It's been a while since I've written any gospel related things, so I figured that since today was such an amazing day, I'd share it.
The theme in church today seemed to be about Missionary Work, and I soaked it all up. I loved every single second of it. Missionary Work has recently become one of my favorite topics and I get so excited to hear of people's experiences and talk about hastening the Lord's work and spreading the gospel throughout the whole world. It's planted a desire in me to serve a mission, and although I wouldn't turn in papers until the end of this year, I'm eagerly awaiting the time I can begin working on papers.
In Relief Society we watched President Hinckley dedicating the Hinckley building here at BYU-Idaho. He was talking to the people in the building, but directing it towards all of the young adults in the world. I loved how he spoke about us with complete confidence. He knows exactly what we're capable of and so does God. We are the chosen generation and we were sent here at this time to hasten the Lord's work and to help one another get through the craziness of life. As I listened to President Hinckley talk about us, the thought entered my mind, "why do we always put ourselves down?". If we knew and could realize what and who we are and will become, we wouldn't put ourselves down. Rather, we would focus on becoming more and more like Christ and spreading the gospel.
We also listened to part of a talk today by M. Russell Ballard entitled "Put Your Trust in the Lord". The short seven minute snippet we watched was amazing and I can only imagine the rest of it is as well. One of my favorite things that he said was this:
"You don't have to be an outgoing person or an eloquent, persuasive teacher. If you have an avoiding love and hope within you, the Lord has promised if you 'lift up your voices unto this people [and] speak the thoughts that [He] shall put into your hearts, ... you shall not be confounded before men;"
This part stuck out to me the most, because often times I feel 'unworthy' to share something about this gospel for many reasons; I'm not a returned missionary, I don't know many factual things about the gospel and countless other things.
We had a meeting after church today for all of the teachers and since I'm a gospel doctrine teacher I was invited to attend. We talked about being scared to teach since there are a few other teachers in there that are not returned missionaries like me, and my mind wandered back to this quote from M. Russell Ballard. Again, we "don't have to be an outgoing person or an eloquent, persuasive teacher". As long as we have a strong desire to search and change, the Lord will help us and the spirit will be able to teach through us.
Another thing that came up a lot in sacrament meeting, was serving those on the other side of the veil. This is, obviously, is doing family history work so we can be able to perform the necessary ordinances for them in the temple so that they too, can enter into the Celestial Kingdom.
I'll be honest, I've never thought of doing family history work as missionary work. It's just another thing everybody talks about and says we should do. But as I listened to the speakers bear their testimonies on how important family history work is, I felt of it's importance. I haven't done much family history work, the only thing I've done is get baptized for some of my family that did not have the opportunity to have that done while they were on this earth. I feel so blessed we have the opportunity to do that for our family that came before us... so that we can be with them forever!
I truly admire those that spend countless hours doing family history work, and I know that I can do better with that. I know of it's importance and have seen it bless the lives of those around me.
I've loved being here at BYUI with members from, literally, all over! There are few people I meet from Utah and many that I meet from all over the US and even outside of it. They have many experiences I've loved listening to. Living in the Utah 'bubble' for most of my life has guarded me from a lot of the terrible things of the world and coming here really isn't much different. But the things that people talk about and how they've continued to stay strong in this gospel and gain their testimonies has been amazing and life changing for me. I've seen how missionary work has touched their lives and can't help but want to help bring people unto Christ.
Everything about this gospel is amazing. And I want as many people to hear it as possible. The blessings that come being a part of this gospel is incredible. I love seeing the hand of the Lord every single day of my life. Even if I don't end up serving a mission, I know that it's always important to be a missionary. Oftentimes the people that we need to reach out to are the ones sitting right in front of us. We never know when someone may be struggling. I know that it's important to always be sharing the gospel and helping to lift others up. Don't tear each other down. Don't tear yourself down.
The Relief Society had a stake fireside today. And again, it was amazing. We had two speakers that spoke about hope in difficult times. The first speaker worked with struggling LDS members. Most of the stories he told us had to do with young women who felt inadequate or unworthy. He shared how He helped them recognize the Lord's hand in each of their lives and how much He truly did love them. They each would go home and write down anything that touched their hearts that week and to pay special attention to any acts of love. Most returned back the next week amazed, saying they never knew their lives were so great.
This made me think about my life... do I spend enough time thinking about the tender mercies of the Lord? There are SO many good things that happen to me daily and for some reason I only find time to complain about the amount of homework I have or the amount of hours I practice my flute. Imagine what I could do if I didn't complain about all of those things?! I imagine my life would be much more peaceful and I would be able to recognize all of the little things, for truly they are the big things.
One thing the speaker said tonight that I liked, was that we all chose this life! We voted to come down here and go through all of this! We knew life would be hard, yet we wanted to come and prove we could get through it and do it! And I know that we can with the help of the Lord. He is reaching out His hand for us to take. We just have to take it.
I love this gospel and I'm SO thankful for it. I'm thankful for such amazing parents that helped me to grow up in it. I'm thankful for the knowledge that I have and can't wait to continue learning more and more. I know missionary work is important, and even if we can't go on a mission, we can still be missionaries every single day. I know that God loves each and every one of us and He wants to help us get through all of the crazy things of life. I know that He is in our lives and blesses us every day, we just need to take a step back and realize it.
The theme in church today seemed to be about Missionary Work, and I soaked it all up. I loved every single second of it. Missionary Work has recently become one of my favorite topics and I get so excited to hear of people's experiences and talk about hastening the Lord's work and spreading the gospel throughout the whole world. It's planted a desire in me to serve a mission, and although I wouldn't turn in papers until the end of this year, I'm eagerly awaiting the time I can begin working on papers.
In Relief Society we watched President Hinckley dedicating the Hinckley building here at BYU-Idaho. He was talking to the people in the building, but directing it towards all of the young adults in the world. I loved how he spoke about us with complete confidence. He knows exactly what we're capable of and so does God. We are the chosen generation and we were sent here at this time to hasten the Lord's work and to help one another get through the craziness of life. As I listened to President Hinckley talk about us, the thought entered my mind, "why do we always put ourselves down?". If we knew and could realize what and who we are and will become, we wouldn't put ourselves down. Rather, we would focus on becoming more and more like Christ and spreading the gospel.
We also listened to part of a talk today by M. Russell Ballard entitled "Put Your Trust in the Lord". The short seven minute snippet we watched was amazing and I can only imagine the rest of it is as well. One of my favorite things that he said was this:
"You don't have to be an outgoing person or an eloquent, persuasive teacher. If you have an avoiding love and hope within you, the Lord has promised if you 'lift up your voices unto this people [and] speak the thoughts that [He] shall put into your hearts, ... you shall not be confounded before men;"
This part stuck out to me the most, because often times I feel 'unworthy' to share something about this gospel for many reasons; I'm not a returned missionary, I don't know many factual things about the gospel and countless other things.
We had a meeting after church today for all of the teachers and since I'm a gospel doctrine teacher I was invited to attend. We talked about being scared to teach since there are a few other teachers in there that are not returned missionaries like me, and my mind wandered back to this quote from M. Russell Ballard. Again, we "don't have to be an outgoing person or an eloquent, persuasive teacher". As long as we have a strong desire to search and change, the Lord will help us and the spirit will be able to teach through us.
Another thing that came up a lot in sacrament meeting, was serving those on the other side of the veil. This is, obviously, is doing family history work so we can be able to perform the necessary ordinances for them in the temple so that they too, can enter into the Celestial Kingdom.
I'll be honest, I've never thought of doing family history work as missionary work. It's just another thing everybody talks about and says we should do. But as I listened to the speakers bear their testimonies on how important family history work is, I felt of it's importance. I haven't done much family history work, the only thing I've done is get baptized for some of my family that did not have the opportunity to have that done while they were on this earth. I feel so blessed we have the opportunity to do that for our family that came before us... so that we can be with them forever!
I truly admire those that spend countless hours doing family history work, and I know that I can do better with that. I know of it's importance and have seen it bless the lives of those around me.
I've loved being here at BYUI with members from, literally, all over! There are few people I meet from Utah and many that I meet from all over the US and even outside of it. They have many experiences I've loved listening to. Living in the Utah 'bubble' for most of my life has guarded me from a lot of the terrible things of the world and coming here really isn't much different. But the things that people talk about and how they've continued to stay strong in this gospel and gain their testimonies has been amazing and life changing for me. I've seen how missionary work has touched their lives and can't help but want to help bring people unto Christ.
Everything about this gospel is amazing. And I want as many people to hear it as possible. The blessings that come being a part of this gospel is incredible. I love seeing the hand of the Lord every single day of my life. Even if I don't end up serving a mission, I know that it's always important to be a missionary. Oftentimes the people that we need to reach out to are the ones sitting right in front of us. We never know when someone may be struggling. I know that it's important to always be sharing the gospel and helping to lift others up. Don't tear each other down. Don't tear yourself down.
The Relief Society had a stake fireside today. And again, it was amazing. We had two speakers that spoke about hope in difficult times. The first speaker worked with struggling LDS members. Most of the stories he told us had to do with young women who felt inadequate or unworthy. He shared how He helped them recognize the Lord's hand in each of their lives and how much He truly did love them. They each would go home and write down anything that touched their hearts that week and to pay special attention to any acts of love. Most returned back the next week amazed, saying they never knew their lives were so great.
This made me think about my life... do I spend enough time thinking about the tender mercies of the Lord? There are SO many good things that happen to me daily and for some reason I only find time to complain about the amount of homework I have or the amount of hours I practice my flute. Imagine what I could do if I didn't complain about all of those things?! I imagine my life would be much more peaceful and I would be able to recognize all of the little things, for truly they are the big things.
One thing the speaker said tonight that I liked, was that we all chose this life! We voted to come down here and go through all of this! We knew life would be hard, yet we wanted to come and prove we could get through it and do it! And I know that we can with the help of the Lord. He is reaching out His hand for us to take. We just have to take it.
I love this gospel and I'm SO thankful for it. I'm thankful for such amazing parents that helped me to grow up in it. I'm thankful for the knowledge that I have and can't wait to continue learning more and more. I know missionary work is important, and even if we can't go on a mission, we can still be missionaries every single day. I know that God loves each and every one of us and He wants to help us get through all of the crazy things of life. I know that He is in our lives and blesses us every day, we just need to take a step back and realize it.
That's crazy that you listened to Elder Ballard's talk because I just read some quotes from that same talk!! That's crazy! I love the gospel too! No matter what you do in life, you'll do great things!!
ReplyDeleteCambri, thank you for sharing this. It means a lot. I have also been thinking about all of the complaining I do, and how I seem to take what I have for granted. We are so blessed! Thanks for your thoughts. Love you and miss you! :)
ReplyDelete