Bulls Eye!

Bulls Eye!!!

"As we go about living from day to day, it is almost inevitable that our faith will be challenged. We may at times find ourselves surrounded by others and yet standing in the minority or even standing alone concerning what is acceptable and what is not. Do we have the moral courage to stand firm for our beliefs, even if by so doing we must stand alone? ...It is essential that we are able to face—with courage—whatever challenges come our way. Remember the words of Tennyson: “My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is pure.”

-President Thomas S. Monson

Dare to Stand Alone

YOUTH, you will face challenges every day, like President Monson said, it is inevitable. We cannot PICK and CHOOSE the trials we go through, but we can CHOOSE how we get through them. It is our attitude and pure hearts that will help us make it through the trial. I know that many of you are “looking the bull in the eye” right now. What I have come to learn is that through the atonement, Heavenly Father will give us that strength we need to get through the unfortunate events. It all starts with our FAITH! Our FAITH in the atonement will give us strength as we stare the adversary in the eye…

Now the question is how will you face the challenge?

CLV(C)2011

www.mormon.org

Miracle on Lime Street

Miracle on

Lime Street

The sealed family to be :]

Yesterday I felt a strong prompting to call one of the families I had worked with in my first area. I decided to listen to the prompting. It was such a good feeling to talk to someone from my first area and to hear how things were going. In the conversation we were able to talk about him and his wife going to the temple. They had both worked SO hard to get temple recommends, and they had succeeded. However they had another stumbling block to over come. They needed money to buy the temple clothes so that they could attend. I felt so bad, because I knew they were ready, and all that was holding them back was money. I told him to pray and Heavenly Father would make it happen. I explained to him, he just wants to see if we will exercise faith. The key part that we discussed is trusting in the Lord. Last night, I was able to pray for his family to find a way.

Today, while working at the Joseph Smith Farm I received a phone call. It was him calling me to tell me of a MIRACLE! He said that he had just gotten off the phone with the missionary that had baptized him. The missionary told him that he had been saving up money for them so they could go to the temple. I know that because he exercised his faith, his prayers were answered. Him and his wife will now be able to be sealed for all time and eternity in the Palmyra Temple this month. When we exercise faith, blessings Will come!

http://www.mormon.org/

CLV(C)2011

Thank you for cutting me down!

On my First full day in Palmyra, New York, my Mission President Jack R. Christianson took us to the Sacred Grove. Where Joesph Smith Saw God the Father and His son Jesus Christ. It it such a beautiful place that fills me with such peace. President Christianson let each of us take some time to ourselves in the grove where we could pray about the mission that laid ahead of us.

I walked out and found a bench facing a tree that had been cut down. At the time I felt it was very fitting for the situation I was in. As I sat on this bench I prayed to God asking him WHY things had turned out this way!

THE WHYS!

1. WHY he had me learn Albanian, one of the hardest languages to learn, and then did not give my body the strength to make it to Albania.

    2. WHY was it that I was the ONLY one that had to leave my new mission friends that got to actually go to Albania.

3. WHY was I not good enough to accomplish what the Lord had sent me to do.

4. WHY do I ALWAYS FAIL!

5. WHY ME!

As I sat there and prayed, I remember a Talk that was Given in the last General Conference given by By Elder D. Todd Christofferson.

“As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten”

He referenced a a talk about a current bush given by  President Hugh B. Brown that changed my WHYS into ANSWERS.

President Brown talking to Elder Christofferson...

"He told of purchasing a rundown farm in Canada many years ago. As he went about cleaning up and repairing his property, he came across a currant bush that had grown over six feet (1.8 m) high and was yielding no berries, so he pruned it back drastically, leaving only small stumps. Then he saw a drop like a tear on the top of each of these little stumps, as if the currant bush were crying, and thought he heard it say:

“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. … And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me. … How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”

President Brown replied, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”

After thinking of that I  REALIZED that God was cutting me down. I do not know why, but I know that he has a bigger and better plan for ME. As I was wrapping up my prayer I realized how grateful I was. My WHYS turned into ANSWERS.

THE ANSWERS

1. THANK YOU for LETTING me learn Albanian and keeping me in the USA where I could get the medical care I need.

    2. THANK YOU for giving me the opportunity to develop even more friendships in NEW YORK.

3. THANK YOU for helping me realize I CAN DO ANYTHING.

4. THANK YOU for teaching me one failure leads to another SUCCESS.

5. THANK YOU FOR LOVING ME!

Life can be so much BETTER when we take a different perspective. I do not know what God has in store for me, but I know he is my "GARDENER" and that he is the one that will help me grow. All I can think now is the same as President Brown. "Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me." I know that Heavenly Father has us go through hard things to shape us into the people we NEED to BECOME. I am So grateful for the chance that I had to be cut down so I can grove in the WAYS the Lord needs me to.

Who knows maybe I will turn into a tree like this one day!

Dream Big

One of my Life Ambitions is to join a Motorcycle gang and ride across the United States on a Harley. Today as we were walking the streets talking to people I met a man named Mike. He was working on his Honda Bike. He had torn it apart and rebuilt it. I asked him why he had to rebuild it. He said that some of the parts were bad and that it was not working right.

Mike asked us what we were out doing. I told him that we were out sharing a message about Jesus Christ. He continued to tell us that nothing made sense, there were so many religions and that a lot of things have been messed up through time. I had to agree with him. We started to tell him about the GREAT APOSTASY. We talked to him about how when Christ was on the earth we had all of the truth. Just like when is bike was brand new, it ran perfect and brought him the most happiness. However when he got in a wreck some of it got pretty beaten up and it did not work. A lot of the parts still were okay but all together the bike just did not work! I found it so similar to when Christ died. There where still many truths on the earth, but none of them had all of the pieces.

My friend Mike, said how he was frustrated with his bike and how it was broken. So he decided to break it down and fix it back up. After a few years he was able to fix it completely, and today was the day it ran for the first time. He said we must have been the luck he needed to get the bike running! It makes perfect sense to me when relating it to how the Church of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth again today. There was a boy named Joseph Smith who wanted to find truth. He did the same things Mike did to fix his bike. Joesph read the Bible while Mike read a Bike book. Joesph pondered and prayed about it and acted upon the words in James 1:5. Mike acted upon his readings and fixed his bike up again. 

Mike helped me to understand that there were so many good beliefs on this earth, but non that had the full truth. I know understand completely that Joesph Smith was called of God to "put the Bike" back together. 

I know how much it has impacted my life. It is like Joseph gave me my Harley, he gave me this Gospel through God the Father and His son Jesus Christ, and now its up to me to make my dream come true :)

One day :)