Elder Malm's Talk on 3 pillars

What meeting a general authority can do

Elder Malm

Today (June 24 2012) I meet a general authority. His name is Elder Malm. He came up to my companion and i and he asked how we were doing? We told him we were doing fine. Then we shook his hand. I noticed his last name as I shook his hand. It was Elder Malm. As soon as he shook my hand I felt the spirit come upon me so strongly. It was awesome! It was awesome talking to him. 

He asked us if we were there when he spoke 2-3 weeks ago at the MTC? I said yes. He said great. I remember him telling us about 3 basic pillars for missionary work. The three pillars that he told us about was 1. Desire, 2. Work, & 3. Faith. He then listed things that need to happen under each one. 

1. Desire

• We need to have a testimony, and know that it is true.
• We need to love God: This one was big for me, because I knew that I was going to be challenged while on my mission, and that I would run into problems. I realized that sometimes I blamed God for bad things that had happened to me or my family. When he said that we needed to love God, I felt bad for all of the bad things that I had blamed God for. 
• We need to love others: This is true. When we love others, blessings will come to us. Then your day and the other persons day will go better.

2. Work

• Work Hard: This means that we need to be studying the scriptures, helping people out with things that they need, etc. When we do this we will be blessed. 
• Work Smart: We need to be and work smart.
• Focused: At first when he said this I thought to myself what does he mean by focused? Focused doesn't belong under work. Then he said that when we work hard and are smart then we should be focused on the work. Then it made sense. I thought to myself that in order for work to happen we need to be focused on the work, and we do that by working hard & smart. When we do these things then we will be focused on the work and then the work can move forward.

3. Faith

• No "baggage": I loved how he explained this to us. In order to be a successful missionary we need to get ride of our sin, because if we don't, then missionary work can not happen because if we have sin on our mind then we will be thinking about that, instead of being focused on what we need to do, and how we can help out our investigators. He encouraged us to repent of our sins. 
• No Limits: What I got from this is that we need to limit ourselves, to things that we do. What I mean by this is that we should be finding people to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, instead of watching a Mormon message, or checking facebook posts, etc. just to pass time away. Instead of doing these things when we don't have time. We can be finding people on chat, planning for lessons, reading a general conference talk, reading preach my gospel, etc.
• Thy will- What I got from this is we need to trust in the Lord with whatever we do. When we do trust in the Lord, He will help us out with whatever we need. I can testify to this, because when my brother got kicked out of the house for bad things that he did I was mad/angry and heart broken. I was mad and angry at him because he had done some bad things. My heart was broken because I wasn't going to see my brother as much as I wanted to, because he was getting kicked out of the house. That was a sad day for me and my family. Through pray and relying on Heavenly Father to help my brother out I got through it. I know that when we rely on/trust the Lord that He will help us out with whatever we need. 

He also talked about what work, desire, and faith have to do with planning, prayer, and persistence. He drew a triangle with work, desire & faith at each point. He then told us that the line that connects work and desire is planning. When we plan we have both work and desire because when we are planning we are working to plan for our investigators, and planning leads to desire, because we desire them to come closer to Christ. The line that connects desire and faith is prayer. When we pray for someone we have a desire to help people, but in order for that prayer to work we need to have faith. The last line that connects work and faith is persistence. Persistence connects work and faith because persistence means continuing doing the work. In the middle of the triangle he put obedience & Consecration. Obedience because when we are obedient to God all of these things will happen. Also because we need to follow what we are asked to do. consecration because we need to have the spirit with us, or else the work can not go on. When we have the spirit with us and we are obedient towards what the spirit directs us to do, the work will move forward and the triangle will be complete, and we can help people come closer to Christ.

I guess I wrote this blog because once when Elder Malm shook my hand his talk made sense. I encourage everyone who reads this to follow what Elder Malm said. I know that as you do that your mission will be better, go a lot faster, and that Heavenly Father will help you.

Imagine what spending a little time with the family can do!

Imagine what spending a little time with the family can do!

I wish I had of done things like this with my family before I left my mission. I guess what I am trying to say is I wish that I would have spent more time doing things with them. Such as going on more walks, swimming, playing basketball, etc. I did this with my sisters occasionally, but I wish I would have done more things with the whole family, before my mission. I also wish that I wouldn't have argued/gotten mad at my family for things they did, that I didn't like. As John 13: 34 says " 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye ^alove one another; as I have loved you, that ye also ^blove one another." I should have done this loved them, instead of fighting/arguing or getting mad at them. Now that I am a missionary I have noticed so many things that I have done wrong to them. It makes me feel sad to. 

I love these three videos and what they teach, about how family is important. I love how the family is playing together and enjoying themselves. Again I wish that I did this because they seem so happy, and I was happy, but I could have been happier. I also wish that I would've read my scriptures with them more often. I could have helped them understand the scriptures when they were confused. Oh well I guess it is like refekki says "It Doesn't matter its in the past." You can't change things that have happened in the past. I just have to move on, and when I get home from my mission I will spend a lot more time with them. I know that when I do, that they will be a lot more happier (not that they all ready are) I encourage everybody who reads this to spend time with your family! I know that if you do that your lives will be happier. Just like the videos say imagine what spending a little time can do with you family. I can promise you that as you do that your life, and their lives will be better. 

I remember when my brother got into some trouble, I spent time with him and I encouraged him to go to church, and keep on reading his scriptures, and pray. I keep doing that with each letter I write. i hope one of these days that he will take my advice and go to church, start having personal prayer, and read his scriptures. I know that as he does this that his life will be better. I know that as I and people do these things that it will make their lives happier. Again I encourage you to spend time with your family, and help them out.

Dare to Stand Alone

President Thomas S. Monson

I was watching this Mormon message. I think it is great, because it talks about standing alone. We do need to stand alone and follow Heavenly Father when put into tough decission. If we do we will be blessed, and our lives will be much better. I remember when I got my firs job at Wahooz Family Fun zone being tempted to work on Sundays, because my brother worked on Sundays. I loved following my brother's example. When I was filling out the application for the job I had to think about if I wanted to work on Sundays. Sure there were some advantages to working on Sundays. Such as; getting more hours so that I could make more money, which would help pay for my mission. I would be away from my family for a while. I could also be with some people that I enjoyed working with. There were some disadvantages to. Such as; not going to church, not being able to renew my covenants that I made with my Heavenly Father at baptism. I wouldn't be able to see friends at church. I would also not be able to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many more disadvantages to such as; not being able to go to temple preparation classes, which would cause me not to be able to go to the temple. That would have made it so that I wouldn't be here on my mission. In the end though I prayed to my Heavenly Father, and I asked Him for help of what I should do. I then thought about the negative and positive things that I listed above. In the end though I received an answer to my prayer. My answer was that I needed to go to church, instead of working on Sundays. This was hard because again I wanted to earn more money and follow my brother Andrew. He works on Sundays. In the end though I am glad that I didn't work on Sundays, because first of all if I had of been working on Sundays then I wouldn't be on my mission, serving the Lord. I would also have probably ran into some troubles just like my older brother did. For instance him not serving a mission, getting blessings from going to church, etc. I am glad that I could set an example for my older brother by going to church, serving a mission, going to institure, not dropping our of college, etc. I am glad that I did these things because now my older brother is trying to go to church at least once a month. I am also glad that I am writing him letters each month. He really enjoys getting them. I just sent him a package. It included some candy and a picture of the Salt Lake City temple. I included a letter on the back of the postcard of the Salt Lake City temple. I encourage him to read the Book of Mormon, have personal prayer, and go to church. One more thing I included in that letter is I said "I hope that one day that I can see you in the temple." I hope that gets him motivated to do the right things. I can't wait until the day comes when I get to see my brother go through the temple. That will be a happy day. In the end though I am glad that I took President Thomas S. Monson's advice when he said that we need to stand alone. I love his quote. "You are never alone when you are standing with the Lord." It is true. That is what I did I stood with the Lord and look where it brought me. I am serving the Lord now, and I love it! I hope that we can all stand with the lord when going through temptation to do something wrong. I can promise you that if you do, that the Lord will help you out. I can also promise you that God loves you. He loves everybody!