Welcome to April.
Have you ever played Telestrations? Better yet, have you ever heard of Telestrations? We love Telestrations at our house. Telestrations is like the telephone game but with drawing. The game comes with several dry erase booklets, dry erase markers, dry erase wipes, a deck of cards, and a die. Each player takes a booklet, a marker, a wipe, and a card. The card has two sides. One side of the card is called, "This side," and the other side of the card is called, "That side." Each side of the card has six different "prompts." The prompts have words like, "Dollhouse," "Flute," "Rock Bottom," "Snow White," "Golf Cart," or "Armadillo." Everyone then decides which side of the card everyone will use for that particular round, then the dice is rolled. If, for instance, the number 3 was rolled, my secret word would be "Rock Bottom". I would write my secret word on the first page of the booklet, then flip it over and then proceed to try and draw Rock Bottom. I would then pass my drawing to the next player who would then have to try and figure out what I drew. They then flip the page over and write what they think it is, then they pass it onto the next person who reads what is written, flips the page, and then attempts to draw it. The game proceeds that way until you have reached the end of the booklet. Once that is done, everyone has the chance to show what their secret word is and then they flip through their booklet to show everyone what all the guesses were. It always goes off the rails, and hilarity ensues. Well, we played Telestrations and one of the rounds was so funny that I had to take pictures of it.
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| Swordfish, should be easy enough to draw and figure out, right?? I'm Moothah by the way. |
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| This was my attempt at drawing a sword fish. |
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| Whoever I passed it to, figured it out |
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| And this was their artistic interpretation of a sword fish. |
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| And this is what Jacen wrote |
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| And his drawing of a spicy dolphin. I'm not posting the rest of the pictures because it went to dolphin and stayed dolphin for the rest of the round. But, when I was presenting my booklet for everyone to see, and we came to spicy dolphin, and Jacen's drawing of a spicy dolphin, we all lost it. It took a good 10 minutes before we could continue. So, if you are looking for a good, fun, family game, may I suggest Telestrations. |
Meow-meow got braces.
I had yet ANOTHER surgery. This makes the second one in 2025 and the 4th surgery in a 9 month span.
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| This was a wild surgery. It was supposed to be a test trial for the second portion of my spinal cord stimulator to help with the nerve pain in my left foot. This was supposed to be the first of two surgeries. We were going to do this test trial and, if it worked to take away the nerve pain, then two weeks later we would do the surgery to permanently place it. We thought that the placement of this spinal cord stimulator would be easier and more straight forward than the one they put in my neck. Well, we were wrong. Apparently I have a very unique spine. First the bone in my spine has grown into one solid bone, it has also grown over, and encased my metal rods. The doctor said that it was oddly smooth. He said it looked like a frosted cake. He said they had to drill over an inch just to reach my spinal cord. Once they got to my spinal cord, they found that my dural sheath was paper thin, so thin that they could see right through it, and they didn't want to risk tearing it, so they closed things up and said they couldn't proceed. The doctor said that my spine was so weird that it could be considered a medical marvel and that it might be worth writing a paper on. That's all fine and great, but now we are back to square one at figuring out what to do about the nerve damage in my left foot. And I was now left with recovering from another surgery. |
And now for your viewing pleasure, I give you kittens.
And news from Elder Davis. We got three emails in one month!!
There are 3 type of people in this world:
People that make things happen
People that let things happen
And People that say "what happened?"
We can choose to be one of these people. We have the agency to make things happen and to not make things happen. Or to be utterly clueless. Now there are some experiences in life that make us gravitate to being one of these people. Yet we are still free to choose.
2 Nephi 2:26-27
"26 And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given. 27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself."
We are free to choose because of the Savior Jesus Christ. We have agency.
"Agency - The gift from God to choose between good and evil, between right and wrong." -Plan of Salvation Teaching pamphlet
This is because of the light of christ!
Moroni 7:15-16
"15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night. 16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God."
What is so amazing about agency is that God can not change our agency. He can not take it away.
Matthew 4:19
"19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Jesus Christ calls the Disciples to fish men. To point them the way the should use their agency. Later, after Jesus Christ's eternal sacrifice, His Disciples went back to fishing. The Savior then had to show them why they are called to be fishers of men.
John 21:6
"6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes."
He showed them that he has power over the fish of the sea. He showed them that he has power over the earth. And that he has power to control the natural things. But that he doesn't have power to control our agency. Which is why he needs righteous Disciples to put for good examples and to point other unto Christ.
"When we came into this world, we brought with us from our heavenly home this God-given gift and privilege which we call our agency. It gives us the right and power to make decisions and to choose. Agency is an eternal law. President Brigham Young, speaking of our agency, taught: “This is a law which has always existed from all eternity, and will continue to exist throughout all the eternities to come. Every intelligent being must have the power of choice.” "
-Wolfgang h. Paul, 2005
A lot of times we do not make any choices
"If you choose not to choose, you've already made a choice" -Rush
I testify that we can choose good. Thankfully, we can choose. I testify that righteous choices not only help us, but perfect us. Choosing to live the gospel is eternal joy freely given to us. All blessing pertaining to the kingdom God rely on our choice. That is all Jesus Christ asks of us!
D&C 56:8
"Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit"
Ultimately the best way to use our agency is to do as Jesus Christ did.
Mosiah 15:7
"Yea, even so he shall be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father."
Just as the Saviors will was swallowed up in the will of the Father, our will can be swallowed up in the will of the Savior and the Father.
I invite you all to use your agency in ways that will bless you eternal. I invite you all to choose to live the gospel of Jesus Christ!
I promise you all that you will be a changed person as you live and follow the gospel plan I promise the lord will engrow blessing in your life. I saw these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!
What the amazing weeks. This transfer has not been real. It's felt like an exchange. Wow. So we had our MLC meeting and on our 1 hour drive to the chapel we got a call from our mission president. As soon as I saw the phone ring I knew it was gonna be an emergency transfer. RIP the transfer of me and Elder Appleton. Because of reasons I can't say I am with another missionary who is really cool. He's a hard worker. Very diligent and obedient, but he's really old. He only has this transfer and one more to go. Although the rest of this transfer is gonna be great I am still very sad to leave elder applesauce. He was incredible. I love that elder. I hope we are companions again. Anyways. After the ET we had exchanges with the APs. We have 4 APs right now I guess, so we had two of them come up. Elder Dunne (6'9) he's tall. And the kelschanator (Elder kelsch, my previous companion). Elder dunne served in this area so he kinda showed me and my companion around town since I had only been there 2 weeks and my new companion a day. That was great. Then we had general conference. It was really good. We watched it at some great members houses. I loved so many of the talks they were desirous to the taste. Then we took a hike on pday to the valley of fire again. We had zone conference aswell. Got to see some of my favorite missionaries 
. It was great. Had some spiritual power.
Wow. Blaze a trail to Logandale. Clark County Fair & Rodeo. We had the county fair this week in Logandale. Wow, it was insane. So much fun. We had our own booth so we were in the heart of it. The traffic was so bad we biked around town, we also tried to go off road to cut the traffic that way we get home in time. But it didn't work. We still got home very late, even though we lived less than a mile away from the fair(horrible traffic planing). There were so many miracles from it. People came up wanting to know more about the book of mormon. We had a giant church whiteboard that got filled up by people. We even got the youth on it. And the youth were insane. They handed out at least 600 cards. 200 pamphlets, and 58 copies of the book of mormon in the 4 days we were there. And some lady got put on date aswell because of a youth. The opposition was so funny. We had the white board say "what's your favorite scripture" and this lady comes up and she looked up on her phone "temple bashing scriptures in the bible" and wrote it up. It was so funny. Cause the scriptures are taken out of context and she has no idea. She then tried to come back and drag us down to the gulf of misery and endless wo. But nothing beats the spiritual witness that the book of mormon is true. She told us to read the new testament and said "praying is good, but I invite you to not pray while you read." Huh? Interesting. Matthew 7:7, James 1:5, moroni 10:4-5. O well. She wasn't the only one that came up and talked nonsense. The fair was so fun tho. It was like lagoon. They even had the cranium shaker from diary of a whimpy kid. It was great.
It's been such an eventful couple of weeks. I hope you all have been having a great week and year. Stay lovely. Luv ya bye!
General conference was a special treat. I love General conference. There was so much power. I loved all the speakers. Everyone asks "who was your favorite speaker" for me it's too hard to say. But something that I can say everytime without fail is what my biggest take away was.
This General conference was filled with so many topics. But the biggest ones I got was to prepare for the Saviors return by keeping him in our thoughts.
It started with Elder rasband inviting us to give the Lord equal time:
"I ask the same of everyone today: Whatever is on your to-do list, give equal time, not spare time, to the Lord in personal scripture study, family study of Come, Follow Me, prayer, Church callings, ministering, partaking of the sacrament, worshipping in the temple, and pondering the things of God. Our Lord and Savior has said, “Learn of me … and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Take Him at His word. And give Him equal time."
Even pondering on the things of God will help us. Later this same message was sung in throught these speakers
Elder Quinton L. Cook:
"My third counsel is to set aside consistent time to faithfully contemplate the Savior’s Atonement. There are many ways to do this in our personal religious observance. However, attending sacrament meeting and partaking of the sacrament are especially significant."
Elder Sanding Roman:
"Start by meditating about Christ and the happiness His Atonement and gospel bring to your life. Also, make a record of the “spiritually defining memories” where God has been there for you, for your loved ones, and for the people in the scriptures. Now, these testimonies will not bring power to your life until the Spirit etches them in the “fleshy tables” of your heart. So ponder and record all God set in motion for these miracles to come at just the right time."
Elder Sergio R Vargas:
"Moses responded to the temptation by remembering his divine nature, saying, “Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God.” The truth freed Moses from an attack by the adversary."
Elder Benjamin M. Z. Tai:
"First, pause frequently to remember that you are a child of God and think of the things you are grateful for."
President Nelson's talk was full if this topic.
"Now, let us speak of virtue. The Lord tells us to garnish our thoughts unceasingly with virtue. Imagine the boost you will receive to any positive thought when you enhance it with virtue. Virtue makes everything better and happier! On the other hand, imagine what will happen when you add virtue to an impure thought, a cruel thought, or a depressing thought. Virtue will drive away those thoughts. Virtue will free you from anxious, troublesome thoughts. Brothers and sisters, as the world grows more wicked, we need to grow increasingly pure. Our thoughts, words, and actions need to be unfailingly virtuous and filled with the pure love of Jesus Christ towards all men. The great opportunity before us is to become the people God needs us to be."
What all of those talks had in common was our thoughts. Where we guide them. How we use them.
I've heard our eyes lead to our thoughts, our thoughts, create words, our words, make action, and actions lead to habits. Eventually those habits become our personality.
Matthew 6:22-23
"22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single(to the glory of God), thy whole body shall be full of light. 23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"
God has given us free will to choose. We have full control over our thoughts. And I love how that's what a lot of these speakers suggest we do first. Because by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. As we have small and simply christ centered thoughts it leads to us doing christ centered things. It leads us to being therefore perfect.
D&C 6:36
"36 Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not"
I know Christ lives. And I know that the Spirit can dwell in holy temples. As I have put Good thoughts into my mind I have received lighter, happier days.
I invite you all to join me in keeping our thoughts on Christ. And simply pondering on his sacrifice. Meditate on the divine potential you have. Will you all do that?
I can promise as you have a thought for faith, hope and Charity. And as you let virtue garnish all your thoughts. You will have a brighter countenance. And the savior will make your days happier.
In the name of Jesus Christ Amen!
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This transfer did not exist. It was a 2 week exchange with one companion, a county fair for a week, sickness for half a week, and then a 3 week exchange with different companion. Along with all the other exchanges and meetings like zone conference we had. We had no time this transfer, it was crazy. You know whats even more crazy. The sisters that I came out with go home right now. Yikes. Uh what the. That's crazy. Time is flying by and the degrees are only getting high we are up in the 90s. With may coming up, we'll hit 100 soon. It's been a good couple of weeks. We did get sick for a couple of days which was unfortunate. But after that we got up and running. We had a meeting in las vegas that we went to but on our way back a gas truck got in a crash so the I-15 was blocked off. We had to drive an extra hour to make it back home. Happy Easter aswell. We had a great Holy week. We started by helping our bishop set up some palm leaves in front of the church for palm Sunday. It was really awesome. Had some fun exchanges. Wes got to ride in a 1967 Ford mustang. Wow, wow, beautiful. We helped host a bingo match. That wad fun. Old people are the funniest. They are super sweet until they don't win bingo. We also went to the temple. It was well. Other than that just did the work. You'd expect it to be a whole lot different than in valley, which it is. But it's still the Lords work and the only way to continue to do it is the Lords way. Hope you all are doing well. I appreciate you all. And love you all, luv ya bye!
Transfer News! Wow. No way it's been 6 weeks, thats silly. here's the news: I am Leaving the land of bountiful amd shall be returning to the great land of Las Vegas 
. I guess this was a transfer of bliss. But I learned so much. And made friends(Kirk Evans). But I am excited because I am going to a zone I have never been to. Aliante Shadow zone. This zone is massive in missionaries. It's like if you mixed elk horn(rich side of town) and north Las vegas(more interesting part of town). But I am back with elder Appleton! 
let's goo. I'm actually excited about that. This next transfer is gonna be great. Back on bikes 
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. I guess this was a transfer of bliss. But I learned so much. And made friends(Kirk Evans). But I am excited because I am going to a zone I have never been to. Aliante Shadow zone. This zone is massive in missionaries. It's like if you mixed elk horn(rich side of town) and north Las vegas(more interesting part of town). But I am back with elder Appleton! let's goo. I'm actually excited about that. This next transfer is gonna be great. Back on bikes .I had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting. I accidentally made my talk a little long. Might have taken up a lot more time on the stand than anyone else but oh well. The talk was on being one. Here's the tall below:
Today I have be asked to talk on the subject of being one. Primarily from the scripture D&C 38:27 which says
"27 Behold, this I have given unto you as a parable, and it is even as I am. I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine"
I Hope to answer a few questions today to help us understand what being one is, why we should be one, and how to become one! I pray for the spirit to assist me as I speak of these things.
First What does being one mean? That question seems like an easy one to answer but how do you explain it. I mean, one means one. How can i go deeper than that. There were a few definitions that stuck out to me though, such as;
Having the indivisible character of a unit. In other words being Unified like in the phrase, they all spoke with one accord.
Another definition being: of the same kind or quality.
And another one is: Being a single entity made by combining separate or multiple components.
I feel that in this case in the scriptures being one has multiple meanings. In Mosiah 18 the people are commanded to be one
Mosiah 18:21
"21 And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another"
Being one is being Unified. In one purpose.
We see this in the God Head. The scriptures consistently say that God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are one
3 Nephi 11:27
"27 And after this manner shall ye baptize in my name; for behold, verily I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one"
This can be confusing as i have seen a lot of doctrine twisted a little bit because of this view. But through modernday revelation we now know that they are one in doctrine and one in purpose. That purpose being to bring to pass the etenal life of mankind.
They are also one in action
John 5:19
"19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise"
The scriptures also describe God and one eternal round course
Alma 37:12
". . . which purpose is known unto God; for he doth counsel in wisdom over all his works, and his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round"
All in all being one is being Unified in Christ. It is doing as He does, always following his paths. In acts 4:32 it says this
"32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common." Being one means to be unified together. We believe in being the Children of God. This truth is sung throughout all the scriptures. We believe this and being one is Unifying this eternal family. It is having us be one with God and Him with us and you with me and me with you! All being united.
Romans 12:5
"5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another."
Now, How can we be one? The Lord has told us that we can be one in John 17:21-22
"21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one"
But how does one become one? Like I just said being one is following Christ. How does one do that? After being a missionary for a year and a half you'd think you would understand pretty well how to be one with Christ, but I will tell you right now, I am still learning so much on a daily basis. And that right there is becoming one. I'll start with a scripture from 2 nephi 28:30
"30 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have"
I love how this conects to alma 37:6
"Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise"
Its so funny how alma starts by saying you may suppose this is foolish of me. I remember being in my youth and when my parents started to speak wisdom unto me, all I thought was. "Ok here we go again. Mr. Wiseguy over here tryin to tell me what to do." But now being in the real world. Now actually caring for people other than myself, I thrive on their words. So listen to your parents cause I'm sure they can tell you that it really is by small and simple means. Sometimes really small, and stupid simple. But that is how we can be one. One step at a time. Think of a mountain. If you have the faith of a mustard seed you can move a mountain. Well i must have faith the size of an atom then. I remeber being a kid after church just looking at the rocky mountains trying to come up with enough faith to move them. They never did. Eventually I gave up. But over my life I have climbed mountains. On step at a time. And I have been able to hike up to beautiful views. Of course I see more mountains a head of me which can be discouraging. But by small and simple things I can over come those aswell. One step at a time. Now what things do we have to do. Now that we know it's by small and simple things. What small and simple things are there to do to become one. The gospel of Jesus Christ is what we need to do. Faith, Repentance, Baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Lets take faith for a moment. Faith is believing in God. It is believing God. Faith is a principle of action and power.
Mosiah 4:9
"Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend"
Is that hard to do? Simply start with thinking about a Supreme Creator. Maybe try speaking to Him. Try to listen and reading His words.
Repentance. Repentance is changing our will over to Gods Will. It is literally becoming one with God. When we repent we receive access to power that changes us. It prepares us.
Mosiah 4:10
"And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them."
Baptism. When you are Baptized you take upon yourself the name of Christ. You become His. You Become One with Him
2 nephi 31:13
"13 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel."
Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost allows the Spirit of God to dwell with you. He becomes one with you and sanctifies you.
3 Nephi 27:20
"Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day"
And enduring to the end is a constant integrit effort to become one with God. To enter into his eternal rouns Course and to become celestial.
2 nephi 31:20
"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life"
Simply living the Gospel is how we can become one
In April 2023 Elder Christofferson also taught us that
"If individually we each “put on Christ,” then together we can hope to become one, as Paul said, “the body of Christ.” To “put on Christ” certainly includes making His “first and great commandment” our first and greatest commitment, and if we love God, we will keep His commandments"
Living the two great commandments is how we become one with God and One with others. Think about how majestic that is. Think about why the Lord made those commandments for that reason.
Elder Christofferson later says
"I say again that it is only in and through our individual loyalty to and love of Jesus Christ that we can hope to be one—one within, one at home, one in the Church, eventually one in Zion, and above all, one with the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost"
What Happens when we are one? Why should we be one? Why does God want to be one? Why should we want to be one? Elder Christofferson really goes indepth on the subject of being one. I would highly recommend you check out his talk, it is called One in Christ, general conference, april 2023. In the talk Christofferson tells us this
"When we “put on Christ,” it becomes possible either to resolve or to lay aside differences, disagreements, and disputes." We should strive to be one. Because when we are one, things get done. We help each other. We find Joy in Existence. That is incredible to me. That we can just have joy by existing with one another. In this lone are dark work we can find happiness in our lives. That is taught in 2 nephi 2:25
"25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy"
And imagine how much that joy is amplified in the presence of God in the Celestial Kingdom.
I also find it interesting that when Jesus Christ came upon a man possesed he said he was legion Mark 5:8-9
"For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. 9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many."
The adversary wants us to be multiple people. He wants us to be a different person around our friends than we are around our family. He strives for us to hide our faults. To dig them deeper into a pit of despair. We all can see that this goes nowhere. He wants us to be separated. Because of that reason we should be one. We should be sentinels for righteousness
Okay, story time. I come from a lager family. I have 3 older siblings and 3 younger siblings. 2 older brothers and an older sister with 2 younger sisters and 1 younger brother. I love my family. They are all so great and amazing. We all have learned to become one. Altough there were times where we weren't one. As a larger family it was a little hard to sustain nice things. Especially in the early years. Our ages range from 11 to 25. So back when we were young we had a todler up to a senior in high-school. During these times we would strive to go on fun family trips. A lot of them, infact all of them had something to do with driving long distances in a vehicle. Because airfair was a little too expensive for 9 people we decide to buy a 15 passanger creeper van. You know, The kind of suspicious white vans that usually say free candy on them. Altough ours didnt say that but it did have a byu and a utah utes sticker on the back almost as if those two schools are best friends. Anyways most of our trips consisted of a ton of snacks and crumbs with sweatiness right next to your best friend and worst enemy. We would travel all around the states. We would go to idaho, California, southern utah to all the national parks down there, a lot of lakes and resavores. And we also had a lot of car troubles. On of the most memorable being a wheel exploding on us and which lit our RV on fire while driving on the freeway to the ward family camp. But one trip, this one being my favorite, we decided to take a 2 week road trip to tour church history back east. This took a lot of planning and a lot more snacks. Durning this trip we drove 17 hours the first day and got flooded in the first night. The following days were followed by rain and driving. Eventually we made it to some of the later church history check marks. We did it backwards because we drove back east. Later we made it to the very hot and humid Missouri. Still driving around we made it to Navoo IL. There were a lot of bugs there. Lastly we went Niagara Falls, then to new york and then toured washington DC, and finished it off by 3 days of long drives back home. Wow I missed my bed. But over this experience i gained knowledge on church history and most importantly how to be one as a family. I am so glad i experienced all the things i did with my family. There are very few things that bring me more joy than simply being in the presence of my Family, just because of how Unified we are.
Lastly id like to ask the question, How does being one connect to missionary work? Theres a lot that goes in to play with missionary work in this topic. All you youth and future missionaries listen up. This is Preach my Gospel, this book along with Jesus Christ is going to be your best friend in a mission. Do not cast it aside. This book is how you can be one in Christ during missionary work. In goes through the in and out of how to be One with Christ. It teaches how to be one with the Spirit. How to be one in the doctrine of Christ. It teaches how you can gain Christlike attributes. It teaches how to help others be one. It is equivalent to the book of mormon. Every member of the quorum of the twelve apostles and the first presidency have read every page to this book and have tweaked it according to the spirit of revelation and prohpecy until it has been perfected to be this handbook to missionary work. So lets read the first page. It says
"Your Purpose: Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."
The first thing pmg tells us is the missionary purpose. Doesnt that purpose sound familiar. Lets take a look at the articles of faith, if you had to boil down all our our beliefs into 13 principles, this is what they would be, article of faith 4
"We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost"
That right there is the gospel/doctrine of Jesus Christ. In other words. It is the way to salvation and eternal life. And it is the exact same thing as the missionary purpose. The first page of pmg teaches you that your purpose is One with the Doctrine be of Christ. Missionary work is the greatest work you'll be apart of. It is filling. You will grow in ways spiritually and in ways temporly. The is the best good yoy will do far greater than any other thing that you will do at this stage of life. The lord will bless you. You will see the scripture mosiah 2:41 fulfilled in your lives
"41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it"
Being one is essential for Missionary work. You need to be one with your companion. It is far easier for satan to get in between 2 18-21 yearolds and destroy their unity then to destroy the 20 people they are teaching. Laslty it is not our work. This work is not our work. It is His work. It is the Lords work. The lord had called the 12 apostles to do it on thia earth. And the 12 apostles have invited us to help them participate in it. We need to be one with Christ in His work.
I Know Christ Lives. I Know of His Love. I know that He is Risen! I am thankful for that, I am etenal indebted to that. I know that pure joy does indeed follow Faith. I know that strength comes from humility and weakness. I know that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are One. I Know that we can be one with Them. I know this work is true. It is a glorious work. I know the Book of Mormom to be the word of God. And that Joseph Smith did translate it because he was called and chosen by God.
Promise blessings of being one:
Joy in this life
Unity with friends and family
Stronger communities
Efficiency
An amazing relationship
And for missionary work:
Spiritual sustainability
A love for others
Increased worldly talents
Incredible skills for life
In the Name of Jesus Christ Amen!
And that is a wrap for April.
