Life's Hurdles

Keeping The Sabbath Day Holy

So this past week we had a wonderful time at church. Sacrament meeting was quite good. Both Elder Martin and I spoke and then the Stake President spoke. And it was just a great experience all together. The past few months I have been reflecting upon the things I have learned so far on my mission and I was thinking about how my view of Church has changed. Before my mission I, like most kids, just went because my parents told me to and just sorta "went through the motions" and I never understood the why. As I have studied and had the opportunity to to teach people about church my whole view has changed and it has taken a new meaning in my life. 

What is the Purpose of Church?

In Moroni 6:6 it says, "And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus" There are many great bonuses of going to church. But above all is to take the sacrament. This holy and sacred ordinance symbolizes the body and blood of Christ. And it is the only thing that we do in church that we can't do anywhere else. Often times here in the South we have people say, "well in the bible it says, were two or more are gathered in my name there I'll be also. So I don't need to go to church" 

During Christ's ministry in the Americas he taught the people about this ordinance. "...he commanded that they should give unto the multitude. And when the multitude had eaten and were filled, he said unto the disciples: Behold there shall one be ordained among you, and to him will I give power that he shall break bread and bless it and give it unto the people of my church, unto all those who shall believe and be baptized in my name. And this shall ye always observe to do, even as I have done, even as I have broken bread and blessed it and given it unto you." (3 Nephi 18:4-6)

But Why? This is what changed my view. When we are baptized we except Christ as our Savior. And we have our sins washed away and we "become new creatures," being cleansed of our sin. But our life as sinners doesn't end at baptism. We each make mistakes each and every day and will never be perfect in this life, but God says "no unclean thing can enter into his rest" So right there we would be disqualified for salvation if we can't remain clean, but we can. And this is how, each week when we partake of the sacrament and we can in a sense be baptized again. We renew our covenant that we made at baptism. The sacrament prayer on the bread is

"O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen." (Moroni 4:3) The part about having the spirit is what cleanses us. We learn that the Holy Ghost is the sanctifier, meaning it purifies us and as we receive the spirit we can become clean! Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone once said that "the sacrament is the most holy and sacred ordinance we do in the church" And the reason is it ties us to the Atonement of Christ, and links us to his mercy and allows us to one day live with God our Father, and Jesus Christ and be clean and perfect even as he is perfect.

The Power Of A Testimony

So this past week Elder Martin and myself were out trying to visit this lady that use to be taught by missionaries. After many attempts we finally found her sitting outside. It was pretty awesome because she was rather rude to us at the beginning, she wouldn't shake my hand and was very unhappy to see us,

but we were very polite and just talked to her and found out she got offended by something a missionary had said to her. We simply bore testimony about the Savior and the importance of our message and it was incredible. She went from rude, to happy, to talk about Christ and wanted to continue learning. By the end of about 15 min of talking to her we asked if we could come back and teach her again, her reply was not what was expected from the first impression. She said, "Umm, well lets see. Today is Tuesday so how about Wednesday night?" Wow I didn't expect that. So we asked her to read from The Book of Mormon before tomorrow and she did and it was a wonderful experience.

But what was it that changed her heart? It couldn't be because were two really really really ridiculously good looking young men, could it? Nah, The only thing, power, or influence on earth that has the ability to change our hearts is THE SPIRIT. "...the Lord did pour out his Spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming" (Alma 16:16) 

What is a testimony? And how did this change her heart? It is a witness of what one knows to be true. For example one may say after receiving a personal experience pertaining to repentance, "I know that Christ forgives sin." It is a firm declaration of something that is true and right. This simple declaration of what is true invited the Holy Ghost. The reason for this is that the Spirit testifies or confirms things that are true. If things are true, the Spirit comes and hearts are changed. And not only others but our own as well. Sharing what we know with others not only helps them but strengthens our testimonies in the process.

If we don't have a testimony, how can we obtain one? We must first study it out in our minds what we want to know. Example, if we want to know if Joseph Smith is a prophet we must first know who he is and what it means to be a prophet. Or, if we want to know if Christ is our Savior we must first learn what that means and what makes it possible for him to save us. Then We must go to God, the author of all truth, "He who knoweth all things" and ask him in prayer if it is true and right. Then we must patiently wait for him to tell us. And we will know by the power of the Holy Ghost. "And by the power of the Holy Ghost [you] my know the truth of all things" (Moroni 10:5)

I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that God lives. Christ is our Lord and Savior. And that His church as been restored to the earth by a modern day prophet.