I have been thinking a lot about motivation these past few weeks. What motivates a person to do good and what motivates a person to do bad? What motivates us to wake up every morning and go?

If we take a look at my life as a missionary.  I start every morning promptly at 6:30am and I get up exercise and get ready for the day and by 8am I am sitting in my chair studying. I study my scriptures and a study manual called Preach my Gospel and prepare for the lessons I have planned to teach that day.  Some mornings I feel excited to study and to learn from the scriptures and some mornings I long for more sleep.  Then I spend my days from 10am until 9pm teaching people about the gospel of Jesus Christ and looking for people that I can teach.

So why do I do it? Why do missionaries knock on your door uninvited? Why do we try to share our faith with people who already have a faith in Jesus Christ?

We do it all because we ourselves have been transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ and we know that as the worlds lets us into their homes they to can be transformed by our message.  We have another Testament of Jesus Christ that every Christian person should be excited to read and to ponder on.  I have seen the gospel and this book transform my life, it gives me reason to live and work hard everyday.  I know that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me and cares about me and wants me to communicate with Him through sincere prayer. I love to read the scriptures and as I read The Book of Mormon and the Bible I feel the love of my Father in Heaven and I find answer to the many questions that plague my heart in the scriptures.  

Catherine Cantwell a wonderful missionary!!

My life right now is quite different from what I had ever imagined it to be like.  I never imagined myself to be living in Tennessee serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but here I am.  I love talking about the gospel and sharing my faith with those that I meet because I know that I am doing what my Saviour Jesus Christ would be doing if he were here on the earth.  I have the great opportunity and responsibility to be a representative of Jesus Christ and that's why I do it, because I love Jesus and I want him to be proud of me.  I wouldn't be out here on a mission if it weren't for the great people that have been a part of my life and their great examples!  This picture is of my friend Catherine Cantwell who was arguably one of the greatest missionaries I've ever know!

"I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell.  I have charity for my people, and great faith in Christ that I shall meet many souls spotless at his judgment-seat." - 2 Nephi 33:6-7

"A testimony of the gospel is a personal witness borne to our souls by the Holy Ghost that certain facts of eternal significance are true and that we know them to be true" -Dallin H. Oaks

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

God loves you!

I've been thinking a lot lately about our Heavenly Father and his infinite love for us.  There are many people that don't know that they have a Father in Heaven who loves them.  My testimony started with knowing that I have a Father in Heaven who truly knows and loves me.  I have had many experiences in my life where I have seen God manifest his love to me.  As I pray I feel his love for me and as I study the many books of scripture he has provided us with I receive answers to my prayers.  I don's understand all the mysteries of the world but one thing I do know is that my Father in Heaven loves me. There is a scripture I love in the The Book of Mormon is says:

"And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." 1 Nephi 11:17

There are so many things that happen in this world that are hard to explain and just like Nephi I do not know the meaning of all things but I do know that my Heavenly Father loves me.  I also love the words of Job in chapter 19.  He tells us of the afflictions that he has in his life for 22 verses but then he bears his testimony to us.  Despite all the afflictions that came upon him he says;

"For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." (Job 19:25-27)

When ever I study about Job I am immediately humbled.  He had this amazing attitude throughout all of his trials.  He took comfort in his knowledge that his "redeemer liveth".  He had this great eternal perspective that even though life is hard and he had many hardships he was still focused on returning to his Heavenly Father.  I challenge you all to take a step back and look at your life from an eternal perspective.  

Conference Time!

I love to read the scriptures because they are the words that God has inspired the Prophets to write. We can open up the Old Testament and to read about the warnings Noah gave the people before the floods came and to read in the New Testament as Jesus Christ performs miracles and teaches all those who will listen in parables and then to read in The Book of Mormon as Alma the Younger testifies of his experiences using the redeeming power of the Atonement. 

One doctrine I love to teach about is that God has called a modern day Prophet today.  The scriptures tell us that God is the same yesterday, today and forever so if He called Prophets in the ancient times then it only makes sense that he would call a Prophet in modern times.  Joseph Smith was the first prophet called in these latter days and since his death God has continued to call Prophets to lead His church. 



My friends and I attending the April 2011 Session of Conference



Today our Prophet's name is Thomas S. Monson and every 6 months we have an exciting opportunity to listen to him and the other apostles speak.  This is such an amazing exciting opportunity we have to listen to what our Heavenly Father inspires them to teach.  These men of God pray and seek inspiration to know what the world needs to hear.  I'm so excited to listen to them speak this weekend! 

One of the modern day Apostles, Jeffrey R. Holland said this about conference 

“If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you,”

I hope you all watch as much of this conference as you can.  Take the time to pray before you sit down and watch it and ask God for your own "personal prophetic epistle".  

Follow this link to watch the 4 sessions of Conference on line http://www.gc.lds.org/ , check your local listings or come to one of our church building and watch it live 10am and 2pm mountain standard time.  Here in Franklin Tennessee you can join us at the chapel on 1100 Grey Fox Lane at 11am and then again at 3pm!

http://www.lds.org/liahona/2012/03/why-do-we-need-prophets?lang=eng
http://www.lds.org/study/prophets-speak-today/unto-all-the-world/preparing-for-general-conference?lang=eng

I've been thinking a lot lately about happiness.  Why are some people happier than others?  Why does the grass always look greener on the other side?  I read this scripture from The Book of Mormon in my studies this morning:

"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." Mosiah 2:41



Me being happy!!



This is King Benjamin a Prophet in The Book of Mormon giving a sermon to his people and he tells them how they can be happy.  He tells us that those that are blessed in all things by God are keeping the commandments.  But He not only refers to happiness right now on earth but he says that if we keep the commandments we "may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness".  That is the ultimate goal, to live with our Heavenly Father again and to have never-ending happiness!  So we need to follow all the commandments and all will be well!  That is easier said than done, we know the commandments but often we fall short but that is why our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ suffered and died for us.  We just need to do our best and the rest is made up by our Saviour.  I'm grateful for repentance!  

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!!