On the Lord's Errand
September 17, 2014
This week was amazing! We had Elder Lawrence of the Quorum
of the Seventy come and speak to us! It really helped me learn a lot about how
I could be more consecrated and love the Lord even more, which I really felt
like I needed. So on Sunday night, I got to drive down to Grand Junction and
sleep over with Sister TURNER AND SISTER HILTON! the best companions of all
time. It was a glorious day. The next day we got to go to Mission Leader
Council and Elder Lawrence had us council the whole time about mission rules
and what we needed to do better. We talked a lot about preparation day and how
we could use that more effectively, and some of the elders kind of piped up and
said "what about basketball!" and different things and Elder Lawrence
asked us, well are you here to play basketball or be a missionary? and it was
in that moment that it hit me. it is such a privilege to be a missionary and we
cannot waste any second that we have here. and yes, it can be hard but that's
how we get to know the Lord better. By being on His errand, and by being His
instrument. Our mission president pleaded with us to truly be the leaders of
the mission and administer the consequences of disobedience accordingly. I was
truly grateful for this counsel because I was looking for new goals to have-
how to be more consecrated and feel like I am progressing. I love my
mission!!!!
There was something that was mentioned in our zone
conference that really struck me, and that was about the pre-mortal life and how we developed different talents there,
and we all have different talents! but what really stuck out to me was that
they talked about the talent of Spirituality! the definition of this talent is
the "ability to recognize truth, and then act on it." that is
something that i truly believe that my brother Brayden has, because he sees
things as they really are. However, it is how we act on it that truly helps us
develop our talent of spirituality.
This past sacrament meeting I learned about temptation. For
some reason this topic was really interesting to me and I took a ton of notes. The
man who gave the talk said that sometimes, we just need to go back to the
basics! Sometimes we make things too complicated! and he brought us to the
scripture in Abraham 3:25:
25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if
they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command
them;
We are down here on earth to prove that we can do what we
have been asked to do! When we were in the pre-mortal life, we heard about
God's plan for us. Jesus Christ, Jehovah, offered to perform the Atonement for
us so we could return to live with them. Satan had a different plan. We each
then had the opportunity to choose who we were going to follow. Those who
followed Jesus Christ came down to earth and got a body, and those who followed
Satan, did not. Satan lost the battle he wanted to win. But, he had a back-up
plan and that back-up plan was temptation and opposition in all things.
As it says in Abraham, we came to earth to see if we could do ALL things, but
with Satan involved, we would also be tempted in ALL things. Temptation is a
part of our daily life. But what the man talked about was how we could use our
temptation for good. Sometimes it's hard to overcome certain things, but that
temptation can become a compassionate warning voice, that we need to walk out
of whatever situation we are in. He said to imagine a huge exit sign above us
and imagine walking out of it. When we do this, the Holy Ghost will be by our
side to prompt us NO. Without temptation, we would not have the experiences
necessary to return to our God. So what I am saying is that temptation is
necessary, but Christ gave us a way to overcome it. Through him. We just need
to turn to Him, literally. He compared it to a magnet- when a two magnets are
stuck together, one is pulling it to the other. But when one magnet turns away
from the other, it literally repels it. We need to literally turn away from
sin. I am so thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ who provided us a way to be
healed and nurtured as we go through this process. This process is not always
easy, but it is worth it. It helps us develop our spiritual gifts- like the
talent of spirituality and recognizing truth. We all yearn for spiritual
things, and this is the way to get there.
I want to end with my testimony of the Book of Mormon and
the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. There
is no question in my mind. I know it's real because I know that I recognize
truth in it. I also recognize truth in Joseph Smiths teachings. If you look at
the whole mosaic of his life, not just small individual experiences, you see
how much he was an instrument in the hand of God. I know God loves him and is
so thankful for his sacrifice. I also know that because he was a prophet, we
have a prophet today - Thomas S Monson who leads and guides this church in
Christ's name. Lastly, I know that Christ is my Savior and Redeemer and I'm
thankful to have him by my side.
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