What thinks Christ of Me??

In this past general conference there was an amazing talk given by Elder Neal L. Andersen (one of the 12 Apostles) entitled "What Thinks Christ of Me?".  I love this question, its a perfect question to ponder and to help us to recenter our lives on Christ. He also asked “Does my life reflect the love and devotion I feel for the Savior?”  Those great questions made me think about my own life and think about how my actions reflect my devotion to my Savior. Right now I am a missionary and everyday I get to wear a name tag that has my name and Christ's name on it.  Putting that name tag on every morning is a great reminder of the great responsibility I have as a christian to represent Christ.

We have many choices throughout the day and in every choice we have the opportunity to honor Christ.  When we are faced with challenging situations we can choose to do what the Savior would do or we can choose to do what we want to do.  Often the things Christ would do are not the easiest or most convenient choice but as we put our faith in Jesus Christ he will help us to do the things he requires of us.  In the same talk Elder Andersen said;

"Wherever you now find yourself on the road of discipleship, you are on the right road, the road toward eternal life. Together we can lift and strengthen one another in the great and important days ahead. Whatever the difficulties confronting us, the weaknesses confining us, or the impossibilities surrounding us, let us have faith in the Son of God, who declared, All things are possible to him that believeth.”

We need to believe and have faith and follow Christ, it doesn't matter where on that road to following Christ we are it just matters that we are moving forward.  We need to do the things we have been asked to do, follow the commandments and do our best.  As we do these things we are promised blessings.  I love this scripture in The book of Mormon, Mosiah 2:41


"And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

I'd like to end with Elder Andersen's parting words at the end of his talk.

"I testify that as you love Him, trust Him, believe Him, and follow Him, you will feel His love and approval. As you ask, “What thinks Christ of me?” you will know that you are His disciple; you are His friend. By His grace He will do for you what you cannot do for yourself."

^{For a link to the original article click on this link:
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/what-thinks-christ-of-me?lang=eng}

I Believe in Christ

Me and my friend Anne with a statue of Jesus Christ!

The words of the hymn 'I Believe in Christ' keep running through my head.  Its a beautiful song depicting the life and suffering of Jesus Christ, all the amazing things that he accomplished while he was on the earth.  One of the lines in this beautiful hymns states, "He is the source of truth and light"  Such a beautiful line!  In this world full of confusing and contradictory messages I take comfort in knowing that I can turn to my Savior Jesus Christ and know that he can be my source of truth and light.  His messages are simple and pure and as we follow him we can never be lead astray.


My favorite line in this song is "I believe in Christ, so come what may."  My life is full of unexpected events but as I put my faith in Jesus Christ then I know that I wont have a trial that I can't overcome with the help of my Savior Jesus Christ. As I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ I can withstand anything that comes in my path.  The statement "I believe in Christ, so come what may" inspires me to increase my faith in my Savior Jesus Christ and I hope it inspires you as well!! 





Check out this talk by Elder Holland, it's an excellent talk to read about our Savior Jesus Christ!

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/04/broken-things-to-mend?lang=eng&query=broken+things+mend+%28name%3a%22Jeffrey+R.+Holland%22%29 

This link will take you to the online interactive version of the song with lyrics and notes!!

http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=134&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=134&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Christmas has to come to an end...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I know that I did!  I was away from my family and friends back home in Canada but the Lord had blessed me with a wonderful Christmas here with the lovely people of Tennessee!  My companion and I did some Christmas celebration hoping and spent time with 3 different families and were also blessed to have a baptism of one of our dear friends on Christmas Eve! It will for sure be a Christmas to be remembered!

Now that Christmas it over that special light of Christ that we saw everywhere seems to have died down. The Christmas spirit is infectious, we are constantly wishing people a Merry Christmas and singing beautiful carols about our beloved Savior Jesus Christ. And then once December 25th comes the excitement and anticipation is over.  We take down our decorations and our trees and we see the empty spots where our decorations used to be.  Now the trick is to keep that spirit of Christmas with us all year round.  As Christians we need to continue to honor our Lord and Savior even after the Christmas holidays and make sure our actions are in line with him.  As a missionary I've thought about this idea a lot more this year. I was baptised and made a promise to my Father in Heaven to follow him and obey his commandments. I promised to...

“humble [myself] before God, … and witness before the church that [I] have truly repented of all [my] sins, and are willing to take upon [myself] the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by [my] works that [I] have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of [my] sins” (D&C 20:37).

I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I will honor him by honoring that convenient that I made with him.  I know that as I have faith and repent of my sins my life comes more in line with what the Lord expects of me.  I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have and the opportunity that I have right now share it with others.  I know that Jesus Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane for my sins and for your sins and I know that he  suffered and died on the cross for us as well.  And I know that you will have an added measure of peace in your life as you make an effort to come closer to your Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ!

Christmas is a celebration about Jesus Christ!

Its easy to get caught up in the flashing lights and bling of Christmas but I encourage you all to spend some times thinking about our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the reason for the season and even though the world might have lost its focus at Christmas it doesn't mean we have to!

We are celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and in honor of him we are giving gifts to the ones we love.  The Gifts we give show our loved ones that we appreciate them. The Christmas season is about giving and not getting.  After Christmas we often hear people ask "what did you get for Christmas?".  Instead of asking that we should ask "what did you GIVE for Christmas?"

For many years I remember our family prayerfully choosing a family we wanted to serve at Christmas and we would leave them anonymous gifts at their doorstep for the 12 days leading up to Christmas. We would leave a piece of a nativity set and then a silly gift that would go along with the 12 Days of Christmas song.  We would try our best to do it early in the morning and not get caught.  I learned a valuable lesson as a child that giving was more important than getting.

Make this Christmas about Christ and think about what gifts you can give to him this year! I love this Video, it shows the true meaning of Christmas! Just focus on Christ!!


.

Don't Spend Christmas Keep it all year round!

We had to opportunity this past weekend to hear from the first presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to get us into the Christmas spirit.  It was a great program that brought such a sweet spirit.  President Thomas S. Monson talked about how we shouldn't be spending Christmas each December but that we should be keeping Christmas in our hearts all year round. He said:

"Because when we keep the spirit of Christmas we keep the spirit of Christ, for the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit. It will block out all the distractions around us, which can diminish Christmas and swallow up its true meaning "

I love that thought so much!  We celebrate the birth of Christ because of the atonement that he made for us and becasue he died for us.  We need to take that spirit of Christmas, the thoughtfulness, the charity, the love, and take it into our every day lives.  We need to live the spirit of Christmas all year round.

So lets all remember the reason for the season.  Lets all keep the spirit of Christmas in our hearts all year long!

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/

Trust Jesus!

I came across this amazing quote today...

"Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten and Beloved Son of God. … He is our Savior from sin and death. This is the most important knowledge on earth." - Dallin H. Oaks

I love this quote!  Of all the things that we need to know and to learn, the most important is knowing that Jesus Christ is our Saviour!  The scriptures teach many beautiful principles and commandments that we are  to follow but we need to start with understanding the atonement of Jesus Christ. When we talk of the atonement we are giving reference to Jesus Christ's shedding of blood in the garden of Gethsemane, His death on the cross and then His bodily resurrection.  The only way in which we can return to live with our Father in Heaven is through this atonement.  We will all be resurrected, that is a free gift given to us from Jesus Christ but in order to be forgiven for our sins we must repent.  We will be forgiven for our sins to the degree in which we have faith, repent and obey God's commandments.

We make mistakes on a daily basis and we needed a way to be forgiven for those sins! We cannot be perfect ourselves but through the Atonement we can have all of our sins washed away and we can be clean.  I love that scripture in Isaiah where it talks about our sins being washed away..

Come now, and let us ^areason together, saith the Lord: though your ^bsins be as scarlet, they shall be as ^cwhite as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. - Isaiah 1:18

I know that as we repent we will feel our sins being washed away.  I know this because I have repented and continue to repent.  Sometimes our sins are big and we have a hard time letting go of them but we must trust in the redeeming power of the atonement and repent and forsake our sins and then we are promised that the Lord will remember our sins no more!

I love to talk about our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! He has done so much for every single one of us!  He was the only perfect person to live on this earth and his life was a perfect example of what we can pattern our lives after.  So continue on and trust in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repent!

"Be strong and of a good ^acourage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the ^bLord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not ^cfail thee, nor ^dforsake thee." Deut 31:6

I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go

As a missionary we get to spend all day everyday in the service of our God.  Such an amazing calling that we have.  I get to spend 18 months of my life as a witness of Jesus Christ in everything that I do, how great is that?  As I was thinking about missionary work today I was thinking about how amazing music is and how hymns help me to feel the spirit and feel the love of God.

During General Conference the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang the song "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go" and as I heard that song it really brought home my calling as a missionary.  Have a listen to it...



This song has always been one of my favourites but as I listened to it this time I truly felt the love of my Heavenly Father and knew that he loved me.  All the verses are amazing but the third verse really spoke to me this time around.

There's surely somewhere a lowly place

In earth's harvest fields so wide

Where I may labour through life's short day

For Jesus the Crucified.

So trusting my all to thy tender care,

And knowing thou lovest me,

I'll do thy will with a heart sincere:

I'll be what you want me to be.

I love this part so much, I'm here in Tennessee preaching the good word of God and I have the opportunity to labour for Jesus the crucified!  How amazing is that?  I know that God is real and that he sent His son, Jesus Christ to this earth to suffer for EVERYONE'S sins and to be crucified and resurrected for ALL of us. We just need to live our lives in a way that honours that sacrifice.  I love sharing that with people but the scriptures say it better than I ever could in The Book of Mormon is states

 "Behold, I am Jesus Christ whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. And behold, I am the light and life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning." (3 Nephi 11:10-11)

I love the scriptures, so beautifully written!  I am so grateful for our Saviour Jesus Christ and for all he has done for me.  I'm so grateful for this opportunity to testify to the people of Tennessee the things that I know to be true.   I know that I was sent here for a reason and as the song says...

I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord

Over mountain or plan more sea;

I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord;

I'll be what you want me to be.

I am thankful to hear a Prophet speak!

October is one of my favorite months on the year!  Tennessee is proving to be as beautiful as people claim it to be.  The leaves are starting to change colour and falling to the ground in preparation for the winter months.  The weather wont quite get as cold as I'm used to back home in Canada but I'm still looking forward to this beautiful season.  In Canada we celebrate our Thanks Giving in October and with that coming up in a few weeks I have thought about the things I am grateful for.  One thing we as Missionaries get to tell the world is that there is a Prophet called of God to lead and guide the church of Jesus Christ and the world.  In October we get the opportunity to hear from him and his apostles. 

Its a new thing to most people that we have a living prophet on this earth today but that fact strengthens my testimony of my Heavenly Father and his love for us.  God loves his children in the Bible time just as much as he loves his children that are living now so if he gives us the gift of a Prophet to lead his children in the ancient times then it only makes sense that he would give us a Prophet to lead and guide us today. The prophets role is to be the lords mouth peace here on the earth.  In Amos 3:7 is states "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.".  In a world of confusion and turmoil the Lord gives us prophets to guide and teach us.  In 1820 God called Joseph Smith as a prophet in these latter days to restore His church on the earth again and since that time he has continued to call a prophet. Today Thomas S. Monson is the prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the prophet to all the world.  Just as in ancient times these prophets have been directed by God to call 12 Apostles lead and guide his children.  President Monson and the twelve apostles are speaking in a general conference on October 1st and 2nd at 10am and 2pm mountain standard time (11am and 3pm Tennessee time!) and I hope you all will watch.

I know that if you will listen to the Prophet and his Apostles speak you will feel the spirit of the Lord and you will know as I know that these men are truly called of God.   When I listen to the prophets speak I feel my testimony grow and I feel the spirit of the Lord witnessing to my heart that the things that they are telling us are indeed from God.  I know that God loves everyone of his children and tries to speak to us on a daily basis.  Open your heart and listen for his words! I challenge you all to watch at least one session of General Conference and have a question in mind and let the Lord speak to you through his servants and through his spirit.  God loves you and will answer your sincere prayers to him.  Keep seeking him and listen with your ears and with your heart!

Any thoughts my friends?! I love you all!

This is a photo of me and some of my closest friends attending conference live in Utah.  As we stood in that room as the Prophet of the Lord walked in I felt the spirit so strongly and I knew that he was a man called of God.  Pray to know for yourself, I know that if you pray with real intent your prayers will be answered!

(The 181st Semi-anual General Conference will be held live in the conference centre in Salt Lake City Utah on October 1st and 2nd. You can view this conference on your own television (check you local listings) at any LDS meeting house and on the Internet at http://www.lds.org/ .  Please watch at least one session, it will change your life!!)