Hi, I'm Elise

I'm a Mormon and I love it!

About Me

I love the outdoors. I enjoy hiking, swimming, hunting, and admiring the beautiful creations that Heavenly Father has placed upon the Earth. I especially love mountains and forests. I also love music I play the piano, clarinet, and I enjoy singing. I'm currently in college, and I love the sciences. It is fascinating to study how the word works through chemistry, physics, and biology. I find so much joy in the discovery and understanding there is when I execute a chemical reaction properly. Every day I am amazed at how intricate and beautiful are the workings of this world and every new scientific discovery seems to point me evermore toward the reality and power of God.

Why I am a Mormon

I am unable to comprehend a world where God does not exist. It makes no since that the entire world as we know it would simply come about out of purely random chance. My life as well cannot be a result of chance, for I know and have seen the effects of His hand in my life. Where I am today, the successes I have attained, the friends I have made, and my decisions for the future have all been made possible because of the help which I receive through Him. I know that when I pray, He listens when I need comfort, He is there. I have felt His spirit, the Holy Ghost, testify to me the truth of The Book of Mormon and of the Bible. I have so many proofs and witnesses in my life that tell me the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Simply, there is no way I cannot be a Mormon.

How I live my faith

I have the opportunity to serve the women in the church by choosing and leading the music in our meetings. I see what the topic is for each week's lesson, and I pick songs to sing that complement the lesson taught. I know I can share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them through music, and I am so thankful for the chance to see the music touch their hearts as we all sing. Music truly brings the Holy Spirit into our meetings and can teach doctrines and principles in ways that can't be explained adequately with words alone.

What is faith?

Elise answered...

Faith is believing in things that you can't see that are true. For example, I've never seen an atom, but I know they exist. Faith is something stronger than a casual, "I think it might be true.” The scriptures talk about having a "perfect faith" and an "unshakable faith." These terms imply that faith is a firm and sure thing. Like you don't doubt at all that the sun will rise tomorrow, so is Faith. I have faith in Jesus Christ, whom I've never seen, but I know is real.
Don answered...

Faith is taking action because of a hope in something. Often the Savior asks of us to do certain things or live in certain ways. When we see a stranger in distress, we stop and help them as Jesus commanded us to in the Good Samaritan Luke 10:25. The act of helping is the evidence of our Faith in Christ. We are asked to tithe. Tithing is evidence of our faith. We tithe in hopes of the promises in Malachi 3:10 that the floodgates of Heaven are open to us.
Faith is when we put our beliefs and hope into action.

What is the Mormon lifestyle like? How do Mormons live?

Serge answered...

Family is everything to us. Our family spends lots of our free time together because we like each other. Life gets crazy with teenagers, dance practice, after school academic decathlon, usually with a toddler in tow, but no matter what, every Monday night is Family Night.

The kids know that every Monday we spend time together and nothing gets in the way of it. It's our commitment to each other. We bake cookies, have lessons about the Savior, work on personal goals, go to the park, go geocaching, play board games or just go out for ice cream.

We do lots of things together. The point is that at least once a week we spend an hour or two together, just for the sake of being together, just because we love being together as a family. It's not as perfect as it may sound, with all the poking and "she's in my spot," and all the other crazy things family members do to each other when scrambling for a spot in the living room, but we try real hard. It takes effort to make sure we don't miss, but it's worth it.

I'm not sure the kids will remember all the games we played, the places we went or what we did, but I hope they always remember that we loved each other enough to dedicate one night a week to be with each other. And that we spent every Monday night together for as many Mondays as they can remember because family is everything to us, and every member of our family is important.