Last weekend we had the honor to be visited by Elder Richard G. Scott. He is an Apostle just like when Jesus had in his church. You could say he is a modern-day Luke, James, John. It really was a fantastic experience.
He is a short portly fellow. He's getting up there in years. As we were able to see him in an intimate setting, it was interesting to see his weakness' and how human he is. His tie was dirty, he coughed a lot, and the remnant of his hair was wild after coming in through the snow.
But at the end of the time he spent with us. He bore his testimony, not as the man, but as the mantel. He have his apostolic testimony that Jesus lives. Christ is the head of the Church and the real leader of all that happens. He then said with all the conviction that could be imagined that, "I KNOW him." Of all he said and taught, the power of that man's testimony and conviction is what I will remember the most.
I know that my work out here as a missionary is true, and that the only way to find true, lasting happiness is through Christ and his Atonement. I want to know Christ as well as Elder Scott does, but I'm not quite there. But I know in my own little way that Christ lives, and is the center of all my work as a missionary.
I have always loved music, and the prophet Joesph Smith. So music about Joesph Smith is really great. One song that I really like is the "Rising" by Nashville Tribute. It really makes me wonder how when things got the best they also got the worst. As the Heavens sent out revelations the gates of Hell sent its worst slander. I know Joesph was a Prophet called of God to begin the Latter-Day work. He isn't a perfect, and had flaws (the only one who didn't was Jesus Christ). But prophets are imperfect people called to do a perfect work.
I told my mother what troubled my heart I saw the worry as she took me in her arms I told the preacher, and he looked at me And I saw the rising that never let me be
Oh the rising From weak things the great things Are rising, rising The persecution, the spirit, the peace
The spirit of God like a fire it spread Calling the nations put a price upon our heads Running through darkness and running to light Praying on our knees for one more day every night
I don’t know all the answers but I do my best To live up to the rising that won’t let me rest
On Preparation-Day we missionaries try to find something cool to do together. Its often sports or playing games together. Something that we have done a few weeks now is going to a little creek with some waterfalls called Hi Tor.
Its a really cool place to go. The water doesn't get much more than ankle deep, but there are about 4 waterfalls that are there are amazing, and the last falls are probably close to 50 feet tall.
So this last week we went there, and before I had happy to look at the large falls, but this week I really wanted to get to the top. I didn't climb the falls like most of my fellow missionaries, but went around climbing up the gully side. We found a rope to help us climb up the side, and we took it to make it easier and safer to down the falls.
After throwing some rocks in to the pool at the bottom we came down, and about 10 feet from the bottom the helpful little steps to get down and the rope ran out. So using the last few feet of rope, I tried to get over to a better run to climb down free hand. Right as I was going to get to the safety the rope conveniently decided to snap. I was lucky enough to only fall down a couple feet before I stopped myself, but that was scary to fall even that far unsure of where I would stop before the rock floor.
By the time the adrenalin rush wore off I started to think about what had happened, and if the rope had been long enough to make it those last treacherous 10 feet. It still would have been hard work, but it would have a simple trial.
I realized that Christ is like our rope. Unlike my short and weak rope, Christ has an infinite rope of infinite strength. We can rely on his help no matter how deep we are trying to climb from or how difficult our next pass is. And when the pass gets impossible to climb, when we have gone as far as we can, when we just don't have anything left to give he can carry us past those points.
As I have thought about and pondered the atonement I realize that is doesn't make things easy. It doesn't take away our personal effort, or even our responsibility. Rather it allows us to do the impossible, what we simply cannot do ourselves.
I really love this Mormon message. It really makes me think every time I watch it. Jeffery R. Holland is one of my heroes. He is passionate, he's had success in life, he has had a successful family, and he's a man of God. When he was pleading with his past self to not give up, it made me think, what if he had given up? What if he had just stopped, turned around, and forgot about the journey and goals he had set? Who knows where he would be. Its was such a small moment in a momentous life, but had he forgotten his purpose how lost could he have become?
I guess I shouldn't just talk about it, but here it is
I have been thinking of my faith lately. Its something that I seem to lack quite often. I have watched the video on forgiveness a few times now, and the man, Chris Williams, impresses me very much. As I consider what I might do in that situation, and I am not sure I could have the strength or faith to forgive as readily.
What is faith? We think of it being a belief. I believe many things, such as the earth is round, its bad to stick your fingers in power outlets, clouds are made out of water, and that cars don't run without gas. Because I believe these things I would sail across the ocean, I don't stick fingers in power outlets, I carry an umbrella on cloudy days, and pay part of my life savings to put gas in the car.
What makes faith in God different? Why is it considered so important that scriptures talk about it all the time, and its considered the base of all religion?
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is like the footprint that is left behind. People believe in Bigfoot because they have found big foot prints. They believe him even thought they don't see Bigfoot, all they see is what he left behind. God leaves his marks everywhere. "All things denote there is a God" (Alma 30:44) We don't have to see God to believe in him, we just have to see where he has touched our lives.
"Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." (Alma 32:21) Hope, we hope the things that we believe are true. If we only hope for the things we know, then there isn't much to hope on.
"Faith is a principle of action and power. Whenever we work toward a worthy goal, we exercise faith. We show our hope for something that we cannot yet see." (Gospel Topics, lds.org) If we have a goal to lose 5 pounds (or 50) we start by trying to eat better and exercise more. Both are not much fun and can be rather painful. But we have faith that it will make a difference. We may have watched their effects on others, or watched the info-mercial with Chuck Norris testifying that is works. We exercise the faith that what they tell us is true because of his wash-bored six-pack testifying to us it really works.
For some reason when we see happy people, and they start talking about God, it doesn't have the same convincing power as Chuck Norris talking about the total gym. We might think is works for them, some way to tell themselves everything is alright. We can't take their testimony. But we too must exercise the faith that what they say is true, and they can have the Holy Ghost testify that it is true.
"But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words." (Alma 32:27)
One of my favorite thoughts, one that awes me every time I think about it, is "the shadow proves the sunshine." It took me a while to understand it. To me it says basically that we know that there is a sun because we can see the shadows. Because of the darkness we can see the light.
When thing have seemed the darkest and the hardest is when I have been able to see where the most light is. Even when I have hid myself in some dark crevice, God somehow seems to find me and show a little light. I still had to choose to hid even deeper or go towards the light.
The fact that there is darkness, pain and suffering in this world only shows to us that there is light, joy, and happiness. This dichotomy doesn't prove that God doesn't love us, it doesn't prove that he isn't there. It can show us even better that he is here. The shadow proves the sunshine. The good proves the light. Evil proves God.
Mormon can be kind of a big term that means alot of different things to different people. To some it is the guys in white shirts and ties, to others some crazy religion that did things worthy of a campfire story, and to others a friend, nieghbor, or family member. Whatever mormon means to you here's a little bit about what we try to be.
We try to be good people. One of the most gratifying things that I have heard said about us by others is that we actually live what we teach. We may talk and rejoice in Christ (because we are Christians) but we also try to be like Christ. We are still far off the mark and often mess-up.
We try to worship God in the correct way. With all the differing ideas about God its good to have some stability. We believe that we have a prophet that directs us just as prophets like Moses and Abraham directed people in their own time.
Our religion isn't a new American religion. We believe it to be the same religion that Christ brought to the earth, but now restored the way it was intended to be!!
