Father possible. It is the act whereby fallen man is reconciled to a perfect, exalted Father. We access the atonement when we live the principles of the Gospel.

Why did we need the Savior? Why is the Atonement so important to our Salvation? Perhaps an experience from my childhood will help explain. On our property we have a ditch that is bigger and more circular than the other ditches. When it rains it becomes a small pond and my friends and I treated it as such. We would have a wonderful time playing in it and getting muddy and nasty. On occasion we would get lucky and my sisters would wonder out of the house unprotected. On these occasions we would grab them and throw then in. This happened on this day and we were having a grand time. My mother decided to take advantage of the distraction and clean our perpetually dirty house. Eventually the ditch lost its appeal to us children so we set off towards the house to play inside the toy room. my mother saw us coming and met us at the door. In my young eyes my mother who is usually about 5'2" turned into a 10' giant with laser vision. She then lovingly directed us to the back of the water hose and hosed us down. Only then were we allowed to enter her house and go to the bathroom to finish the cleaning process with a much needed (though undesired) bath. In like manner, when we were born, we left the perfectly clean home of our Heavenly Father to wallow in a mud pit. It was necessary to our progression but, as a result "All mankind [became] fallen...which consigned them forever to be cut off...[We] were cut off from the presence of the Lord" Because "If [we] be filthy [we] cannot dwell in the kingdom of God; if so, the kingdom of God must be filthy also. But, the kingdom of God is not filthy" "Wherefore, save [there] should be an infinite atonement" we could not dwell in Gods home. The only way that we can be clean again is by "washing our garments in the Blood of the Lamb" The atonement is represented in this analogy by the water coming out of the water hose. The water that cleaned us off. But in order to access this water several things needed to occur before hand. First, the water bill had to be paid. Second, we had to turn the nozzle to release the water. We turn the nozzle when we live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ paid the water bill, he paid the price for our Salvation. His payment began in the Garden of Gethsemane where his anguish over the wickedness and abominations of his people was so great that he sweat great gout's of blood. This was swiftly followed by the betrayal of Judas, the abandonment of his remaining Apostles. The Savior then experienced the irony of being a God convicted of blaspheme. The degradation of being beaten and mocked by the Rulers of the Jews and then by the Gentile Rulers. The inhumanity of being scourged with 40 stripes save one and then being forced to carry his own cross down to his own crucifixion. In less than 48 hours every mortal form of support had left him and then the unthinkable happened, our Savior felt the divine spirit of God withdraw. "My God My God! Why has thou forsaken me?!" what human mind can fathom the significance of that awe-full cry? In addition to the agony of crucifixion the agony of Gethsemane returned, intensified beyond human capacity to comprehend much less endure. In his bitterest hour, the dying Christ was completely alone. That the supreme sacrifice of the Son might be consumated in all its fullness, the Father withdrew the comfort of his immediate presence and the support of his divine spirit, leaving our Savior completely, utterly alone. In order to pay our water bill our Savior literally "Descended below it all" surely "He has born our griefs and carried our sorrows, [surely] he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquity and with his stripes we are healed."

The water bill has been paid. Jesus Christ said "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." The Savior invites us to "Come...everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price"

I testify that the water bill has been paid. I testify that as we turn the nozzle to access the cleansing water of the Atonement that we will be made clean. We will be allowed to return to the clean house our or Father.