Latter-day Saint and Happy

  Why Latter-day Saints Should Be the Happiest People on Earth It is self-evident that everyone does what he thinks will make him happy, at least in the short run.  No one deliberately chooses to be miserable, though mature individuals may defer gratification in favor of anticipated future satisfaction.  Yet it is obvious that not everyone succeeds in their pursuit of happiness.  The US, despite material prosperity, comes in at only 18 th  place in the latest World Happiness Report, down seven spots since 2012.    It also leads the world in per capita consumption of anti-depressants. Researchers have reported several recent studies of what makes people happy.  Some of the results may seem surprising.  For example, winning the lottery produces only very temporary happiness.  Once the euphoria wears off, winners return to their prior level of happiness, no higher than that of those who have never won.   Major life changes, s...

  Fifteen Reasons You Should Hope the Claims of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Are True The claims of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are so spectacular anyone should hope the message is true.  But coming to a conviction on that point requires more than mere hope. The Book of Mormon prophet Alma taught that faith begins with a desire to believe.  (Alma 32:27.)  But a mature and burning faith will take some work.  It will require a serious  study of the Book of Mormon  with sincere pondering and prayer. (Moroni 10:3-5.)  A willingness to give up all one’s sins is part of the equation. (Alma 22:18.)  And it may involve acting for a time as if one were already an active Latter-day Saint, prior to receiving a spiritual witness.  (John 7:16-17.)  But the scriptures promise that one who completes these steps will invariably learn for himself that the message is true.  He will thereafter be able to rej...

  Don’t let your fun get in the way of your happiness! As a child I got hooked on stamp collecting. With little to spend on the hobby, I still loved to order unsorted batches of stamps from around the world.  I naively dreamed of someday finding something of value. Some years later, as a 21-year-old Latter-day Saint missionary serving in Uruguay, I momentarily thought that day had come. We were visiting with an elderly German lady who wasn’t particularly interested in our message.  But she did want to sell an old stamp collection. She knew of no place in Uruguay to sell it, but she wondered if we might want it. Looking at it, I saw that virtually all the stamps predated 1900. Having no idea of the collection’s value, but seeing exciting possibilities, I scraped together $60 for half of the collection.  My companion put up an equal amount for the other half. We determined that if the collection turned out to be valuable, we would certainly share our proceeds with the ...