Common Misunderstandings

Talking to people all day every day about religion,

we get asked a lot of questions!

I've noticed a trend with some main misunderstandings of our beliefs

doctrine

and purpose.

That's why I'm dedicating this blog post to debunking those misunderstandings! :D

Here are three of the most common misunderstandings:

1. We are here to trick people into joining our church.

Our purpose is to INVITE others

to come unto Christ through Faith in Him,

Repentance,

Baptism and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost,

and Enduring to the End.

We want people to try our message out themselves

by kneeling and asking God if what we share is truly His message!

The last thing we want are those we teach to accept our word alone

without the witness of the Holy Ghost that it is true.

2. We save ourselves through our works.

This is easily the most common one we get as missionaries.

"Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah;

for he is full of grace and truth." 2 Nephi 2:6

We gain eternal life/saved through  and only through Christ's grace.

That is the cleansing power that allows us to be comfortable

in our Heavenly Father's presence and allow us to live with Him after this life.

Christ has said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15

That is what He asks for us to do.

Love him and therefore feel his Grace working in our lives.

That is why we believe our actions or works are so important

because Christ has asked us to act by keeping his commandments.

"faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone...

shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works."
-James 2:17-18

Our faith without works is dead and we believe strongly

that true faith leads to ACTION.

3. We worship Joseph Smith.

Our church has been given the nickname "Mormons"

but the true title is

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

We believe that God has called a prophet in these days

and the first prophet to restore his church in our day is Joseph Smith.

We have a current prophet President Thomas S. Monson.

Christ is the center of our worship services.

Yes we discuss Joseph Smith often because he restored Christ's church!

He brought back, in it's fullness, The Lord's kingdom

to the earth today.

It was through honest studying of the Bible

and personal prayer in which He received a miraculous answer!

His story is miraculous as those prophets of old in biblical times.

We worship Christ as our Savior and our weekly services include the sacrament

which is a reminder of Christ's sacrifice for all of us.


Christ is our Savior and I can testify that His kingdom is on the earth once again.

I can also say without a doubt that you can know it too

through your own experience.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Contact the local missionaries here.





 

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One Step at a Time

The young men president over our congregation recently asked us to talk to his youth!

I LOVE these opportunities.

We felt inspired to talk about how, when, and why we decided to serve a mission.

As I was testifying of how I came to have the strength to take that step into my mission

I realized when I took that step, I didn't have the knowledge I could do it for two years.

I honestly didn't know if I would be able to do it.

However I did know the Lord's promises were true.

"I can do all things through Christ." Philippians 4:13

I knew He had a prophet on the earth today and after the revelation of the "age change."

It was manifested to me that now was the time.

The Lord will make it possible to do anything He commands us to.

"For I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men,

save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing

which he commanded them." 1 Nephi 3:7

He had commanded me and I knew he would provide a way.

Walking away from my family, knowing I wouldn't see them for two years,

was the hardest thing I've ever done.

I promised myself I wouldn't look back as I walked through those doors.

Sitting down in a huge congregation of missionaries I felt a definite power.

That night and continuing nights after I received strength for the next day.

Not for the next two years, but for the next day.

That's how God works.

He gives us enough to take one step at a time,

because if He gave us strength for the two years,

I wouldn't have the blessing of being constantly reminded how truly dependent on Him I am.

Jesus Christ is my Savior and yours.

Through His Atonement we can overcome and do anything.

In the name of He who makes all things possible, Jesus Christ, Amen.

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Green Wood

Getting the opportunity to serve people are some of my favorite moments on my mission.

There was a specific person that we would move wood for.

She would keep her wooden stove running when it got cold to stop her pipes from freezing allowing her to have water in the house. 

As we searched through her garage we were instructed to find the dry wood and avoid the green wood.

Standing, Confused, not being able to tell the difference between what really is green wood or not, we decided to bring it all in since it all looked pretty much the same.

She came out and assessed the wood, 

Bringing a piece of wood to her nose she smelled it and after shaking her head she set it down next to the main pile.

"That's green wood." She plainly said. 

Scratching my head, I asked how she could tell.

With a simple response she said, "You can smell it, It's green wood."

Being the city boy I am, confused and impressed at the same time, I accepted it and watched as she separated the green wood from the dry wood.

We don't know the follies of Satan.

The smell of green wood was not familiar to me, 

In consequence I made the mistake of collecting green wood that does not burn well.

Many times we are not familiar with the follies of Satan.

Many times without direction we make the wrong decision, not knowing, and fall into his trap.

 

Today we have a Prophet on this earth.

Who knows very well, through inspiration and preparation throughout his life, the smell of "green wood."

God speaks to us through a prophet today.

Don't make the mistake of collecting green wood!

Especially when we are given direction on how to pick out the dry from the green.

Satan is trying harder and harder and the world is becoming increasingly darker.

It will get harder to be able to discern between right and wrong.

Trust in the Prophet. 

Seek the light that comes from his inspired counsel.

Read of his words and listen to his direction.

And avoid the green wood.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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GPS Failure: Receiving Direction

My heart sank as my GPS displayed the message that the battery was low.

With a broken car charger and a major lack of sense of direction, the thought of not having a GPS worried me.

I was stuck in the middle of a city with no way of knowing how to get home.

After averting panicking, I pulled on the side of the road.

I knew the major roads to get home, however I didn't know how to find them.

The compass on the car pointed North and I knew that the street ran East and West.

No matter what, I knew that if I headed north, I would hit one of two major roads.

I took a deep breath, and continued on and eventually found my way home.

For those of you who know me, you know how bad my sense of direction is.

I had relied so heavily on the GPS that I hadn't learned the area.

When we are given the Gift of the Holy Ghost,

we are promised guidance as long as we are worthy of it.

However there are times when I have felt that direction hasn't come immediately.

What I didn't realize is that it did come, just not in the way I expected.

I felt as if the spiritual GPS had failed, I didn't know every step of the way!

However I was led home step by step.

We are given direction to make it back home to our Heavenly Father.

But day to day life we are required to constantly rely on him.

We know the destinations, but we need direction and strength from our Heavenly Father to get there safely.

I know God directs his children today.

He knows our goals and desires

He knows you personally.

And will bless and direct your life in ways that you didn't even know were possible!

Ask for direction.

It may not come in the way you expect,

But it will come as we honestly seek.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

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Falling Short

My first day in western New York, I bowed my head in prayer in the Sacred Grove and opened my heart to God.

I promised him that I would be exactly obedient and always work hard on my mission.

Then I set out and tried to live up to what I promised.

But I didn't live up to it.

I found myself some mornings waking up later than I should have.

Frustration found a way into my mind and I allowed it to discourage me.

I hesitated while street contacting and missed an opportunity.

My heavy eyelids won me over and I found myself sleeping through a study session.

I promised Heavenly Father and the Lord that I would work my hardest, yet here I am not being a perfect missionary.

Only two years to completely dedicate all of my time to serve the Lord and I'm not using that time to the fullest!

On one of many nights, I get down on my knees, bow my head, and open my heart to God once again.

Whispering the words in my head, I ask for forgiveness for falling short of my promise once again.

Then most importantly, I ask for the strength to be that missionary that God knows I can be.

My vision of my work has changed since that first day.

I'm not going to be a perfect missionary.

I won't be the perfect person that I want to be.

I'm going to be the person and missionary that God wants me to be, weaknesses and all.

Re evaluate your expectations for yourself,

and align them with the expectations that God has.

Then when you have that vision,

Get down on your knees,

Use the greatest gift God and his beloved Son has ever given you

The Atonement.

and Start Over.

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People in our lives

It's great how the Lord put's us with people for a reason.

We all are unique and each were made differently.

Think about how many people have lived on this earth and will still live, none of them are the same!

Think about how many people you interact with compared to the insanely huge number of total people who will live on this earth.

You are meant to be with those around you.

It's part of God's divine plan!

His Plan of Happiness includes all of us.

We are happy because we learn to love those around us and they learn to love us!

Charity is Joy!

I have been so blessed to spend the last 6 weeks with such incredible missionaries!!

They have taught me so much and brought me so much joy!

I wouldn't be the missionary or person I am right now without knowing them.

God prepared all of us to be in Canandaigua at that time.

Now I go to Lancaster and know that I will grow and find a unique joy that I can find nowhere else!

God is great and loves us enough to put us exactly where we need to be.

Ask him why you are where you are and why your with the people your with.

It's definitely not coincidence :)

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

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Well it's Snowing...

It snowed! :D It was really exciting!

 Then it snowed again.

 and again.

  Then it got cold.

Can you feel the excitement diminishing?

However it made for a great conversation starter,

"So, what do you think of the snow?"

I've gotten a wide range of answers, there were two answers that reached the two ends of the spectrum however.

It's dandruff falling from the sky and it's angels feathers falling from heaven.

Pretty opposite huh?

However it's the same snow storm.

How do we see the snow? How do we see the events in our life?

True happiness doesn't come from changing events, but rather changing how you view them.

Be thankful for who you are and that YOU, YES YOU! Has a Heavenly Father that knows you and loves you.

He has a hand in our lives and always will lead us towards true happiness if we let him.

Most of us, who seek after good, do a pretty good job at this.

But do we thank him for it?

Do we thank him even for the snow storms?

Tonight, when you're on your knees, thank him and let him know how much you appreciate him.

He is our Father and loves to hear how much we appreciate him. We are his work and glory!

Let's take time this season and give Thanks.

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Blessings through Others

One of my greatest joys on my mission is being a tool in the Lord's hands of blessing another's life and being an answer to prayers.

Time and time again we have been in the right place at the right time, very far from coincidence.

We were tracting at one point and knocked on someones door. She answered and didn't seem too interested in our message so we offered our help and she was taken back a bit.

She told us that she had huge stones she wanted to move and her neighbor who was going to do it for her hurt his back.

"But the problem is you are going to need a truck."

We smiled and pointed out the Chevy Colorado that we drive and she couldn't believe it. We set up a time and moved all the rocks for her.

The whole time she couldn't believe that two young men showed up on her door step offering to do this for free.

She kept pointing out how great God was to her.

How great is our Heavenly Father to all of us?

Especially when he provides us with the direction to be a blessing in the lives of others.

Seek the direction from the Holy Ghost.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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