I am a missionary from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from Nevada! I love being a missionary and I love being able to meet people in New York. I am serving in the western New York area for two years.
You may have wondered once or twice before in life what in the world am I doing here and what is the purpose of this life. How can I find peace in this life? Who am I, seriously? Perhaps you have wondered have wondered if there is something else out there. Maybe you are searching for something and you don't know what it is yet. You may have given up and don't believe there are answers anymore.
I promise you that all of those questions can be answered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father. We lived as his spirit children before we came to this life and he sent us here to earth to be tested. He has not abandoned us or left us here by ourselves. He does hear your prayers and answers them. I know from experience that our Heavenly Father does our prayers. He cares about you and knows what you are going through whatever it may be. He desires all of us to come back home to live with him again. He has sent prophets to earth from the beginning of time to teach us how to be able to return to live with him. Most importantly he sent his son Jesus Christ to come and make it possible for us to come home.
Heavenly Father has created this plan because he wants us to all be happy and to experience the same joy he has. He really is there! I promise you that if you take the slightest gamble to learn about Him and His Son Jesus Christ you will come to find out for yourself that these things are true and there is a God who loves you. He wants you to live with Him forever and your family forever. We don't try as missionaries to convince people of these things, but I know that each person on this earth can find out for themselves that these things are true.
Today I wanted to blog about one of the central parts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that is enduring to the end. In the Book of Mormon the Prophet Nephi put it like this. 19 And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.
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.
21 And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen. (2 Nephi 31:19-21).
So the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are so we can become cleansed of our sins through the Atonement of Jesus Christ to achieve Eternal life. They are Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism by Immersion for the remission of sins, and receiving the Gift of The Holy Ghost. The first two are principles and the latter two are Ordinances that must be performed by one who holds the Priesthood Authority of God that was restored to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith. Entering into the Covenant of Baptism is the strait and narrow path that Nephi describes in verse 19. After we have done this however we must continue to do the right things and try to live as Christ lived by obedience to his commandments.
Paul puts it this way "For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;" So after we are baptized and receive the Gift of The Holy Ghost this doesn't mean we can throw in our retirement towel. We are only recipients of Heavenly Father's promise of Eternal life if we hold up to our end of the bargain, that is obeying his commandments and always remembering Jesus Christ our Savior who made it all possible. Christ himself said, as recorded by Matthew "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved."(Matthew 10:22). We must recognize that we are saved entirely by our Savior Jesus Christ. However we only accept Jesus Christ as we show our Faith through our accepting his invitation "If ye love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15).
When Jesus was on the earth he taught his Apostles that it would be through Revelation that his Church would be built upon. He explained, as Peter received Revelation that Jesus was the Son of God, that if his church was organized on this principle of receiving Revelation from God that no power the adversary could muster would be able to stop it (Matthew 16:13-18). This is how the Church of Jesus Christ was ran and it is the way that it has always been ran.
In ancient days God through Revelation spoke to his chosen servants the prophets. In Amos 3:7 the Bible teaches, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the Prophets." Today just as in times of past The Church of Jesus Christ is ran through revelation. The President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Thomas S. Monson, is a living prophet who receives revelation for the Church as a whole. Other members of the Church are also entitled to Revelaton for themselves and for their family. Also members of the Church of Jesus Christ are called to callings in which they serve. There are leadership callings in the Church such as a Bishop. A Bishop presides over a congregation of members living within an area. The Bishop through much prayer, fasting and pondering is able to receive Revelation for the congregation he presides over and give members in the area he serves certain calling to assist him in the work. Each Bishop is selected through Revelation that is given to a Stake President, who presides over several congregations or what is known as a stake. This continues to Area Authorities and General Authorities up the ladder in this same process to The Quorum of the twelve apostles and the President of The Church, who is a Prophet.
It is through Revelation that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints operates today. There is no voting on who should receive a calling and no-one that goes to school to become a minister. The church is guided by divine authority. None of the ministry in The Church of Jesus Christ is paid. It is set up in the same way that it has been set up in previous dispensations and is ran through Revelation.
In Old Testament times God gave his special Priesthood authority to prophets like Moses and Abraham. This authority is the power of God and is given to man to act in his name. This is the power through which Moses split the Red Sea. This sacred power of God is conferred, or given, to another, who is worthy to officiate in the ordinances of Salvation such as Baptism and the Sacrament. Anciently Jesus Christ gave this authority to his Apostles. Unfortunately, as in times past people rejected his Apostles and many were killed. The Priesthood authority of God was taken from the earth. This period of time where the Priesthood was not present on earth is known as the great Apostasy.
However after centuries of being in darkness God restored the Priesthood authority to the earth through a living Prophet as he had done in times past. Truths that had been lost over time were brought back to earth through divine communication between God and his Prophets. The Priesthood was restored by the laying on of hands to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in May of 1829 by heavenly messengers. Joseph Smith History: 66-75. Peter, James, and John who had been given the Priesthood authority by Jesus Christ himself appeared and restored the Melchizedek Priesthood to the earth. It has been conferred on righteous men and still exists on earth today within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know that these things are true, and so can everyone through prayerfully reading the Book of Mormon, God answer your prayers and you can know that his true Church has been restored again on earth with all of the authority as was had in the past. The video below may help explain more.
In the Holy Bible as Jesus Christ was preparing to leave his mortal existance he told his disciples that he would send a messenger named the holy ghost, or the spirit (John 14:26). Later his apostles were able to give this Gift of the Holy Ghost to other's by the laying on of hands (Acts 19 :5-6). When one receives this ordinance in this manner by one who holds the priesthood authority given to him from God they will be able to recieve the Gift of the Holy Ghost. This gift can act as an aid and great help throughout one's life. It can comfort you and teach you truth.
If you have a question about something and ask God with real intent and a sincere heart, he will manifest the truth to you through the Holy Ghost. We can recieve the knowledge directly from God, which eliminates having to make your decisions based on the opinions of men. Members of the church throughout the world enjoy this Gift of the Holy Ghost and it is available to all. Everyone can feel the ifluence of the Holy Ghost and receive answers. However; when one recieves the Gift of The Holy Ghost they can have the spirit as a constant companion. The video beneath illustrates how the Holy Ghost can speak to us and help us in our everyday lives.
Members of the church of Jesus Christ and those who are learning about the church hear repeatedly, that reading the scriptures is important. I heard this all throughout my life growing up and I often wondered why reading the scriptures is so important since I continually found myself either falling asleep or just day dreaming and reading words. I never got a whole lot out of my scripture study in my younger days and to be honest it didn't usually last too long before I would get bored and lose all the motivation I had twenty minutes prior. Now as a missionary, years later I am constantly reading the scriptures. I spend two hours every morning studying them and use them throughout the day as I teach others. So, you may assume that I have finally discovered something that has been able to make my scripture study beneficial to me.
There is a scripture in the book of First Nephi in the Book of Mormon that says something along the lines of how we need to "liken" or apply the scriptures to our own lives (1 Nephi 19:23). We are to use the examples of people in the past who faced trials and questions and try to follow that example. The scriptures can give us hope. They show us that somebody has faced trials similar to ours, except generally much harder than ours, and they have been able to prevail over their problems. They can help us develop our Faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement. The scriptures can help understand who we are and what our purpose here in this life is. We can be enlightened by their words and also be taught by the holy ghost as we ponder on thosee things we read. We are taught in the scriptures how to find out if God is really there. In the Bible Jesus teaches "¶aAsk, and it shall be bgiven you; cseek, and ye shall find; dknock, and it shall be opened unto you:For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that aseeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask abread, will he give him a stone?Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?If ye then, abeing evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" It is so simple but also so true. God does answer prayers and will help us know what to do. The scriptures can bless your life as much as they have blessed mine as you apply them and search them daily.
Every year comes to an end, and it is usually filled with all sorts of different things. All of us surely do good things throughout the year for others and for ourselves. Contrary to the many things we all do good throughout the year, we also probably made a mistake or two or over a thousand in my case. We tend to get caught up in these things and maybe worry a little bit too much about the past and the mistakes we have made. The new year comes every single year without fail and it gives us an opportunity to put those things behind us and reach for new goals and a higher quality of life. We all can make goals and resolutions on how we can improve and not let our past become our future but how we can make changes for the better.
The great thing too, is that we don't have to wait for the New Year to change, but we can continually work to improve and keep going when we fall short throughout the year. We can leave our past behind us and begin new and better. Nothing in the past matters if you have truly repented of your sins and are living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is also appropriate that New Year's falls on Sunday this year, and we can all take the Sacrament at church and renew our Baptismal Covenants. Let this Sunday coming up be a time where you can ponder the past year and set meaningful goals to improve and never look behind you. The story of Lot's wife helps us understand why we should not look back to the way we used to be. Genesis 19:20-26. Let us all go forward this year not clinging to our past mistakes and weaknesses but changing for the better and being better servants of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Book of Moromon during King Benjamin's address to his people he says ,And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God" (Mosiah 2:17) . Christmas season is a time of giving and being grateful for the greatest gift that any of us could ever receive. That is Heavenly Father sending his only begotten son Jesus Christ into the world to perform the Atonement. We could never give such a perfect gift to anyone in our lives yet there is still much that we can do. We need to give of ourselves by surrendering our will to Gods. We need to help those struggling around us in whatever way we can, whether it be spiritual, physical, emotional, or in any other way. When we realize that everyone is our family and we are all children of God it makes this so much easier. We really do have so much to offer to others, and if we are looking to make ourselves happy, I can promise that real happiness comes through giving selflessly.
All those who are members of the church have most likely received a calling in the church to help in some way. If they have not, then they still have a responsibility to live a good life because of the Covenants they made at Baptism, to take Christ's name upon themselves. Some of these callings and duties can seem overwhelming at times and maybe we just don't quite meet the potential that we could really reach to. President Gordon B. Hinckely said in a conference talk in 1989, "Every missionary has the responsibility to magnify his calling in teaching the plan of God. Every teacher has the responsibility to magnify his calling in teaching the word of God. Every officer has the responsibility to magnify his calling in teaching the order of God."
Said the Lord in this dispensation to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, “Magnify thine office.” (D&C 24:3.)
Further, “Attend to thy calling and thou shalt have wherewith to magnify thine office.” (D&C 24:9.).
Magnifying our calling means going that extra mile when we think we have done enough. It means honoring our Covenants and standing firm in our faith in Jesus Christ. We make sure that our duties are number one on our list of priorities, and see to it that we help others as we go along. This is magnifying our callings. Tom Cruise in the video beneath explains how he does it. :) Let us all go forward and magnify our callings!
Each of us have things in our life that we should be thankful for. I can easily list many things right off the top of my head. I have so many things to be grateful for that I could probably easily fill up this whole page. All of these things have been given to me from my Heavenly Father. My shoes, sweaters, successes, failures, family, friends, and my life. These things are all great and amazing gifts and I am glad I could come here to earth to enjoy them. I don't think it is a coincidence that after TThanksgiving is Christmas, a separate holiday celebrating what we should be most grateful for, the Lord Jesus Christ and his coming into this world to save us all. Take some time this Thanksgiving and Christmas season to thank God for all of the blessings that he has given you in this life.
The first link below is to Joseph Smith's history which clearly explains how the Book of Mormon came about. The second link on the page is the Introduction to The Book of Mormon which includes the testimony of the three and eight witnesses of the Golden plates. The super sweet awesome video link below helps clarify whatever you may have missed from the readings. You can be a pro on how the Book of Mormon came about and what it is! You will then be perfectly ready to read it! Yay!
Alot of people think that if you obey the rules it will not be any fun. They think if you obey the rules your life will be boring and you will have a sad sad life. Afterall you wouldn't get to have any fun they might say. There was once a story told by David O. McKay about a horse named Dandy that didn't like the rules and regulations and thought it would be better to be free.
“Under the saddle he was as willing, responsive, and cooperative as a horse could be. …
“But Dandy resented restraint. He was ill-contented when tied and would nibble at the tie-rope until he was free. He would not run away, he just wanted to be free. Thinking other horses felt the same, he would proceed to untie their ropes. …
“… His curiosity and desire to explore the neighborhood led him and me into trouble. Once on the highway he was hit by an automobile. …
“Recovering from that, and still impelled with a feeling of wanderlust, he inspected the fence throughout the entire boundary. He even found the gates wired. …
“One day, however, somebody left the gate unwired. Detecting this, Dandy unlatched it and took another horse … with him, and together they … went to an old house used for storage. Dandy’s curiosity prompted him to push open the door. … There was a sack of grain. What a find! Yes, and what a tragedy. The grain was bait for rodents! In a few minutes Dandy and the other horse were in spasmodic pain, and shortly afterwards both were dead.”
“Under the saddle he was as willing, responsive, and cooperative as a horse could be. …
“But Dandy resented restraint. He was ill-contented when tied and would nibble at the tie-rope until he was free. He would not run away, he just wanted to be free. Thinking other horses felt the same, he would proceed to untie their ropes. …
“… His curiosity and desire to explore the neighborhood led him and me into trouble. Once on the highway he was hit by an automobile. …
“Recovering from that, and still impelled with a feeling of wanderlust, he inspected the fence throughout the entire boundary. He even found the gates wired. …
“One day, however, somebody left the gate unwired. Detecting this, Dandy unlatched it and took another horse … with him, and together they … went to an old house used for storage. Dandy’s curiosity prompted him to push open the door. … There was a sack of grain. What a find! Yes, and what a tragedy. The grain was bait for rodents! In a few minutes Dandy and the other horse were in spasmodic pain, and shortly afterwards both were dead.”
The moral of the story is that Heavenly Father has established guidlines and commandments for us to safely return to live with him again and only through obedience and the grace of Jesus Christ can we do so. Let us each strive to be more Obedient so that we can experience true happiness as we return to live in the prescense of our Heavenly Father. Not just partial Obedience but exact Obedience. Watch the video below to see what I mean!!
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is designed to strengthen people and their family relationships. It can help fractured relationships become strong and unbreakable. Familes relationships can last past death. This knowledge is one of the reasons that helps members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints around the world have such strong family relationships. In 1995 the leaders of the Church this Proclamation about families! Read it! It's great! The Family: A Proclamation to The World.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God and suffered for each of our sins. He paid the ultimate penalty for our sins as he suffered in the garden of Gethsemane and then again suffered and died for us us on the cross of Calvary. Take a moment out of your busy life and stop and watch this clip. Think about the sacrifice he gave for you and re-evaluate what you can do to be a better servant of him. Set goals as you watch this clip of something you can do to improve your life and commitment to follow the lord.
Shortly after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle Peter instructed the people what they needed to do to gain Salvation and one of the key things he states,is if you repent and are baptized you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:38). So what is the gift of the Holy Ghost? Why is important? How do we get it? These are impotant questions to know the answer to if we want to follow the Savior Jesus Christ's perfect example, as he also received this wonderfull gift (Matthew 3:13-17). First of all the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit that is to act as a comforter. Jesus taught that this comforter he would send would give us feelings of peace (John 14 :26-27). We can all feel the influence of the Holy Ghost but only if we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost can we have this comforter with us at all times. It is important to also note that this comforter not only gives us feelings of peace, but can act as a roadguide for us throughout our lives. As we pray and council with our Heavenly Father, he will help us know what to do by feelings of the Holy Ghost that he will bring to our minds and our hearts (Doctrine and Covenants 8:2). The Holy Ghost can warn us of danger and help us make right choices. When we do not listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, it's influence withdraws from us. We recieve this gift as stated in The Book of Acts (Acts 8:17-18), by the laying on of hands as the picture below shows. It is important that this ordinance is given by those who hold the proper Preisthood authority from God (Hebrews 5:4). This authority was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith and exists today within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We invite all to come and experience these blessings for themselves and feel the Holy Ghost bring more peace and joy into their lives.
Have you ever wanted to know where your family came from? Who were your ancestors and what did they do? I think everybody would be interested to know who their ancestors are and where they come from. Go to https://www.familysearch.org/, which is a free family history web site stemming from the largest family history center in the world. Families are part of our Heavenly Father's plan. You could meet people you didn't know you were related to and discover your family history. The video beneath shows the churches vault of geneoligical records! So dicover your family today!
One Restored truth we learn from The Restoration of The Gospel is that marriage between man and a woman is ordained of God and it lasts past this life and goes on into the eternities. This union between man and woman for eternity is made possible throuh the preisthood power which can bind us. Jeus Christ gave his apostles this power (Matthew 18:18). However after centuries this true doctrine of Eternal marriage was lost. The Bible is full of the true Doctrine of Eternal Marriage and Eternal Families (Mark 10:9, 1 Corinthians 11:11, Genesis 2:24). It has been clarified even more through the Restoration of the Gospel. Families can be together forever. The power to bind on earth has been restored again. All of these blessings are to be had within the walls of the Holy Temple. It's not till death do you part! Watch the clip below of these happy eternal couples.
When we want to increase our physical strength we lift weights so we can become ripped! I try to do this every morning from 6:30 to 7:00 and you can see how it has benefited me by the picture to the right. It takes a lot of work, but eventually we can reach the desired result we have been longing for. We become stronger and not to mention better looking. It's really quite simple, lift weights and get strong. Then we can lift and bear very heavy weights.
So is there some way that we can become strengthened in our resolve to resist the temptations of the adversary? How can we prepare to be stronger spiritually when a heavy temptation is placed upon our backs? Our Heavenly Father has given us something we can do that is like spiritual weight lifting. This is called fasting! Now you might say "how can starving yourself increase my desire to not do bad things." You might even think when you are hungry it gets you in a bad mood and more vulnerable to temptation.
But when we fast what we are doing is abstaining from our natural desire to eat and drink. We are avoiding doing something that we really want to do. We are giving our will to our Heavenly Father and making a sacrifice. Most of the sins that we commit from day to day are natural desires that can be difficult for us to obey. Unlike food, we have been told to try and avoid these things all of the time. Things like alcohol, pornography, and pride. To our natural and fallen state and also in the world today, these things may seem acceptable and even desirable. They can at times be difficult to resist. But we must put our trust in God and try to resist them. Our ability to resist temptation can be strengthened as we fast. We show that we have complete control over our choices and have our free will. Our Heavenly Father can bless us us with added with spiritual strength. We demonstrate complete control over our natural desires and our carnal nature. This is like weight lifting for when those other strong temptations come, that can help us maintain our free will and not fall captive to the traps of the Devil. So if you don't feel like you have control over yourself, fast! Your body can have bad desires and be your enemy at times so show it who's boss!
So we always hear that nobody is perfect. That is because each of us people living on earth in our fallen state are going to make mistakes. We sin and that sin separates us from our Heavenly Father ( Romans 3:23). However because Jesus Christ suffered for our sins there is a way possible for us to be cleansed from them. This way is often referred to as The Gospel of Jesus Christ. One essential element for this is repentance( Doctrine and Covenants 19:15-19).
How do we repent? Well the first step to repentance is to recognize that what we are doing is a violation of our Heavenly Father's commandments. We must realize we are sinning. We must feel sincere sorrow for our sins and want to change. This realization will lead us to stop breaking the commandment or law of our Heavenly Father and strive to never break it again. We have to confess our sins to our Heavenly Father and ask for his mercy and forgiveness. Also if our sin harmed another person we should ask him or her for forgiveness. We have to try and correct the harm that our sin or transgression may have caused. Then we have to continually strive to keep the commandments. As we keep them throughout our lives we will see they are not restrictions to our freedom, but actually increase our freedom and help us to change our hearts and make us better people. Last we have to continually remember in our lives continually Jesus Christ who makes this all possible. Then when we are Baptized we are able to take full of advantage of repentance and be Baptized for the remission of sins and then receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. If we are already baptized we take the Sacrament each week to renew our Baptismal Covenants and try to get better each week. This is a life long process that purifies us from our sin and prepares us to enter back into the presence of our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. A young man Enos from The Book of Mormon understood these things. Read his story and see how it can bless your life.
(The Book of Enos)
I promise you that all of those questions can be answered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father. We lived as his spirit children before we came to this life and he sent us here to earth to be tested. He has not abandoned us or left us here by ourselves. He does hear your prayers and answers them. I know from experience that our Heavenly Father does our prayers. He cares about you and knows what you are going through whatever it may be. He desires all of us to come back home to live with him again. He has sent prophets to earth from the beginning of time to teach us how to be able to return to live with him. Most importantly he sent his son Jesus Christ to come and make it possible for us to come home.
