The Final Count Down...

  My blog today will consist of some of my thoughts now that I am at the last week of my mission. There is so much that I wish I could talk about but I will try to keep this brief.. A mission is a lot like a roller coaster, there are a lot of high points a few lows, but they are a ton of fun and they go FAST!!! It may seem hard to believe that 2 years goes by fast but when you are forgetting about yourself and your needs the time flys by. There has been no greater joy in my life, so far, than the great and many miracles that I have been able to see and experience on my mission while serving the Lord. To grow in love faith and trust in the Lord.

  One of the things that I have gained such a greater understand and love for is the term enduring to the end. There are a few places in the scriptures that talk about this enduring to the end and how important it is. I like sports so I like to think of things like sports and enduring to the end is no different. Say you are running a race and you start off strong, you take and early lead there is no one close to you, or even if you are right in the middle of the pack. You are going along and all of a sudden you get tried so you throw on the brakes and walk off the track. Doesn't make much sense to me. Sure its easy and and you were tired but where does that get up in life? No where! I have often heard the quote, " I never said it would be easy, all I said is that it would be worth it. Life isn't easy! There are many curve balls many obstacles that pop up in our way that slow us down or discourage us, but we must go on. There is a prize out there for all of us if we finish the race. We may come out of it with a few bumps and bruises, scratches and scrapes, but in the end we will all be made whole, because of the love of our Great Savior and Redeemer. So don't give up work hard, especially if the time is short!

Pearl of Great Price

 
  I love the time that we, as missionaries, get to spend studding and pondering upon the scriptures. What I was thinking about today was the story of the Pearl of Great Price. The story is about a rich man that is searching for pearls of value. But as he is in the market place one day he finds a pearl of great price and sells all that he has. Here is the story.

  "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."

  This is great for a few reasons; one of my favorites is because it’s short sweet and to the point. When you find yourself happy with your life style, like this man probably was with his way of life and then he saw something greater that what he had, and so he got rid of those things of less value so he could have what was truly great. The gospel of Jesus Christ is like this. We all have our things in the world that we like, that are "fun" and make us "happy" but we can sense there is something out there greater, something of more worth. What this parable is saying to me is, when we find that of great worth, something that will take us to a whole new level of happiness, we must leave or “sell”, what is slowing you down behind and move to the one of greater value. If we do, we can find an added measure of happiness. I know this to be true, and I wish to leave this in the name of Jesus Christ, who has that of most worth, Amen.