My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee

As a person is preparing to leave for their mission, there are a number of things that they have to do and take care of before they leave and as they prepare for the next two years. Buying clothes and supplies, packing, making sure you have everything that you need, etc. One thing that happens for most missionaries is what is called a farewell talk. Usually the Sunday before they leave, they give a talk in sacrament meeting, the first meeting in our church services.

When I gave my talk before I left, I spent a lot of time talking about God's love for us. I shared some experiences I have had in my life that have helped me know for myself that God really does love me. I also talked about how there are times in our lives when it seems like God has abandoned us and that He doesn't love us, but in the end, He is always there for us and always loves us! If there is one thing I know in my life and can testify of, it is this fact; that God loves each of us individually and uniquely. That is what I have experienced and come to know throughout my life. So when I gave that talk, I decided to speak on that subject that I knew best.

Of Rivers and Waves!

I can't believe that it has already been a year since my first blog post! It has been fun to go back and read some of my earlier blog posts and see how much I have changed, not only with my writing but also my personality and character!

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to make a post exactly a year after my first blog post, but I wasn't sure what to write about. I wanted it to be something epic and awesome but I just wasn't having any ideas of the sort come to me! I was pretty bummed about that because I thought that would be a fun way to celebrate the one year mark for my blog!

Then one day I was reading in my scriptures and I read a verse that I read at the beginning of my mission that  I have thought a lot about over the past year or so and which has had a pretty big influence on me! I didn't quite understand at the time that I initially read it so I wrote home and asked my family if they had any advice for me. A few family members responded with some good insight, but it was my aunt and uncle who said something that really got me thinking.

As Many As Should Look...Should Live!

"And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died...And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." (Numbers 21:6,8-9)

In the Bible we find one of the greatest stories of travel ever. As commanded by the Lord, Moses leads the children of Israel out from their bondage to the Egyptians to a land of promised freedom. At one point in their journey, the people began to whine to Moses asking him why God had lead them out of Egypt and why they had to do such a hard task. In response, the Lord sent "fiery, flying serpents" to them. Many of the people were bitten and suffered greatly because of this added trial. But He didn't leave them helpless. He commanded the prophet Moses to make a symbol--a brass serpent--that they could look to and receive the promised blessing of a being healed.

Press Forward!

Last night was really hard for me. There wasn't really any huge thing that made it bad, just a number of little things that added up to make it a pretty disappointing night. When we went home for the night, I left our office just feeling really drained wondering what was going on and why things were so hard. I am working my hardest, I am trying my best to be obedient, why aren't things working out? On the walk back to our apartment I spent most of the time praying and asking Heavenly Father what was going on and what I needed to do to turn things around. We returned to our apartment and I started getting ready for bed.

As I was brushing my teeth and thinking about things, a hymn popped into my mind that I haven't heard for a while. In the LDS hymn book, it is hymn number 81, "Press Forward, Saints." I was pretty confused as to why this particular song came so suddenly and randomly into my mind, but as I thought about the words and the message it teaches, I soon realized that it was the answer to my prayers!

Trials come to all of us. They are the purpose for mortality. When hard times come up what do we do? Do we curl up in the corner and let them overcome us or do we do our best to endure through them and press forward? Those who seek to follow Christ and His example press forward. So for all those who want to be true followers of Christ, this is a qualification. We have all been through times, and perhaps may be going through a time right now, when we wonder how it is possible to overcome what we are going through. The hymn that popped into my mind last night, combined with the wisdom of experience, taught me the three main ways that we can press forward through every difficulty that we experience in this life!

Always on the Move

A few weeks ago I was introduced to a video that included clips from a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, one of the main leaders for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The sheer power of the Spirit that I could feel from his words made me want to read the entire talk instead of hearing just a few clips from it. I soon found the whole talk on LDS.org and read it a number of times within a few days. To read, Elder Holland's talks are always very powerful, but if you know anything about talks given by Elder Holland, it is that nothing (and I mean nothing!) compares with hearing him give it. The words themselves are powerful but when you hear the love and fire behind his voice it is almost impossible to not know that the words he speaks are true. This, of course, is true with all of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve and the First Presidency (the main leadership units of the LDS Church) but most especially true of Elder Holland.

Anyways, in this phenomenal talk entitled "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence", Elder Holland references events in the life of the great Biblical prophet, Moses. As a young shepherd, Moses one day went up "into an exceedingly high mountain" and spoke with God face to face. Because of his faith, God showed Moses all of His creations. Following this great vision, as Moses is pondering on what he saw, the devil comes to him trying to tempt Moses to worship him. The moral of the story, Elder Holland describes, is to not let our guard down. That is what his whole talk is about. It is about being prepared for temptation to come before great spiritual moments and not letting down our guard when those great spiritual moments happen in our lives.

The Dangers of Procrastination

I am a huge fan of wearing long-sleeve dress shirts! No matter the temperature, I love wearing long-sleeve dress shirts! I absolutely hate having to wear short-sleeve ones. You can always tell when I am not going to have a good day because that is when I run out of clean long-sleeve shirts and have to wear a short-sleeve one instead. For whatever reason I just feel our of my element. It just doesn't feel right!

Sitting at a desk all day is not very strenuous work at all. In fact when I first came on my mission I imagined that I would go home with all of my clothes in pretty much the same condition they were when I came on my mission! For the most part I would say that is pretty accurate. But I guess typing and using a computer mouse all day can wear down the elbows of long-sleeve shirts!  Who would have thought? :)

A few months ago I was going about my regular, day-to-day activities as an online missionary and I leaned on my elbow and noticed that it felt pretty cold. I looked at the desk, saw nothing, and figured I was losing my mind so I went back to how I had been sitting. But again I felt this cold sensation. Again I checked the desk and it felt fine. This time I decided to look at my shirt (as sad as it is to say, one of my favorite shirts!) and found the reason for the temperature difference! I noticed that there was a small hole right over my elbow so that when I had it in just the right position my elbow poked through and that is what I was feeling.

"No big deal," I thought, "it is just a tiny hole, it should be fine for a while." So I ignored it and went back to what I had been doing. I eventually got used to that chill that ran up my arm whenever I put it on my desk and just acknowledged that I had a small hole.

Recognizing our Personal Liahona, Part 3: Timing is Everything

And the trilogy continues... :)

In part one of this trilogy I talked about a scripture in 1 Kings 19. As I was writing my thoughts about this scripture, I had to go in take care of something. As I was away I had another thought about that scripture. I figured I would just work it into the original post but as I continued with it I realized that would have made it way too long! I mean let's be honest, it is already a fairly long post. I didn't want to make it any longer than I had to! So I decided I would just write a separate post about this idea. I am glad I did that because over the past few days I have thought of a few other things to talk about with this idea so now it gets to be a regular sized post instead of a short post with a random thought attached to it! :)

In the previous two blog posts, I have been talking about the Holy Ghost and how to feel and recognize His promptings. This post is still about the Holy Ghost, but I am going to take it in a different direction than the others. This time I want to share another insight about not just how the Holy Ghost comes to us, but rather when He comes. In 1 Kings 19 (this is the scripture that prompted this thought!) we read,

"And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:
"And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."

In the first part of this blog trifecta I used this scripture to point out that the communications from the Holy Ghost are small things that are hard to notice. As I thought about the verse, I learned something new that I had never seen before! I have always loved these verses because they explain how the Holy Ghost communicates, but up until a few days ago I never realized that they also explain when the Holy Ghost talks with us. Notice the order in which things happen in these verses. The Lord tells Elijah to go to the mountain. While he is up there, he experiences a strong wind that breaks parts of the mountain he is on, then a strong earthquake, then after that a fire, and finally the Lord sent the Spirit to him!