Faith With Works

On my mission I've learned to see the importance of work. Before I came to Oregon I had been kind of lazy. I always did my chores at home, but it usually took a lot of prodding from my parents. I just didn't see the point in making my bed, pulling weeds, or mowing the lawn. The weeds and the grass would soon grow again and when I went to bed at night I would quickly mess up my bed sheets. I didn't like to work on things that didn't show results.

When I came out on my mission I was soon involved with a task that I thought was pointless and produced no results. This task was called tracting and involved knocking door after door on a street. I quickly came to not like tracting. Doors were often closed in our faces and people always had excuses to not talk to us.

After several weeks of knocking doors I had not seen anything come from our efforts. No one we had met was willing to let us us come in and teach them about the Restored Gospel. I was little depressed because of this.

Like making my bed or weeding I thought that tracting was a waste of time. I voiced my reservations to my companion, who said we need to have faith and that we needed to just keep going. I took his advice hoping that something would eventually come.

Even after my companion had told me to keep going we still didn't see anything come from our efforts. It wasn't until several weeks later that we were walking down the street that we had a lady pull up alongside us in her car. I immediately recognized that we had knocked on her door a couple of days earlier and that she had told us that she was not interested in listening to us. The woman started talking to us and told us that she now wanted to listen and to learn more.

From that time on my companion and I were able to teach this lady. Our hours and hours of tracting had finally paid off. As I reflected on this experience later I was reminded of a scripture:

Even so faith if it hath no works, is dead, being alone.

James 2:17

As my companion and I had gone out each day and tracted we had faith that we would find someone to teach. It had taken a long time, but because of our persistence we had been blessed. If I had told my companion that I didn't want to tract and that we should just walked around then we wouldn't met the lady in the car and she wouldn't have stopped us on the street.

Even though the tracting had produced little success it eventually brought forth a brief, but great reward. Just like the grass of a lawn would soon grow back there would be many more hours of tracting with little success. But I grew to realize the joy of the work. The work led us to small brief successes that don't last, but are so worth the effort to get to. That's why we mow lawns, weed, make our beds or do anything. It's for the end result.

I came to realize that our Heavenly Father wants us to work. Like my parents He knows that work is important. When we work it lets us appreciate the things that He has given us. Because of He gave us everything then we would take His gifts for granted.

God makes us work so our faith means something. If we believe then it should inspire us to do something. So if we have a problems we need helps with let us put our faith in God. Let us get down and pray and then go do something to solve the problem. As we act God will help us and miracles will occur.

May we look for these miracles as we continue to work and seek for answers.

What is the Atonement?

Atonement Definition: Because of Him we can change and live again.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have a peculiar vocabulary. Phrases like "Choose the right", "Return Missionary", and "Oh my heck!" pepper our language and set us apart as a people.

To members of the church this terminology seems commonplace. We often forget that those not of our faith often have no idea what we mean when we talk of Priesthood Quorum and Relief Society. As cool as Relief Society and Priesthood Quorums are there is one word often used by Latter-Day Saints that stands above the rest and that is the word Atonement. This word has deep meaning and shows just how much God loves us.

The word Atonement was something that I had heard growing up and truly didn't understand until I reached the mission field. I had always skipped over the meaning of the word because I wasn't very good at paying attention in Seminary and Primary.

When I arrived in Oregon my first missionary companion was always talking about the Atonement and how it was the most important event in history and how everyone needed it. Hearing my companion's sincere love of the Atonement made me want to learn more. The reason being I wanted to know why it was so important and figure out how it could be important in my life.

One day as my companion and I were preparing for a lesson I looked at my companion and asked, "What is the Atonement?" He looked at me, a surprised look on his face. The surprise wasn't because he hadn't heard this question before, but because it was coming from me, a teenage boy who had been a member of the Church all of his life. He asked me if I was serious? I nodded yes.

My companion then turned in the scriptures to Alma chapter 7. He told me to look at verses eleven through thirteen, which said:

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and affliction and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

As I read these verses I began to understand how vitally important the Atonement could be in my life. I had always heard that Christ had died for us and that He rose again, but as I pondered the scriptures I had just read I began to see what He had done for us.

I began to see why Christ had suffered every pain, affliction, and temptation that I had ever been through and why He had borne my sicknesses. It made it possible for Him to know what I was feeling when I was down or when I just didn't feel like moving on. This gave comfort to me to know that there was someone who knew how I felt. That I wasn't alone in my sufferings.

The scripture also explained that Christ had also broken the bands of death. Meaning that because He died and rose again that I and all people could live again. That death was a temporary thing. This brought great comfort to me because a week before my Grandmother had passed away. Being on my mission I was unable to attend her funeral. But because of Christ I knew I would be able to see her again and my time spent away from her wouldn't last.

But the most important thing I learned from these scriptures was that He could blot out my sins. Because of Him I didn't have to let the things I had done in the past define who I am and who I can become. I wasn't trapped by old habits and that I could always grow and continue to get better.

Ever since that day I came to see what the Atonement is and how it has helped me to grow and to become a better person. Through prayer and constant repenting I have been able to see myself change and become a better person. I'm still me, I'm just a better me.

The Atonement is the greatest thing to ever happen and is the message that missionaries teach people about. We teach the simple message that Because of Him we can be made perfect and that we never have to give up hope. We can always overcome.

May we follow the example of Paul who taught that because of Christ's Atonement:

13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Phillipians 4:13

Let us all be strengthened through Christ.

The Thirteenth Article of Faith

When I started my service as a missionary I found out just how important my example could be. The way I acted around people could affect their view of Latter-Day Saints for years. This was a concept that I really hadn't thought about before my mission. Before coming to Oregon I had never thought that anyone's opinion of the Church could be changed based on my behavior. I quickly realized that things in Oregon were a little bit different than they were in Utah.

In Utah I had been surrounded by Latter-Day Saints and no matter what I did or said people's view there couldn't be changed that easily. But in Oregon I found that there were many people in Oregon who had never heard of the Church and only knew the Latter-Day Saints as Mormons. These people were ready to make their decisions based on how I and my companion acted around them. It was a daunting task to show through our example what we believed.

At this time I was given some advice from my father who told me to remember the Church's Articles of Faith. Specifically the Thirteenth Article of Faith. As I read the Thirteenth Article of Faith I found the pattern that I needed to follow to show how Latter-Day Saints acted.

As member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints:

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
-The Thirteenth Article of Faith

This is the way that we as Latter-Day Saints believe in acting and in treating those around us. As a missionary I've done my best and see many Church members to their best to follow the admonition of Paul and be true followers of Christ. Because as member of His Church we have all promised him that we "are willing to mourn with those that mourn" and "comfort those that stand in need of comfort".

It can be a tough promise to keep sometimes, but it's always worth keeping. I have seen the blessings in my life and in my mission as I've helped those around me and always hoped for the best things in this life. I know that as we all do our best to follow the Admonition of Paul and remember the promise that we make at baptism that we will be blessed. May we all continue to endure all things.

Marathoner Mentality

Early on in my mission I found that I just wasn't all that happy. I missed my family, my friends, school, and my home. For the first time in my life I really felt as if there was no support for me. I was homesick and it was almost more than I could bear at that point.

There were many nights that me and my companion would come in from working and I would just feel as if I wanted to give up on my mission. I just didn't think that I could keep going. I knew that I was doing the right thing by going on a mission. I knew that I needed to spread the Gospel, but I just didn't feel as if I was made out of strong enough material to keep on going.

It was at this point in my mission that I drew on two strengths to keep myself going. I had grown up a distance runner. Running was one of my true loves and one of the few things that brought comfort to me when I was upset. At this time I remembered an important lesson that I had learned from years and years of running, that no matter how hard difficult a run got that I would always finish. I decided to look at my mission as a race that no matter how tough the race got I would always keep going until I did reach the end. The mission I realized like any race had its times when I could easily run along with confidence and strength, but there would also be times where it would be hard and I would want to quit. In the end though there would be a finish line as long as I kept going.

The thing that helped me the most though was the scripture 1 Corinthians 10:13:

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be temped above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

After reading this scripture I knew that no matter what I faced in this life that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ I could survive the hard times and that good times waited ahead. Someday I would see all of my friends and family again. All I needed to do was to endure and rely on Christ. Since that time there have still been rough patches on my mission, but I've also see many happy times and there are still many happy times ahead.

We can all find these happy times in our lives. As we do they will help us to endure and to remember all that our Savior Jesus Christ does for us. Keep relying on Him and never give up. Keep the mentality of the marathon runner who never gives up. Remember the end goal. Endure and finish!