The Search that yields great rewards

For a few weeks, my scripture study in the morning was centered around getting to know Jesus.  My mission president asked us as missionaries to study about our Savior as we were approaching the Christmas season.  I went through the scriptures and read as many scriptures about the Savior as I could for those few weeks.  Before this experience I knew about Jesus and definitely had a testimony about who he is and what he has done for me, but this experience helped me out a lot because I was able to learn a little bit more about the significance of who he is and what he did.  We can't learn too much about his life and who he is.  In 3 Nephi chapter nine in the Book of Mormon, Christ introduces himself and says:

13O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?

14Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.

15Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name.

16I came unto my own, and my own received me not. And the scriptures concerning my coming are fulfilled.

17And as many as have received me, to them have I given to become the sons of God; and even so will I to as many as shall believe on my name, for behold, by me redemption cometh, and in me is the law of Moses fulfilled.

18I am the light and the life of the world. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

An act that can change a life

I have a lot to be grateful for.  I have had an experiance I would like to share.  To be honest, this is an experiance that happens quite frequently.  This morning I had a lot weighing on my mind.  Everyday all of us have lots of things that we know needs to be done or stress or whatever it is.  This morning I was kneeling down and praying to my Heavenly Father.  I just told him what was on my mind and asked for help.  What happened next is something I am grateful for.  I felt at peace.  This is something money cannot buy.  I am amazed how Heavenly Father, God, will listen to the needs and concerns of somebody imperfect and almost insignificant as I.  The cool thing is that he always does.  I can testify of the power of prayer and the love of a Father in Heaven.  He is very mindful of us and he wants to help us.  This is something I know of a surety for myself.  If we ever have troubles or are just haveing a rough start to a day, pray.  It works!

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I have talked with a lot of people reciently who have had the concern of how we need to celebrate the right meaning of Christmas. Presents and gifts aren't bad, but we need to remember who's birth we celebrate. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a latter day Apostle, shared this Christmas message on how we can better celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot from it.

A Blessing from God

Elder Wells and I walk up to the door.  We knock and wait.  This door doesn't look any different that really any other than we have been knocking on.  The dogs inside the house are barking and going crazy.  A lady opens the door.  We talk.  We tell her that God has again reached out to us, his children, in love and has called another Prophet. 
This is something we do as missionaries.  Our purpose is not to convince, it is to invite others to experiment on what we tell them and they themselves ask God if it is true. 
The great message I, we, share is that the same God, our Heavenly Father, who called men to be Prophets in the past has done the same thing today in sending another Prophet.

One Wild Day

This is an interesting picture.  It is of course a stop sign, but it has a different way of saying it.  I really like this stop sign because it is different.  The day this picture was taken has an interesting story behind it.  As you can see looking at me, my tie is tucked away inside my suit pocket; this is because of the events that happened before this photo was taken.
Elder Thomas and I were teamed up doing missionary work this day.  We were on the way to some people we wanted to try.  Earlier this week, as you can see, it snowed.  It snowed quite a bit but that wasn't the worst part.  The wind here in Billings can get blowing good, so one thing we have to watch out for is drifts of snow that appear in the road, especially back roads.  Well, as we were headed to try some people we hit one of these drifts going pretty fast.   We hoped we would brake through it, but to our great disappointment, it was a very big drift and we got stuck.  Because of our momentum, we made it far into the drift and we were high centered and stuck. 
We tried to dig and push our way out, but we weren't going anywhere.

My Savior, Jesus Christ

For the past few weeks for about a half an hour a day, I have been looking up scriptures about the Savior.  I have really enjoyed doing this because I have come to know my Savior a little more.  One thing I have really come to realize is that without him and his sacrifice, all would be utterly lost.  He is the only one who could do what was asked.  He, though sinless and perfect, descended below ALL things and made it possible for me to change from my weaknesses.  He humbly submitted to the Father's will and went through persecution and mocking and even death in the most cruelest manner.  Why did he do this for me and us?  He did it because it was the only way, and he loves us.

Got Questions?

Elder Wells and I talked with a lady yesterday.  While we were talking she talked about how there are so many different ideas there are.  Different ideas on religion, political views, and everything.  We asked her how she knows if an idea is right? 
The world is a big place filled with lots of people with a lot of different views.  I am just here in Montana and I get to talk with a lot of people with a lot of different ideas.  The cool thing about life is that we can all have our own opinions and think for ourselves.  This is great, but sometimes we depend to much on ourselves and forget to rely on our Heavenly Father.

Are You Truely Hungry? Lets Feast!

The scriptures hold all of the answers to the pressing questions we have.  It is wonderful that our loving Heavenly Father called Prophets to write down the text we now enjoy today.  We all need to sink our teeth deeper into the feast of the scriptures our Father has provided for us.

The Season? Shopping ... Driving ... Family ... a Manger

Driving up the road, we saw lights on in a house we have been trying to get in, but nobody has been home when we have tried before.  Elder Wells and I knocked on the door, a lady invited us in.  We sat down and started talking; in our discussion, she was surprised to find out that we didn't go shopping yesterday, after all it was black Friday.  This time of the year is exciting.  Thanksgiving was awesome, and today I have found myself thinking about Christmas.  I know it is a ways away yet, but this is a big thing.  Yesterday all of the shoppers were out for the big deals getting things for Christmas.  As a missionary I didn't go shopping yesterday, instead I was out talking with people about our Savior Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving or Pre-Christmas?

Yesterday was Thanksgiving.  I had a ton of fun eating lots of food like I always do at Thanksgiving.  Yesterday morning before all of the food and fun, Elder Wells and I went to Walmart for a few last minute things.  It was funny to walk around Walmart on Thanksgiving with all of the Christmas things out and Christmas music playing.  Also as we drove around  town, people already have put up their Christmas lights.  It was amazing to see people already getting into Christmas before Thanksgiving was even past.

"When the Weather Outside is Frightful"

It is very snowy and cold.  The past few days it has been some negative temperatures Fahrenheit.  Sunday it was even down to -14 degrees Fahrenheit.  When it is this cold and snowy I really don't like being outside especially when it is windy. 
The people I live with have a cat, its name is Leo.  He is a house cat that is determined to get outside, where he isn't allowed.  He claws at the doors and is always looking for a way to escape.  If he only knew what was outside. 

An Everyday Exodus

I like this picture.  It looks like a long hard journey ahead.  Though necessary, I don't know how excited a person could be beginning this journey.  I know that if I was about to begin this journey I probably wouldn't be very excited for all that lay ahead.  We have experiences kind of like this journey everyday in our lives.  Yesterday I had one of these experiences.  I really don't enjoy walking up to people's doors and knocking on them.  Really, it is nerve racking for me.  Nobody was home and it was a little cold out.  Elder Wells and I were having no success.  We were at the end of tracting, knocking on doors, when we meet with an individual who invited us in and was interested in our great message about a man that has been called by God to be a prophet today.

Accident

Yesterday Elder Wells and I were leaving Walmart.  As we were stopped at a stop sign, an unfortunate event happened.  The Lady in the car behind us lost her footing on the brake and bumped the back of our car.  We found a place to park and went out to inspect the damage and visit with the lady.  She was very sorry and shook up.  The car had no damage, it was just a bump, so we talked with her about God and we went our separate ways. 

Moveing

It is always hard to leave places you really love.  Packing up and moveing is challenging and not very conveniant.  As a missionary I have the opportunity to move around to different places a lot.  Sunday, I left the city of Glasgow that I really learned to love.  It was hard saying goodbye to so many friends.  I have now moved down to Billings; it will be an exciting new start.  

Leaves

With fall well on its way, the leaves have been falling.  Most of the trees up here have pretty much lost all of their leaves.  It is an exciting time of the year seeing the world around change from fall to winter.  This change brings a lot of work.  Yesterday I saw a lot of people out racking and cleaning up the yard before it gets too cold.  Elder Leslie and I even had the privelige of helping an older lady clean up her leaves.

Shining Moments

One thing about Glasgow is that it has beautiful sunsets; last night I caught this view across the prairie.  I love seeing the nice colors the sun makes as it sets at nights.  No two sunsets are the same.  Sunsets are amazing, beautiful events that happen everyday.  Some days we may miss the sunsets because of cloud cover, and others we miss just because we don't look.

News Report

We are so lucky to have the weather service so that we can know about the changes in weather coming up.  To see a forecast of the weather only takes a few clicks of the computer mouse.  This is handy especially when it comes to planning outings or travel.  The weather service helps us know what we are in for, and also how we need to dress so that we are prepared.  Another great thing the weather service does for us is give us warnings when extreme weather is about to happen so we can take precautions for our safety.

Tuesday Elder Leslie and I drove over to Wolf Point for meetings.  Tuesday morning was cold, we woke up to snow on the ground and frost on the windshield of our pickup truck.  If it being cold and chilly wasn't enough, the wind was blowing, the sky was overcast, and we were running a little behind schedule.  Near the end of our almost 50 mile trip to Wolf Point we saw this billboard.

Being a missionary in Montana, I get to drive a lot.  This last week we went down to Billings for a conference,  this trip alone was over 270 miles one way.  Cars have these cool mirrors that we can look into and see things behind us that we couldn't see unless we turned our head around.  In these mirrors we can see the territory we just covered, and we can see the cars coming up from behind us.  We use them to help us be safe while driving.

Roads of Life

I have traveled up and down a lot of roads, but this one caught my eye.  This road is in St. Marie, Montana.  This is a old Air Force base that has been shut down for quite a few years.  As you can tell, this road hasn't had a lot of travel on it and hasn't been kept up, and slowly it is being overrun by the grasses and weeds.

Mail?

Yesterday afternoon, just like most other days, I walked to the mailbox with excitement.  I was excited to see if I was lucky enough to get a letter this day.  I unlocked the box and pulled it open, but to my disappointment it was empty, again.  With disappointment, I walked back up to the apartment. 

Cause and Effect

A few weeks ago I took a trip up to the Canadian border.  It was a fun experience taking pictures of the signs and looking over into another country.  It was great because I have never been outside of the United States, and seeing another country was a fun experience even though we didn't cross over.  I drove up to the border with a few good friends.  We only spent a few minutes on the border and then we decided to start the long ride back to town.  To get back on the road we had to drive through the check station.  We didn't think that it would be a very big deal because it wasn't like we crossed the boarder or anything.  We just took pictures.  Anyway, we drove through the check station and a guy came out and talked with us.  He was upset because they nor the Canadian station knew what we were doing on the border.  We didn't get permission to drive up and take pictures before we actually did.  He asked for Identification from everybody.  To make things worse, my friend, Elder Thompson, didn't have his drivers license on him.

Oct. 15, 2010

Today is a great day!  I was able to study out of the scriptures this morning and I came across a lot of great things.  One thing stood out to me in particular, it is in the book of Ether chapter 4.  Ether is one of the last books in the Book of Mormon.  The verse that stood out to me the most is verse 12 which reads,

"And whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do good is of me; for good cometh of none save it be of me. I am the same that leadeth men to all good; he that will not believe my words will not believe me—that I am; and he that will not believe me will not believe the Father who sent me. For behold, I am the Father, I am the light, and the life, and the truth of the world."

This stood out to me.  I know that whatever leads us to do good is defiantly from God.