New Year Resolutions

New Years resolutions are always a great thing and I think most people always set their resolution to be a classic get into shape. It’s funny how every year in January all the gyms are packed full of people who have set a new year’s resolution to get in shape. As the days pass then weeks and months you find the gym slowly get less and less busy as people lose the determination they once had to get in shape.

Whether the resolution is to get into shape, or learn a language or to get straight A's it is always hard to continue to do the resolution throughout the year. It’s hard not to fade off as the months go by like the people at the gym. My question is what can we do to keep the determination going throughout the year on our resolutions that we have set? What can we do so we don't fade out after a couple months?

I have thought and pondered about this and I have come up with a few of things and hopefully they will help you.

1) The first thing is we need a desire to reach our New Year resolution. When we have that desire we will be willing to sacrifice. This will be easy at first but the natural man will come into all of us and after a while when we are tired we will want to go back to our old easier way. So to get over this problem we need to change things up. So if you have a resolution to get in shape you could change what time in the day you work out. You could change the kind of work out you do, so instead of always running on a treadmill you could take a yoga class something like that. This way it will be like you are changing your goal but really you’re not.

2) Another way is to set smaller goals that will help you accomplish your ultimate goal. You can work towards multiple small goals that over time will help you get to the end that you are working for. For example if you are learning another language you could set at smaller goal to learn maybe 5 words a day. Then over time you will be able to speak the language.

3) Remember that if your goal is there to uplift, edify, strengthen, or help you or others in anyway the lord is going to be there to help you. I can promise he is going to help you help yourself and others.

Hopefully you are able to take something away from this that will help you to be able to accomplish your new year’s resolutions and help you reach your goals.

Wise Men Still Seek Him

This is a busy time of year with shopping and giving and holiday cheer. Have you stopped to think for just a moment on what you are going to give our Savior? He has done so much for us and all he asks is to give him our hearts. I invite you to slow down for just a minute and think about our Savior and to give him your heart. Please watch this video, I promise you it is going to be well worth your time and you will want to help others out.

Dear Santa,

Dear Santa,

I’ve been an awful good guy all year, Santa buddy so hurry down the chimney tonight:

1 Rolex

1 '65 convertible, steel blue

1 yacht
Mercedes decorations
Cha-ching and I don't mean as a loan

I’ve been a sweetie all year Santa buddy, next year I could be just as good if you check off my Christmas list. I really do believe in you so let’s see if you believe in me.

Sincerely,
Michael Buble

This is Michael Buble’s Christmas list he must have been a really good boy if he is asking for all of this. Christmas lists are ways to let Santa know what you want for Christmas. Then if Santa decides that we have been a good boy or girl during the year he gives us what we asked for.

This is extremely similar to a prayer. We always ask God for things and he gives them to us. The only difference is that we usually have to seek out our answer. Don't forget this year as you are writing Santa letters to get on your knees and talk to your heavenly father.

I know that as we do so we will remember the real meaning of Christmas and have The Spirit of CHRISTmas with us during this season.

This short Mormon message is a great little clip that really helped me to remember that Christmas isn’t all about what is on our Christmas list.

Remember the Real Meaning of Christmas

In the Christmas devotional a couple weeks ago President Uchtdorf tells a story about when he was 4 years old and with a candle he almost burned down his apartment. As a child he was devastated he thought he completely ruined Christmas. As he got older he realized that all the decorations and presents are not the real meaning of Christmas, that it actually means so much more.

The Christmas season should always be ways to remind of us Jesus Christ. With our decorations, nativity scenes or Christmas tree ornaments of our Savior. All of these remind us of the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior.

Elder Uchtdorf says in the end of his Christmas talk that Christ is our redeemer at Christmas and always. Always remember that Christ loves us during this holiday season, no matter where you are or how you celebrate it.

Watch Elder Uchtdorf's Christmas devotional "Of Curtains, Contenment, and Christmas" here.

Space Shuttles

Space shuttles are a magnificent piece of machinery that has been created. The technology used is practically out of this world and what the shuttles can do is incredible. In essence when a space shuttle is on its way home from a quest it comes back to the earth from hundreds of miles away. I don't know the exact distance but they are coming into landing from a great distance away. When they land they come down to a small landing strip that is only 300 ft wide and 15,000 ft long.

When the space shuttle starts it's decent and looks at its landing it only looks like it is the size of a pinhead. If the shuttle were to get off course by just the slightest degree for how far away it is, it would miss the landing by miles. As the shuttle comes into landing the computer systems and all the fancy technology that it has keeps it on course and the people working are watching it are making sure it stays on course. somehow the space shuttle coming in from hundreds of miles away can come down and land back on earth on, compared to the universe, a very very small landing strip.

Thinking about traveling to space always blows my mind. But just like space shuttles have computers and technology to get them back home, so do we. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ to guide us right back to our Father in Heaven. Although getting space shuttles to come home and land is probably extremely difficult and confusing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple and it's easy to return home to our Father in Heaven.

All we need to do is a few simple things and the more we do them the easier it gets and the more we want to do them. It starts with having faith in Jesus Christ. As our faith builds it will make us want to repent and put our lives in closer harmony with our Saviors. The more we repent and build our faith we will want to be baptized, just how Christ was, by immersion and with proper authority that has been restored and is once again on the earth in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. After we are baptized we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost to be our constant companion, which helps us endure to the end. I like to look at it as enjoy to the end because we have all the added blessings from heaven everyday in our life.

As we follow the gospel of Jesus Christ we will be led home to our Father in Heaven and we will enjoy life all the way home.

Go to The Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet on line here.

The Death Crawl

There is so much potential in the world and so often it’s not known. People rarely know how much they can actually accomplish, they limit themselves mentally and sometimes they do it subconsciously. I think it happens sometimes because we set goals for ourselves and when we reach that goal we think it is enough, we reached our expectations so we don’t push ourselves as hard. I catch myself doing this all the time. When we give it all we've got and don't limit ourselves to goals we can exceed and excel to levels higher than we ever imagined.

I was recently shown this inspirational video clip The Death Crawl from a movie called “Facing the Giants.” This clip is about a football coach talking to his team about having heart. the coach says "Your attitude is like the aroma of your heart if your attitude stinks your heart's not right." it's cool because it goes on to show how a team captain's heart is not right for their upcoming game and the coach proves to him that they are stronger than they give themselves credit.

This video can be taken in so many ways. I picture myself there, doing the death crawl pushing myself to the 50 yard line, but I put myself in the world trying to find success. I'm blindfolded and I hear the coach telling me to keep pushing myself and to just go another step. But I picture him as Jesus Christ telling me to press forward, to keep giving it my all. I picture myself finally collapsing because I am exhausted; I look up and see that I have superseded all my expectations.

This video gave me a lot of motivation to give everything I do 100% and really do my best. I know we really can do more than we think we can and that we have to just push ourselves to our limits until we collapse, we can't set limits. When we do we will impress ourselves and reach greater levels.

Men's Hearts Shall Fail Them

Life is extremely tough; there is a lot of heartache, sorrow and tragedy. A lot of times terrible things happen and we never know why. But with faith in Jesus Christ we can be calm when problems arise. That is one of the biggest purposes of the gospel of Jesus Christ; it is to bring comfort to us when we are in desperate need. Like in this video when Elder Nelson was faced with death he was calm, ready to return home. While the lady on the other side was hysterical and freaking out. Elder Nelson was able to stay calm because of his faith in our savior Jesus Christ and he understands God's plan for us. We can all strengthen our faith and come to the same understanding as Elder Nelson by reading from the Holy Scriptures and praying. It will take time but we all can strengthen our faith.

My favorite part of this clip is when Elder Nelson says “Don't demand things that are unreasonable but, demand of yourself improvement...?” often times we expect of ourselves to much. We compare ourselves to others who have more, which is a terrible thing to do. You have to remember that everybody comes from different backgrounds and has had different trials and experiences in their lives, so everybody is at different levels. Don't demand one day to be perfect, that is unreasonable. Demand of yourself improvement everyday.

I invite all of you to start today. Demand of yourself improvement, whether it be strengthening your faith in Jesus Christ, becoming a better athlete, or becoming a better student, start today! Don't start with leaps and bounds start with small and simple steps. When tomorrow comes be able to look back and say I improved in one way. When you do so before you know it you will notice that you have improved by leaps and bounds, and you will impress yourself.



Prayer

So imagine you have the chance to have the President of the United States of America over for dinner. When you call him to see what day and time he is available you are going to work to his schedule. You are not going to call him and say it's this night at this time you better be here. You are going to do accommodate to him because he is kind of busy and kind of important. You are going to do everything you can to make sure your schedule will match his.

When you finally get down what time the dinner is going to be you will probably do everything you can to make it the best dinner ever. You will probably clean your house and make it look the best it has. You might even go to the store and get a really nice table cloth and placemats if you don't already have some. Maybe some cool looking cups as well. You will do everything you can to make it a nice dinner.

 

The same principle applies to prayer. Why do we when we pray sometimes ask for blessings and say I except it to happen like this, or this is how I am going to do it? Why do we in a nice way demand what we want from God, The Almighty? I think it is sometimes because we forget that God can see what is really best for us and gives us our blessings when it is the best time for us. We just want everything to happen the way we want.

After we pray we should do all we can to find our answer or receive our blessing; just like we would do everything in our power to make it a nice dinner for the President. When we ask God for something we then should do all we can to receive the blessing or find our answer. We read all throughout the scriptures that if we ask, then seek, it shall be opened.

I know that this is true because I have done it myself. Many times I turned to the lord asked for help, searched it out then it was opened unto me. I know if you do the same he will open the windows of heaven and blessings will come.

Signs

A couple of days ago a bunch of missionaries and I played a game called signs. This game is great and calls for a lot of laughter. To play the game everyone has to come up with their own sign. You want your sign to be something that would be hard to notice for example someone's sign could be shrugging one shoulder; it could be the peace sign, or even scratching your nose. When everyone has their own sign, you all sit in a circle so everyone can see each other and you go around and show everyone your sign. Then one person starts with the sign. To pass the sign you do the persons sign that you want to pass it to, then they do their sign to accept the sign, and you have the sign until they do theirs to accept it. Then the person who just accepted the sign passes it to someone else. One person stands in the middle and they close their eyes and someone starts passing the sign. The sign continues to pass and the person in the middle has to tag who they think has the sign, they are in middle running around until they tag the person with the sign. You can see why you would want you sign to be something hard to notice because then it is harder for the person in the middle to find the sign and tag that person.

When you first start playing the game it's kind of hard to follow the sign because you don't remember everyone’s sign and you lose it a lot. As you play the game longer and longer you get better at following the sign. It’s also tough because if you look away for just a second the sign could get passed and you will have lost it, so you have to pay attention at every moment. But as the game goes on you get better at passing it so sometimes you could pass it even when the person in the middle is facing you. It’s risky when you pass it like that, but if you can do it successfully everyone laughs and the person in the middle gets flustered because they know they just missed it. But even sometimes after you have played for a while you lose the sign every once in a while just because it was a sneaky pass or something like that, then you have to find it again.

Playing this game is kind of like following the spirit. At first it is hard because you can't always recognize it. You don't know everyone’s signs, you will find it but then they pass it and you lose it again. But as you practice you get better at it and you are able to follow it and rarely lose it. You have to be paying attention at all times because you if look away for just a second you will lose it. The same with the spirit, if you do something bad for just one second you will lose it. Then it takes a while for you to get it back. As the game goes on you also get better at passing the sign as well, so eventually you can pass it in front of the person in the middle’s face and make everyone laugh. As you follow the spirit you get used to the voice of the spirit and you get better at acting on the promptings you receive, then like the rest the more you practice it the better you get at it. But just like in the game after you have played for a while and you have gotten pretty good at it you still may lose it. The same with The Spirit you may lose it because it may do a sneaky move or something you weren’t expecting it to do. But because of you practice you are able to find it pretty quickly again and continue following its promptings.

When The Game Is On The Line

So here is a football sinario. Your playing against your rival team, the game is on the line, fourth quarter with 1:22 left on the clock. The other team just scored to make the score 28 - 26 your team is down by 2 points. Your team gets the ball after the kick off. Your offense is in it to win it; you all are playing lights out football. Your team is driving down the field your on their 38 yard line. You're the wide receiver the coach calls on your number with the game on the line. Down... Set... Hike! The play starts, you're sprinting your guts out, you break to the outside and the defender trips and falls, the ball is in the air coming your way. You can't believe what just happened your wide open... catch it's a race to the end zone. The safety is coming in hot, he's the last guy to beat and you win the game. you try to juke him but he hits you, his helmet lands right on the ball and knocks it out of your hands fumble... they recover with 21 seconds left, game over.

This situation is intense; some people never want to be in that situation because they would never want to let their team or themselves down. Some people live for those situations; they want to be the playmaker.

This situation is kind of like receiving a prompting from the Holy Ghost and not acting on it. You did the hardest part you received the revelation or you caught the pass when you were wide open. But then you fumbled and lost it.

No matter whom you are, or where you live, or what you do, you will at one point in life or another receive a prompting from the Holy Ghost. You will make the catch but it will be up to you to see if you hold on to it when the game is on the line. It will be up to you to put both hands over the ball and make sure you don't drop it. Because when you are able to do that you will win. Whether you break the tackle to score a touchdown or just make the catch and get tackled in field goal range your team will win.

Think about how great it is to catch a game winning pass. That feeling is awesome, your team loves you, the crowd goes nuts, and all your hard work paid off. It was worth all the blood, sweat, and tears you put into practice.

Think about what it is like to receive a revelation from God on what you are to do with your life and you act one it. The feeling you get is better than awesome it is indescribable; you know that you are loved from your Heavenly Father and that your life is heading in the right direction. You know that you were able to perform when the game, your life, was on the line.

“The Little Girl” by John Michael Montgomery

Listen to this song then read what I have to say about it "The Little Girl" by John Michael Montgomery

This song is amazing! It is so sad, what the little girl says about Christ will bring a tear to your eye. I don't know if this song is based off of a true story but I wouldn't doubt it if it was. I love the message this song portrays how Christ is going to be there for you.

Christ is there for all of us, even during our hardest times. He may not be there physically but the Holy Ghost is there prompting us and helping us get through life. Christ is our Savior and He loves us, He fulfilled the Atonement so He knows how to help us. During the Atonement He suffered not only for every sin we will make but he suffered every kind of anguish as well. He did this for us so he would know how to help us and so He could be there to comfort us in a time of need and let us know that everything will be okay.

Like is says in the Book of Mormon in the the book of Alma Ch7 vs. 11-13 Christ suffered so that He would know how to succor His people. Succor means to run quickly too, to aid, or to help. Christ did this all out of love because He wants to help us. I am so grateful for what Christ did for me and the more I come to understand the Atonement I come to know how real it is and how much effect it has in our everyday lives.

The Power of Prayer is Real

Since my companion got this whopping speeding ticket he was pleading with the lord for some miracle to happen so it would go away. He felt bad because his parents would have had to pay it because as missionaries we have no income so he had no way to pay it. He didn't want this big fine to be on his parent’s shoulders. He prayed about it every night until we went to court to settle it.

We show up to court and we wait until he gets called up. To our surprise the judge has no record of the ticket. He said it was lost in cyber space and it was like he never got one. My companion was off the hook, so he thought. The judge took down our address and said that the ticket could show up the next day or in 6 months or it may never show up. We thought his prayer was answered and he was off the hook.

A few days later in the mail he gets a letter it ways from the city of Palmyra and they said they found his ticket in cyber space and they gave him a new court date. His heart was torn he thought he was off the hook. He began praying again for another miracle to happen. A couple weeks go by and we have our court date. As we are waiting for his turn and we’re listening to all the people go up and how expensive their fines were. They were all getting about $200 fines and they were only going around 10mph over the speed limit. My companion was terrified for his turn; he didn't want to have to tell his parents he needed like $400 for a silly speeding ticket.

It is finally his turn he wanted to lighten the mood a little, when he was before the judge he said something to the extent of I guess I wasn't as lucky as I thought I was you caught me. The judge chuckled and remembered him and that his ticket wasn't there at his first court date. He said that he was going to wave the ticket because of the inconvenience of having to come back a second time. My companions face was priceless when he turned around. Right when we got into the hallway to leave the courthouse he dropped to a knee and thanked the lord for sparing him from his dad's wrath.

Elder Larson and I just after he got off the hook from his ticket.

This is just a funny story to show that the power of prayer is real. I’m not saying that every ticket you get will go away if you pray about it. But the power of prayer is real! Heavenly Father listens to every word we say when we talk to him through prayer. We can ask our father in heaven anything whether it be for a miracle to take away a speeding ticket or if we need to know what classes to take or just for help to get through the day. I can promise you he is listening and that he will answer your prayer when you say it with real intent. We read in the Book of Mormon in the Book of Moroni 7:6 that if we pray without real intent it will prophet us nothing. So when we have a sincere desire to talk to God he talks back either through our feelings, the scriptures or what some else says, he always answers our prayers.

Speeding Tickets

So a couple of weeks ago my companion and I were driving into the village of Palmyra from The Hill Cumorah. The speed limit was 50mph for a minute, and then it dropped to 30. My companion was driving and he took his foot off the gas and we were slowing to 30mph, but I guess that wasn't good enough.

All the sudden red and blue lights come on the mirror, a cop was hiding and he pulled us over; our hearts dropped. We were praying that the cop would let us off because we are from out of town, but he ended up giving my companion a ticket for going 20mph over the speed limit. BUMMER!

This ticket could have been avoided if we would have put our brakes on instead of coasting down to the speed limit. You never know when a cop is going to be waiting behind a tree or a bush or something to get you when you’re speeding.

This is like the gospel. We have to be following the gospel at all times because we never know when Satan is going to be hiding waiting to get you. If we are always following the commandments and are listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost we have nothing to fear. Satan will not be able to sneak up on us and bring us down to his level.

Sometimes it is hard to withstand temptation because it comes in sneaky ways like peer pressure or it may just sneak up on you. But I can promise you when you are living the Gospel of Jesus Christ you will have the power to make the right choice, and Satan will have no control over you.

Fast Food

How great is it to go get some grub from the BK Lounge when you're hungry and out with your friends. You order your food sit down, start telling stories, you finally get some food and you stuff your face; you’re having a great time. It taste so good, that whopper is really hitting the spot. You stuff your face with some fries and you get a shake to finish it off. It is so delicious to the taste.

But then like 45 minutes later you are paying the price. Your stomach begins to feel worse than if you just got ran over by an 18 wheeler. You begin to feel like crap. You don't want to do anything but chug Pepto-Bismol and sit on the john.

This happens to me all the time. I seem to forget how atrocious I feel after I eat a nice big whopper or a couple of junior bacon cheeseburgers and a couple of spicy chicken sandwiches. I seem to remember the taste that I love but not the aftermath.

Was it worth it? Was the delicious to the taste fast food worth the couple of hours of crappiness?  No it ever is, especially the older you get the more it seems to hurt and the harder it is to shake off.

Surprisingly even fast food can be related to the gospel, in a couple of ways also. Fast food is like sinning. Sometimes while you are doing it, it may taste good but in the long run your belly wil ache. Especially when you realize that it's drawing you farther and farther away from our savior Jesus Christ.

We also sometimes forget how bad we felt after we sinned and we fall into temptation and do the sin again. Then we have the feelings of chugging Pepto and blowing up toilets again which we all hate; also known as the process of repentance.

When we repeat mistakes we often beat ourselves up because we know we shouldn't have done that again. But remember we have the atonement; we can be forgiven of all of our sins. The atonement was made for me and it was made for you. 

Jesus Christ suffered for every single sin that I have made and that I will ever make. He suffered for every single sin you have made and that you will make. He also suffered for every sin that freakin John Doe made or will ever make. He did it because he loves us and wants us to be able to be free from the terrible bands of guilt and shame that hold us all down. He wants us to feel loved and happy.

The atonement has been made, we need to use it. Christ has already suffered for our mistakes so we don't have to. Cry unto him and plead for forgiveness and I can guarantee you that you will feel his loving power of forgiveness. I invite you to do so now, if you have something weighing you down get on your knees and ask for angels to come take the weight off and see what happens, see how you feel afterwards.

Prepare for General Conference

General Conference is when God's prophets and apostles speak to us, it only happens twice a year. Dieter F. Uchtdorf gives some great advice on how to prepare for this great conference that is right around the corner. Check out this link on how you can prepare to get spiritually blasted at General Conference! If you have a question or concern and if you take it to General Conference and seek for an answer I can promise you you will find one.

http://lds.org/liahona/2011/09/general-conference-no-ordinary-blessing?lang=eng

Opposition

There's not a lot of food I don't like, one exception is a mushroom they are gray, mushy, and taste like dirt. I try to avoid them at all costs but sometimes I cannot. In some situations they are unavoidable like on pizza or something like that. Sometimes I just have to eat them.

One thing I love is a big juicy red raspberry oh man they are so good I could eat them all day everyday. I can eat them on cake, in ice cream, with a little sugar on top, you name it and I will probably eat it if there are raspberries involved.

I would not be able to enjoy raspberries if I did not know the atrocious taste of a mushroom. If I did not know the bad how could I know the good? This is exactly what it says in the scriptures (2 Nephi 2:11) there has to be opposition in all things.

Everybody is going to have good and bad days, hard times and great times. That is just how life is, the crappy times are unavoidable. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin's mother gave him some great advice when he was a child. She taught him "Come what may and love it"

There are four things Elder Wirthlin tells us to do during the hard times to help us get through them. Learn to laugh, because when your laughing you can't be too sad. Seek for the eternal; See what you can learn from this trail for the eternities. Principle of compensation, you will be blessed If you endure it well. Last we must trust in the Lord.

There is a scripture I love in the Doctrine and Covenants Section 130 verse 2 "And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy" All I know is that our life on earth is a time to prepare to meet God. We are blessed with families and the next life is going to be greater then we can even imagine.


Watch this short video "Come What May and Love It" a section of one of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin's talks, it is great and encouraging. It is only 3minutes and 32 seconds. I promise it is worth your time. Plus you don’t even have to find it, I embedded it for you right below.

 

Deception

Cheetos... Cheetos are so good, such a delicious chip like snack. They are perfect to take when you go on a picnic and even better when you put a few of them in your sandwich. They are also great to munch on while you are watching a football game or something on TV.

Cheetos and so many other chips and snacks are delicious to the taste, but as we all know they are not the best for us. One reason why they are not so good for us is because they are practically man made. There are so many ingredients that are added to these sorts of charts that are created from the periodic table of the elements. Like my favorite TBHQ. Those creations are not something that we should be putting into our body, it's bad for them.

But why do we do it?

It's because Cheetos taste so good and their advertising technique just draws us in with their cartoon cheetah. It's a bunch of individual not so good ingredients that when combined together they make something delicious.

That is exactly how the adversary works! Satan will put a bunch of bad things together to make it look like it would be a great thing. But in the long run it isn't. He will make us think that doing one small little sin isn't bad but in the long run as we so that small sin over and over it draws us farther away from Christ.

We have to watch out for those little things like TBHQ and not put them into our bodies. Although Cheetos are great and are created from a bunch of not so good things, Satan is not and we have to watch out for all of his little ingredients; and say no when his temptations arise!

Global Positioning Systems

Everyone these days has a gps; they are so useful and handy. With today’s technology we are able to have them on our phones, but whether it is on your phone or not practically everyone has a gps.

I even have one; I use it almost everyday to get myself around because I am in a new place and my bearings all are messed up. One cool thing about a gps is it has settings you can have it take you to your destination using the route which take the: fastest time, shortest distance, avoid highways, avoid toll roads. There are a lot of settings to please the owner. I put a lot of trust into my gps.

I realized this the other day. We fully rely on the little machine that speaks to us with an Australian accent to guide us to our destination. So far the gps has not led me astray. One thing we know is that these cool little machines will never lead us astray. They will always get us to our desired destination according to the setting we put it on.

I related this to something that everyone has experienced in their life, the Spirit of God, or the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is like our internal gps, it will always guide us to our final destination, living with our families and our Father in Heaven.

Sometimes it may seem odd where our spiritual gps is taking us, but I know that wherever it guides us is for our benefit. If it takes us somewhere challenging it is for us to learn something. We may not know what and we may not figure it out for a while like a couple of years, but it will be for our own good.

We all need to rely on our internal gps everyday, we have to see what turns it needs us to make everyday. I know that as we follow the turns we will come closer to our Savior Jesus Christ and our Loving Father in Heaven.

 

Gators

So pretend you're in Africa on a safari. You're in a Jeep cruising the terrain to go see the awesome wildlife and take some pictures. Your safari guide takes you to a watering hole because animals are almost always there. Some antelope are dehydrated from a long days work of living in Africa so they take a break to get some water. Little did they know that a crocodile was waiting and waiting for an unsuspecting victim to come get a drink. The antelope couldn't see the monster in the murky water then... SNAP!!! The antelope was being thrown around like a rag doll and getting dragged into the deep. The poor dehydrated antelope is helpless now as he gets dragged into the dark abyss.

Crocodiles are sneaky, sly, patient, dinosaur-like creatures, and they are pro at what they do. They are huge, powerful and extremely quick. Crocodiles sit in a body of water until an unsuspecting victim comes to take a drink then they go in for the kill.

We always need to be careful when we are in Africa on safari's but we need to be always watching out for the spiritual crocodiles in our everyday life. They are all around waiting and waiting to go in for the kill. Unlike the crocodiles in Africa who are only at watering holes spiritual crocodiles are everywhere. They are always ready and waiting for the kill.

We need to conscious of them, watch out at all times, and avoid them at all costs because they will kill us spiritually.

Watch this video, Boyd K. Packer gave me the idea for this post from this video, watch it and see how dangerous crocodiles are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RenFaLim-vo

Line Upon Line

Building muscle takes time. If you go to the gym on Monday you are not going to wake up Tuesday morning looking like Brad Pitt. It takes time and a lot of work. You have to go to the gym everyday and work hard to get a body like a truck. As you go to the gym everyday your muscles will slowly get stronger and stronger, and your body will slowly start to look like a truck.

The process of building muscles reminded me of a scripture in the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 28:30, which says "I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little," building muscle comes here a little and there a little.

I really like this scripture because it is how I gained my testimony. It came line upon line precept upon precept(precept is another word for commandment). It came as I consistently read my scriptures and prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true.

It came as I put scriptures to the test, and found out they were true. It added another line upon my testimony. One specifically was Ether 12:27 which basically says if men come unto me and humble themselves before me, I will make their weaknesses their strengths. I did that and some of my weaknesses became great strengths.

It also came as I put the commandments to the test. Like Tithing, when I started paying tithing at first I was like I need this money to help pay off some debts. But I paid it anyways and the blessings came shortly thereafter. I was able to find another job and got a raise to help me pay off what I had too. Now I am scared not to pay tithing because I know the Lord will provide a way.

I love these scriptures and I know them to be true and I also know that my testimony continues to grow everyday. I also know that your testimony will grow line upon line as you follow the commandments and seek to strengthen your testimony.

Spiritual Exercise

What I am about to say might surprise you but it is true. When you eat right and exercise you feel better than when you sit around and eat junk food or chickdoubles. Recently I have been trying to eat healthier and exercise more. Yesterday I did a terrible job, I didn't eat anything healthy, all I had was like pizza and stuff like that and I didn't exercise at all. All day I felt lousy, I was tired and didn't feel like myself, I didn't like it.

Today I did a lot better. I exercised this morning, probably a little to much. I'll probably be feeling it tomorrow but oh well. I have also eaten quite healthy today, oatmeal, a healthy sandwiches, fruit, and a lot of water.

I was talking with my companion and I realized how great we were feeling today and how cruddy we were feeling yesterday. We know it is because of the extreme differences in our diet and exercise plan. Then we decided that we were going to eat right and exercise so we don't feel like crap again.

I then realized that the same goes for our spiritual body. When we don't exercise our spiritual body by reading the scriptures, praying, going to church and serving others we feel spiritually fat. But when we do exercise it and feed it healthy foods there is a huge difference and we feel happier and we are just in a better mood, it's a really weird thing I know.

You need to be diligent in eating right and exercising spiritually because you will become spiritually obese quickly and you won't even notice it. It will start with a thought like I can say a pray later I'm tired and I want to go to bed or, I can read my scriptures tomorrow I don't have enough time right now. You have to be careful of these thoughts because before you know it you won't have read your scriptures for a couple of weeks and you won't even remember when the last time was that you prayed.

You won't have even realized but you will have become spiritually fat. It will be possible to loose all that spiritual waste but it can be done, through the repentance process. But it would just be easier not to get spiritually obese in the first place.

So we need to stay in shape spiritually because then it will be more fun and easier to endure to the end!

The ChickDouble

Saturday night after The Hill Cumorah Pageant some missionaries drove through Mickey D's on the way home to get some ice cream. A few of us were hungry so we decided to get some food as well. We decided to get a classic.

The Mcdouble and the McChicken sandwiches, these two sandwiches are great by themselves but when combined they make the ultimate combination the ChickDouble! What needs to be done to enjoy these two as a treat is first separate the two patties on the McDouble. Then simply insert the McChicken in between the two hamburger patties of the McDouble.

This trick creates a rather large sandwich but boy does it taste good. It may not be the best for your figure but boy does it taste good, if you only get one a year.
                                                      
Thinking about it, these two sandwiches work together to fill our stomachs, they are different, chicken and beef, but work together. This reminded me of two other things that work together to fill us. They are different from each other but they work together to fulfill the same purpose.

It's the Bible and the Book of Mormon. They are two separate books they talk about different people and their dealings with Jesus Christ, but they work together to bring the fullness of Christ's Gospel here to earth. These two books fill us spiritually. When we are spiritually full from reading these books our faith in Christ grows and our love for him increases. In return for filling our spiritual stomachs we are blessed with peace, love, joy and many more blessings.
                           

Off to College

When a kid goes off to college they have no idea what they are in for. They don't know how to live on their own, most don't even know how to shop or do laundry. But still they are excited to leave home and live on their own a figure everything out.

Kids call home all the time asking silly questions because they need help, probably like: how do I know how much money is in my bank account? Or what are some easy healthy recipes? Sometimes they might even say they are thankful for what little they remember about what their parents tried to teach them.

During the school year the kids have fun making new friends, going on trips and just being away from home at college. But then the school year finally ends and they come home for summer. They are so glad to be home because they no longer are stressed about the next exam or essay that is due. Parents are always so excited that their little baby is back home.

This is way similar to the Plan of Salvation. We were excited to leave home and come to earth to figure everything out. We often call home giving thanks for what we already have and what we have been taught. We also ask what to do in a certain situation, or just for help in life.

Heavenly Father does all he can to help us out but he obviously is way far away and can only do so much. We are left to figure the rest out on our own, this is when we learn and grow here on earth.

While we are here on earth we are supposed to have fun. Adam fell from the Garden of Eden so we might have joy (2 Nephi 2:25). We are supposed to love life, we find joy in our family and friends, hanging out with them, going on trips and having experiences with them. Life does get hard but we are blessed with family and friends so they can be there when we are at our lowest.

Then whether you like it or not we will die, we will return home and our Heavenly Father is so excited to see us again. We will probably be excited too once we get there, because then we no longer have to worry about all the stressful stuff in the world.

Airplane TVs

So you know how when you get on a long flight they have TV's in the back of the headrests. You have the option to watch whatever you want, ESPN, the news, the weird station that tells you your elevation and where you are, or you can watch a movie or something. I think some airlines even have radio stations you can listen to. These are just some things for you to do to pass the time while you sit in the terribly uncomfortable seats for hours at a time.

Someone in church a couple of weeks ago had a great idea. That is to make it so you can't watch anything but the missionary lessons; like The Restoration of the Gospel, or The Plan of Salvation. I thought that was a great idea but it may take away peoples agency a little bit. But I guess if they would at least make it an option so it is available for the passengers to watch that would be okay. On the radio stations they could have the option to listen to General Conference talks or something like that. Then the passengers can exercise their agency and decide if they want to come closer to Christ while they are traveling.

They would watch lesson after lesson until their destination... Heaven!

Mail

Everyday around 2 o'clock the mail comes, sometimes I'm home sometimes I'm not. But always when I go to the mailbox it's a surprise to see if I get anything. It's always so exciting to open the mailbox and look inside but usually the feeling of disappointment comes soon after opening the stupid box.

One day as I was walking to my apartment to go eat lunch I was hoping that there would be some mail for me. The anticipation was killing me. I had been waiting for a letter back from a friend. I get to the box open it and... To my surprise nothing was there again and I was sad.

As I was wallowing in my despair, as I was mad at the mailman for not bringing me more letters, I came up with this analogy about the mail system.

When you send a letter you usually tell a couple of funny or interesting stories that happened recently, tell about some of the cool new people you've met, and you say how you are doing, and maybe ask for some things from home. That sounds almost exactly like a prayer. I always include those things in my prayers, especially asking for stuff from home.

Then waiting for the reply letter is like waiting for answers to your prayers. You never know when they are going to come or what form they will come in. Sometimes you may get frustrated because you haven't gotten an answer in a long time. It happens to me all the time. Usually they come in the form of a letter. But very rarely you get a package waiting for you on your doorstep.

These are the answers to our prayers. Most of the time it's a nice feeling of peace and joy or an assurance that something is right, or personal revelation, the letter. But everyone once in a while you will get an answer in the form of a big epiphany or something, the package.

But unlike the post office you will always receive something back from God. It may just be a nice feeling or it may be a rare huge life changing revelation. You never know, but you will always get something in return. No matter what I get in return for my prayers I love my answer and always give thanks for them.