The Sting of the Scorpion 

Elder Patrich Kearon

-of the seventy

I love this Mormon message it goes over a lot of things that i can relate to missionary work & my family. I love the story that he tells about the scorpion. He said that he was consistantly told by his parents to wear his shoes. He was on a camping trip once with his parents. He felt that he didn't need to wear shoes because he was going on a a short walk. He put flip flops on. He then went for a walk and then he felt a sting. A scorpion had stung him. He ended up being in pain. He also was in pain on the way to the hospital which was more than 2 hours away. I love this message because I figured  out 1 commandment and a rule that I need to follow. As it says in Exouds 20:12 "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth." I love this commandment because we do need to honor and love our parents. The second thing that I learned from this Mormon message is with every decission we make there is a consequence for it. It could be a good or bad consequence. Elder Kearon made a decission to wear flip flops instead of shoes. He paid a consequence for it because a scorpion stung him. His consequences was that and being in pain until he got to the doctors. another thing that i learned from this is that as missionaries we need to follow the mission rules. If we do then we will always have the spirit to be with us. The spirit will also guide us. I also like when Elder Kearon said "disreguarding what we know to be right whether through laziness or rebelliousness always brings undesirable and spirtually damaging consequences" This is true becauswe when we don't follow rules we will get undesirable consequences. I also like when he said "We must cease fighting against God and instead give our whole hearts to Him holding nothing back. Then He can heal us, then he can clense usfrom the venomous sting of sin." I love this quote because it is true. When we pray to Heavenly Father for foregiveness he will foregive us, but we need to be wise and never do it again.
One relationship that this video had that i liked is when the doctor helped the boy get better. This relates to Jesus because He atoned for our sins and has mercy upon us. Through this we can repent of the bad things that we have done and be foregiven of them. I really liked this Mormon message because of these points I made. I encourage all who read this to live by what Elder Patrich Kearon told us.  I know that when we do that our lives will be happier, and we can come closer to our HEavenly Father.

Parenting: Touching the Hearts of our Youth

Missionaries: Touching the Hearts of our Investigators

I love this Mormon message, because it just doesn't relate to parents touching the hearts of the youth. It can relate to missionaries and how we can touch our investigators. I love it when Elder Robert D. Hales related a story of his grandson asking if he was there. I love this, because when I saw it I thought of how we could use this to touch the hearts of our investigators. The first thing that I got out of this is when Elder Hales said to the parents that "being there means understanding the hearts of our youth, and connecting with them. Connecting means not just conversing with them, but doing things with them to." This is one of the ways that we can help our investigators come closer to Christ is by communicating with them, connecting them with God & Jesus Christ through prayer. Also understanding their hearts, and what they are going through. I also love the second thing that Elder Hales says "To truly understand their hearts we must do more than just be in the same room, or obtain the same family and church activities. We must plan and take advantage of teaching moments, that make a deep and lasting impression upon their minds and hearts." We can use Elder Hales advice with our investigators by helping them understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do that by planning for investigators in companionship study. We take advantage of teaching moments that make a deep and lasting impression that can affect our investigators minds by talking with them over chat for the first time. Maybe when we say something to them that will lead to another question that will eventually help them come loser to God thee Father and Jesus Christ. I love the last comment that Elder Hales makes. He asks the parents "Fathers, Mothers as you drive or walk children to school or take them to various activities do you take the time to take the ear plugs so they can hear you, and feel of your love? Do you take the time the time to talk about their hopes and dreams and fears?" We can use what Elder Hales said here by not listening to music while on chat, or while in a lesson. We need to pay attention to our investigators and what they have to say.. We also need to talk with our companions about what we think of the investigators and how they are doing, also if they are coming closer to God & His Son Jesus Christ. When we do this our companionship's will be much better because we will know where we want to go with our investigators. I remember my Choir teacher use to tell us that "communication is everything."-Rich Lapp. This is ture because when we don't communicate with our companions or other people such as our investigators then the work can't move forward, because if we don't communicate with each other then we will all be lost.  The last thing that Elder Hales says I think really relates to us as missionaries. He said "For our interactions to truly touch their heart, we have to pay attention to them just as we pay attention to a trusted adult collegue, or close friend. Most imprtant is letting them talk. Then asking them questions, and then being willing to listen, yes listen, and listen some more. I love this last thing that Elder Hales said. it relates to our investigators.This relates to our investigators because we do need to teach them about the gospel of Jesus Christ. In order to do that though we need to make sure that our investigators understand everything by asking them questions. Once when we ask them questions we need to listen to them,  and make sure that they understand everything that we have taught them.
I know that when we relate the suggestions that Elder Hales said to our investigators that our investigators will come closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, by getting baptized and confirmed a member of the church. I challenge all who read this to do these things, because I know that when we do that we will bring people closer to Heavenly Father & His Son Jesus Christ.

Strength Beyond My Own-

I love this video. I love everything every person says in this video, because it is true. I know that when I am at the temple that I feel the spirit a lot. I love helping people come closer to Christ by doing their temple work for them. I remember when I took out my endowments that  it was like Jesus Christ & Heavenly Father were actually there with me. Just like the girl said in the video I felt like I was wrapped in God's love. The spirit is so strong at the temple that I would want to go there everyday. (unfortunately I can't because I am a missionary bringing people closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ) When I get home I will try and go every day. after my mission. There are so many things talked about in this video. that I agree with. The first one is when I go to the temple I feel God's love wropped around me. It is just like having God right by my side. I also love in this video where it says that when we go to the temple that we are away from worldly things. I remember a talk at the MTC fireside when a speaker said that when we go to the temple that Satan can not enter with us. I think that is great, because I feel the spirit a lot at the temple the spirit tells me of what I should do. I love what Elder Nelson said in this Mormon message. Each temple is a house of learning There are many blessings and things that we can do when going to the temple.I will just list a few below.

Blessings & Things That we Can do at the Temple:

• The spirit of the Lord is always with you in the temple.
• It is peaceful in the temple.
• Satan can never enter the temle.
• When we help people with baptisms for the dead, endowments, etc. we bring them closer to Jesus Christ.
• We can be sealed with our families for eternity.
• Heavenly Father will help you out with problems that you are having.
• We can find peace and joy in the temple.
• Create a better relationship with our Heavenly Father.
• We go to the temple so we can be taught by the spirit
• We can receive direction in our lives.

 These are just some of the amazing things we can do at the temple & blessings  that we get when we go to the temple. I love these two videos on the temple. I encourage everybody who reads this post (who is a member) to go to the temple. If you aren't a member I encourage you to walk on temple grounds, because when you do you can still feel the spirit. .I love going to the temple. I hope all members of the church do to. Again I encourage all members to go to the temple. 

Continue In Patience

President Dieter F.Uchtdorf

I love this Mormon message by President Uchtdorf. I love the definition that he gives he said "Patience means staying with something until the end. It means delaying immediate gratification for future blessings. He talks about how a  study was done with 10 4 year old children.  The experiment was done by giving the 4 your old children a marshmallow. The person doing the study then told the child that he/she could wait . 15 minutes and get 2 marshmallows. What the professor found out is only 3 out of the 10 children (30%) could wait. What i got from this Mormon message is that we all need to be patient with one another. If we are our lives will be better, and more rewarding. Just like the 3 kids who waited that 15 minutes. They were rewarded with another marshmallow. Just like the 3 kids who had enough patience to wait 15 minutes for another marshmallow I encourage all of you who read this blog to always have patience with people. I have learned through out the years of being a missionary that when I was not patient with people or investigators that the day seemed to drag on, and on, and on. It seemed like the day would never end, but since I have watched this Mormon message I have tried to continue in patience with people and investigators. I have found out that when I had patience with people and investigators that my day goes by a lot faster and I am more happy. I remember when my front wheelchair tire broke off I was a little mad, but I remained patient. I know that because I got to call my dad to see what he wanted me to do. I got a letter from my dad that said that he liked how I wasn't mad about my wheelchair breaking off. That made me happy because that was having patience. I am still having patience because the guy who was suppose to come fix my wheel didn't come Through my patience my days have gone better and they have gone faster. I love the suggestions that President Uchtdorf gave in this talk about having patience. He recommends that we should keep the commandments. Second we need to trust in God our Heavenly Father, Third we need to serve Him with Christ like Love. Fourth we need to exercise faith and hope in the savior. Last thing he recommends is to NEVER give up!. I love these suggestions that he gives us, because they are true. These four suggestions are what I would like to talk about. 

1. Keep the Commandments

I know that when we keep the commandments of Heavenly Father, that we will always have His spirit that when he prayed the answer didn't come immediately, but he learned that with us. When we have His spirit to be with us we can continue in patience. 

2. Trust in Heavenly Father

I love what President Uchtdorf says about receiving answers to your prayers. He said that "the answer didn't come immediately, but God's promises are not always fulfilled as quickly or in the way  we might hope." I know this to be true. When I need help with something or want to know something Heavenly Father doesn't give it to me right away. He waits a little and makes me wait, but helps me find the answers. He wants me to be patient. I love the scripture 

3. Serve Heavenly Father with Christ-like love

I know this is true to. Since I have been on my mission I have been serving in the temple as a veil worker. I always serve in the temple with Christ like love. I am also always patient with people inside the temple. When i am patient I can feel the spirit. I also try to be loving like Christ as a missionary. I say try to because when I am on chat sometimes we get trolls/pranks. Sometimes this makes me mad and I am not loving people like i should, but when I do love people on chat weather they are a troll/prank my day goes by a lot faster, and the spirit stays with me and helps me out with questions. I love that. I am improving on having Christ-like love.

4. Exercise Faith and hope in the Savior

This is a great key in patience. In order to have patience we need to have faith that Heavenly Father will help us out with patience. I remember I was at a priesthood meeting and President Gubler spoke to us about praying to have faith everyday. In order to have faith we need to pray for it. When we pray for faith and have faith that will increase our patients. I love Matthew 14:22-33 when Peter was drowning but he saw the Savior walking on water and asked for the Lords help. Peter saw the winds he was afraid and lost faith. Jesus did help Peter, but asked Peter why he had little faith? When Peter had little faith he had little patience to. If Peter had of had more faith then he would've had more patience and probably wouldn't have panicked. I love what Presidetn Gubler said in his talk faith and fear do not go together. Peter had little faith, because of that the Savior didn't help him until the last minute. I know that when we have faith and hope in the Savior that our patience will increase. When we do that our lives will be better, because we will have more faith and patience with one another.

5. Never Give Up!

I love the last suggestion President Uchtdorf recommends to us. I like this because we should never give up. When we give up we lose all the things mentioned above. We lose them because we won't want to do any of them. When we lose them then we don't have patience, and our lives will not be as good. I encourage all who read this blog to NEVER give up. Heavenly Father will help you with patience, and anything you need. In order for Heavenly Father to help us though we need to do these 5 things that President Uchtdorf has suggested to us.

I know that when we do these 5 suggestions that President Uchtdorf gave us that we can have patience, with anything,just like the 3 4 year olds did. I again encourage you to all have patience. The reason is because it is a Christ like attribute, and it will help you out in life. I know that we can all have patience. If 3 4 year olds can do it, so can you. 

Moments that Matter Most

President Uchtdorf

I love this message by President Uchtdorf. I love  his quote in this message when he said "We would do well to slow down a little. Focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that mater most."-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. The reason I agree with this quote is because when I was at home I always complained about the bad things that had happened to me. For instance when I had a bad day at work I would complain about a team leader that I did not like. That didn't get me anywhere though. It just took 5 positive things away that happened in my life. When I complained that not only brought me down but it brought everybody that was around me  down. What I should have done is focused on the positive things that happened at work instead of the negative, or as President Uchtdorf said I should have slowed down, and seen the things that mattered most. I also liked when President Uchtdorf said "Dilengently doing the things that matter most will lead us to the savior or the world." This is true. I should have foucssed on the positive things that happened to me, then the savior would've been with me more often. I encourage everyone who reads this blog to think about the positive moments that happen in life instead of the negative. I know that it will  help you and the people around you out in life as it has helped me.