Three Men and a Door

A woman is ill in the hospital.
We were out one day looking for her family to see if we could help.

After we walked up to what used to be their house the door was off and three men were working inside. By working I mean, one man was scraping off the bottom of the front door with a dull knife, another was watching and the other was keeping busy doing something else. Although I was worried for the dull knife mans fingers we were all instant friends.

The conversation easily turned toward the gospel and all the different religions to be found.
Then we quickly explained how we believe in the Book of Mormon and handed one to the men.

Our minds were still focused on the sick woman and finding her family,
miraculously they did know of her and directed us to her family in the connecting apartment.
We left in a hurry and we were grateful to talk to the family.

As we were off to our next appointment we realized we didn't set a
time to see those men again.
Sitting in the car we didn't bow our heads or close our eyes, we
simply sat in silence and we prayed. A simple prayer to help those men
come closer Christ and if we could be the ones to help with that,
great :)

The next day we received a text from an unknown number asking 

"Is this the blonde or the brunet?"
Our prayer was answered! lol!

We know Christ doesn't come knocking at the most ideal time and we know we don't always have time to kneel down and offer up an elaborate 30 minute prayer.

But Christ does knock and prayer is real. God is also in the details.
His knock may come from a loved one, friend, acquaintance, blond,
brunet, red head, stranger or anything in between :)

I know God loves those men in whatever life situation they are in. I also know God loves that family to help our limited information in finding them. Through this experience I again know prayer does work. Even simple informal prayers. If we are honestly seeking we will find
what we are looking for :)

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and
it shall be opened unto you:

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and
to him that knocketh it shall be opened."
Matthew 7:7-8

(a quick clip on the Book of Mormon)

Pornography Can Seem Appealing...

Pornography is so sad.
During my sophomore year of high school I choose to do a project on
pornography for my English class.
Thinking back I have no idea why I did this!
What 15 year old girl says " I want to publicly talk about porn and
its effects on society today!" -_-
Any way, it was a nightmare! There I was standing in front of my class
with a modest paper stick figure woman for display.

The cat calls started as soon as I started my object lesson on modesty.

There I was shaking as I read quotes on the poison known as pornography and eventually the teacher asked me to sit down. 

-_- 

Although I am no longer 15, Pornography is still a huge huge problem!

God gave us these beautiful bodies we eat, breathe, and live in.

These bodies He has trusted us with are important to Him.

"And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments."

(D&C 59:21) 

Yes, our bodies are beautiful and wonderful! They are creations of God!

We all are His masterpiece.

No wonder pornography can seem appealing.

Our bodies are beautiful! 

Although porn may seem appealing it truly is not. 

Looking at porn, creating porn or even thinking pornographic thoughts is forgetting God.

No, we are not perfect and in this world it may seem impossible to get away from the poison that is porn. 

But with God all things are possible.

I love you :) and I don't need your confessions but God does.

Go and confess to Him.

Our bodies are Holy. 

I know as we do our best to turn away from sin God WILL ALWAYS make up the rest.

He is there to help clean out the poison. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen 

(here is a link on overcoming pornography)

For those Unbarable Life Moments

This last weekend a woman had an assisted suicide in Oregon.
That is where doctors help with someone's wish to take their own life.
I don't know the details because as a missionary we try not to focus
on the news but the people around us.
When I heard this my heart reached out to this woman.
I am not here to judge, her trials must have been hard and I know her
decision has people across the world thinking about their lives and
the value of them.
God gave us our bodies and our life here on earth.
They are His and we are here to take care of them the best we can.

We all go through hard things. I am reading in the Book of Mormon
where there is a very stubborn, set minded people.
They are going through some extremely rough and hard battles.
Reading their experiences has really helped me understand the
importance of trusting God. Although this passage is a little harsh it
also helped me understand the importance of having Godly sorrow for
our trials rather then a self harming lamenting sorrow.

"And it came to pass that the Nephites began to repent of their
iniquity, and began to cry even as had been prophesied by Samuel the
prophet; for behold no man could keep that which was his own, for the
thieves, and the robbers, and the murderers, and the magic art, and
the witchcraft which was in the land.

Thus there began to be a mourning and a lamentation in all the land
because of these things, and more especially among the people of
Nephi.

And it came to pass that when I, Mormon, saw their lamentation and
their mourning and their sorrow before the Lord, my heart did begin to
rejoice within me, knowing the mercies and the long-suffering of the
Lord, therefore supposing that he would be merciful unto them that
they would again become a righteous people.

But behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto
repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the
sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them
to take happiness in sin.

And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite
spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die. Nevertheless they
would struggle with the sword for their lives."

Mormon 2:10-14

What I am inviting myself and the rest of you to do is take care of
the body and life God has given you.
We are His children and I know He is in control even when things may
seem unbearable.
Please have hope in Him.

Let us not curse God even in our hard trials. Let us take care of the
gifts He has given us and let us turn to our Savor who is quick to
forgive and to save. This is my testimony that it is only through Him
we may live! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

(here is a link to a kind of cheesy by good message on suicide)

Musicals and Singing in the Car.

Recently a production came out called 

The Lamb of God.
It is a musical production of the life of Christ put together by
various Christian denominations who worked together to create it.

My companion was given the CD's and we have been listening to the
soundtrack non stop.
The last song of the first disk is right after Christ's death. 

As we sat and listened it talked about how hope did not die with Christ but
that it was here hope was made.
I thought of our Savior on the cross and how he cried out because The
Father left Him, Christ, alone.
"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli,
Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?"
Matthew 27:46
We teach a non denominational bible study class and we just finished
reading Matthew.
When Christ called out "Why hast thou forsaken me?" The class was puzzled.
Why had God left His Son alone on the cross?
We explained because Christ had to be the perfect sacrifice He
couldn't have help.
He needed to do it alone.
But it wasn't until two weeks later as we were listing to the soundtrack in
the car this image began to make its way into my heart.
The image of Christ on the cross was portrayed in a beautiful array of
music and words.
I was overcome with the scene and these thoughts came to my mind.

God had to leave Christ so Christ would never leave us.

If we will but trust in what He has done for us we never need to feel alone.
I knew this before but now I feel this truth even more!

(This was the car in front of us on our way to the library!)

Friend or Foe?

God knows me better then I know myself.
  A few weeks ago we had word that I would be getting a new teaching companion.
I was so nervous. "Would she like me?" " Would we get along?"
Each night I would pray to know what to say so we could be friends.
(Living with someone 24/7 is no peace of cake, being kind is a must!)
As I drove over to the transfer sight I wanted to cry.
Sometimes I can be a tad bit dramatic ;) and that was exactly the case here.
I had nothing to worry about.
Conversation came easy and teaching the people in our area have brought
  some powerful experiences.
I didn't know this girl but I expected the worst before she came.
God knows me better then I know myself.
Again I am grateful and excited to bring others to Christ with the
talented and beautiful Sister Guilott!

"Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give the aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand."
-How Firm a Foundation hymn no. 85

God Has a Plan

God has a plan.

A Woman we know lost her son to leukemia.

Then on the following Sunday she went up in front of the congregation and bore her testimony of the Savior.

Her entire testimony was full of the Spirit.

I couldn't help but cry as I felt Gods love for her fill that room.

He gave her so much strength to make it through. 

She talked about young trees,

 when the wind blows then the tree becomes stronger when it is grown.

This made me reflect on my life.

Boy has the wind blown.

And looking back I am grateful for it.

After she sat down another young woman stood up. 

She also testified God has a plan.

The night before she helped an elderly couple as he slipped away from this life.

The wife cried thinking it was the end, that she would never see him again.

This young woman although not a avid church goer 

heard herself in this woman's sobs.

Something told her that wasn't right.

This inst the end. 

She would in fact see her loved ones again.

Love like that does not end.

Spiders are Friends?

Washington has more spiders then I have ever seen in my entire life. 

Last year we would walk along the road with our arms out stretched to catch the webs before they hit our face. 

This year a spider appeared by our front door and built a beautiful large web.

We were freaked out by her at first. 

But each night as we passed by her (we think it was a girl spider) we became a little more comfortable with her. 

One night we even saw a bug fly right into her web! 

She ate it so fast we quickly found another bug and watched her eat again. 

The people we live with cleaned up her web and took the door decoration she lived in down. 

When we came home we noticed the door decoration she lived in sitting in our apartment.

Fear came over us as we realized she could be in our part of the house. 

We told the people we lived with and they gave us some counsel. 

They told us a story of a young boy going into the mountains to prove himself. 

On the way down he meet a snake. 

The snake asked the boy to take him down the mountain.

The boy refused.

Earnestly the snake explained how he would freeze if the boy did not take him down to the village below. 

The boy still refused for fear the snake would bite him. 

The snake promised he would do no such thing. 

The boy finally agreed, picked up the snake, and carried him down the mountain.

Right before they reached the village the snake turned around and bit the boy. 

They boy asked "Why did you do that? You promised you wouldn't."

The snake responded "You knew who I was before you picked me up."

Sister Owens and I prayed to find the spider. 

A few days later we found her bigger then ever in the extra coat closet. 

The people we live with came down, kindly took her out and again knocked down all lingering web. 

Through this experience I realized how important it is to not become comfortable with things that can hurt us. 

There is no use in feeding the fire or thinking we are an exception to the rule. 

Spiders bite. Snakes bite. Sin bites. 

Becoming comfortable with empty promises does not take the consequences away. 

"No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."