Farewell my Nauvoo

Wow, I can't believe it's already over. Two years have never gone by so fast. This Thursday, June 7th, I complete my mission and fly home to Idaho. These past two years have been some of the greatest and hardest years of my whole life. The way I feel right now is, i'm sure, similar to the way the early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints felt when they had to leave the great city of Nauvoo. Its hard to leave something you have grown to love, but we can always have a firm hope and trust in God that great blessings, opportunities, and happiness lie ahead when were trying to be faithful.
When the early Saints headed north up the Mississippi river they came to an area with large swamps. There they drained the swamps and began to build the city of Nauvoo. This was no easy task for them. Many of them became ill with ague, an infectious disease that includes fever and chills. Everyone made tremendous sacrifices, giving almost everything they had to help establish this great city. Although it was a hard time for everyone, for more than six years those Saints displayed a remarkable degree of unity, faith, and happiness. And because of their faith the Lord poured out His blessings on them. Miracles were wrought by the Prophet Joseph Smith and many other righteous men who held the true authority of Jesus Christ. They went around healing those who were sick and restored them back to their proper health. The Lord also gave the Saints more scripture and revelation during this time, as well as a commandment to build a Temple. The Saints built the Temple and then entered in and became sealed to their families for all eternity never to be separated at death. The Lord had truly extended his tender mercies and prospered His people. However, due to mob violence, Joseph Smith was martyred and the Saints were driven out of their beloved city. This is when they decided to travel west and settle in the Salt Lake valley. I'm sure it was hard for those Saints to leave Nauvoo, but I know they had a firm trust in God that He would take care of them and that everything was going to be alright.

I truly testify, from experience, that no matter how hard life may be, hope and happiness can always be found. I know the Lord never forsakes those who are striving to do whats right. I know God, our loving Heavenly Father, and His son, Jesus Christ, are real. I love them and I know they love us. They are watching over each of us from Heaven and they bless us everyday. The Atonement is real. It happened and we can be cleansed and strengthened from it even today. I loved serving this mission! I loved serving around so many great people here whether they were members, missionaries, or those not of our faith. I pray the Lords choicest blessings will be poured out on all of them, and may God be with you 'till we meet again.

mormon.org/jesus-christ/

Click here to watch  Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration a video that shows the early Saints building Nauvoo and the life of Joseph Smith.

We Trust God the Eternal Father

We had a mini miracle last week! So this is a testimony to me about planning by the Spirit. Every night when we get back to the apartment we always set goals and make plans, as guided by the Spirit, for the next days activities. Wednesday night as we were planning we were going to try to see a member of our church later in the day, because we knew she worked, but we felt prompted to try to see her earlier in the day. So thats what we planned. On our way to see this member, up ahead on the road we saw what looked like a pickup with a trailer and a bunch of big barrels all over the road. As we got closer we noticed a car parked behind it. As we got even closer we saw that the car parked behind it was other members of our ward here in Branford. We pulled up to the scene and parked the car than got out to offer our assistance. Apparently the guy driving the truck took a turn a little to fast and 8 out of 12 barrels fell off the trailer. The barrels were full of horse feed and each one weighed 220 pounds. The man had been trying for an hour to put the 8 barrels back on the trailer, but wasn't able to. Then, about 5 min before we came, the members of our church came upon the scene and tried to help as well, but they too were not able to do it. Two of the members of our church went off to pray for more help, and as soon as they ended their prayer guess who showed up? Us! Thats when we pulled up and offered our assistance. We were than able to put all the barrels back on the trailer. Its amazing to see how God orchestrated that whole ordeal! He made sure people were placed right where the needed to be to help another one of His children who was in need. 

I know God the Father is the Supreme Being in whom I believe and whom I worship. He is the ultimate Creator, Ruler, and Preserver of all things. He is perfect, has all power, and knows all things. He “has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's” (D&C 130:22). I know we are all literally children of God, spiritually begotten in the premortal life. As His children, we can be assured that we have divine, eternal potential and that He will help us in our sincere efforts to reach that potential (see lds.org to learn more).  I know God loves each of us personally. He has a plan for each of us! I've seen how much trusting in God can bless our lives. The mini miracle that I shared above is one example. I have also seen it in making difficult decisions in life. Elder Christofferson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was faced with a financial challenge that wasn’t resolved for years. “The fact that I was forced to turn to God for help almost daily over an extended period of years, taught me truly how to pray and get answers to prayer, and taught me in a very practical way to have faith in God,” he said. “I came to know my Savior and my Heavenly Father in a way and to a degree that might not have happened otherwise or that might have taken me much longer to achieve.” In making decisions day by day, we can slowly but surely draw closer to the Lord and avoid distasteful influences from becoming a part of our lives. Being consistent in seemingly small, daily steps is a key principle in achieving any great work, including faith in and obedience to the Lord. “And out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33).

  

My Friend Will Live Again!

Have you ever had someone close to you pass away? When I was in high school a good friend of mine passed away. He was on his way to work at a ski resort when the slippery Idaho roads caused him to loose control of his pickup and slide off the road. I was shocked when I heard the news, and it took me a while to finally accept it and move on. Throughout my life up to this point I always knew about Gods plan, that we will be able to see our loved ones again, but it never really meant much to me. After the death of my friend however I decided to research that topic a little more. Eventually my research took me to the story of the Saviors death and how those who loved him were able to see him again.After the Saviors death he was placed in a tomb. On the first day of the week the women came to tend to the body of Christ. But when they got to the tomb an "angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow...the angel... said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." (Matthew 28:2-6).
"Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre...she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master." (John 20:11, 14-16).
What I love about Easter is not only do we get to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, be we also get to be reminded that we too get to be resurrected, because of the mercy of a loving God! " Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous" "[In] the time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth, and be reunited, both soul and body...The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame." (Alma 11:44; 40:21-23). What a blessing! We will all be resurrected and blessed with a perfected body! I am grateful to a loving God who will allow us, His children, to see those we love again and even have a perfect body just as He does.
Our living Prophet today, Thomas S. Monson, has declared his testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
"My beloved brothers and sisters, in our hour of deepest sorrow, we can receive profound peace from the words of the angel that first Easter morning: 'He is not here: for he is risen.'
He is risen! He is risen!

Tell it out with joyful voice.

He has burst his three days’ prison;

Let the whole wide earth rejoice.

Death is conquered; man is free.

Christ has won the victory! (Hymn #199)

As one of His special witnesses on earth today, this glorious Easter Sunday, I declare that this is true, in His sacred name—even the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior—amen." (He is Risen, April 2010)



Through the Forest in a Thunderstorm

This past week has been an interesting one! In my last blog post I mentioned how we had to take our car to the shop for needed repairs. The car was in the shop for almost a week which put Elder Lang and I on foot for a few days. Normally we would be riding bikes, but we only had one bike. On Friday Elder Grant, a missionary serving in Lake City, came down to Branford to see a few people with me. Friday went good, no problems really. But Saturday was where we learned a simple, but lasting lesson. Saturday morning started out like any other morning as a missionary. As we were about to head out to walk around trying to talk to people we received a warning text from Sister Barry informing us that we had thunderstorm warnings. Sister Barry is a wonderful lady who has been called to help protect us missionaries. Well we didn't want to just sit in the apartment, so we decided to go out and work, besides if it got bad we would just hurry back to the apartment. As we walked out of the apartment we could see dark clouds but they were a little ways off and we thought we would have at least 30 minutes to proselyte. So we started walking. As we got a some distance away from the apartment guess what happened? Yep it started to pour rain. We stood under some persons porch for a little bit hoping that the rain would just go away. After a minute or two it calmed down a little but it didn't go away. The logical idea at this point would be to start heading back, right? Right, that would be the logical decision, but did we choose that decision? Nope. We thought "hey it calmed down!" and moved on with what we were doing. As we walked some more we saw a lady and went to talk to her. As soon as we started talking to her it started pouring again and she told us goodbye then ran inside. We decided at this point that the weather is getting pretty bad so we should head back. We ran under a little roof extending off from a shed and sat there again hoping that maybe it would calm down again. But this time it didn't. Really the best way back to our apartment was to run through a small forest. And thats just what we did. We ran through the forest the best we could, but as we ran through vines and brush blocked our way, along with spiders and other bugs. About half way through we got a little lost and wondered if we were heading the right way. Rain was pouring. Lighting filled the sky and thunder followed behind. The thought came to my mind "if we would've just heeded the warning by Sister Barry we wouldn't be here right now." Eventually, after some trial, we made it back safely. 

This experience reminded me of times in every ones life. At times everyone is faced with a decision and must act upon that decision. Sometimes we choose wrong, other times we choose right, or other times we dont know what to choose. Today we have special people, called prophets, who are called by Jesus Christ himself, to warn us and keep us out of danger. Prophets are righteous men called by God to be His mouthpiece. They speak Gods will, and we have the choice to obey their council and be blessed or take our own path and accept the consequences. Elder Grant and I didn't heed Sister Barrys warnings and because of that we were caught in a storm. We justified our actions, took our own course, and thought that it would be easy to return back Then when we got caught in the storm we hoped that it would just "go away". Everyone may experience the same feelings when they disregard Gods commandments and commit sin. After Elder Grant and I continued down our own course we realized that it would've been best to just follow the warning. We then had to take the long hard course back (repentance). But we did make it back! I know from experience that its best to listen to and follow the living prophets. They point us to Jesus Christ, who is the source of true happiness! The Prophets know what lies ahead and tell us exactly what we need to do to prevent unnecessary trials. When we heed their council we are blessed with those things we stand in need of. Our lead prophet today is President Thomas S. Monson. This weekend on March 31st and April 1st President Monson and  the Apostles will be speaking to us! We can hear the wonderful and uplifting word of God (see Jacob 3:2, Book of Mormon) and see His will be revealed to us in these days. What a blessing! I am excited to hear their words and follow their council.           

         

To watch President Monson and the Apostles speak go to: http://www.lds.org/

To learn more about how God again called a prophet go to: http://mormon.org/restoration/

The Spirit that Saves Lives

About a month ago I went on a companion exchange with Elder Nelson who is serving in Lake City. I had him come down to my area in Branford for the day and I felt like we were going to have a really good experience. Well the trade off was an experience, but defiantly not what I expected. About 20 minutes into the trade off we were driving down an open country road driving about 45 mph to an appointment when out 

of no where a 1991 Chevy pickup truck pulled right out in front of us! I slammed on the brakes and laid on the horn while Elder Nelson braced for impact. It felt like everything went into slow motion. I had a feeling to turn the car a little to the right and so I did. We slammed into the side of the truck on a diagonal right in front of the trucks passenger door. After things calmed down I climbed out of the car to go see if everyone in the truck was okay. To my surprise I saw three little kids in the truck all under the age of 5! The truck only had one front bench seat and that's where all 3 kids were sitting. Had I not listened to that subtle prompting to turn the car a little to the right we would have slammed into the truck right where the kids were sitting. Amazingly no one was injured in the accident. 

Just earlier today I started another companion exchange with Elder Nelson. We were planning on going to Branford to teach, but yet again the plans got jumbled up by car problems. I'm begging to fear my companion exchanges with Elder Nelson :). Just joking! For the past little while the inside of our car has been smelling like gas really bad. But today it was worse than its ever been. We deemed the car hazardous, then called our mission office in Jacksonville and they had us take it into the shop. While we sat in the waiting room the service man came out to fill us in on the status of the car. As we talked we felt prompted to take things to a more spiritual note. Our conversation went from talking about our car to talking about life after death. He told us about a dream he had about the after life and asked if we might know what that means. We turned to the Bible and showed him where it teaches about the very doctrine the spirit revealed to him in his dream. He then gave us his number and asked us to call him so he can learn more. Had we not listened to the Spirit it could have taken this man, who knows how long, before he received answers to his questions about Gods plan for him. 

I think its important to learn how to recognize and follow the Spirit to make it through this life and ultimately to make it back to live with God. 

President Boyd K. Packer taught: “The voice of the Spirit is described in the scripture as being neither ‘loud’ nor ‘harsh.’ It is ‘not a voice of thunder, neither . . . voice of a great tumultuous noise.’ But rather, ‘a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper,’ and it can ‘pierce even to the very soul’ and ‘cause [the heart] to burn.’ (3 Ne. 11:3; Hel. 5:30; D&C 85:6–7.) Remember, Elijah found the voice of the Lord was not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but was a ‘still small voice.’ (1 Kgs. 19:12.). The Spirit does not get our attention by shouting or shaking us with a heavy hand. Rather it whispers. It caresses so gently that if we are preoccupied we may not feel it at all. Occasionally it will press just firmly enough for us to pay heed. But most of the time, if we do not heed the gentle feeling, the Spirit will withdraw and wait until we come seeking and listening and say in our manner and expression, like Samuel of ancient times, ‘Speak [Lord], for thy servant heareth.’ (1 Sam. 3:10.)” (“The Candle of the Lord,” Ensign, Jan.1983, 53). "God answers our prayers through personal inspiration and revelation. Our task is to live worthily, pray fervently, and learn to recognize and follow courageously the Spirit’s guidance. Many voices in the world compete for your attention, and they can easily drown out spiritual impressions if you are not careful." (Preach my Gospel, page 96-97).

     

Men and Women of Courage

Since before I was born my Dad worked as a firefighter and he worked as one for over 30 years. Because he was a fireman he kept a radio in our house that would go off when the fire department had a call. One night when I was about ten years old I heard the radio go off. It woke me up from my sleep. I waited and listened to the call, it sounded pretty bad. When the dispatcher on the radio stopped talking I heard my Dad get up and start heading for the door. It was his day off, but he decided to go help out anyway. So I jumped out of bed and ran up to my Dad asking if I could go too. After thinking for a moment he agreed to let me come and observe. So he woke up my Mom and asked her to come too to be with me. When we arrived to where the fire was I noticed it wasn't a small fire. It was a three story building right in the middle of a collage campus. I watched my Dad hurry out of our car and rush to where the firetrucks were parked. He geared up then went to work. I witnessed him and the other firefighters working hard and diligently to protect the surrounding buildings and to put the fire out. The fire was huge! And it seemed you could feel the heat from a mile away. It got a little scary watching the building collapse and seeing the ash fly everywhere. But no matter how big or scary the fire was my Dad stood courageously in his spot and fought the fire. I learned a powerful lesson from my Dad that night. It took courage for my Dad to leave the safety of his home and be willing to drive to a fire not knowing how big it was or what was going to be asked of him to protect others and to put the fire out. But he made the needed sacrifices and put his trust in God knowing that everything would be alright no matter the outcome. He is a man of courage.

Courage and faith are closely related. Each of us will be called to fight a fire of some kind. Not a real fire with flames, but a spiritual fire, which was lit by the devil. Satan, or the devil, glories in destruction and he is seeking to destroy our souls. He lights spiritual fires to keep men and women from following the Saviors teachings. These fires may include movies or other forms of worldly entertainment, bad influence from friends and family, addictions, pride or selfishness, or even fear. These spiritual fires can burn our souls until we are no longer able to feel the righteous and guiding influence of the Holy Spirit. With courage and faith we can win against these spiritual fires. It takes courage to walk out of an inappropriate movie. It takes courage to stand up to the peer pressure from family and friends. It takes courage to say no to a harmful drug or to give up an addiction. It takes courage to be charitable and give to someone else what you may need or want for yourself. It takes courage to live what you believe in a world that sees religion as a burden rather than a blessing. It takes courage to keep Gods commandments and take those steps of faith. 

As a missionary I've seen dozens of people who have the courage to stand against the spiritual fires and do what they know is right. I've seen many give up smoking and drinking. Others quit their jobs to keep the sabbath day holy. And some were baptized regardless of the mocking from friends and family. These are a few examples, but each faced a difficult decision and each had the courage to act and do what the Savior taught. Even though most of them faced harsh and unfair consequences from their righteous choices, all of them today have found true and lasting happiness. When we exercise courage and choose to be faithful, the Lord is bound and he'll pour out his greatest blessings upon us. The Savior taught "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." (D&C 82:10) He also taught " There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." (D&C 130:20-21). What these two teachings mean is that the only way we can obtain the greatest blessings God has to offer us, his children, is if we have the courage to be obedient and live what we believe in.

True courage and faith can only come from the Savior, Jesus Christ. When we follow Him and keep his commandments he gives us the strength to fight against the devil. The more we learn about our identity (that we are truly children of God) and about our purpose in life, the easier it is to stand up and do what we know is right. The way we can learn more about our identity and purpose in life is through daily scripture study, including the Book of Mormon. Also through daily prayer we can communicate our struggles with God and plead for his assistance. As we communicate with him, he then is able to bless us. Weekly attendance at church gives us an added measure of the Spirit. When all of these our present in our life we will have the courage, faith, and strength to extinguish the spiritual fires placed in front of us and are able to become true disciples of Jesus Christ.