Become Like Unto A Pumpkin..

Well sort of.. 

           You may think to yourself,

"What do I have in common with a Pumpkin??"

              

My little sister sent me this story

In my recent Halloween package!

It goes like this:

"Coming to Christ

Is a lot like being a pumpkin..

God picks you from the patch,

Brings you in and washes all of the dirt off of you.

Then He cuts off the top 

and scoops out all the yucky stuff.

He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed.

Then He carves a smiling face

And puts His Light inside of you

To shine for all the world to see!"

This one is just 

short and sweet for you!

Like a nice piece of pumpkin pie!

Remember!

God loves you, He knows who you are, and He knows what you stand in need of. He is there for you and wants to help you become your best you!

"Be assured that the Savior loves you so much that He made it possible for you to change and to repent if you make a mistake. Satan does not want you to think you can change. He will try to convince you that all is lost. That is a lie. You can return. You can repent. You can be pure and holy because of the Savior's infinite Atonement." 

—Elaine S. Dalton

A Special Day: Saturday..

What all goes on throughout one of your normal weeks?

Think for a minute..

For me a lot of things can happen. Sometimes good things, others can be bad things.

In the world we live in today it seems like of the stuff attacks the faith we have!

Our daily life "erodes" our personal faith. 

God knew that we would have to go through seemingly long and difficult weeks.

That is why we have been given the Sabbath! 

It is a great blessing!

The sole purpose of keeping the Sabbath Day Holy 

is to rebuild our faith each and every week! 

It is here to sanctify and make us holy!

It is like turning night to day!

When I have had a bad week, I always feel

So much better after attending a church service!

7 reasons!

1. To know God.
2. To feed our spirit. (Just like a growing boy, your spirit needs to be fed often!)
3. Provides service to others.
4. We are able to renew our covenants or promises that we have made with God.
5. Renewal of our body and spirit (After church I feel like I can take on whatever is thrown at me!)
6. The building of Faith.
7. Association with other believers!  ("For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." -Matthew 18:20)

"Saturday is a special day.

It's the day we get ready for Sunday:

We clean the house, and we shop at the store,

So we won't have to work until Monday.

We brush our clothes, and we shine our shoes,

And we call it our get-the-work-done day.

Then we trim our nails, and we shampoo our hair,

So we can be ready for Sunday!"

Will you physically, mentally, and spiritually prepare yourself every Saturday for the Sundays in your life?

I know that as you do, you will be blessed! 

You will enjoy attending church so much more. 

You will also gain more knowledge of God and Jesus Christ!

Time To Ammon-ize..

Alright Y'all... 

Sorry about missing last week, 
We were super busy up here in Paducah, KY.
But! I have a treat for you this week!


Look here, 
this is what we have going on today.. 

Are you ready??

3..

2..

1!!

I don't know what it really is.. 
But I have seen a few out here in Tennessee and Kentucky.
What ever they are.. They are pretty creepy!
They can jump like a cricket,
And walk like a spider,
So we named them Spider-Crickets!

Good name right?

As a missionary,

we get a lot of opportunities to serve our friends in the communities where we serve!

I absolutely LOVE it!

The scriptures teach us

"..when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.."

How does that make you feel about when you serve others?

Service is a great way to show others that I believe in Christ! 

It gives me the chance to do as He would do.

Jesus Christ was always serving others when he walked the earth 2,000 years ago. The people that He loved always came first (which is everyone!) no matter what he was doing.

Throughout the scriptures there are many great examples of people showing their love for Christ by helping others. 

One of my favorites is...

AMMON!

He is a missionary in the Book of Mormon.

One story about him and his service starts in Alma chapter 17.

He shows great character in how we should treat people and offer the help we can.

I have a commitment for y'all.

Will you

Seek out an opportunity to serve at least one person each day this coming week?

Feel free to continue this pattern throughout your life!

It will make the world a better place!! 

Steel Sharpens Steel.

Celestial.


Choices..

What do you think when you

hear the word "Celestial"?

Paul tells of varying glories in the scriptures.

"There are also celestial bodies, and bodies 

terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory."

So we can relate this to the different choices we can make.

-Best/Celestial/Sun
-Better/ Terrestrial/Moon
-Good/ Telestial/Stars

All of the time in the Scriptures it is usually talking about normal people that made the RIGHT choice to follow God while going through adversity. 

Sometimes the adversity they were facing was a HUGE problem,

other times it was a small problem.

But they made the right choice; a Celestial Choice!

In life we face many different things..

-Trials- Ex: sickness, death, broken bones

-Troubles- Ex: can come from decisions we make. Maybe not immediate, could come later on in life.

-Afflictions- Ex: Trials and troubles that come to us from other's choices that they make.

God is always there for us, He is our loving Heavenly Father. He loves us perfectly. He doesn't want us to suffer. He is here to help, guide, and strengthen us. 

            -If you are a parent, think of how much you love your children.

The things we go through and experience in our lives are there to help us grow and to become more like our Father in Heaven.

"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

"At least We Are On The Ark"

Have you ever really thought about what it was like for Noah to collect all the animals?

Two of each kind?!!

It was hard enough to catch Precious! 

Just one little goat!!

I couldn't imagine all the trouble Noah went through!

He had the Lord on his side,

So he had a lot of help!

Take another moment..

Reflect on what the conditions would have been like on the Ark..

Imagine how tightly packed it would have been?

How about the noise?

What do you think it would have smelled like?!

^ I have owned

my share of pets

back home. I am sure

my mom would agree..

They don't always

smell the best!

So..!

Why did they do it??!

Why did Noah and his family go through with all of that?

Can you imagine all of the trials, troubles, and difficulties they would have encountered?!

I have only named a few of the things that first came to my mind.

I am sure there are MANY more!

They did it because..

They were RIGHTEOUS!

They had faith.

Faith that led to action.

They knew that it was what God had told Noah.

They knew that everything would work out as long as they followed the commandments!

It may have not been what they expected,

But it was what God needed them to do!

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall cprepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

-1 Nephi 3:7

At the end of the day,
At least we can say,
It may be have been tough..
But at least we know:

-Jesus is the Christ
-God loves us
-The Gospel is true

And..
YES!
We are on the Ark!

It Comes and Goes.

Storms!!
Who likes storms?!

I must say Tennessee has some pretty awesome storms. They can be beautiful and terrifying at the same time!

In June of 2012, I was walking down a little road in the city of Lebanon (Leb-nan) TN, with Elder Olsen. We had just finished helping someone get their car out of a ditch, we started walking home for supper. 

We looked to the west and those clouds did not look very friendly! We picked up our pace a little! We were about one mile away from any cover.. 

The clouds just kept a rollin' in,

They just wouldn't stop!

At this point the wind started to kick in!

We were about 20 yards away from our door step when the clouds decided to burst open and let the floods down!

We booked it inside and watched the storm. It is crazy how amazing they can be, and then at the same time,

how destructive they can be.

A few weeks back, here in East Nashville, It rained pretty hard early in the morning. Next thing we knew, we were out bailing! Look at the water level on the brick!

On the brighter side of things!

Look at what the rain bring us!

The rain brings beauty to the earth.

Have you ever tried planting something and not watered it?

It dies right?

Sometimes, the plant may get too much water or too little water. It has to learn how to adapt to it's current situation.

If we look at the water as our trials, we may think that they are too much to handle at times..

God loves us though!
So He won't put us through anything we cannot handle with His help.

What would happen to us if we did not go through any trials?

Would we grow at all?

I know trials are never fun..
But we can do it!

Thanks to Sonic Drive-in, 

I have these lyrics for you!

Every storm runs, runs out of rain
Just like every dark night turns into day
Every heartache will fade away
Just like every storm runs, runs out of rain

It's gonna set you free,
It's gonna run out of pain,
It's gonna set you free

After every storm,

The sun always comes out.

It may take an hour,

or possibly a day or two,

But it will come out!

The Lord is always there for you,

Don't forget it!

And It WILL Come to Pass.

A Muddy Course

A few years ago, 
While in my truck with some friends, 
We were driving around in one of their fields after a rain storm.

Everything was going well! 

It was fun getting a little muddy!

Nothing bad happened..

 For the first little while...

We had a couple close calls, My tires were a little bald..

Every once in awhile we would have to dodge some little ponds!

We thought we were safe! No one thought we would get stuck,

As long as we dodged the ponds!

In order to dodge the last pond,

I had to take a left turn up a hill..

As the tires turned and spun,

The truck started to slow and get low..

Oh me...

Quickly shifted into reverse!

Stepped on the gas.. We didn't move backward or forward..

Only downward..

We were definitely stuck..

No matter how hard I tried..

The truck was not going to move by itself..

Luckily my buddy had a tractor! 

We had to look towards somebody else for help.

The tractor pulled us out like it was nothing!

Have you ever been in a situation like this?

Where you do everything you possibly can, but you still fall short, 

Where you still find yourself "stuck in the mud".

I know it happens to me often!

It is definitely not always a physical "stuck",

It may be that we are spiritually "stuck".

That is never fun!

That is why I am grateful for Jesus Christ!

It is impossible to put into words the full meaning of the Atonement, which is the most important and most transcendent event in the history of the world. Through His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross, the Savior atoned for our sins. This is the good news for all people!

The Savior tells us:

“For behold, I... have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer... even as I.”(Doctrine and Covenants 19:16-17) 

Jesus Christ did what only He could do in atoning for our sins. To make His Atonement fully effective in our individual lives, we must have faith in Christ, repent of our sins, be baptized and confirmed by one having authority, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, obey God’s commandments, receive sacred ordinances, and strive to become like Him. As we do these things through His Atonement, we can return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father forever.

As we do these things they will help us learn how to get out of "muddy" situations and also how to avoid them!

We have got to learn how to hit easy street on mud tires.

A Wonderful Journey.

Almost 2 years already?!!

I can't believe it..

About two years ago,

I opened my mission call.

What goes in to obtaining a mission call?

A whole lot of work!

It is sort of like applying for a job.

You have to fill out a bunch of paper work. 

You have to go see your dentist to get your wisdom teeth out.

You have to visit your doctor to make sure you are healthy. 

Go through a few different interviews.

Then you send all of this information to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Every missionary who is called and assigned to a particular mission is called by revelation through the Lord's servants, the prophets! A member of the Quorum of the Twelve assigns prospective missionaries to one of more than three hundred missions of the Church!

A few weeks later!

You open up your mail box...

And BOOM!

You have a big, thick envelope back from Salt Lake City!

I was at work when my call came in the mail.

 One of my sisters sent me a text message of a picture of the envelope..

Boy! Did that make the rest of the day tough!

I was so excited to see where the Lord had called me

 to serve for the next two years!

At about 8:00 o'clock that evening,

I opened it!

 Where was I called?





So many 

Thoughts and feelings

were flooding my mind 

at this point..

I was so nervous, 

but excited at the same time!

If you listen closely, you can hear one of my friends say, "Tennessee" around the 9 second mark.

TENNESSEE NASHVILLE MISSION!!
 

How crazy right!

 

 

 

Three very important things I have learned in the past 20 months while on my mission..

1. Live Simple, We don't need to live above our means! A simple life centered on the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a happy life! Faith in Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end will help us through those hard times.
2. Give More, We need to follow Christ's example! Christ gave all He had for each and everyone of us. Through His sacrifice we receive salvation, How great is that gift to you? What does that make you feel? How important is service to our fellow men and women?
3. Expect Less,  Today the world is focused on instant gratification, we want everything right now! A great Christ-Like attribute is Patience, it is a tough one.. It is much needed though! Just remember, blessings will come! But in the Lord's time!
4. Be Prayerful, The Lord wants to hear from us! He wants to know everything that we are going through, everything that we need help with, and everything that we are thankful for!
5. Be An Example, We need to learn how to follow Jesus Christ and combine His teachings with our lifestyles. Study Christ-Like Attributes!

 

Keep on trekking!
It is a wonderful journey!

God has a plan for us all!