Temple Marriage

Temple marriages is something unique to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I will talk more about other things that we can do in the Temples on a later date. The blessings that come from the temple are soo special. The blessing that I am focusing on today is marriages. One of the reasons temple marriages are so important is because of the Priesthood on the earth today we can seal things on earth as well as in heaven. So death can no longer separate our families. This is so important because when we find that special someone that we want to spend the rest of our lives with we will want nothing to separate us. So it is very important we make the right choice when choosing a mate. We need to look for someone with the same basic beliefs, someone you can talk to, to be your friend, and that you can laugh with. I have always thought of it as you will find someone that is your best friend, someone that when times get tough you would rather have them at your side than anyone else that you have met. Once you have found this person we should always go to the Lord for approval. Then you can be sealed. These are very sacred things that we are not supposed to discuss because they are so special. But just because you will be together forever doesn't mean things will be easy. Like all good things in life its something you have to work at. Its a team effort, we have to be in it to win it. There are so many things in the world today that are attacking the family. And many people often wonder where a safe haven could be. And this should be our homes. We should strive to do all we can to make sure there is love at home. That the members of your home feel safe and they know it is a place to discus things that are troubling. There is no one perfect way to do this but one good way to start is by having family prayer. There is a saying I heard growing up that says the family that prays together stays together. We must also read the scriptures and attend church together so that we may involve the Lord in all that we do. He is the ultimate source of wisdom and protection. I know these are true and will work because this is the way that i was raised and it helped me in more ways that I even realize. It also makes it a little less hard when we loose a loved one because we won't have to wonder if we will see them again. We can have the knowledge that we WILL see and BE with them again. This is my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

The Lord will give us rest

So the thought today is from Matthew 11:28-30. These verses are such wonderful examples of how much the Lord Loves us. He tell us if we are going through hard times, if our burdens are becoming to heavy to bear by ourselves to come to Him and he will give us rest. What this means today is repentance. The world world can be a hectic place that is moving so fast that at times we are caught up in the race, and at times this means that we have fallen into temptation. Which causes us great feeling of sorrow and remorse. But we can be forgiven!! What a joy that is! This scripture talks of how to learn of Him, so we can learn of His infinite love, care, and mercy. He will give us rest from these burdens if we allow Him to. So we must ask for forgiveness and feel sorry and turn away from those things that are causing us to do wrong. One of my favorite ways to describe repentance is change. The Lord has so many blessing for us. He just want us to do as this scriptures says and turn to Him and rest our burdens upon Him and become better and share this good news with others so they can experience the same joy we do. I love the Lord and I know He can and will forgive us.

Faith

Faith has been on my mind a lot lately... faith is such a wonderful thing that can take so many different forms. You can, and hopefully do, have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But before we get to that, what is faith? One of my personal favorite definitions for faith comes from the Book of Mormon in the book of Alma Chapter 32: 21... "faith is not having a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." what a great description. You don't need to have a perfect knowledge just a little bit that you can use as a foundation to build upon. So my own personal faith in Christ comes not because I have seen Him but because I have felt His presence through the power of the Holy Ghost. So this is through the feelings I have had. I have had amazing warm comforting feelings when I have thought or prayed about Jesus to know if He is truly is there. One can have faith in so many other aspects in life. For me as a missionary I must have the faith to know that our message is true but also to know that there are people out there ready to hear this message. So I often wonder how to increase my faith. And this comes through experience and also through trust. We must actually go out and try to find people and we must also call upon the Lord and ask Him for the help and guidance. So by going out and searching for these people and when you find someone then it helps you see, okay, it is possible there are people here. Then of course you must recognize that we can do nothing on our own, so we must give thanks to the Lord for His tender mercies. As I read through the scriptures, and I read of the great and wonderful miracles these wonderful men, heroes, have been able to do with the Lords help and do to the great faith and trust they had in the Lord and it makes me think man, why can't we do that now... but wait! Has God ever said that he would stop doing these things... NO!!! He says in the book of Hebrews Chapter 13 verse 8 it says; " Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." So that means that we could still do these things today if we had the faith and if it were the Lords will. So that is one of my own personal goals and I challenge others to try increase your faith in all the things you do. I promise you that if you do you will be able to not only become a better person, but you can help so many more people. Faith is one of those things you can't have to much of. That is my testimony in the name of our Lord and Savor Jesus Christ, Amen,.

Language of the Spirit

So we recently had a mission wide meeting. At this meeting there were large groups of missionaries there to be trained, a lot like district meeting but from leaders with far more wisdom. So we discussed many wonderful topics that really invited the spirit and taught us how to become better missionaries. The topic that i would like to focus on is the language of the spirit. So the one who spoke on this his name is Elder Alan Packer of the Quorm of the 70. He is a very inspired man who has listened to the spirit and really has begun to understand it in his life and he was trying to help us understand it so we could become more effective. the reason it is so important to understand what the spirit is saying to you is because the spirit is the one that teaches us truth and brings things to our remembrance as it says in the gospel of John chapter 14:26 and in Galatians 5:22. These are excellent examples of what the spirit is and what it does. And so if we, as missionaries and even everyone could benefit from being guides by the spirit, then we could become such a greater help to all of those that we come in contact with. So this applies to us as missionaries because when we teach we know that the people aren't converted because of us, but because the Holy Ghost or spirit testifies to them that things are true. So if we can learn to have the spirit with us then we can have it help us to know what questions to ask and what to say in the very moment we need it. Which will help people come to know that we love and care about them and more importantly that God loves them and thats why we are teaching them is because we have been called by a prophet of God to share this message with everyone, and the spirit is the one that teaches, so if we continue to listen and follow the spirit the world will become better and the work will go so much better because we will have the Lords help with us at all times. And that is my testimony is the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

The fruits of our labors

So today's title is because the Lord loves us. So, as missionaries we have been called to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive 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. How Great is our call! So that's our purpose and we do our best to fulfill it. But it can be tough at times because some people feel they don't need to be baptized again or they won't follow the steps that will get them answers if the church is true or not. So it can be frustrating at times but we all have to make these key choices for ourselves and you don't want to push someone into it because these are life changing things we ask them to do. But we have been meeting with a boy named Jason and he has made the choice to be baptized!! Elder Goff and I were soo excited. It was cool because we were talking about the good feelings that he feels as he goes to church and reads from The Book of Mormon and meets with us and we were able to explain that that's how God gives answers is by the good feelings we have. And so I had a voice inside telling me to extend the baptismal invitation. And just before I said it, Elder Goff did and he accepted!! What a joyful moment that was. That makes all of the hard times and slow times all seem worth it when there is someone that is willing to follow the example of our Savior and be baptized by the proper Priesthood authority. So those are the joys that come from the fruits of our labors and the tender mercies from the Lord! 

Sunshine in our soul

Well, the title today is because I was think just how lucky we are to have another day. The weather here in Wyoming is changing already. The sun is coming up later and later and it is cooler in the mornings then its been. Each morning we wake up at 6.30am. And now the sun isn't up when we get up so its fun to wait until it comes up so we can wait for this new day. And we know the one who controls these new days is God. And i have been thinking what joy that must be for God when He raises the sun. I know He has been doing it longer than we can even imagine but the joy that must bring as He brings light and warmth into the world He created for us. And we know He can bring that same warmth and light into our lives with His Gospel. We, missionaries, study the scriptures for 2 hours each morning and it is able to warm up our spirits and to lighten up our day to help us through lifes tests each day. The same way the sun lights those darkened areas and brings that warmth and light that all of man kind needs. So we should all do our best to study from Gods Holy Word and brighten our days and warm our spirits. So we may not be able to control when the sun comes out, but we can always bring that sunshine into our souls by studying His word.

District Meeting

Today we had District Meeting. What this means is we had a missionary meeting. The missions are broke up into different ways. It starts as we are all in the Billings Montana Mission. And the mission as a whole is broken up into different Zones, so that means just an area of land. So right now i am serving in the Wyoming south zone. So we cover the southern most part of our mission. Then the zone is broken up even smaller into districts. The purpose of these zones and districts is for these meetings. At these district meetings the missionaries are trained on how to improve our teaching ability. We know that Christ was always helping his disciples and the other prophets have helped the people improve and since us as missionaries are the unlearned and foolish things of the world, because when one looks at how young we are and how few life experiences we have and how small our knowledge of the scriptures are we can come off as unlearned and foolish, so we need all the help that we can get. But the good news for us is that Heavenly Father knows that so He, when we are  worthy of it, will bless us with His spirit which is the true teacher. So at these meetings they try to help us to recognize how to follow the guidance of the spirit. The topics that we have been focusing on most recently is teaching people, not just lessons. I know it has helped me a lot because there have been times on my mission that i knew what to teach but i don't know if it was when those people were ready to here what we taught. And now that we are focusing so much on people needs not just the material it helps us to meet peoples needs. So we are doing our best to become more like our Savior Jesus Christ. The way He would teach was asking questions and adapting to those people. He told many parables because they were stories or examples that they could picture, stuff they knew about so it made more sense to them. And thats what we try to do in these meetings, is to become better so we can benefit others so we can help them feel our Saviors love and be able to enjoy the wonderful blessings that come from membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and to know the Priesthood is on the earth once more.

I am so grateful we get to go to church each week and take the sacrament. It is so wonderful to be able to renew those sacred covenants or promises that we have made with God when we agreed to take upon our selves the name of Christ, at baptism. And today was Fast and testimony meeting, so that means all in attendance have a chance to get up and briefly talk about how we gained our testimony of the Savior and some of the things we are grateful for. And we fast for our own personal reasons and as we are willing to give up a little for the Lord He shows His love by giving even more blessings.

My Mission so far...

Well, i got this idea from my current companion Elder Goff, and that is to tell a little about each companion and area so far. I started my mission in Miles City, Montana. That's where I was "Trained." What this means is because I was fresh from home they put me with a missionary that had more experience in the mission field. His name was Elder Fischer, he is from North Carolina. So we both spent close to 3 months in Miles City and during that time we had a lot of fun. We got to meet a lot of wonderful people and make a lot of memories. Then after that i was moved to Hamilton, MT. I was then companions with Elder Conway from Southern Utah. We were together for about 6 weeks, and we also had a lot of fun. But we had to ride bikes and that was my first time riding bikes in quite a while and we lived at the top of a hill so it took me a few weeks to get in shape because i was hurting pretty good. Then i was teamed up with a missionary from Honduras named Elder Vallejo. We had lots of fun together as well but when we were together that's when winter hit and it was pretty darn cold. I am from central CA and we get a little chilly in the winter time but no snow, so that was quite the change for me. Then off to Clinton. I spent about 6 months there and had a blast. I served with Elder Cassaro from CA and Elder Mortenson from south east AZ. We had lots of fun there. Since i spent a lot of time there and its a pretty small area i knew a lot of people in that area. Then from the smaller town to the bigger cities. I left Clinton for Bozeman to serve with Elder Stewart from AZ. I got there in April so i figured the winter was over, but to my surprise we got snow about every week i was there which made it interesting because we rode bikes there too. So after my short stay in Bozeman i went to the capital city of Helena to serve with Elder Butler from CA. We learn what a joy it is to live and ride bikes in a town that no matter which way you turned the wind was always in our faces, but it was not all bad because it was summer time and we were both on the sweaty side of things for most of our stay. Then it was off to Laurel, MT for me to serve with Elder Willey from Georgia. That was another fun stop. We tried real hard and saw some successes, but made a great friendship. Then Elder Brunson from lonely northern Nevada. The reason i say lonely is because if it weren't for I 80 running through there, there would be even less to do. We had a lot of fun in Laurel too. Then for my current post of Worland, WY to serve with Elder Goff from toasty southern Nevada. We came out on our missions at the same time so we had met before so it was like catching up with an old friend. So that's my journey thus far and i love it!!

So a life as a missionary...
 I was surprised when i first got on my mission how much fun it was. I grew up having others tell me how much fun they had on their mission, but i didn't know how it could be so fun being away from family and friends and have to talk to random people all the time. But i must say, this has been the most fun i have ever had in my life!! The message we share about a prophet being on the earth today and  modern day scripture to help us make it through this wonderfully crazy world has been such a blessing to me, and millions more. So our day starts at 6:30 am. We arise workout for a half hour then shower eat and begin our studies at 8am. We study from the Bible the Book of Mormon church magazines and other appropriate reading material that will invite the spirit and can help us as we talk with people throughout the day. Then we get together as a companionship and share what we have learned and go over plans for the day. When we go out for the day our favorite thing to do is talk with people about the Restored gospel or to simply offer to service to people. One of my favorite scriptures from the Book of Mormon comes from the book of Mosiah Chapter 2 verse 17 which says: "And behold, i tell you these things that mat learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." There are many ways to serve others. So we work, go talk or teach people or do service until 9pm. Then we talk about what we did during the day plan for the next day and write in our journals and whatever else we need to do and go to bed. Its a fairly basic life, we do the same thing nearly everyday but its so much fun! One of the most rewarding things is getting to share with others what we know about our church and how we know theses things are true. There is such and amazing amount of joy that comes from know the answers to life's key questions; Where did I come from? Why I am here? Or what is the purpose of my life? Where am I going? And all of these are answered in our message. If you want to find out how ask me or a member of our church and we can help.