Colorado

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.