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.

Horseshoes

Horseshoes are so necessary for the protection of the horses hoof. I recently finished a book called The Lamb and the Lion. It is about Willard and Rebecca Bean and their 25 year mission to bring the church back to Palmyra, New York in the early 1900's.

The book is awesome and goes over a bunch of stories about what happened to them and how at first everyone hated them because they were Mormon. But as the years went by the people started to respect the Beans.

There is one part in the book where Willard Bean is making some horseshoes for some horses he acquired. He said this about horseshoes,

"Forged and beaten and shaped by the master's hand into something worthwhile. It takes time and it is hard, but remarkable we will become as the fire and pounding and steam secures a shoe that walks in his footsteps."

That really stood out to me. I started to ponder it and I realized that it is more than just for horseshoes. It is for every single soul, and especially me as a missionary. Every day I am forged, beaten, and shaped by the spirit to become a better missionary. The experiences I see everyday make me learn and grow into something worthwhile.

I am being molded exactly how The Savior wants me to be. He is shaping me exactly how he needs me and I have nothing to complain about.

It is amazing just as Willard Bean said it takes time and it is hard. I second that statement, after all the hard work, after all the beating and pounding, all the time, and experiences we really do become something worthwhile; walking exactly in His footsteps.

I am still being beaten and pounded every day, it is tough but it's rewarding. My footsteps are becoming closer and closer to Christ's. As we all live the Gospel our Savior shapes us into what will be best for us. All we have to do is listen to the promptings of the Spirit, then we will walk in his footsteps.

Letting it Go

A couple of weeks ago in Sunday school we got onto the topic of repentance. My companion and I explained like this; so pretend you have a pen that represents the sin you are trying to repent of. That pen is grasped tightly in your hand, to drop the pen you have to open your hand finger by finger.

The first finger gets lifted after you have acknowledged you have done something wrong.

Second you feel godly sorrow for what you have done.

Third stop doing it.

Fourth you confess your sin to God, and if it's a serious sin confess it to a church leader.

Fifth and final finger you need to make restitution for what you did; if you hurt someone get forgiveness, if you broke something fix or replace it.

After you have pried open your fingers the pen falls right to the floor. Then you are able to have your hand back and you are able to do whatever you want again.

Then we talked about how this process should be done daily because when it is that is when you are able to feel the kingdom of God in heart and mind. Then you are better able to feel the Holy Ghost in you life everyday, and you are better able to receive personal revelation.

I am so glad that we are able to repent and get forgiveness from God for all of out stupid mistakes. Without this I would be carrying around a lot of extra baggage that would really be weighing me down. So if you have some extra baggage I invite you to get rid of it.

Getting “A’s”

So I took this class in college, it was quite intriguing. I paid attention in class, I participated in class, and I did all my homework for the course. The professor told us the first exam was coming up in a couple of weeks. I was like alright it's about time we haven't had a test yet.

The day of the Exam finally arrives and I had not studied because I felt like I remembered everything that had been taught. I did all my homework and did well on it, so I felt confident for the test. You know how it is in college it takes at least a month before you ever find out what grade you got on the test. I finally find out what I got and I was shocked, I think I got like a C. That is bad you can't get C's in college that just doesn't cut it.

I continued to pay attention in class, participate, and do my homework so I would be prepared for when the next test comes. A month or so goes by and the next test arrives. I better prepared for this test. I reviewed all my homework, studied the textbook and the study guide my professor gave me. So I walk in to take the second test, I am feeling confident and I told myself I am going to get every question right.

I finally get my test score back and I did not get every question right but I did tremendously better than the first test. The extra studying was so worth the good grade.

The same principle applies to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The better reward your going to get for the more you put into it. The more you read your scriptures, pray, go to church, help others and all those good things the more you're going to get in return.

I'll end by saying that this Gospel is awesome it's for everyone. Since I have started to live and teach it I have become so happy. What I said earlier is true the more time you put into it, like in everything else, the more you get out of it and the more you start to love it.

Jesus Is Our Friend

With your friends you develop great relationships with them because you spend a lot of time with them. You have experiences with them and you make memories together. Because of the time you spent with them, and the experiences you had with them, you feel comfortable around them and you can tell them anything. 

You feel comfortable telling your friend anything because you have been friends with them for a long time and they know everything about you. With your best friend you tell them all your secrets, all the things your parents don't know about. You tell them these things because you trust them and you know what you tell them will stay with them.

One of my very best friends knows everything about me, all my secrets and stuff. We have been friends about 12 years; we have done so much together. We played little league football, we had sleep over’s, we went on trips with each other, we played madden together (I would always win). We have even been through some hard times together. But because we have done so much together we tell each other everything, and we help each other out.

One person who has always been my best friend but I am just now coming to know this is Jesus Christ. He knows us inside and out. He knows everything about us; he knows our likes, dislikes, hobbies, favorite kind of music, everything. 

The awesome thing is he knows exactly what we have been through. When you fall off the tramp and break your arm he knows exactly what that is like. When your car dies at an intersection right when the light turns green he knows exactly how stressful and embarrassing that feels. When you loose a close friend or family member he knows exactly how the terrible describable feeling is. 

Best of all like a best friend he helps us through them, and because he knows precisely what we went through he knows the best things that will help us get through them. It's like he is a doctor and prescribes us medication except he is perfect and gets which medicine and dosage is best for your wound.

Putting It To The Test

 In the science world when you have an idea you test it and you see what your results are. I remember doing this in a biology class in high school. Our teacher put us in groups and gave us petri dishes and told us to go around the school and swab stuff with q-tips then rub them on the petri dishes and told us bacteria would grow.

I remember going around my school rubbing the q-tips on all sorts of different things like the drinking fountain, door handles, and stuff in the bathroom. One group even found the basketball team practicing and the swabbed the star players armpit.

 We watched the bacteria grow in the petri dishes over the next couple of days. All I remember is looking at what each thing was that I swabbed and thinking that my school was gross and needed to be disinfected, and I was confused on how more people weren't getting sick everyday. Also that athletes armpits while practicing are disgusting.

But that is beside the point, what I am trying to say is that the same principles apply in the Gospel. You get an idea and you test it. The idea in the gospel is faith and if God really will help and bless you as you strengthen your faith in him.

Which reminds me of an analogy in the Book of Mormon. In The Book of Alma, Alma the prophet at the time, teaches that if you plant a seed of faith in your heart it will grow. As you nourish your seed, your tree or faith grows and over time into a big beautiful creation. Please read the stellar verses here, Alma 32:28-30

Like in the experiment above and in the analogy in The Book of Mormon, there is only one way to get to a conclusion and that is to do the test. So I invite you if you have not already done so to put this idea of faith to the test and see what happens. I know that your experiment will bring in some amazing data you just have to perform the test.

Garbage

A few weeks ago during church someone in elders quorum used this analogy to describe repentance

Imagine you have all the stuff you have ever thrown away in your life in your backyard. Imagine how smelly and gross it would be. What if someone came up to you and said that they want to get rid of all of it. Not only do they want to get rid of it for you but they want to pay you for it. How cool would that be. The property value of your home would increase by a ridiculous amount.

Now think of the Gospel, how we can be forgiven of all of our sins, or garbage and receive blessings for getting rid of them. That is basically the repentance process. Getting rid of your garbage and receiving blessings for doing it and making your self worth increase.

After thinking about it this way I have no idea why I ever procrastinated my repentance. The blessings I received were ridiculous for getting rid of them in God's eyes. Now of course I am still going to remember how much garbage was in my backyard but know that it has been taken to the dump for me God no longer remembers that I ever had it.

Hopefully after looking at it this way you will to have the same feelings I did. You stop procrastinating and you get paid to get rid of your garbage. It was worth it for me, and I promise it will be worth it for you.

Home Renovations

Home renovations. Usually they take a long time, a lot of money and tons of back breaking labor. Always when the work is finished you look at the completed room, or patio, or whatever you worked on and you think boy that was definitely worth the effort.

I personally have never had to do a home renovation on my own home but I have helped out with many of my friend’s homes. When the work is completed you get to enjoy that new feature on your home so much more.

Say you remodeled your bathroom, after the months of dealing with it under construction and all the sweat that you put into it think how awesome it finally is when you get to sit down in the brand new Jacuzzi tub and take the best bath of your life, and you realize how rewarding it was.

The process of doing a home renovation is quite similar to the repentance process, and the after affect is always the same, rewarding. So say you make a mistake, you messed up and you feel bad for what you did. You try to forget about it and move on but it keeps coming back up. You want to just forget about it, this is the first step like in a home renovation the blueprints.

The next step is the back breaking labor and hard work in the construction. Receiving forgiveness for what you did from God and who or whatever your may have hurt in your mistake. This is when we get down on our knees and ask for forgiveness and help on how we can fix what we damaged.

After the terrible back breaking process, after you have been forgiven, after you finish sweeping up the last of the sawdust. You’re able to sit back and relax, maybe on a new patio and say it was definitely worth it. It is worth it at this step in the repentance process because you are now a stronger person with more experience. You have come closer to God and you learned from your mistake.

Bear Cub

 So I was thinking about this story when my family and I were on a vacation at a national park. We were eating lunch on the riverside; we were enjoying ourselves and having a great time. It came time to go so we began to pack our stuff into the car. My grandpa being old was chillin in his folding chair reading a magazine as we were doing all the work.

Then a bear cub comes wandering out of the surrounding trees to check out our campsite. It wanders up to my grandpa who is all by himself, minding his own business. Grandpa noticed the bear then simply rolled up his newspaper and hit the cub on the head and said something to the effect of get out of here bear. The bear continued sniffing around and annoying my grandpa. He hit the bear on the head again and told him to leave and he threw an apple that he had in the cup holder into the river. Luckily that got the cubs attention and he swam after the apple, and eventually climbed out on the other side of the river.

I remember watching the whole thing and I thought it was funny how my grandpa wasn't worried at all that a bear was right next to him, probably hungry looking for food. How he nonchalantly hit him on the head and got rid of him.

Then a thought popped into my head and I imagined the bear cub as a form of temptation, and how my grandpa had no worries about the cub, or temptation, attacking or hurting him. It is because he had the Holy Ghost with him. It made me realize how there is no need to worry about falling into temptation when the Holy Ghost is with you protecting you, just like it did to my grandpa.

Temptations can come at anytime and in any form even as a cute little bear cub, but when we have the Holy Ghost with us we will be able to heedlessly rid of the temptations.

To Be

I have always wanted to be a good athlete. Especially when I was in high school on my football team. In the off-season I would work out and run as much as possible so I could become a better athlete. When the season started I continued to work hard and as the season progressed, we won and lost games I still continued to work at becoming a better athlete. I continued to do so until the season ended. All the hard work payed off, at the end of the season I was a better athlete then when it started.

One thing I noticed is that I could never cross being a good athlete off of my list. I had to work at it continually or else it have decreased. I still want to be a good athlete and I continue to work at it everyday so I can become better. I now want to be a good missionary. This also is something that I cannot cross off my list. Everyday I have to work to become a little better missionary than I was the day before. There is a big list that I get to do everyday to become a better missionary.

The same goes for you and whatever you want to be: a good parent, child, student, athlete, scientist, artist, musician, whatever you want to be the list goes on and on. You have to work at it everyday, you have to consistently put effort into becoming a little better.

Our Savior presents a question to us all and asks "What manner of men ought ye to be?" then He answers it for us and tells us "Verily I say unto you, even as I am"(3 Nephi 27:27). That is quite the expectation for us. But let me tell you something, I know I will not be able to live up to that expectation perfectly, but I sure enough can try and give it my best. When I fall short and make a mistake I know he will always be there to pick me and help me get back on my feet, and he will do the same for you. That is the beauty of the Atonement. As we try to be like Christ he will help us along the way. But we will never be able to cross being like Christ off of our lists, it is an eternal invitation. I promise you as you work towards being like Christ you will be blessed more than you can imagine.

Idea for the post from Elder Lynn G. Robbins General Conference address April 2011, What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?
http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/what-manner-of-men-and-women-ought-ye-to-be?lang=eng

Joy

There are many ways we can find joy. Before I left for my mission I found happiness in skiing, sleeping in, and playing X-box especially madden. These are wholesome activities as long as they are not abused. They can bring you happiness, I know this because I got happiness from them. I have been thinking about these a lot lately because I miss them but I realized that they only brought me joy while I was doing them. There are many things out there that seem like they will bring us happiness. It may look like they will make us happy, and maybe they even will but it is only temporary happiness. Then we are back to where we were before if not worse. Some of these are temptations and others are just things we do because we have nothing else to do. We have to be careful of those temptations because some of them have strings attached such as addictions. But let me tell you something that I have been doing since I have been on my mission which is bringing me joy that does not have an end, it has no strings attached. It has been learning and sharing The Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that as time goes on and as I live and learn more and more about it the joy will continue to get better and better. As you begin or continue to live the Gospel of Christ you will receive that same joy. Don't think it is to late to start living the gospel because you made a mistake in you past. That is the beauty of the gospel there is repentance where you learn from you mistakes and you cease to want to do them. I promise you as you live the Gospel of Christ you will begin to receive joy and that joy will stay will you for all eternity as long as you live the simple Gospel of Christ.

Relationship

How do you strengthen a relationship? You spend time with them, you have experiences with them, good and the bad. You get mad at them but then forgive them. The closer you get to someone a family member, a friend, or a spouse the more you care for them and want the best for them, and they will want the same for you. The closer you get to someone the more you want to spend time with them, and do nice things for them. The same goes for God, the closer your relationship gets with him the more he will bless you, and that will make you want to strengthen your relationship with him. But like almost all relationships you have to work at it. There are many ways you can strengthen your relationship with God, and I know at first it might be kind of scary, or you might be kind of nervous because you don't know how to strengthen your relationship with him. But let me tell you it's not scary and it's real simple it just takes some time. It can start with just a simple prayer asking for help or showing gratitude for what we have already been blessed with. It can also start with some scripture studying, even if it is just for 10 minutes before you go to bed. Also you can go to church to make it stronger. As you start to do these things you will be blessed and your relationship with God will increase, and you will begin to receive countless blessings from him. Now it probably won't happen over night I'm sorry but I promise you it will happen over time. You will find yourself wanting to pray more and wanting to read your scriptures and go to church every Sunday, because you will have seen the blessings from strengthening your relationship and you will want more. As your relationship with God grows you will receive blessings such as your relationships with others will strengthen, or you may just be happier about life and many other things. I invite you to begin to strengthen your relationship with God and I promise you won't regret it.

Trees

Trees. I like trees for a lot of reasons, they are fun to climb, they are good for the environment, they are good for burning, and they are very symbolic, also one day I want to build and epic tree house. You know how if a tree is planted in an area where it is easy for it to get water it's roots don't go very deep, they stay near ground level, and the tree won't have the best foundation. If a tree is planted in an area where it is more difficult for it to get water it's roots will work hard and go down deep in the ground so it can get the water it needs, and it will make itself a good solid foundation. Then when the big bad wolf comes by and huffs and buffs and tries to blow the tree down it won't be able to. But if it the winds blow on a tree where it doesn't have to go far for water and it's roots are close to the surface the tree may fall. This can be the same with your faith in Christ. If your roots are deep in the ground and you worked hard for your faith by reading scriptures, praying, and going to church when the big bad wolf huffs and buffs and tries to blow your tree over your roots will hold you up and you will be able to withstand his fierce winds. But if your roots are not that deep and your faith is there but you haven't worked extremely hard at it when the fierce winds come you may get blown over. What you can do now is dig your roots deeper into the earth and make your foundation stronger so when the temptations of Satan arise you will be able to withstand the temptations and prevail victorious for good. You can strengthen your roots by reading the scriptures, but not just reading them but applying the principles in them to your life and living them. You can deepen your roots by praying to our Father in Heaven, and showing him your thankful for what he has already given you, and asking for help, if you do I promise he will give his help. You can also strengthen your faith by going to church and taking the sacrament. I promise if you do these things your roots will deepen and when the 1,000 mph winds blow your tree will stand strong and proudly show off it's leaves to the world. I know this to be true because my roots used to be close to the surface and I almost got blown over a few times, but I have deepened my roots through the previous listed things and now I can withstand some of the most ferocious winds. I strengthened my roots and I know you can do the same, it's not to late to start now.