Sacrament Inspirations - Imagine a World

Following the example of Elder LeeMaster, I have decided to create theme days to post about in my blog.  Starting these themes today are some inspirations and pearls of wisdom I have found from sacrament meeting.

Today we were privileged to hear from Brother and Sister Roundy, as well as a wonderful musical number on the Organ.  I love sacrament and the opportunity we have to renew our covenants with God and make a renewed determination to follow Christ every week.  I feel the more I have been able to understand about Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice He has made for us, the more meaningful the sacrament has become.  I feel it a testimony of the reality of God and how His spirit in our lives as we are able to notice themes in our meetings.  We can see how God is in control, and we can see how the speakers have prepared their remarks with the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

The Perfect World I Live In

It seems recently that I have ended up talking with a lot of people whose first questions are something like “If God is perfect then why do people suffer, or why is there so much pain for those who try to be good?”  I know for many people it can seem hard to accept an all loving God allowing us to struggle, or allowing us to have trials.  It is hard to understand God’s love and His eternal purposes as we look at the world; both as we look at the suffering with a broad scope around the world, and also as we look at the lives of individuals who seem particularly picked on.  Although I do not know the reasons that other people suffer, I do know we can find understanding from God from each of the individual trials we have in our lives.

An Incredible Introduction

So . . . recently we got a new addition to the referral center mission!  This is Elder Ahlstrom whom I am privileged to be working with now. He is an awesome missionary, and I love working with him.  With the recent changes we have had and with the inspiration from General conference I have found it a good time to make some changes and set some goals.

Learning to set and work toward goals is a practice I think which can bless and help us throughout our lives.  As we learn to set a goal for something higher, and then as we make the effort to work toward them I think we are able to find those things which help to stretch and grow our character.  Some goals I succeed at, others have stagnated or passed by.  Having a goal to get straight A’s in High School is great . . . but having a plan to actually sit down and take the time to study I think would have helped me a lot more.  As I have been here as a missionary I have learned as we set goals, with every goal we need to develop a plan for accomplishing our goals.  As we have larger goals, we set smaller goals to work toward them.  We have the Ultimate Goal of helping people find a testimony on their own.  We start a testimony through first doing little things.  We need to pray to God, we need to read His words in the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  We need to go to church.  As we make the small steps God is able to help lead us, and help us know what changes we can continue making through our lives to find the church is true.  I talked a little about this in one of the Prezi presentations I made; The Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know Jesus Christ lives, I know He loves us, and I know He blesses us as we make the time to come closer to Him in our lives.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming . . .

When I was in High School I participated in the swim team.  It was something I enjoyed very much.  Our team was never that good, but I really enjoyed the friends I made and the unity we had as a team.  I remember playing water polo against our rival High School.  I remember Frisbee golfing for practice.  I remember the team spaghetti dinners, and staying up late playing Halo with the team.  There were many things which made swimming enjoyable, not necessarily the going back and forth in a pool (really fun  . . .), but the friends I made and camaraderie we had is what mattered most.

I do however remember one experience in which I found myself regretting the effort or lack thereof that I put into acquiring the skills of an expert swimmer, such as the heart and dedication to endure through the challenges.  Granted, I do not think any amount of preparation would have really made me feel ready for the events which did transpire.

Proclaim the Gospel in a Blog

With the recent changes we have seen in our mission I think creating a blog has been one of the things I have found myself enjoying the most.  I love having the creative outlet, and I love using it to share my testimony and relate it to stories I enjoy telling.  While I am by no means a perfect blogger, I thought it might be helpful to include a few things I have found to help me as I think about blog posts.  This screenjelly goes over some blogs I noticed and have found helpful.

The attached document I mentioned is below.

It's Simply Elementary!

Like I previously mentioned in my post “Have You Thanked Your Personal Cheerleaders Today?,” I am very grateful for the things my parents have done for me.  Immediately following Elder Holland, Sister Rosemary M. Wixom talked about the righteous example of parents in her talk titled “Stay on the Path.”  Supporting her words, Sister Mary N. Cook also talked about being a righteous example in her talk “Be an Example of the Believers.”  I love how even though none of the speakers in conference are assigned a talk they all seem to center around the same themes.  I enjoyed her inspired words urging us to reach out more to our children, and stand as a righteous example for them.

Although I do not have any children of my own . . . or plan to have any soon, the principles and lessons which Sister Wixom talked about are certainly applicable in our lives no matter who we are.  I think in each of our lives we do not fully realize the impact we have on others, or how we can affect them.  The year before I came here as a missionary I had a unique experience to volunteer at an elementary school.  This experience helped me to understand some of the principles Sister Wixom talked about.

Have You Thanked Your Personal Cheerleaders Today?

I wanted to make a post on one of my favorite talks for conference, but as they were all amazing I had trouble deciding which one . . . so I thought why not just write a brief something about every talk?  I plan to make a post about every talk over the next few weeks.  I would like to start with Elder Holland’s talk “Because of Your Faith.”  I hope you will take a moment to watch it as well.

Every time Elder Holland speaks I feel a sense of urgency with the Spirit he brings.  I feel the spirit he brings is able to pull the strings in my heart and help me have a greater desire to work harder and do better.  As Elder Holland talked about the sacrifices his parents had made for him, it made me think of the sacrifices my parents have made for me.  Similar to Elder Holland, my parents are also paying for my mission, and supporting me with the incomparable opportunity I have to be here.  As I reflect back, I am able to realize quickly that it would be quite impossible for me to list what I do remember or for me to even remember or realize a portion of what my parents have done.

Prezi Presentation- The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I finished another Prezi presentation!  This one gives a little overview of the first lesson we like to go over with people.  You can look at the presentation for the third lesson here.  And no . . . I have not made one for the second lesson yet =/.  However, Elder Thompson has made an excellent presentation on the Plan of Happiness you can look at here.

The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on Prezi

Feasting in Hospitals, and Feasting With a Notebook.

It seems with almost every major event or occasion we have a feast.  There is the ever famous Thanksgiving feast, a Christmas feast, an Easter Feast, a birthday feast, a graduation feast, feasts to celebrate gatherings of friends and family.  The list is endless, we even sometimes have the feast in and of itself be the event. 

Some feasts are a true banquet, with time and effort put into preparing the food.  Other feasts are more spur of the moment; victuals picked up at a nearby corner store.  This is the kind which requires very little to no preparation, built on a foundation of candy bars and potato chips.  Some feasts leave us with a feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment; others with a feeling of sickness and regret.