Many times as a missionary I have heard people say that they have the Bible and that is all they need. One time when I was teaching a lady she brought this up. I explained it like this. The Bible is like Jelly! and The Book of Mormon is like peanut butter. Jelly by its self is great. But when it's put with Peanut Butter there is nothing better. They are great together.
The Scripture in the Bible that really makes this clear is in Ezekiel 37:15-17. It says
15The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
The Bible and Book of Mormon are one in our hands!
16Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
When we have the Bible and The Book of Mormon together we have the fullness of the Gospel. I am so thankful for both the Bible and The Book of Mormon in my life. I testify that they are the Word of God and we can grow closer to God by reading them and abiding by what they teach us.
This is a Short Video of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland on how the Bible and Book of Mormon go together.
One of my favorite things to do is stop somewhere and get some fast food. There is nothing better than a Spicy McChicken and a McDouble with big mac sauce. I love that. However, whenever I do eat out I don't feel to good after. Eating fast food is always good and fun while you are doing it but then as soon as you're done, you wish you wouldn't have eatin it. That is just how sin is. We sin because it's fun and while we are doing it, it seems great. But then when we are done sinning we feel terrible after. Now I am not trying to convince anyone that fast food is bad. But I just wanted to tell about how sin and fast food are related. I love this picture. It says "Do you want lies with that?" A lot of times when we are sinning (eating fast food) we tell ourselves that this isn't to bad. Which is always a lie. Sinning is bad and so is Fast Food. The Moral of this story is that we shouldn't sin!
One thing I like to do when I am at home is Duck Hunt. I have had some good and some not so good memories out in the marsh. This one particular time me and 3 friends were out in an air-boat on the Great Salt Lake. We had set up hundreds of decoys and had a pretty good hunt. The hunt closed and we began to clean up the decoys, but by the time we were done picking up all the decoys it was dark. We all got into the boat and headed for the canal that takes us back to the dock. We had a very tough time finding the canal because how dark it was and we actually went the wrong way and got stuck. Me and 2 other guys jumped out of the boat and tried pushing and pulling to get unstuck while the other stayed in the boat and ran the big motor. After about an hour of pushing and pulling we were all exhausted. One of my friends suggested we say a prayer. So the 4 of us knelt down in the mud and my friend said a prayer. When he was finished, we had a sudden burst of energy. And within 5 minutes of saying that prayer we were unstuck, and we were able to find our way to the canal and make it back to the dock. It was an amazing experience. I know that God helped us get unstuck. There was no way we could have done it by ourselves. That experience really strengthened my testimony of prayer.
Us out on the Lake!
I was able to relate this experience to our lives. Sometimes in life we get off the path and we feel helpless and stuck. And a lot of times it is really hard to get back on the path. Most the time we can't do it alone. But I know that if we pray to God that he will help us through anything.
The Christlike Attribute this week is Humility!! Humility is willingness to submit to the will of
the Lord and to give the Lord the honor for what is accomplished. A Scripture I love about this is when Jesus is in the Garden Atoning for our sins. (Mathew 26:39) The opposite of humility is pride. To be prideful means to put greater trust in oneself than in God or in His servants. It also means to put the things of the world above the things of God. Prideful people take honor to themselves rather than giving God the glory.
As a missionary there has been times that I have been Humbled. This is a hard job and it really requires the Lord's help. As a 20 year old man doing missionary work it is really tough. I know why the Lord calls such young men to do his work. It is because we are so inexperienced, and we have to rely on the Lord and the Holy Ghost to lead us and help us. (D&C 12:8) There have been times where I forget to recognize the Holy Ghost and I think that it was because of something I thought of or something I said to help the person out. Which yes I was the one who said it but it's not me doing the thinking there. It was the Holy Ghost giving me thoughts, and the Holy Ghost telling me what to say. I love these scriptures that talk about the Holy Ghost. (D&C 100:5-8). I Know that those Scriptures are true. I know that as we Humble ourselves before the Lord that he will bless us with the Spirit and with the Spirit we can do all things. I Know that this church is true and I love being a missionary. There is no better calling or job in the world than being a missionary! I will end with my favorite scripture on Humility. (D&C 112:8)
The Christlike Attribute for this week is Patience! Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated or anxious. When we are patient we are able to hold up under pressure and are able to face adversity calmly and hopefully. Everyday there are things that will test our patience. Some of them are traffic (especially for me), relationships, work, and pretty much all aspects of life.
A quote that I love about Patience is from President Thomas S. Monson, it says "Life is full of difficulties, some minor and others of a more serious nature. There seems to be a unending supply of challenges for one and all. Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to such challenges, forgetting that frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required."
One of my favorite stories from the scriptures is found towards the end of Mosiah. It is when the people of Alma are being persecuted. We learn from Mosiah 24:15, that they submited cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord. That is amazing. They were going through a very hard time, and they turned to the Lord and exercised patience.
When we are going through hard times in our life we need to be patience. Because everything will all work out. Heavenly Father knows everything and he will be able to bless us in his own time. I hope we can all have a little more Patience in our lives.
Here is a link to President Uchtdorf's Talk from the video. Continue in Patience.
Charity and Love is the Christlike Attribute this week.A man once asked Jesus, “Which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus replied: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:36–39). Some of my favorite scriptures on Charity are Moroni 7:44-48. I especially like verse 47, it kind of gives a definition of Charity. It says, "Charity is the pure love of Christ." So how can we gain more charity for people? Well in verse 48 it says, "pray unto the Father with all energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love." As you follow this counsel and strive to do righteous works, your love for all people will increase, especially those among whom you labor. This was one of my favorite songs as a kid. It is "Love One Another"
I just want to end with saying that Charity is something we will always be working at. But I know that as we serve our brothers and sisters that we will grow to love them more. And Charity, like faith, leads to action. You will develop charity as you look for opportunities to serve others and give of yourself. I Bare my Testimony that the Church is True and that as we continue to look for ways to serve others that we will become more Charitable and be blessed!
The Christlike Attribute for this week is Virtue. What is Virtue? In the Dictionary it says that Virtue is; moralexcellence;goodness;righteousness. So what does it mean to have Virtue or be Virtuous? To me I think of Virtue as having your thoughts and actions clean. There is a quote from Preach My Gospel that I like it says, "What you choose to think and do when you are alone and you believe no one is watching is a strong measure of your virtue." I think that is awesome. Sometimes we think that is okay to do something when no one is around. But something that is always quoted is "God is always watching." There is something else that Preach My Gospel says, "Your mind is like a stage in a theater; in the theater of your mind, however, only one actor can be on stage at a time. If the stage is left bare, thoughts of darkness and sin often enter the stage to tempt. But these thoughts have no power if the stage of your mind is occupied by wholesome thoughts, such as a memorized hymn or verse of scripture that you can call upon in a moment of temptation. By controlling the stage of your mind, you can successfully resist persistent urges to yield to temptation and indulge in sin." This is so true. As a missionary satan works very hard on us to have bad thoughts and not be virtuous. But I have learned that if I sing a hymn or think of a scripture that the bad thought goes away. We always need to keep our thoughts clean. The Following is a Video of a song called " Guardians of Virtue" It is a Young Woman song and the message it contains is awesome!
I just want to end with 2 quotes. The first is from our current Prophet, and the second one is from our last Prophet.
"You will need [courage] to be chaste and virtuous. You live in a world where moral values have, in great measure, been tossed aside, where sin is flagrantly on display, and where temptations to stray from the strait and narrow path surround you. Many are the voices telling you that you are far too provincial or that there is something wrong with you if you still believe there is such a thing as immoral behavior.
"Isaiah declared, 'Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness' (Isaiah 5:20).
"Great courage will be required as you remain chaste and virtuous amid the accepted thinking of the times."
I end with my testimony that I know that this Church is True. That Joseph Smith Restored Christ True Church back to the earth. I know that as we keep ourselves Virtuous that we will be blessed. And as we strive to be more Virtuous the more we will become like our Savior Jesus Christ.
