Vision

I remember in my elementary school, middle school, and high school years when people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. In elementary school, I had no idea. I thought I would never live to get old enough to have a job and have to provide for myself. In middle school, I wanted to be a teacher of either music or physical education. Some of the most influential people that I knew at this point in my life were my choir and PE teacher. I thought that if I could affect another person's life as a teacher the way these teachers have affected me, my life would be a success. Things didn't change much in high school and at this moment I'm considering sports broadcasting or a music teacher. I'm not sure still exactly what I want to do with my life but at least I have a vision of what I want to accomplish. This principle of vision also applies a lot with missionary work. I don't know if I would be where I am today if I didn't have a vision of going on a mission when I was younger. I knew that's where I'm supposed to be, and now that I'm here, I'm not regretting it one little bit. In the book of Proverbs, it states that "Where there is no vision, the people perish..." We must have a vision of what we want to accomplish in life or else there's no desire to do anything. For example, honestly if I didn't have a vision of what I wanted to accomplish on my mission and my desire to share the Gospel with people, it would be really hard for me to get out of the apartment and go to work. I know that as we obtain a vision of what we want to accomplish with the short time the Lord has given us on this earth, and then do everything to accomplish them, the Lord will bless us and help us with the righteous desires of our hearts. I'm so grateful for everything that the Lord has blessed me with, and for the opportunity to be a missionary serving the Master Jesus Christ. There's nothing better I could be doing with my time than accomplishing my vision of serving a mission.

BYU Basketball and Missionary Work

Those who know me well know that I'm a HUGE sports fan. I follow the NBA, College Basketball, College Football, Major League Baseball, etc. etc. etc. Sports are a huge part of my life. As for my favorite team, I'm a very passionate, loyal, die-hard BYU fan. The Cougars are my team. One unique thing about BYU sports is that a good number of the athletes that play at BYU are a little bit older than you'd find at most colleges throughout the country. This is due to some who choose to forgo playing their various sports for a couple of years to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This video is the story of such an athlete named Tyler Haws. I have had the opportunity to watch him play in person and on TV. He's an amazing basketball player, yet when the time came for him to serve, he did not hesitate. Now that I'm on a mission and see the things that I "give up" while serving the Lord, I admire people like Tyler who put their athletic career on hold to serve the Lord. Enjoy!   

The Pride Cycle

Lately in my Book of Mormon reading, I've been in the part of the Book of Mormon where something we like to call The Pride Cycle is very apparent. The Pride Cycle starts out when the people of the Nephites are being blessed so much by God. They have all these riches and all these worldly possessions that the Lord is blessing them with. After a while, the people begin to boast in these riches and begin to rank themselves higher than other people. They begin to forget the Lord, who is the reason they have all these wonderful blessings in the first place. When this happens, the Lord starts to stop blessing them, and begins instead to start punishing them. In the Book of Mormon, the punishment happens in a number of ways including war, famine, a curse upon their worldly possessions, etc. After they decide they've been afflicted enough, they begin to remember the Lord and ask for forgiveness. The Lord forgives and starts to bless them again. This cycle repeats several times throughout the pages of the Book of Mormon.

While reading this, I can't help but think about where we see this in our own lives today, and how we can avoid it. As a missionary, I see many people who have quite a bit of worldly wealth and give all of the credit to themselves. They don't thank God, or even acknowledge Him for their bounteous wealth. Often, these people don't have any desire to hear the Gospel. It saddens me when they have all this wealth that could be used to help people but instead they selfishly keep it to themselves. How do we avoid all of this in the first place?

First, we have what we call as missionaries, an attitude of gratitude. We always remember the Lord in all the blessings that He gives to us. The Lord has given us so much and if we keep expressing our gratitude and truly remember where the blessings come, we'll avoid being prideful.

Second, we keep the commandments of God. It's hard to be prideful when you're constantly feasting upon the words of God written in the scriptures and through His modern servants. It's hard to be prideful when you're kneeling in prayer every morning and night. It's hard to be prideful when you attend church every Sunday. If we're constantly doing what's right and remembering God, we will avoid being prideful.

Third, we be humble. Jesus Himself said: "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3-4) Humility is the opposite of pride. We can't be humble and prideful at the same time.

There are many other ways that we can avoid the Pride Cycle. These are just a few that I thought I would share with ya'll. Let us always remember from where our blessings come. I testify that they come from our loving Heavenly Father. He wants to bless us, and He will if we're doing what's right.

After General Conference

Today was the second and last day of General Conference. The Spirit of the Lord was present as we
listened to His servants. Lord said to the Prophet Amos that:

"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets."(Amos 3:7)

He also declared that: "What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." (Doctrine and Covenants 1:38. The Doctrine and Covenants is a compilation of revelations given to the Prophet Joseph Smith. We accept them as scripture.)

 I have loved sitting down for the last two days and hearing the words of the Lord through his modern day Prophets and Apostles. I testify that everything these men said are true. They are the words of the Lord and we should pay heed to them. I encourage all to read their words, and ask God if they are true. I testify and promise as a representative of the Master, Jesus Christ, that if you do so with a sincere heart and real intent, God will tell you that they are true. You will come to the same knowledge that I have. I love my Savior very much. He suffered and died for the sins of the world. Even more personally, he suffered and died for me. I owe Him everything. Let us follow His words given to us by His prophets.

General Conference Experience

I love General Conference!!! The session this morning was amazing. There were some really inspiring talks given. I really want to live my life better and be more like our Savior Jesus Christ. Interesting things happened during the afternoon session. So, we were ready to receive some powerful spiritual learning when all of a sudden the screen freezes and blacks out. We weren't really worried about anything because technical difficulties happen all the time. Sure enough, it came back on within a few minutes. However, about halfway through the next talk, it froze and shut off again. We again just left it and it came back on again in a few minutes. This happened during every talk of this afternoon session which means we didn't really get to hear much. It's disappointing, but there's obviously something the Lord wanted us to learn from this experience. What I learned really from this experience is how you look at things during difficulties. While my companions and myself were certainly upset for having Conference delayed countless times, I remember thinking that the talks will be online in a couple of days so if I don't get to watch the whole thing, I'll get a chance to when they're put on the Internet. It's not the end of the world. I remember that sometimes I would get really upset and angry over just little things like this, but as I try to look at things optimistically, it really makes a huge difference. You're not flustered. You're not angry. You're just calm and you just face the challenges. You're also have to be very patient(which means we get two marshmallows :) ) and just have faith that things will work out. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the chance today to hear from modern day Apostles and our beloved Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. I can't wait until the Priesthood Session( the session only for men) this evening. It'll be great!

Special Treat: 2 posts in one day!

Since General Conference is tomorrow, which I'm super excited about, I thought it would be cool to share one more really great conference moment! This story comes from the prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. He tells a story of what can happen when we don't keep our emotions under control:

"Recently as I watched the news on television, I realized that many of the lead stories were similar in nature in that the tragedies reported all basically traced back to one emotion: anger. The father of an infant had been arrested for physical abuse of the baby. It was alleged that the baby’s crying had so infuriated him that he had broken one of the child’s limbs and several ribs. Alarming was the report of growing gang violence, with the number of gang-related killings having risen sharply. Another story that night involved the shooting of a woman by her estranged husband, who was reportedly in a jealous rage after finding her with another man. Then, of course, there was the usual coverage of wars and conflicts throughout the world.

I thought of the words of the Psalmist: “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath.”

Many years ago, a young couple called my office and asked if they could come in for counseling. They indicated they had suffered a tragedy in their lives and that their marriage was in serious jeopardy. An appointment was arranged.

The tension between this husband and wife was apparent as they entered my office. Their story unfolded slowly at first as the husband spoke haltingly and the wife cried quietly and participated very little in the conversation.

The young man had returned from serving a mission and was accepted to a prestigious university in the eastern part of the United States. It was there, in a university ward, that he had met his future wife. She was also a student at the university. After a year of dating, they journeyed to Utah and were married in the Salt Lake Temple, returning east shortly afterward to finish their schooling.

By the time they graduated and returned to their home state, they were expecting their first child and the husband had employment in his chosen field. The wife gave birth to a baby boy. Life was good.

When their son was about 18 months old, they decided to take a short vacation to visit family members who lived a few hundred miles away. This was at a time when car seats for children and seat belts for adults were scarcely heard of, let alone used. The three members of the family all rode in the front seat with the toddler in the middle.

Sometime during the trip, the husband and wife had a disagreement. After all these years, I cannot recall what caused it. But I do remember that their argument escalated and became so heated that they were eventually yelling at one another. Understandably, this caused their young son to begin crying, which the husband said only added to his anger. Losing total control of his temper, he picked up a toy the child had dropped on the seat and flung it in the direction of his wife.

He missed hitting his wife. Instead, the toy struck their son, with the result that he was brain damaged and would be handicapped for the rest of his life.

This was one of the most tragic situations I had ever encountered. I counseled and encouraged them. We talked of commitment and responsibility, of acceptance and forgiveness. We spoke of the affection and respect which needed to return to their family. We read words of comfort from the scriptures. We prayed together. Though I have not heard from them since that day so long ago, they were smiling through their tears as they left my office. All these years I’ve hoped they made the decision to remain together, comforted and blessed by the gospel of Jesus Christ."

I love General Conference! I hope you all can find some time to watch it and to apply the things the Lord wants us to know! Sessions are Saturday Morning at 11-1, Saturday Afternoon at 3-5, Saturday Evening for Men at 7-9, Sunday Morning at 11-1, and Sunday Afternoon at 3-5 Central Time. Broadcasts are on BYUTV, the Mormon Channel, lds.org, or at a Mormon Meetinghouse near you! Hope y'all can come!

Patience

Another one of my favorite General Conference talks comes once again from President Uchtdorf. Although God's promises aren't fulfilled immediately, they will always be fulfilled. Patience can sometimes be hard, but it is always worth it if we endure to the very end. This little video is based on President Uchtdorf's talk in the April 2010 Conference.