Remembering the Sacrifice

Every Sunday morning we go to church to do what? Learn about the gospel? Talk to friends? Take a nap? Make ourselves feel like we are righteous? Or to renew covenants made at baptism and promise to 'always remember him [Christ] and to keep his commandments which he has given [us] the we may have his spirit to be with [us]? Moroni 4:3  I would like to point out the always remember him, why? What exactly did he do? He atoned for the world and more importantly everyone as an individual. The phrase atonement is beyond comprehension as to what it does for me and you, but we can always remember and try to learn all that we can about what Christ did for us specifically. He gave validity to every saving ordinance as well as cleanse us all from sin and sorrow. Orson F. Whitney said, " There are three elements in baptism, the Water, the Spirit, and the Blood; though only two- water and spirit are usually mentioned. Without Christs atoning blood there could be no baptism of a saving character. Prophetic events and spiritual ordinances can be understood only through spiritual means.  Any attempt to understand without the spirit regardless of mental capacity, college degree, or worldly knowledge, is simply futile. The all encompassing eternal act of what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane can only be understood spiritually. It is what enables to have eternal life and to have peace in the life we are in now.  Without the atonement we would be a lost and fallen people forever.

"Somehow the very act of remembering the Savior and reflecting upon his life is, in and of itself, a catalyst for goodness. It must be difficult if not impossible to genuinely reflect upon the Saviors life and simultaneously do evil. That would be tantamount to asking someone to step forward and backward at the same time. Each time we pause to meditate upon the Savior, we take a spiritual step forward." Tad R. Callister

Just thinking about the Savior helps us improve. Now what if we took that thought and added action? The sacrament is a time to meaningfully reflect upon the life of the Savior, to examine and match our own life against his perfect example and then resolve to narrow that gap.

Elder Jospeh F. Smith observed, " The ordinance [sacrament] has a tendency to draw our minds from the things of the world and to place them upon things that are spiritual, divine and heavenly."

When we take the sacrament let us remember and repent so that 'with his stripes we may be healed' Isaiah 53:5.  The sacrament produces a healing balm to the spiritually wounded.

Don't let a Chevy stop you!

Well yesterday me and my companion were riding along to an appointment like every other day. A car pulled out and looked both ways to pull out onto the road we were riding our bikes a long. MY companion passed that car just in front and I assumed she saw me too. Apparently not.... She accelerated to pull out onto the highway we were riding along and took me out! Yes I got nailed by a car yesterday but I am alright just a sore shoulder, knee and butt. I feel worse for her car my bike took it to her hood that is for sure! Anyways I told her I was fine and we both continued on our way. I think I failed in one thing though, I should have introduced the gospel to her but as you can imagine I was in a little shock. Anyways like I said don't let a 2002 Chevy Trail Blazer stop the work from progressing!

Remember this great prophecy:
“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; … the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

The Power of Testimony!

So this is a story of my companion Elder Smith and I. We were doing some tracting real quickly on the street we had our dinner appointment on we tracted probably only 10 houses but guess what happened?! No one answered or if they did answer they told us they were good and to go talk to someone else. We then were out of time so we walked to our dinner appointment where we had some amazing stew with some even better venison! After the dinner we had decided to try some potential investigators. We pulled up to the first person on the list and we got no answer, not a big surprise. We pulled up to another house expecting to find a young man by the name of Leo who had previously told Elder Smith to come by another time. We knocked on the door and his mother informed us that he had gone to college and would not be home for some time. So Elder Smith followed the promptings of the Spirit and began to tell her who we were and what we were doing. He told her of the Book of Mormon and after he had finished I could tell she was just being polite but wanted us to leave. She was about to dismiss us when I felt I needed to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon along with its divinity and everything that my companion had already said. She listened to me as I bore my testimony of how the Book of Mormon has changed my life and I know it could change hers too. Her whole attitude changed and we talked for about an hour on her front porch about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel. She took a Book of Mormon from us and wanted us to come and see her exactly a week from that day. She said she would read and pray to know about the Book of Mormon. That is as far as we know we will see what happens this Wednesday.

I would just like to say that nothing invites the spirit with more power then a true and unwavering testimony of  the divinity of the Book of Mormon or any gospel truth! I hated tracting at one time and now I love it. I get to tell people about the Book of Mormon and try to share this wonderful gospel message we have with other people! I can't think of any greater calling. I love being a missionary and helping the work move forward. I only wish one thing. That is I wish I would have done my mission right the first time and looked toward the Lord more often then I did. I want everyone to know that I am sorry for not being the example that I should have been. I am sorry for those of you I have hurt along the way and if there is ever anything that I can do in order to make it right please let me know.

I know this church is true! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and I know the President Monson is a prophet who leads and guides this church as the Lord directs. I love being a member of this wonderful and glorious church! I know that nothing in this world will ever be as good as what I am a part of right now! I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Atonement and Awareness

"The more spiritual an individual becomes the more sensitive he becomes to his imperfections. The better he becomes the worse he realizes he was." I can tell you that this is more true than I would have ever thought. But when we look at the scriptural examples the Lamanites at one time said "whatever they did was right" and then on the other hand we have one of the most influential prophets in history, Nephi, saying "O wretched man that I am" What made the difference?? Please answer in the comments :)

" The greatest of all faults it to be conscious of none."

"Some memories can never be erased, some relationships can never be severed,  some feelings are never forgotten, such things outlast both time and death."

The atonement enables each of us to not only change our habits but to change our hearts so that we will have no desire to do evil but to good continually. Those who experience a change of heart will manifest sorrow, not just any sorrow but godly sorrow. That will bring them into the depths on humility and enable them to truly repent. There is to be no need for outside pressures to make this change. In fact in my own experience I have seen that outside pressures made me change my outside but deep within my heart I had not changed. Until I had no one outside to pressure me and I realized this was on me. "One has not begun to repent until he has suffered intimately for his sins." The atonement is an infinite sacrifice that encompassed everything. Every past, present, and future transgression, everything I have done or you have done. It has paid for every little bad thought, accidental curse words, and I think more importantly the deliberate disobedience to the commandments. Those who feel that they are not able to repent or are too far gone are being fooled. No one is beyond the reach of the Saviors love for us and the effects of his sacrifice. He suffered for each of us personally, not just one big mass of pain but suffered personally for ever soul so that he would know what it was like and be able to support us in our times of need. If you say I am too bad to repent than you are belittling the sacrifice made by our savior that he made out of love for every soul that would ever live. He loves those that are righteous and payed the price for them and not only that but loved and ensured that even the vilest of sinners, the most wicked people this world has ever seen will always have a way out if they would repent. I would like to say that I have witnessed for myself from the outside as a missionary seeing people change their hearts. I have also more personally seen what I have gotten out of Christ's sacrifice and that a change of heart is not beyond anyone's reach. The one thing that made it difficult for me was pride. But I can tell  you with my whole heart that no matter where you are, what you have done, the Saviors arms are always open for you to come home and feel the infinite love that he has for each of us. I can testify that I have felt of that love and I have seen it bless my life and the lives of others more then they or I have ever dreamed. The changes that you see in the scriptures actually do happen to people.  I can testify that this is true and it happens today I have seen in happen in my own life. That mighty change in your heart can and will happen if you will become humble and do whatever is asked of you to make it right with God. I am so grateful for Christ and what he did for me. I know I didn't deserve it but he loved me more than I can ever dream of and because he did my sins are payed for. I hope from now on to never add to his suffering or at least add very little. What a wonderful gift that was given!! What miraculous love he had!! I love Christ and I love being a missionary I say these things in the name of our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

I am sorry if the above text seems preachy I am in no place to tell anyone what to do but I wanted everyone to know how I felt. Tomorrow I will let you know about some of my experiences here in Eureka!! I will let you know I used to hate tracting.... but now I love missionary work and everything that entails!

I know I can... I know I can...

So I am currently trying to get my blog and my Facebook profile synced and I and writing this blog in order to see if it is working. For those of you  that don't know I am in Eureka, MT currently serving as a missionary in the Billings Montana Mission. I am excited to be here for a while and hopefully I will be back in Mississippi after this still a part of the Lord's Army. I love this work and I feel better than ever! This is a great area and well to be honest I am still meeting people and getting to know them I didn't think it would take this long in Eureka but there are more people here than I thought. Anyways here is a scripture to you to ponder on. Joshua 1:8  Read that and please let me know what you think about it. My Blog's will get more spiritual and missionary minded but I am rushed at the moment so everyone have a great day and remember this, God is everywhere all the time and is helping us even when we feel like we are forgotten. I can promise you that!!