Testimonies of God

In our lives, we very often pass by very beautiful things. Often, these things are considered ordinary or everyday. For instance, how often do you pause to truly appreciate how beautiful a flower is? It truly is a wonder. It is beautiful, complex, and vibrantly colored.

Everything in this world is organized perfectly. The world has many natural beauties that help to enjoy our lives more fully.

All of it points to God. He is the one that made this world and everything in it. Alma, a prophet in the Book of Mormon, put it best:

"...All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." (Alma 30:44)

God really does love us. All it takes to know that is to look around you. You will find Him everywhere.

Skyline

  Say "hello" to Skyline District! These are some wonderful missionaries that I've been very privileged to spend the last six weeks with. We've helped one another and supported one another in the work of the Lord.

  Missionary work is very organized so everybody knows where and what their responsibility is. A district is a basic group and is part of a zone. A few zones make a full mission.

  In the Book of Mormon, we learn that "the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls." (Moroni 6:5) Our district follows this pattern and meets together at least once a week in order to learn how to be better missionaries. We discuss problems that we have been having and hear advice from other missionaries. We do whatever we can to lift one another up and help each other out. That is what brothers and sisters in Christ do.

A Band of Christians (Pun Fully Intended)

  "...He bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land—" (Alma 46:13, boldness added)

  A young girl in one of the wards we serve in made these for us today. We really like them, partly because they are designed after us. But also partly because its touching that she would spend her time to make them for us (and of us). A lot of people have been doing very kind things for us lately and it has helped me to see just how much our brothers and sisters in the Church really do care for us. There are many large acts of kindness, such as how members of the Church sign up to feed us dinner every night. But there are also many small and quiet acts of kindness, such as these little rubber-band missionaries being made for us.

  I have found that the more devoted somebody is to their testimony of Jesus Christ, the more like Him they become and the kinder and more charitable to others they become as part of that. Our Savior motivates us and encourages us to be good and to do good, especially as far as others are concerned.

  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an enormous part of that. It helps us find opportunities to lift and help one another. It truly makes us brothers and sisters in our heavenly family. That is what it means to be a "band of Christians".

Luau!

  A few days ago, one of the wards (or congregations) that we serve in had a Luau! It was a great time full of great food. A couple of people tried to get my Tongan companion, Elder Moli, to do some Polynesian dancing but he didn't go for it. Which is a shame, because all of us would have loved to see him do some fire dancing. (He can't actually fire dance.)

  Activities like this are really meant to bring the ward closer together and help us show people that "those crazy Mormon people" really are good people. We are followers of Jesus Christ and we show that in our everyday living. We believe in living good, moral lives. We believe in helping those around us. We believe in looking after one another and this luau was one way of doing that. It helped us and the members of the ward have time to spend together and just talk and get to know one another. It was nice.

  I know that Jesus Christ knows every one of us. He loves us. He wants us to look after one another.

  That can be fun.

Holiness to the Lord

Two of my companions! I love them both!

  Today we got to go to the Mesa Temple again! We get to do this every six weeks and I always look forward to this trip. Honestly, I absolutely love going to the temple. It is very easy to feel the influence of the Holy Ghost at the temple, even just on the grounds outside. It is the house of the Lord, and He wants us to know its significance.

  Part of the reason I love the temple so much is because it helps me think eternally. Life has a lot of problems. Mine usually aren't so bad compared to others that I've come across, but they are still hard to deal with. But when I go to the temple, it helps me realize that those problems will fade with time. All of those problems are limited. All of them have an ending point. God is not limited. God does not have an ending point. He is infinite and eternal.

  In Matthew 16:19, Jesus Christ gives Peter this promise: "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." That sealing power exists on Earth today. In the temples, families are sealed together for eternity and will live together with God forever. That is a blessing that never fades.

  I am very grateful for the temple. Problems will come and go, but the blessings of the temple are eternal.

Holiness to the Lord

The House of the Lord

A Wayward Child of God (Poem by Elder James Romney)

Weep, thou veiled heavens.
Rain down thy tears for me.
Come forth, thou wailing wind
And screech thy melody.

The elements themselves
Cry out with all their might,
Filled with dread and wonder
To see my shocking plight.

The very God of all
Shaped my immortal soul.
Yet I have turned from Him
And spurned His holy role.

The grace of Christ was mine,
As it had always been,
But I have turned my face
Toward the sins of men.

Wherefore does my heart shake
And quiver with such fright
At being brought to stand
Before Him in His light?

Oh, Christ, my Redeemer,
Whose hand I have refused,
Please stretch it forth once more
Before my soul I lose.

I need Thee evermore.
Hide not Thyself from me.
For now my broken heart
Is pulling me to Thee.

My hope in Thee is full,
Held firm by stable trust,
To know Christ, my Savior,
The King of all is just.


  The thought of rejecting our Savior's help is terrifying. He always invites us to come unto Him, and we should never delay following that invitation. We need His help, not only in our darkest hour but in our brightest day as well.

A Surprise Heart Attack

  We got a nice surprise on Valentine's Day. Some mysterious visitors came by and "heart attacked" our apartment door! They cut out a bunch of paper hearts (most of which you can't see in the picture) and some Valentine's candy and they taped it to our door to surprise us.

  It really is little moments like this that make life worth living. Those little moments where somebody goes out of their way to do something small for you, just to see you smile or even just to know you smiled. Sometimes people don't know how much those little acts of charity mean.

  And that's really what it is. "Charity". Charity is the pure love of Christ, a love for other people. Somebody with charity just wants to see somebody else be happy. It doesn't matter to them if they get recognition for it. They are not doing it for any selfish reason. They do it purely for the other person.

  We are so lucky that there are people like that, but most especially our Savior. He was the perfect example of true charity. He suffered, died, and was resurrected for each one of us. He is happy when we are happy. We should work to be like that. It comes in every day living. A smile for somebody that looks down, a phone call to a lonely friend, or a heart attack. The good kind of heart attack.

  I am grateful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because it helps me to become a better person. It helps me develop charity. It helps me become closer to my Savior, Jesus Christ. It is His Church.

Filtering Out the Static

  This morning, I came across an old talk by Elder Boyd K. Packer called "Prayers and Answers". In this talk, he speaks about focusing on communication from God. In our world, there are all kinds of spiritual noise competing for our attention. It can block out communication from God, if we let it. We have to learn how to listen past the noise and hear what truly matters most.

  Think about it. There is an old saying that the best place to hide a tree is in a forest, right? So if Satan would want to hide communication from God from us, what better way than to send out innumerable other kinds of communication?

  He will throw all kinds of duplicates and falsehoods at us that are disguised as something good or something that we would want. He wants us to overlook that which is actually of God. We need to train ourselves to hear the voice of the Lord through all of the voices that clamor for our attention.

  Sometimes that can seem very complicated, but a Book of Mormon prophet named Moroni teaches a very important principle:

  "15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
  "16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God." - Moroni 7:15-16

  How simple. Anything that invites us to do something good is from God. Anything that invites us to do something evil is from the devil. Very simple, yet very profound. That principle can allow us to tune out the extra noises and listen only to the voice of the Spirit.

  God loves us. He will not leave us unguided.

The Gilbert Temple

  We got to go to the Gilbert Temple open house!

  For my non-LDS friends, temples are the house of the Lord. They are a place that we go to make covenants, or sacred promises, with God. For example, one of those covenants is eternal marriage. Covenants made in the temple are for eternity, both in this life and in the life to come.

  Naturally, the temple is a very sacred place. Purity is an important part of the temple. So we must be careful about who goes in. Therefore, only morally worthy members of our church that have been interviewed and accepted by Church leaders may be recommended to enter. This is in order to invite and keep the Spirit in the temple.

  Normally, however, an open house is held before a temple is dedicated to the Lord so that the general public may go through and see it for themselves. The stunning craftsmanship and the stunning beauty of the temple itself are overawed by the spirit found within its hallowed walls. There are powerful feelings inside of a temple and we want everyone to experience them.

  The Gilbert Temple's open house recently ended, but my companion and I were able to attend before it finished. The outside was magnificent. The inside was breathtaking. I mean that quite literally. I lost my breath and had difficulty breathing in one room because I was so overwhelmed. It is easy to feel like you are in God's presence when you are in His House.

  I am very grateful for the temples. They have made a huge impact in my life and I want to share it with everybody that I can. That is what people do when they find something good. They share it.

Testimony vs. Understanding

  Something absolutely essential to finding peace in this life is obtaining a testimony. A testimony, as defined in True to the Faith, is "a spiritual witness given by the Holy Ghost". It involves a belief in God and in Jesus Christ. When we have a testimony, we believe the Gospel as it has been given to us through the scriptures and the prophets.

(Taken from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Facebook Page)

  Understanding the Gospel is different from having a testimony of the Gospel. It is also essential to conversion, but understanding alone does not mean that somebody is converted to the Gospel or that they truly believe it. Somebody can read their scriptures all day every day and understand every nuance of doctrine but still not receive the joy that Christ offers us.

  That is because a testimony can only be received through the power of the Holy Ghost. The prophet Moroni gives a promise in the Book of Mormon:

" 3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." - Moroni 10:3-5

  According to these verses, we must honestly read the Book of Mormon and pray to ask God to know for ourselves of its truth. Once we do, the Holy Ghost will witness to us that the book is true. We will feel the peace of the restored Gospel enter into our lives.

  The peace brought from that testimony is irreplaceable.

Avoid Pride

  Pride is such an awful thing. All of us are guilty of it at some point or another. But that is no excuse.

  I've thought a great deal about it lately. There is a lot more to pride than most people think. I'm sure there is a lot more to it than I have realized. However, a modern prophet named President Ezra Taft Benson put it this way:

  "Most of us think of pride as self-centerdness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance, or haughtiness. All of these are elements of the sin, but the heart, or core, is still missing.
  "The central feature of pride is enmity--enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means 'hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.' It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.
  "Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God's. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of 'my will and not thine be done.' As Paul said, they 'seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.' (Philip. 2:21)" - (Beware of Pride, Ezra Taft Benson, General Conference April 1989)

  The more I think about it, the more I realize that pride is the root of all sin. There is no sin that does not come from some form of pride.

  God gives us commandments and principles to live and follow. When we choose to disobey, it is generally because we think we know better or we disagree with what God has said. In many cases it does not seem that way on the surface but when we look deeper at our decision, it was generally made in disagreement due to circumstance or personal belief.

  Think about it. God is the Almighty, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Creator of the universe. He knows EVERYTHING. He knows what will make you happy and what will keep you from misery, and He directs you accordingly. How could you possibly argue or disagree with a Being such as that?

  True humility takes place when we remove competition and self-justification. When we stop worrying about who is better and who is worse than you are. Simply put, when we stop looking at who is right and concentrate on what is right then we are led to the right decision and pride is gone. When pride is gone, sin is gone. When we strive to lift others up rather than to elevate ourselves above them, we find ourselves growing closer to God and we are more willing to follow His direction.

  Be willing and ready to accept correction. Don't try to hide it when you make a mistake. Think of what will make God the happiest, and then do that.

  After all, who is more important to please than God?