How to be a Family Forever



Lately I have been thinking a lot about how much my family has been blessed by having the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. In my family growing up I had four younger brothers, and our house was always pretty hectic. We were all involved in our different interests and had a lot of our time split up between different things. But despite all of the different things we had pulling us in different directions, we had one thing that always pulled us together: The gospel of Jesus Christ, especially the teachings of the prophets.



Prophets of old.

 
A prophet is a man who speaks for God. He is given great power and authority from God to declare His message to all of the people in the world. He points people to Christ and invites them to follow Christ's teachings. When we follow the prophet we are richly rewarded by God's blessings.

In our church we believe in a modern prophet as well as prophets in ancient times. And just as it was in times of old, we are blessed as we follow his guidance. Everything in the church is about strengthening the family, and so the prophets have taught us many ways that we can strengthen our families. They have emphasized the importance of keeping God's commandments, having daily family prayer, family scripture study, and setting aside one night every week for a family night, with a spiritual thought and activities. My family wasn't always perfectly diligent in doing these things, but we grew to love one another much more as we did them. I think that without having those things in my life, I wouldn't have had a strong enough faith to do what I am doing right now - serving a mission (the prophets have emphasized that one too!). My experiences with growing up following the prophet have become a foundational part of who I am.



Family Prayer



So to anyone reading this who may doubt that there can still be a prophet on the earth today, I want to invite you: Study the words of the prophets in these present times, and pray and ask God if you should follow their counsel. I know that God will answer your prayers and that you will know that what you are doing is right.

A New Year and Newfound Faith in Jesus Christ

"Old things have been done away, and all things have become new." (3 Nephi 12:47)

At the beginning of every New Year, many people take the opportunity to examine their lives and set goals for what they want to accomplish in the coming year. Because 2012 is going to be the last year of my mission, I too have thought a lot about what I want to accomplish and the person I want to become by the time my mission is complete. Here I want to talk about a goal that everyone can set for the New Year, one that can bless the life of every single person on the earth: Read the Book of Mormon every day for the rest of this year!

The Book of Mormon is scripture that was written in ancient times but saved for ours. It's purpose is to "[convince]...Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations." (Book of Mormon, Title Page) This is a book of scripture that will, if we will read it prayerfully, bring us closer to God than any other book. Even before the birth of Jesus upon the earth, this is what those prophets who wrote the Book of Mormon said about their writings: "We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." (2 Nephi 25:26) This book can and will bring you to Jesus Christ if you will exercise the faith to read it every day.

On my mission I have been reading the Book of Mormon every day, and it has brought me great peace and true happiness in my life. My invitation to you as you read it is to pray and ask God if it is true. I know that He will comfort you in your heart and help you know that these words are truly His words!

The Power of God on Earth

Well, let me dust off this keyboard and mouse...

It's been a few weeks since I've written and it's a new area and a new year for me! These past two weeks have been busy and hectic. I want to share an experience I had last week that has helped me to see God's hand in my life.

As a missionary you get used to riding bikes. We do have cars, but it seems that somehow we still end up riding our bikes much of the time. Me and Elder Lee were riding our bikes last Friday on the way to get some dinner. He was riding first and I was following. As I crossed in front of a gas station, a pickup truck pulled in directly in front of me. I slammed on my brakes, not realizing in time that I had only hit the front brake! So next thing I knew I was on the ground, wondering what had just happened. I had hit my arm on the pavement and it was hurting. Elder Lee came back and we walked the rest of the way to Subway.

I sat down in Subway rather dazed. I was in shock and still marveling at what had happened. Luckily there were some members of the church who were summoned to help us out and they took us to the hospital. But before that happened, I was given a blessing by the power of the Priesthood. This is a blessing from someone that God has given His power and authority to act in His name. A man who holds the Priesthood can act in God's name and give blessings to those around him. Elder Lee gave me a blessing of peace and comfort, with the promise that all would be well if I trusted in the Lord. As we rode to the hospital I felt that peace come over me, and came to myself again! Later we found that my arm was not broken, only bruised, and that with a few weeks it would be normal again.

I know that God's power is on the earth today, and that He still reaches out to all of His children in love. This is the power and authority that is found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the power that Jesus Christ Himself used to heal the sick, raise the dead, and walk on water. I know that it is real, and that it can heal you if you will have faith in Jesus Christ.

The Greatest of all Gifts

During the Christmas season, there is a lot of focus on the material things: the wrapping paper, the tree trimmings, the lights, the food, and the presents that are given and received. These items and their presence in our holiday celebrations can bring fun memories and make us feel that there is something truly special about the season. In my family we have all of these things as part of our annual Christmas celebrations. But a question that ought to be in the back of everyone's mind at Christmastime is this: Do I have the Spirit of Christmas - or the Spirit of Christ, and His love - within me, and do I show that love to others?

Christmas isn't really about all the presents. (It can be a real nightmare to clean up all of that stuff afterward anyway.) Rather, it is about the presence of the love of Christ in our hearts. The following video from LDS.org is, in my opinion, a perfect illustration of the love of Christ.

This love is also referred to as Charity. Charity is the "pure love of Christ" (Moroni 7:47). It is the love that Christ has for all of His children. It is because of that love that He bled from every pore, and suffered and died for our sins. It is the most selfless, pure, and infinite love that we could ever have. The boy in this video gained an understanding of that kind of love when he shared his coat with one who needed it more than he did.

Charity is a gift from God. The way to develop it is also found in Moroni 7: "Pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love." I have prayed for charity many times on my mission and as I've served people and done my best to love them, I have found much more happiness than I've ever had before. I want to invite you to pray and work to develop charity in your life this Christmas season. I promise as you do so, you will feel just how much God loves you and all of His children. Look outside of yourself and do something for someone else. That is how you can have the Spirit of Christmas in your life!

A Precious Gift from God

Every time I have ever seen success in sharing the gospel it has been by the power of God, which is given through the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is a comforter, teacher, and testifier of the truth, and he helps us stay on the path back to God.

As a missionary there are many times that I can see evidences of the Holy Ghost working in my life. One such moment happened a few nights ago. Me and Elder Elder Hinton were out and about one night after dark. Every night in Waycross, Georgia in the winter it gets dark at about 6:30 pm or so. And when that happens much of the town shuts down for the night, leaving us finding it hard to find people to visit. This was one of those times. All of our plans had fallen through, and we didn't know what we could do. We decided we should pray and ask God who needed a visit from us at that moment in time. After a very heartfelt and sincere prayer, we felt it would be best to visit one of our investigators who lived pretty far away. We were on our bicycles that night, so it seemed far-fetched that it would be worth it to go visit him. But we decided we should trust in God and go. We pushed ourselves all the way out there in the cold night, and when we got there, he said it wasn't a good time for us and shut the door. We were perplexed, but decided we could visit another man nearby. We went to his house and he let us in! We had a great visit with him, and the Holy Ghost testified powerfully in the lesson. We invited him to be baptized and he said he would! We left that night grateful that we had listened to the Spirit.

This is just one example of how God can help us in our lives. Through the Gift of the Holy Ghost, He can guide us and prompt us to know what we should do. This is a precious gift that comes to us directly from God when we are baptized. I'm grateful for this gift in my life and for always being able to know what I should do. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that the complete gospel of Jesus Christ is back on the earth again. If you want to know if this is true as well, meet with the missionaries (us) in your area and we would love to share our message with you!

Giving Thanks

 

 Today is Thanksgiving Day! It is a day of eating a lot of delicious food, playing football, and gathering together with family. On Thanksgiving my family always gathers together for the annual family feast and shares all of the many things we are thankful for. We go around the table and everyone shares their thoughts and feelings. Some are solemn, others are funny, and still others are...let's just say...creative. But always we have a good time and our family comes a little closer together.

This morning I was pondering some scriptures that relate to giving thanks and being grateful for what we have. They come from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I'll share just a couple of them here.

On Thanksgiving we always talk about how grateful we are for our many blessings. These blessings come to us from God, our Heavenly Father. He has "created [us], and granted us [us our] lives", and as we keep his commandments, He "doth immediately bless [us]."  We are always in His debt, and nothing we can do in our lives will ever be enough to repay Him (Mosiah 2:20-25). This passage from the Book of Mormon really helps me to be more grateful for every little blessing that I have in my life: my family, my missionary experiences, my food, shelter, and clothing, and the opportunity to be on the earth right now.

I learn from Philippians 4:6-7 that as I pray humbly and with the spirit of thanksgiving in my heart, God will hear my words and bring me peace. I have felt that in my life every time I have prayed to my Heavenly Father. I know that the best way that we could ever show our gratitude on this Thanksgiving Day would be to offer a humble prayer of thanks to God, the one who has granted us all of our many blessings. I invite you to do that on this day of gratitude. I know that He will hear you and answer your prayers. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

About this Blog

Since this is the very first post, I figured I would share my reasons for writing this blog.

I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have set aside 2 years of my life to leave home and come to this part of the world to teach people about Jesus Christ and His gospel, and invite them to follow Him. The truths I am teaching are very important to me because they have taught me my purpose in life and why I am here on this earth. They have revealed the truth to me, and helped me to find answers to the deepest questions of my soul. Because of what this message has done for me in my life, I have come here to share it with everyone I come in contact with.

I know that the message that I share is true and that it can and will bless your life as you apply it in your life. Here in this blog I will share inspirational thoughts, messages of truth from the scriptures, and teachings from prophets and apostles of Christ who are on the earth today. As you read them, pay attention to the thoughts that come to your mind and the feelings of your soul. I promise you that as you listen to the Holy Ghost, you can know for yourself that this message is from God.