The Widow's Mites

I love the simplicity of the teachings of Jesus.  In my studies I've started reading through the Old Testament and I have never felt closer to my Saviour. He was the ultimate teacher, he saw the small things happening around him and used them as parables.  I love the message of this video.  

I have been thinking about about my life and about the sacrifices I am willing to make for the Lord.  I have gained a testimony of paying my tithing and giving the Lord 10 percent of my income.  I have seen that act of faith bless me many times.  Right now I am on a mission serving for 18 months in Tennessee and I am giving of my personal time in order to help others come unto Christ.  There's this song called "Bless My Son" on a CD called "The Work" by The Nashville Tribute Band that has a line in it that talks about how a mission adds up to 10 percent of our lives. I love that line and when times get hard I remember that even though people aren't home when they say they will be and people don't listen when I answer their questions I can know that I am in the service of the Lord.  As I watched this video I thought about how I'm serving the Lord.  Am I serving the Lord like this sweet widow tossing in ALL I can to the Lord?  Everything we have is from the Lord and all he asks us in return is to follow his commandments and to serve him.  The scriptures tell us that when we are in the service of our fellow beings we are in the service of our God. And I love being in the service of my God!! 

Rejoice in Christ!!

One of the best things about being a missionary is that I get to talk about Jesus all the time!! Its the best!  There is a scripture in The Book of Mormon that I love..

 "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies" -2 Nephi 25:26

That Scripture truly does describe what we do as missionaries.  We spend our days TALKING to people about Christ.  We have the awesome job of teaching people about how a relationship with Jesus Christ WILL bless their lives.  Then we get to REJOICE  in Christ.  We get to see people grow and change through repenting of their sins and accepting the atonement of our beloved Savior Jesus Christ.  It has been an amazing experience to see the light of Christ in people, to see how people's lives improve because of their knowledge of Jesus Christ. We spend our time PREACHING and PROPHESYING of how the restored gospel of Jesus Christ has blessed our lives and we get to share the promise in the scriptures of how it will bless the lives of all who will receive it!  And in our mission we get to write according to the prophecies in our blogs!  How great is that?

The most important thing that we teach people is that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.  It reminds me of that famous verse the New Testament, John 3:16

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Our Father in Heaven loves us so much that he created a means by which we could return to him.  He knew that we would sin when we came to this earth so he created a means by which we can be forgiven and become like him.  He allowed his beloved Son, Jesus Christ to suffer for our sins in the garden of Gethsemane and to suffer and die on the cross for us so that we could be cleansed from all our sins and have everlasting eternal life! The best gift we could ever get.

As missionaries we get to talk to people about this beautiful message.  We love the Bible and teach from it often and God has given us more scripture, The Book of Mormon that compliments and clarifies the teachings in the Bible.  Check out http://mormon.org/ and find out more or meet with a missionary just like me! http://mormon.org/missionaries/