Autistic Basketball Player With One Opportunity Shines

There are times when you only get one opportunity to shine, do or die. Like when you take a test, or in a championship game, or for me to be a full time missionary, a representative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I played football in high school and I loved when the game was on the line and all the pressure was on me and my team to win the game and we had one shot to win the game. I loved those situations because I was prepared, I practiced all week, I watched film, I worked in the gym, ran sprints so I wouldn't be tired in the fourth quarter and overtime. In those situations I had the confidence that we would do rather than die.

In this video Jason McElwain had one time to shine. Jason has autism but he will deny it, he is basketball player. Jason is a team manager and helps out the coach with with anything the team needs. His coach let him suit up for the last home game of the season, Senior Night. The coach told him he could not guarantee that he could get in the game. But in the fourth quarter with a substantial lead Jason got to go in the game with about 4 minutes left. It was Jason's only time to shine! Jason took advantage of this opportunity and scored 20 points in 4 minutes! He was on fire he couldn't miss a shot. He had waited his whole life for this opportunity and he took full advantage of it.

My question to you is what do you do with the opportunities that you have? Are you ready for them? Are you ready to excel and supersede all expectations and astonish everyone with 20 points in 4 minutes? You only get one chance what are you going to do with it?

The Atonement

Recently I have been recalling upon an experience I had at the Hill Cumorah. I was given a 50 lb bag of salt and when it was given to me it was labeled as a burden. I was then instructed to carry that bag all the way to the top of the Hill Cumorah, up a small muddy path, in the cold. It wasn't bad at first carrying the bag up the hill but as I went along the path it seemed like it wasn't going to end. It became difficult to carry the burden up as I could rarely get a good footing on the trail. The cold froze my fingers and made it hard to hold the bag, I found the best way was to put it on my shoulder and endure to the top.

When I finally made it to the monument at the top of the hill there was a picture of Christ and there I gave my burden to Christ. It was a great relief to drop the bag and it caused me to think about the pains that Christ went through for us physically and spiritually. Just thinking about the physical pains alone that Christ went through alone seems unbearable. We know from the scriptures that Christ fell on his face and bled from every poor from the agony and pain for fulfilling the atonement. Then to add on the spiritual sufferings all the emotions and heartache we feel caused from this evil world made it that much harder to bear. (Watch the bible video here)

It always strikes me when I think about the atonement and how loving our savior was to do this impossible task for me and you. He did it out of love so he would know exactly what we go through so he could comfort us and help us through our trials. I am eternally in debt to my Savior and am so grateful for what he has done for me and what he will do for me.

Jesus Take the Wheel!!!

Life can get crazy sometimes and it seems like we are spinning out of control. I have found that when you come unto our Savior we can get back in control of our life. All we have to do is let him guide us and tell us where to go and what to do. He is the creator of the Heavens and the Earth; He is the creator of us all and knows so He knows us better than we know ourselves. If we listen to him he will guide us to incomprehensible joy all we have to do is act upon what he says.

This song is great a young mother almost crashes in the snow and let's Jesus take the wheel. She realizes that her life is not where she would have liked it to be so she lets Jesus take the wheel of her life also. We need to let Jesus become the driver of our lives and if that happens I can promise you that you will come to happiness. I can't tell you you’re never going to crash again but I can tell you you’ll be blessed from on high.

Power of God

Men of the Priesthood do we really understand what power we hold? Do we really understand that the priesthood is the authority of The Almighty God? And do we realize that the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven(D&C 121:36)?The priesthood is needed for so many reasons to perform sacred ordinances such as baptism, giving blessings to the sick and afflicted, the sacrament, sealing families together for eternity. The Power of God I think is needed more then we realize. Men of the Priesthood we need to always stand ready and worthy to use it; we never know when god is going to call upon us to use us as an advocate to help someone. We must always be ready for when we are needed. 

This video clip is by Thomas S. Monson and he explains a little bit more why we must be ready and worthy when we have the priesthood.

TOTALED!!!!!

So the summer in between my junior and senior year of high school I was on my way home from football practice. I was tired a little sore listening to my favorite CD and eating an apple. I was behind someone at a stop sign and all of the sudden there is a loud bang my head jerks and my apple is gone and I am extremely confused as to what just happened. I look in my rear view mirror and see a man clenching his steering wheel with a terrified and confused look on his face like he has no idea what is going on. I get out of my car to view the scene and figure out what is going on. I finally put it all together that I was just involved in a 4 car pile up. A man driving way to fast rear ended the car behind me which caused him to rear end me which caused me to rear end the car in front of me at the stop sign. After a couple of hours of waiting for the police to come and filling our papers I finally got to go home. I was told that within the next couple of days someone from the man's insurance that caused this would come to check out my car to figure out how much it would be to fix. To make a long story a little bit shorter my car was deemed totaled; my car was still drivable so the man's insurance company just paid me for the worth of my car.

What I am getting at here with this long story is that car's can get totaled in accidents and are never able to drive again. I was lucky enough in this situation where my car was still drivable after the crash but in some situations the cars are not drivable after a collision.

Yes even this story can be related to the gospel. Imagine that your soul is a car, some may think that their soul is a new Cadillac or a Mercedes, some may think that theirs may be a 1982 Honda that has gone 400,000 miles and is so old the door is about to fall off. But no matter what kind of car you think your soul looks like there is a repair shop that can fix it. It can give you a new engine or transmission, it can give you a new paint job, and it can give you a new headlight and even change your tires. The repair shop I am talking about is called The Gospel of Jesus Christ. I can promise you if you begin to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ your car will get repaired, and the coolest thing about it is it's free and there is no line to wait in! You just have go and try, you just have to pray, read the Book of Mormon and go to church and follow the commandments that are there to guide us and bless us. This Auto Shop has saved my soul and I know it will do the same for you!

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