Pride.

I am going to talk about something that I think is one of the things I struggle with the most. It often hurts my ability to perform in the ways the Lord would have me. Pride comes in many shapes and sizes. I am not someone who thinks that I am better than people in fact it is really somewhat the opposite, I tend to have a low confidence. So I will share a few examples from my mission. First starting with when I first arrived in the mission field, I knew that I was not good at the whole missionary thing but I was not really ready to change. I liked the things that I did and didn’t feel like I needed to budge. Wrong! It was pride I thought that where I had come so far in life was good enough, that’s not how I would have phrased it then but in retrospect it’s the closest description to the truth. 

Secondly I was placed with a companion that was a little less than diligent and I then decided that I needed to change to be better. Humbled… no. I then repositioned my pride, with this companion I used pride to push myself. My thoughts were “everyone knows he is not living up to his potential so will impress people by doing better than him”. I needed/wanted the praise of men. A song quote comes to mind, “Could you hold your head high, when no one knows your name”! At this time I could only say no.

The last example is the most recent, as missionaries we teach many lessons and a problem many have is teaching everyone a rote presentation of our lessons. A cookie cutter lesson, with a one size fits all sort of mentality, where we clearly just go through the motions and wonder why our friends that we teach don’t keep their commitments. This one gets worse as missionaries get older and think “I have seen it all”, with a memorized solution to every concern or problem.  We forget to rely on the spirit because our pride says “you know how to do this now, you don’t need help”. Pride is a terrible thing and it is some thing I still struggle with, but I continue to work on. The scriptures are full of examples of pride and its eventual outcome. The entire Book of Mormon shows the destruction of a nation because of their pride which led to them forgetting God and losing His promise of safety. “Behold, the pride of this nation … hath proven their destruction except they should repent.”(Moroni 8:27)

War

I have often thought about the war we are in, the war against evil, Satan, and sin. In this war are two factions: Christ’s or the devils. We are to pick which side we will align with by our actions, by so doing we also choose what our end stage is and show what our true goals are. One thing about this war that is very different from any other is that the victor has already been established and the leaders of both sides know this. Christ will win, there is no question, but Satan continues to try, why?

See this war is filled with countless battles and though the devil knows that he cannot win the war, it is his goal take as many battles as he can. And what do the battles look like, what are they? Well, they have 2 legs, 2 arms, and a torso, a head with 2 eyes, 2 ears, 1 mouth, and 1 nose. The battles are each and every person on this beautiful planet. The adversary’s goal is to make all of us stumble, give up, give in, and/or quit! He desires to have us, to take us, and bind us down!  As we follow his ways we are damned, that is we stop progressing. He is miserable and wants to sink all to his level.

This war is tough and our battles are hard, but with a belief in God we can “with surety hope for a better world” (Ether 12:4). Christ will uplift and strengthen us as we do what is expected like keep the commandments always remember him and take his name upon us. That isn’t to say that He makes it easy but He helps us grow to overcome all in our path. “Your path may be thorny, but Jesus is nigh you; His arm is sufficient, tho demons oppose.” (Hymn 266)



This is Fighting!



So what is you role in it? You must fight daily! We must “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men…, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end” (2 Nephi 31:20). Now as we do this there is a promise for which sounds pretty awesome. It is, “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall” (Helaman 5:12) Don’t give up, because I know that you can do it if you just go for it!

Our Trust in God.

This post is one written by Elder Chad Robert Jeppson, who is currently serving as my companion as of February 14, 1012 to the present. It is a little long but definitely worth the read!

Our Trust in God

Hello my name is Elder Chad Robert Jeppson I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!!! I am 19 years old and I am from a little town in Idaho close to the Wyoming border!!! I came from a family of 6; I have 1 older brother and 2 younger sisters!!! Growing up I learned to love sports and the outdoors!!! My favorite things to do are play football, wrestle, go camping, and hunting!!! I am currently serving a mission in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission and have been out for almost a year!!! On my mission I have had the opportunity to help out a lot of people, but I think the person that has been impacted the most is me!!!

Having been able to study the scriptures every morning, teaching people all day, and devoting all my time to serve the Lord has helped me to see, to gain, a whole new perspective in life!!! I was not always the happy go lucky kid that I am now!!! Back when I was in 6th grade was probably the hardest time of my life!!! Within 6 months I lost my uncle, and my best friend at the time moved away!! I felt alone, I didn’t know where to go, I felt totally lost!!! I had been raised in the church but I didn’t have a big enough testimony to keep me afloat!!! I soon found myself in the rough crowd, doing some things I never thought I would be doing in my life!!! I felt as if the world was crashing down on me and I didn’t know what to do!!!Which brings me to my topic I want to talk about “Our Trust in God”?

In D&C 82:10 the Lord promises us blessings if we do what he asks us to do!!! And in D&C 130:20-21 says that we receive no blessing from God unless we are obedient to the law upon which that blessing is predicated. In the Book of Ether it talks about a civilization of people named the Jaredites!!! They were around when the Lord confounded the languages at the tower of Babel!!! This group of people pleaded with the Lord and asked if they could keep their language and the Lord told them to gather their people and leave!!! So they were obedient and left and the Lord told them about a promised land and how he would guide them to it. So as they travelled through the wilderness they were taken care of by the Lord!!! They then came to the large waters and were commanded to build boats and so they did!!! And now this next part is what I want to talk on most!!! In Ether 6:5-12 it talks about their journey across the large waters!!!

"Large Waters"

Verse 5 states “And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the Promised Land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.” I just want to emphasize that the Lord caused giant waves that tossed them about to come and take them to the Promised Land!!! And I don’t know if you have ever been on a boat in the middle of the ocean in a large storm but I could only imagine that it would be rough!!! I don’t know exactly how big the boats were but having animals and people crammed in there and all manner of sickness and whatever else was going on it could not be fun to be on one of those boats!!!

And it goes on to say in verse 6 “And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.” So as they were on this journey many times it says they were buried in the depths of the sea because of the waves that were caused by the wind!!! So what can we learn from this? We can learn that sometimes it is hard but it is for the best!!! Because without the wind we would never make it where the Lord wants us to go and where we want to be!!! Sometimes as we are going through life, trials arise, we feel that everything is falling upon us and that there is no escape!!! We feel we are inadequate and can’t go on!!! Well if it were just us, we probably couldn’t, but we have the hand of the Lord in everything we do, we just have to ask for help!!!

Then in verse 7 it reads “And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.” Now we know from this that the Lord would never give more than we could handle!!! Even though we may be buried in the deep we will be blessed and be able to carry on!!! No matter how big the waves were no matter how far under we were the Lord is carrying us He knows where we are, He knows what are breaking point is, He is our Father and He loves us, He knows our strengths and our weaknesses and He will support us and preserve us in the roughest of times!!!

Now on to verse 8, “And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the Promised Land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind.” It tells us that the wind did never cease to blow!!! Now sometimes we feel like we need a break but if we had a break we might never make it and plus the Lord knows what is best for us and will provide the way that we can endure!!! Even though it is rough, even though it is tough, we are moving in the right direction!!! It is not easy to follow the savior’s example, and sometimes we feel that we are good and can just coast, we can’t because the next wave is coming, the next trial is right around the corner and we must always have our guard up because the wind is always blowing!!!

So it goes on to say in verse 9 “And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord.” This makes me come to the conclusion that they had a lot of trust in God, at first I think they would be a little nervous, or at least I would be, having to endure those mountainous waves in these barges, but as they continued to see how the Lord had kept them safe thus far why would he allow them then to be swallowed up? Thus it gave them the strength through their past experiences that Lord would take care of them through this one!!! We must always search for those blessings that we have received as we have gone through rough times before so that we can have the faith and trust that we need to make it through any trial that we may be going through because without that faith and that trust we are nothing!!!

Continuing to verse 10, “And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water.” It interests me how the animals of the sea were even giving them trouble!!! Sometimes as we are going through our journey we often run into someone who is not the friendliest person and gives us some havoc, not always on purpose, but who might just be going through a rough time also!!! What do we do when this occurs, because how many of us have been offended or hurt by what someone says, and does not take the time to find out what is going on in their life to make them say something that would bring us down!!! I know that I have I have been told something that strikes me to the core but all I would do is just be standoff and take it to heart and say in my mind, "Well I am not going to talk to them anymore!!!" We need to just try to help everyone we can even if it is tough!!! It could have been easy for those people to yell at or curse the whale but what good would that have done?

We then move on to verse 11 “And thus they were driven forth, three hundred and forty and four days upon the water.” It then puts a time on how long this people endured this trial!!! Sometimes we feel  that whatever we may be going through is never going to end, I am sure that these people were ready for it to end, I couldn’t even imagine how these people felt after being tossed upon the water for almost a year!!! I have felt that I have been trodden down and nothing good happens to me for long periods of time but we need to trust that God will answer our prayers that he will be there and will never forsake us no matter how long the wind blows!!!



"Promised Land"



Lastly verse 12 states “And they did land upon the shore of the Promised Land. And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the Promised Land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them.” Ohhh what a happy day this would be after all they had gone through they finally make and the first thing they do is bow down before the Lord and thank him!!! I know that for me sometimes I am slow to thank the Lord after I go through a few struggles!!! As you bow down before the Lord it shows your trust in him and it shows that you are truly humble!!! I know that we all sometimes go through trials we don’t know if we are going to make it through but when these trials do arise we need to put our trust in God. We need to see the blessings that He has already blessed us with and trust that He will raise us up out of the great deep once again!!!

He has already promised us everything that He has to offer since we are His children “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:16-17)So if He has already promised it to us, it is ours, we just have to choose whether that is what we want or not!!! And when we do choose that that is what we want, it becomes our focus and we will trust that we will be able to endure anything that comes in our path so that we can receive everything!!! I just want to say that God lives, I know that Jesus is the Christ, and that He made everything possible for us, we just need to choose to follow Him, and make Eternal Life our vision, and we will make it and we will be able to bring others along with us!!! And I say these things, I the name of Jesus Christ, our brother, and Savior, Amen!!!

General Conference.

So the first weekend in April and October of every year is a very exciting time for members of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints. This is where the prophets and apostles of today, our time teach us and encourage us. As they testify of Christ I know you will feel the spirit. This is such an important time for people as a modern day Moses tells us what Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ wants us to hear. If God is going to be giving a talk I want to be there, and so I will! It is sad though that for a few people in the church to view this as a Sunday that we can sleep in and we don’t have to go to church. Oh how wrong that "day-off" mentality is. As we do this we become like the people of old who did not respect the prophets of their time, it never worked out well for them and it won’t work out for us! If we want to know what God expects of us then we for sure need to listen up when he sends someone to answer that very question. I know I have not always treated conference as I should and I regret those times very much, but I have applied the atonement and have repented! The coolest thing about conference is that if we come with questions we are guaranteed that at least one of the speakers will touch on the subject we need to hear and we will gain answers! That’s just so awesome! I hope you enjoy General Conference as much as I do!

To watch conference live at home go to http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch?lang=eng

or even better you could come watch it with me at:

800 Fleetwood Dr.

Seaford, De 19973

The times are: Saturday 12 & 4, and Sunday 12 & 4.

To read more about our prophet today you can visit this site: http://www.thomassmonson.org/

Prayer.



PRAY OFTEN!



What is Prayer? Well to me, it is when we humble ourselves before God to seek Him out. We go to Him to thank Him for the many things we have, we seek for blessings for our loved ones, we ask questions that may be troubling us, we seek for help in our daily lives, and we repent of our sins and shortcomings. But one of the most important elements of prayer is not what we say, but the answers we receive through the Spirit. Prayer is a very beautiful thing, we kneel and speak to our Heavenly Father, and He the Creator of all things , the Most high, The Supreme Being, Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and the End, etc. listens to those words, but not only that He Answers. He takes the time to do so for all the many children that He has.  I think prayer is one of the most simple and rewarding things that we have been blessed with. It is also the most successful but neglected. Whenever I have a problem in my life that seems insurmountable, if I will but pray and ask for assistance, I feel peace come to me. I may not know what to do to overcome the hurdle but the peace comes that helps me to take one step at a time, with faith that it will all work out. I hereby make my stand that I will pray more, listen more, and apply those things that I learn while praying, I encourage you to do the same!

To hear an Apostle of the Lord talk about prayer look here: https://www.lds.org/liahona/2012/02/exhort-them-to-pray?lang=eng

Sharing.

I would like you to imagine something here. Say someone just found this really amazing recipe for the most amazing food in the world. This person loves it and thinks of it as the greatest thing to come in contact with mankind. But this person keeps it all to themself. And when they die it goes with them. The rest of mankind missed out because of someone lack of sharing, how sad! This is how we should never treat the Gospel of Jesus Christ! It is the above all else what will help mankind the most, here and in the hereafter. That is why I share what I do because I have found something so truly amazing that I cannot keep it myself. I am not perfect at it and I am trying to be better. Sometimes I have to kick myself in the butt because I forget just how important it is. I want to thank all of those who share. There are many that are “kept from the truth because they know not where to find it” (D&C 123:12), but you do! Let them know the important truths that you cherish like: Forever Families, We are Children of God, He loves us, Life after Death, The Restoration of The Gospel, Faith, Repentance, The Gift of the Holy Ghost, The Plan of Salvation, and much, much more! “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”(Matt. 5:16)

Reach Out and Share!

Choice.

One of the greatest blessings our Heavenly Father gave us is our Agency, or our right to choose. All through life we make decisions some small, like what to have for breakfast, and others quite large, like what to do for a career. These choices really show us who we are and will be. For instance, the small choice of not doing homework leads to choosing that repeatedly. This will eventually lead to poor grades, which will ultimately limit career choices. Choices of spiritual matters are even more important, because “I can’t stress too strongly that decisions determine destiny. You can’t make eternal decisions without eternal consequences.” (Thomas S. Monson, Prophet. As Quoted by Elder Randall K. Bennett) When we look at these choices with that eternal perspective things get more clear and we can better see what we really want for ourselves. We must always realize that although we can make our choices the consequences are naturally connected, we don’t choose those. “My dear brothers and sisters, your eternal destiny will not be the result of chance but of choice. It is never too late to begin to choose eternal life! (Elder Randall K. Bennett) If you want it, Choose it. I love the scripture in Joshua 24 which reads: “choose you this day whom ye will serve; …but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”. (v.15) So let’s all make our choice, and let it be to Serve God!