Burdens

In this life, we are faced with many trials and burdens that come our way. Luckily we have someone on our side. His name is Jesus Christ. He tells us a few times in the scriptures that his "yoke is easy and [his] burden is light." The Lord can help us through anything and everything. It says in Alma 7:11-12, "And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." This encompases all that we will ever go through. The Lord has bore our burdens before we ever will and so for that cause we can rely on him. The blessings that we can get from turning to the Lord are amazing. The Lord can do so many great and amazing things for us. There is a video that I will post the link for on here. It does a great job of helping us deal with burdens.

Scriptures

The scriptures are our main source of help in this life. They teach us exactly what we need to be doing in order to return back to live with our Father in Heaven. That is why we have been commanded to read and study our scriptures daily. It the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord says, "And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith." There are so many scriptures that tell us we need to study them. We all need to make it part of our daily lives and to continue to "search, ponder, and pray," as the childrens song book says.

Temples

I love the temple. It is one of the best places that we can go. There is a video that does a great job of describing why we build temples. I would put it on here but it isn't working at the moment. So if you go to mormon.org there is a video that says, "Why Mormons Build Temples." It does such a great job. There is so much work for us to do, both for the living and the dead. I am so grateful to be apart of this wonderful work of spreading the gospel and I can't wait to be able to help those people redeem the dead when I get home.

Prophets

We can learn so much about prophets from the scriptures and from our online resources. I found this about prophets on http://www.lds.org/, "As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are blessed to be led by living prophets--inspired men called to speak for the Lord, as did Moses, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, Nephi, Mormon, and other prophets of the scriptures. We sustain the President of the Church as prophet, seer, and revelator--the only person on the earth that receives revelation to guide the entire Church. We also sustain the counselors in the First Presidency and the members of the Quorum of the Tweleve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators." It also says, "Like prophets of old, prophets today testify of Jesus Christ and teach His gospel. They make known God's will and true character. They speak boldly and clearly, denouncing sin and warning of it's consequences. At times, they may be inspired to prophesy of future events for our benefit." I know that it is such a benefit for us to have a prophet on the earth today. He helps lead and guide us in our times of need. I am so excited to go out and teach people about this wonderful gift that our Father in Heaven has given us. I know that Thomas S. Monson, the President of the Church, is a Prophet of God and that he leads and guides this church by the power and guidance of the Spirit.

Prayer

One of my favorite quotes about prayer comes from the Bible Dictionary, "As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part. Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship." So we may ask, "What is prayer? How do we pray? Is it necessary?" The Bible Dictionary again tells us, "Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. the boject of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure fro ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional upon our asking for them." Alma 37: 37 tells us, "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." That leads us to how we should pray. We, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, know that we should pray with all of our hearts unto the Father in the name of Christ, and so we open by addressing our Heavenly Father, then express the feelings of our hearts (expressing gratitude for our blessings, asking for blessings, asking specific questions--such as is the Book of Mormon true?), we then close by saying, "in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." It is very simple and can produce great results. The greatest example of prayer we have is Jesus Christ. All throughout the New Testament and Book of Mormon we see and read about times when Jesus Christ prayed unto the Father. He is our example in everything. Prayer works. I know it does. Without prayer we wouldn't be able to get anywhere in this life. It is our most powerful tool to help us conquer Satan. I love the opprotunity we have to be able to talk with our Heavenly Father. It is only by His love and through is Son Jesus Christ that we can come to live with him again. I love you all!

The Atonement of Christ.

One of my favorite quotes about the Atonement of Christ comes from an Apostle of the Lord in these the Latter-days,
"There is no physical pain, no anguish of soul, no suffering of spirit, no infirmity or weakness that you or i ever experience during our mortal journey that the Savior did not experience first. You and I in a moment of weakness may cry out, 'No one understands. No one knows.' No human being, perhaps, knows. But the Son of God perfectly know and understands, for He felt and bore our burdens before we ever did. And because He paid the ultimate price and bore that burden, He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy in so many phases of our life. He can reach out, touch, and succor--literally run to us--and strengthen us to be more than we could be and help us to do that which we could never do through relying only upon our own power." Elder David A. Bednar.
I think that is sums up everything that the Atonement covers. It does not only cover our sins but it takes everything that we will ever go though. It says in the scriptures that Christ condescended below all things. Not just our sins but all things. It also says in Alma 7:11-13, "And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance...."

The Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ extends beyond anything that we will ever experience. I love him for this and I hope and pray that we can all look to him during this time of remembering his birth, because without his birth none of the miracles could have taken place. So take some time to sit down and ponder on the things that our Savior has done for you. Love you all!

A Christ Centered Christmas

This past little while has definitely been interesting. At the beginning of this transfer President Gardner asked me to train a brand new missionary. I've never done that before so it was kinda difficult to do. He had also asked me to be the District Leader and so I now had two new resposibilities and I had no idea how to do either of them. President asked us to do an activity during our personal studies. The activity was to study from the Topical Guide about Jesus Christ. There are 18 pages and 5o something different topics. It was very interesting to be able to study about the Savior this transfer. I just wanted to share some of my insites from this experience.

The Savior was of course half God, but we also know him to be half Human. Because of who his parents are we can learn so much from his life. Because his mother was Mary, a living, breathing, dying human Christ could do the same. He could still make mistakes in this life. He though being the only one in history to make it through life without making a single mistake. He was the only one who was good enough to suffer for our sins and to make that Atonement possible. He always had the choice to accept the responsiblity he chose before this life. I have also learned that the Savior needed to learn everything the same way we do, line upon line, precept upon precept. It is so amazing to see that. I love Jesus Christ. He is my older brother and best friend. Hopefully we can all focus on our Savior at this time and celebrate his birth into mortality. I love you all as does our Lord.

The Restoration of the Gospel

I've been trying to think about what to talk about today. There is so much that I could say, but the thing that kept coming back into my mind is the importance of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Gospel is just another word for teachings. So why in the world would we need a restoration of Christ's teachings if we already have the Bible. During Christ's ministry we learn that we need to have a few things in order to have the fullness of Christ's gospel. The first thing we need is authority, or the priesthood. The ability and privilege to act in the name of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Another thing we learn is that we have to be called in order to do this. Just as Jesus Christ called together his disciples and from them chose 12. He then ordained them with power from on high and laid his hands upon their heads and gave them the authority to act in his name once he was gone. As we know, Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross. We also know that after Jesus Christ was killed his apostles were later killed off as well, or otherwise taken care of, thus the authority was lost because they were not able to pass on the priesthood that they held. So because of this we have what is called a "great apostasy." This was prophesied of by the prophet Amos in Amos 8:11-12, "Behold, the days come saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." And so because of this there was a need for a restoration, not a reformation. This leads us to a time in the early days of the United States of America, where a young boy, named Joseph Smith was wondering and pondering on a question. That question was, "Which church do I join? or Which church is the Church of Jesus Christ?" He was going from church to church trying to figure out where he needed to go. One day during his study of the Bible he came across a scripture in James. In James 1:5 it says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upraideth not; and it shall be given him." This lead Joseph Smith to go into a grove of trees behind his home and kneel in prayer. The answer he recieved was the most important vision of this era. He was able to see our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith described the vision this way in his own words, "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which decended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other--This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" The things we learn from this vision are numerous, but we specifically learn that God has a physical and seperate body from Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ also told Joseph Smith that he should join none of the churches, and that he was going to restore his original church back to the earth, which he later did. H was visited by another heavenly messenger a few years later, who lead him to a place where an ancient record was buried that we now call the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith was also visited by Peter, James and John and recieved the Priesthood which allowed him to then restore Christ's church back on the earth. The name of that church now being The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The only way we can come to know if this message is true is if we read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith called it the "keystone of our religion." Without the Book of Mormon we have nothing. Our claim to the priesthood is lost, our claim to the fullness of the gospel is lost, everything we have is gone. It is so important that we find out for ourselves if this book is true or not. Don't take my word for it or anyone else's word for it. Do it yourself. We have that promise. God will answer our prayers by "the power of the Holy Ghost." We can know. That is my prayer and challenge to you is to read from and pray about the Book of Mormon. I know that it is true, that it comes from God and that it is to help us continue to come closer unto him.

The Spirit of Christmas

The Christmas season is a great time to think about and remember our Savior Jesus Christ. That is the reason for the season. It tells us in Luke chapter 2 the story of Christ's birth. It is one of my favorite stories that we can read. I love the part of the story where the angel comes to the shepherds and after the angel leaves it says,
"and it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds."
I really love this because it shows us exactly what we need to be doing at this time of year and all year round for that matter. After we have heard for ourselves of Jesus Christ, we must go with haste to find him, and once we have found him we must make known abroad those things. That is why I love to be a missionary, because I get to do that every day.
The Birth of our Savior marks and important day in our history. They even changed the calender to make the year of his birth. So someone at some point thought that it was important, and we know today that is is the most important thing that could have happened, because it is the event that started everything for our salvation. Without his birth he could not have done any of the things that he did in his life and we all love him for those things. So at this time of year especially we need to look into our own lives and to find something that we can do to give a gift to Christ. The Spirit of Christmas will come upon us and we will be able to have a whole new outlook on life for the new year. It was once said by a President of the Church, and I am summarizing, that if we take off the last syllable of Christmas we get Christ and that's what it is all about. I love you all. Keep up the great work.

And so it begins....

Well, it has been an interesting ride up to this point. I can't believe that it has been 14 months since I started my mission. It has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs. A ton of ups but there are those days where you just don't know what to do or how you are going to do it. I love the opprotunity I have to be here serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is nothing else that I would rather be doing at this time in my life than this. Of course, like I said, there are going to be ups and downs but the ups always out weigh the downs. One of my favorite scriptures comes from the Doctrine and Covenants. In section 18 it tells us that we will receive so much joy if we just bring one soul unto Christ, and that how much more joy will we have if we bring many souls unto him. I am so grateful for the opprotunity I have to do that. We are also promised that we preaching the gospel is going to bring us the most joy in this life and in the life to come. In most caseses I feel like the prophet Alma in chapter 29 when he exclaims, "O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth and cry repentance unto every people! Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth. But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me." That is my goal and purpose, "to help others come unto Christ by recieving the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." There are many people out there in the world that are searching for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all we have to do is open our mouths and they will hear us. http://www.mormon.org/ is a great website to help us all come closer unto Jesus Christ. He is our savior and redeemer. There is none other way for us to be redeemed from the Fall, only through him and by him are we saved after all we can do. I love my savior for that reason. I hope this has helped you all in some way, shape or form. I love you all. You are in my prayers. Keep up the great work! God speed.