Hanging by a Thread.

 Have you ever felt like you are just hanging by a thread? That you are almost used up, done, and can't go on?

I know I have.

We all have.

Its alot of the time, when we are think we are at our limit even more weight is put on us. Its times like this we might think "How can I do this?" or "These trials are too hard".

 But know, the Lord is there. He love you. He knows your trials, he knows how much you are taking on and he WILL help you.

 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.

-D&C 58:3 

 We at times can't see the full picture of what the Lord intends for us. We don't see the Hope that is their, because our "natural eyes" are closed. 

 Never let go of your hope that our Father knows you.

Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.

-Alma 26:37

He wants to hear from you through prayer.

 And behold, these things which we have desired concerning our brethren, yea, even their restoration to the knowledge of Christ, are according to the prayers of all the saints who have dwelt in the land.

-Mormon 9:36 

And he will answer you back.

 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.

-2 Nephi 32:3

This I know is true. I've seen it in my life many times that I have received guidance using these principles. I dare you to try it. Sincerely pray to our Father in Heaven and ask him how to help you with a personal trial, then open the scriptures. I promise you, you will find guidance in this. 

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

-Romans 15:4

Never let go of your hope and your faith in the our Father and his Son. They know you and love you.

The Atonement and Lawnmowers

What does this have to do with anything?

  Every single thing we teach as a missionary is an appendage of Christ and his Atonement (His ultimate sacrifice). When broken down, the word Atonement becomes "At-One-ment". It is through the Atonement that we become at one with God and his Gospel. We estrange ourselves from God when we sin. The atonements purpose is to correct or overcome the consequences of sin. This makes it possible for us to return to our Father in Heaven.

And I would say that's pretty important.

  So why don't more of us realize the true nature of Christs' Atonement or at least try to? (Ive seen this in myself also, so I'm just talking in general.) A couple days ago Elder Mull and I were knocking on doors when we got into a conversation with a nice young lady. After talking about who we were and if she went to church somewhere in town, I asked her how Christ played a role in her life. She said "I don't know."

We need to know.
Dont we?

  Where will we find out? How can we know? How can we learn about what our Father wants us to? In the scriptures.

Its a simple answer, but requires action from us. We need to read, to study to ponder. Then we will learn the true nature of the atonement. This doctrine of work and action from us, Gods children, has always been a large part of the gospel. For example, we know that Christ made a perfect atonement and it unconditionally covers all of mankind. As a result, all will rise from the dead with immortal bodies, because of Jesus’ atonement.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

-1 Corinthians 15:22

But atonement is conditional as far as the sins and the mistakes that we make in transgressing the commandments our Father gives us.  This is where the doctrine of work comes in.

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

-James 2:18

26For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

-James 2:26 

Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; 

-Alma 26:22 

  This is where my lawnmower idea applies. I was thinking about the atonement a couple days ago and this just popped in my head.  So say your brother gives you this amazing gift of a brand-spankin' new lawn mower. You can tell its a pretty nice mower with its adjustable suspension, 190 cc engine and the 3-in-1 bagging system all set up and ready to go. Your lawn needs mowing, you have a new lawn mower and its a great day outside so conditions are perfect to get the job done. But you leave it in the shed instead of doing the work. The gift is wasted, even after your brother knew you needed it so badly. So with this picture in your mind, imagine how your brother might feel if he came to visit you and saw the new mower dusty, sitting in the shed and your lawn grown out. Now, imagine how the Lord must feel when we waste such an amazing gift that he has given to us and we don't repent and don't use the atonement like its meant to be used. 

Just as my parents would say when the lawn needed cutting:
Jeremy, the lawn is not going to mow itself.
  


So let us all get out and work. Let us have faith in Christ, repent of our sins and obey the gospel so we may have the cleansing power of the atonement in our life.

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For a better understanding of Christ check out:

The Living Christ

Rockstar v.s. Missionary

  Since I've been here in Montana many people have asked me "Why did you want to go on a mission?" or "What makes you want to do this?". So I want to give a little insight on my answer to these questions.

Its no secret that I am a huge fan of music.

Its a Fender Tele if you were wondering.

  I grew up listening, playing, writing and sometimes recording it. I had all kinds of gear for my guitar, had a band, was writing music, playing shows.....Just about everything my music passion could want (Well, except making loads of money to buy more music gear.).

In the midst of all of these things, I had rooted in me something that surfaced many times. My testimony. It was this testimony in Jesus Christ which helped me to come out here on a mission. I hope to share a little of it with you.

After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel.

-The Prophet Joseph Smith

In the Book of Mormon, the great King Benjamin teaches his people about service:

17And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

-Mosiah 2:17

  I understood this concept. I knew that what I had been blessed in my life to have the knowledge of the gospel. I knew it was a responsibility that I had, to share it with others..The promptings were there. But how could I? Leaving the place I was raised was hard enough, but also going to a place where I knew no one and on top of that trying teach the gospel to them... Just seemed impossible...
Then leaving my music was another thing.

This is a ton of fun....Especially in sweats.

What should I do?

So I prayed.

And prayed...

And prayed some more....

   And you know what kept coming to my mind...

Keep scrolling down.

BOOM!

My testimony in the Book of Mormon. I'm going to share a snippet with you:

 I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know it is the word of God. It cuts through any darkness, sadness, anger, or unbelief. This is because this book testifies of Christ, it teaches of Christ and as Joseph Smith said, we can come closer to Christ through the Book of Mormon then any other book. I've felt the power of it, you can too. I declare that this book is true. I know it through the Holy Spirit which testifies of all truth and light. I have felt the love that Christ has for us through it. Its an amazing, intense love that he wants us all to feel.

"We must know Christ better than we know him; we must remember him more often than we remember him; we must serve him more valiantly than we serve him."

-Howard W. Hunter

 This is why we have the Book of Mormon.

  With something so powerful, how could I not go? Who cares if I'm scared. The things I have at home are minimal compared to the eternal truths that ill be sharing with others. 

"We see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today. Our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever. Although we might settle for less, Heavenly Father won’t, for He sees us as the glorious beings we are capable of becoming."

-Joseph B.Wirthlin

Eternally speaking, I am not defined by my guitars, my fears, my temporal hungers. 

I am a child of My Father in Heaven. 

And so are you.

We are brothers and sisters. 

We all deserve this knowledge, this building of faith.

  Its my prayer that we might be able to see a portion of the potential that our Father sees in us and that we might all be able to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit. He will tell you the Book of Mormon is true and he will tell you the truth of all things spiritual. Ive had the opportunity to talk about the gospel with anyone and everyone for the last 17 months, and I wouldn't trade it for anything (Not even music stuff). That's because I know what we share blesses individuals and it blesses families. 

So read. Ask questions. Pray. Search and you will find. Knock, and it will be answered.

Can we go the distance? Can we go the speed?

This morning I woke up with these words running through my head..

"Reluctantly crouched at the starting line,
Engines pumping and thumping in time.
The green light flashes, the flags goes up,
Churning and burning, they yearn for the cup."

 If any of you reading this thought "Cake!" we have similar music tastes.

No, not the kind you eat. The band. These are the opening words to "The Distance" by Cake. 

You don't eat this cake..

  
  Before the mission I listened to these guys all the time and this song inspired a couple thoughts I would like to share with you.  
 What is our cup? Our ultimate goal? Well, unfortunately alot of the time our goals are very different from the Lords, but we learn what his ultimate goal for us is in the scriptures: 

"For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."

-Moses 1:39 

 With such an amazing goal that God is trying to help us achieve we need to do our very best to absolutely achieve it. That means knowing his true restored Gospel and living it to the best of our ability. Are we "Going the Distance" or "Going the speed"?


 Satan motives are very selfish. He wants you to think you can't read the scriptures because you're too tired, you can't be baptized, you can't be happy. He is a liar and wants you as miserable as himself.

But you can do hard things.

In this world we must deftly maneuver and muscle for rank, even when our fuel is burning fast on an empty tank.

Hmmm...Nascar.

The Lord is here to help you. Take from Alma the Youngers testimony on receiving divine help in trials:

"And I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from bonds, and from death; yea, and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me."

-Alma 36:27 

 So let us put our trust in Him like Alma did. Nothing will stop us from going the distance. We will make our goal if our goal is the Lords goal. We can all reach the finish line.

Not quiet like this...But you know what I mean.

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Want to read a good chapter in the Book of Mormon? How about Almas' fatherly advice to his son Helaman. Its a good one! Check it out!

Just click here...Alma 37 

 

News Report On Mormon Missionaries: Mormon Missionaries Live Their Faith

Here is just a quick report into what we missionaries do and why we do it.  Check it out!

Mormon Missionaries Live Their Faith: MyFoxMEMPHIS.com

Modest Mouse: Float on

Occasionally I'll blog about a song that is stuck in my head for the moment.
Currently I have Modest Mouses' "Float on".

"Alright already we'll all float on.
Alright already we'll all float on.
Alright don't worry even if things end up a bit too heavy.
We'll all float on...alright. Already we'll all float on.
Alright already we'll all float on, ok.
Don't worry we'll all float on.
Even if things get heavy, we'll all float on."

I love the times in my life that I have had this attitude. The attitude that even if  things end up a bit to heavy, things will still be alright. In a sense, I'll keep floating on and things will be good. It seems that every time I gain these feelings is when I'm doing my best to fully trust in the Lord.

Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world,

and you are of them that my Father hath given me;

-D&C 50:41 

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

 -Matthew 24:13

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

-Revelation 21:7 

 How cool is that. The scriptures teach us that we haven't anything to fear if we trust in him, endure and overcome the world. The Lord loves us and is doing his best to get us back to him.

We must just trust him first.

Changes: A Great Post From Elder Holbrook

I stinking love Elder Holbrooks Blog and wanted to share a post on my blog from his. So check it out and if you want more good stuff here is a link to Elder Holbrooks blog.

Changes

  People go through lots of changes, sometimes in a very short amount of time. Just looking back at your life over the past couple years, I'm sure you've experienced quite a bit of change (especially if you're on a mission). I look back at just 5 years ago, to being a 16 year old, and it blows my mind. Back then, I was anarchist, atheist, anti-religious, and probably would have punched you in the face if you had told me I was going to join the LDS Church, and serve a mission. If not punched, then certainly laughed (yes, laughed you in the face).

Before

That would have been a ridiculous thing to say.

And yet, here I am...

After

  The change was gradual. It took time. I'd say it was at least 2 years from the initial start of the change to the final, ultimate change. And it was one heck of a change. But it was a good change, I'm glad for it. It's been the best thing that's ever happened to me. It's brought me happiness, purpose, drive, and a reason for... just about everything. I couldn't be happier, and I'm so grateful for all the people that helped make it happen.
  At some point in our lives, we reach crossroads. We have to decide which path to take. Sometimes they're minor, sometimes they're major, but either way it is a decision that needs to be made, that will effect us in the long run.
  The major ones are often the ones people freak out about. They can change everything, starting immediately. They can change how you act, what you do, and who you are. But, if we all just stay on the same course from birth, what would be the point? We all need to change, to adapt, to mature, and to better ourselves. We're given these chances to, hopefully, make the best choice, and come closer to our Heavenly Father. Sometimes they may be obvious, like in the case of me joining the church. Others we may not see exactly how they would possibly help improve our relationship with God.
Now the question arises: When the choice isn't obvious, how do we know what the right path is? There's an easy solution to this. You can always ask the Guy who always knows what's right and what's wrong, what's best for you and what isn't, and what you should do and what you shouldn't. Any guesses who He might be? That's right, your Heavenly Father. How can you ask him? Through prayer. When you come to that crossroads, and you just have no idea where to go, rather than walking blindly, try kneeling. He will never lead you astray, and will always help you make the right choice.