A Time for Planting

A Time for Planting

W. Steve Albrecht

Brigham Young University–Idaho Devotional

April 5, 2005

Good afternoon. I am very pleased and excited to be here today. This school is a major part of my life. Years ago, my wife, LeAnn, then a new convert to the church from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, came to what was Ricks College to attend school. She had only been a member of the church for a few months and it was at this school that she formed her first knowledge and testimony of the Gospel. She can still recall those professors who made indelible impressions on her. While she was a student, she served as Vice President of Activities and was involved in the program bureau as a baton twirler. Now, LeAnn and I are the parents of 5 boys and 1 girl. While our daughter is leaving in a month for a mission to Switzerland, each of our five sons has already served and is now married. And guess what. All five of their wives are graduates from this school. So, even though I went to BYU-Provo as an undergraduate, every time we get together as a family, all the girls in our family talk about their fond memories in Rexburg. And, to top that off, our son was a quarterback on what was the Ricks College Football team about 10 years ago. You see, our family just can’t get enough of this outstanding school.

 As was noted in my introduction, I have now been teaching for over 30 years at three major universities. During that period, there have been several hundred instances where young men and women have come to me seeking advice about careers, job opportunities, graduate school, marriage and other major decisions. In each case, I have tried to give the best, Gospel-based counsel I could. For my few minutes today, I’d like to assume that you are a student who has come asking for advice. In our own way, I’d like to think of this presentation today as a one-on-one conversation with you, hopefully providing some practical guidance that will be helpful as you make major decisions in your lives.

 The Bible states that there is a time and season for everything. In Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 it states: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; A time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.” Right now, most of you are fully engaged in preparing for your future—you are in the planting stage of your lives. This is a very important time of your life. In fact, much of the happiness or sorrow and the success or failure you will experience throughout your life will be a result of the preparation and planting you do now and the options and opportunities you create for yourself while you are in this planting stage. You will reap only what you sow and so your goal should be to plant the best crops possible and to create as many opportunities as you can for yourself.

 I am a great believer that we can have much more success and happiness if we have more opportunities or choices or more of what I call options. People without options have no freedom. I personally believe that Heavenly Father wants us to use this planting stage to create as many and the best options we can for us and our future families.

Let’s talk about what an option is for a moment. Webster defines an option as a choice; the power, right or liberty of choosing; something that is or can be chosen; and the right, acquired for a consideration, to buy or sell something at a fixed price within a specific time. I’m sure you’ve all heard of stock options or the option to purchase a piece of land. A stock option is the right to buy a share of stock at a specific price. For example, if you hold the option to buy a share of stock at $5 and the market price rises to $15, you can buy the stock for $5 and immediately sell the stock for $15 on the same day, making $10 per share.

 We know that one of the reasons Heavenly Father sent us to this earth was to see if we could make good choices. This life is a testing ground. A pre-requisite to making good choices is having alternatives from which to choose. In fact, it is the ability to make choices that gives us freedom. A very important success and happiness strategy in this fast-changing world is to do everything possible to maximize your options and choices and, hence, freedom.

 While we live in a free country and have few, if any, externally or politically imposed constraints, many of us lose or limit our freedom by the actions we take and by the choices we make or fail to make. When the future is uncertain, as it is today, it pays to have a broad range of options available. Option theory rewards flexibility. In fact, your future successes and failures will largely depend on what options you provide for yourself while in this planting stage of your life.

 Let me give you a simple, but obvious example. Assume that two young women start BYU-Idaho on the same day. During their first three years, one studies harder than the other and earns a 3.6 cumulative GPA. The other, either explicitly or by default decides that school is a time for play as well as studying and does not work as hard as her friend. As a result, after 3 years of college, her cumulative GPA is 2.8. During their junior year, the two young women decide that they will apply to graduate school. Upon getting the applications, they realize that the minimum GPA for applying is a 3.0. Unfortunately, only one of the two young women can even apply. Because of her 2.8 GPA, the second young woman has lost an option.

 It is the same with life. In a rapidly-changing world, you should create and keep open as many options as you can so you will be nimble and can move quickly and take advantage of these options. As long as you keep your options open, you have more choices and freedom and will be more successful and happy in the future. There are several things you can do to maximize your options and keep yourself nimble and ready to act. Today, I would like to talk about eight. Hopefully, our discussion of these option-granting ideas will constitute practical advice that will bring you greater happiness in the future.

 Option producing strategy #1: Do everything you can to build a good reputation.

People with tarnished reputations, lose options in life. Sometimes this loss of options occurs at work and sometimes it happens at home. Let me give you a couple of examples. In the play, “All My Sons” written by Arthur Miller, there is a place where a son sees his father cheating in the business world. Up until then, his dad has been his hero. When he confronts his dad, his father says, “Son, everybody does it. You have to cheat to be successful.” The son replies, “I know dad, but I thought you were better than everyone else.” This father just lost options with his son. In another example, I am aware of a woman who worked for a corporation for 37 years. We believe she was honest for the first 34. During her last three years, she started embezzling and eventually stole $686,000. When caught, the company took her home, her cars, her retirement account and most of her other assets. Through seizing all these assets, the company recovered about $400,000. She lost her reputation for honesty and the respect of her friends and was sentenced to serve one year in a federal prison. She is now out of prison but must make monthly restitution payments of $333 per month to the company. If she misses one payment, she violates her parole and goes back to jail. In other words, she must spend the rest of her life either working or in jail. She has lost options. And, to make matters worse, since stolen money is taxable in the U.S., the IRS came after her and told her that she had $686,000 of income she didn’t report on her tax return. When she finished negotiating with the IRS, they called the $400,000 she repaid the company a loan but assessed taxes on the $286,000 she will never repay (at $333 per month, she’s not even paying the interest) With fines, penalties and interest, she owes the IRS over $200,000 and has entered in an agreement to make tax payments to the IRS of $540 every month. She is a now a convicted felon who works in a fast-food restaurant at close to minimum wage. She is 70 years old and has no home or other assets. This lady has lost not only her reputation, but the freedom to live where she wants, work where she wants, buy what she wants, travel where she wants, and even marry who she wants because her husband divorced her. You will have many more options in the future if you build a good reputation and name. As it says in Ecclesiastes 7:1 “A good name is better than precious ointment.”

 So how do you gain a good reputation? I believe there are three keys, all of which we learn about in the temple: (1) have integrity in all we do; in other words, be honest, (2) be a finisher, and (3) return and report. We have already discussed the role of integrity—the lady who stole money lost her reputation because of her dishonesty.

 Let’s now discuss being a finisher. Throughout our lives, each of us will be given stewardship assignments. We will be stewards in our jobs, in our homes, in our wards and stakes, as students and in many other settings. As stewards, we are the ones who have taken on or been given assignments—to be a father or mother, to be an employee, to be a Bishop or Relief Society President, etc. We have been called, selected, applied for or have been given assignments. We know what is expected and we have made commitments about how we will perform. Our reputation will largely be determined by how we perform in those responsibilities. I believe we have two responsibilities: (1) to be a finisher and get the job done (whatever the assignment) and (2) to return and report. Let me illustrate the finisher concept by using a story that President Monson tells often. This is a story he first told in 1972 (Ensign, July 1972.)

  

On sunlit days during the noon hour, the streets of Salt Lake City abound with men and women who for a moment leave the confines of the tall office buildings and engage in that universal delight called window shopping. On occasion, I, too, am a participant. On Wednesday, I paused before the elegant show window of a prestigious furniture store. That which caught and held my attention was not the beautifully designed sofa nor the comfortable-appearing chair that stood at its side. Neither was it the beautiful chandelier positioned overhead. Rather, my eyes rested upon a small sign that had been placed at the bottom righthand corner of the window. Its message was brief: “Finishers Wanted.” The store had need of those persons who possessed the talent and the skill to make ready for the final sale the expensive furniture that the firm manufactured and sold. Finishers wanted. The words remained with me as I returned to the pressing activities of the day. In life, as in business, there has always been a need for those persons who could be called finishers. Their ranks are few, their opportunities many, their contributions great.

 It was Napleon Hill who said: “There is always room for those who can be relied upon to deliver the goods when they say they will.”

 In my positions as a dean and stake president, I often make assignments—assignments to serve on committees, to fulfill assignments, to complete research, and to teach classes. There are some people I ask often and others I never ask, especially when I need a job done well. I absolutely hate it when I get no response or feedback and I have to search to find out what has been done. I will pay a lot of money for someone who will complete a job; I will pay even more for someone who will complete the job and return and report.

 In most cases, living the Gospel, being a parent or employee and completing stewardship assignments is not a team sport. It is very different from basketball or baseball. Rather, it is like wrestling. We are on our own (with limited help from others.) We pray alone. We plan alone. We often work alone. And, we, alone, decide whether to be a finisher and whether or not to return and report.

 From the very beginning of our lives, a fundamental question remains to be answered by each of us who runs the race of life. That question is: “shall I falter or shall I finish.” On the answer to that question await the blessings of joy and happiness here in mortality and eternal life in the world to come. Let’s look at some examples of finishers and non-finishers from the scriptures.

 David was not a finisher. He rode the crest of popularity. He slew the giant. As he achieved fresh victories, the women greeted him with a new song: “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7). Power he won; peace he lost. It happened one evening when David was walking upon the roof of the king’s house that he saw from the roof a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful. “And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba,…the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So “David sent messengers, and took her” (2 Samuel 11:3-4). The gross sin of adultery was followed by yet another: “…Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die” (2 Sam. 11:15). Lust and power had triumphed. David commenced well the race, then faltered and failed to finish his course.

 Another non-finisher was Judas Iscariot. He commenced his ministry as an apostle of the Lord. He ended it a traitor. For thirty paltry pieces of silver, he sold his soul. At last, realizing the enormity of his sin, Judas, to the patrons and tempters of his crime, shrieked: “I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood” (Mathew 27:4). He then threw down the pieces of silver and went and hanged himself.

 A finisher was Job. Pious in his conduct, prosperous in his fortune, Job was to face a series of tests that would tempt any man. Shorn of his possessions, scorned by his friends, afflicted by his suffering, and even tempted by his wife, Job was to declare from the depths of his noble soul:“…behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high” (Job 16:19); “…I know that my redeemer liveth…” (Job 19:25) Job did not falter; he became a finisher.

 Paul was also a finisher. Some of his last words were “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

 And, the greatest finisher of all was Jesus Christ. While the task was almost impossible, he followed through to the bitter end. He said something to the effect of “Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me. However, not my will, but thy will be done.” Think how our lives would be different if Jesus hadn’t been a finisher.

 So, the most important thing you can do is be a finisher. Here’s a poem about finishers—the author is unknown:

  

i.Stick to your task, til it sticks to you; ii.Beginners are many, but enders are few. iii.Honor, power, place and praise iv.Will always come to the one who stays

  

v.Stick to your task til it sticks to you vi.Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it, too;  vii.For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile viii.Will come life’s victories after a while.

          Author Unknown

 Another important element in building a good reputation is to learn to return and report. Remember, no assignment is complete until you have reported. Think how great it would be if you could teach your children to report back. I have tried hard as a parent to teach my children that the last step in any assignment is to report back. If I have them deliver something, they report back. If I assign them to mow the lawn, they must report back. Learning to report back is a great skill that is highly valued in the business world. If there is one thing you learn today, please commit that whatever you are asked to do, you report back to the person who issued the assignment. As home and visiting teachers, you should not only visit but report back. Your

leaders shouldn’t have to call you to see if you’ve completed your assignment. The temple provides a great example of the power and necessity of reporting back.

 I’m sure you have heard the phrase, “if you want something done, give it to the busiest person you know.” Nothing could be truer and the reputation that busy person has earned him- or herself will create tremendous options for him or her during his or her life.

 So the first option-granting strategy is to do everything possible to earn and keep a good reputation.

 Option producing strategy #2: Get as Much Education and Learning as You Can

A second option- and freedom-maximizing strategy is to get as much education and learning as possible. You must become life-long learners if you are going to succeed in the future. With the fast-paced changes we are experiencing, the content knowledge you acquire in college probably won’t be relevant very long. You must get as much education and learning as you can throughout your life. Consider the following quote by Brigham Young: “We might ask, when shall we cease to learn? I will give you my opinion about it; never, never......We shall never cease to learn, unless we apostatize from the religion of Jesus Christ” (Brigham Young, JD 3:203).

 Personally, I am a Certified Public Accountant or CPA. When I graduated from BYU with a bachelors degree and sat for the CPA Examination in 1971, there were only 15 professional standards that I had to learn to prepare for the exam. Today, most of these standards have been superseded and aren’t relevant anymore. In addition, we now have almost that many new standards being issued every year. The accounting profession, like all other professions, has had to change and become more dynamic to keep up with faced-paced changes in business and the world. If I had to rely on what I learned at BYU to practice as a CPA today, I would be sued for malpractice. Indeed, the purpose of college is not to learn facts, but to learn how to learn.

 The first presidency recognized the value of education in creating options. In the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet, the first presidency state: “Education will help you to better provide for yourself, your loved ones, and those in need…You live in a competitive world where a good education opens the doors of opportunity (another way to say creates options) that may otherwise be closed to you.”

 To help you understand the value of an education in monetary terms, consider the following census statistics from the year 2003:

  

Median Earnings                    Unemployment Rate                Education Attained

$20,592                                8.8%                                         Some high school, no diploma

$28,808                                5.5%                                         High school graduate

$32,344                                 5.2%                                         Some college, no degree

$34,944                                 4.0%                                         Associate degree

$46,800                                  3.3%                                         Bachelor’s degree

$55,328                                  2.9%                                         Master’s degree

$67,964                                   1.7%                                         Professional degree

$70,148                                   2.1%                                         Doctoral degree

 Option producing strategy #3: Maintain Good Health

The third option-maximizing strategy is to maintain good health. When you lose your health or you become addicted to harmful substances or habits, you lose freedom. Personally, I am not quite as fit as I would like to be. I exercise regularly but have trouble watching what I eat. As a result, I have lost some options that others have. I remember one day riding motorcycles with my boys on the Boulder Mountain in Southern Utah. We were riding up a very rough and steep trail. Because they were all young and physically fit, all four of my older boys cruised right to the top on their motorcycles. I tried to follow them and tipped over. I tried again and tipped over a second time. After the third attempt and crash, I laid the bike down, hiked to the top and told my sons to go back down and bring my bike up for me. Because I wasn’t as physically fit as them, I had lost an option. Section 89 contains a promise about these health options if we live according to the Word of Wisdom:

  

And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings (meaning maintaining good health and following the word of wisdom), walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones.

  

And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;

  

And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint (In other words, you will have more options) (Doctrine Covenants 89:18-20).  

  

I recently listened to a very successful, retired corporate executive talk about lessons he had learned in his life. He said that he believed the four most important things we can do are:

  

1.  Take care of our health

2.  Take care of our family

3.  Surround ourselves with good people

4.  Don’t take ourselves too seriously

 Option producing strategy #4: Preserve Your Financial Freedom

A fourth way to maximize your options is to preserve your financial freedom. We now live in a world where everyone borrows–in fact, in the U.S., for every net saver, there are approximately 19 net borrowers. After graduating (and probably even now), almost every day in the mail, you will get solicitations from finance and other companies wanting to extend credit to you. They will use glowing terms and phrases about giving you financial freedom but what they really want is for you to enter into financial bondage to them. When you take upon yourself debt, you lose freedom and options and the ability to act quickly and independently because someone else tells you how to spend your money. If you are burdened with too much debt, you may not be able to change jobs, move, make an investment you should, or even to serve when called upon by the church. Debt is probably okay for your education, buying a home, buying a first car for work, or making investments in such things as real estate. But, debt is not okay for most other things. Let’s consider even school debt for a minute. When you get loans, you don’t pay taxes on them. So, when you pay them back, you don’t get a tax deduction. This means that if you make $50,000 per year after you graduate, you will be taxed on the full amount you make but will have far less cash because you will be repaying non-deductible loans. As a result, you should try to minimize the amount of school debt you must use and work wherever possible.

 Credit card debts are even worse than school loans. They carry higher interest rates and using them to spend money defers the agony of having debt. They almost give you the feeling that you can have something for nothing. Let me give you an example of the perils of credit card debt. Let’s assume you have a credit card balance of $2,400 and an interest rate of 19.8% If you pay the minimum suggested monthly payment of $48 (65% of all people pay the minimum payment), it would take 43.6 years to pay the debt off. If you skip December/Christmas payment (an allowable gift from Master Card), it will take you 85.2 years to pay the debt off. My counsel to you is to avoid credit card debt wherever possible and if you do have credit card debt pay it off as soon as possible.

 If you want to be happy and successful in the future, work hard to maintain your financial freedom. There is something very comforting—even spiritual—about living well within your means. Many scriptures warn us that debt takes away our freedom. Consider Proverbs 22:7 for example, “the rich ruleth over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender.”

 Option producing strategy #5: Stay Free from Guilt and Live so the Spirit is Your Constant Companion

A fifth option-maximizing strategy is staying free from guilt, maintaining a clear conscience and living your life so the Spirit is your constant companion. It is impossible to feel guilty and be happy. I remember a number of years ago, one of our children was shooting his bow and arrow in the back yard. As parents, we had told him several times not to get his bow and arrow out unless we were in the mountains, especially when we were not at home. He had some friends and a younger brother with him and they started messing around. He got his fancy new bow out. He thought he was aiming at the target, but instead, he shot the arrow over our fence, across the road and right through our neighbor’s new garage door. This happened early in the day. He asked his friends and brother not to say anything about what happened. He lived with the guilt until about 10:00 p.m. that night when he could no longer stand it. Finally, he came into our bedroom crying and admitted what he had done. I immediately got out of bed and got dressed and, hand-in-hand, we went to the neighbor’s home and he told him what he had done and we offered to pay for a new garage door, which we did. While our son still felt badly about doing something he was told not to do, he was a lot happier facing the consequences of his actions because he didn’t have to harbor that guilt and know that until he told his parents and the neighbor, inside himself, he was a liar with a guilty conscience and he had even made his younger brother and friends be dishonest too. I personally don’t believe you can ever reach your potential, have freedom of peace of mind, or be happy if you are harboring guilt. The scriptures make it clear that we cannot live in sin and be happy.

 A person I highly respect once stated that for someone to be happy, they must have the following three things:

  

1.  A clear conscience

2.  Someone to love

3.  Work to do

  

Let’s talk about having the Spirit as your constant companion. How many of you are returned missionaries? How many of you loved your missions? How many of you thought your missions were hard? Isn’t it amazing that we all loved our missions but they were hard and, as a matter of fact, we were doing things like going door to door that we wouldn’t want to do the rest of our lives? I believe there is a reason we all loved our mission and I don’t believe many missionaries understand why. I believe that for 2 years or 18 months or however long we served, we had the Spirit with us on a daily basis. And, I believe two things happen when we have the Spirit in our lives. First, we are happy. I don’t believe it is possible to have the Spirit in our lives and be unhappy. And, second, when we have the Spirit in our lives, we don’t think of ourselves but we think of others. Now, do you think you will have more options if you are a happy person or a sad person? Do you think you will have more options if you are a selfish person, always thinking of yourself, or a selfless person, always thinking of others? When we were missionaries the others that we thought of instead of ourselves were our investigators and the people we served. But, after our missions, who is it? I would say it is our coworkers, our spouses and our families? Let’s assume for a moment that you are married. Don’t you think it would be great for your marriage if (1) you always put someone else (your spouse) first and (2) you were happy? So, if having the Spirit in your life gives you options, how do you get it and keep it? The scriptures tell us that to have the Spirit, we must have a soft heart (Helaman 6:34). So, how do we get and keep a soft heart? Certainly, missionaries have figured out how to do it, so let’s think for a minute together about what missionaries do. Do missionaries ever pray? How many times a day? Our lives must be full of prayer. Do missionaries ever read their scriptures? Do missionaries ever serve other people? You see, praying, reading scriptures, serving others, going to church, attending the temple and other similar things soften our hearts which allow us to get the Spirit which makes us happier and which leads to having more happiness and options in life. As a stake president, when I counsel young people who are getting married, I tell them to look for opportunities to serve, to pray, read their scriptures, and to become engaged in other heart-softening activities.

  

Option producing strategy #6: Marry Someone who will Make You Better

The sixth option maximizing strategy I want to discuss with you today is marrying someone who will be a support to you and who will make you better. A farmer friend of mine always tells his children to marry up so they improve the gene pool. The truth is, it is tough to go through life and make progress when you have a

spouse who is holding you down or causing problems. Marrying a project, say someone with an addiction, is usually not wise and only leads to lost options in the future. I know a woman who was divorced and remarried three or four years ago. Her new husband, who is also divorced, has a great job, but they have to pay $2,500 per month in child support and alimony—a huge drain on their monthly income. Their divorces have caused them to lose the option of spending the $2,500 per month how they want to. You’ve heard the saying that “behind every good man is a better wife” and the converse is also probably true. Marrying someone who lives by the spirit, has a strong testimony and who will work together with you will bring you more options in your life. As you think about who to marry, the most important thing is to look for someone of faith. Too many of you look mostly at how physically attractive someone is when choosing a mate. That is the wrong criterion. I can guarantee you that physical attraction is very temporary and that, especially that man that you women are looking for, won’t be nearly as attractive when he is 50 or 60. Rather, he will be bald, overweight or look different in some other dramatic way. Since finding someone of faith is the most important criterion, how do you know if one is a person of faith? I believe there are three way. You look at (1) what they do, (2) what they say and (3) what they wear and how they look. If you just analyze those three things carefully, you can tell whether someone is a serious person of faith.

 Option producing strategy #7: Build a Big Network of Friends

The seventh option maximizing strategy is to build as big a network of friends as you can. There are two ways to get ahead in life: (1) by earning what you get and (2) by knowing people who can help you. Only about 510% of all new jobs are posted in classified ads or on the Internet. The rest are filled by people who know someone. In the business world, a referral is much more productive than cold calls whether one is selling goods or services, creating business opportunities, or trying to get someone hired. An example of the value of networking is my own two children who are still undergraduate students at BYU. Both have their current parttime jobs because they knew the person who was hiring, not because they were the most qualified for the job.

 Option producing strategy #8: Think Big—You Are a Son or Daughter of God

The last option granting strategy we’ll discuss today is to think positively and big. Too many of us limit ourselves by what we think is possible. Remember, with God, all things are possible. Some of us do to ourselves what Satan tries to do to Moses in Moses 1 of the Pearl of Great Price. In Chapter 1, Moses was caught up in an exceedingly high mountain where he talked with God. In verses 4, 6, and 7, God tries to show Moses what is possible. He repeatedly says, “Moses, my son.” He wants Moses to know what his possibilities are. He wants him to think big. Then, starting in verse 12, Moses is visited by Satan. What is the first thing that Satan tries to do? He tries to get Moses to think little. He says, in verse 12, “Moses, son of man.” Too many of us do the same thing. We limit ourselves internally by thinking things are too hard for us or that we could never do that. Let me just say to you all, “you are all sons and daughters of God.” Anything you work hard enough for is possible. Let me tell you a story of one of our sons.

 Our third son is Tyler. Of our six children, I wouldn’t rank Tyler as the smartest or maybe not even near the top of our kids’ smart chart. In high school, he never got quite as good of grades as most of our other children. When he got to college, because of his less-than-superior high school academic experience, he realized that he was behind. In some ways, he hit a brick wall. Tyler could have done two things. He could have given up, or he could try to climb the wall and get over it. Fortunately, he did the latter. He decided that he needed to work extra hard to make up for lost time. He did and, while his grades weren’t all straight A’s, his GPA rose considerably. When it was time to take the Dental Aptitude Test (he wanted to be a dentist), he studied 12-15 hours a day for three months and ended up scoring in the 99th percentile in the country. He has now finished dental school and this summer will start a pediatric dental residency at one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country.

 Just like he did to Moses, as recorded in Moses 1 of the Pearl of Great Price, Satan tries to convince you every day that you are just a son of man. He wants you to believe that you are just an average person. And, if you insist on being a member of the true, restored church, he wants you to be just an average Mormon. He wants to convince you that you can lie a little, cheat a little and sin a little and still be okay. But, we know differently. For, example, I know that I am a son of God, just like I know that you are. I am one of Heavenly Father’s boys and he loves me just like I love my children. You, too, are Heavenly Father’s boys and girls. And, I know that if I live appropriately, I can be just like Him. In fact, as it says in the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood in section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants, if I am worthy and magnify my Priesthood, all that He has shall be given unto me and unto you. I hope I never lose sight of who I am and I hope you don’t either. Satan will use every tool in the books to confuse you and try to get you to forget who you are and to limit your vision and goals. He knows your weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

 Anything is possible if you think big enough and work hard to accomplish the goals. As one other piece of evidence to show that anything is possible, think back to 1961 when John Fitzerald Kennedy was president. At the time, the U.S. and Russia had started exploring space.

 On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy stood before a joint session of Congress to declare it “time for a great new American enterprise—time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.” First,” he said, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” Kennedy’s goal was realized on July 20, 1969 (8 years later). Apollo 11, of course, was the mission that put men on the moon, with its astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. The 238,000mile trip to the moon took four days. Apollo 11 fell into orbit 60 miles above the moon's surface, and on July 20 at 1:45 p.m. EDT, the Eagle with Armstrong and Aldrin inside separated from Columbia. The Eagle crew then put themselves into a 60-by-9-mile orbit. Neil Armstrong’s quote is now famous: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." President Kennedy knew that with a firm goal and hard work, anything was possible.

As another example of the value of having big goals, the 1952 graduating class of one of the Ivy League schools was surveyed to see how many had specific goals at the time of graduation. Only three percent of the class did. However, 50 years after graduation, it turns out that that 3 percent with goals had earned more money than all the other 97 percent added together.

 Considered together, these eight activities of (1) building a good reputation, (2) engaging in continuous learning and education, (3) maintaining good physical health, (4) maintaining financial freedom, (5) staying guilt free and having the Spirit in your life, (6) marrying wisely, (7) building networks and (8) thinking big will bring you choices and opportunities in the future that others won’t have and will allow you to act quicker than others to seize upon opportunities that will come your way in this fast-paced world.

 So how do you use this option-giving framework in your life? Every time you have a decision to make, whether it is big or small, you should ask yourself this question: Which alternative will give me the most and best options? And, for some decisions, the question will be in deciding how not to have options taken away. For example, being immoral on a date, skipping class to go skiing or engaging in other negative behaviors will reduce and can even eliminate options. With the raising of the bar for missionaries, participating in certain activities can eliminate the option of ever serving a full-time mission. Personally, I take this option approach to life very seriously. Sometimes, the decisions are easy and require very little thinking to decide what to do. Other times, they are difficult. For example, a couple of years ago, I had a potential career-changing offer given to me. That decision required much prayer, fasting and going to the temple. In the end, I decided that given our family priorities, turning down the opportunity actually provided more and better options.

 In conclusion, I promise you that if you will always make choices and decisions that give you more options you will be happy and will have a great life. I also want you to know that I know that decisions that are consistent with the Gospel are always option-increasing decisions and that decisions that are inconsistent with the Gospel are also option-decreasing decisions. Any decision that is not consistent with what Heavenly Father wants for us will only bring heartache and sorrow, not increased options. I have a strong testimony that Heavenly Father wants us to be free and to be successful. He wants us to make good choices. Living the Gospel is the only way to have true happiness. That you may use this preparatory or “planting” period of your life to create options for the future is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 

Happy 4th of July Weekend!!

HElLo Everyone!!! how was everyones fourth of july weekend? cool story we got to stay out and watch fireworks till 10:30 and talk to people as we watched them! it was the best!! that day we also had a zone BBQ at the apartment  complex we all live at.  here are some pictures: and don't make fun of how much heavier I've gotten





hey sorry I didn't have time to write ya'll but here is what I wrote to our Mission President

the good thing is that it was only 100 degress outside

hey President

this week has been rough. I am not as happy because people keep letting us down. We have been doing our best to bring members out with us to confirmed appointments and we show up and people aren't home. WE had this referral that we contacted and she had a baby who died after being a month old and so we thought of the Canales family who is going through a very difficult trial, their 12 year old daughter has cancer and so we thought they would be the perfect family for them. but they weren't home. and so it has happened a few times this week with different members and potentials. WE have been talking to everyone and even teaching on the spot if they aren't to busy, but when we go back they aren't home. We honestly feel like we are working so hard and yet we aren't seeing any fruits. I know love plus patience will bring about miracles, I don't mean to be a downer President but I just don't want you to think we aren't working as hard because of what our numbers show. I know that Heavenly Father is aware of me and my efforts and I pray that he can let me know what more I can do in his vineyard, I just need a bit more faith and trust in the lords promises. We've also been doing facebook finding, I wish you can be there for some of those getting our members to do it is so hard and we literally have to ask the same question about if we can look at their page several times in less than a minute. Because before they even look at their page they automatically say they don't know anyone, and all you know all the classic excuses. But we are being persistent.

Other than that we had a miracle happen my recent convert Rey Dominguez is being the best member missionary I have met. He has been sharing the gospel with all his friends and acquaintances, he even took us to a family that said would like to learn more and he set up the appointment for us, and he was present for the lesson and bore a sincere humble testimony on how the gospel has changed his perspective on life and is now a much more positive person, and treat others with more kindness and patience especially his own family, he also talks about how The Book of Mormon helps him get nearer to God. They looked fascinated by his testimony. We told you that we fell in love with them. then the elders called us and apparently changed their mind and asked us if they can teach them. I did express my feelings in how I felt that we had put in the work by teaching the importance of sharing the gospel, even though it was natural for him, and how I wanted to be a part of his missionary efforts. and how we felt it was a blessing for us for all the work we've done, to be able to teach this family. But my companion and I talked about it, and since he really wanted to teach them we decided it was better to let them, since all we really do care about is that this family progresses in the gospel and find the joy therein. We know the Lord will bless us for it and continue to help the other members do the same.

Thank you so much for all you both do for all of us! we love you!

 

Church News!

President Sweeney:

this makes me angry, which means I wont be able to use an I-pad  as a missionary. it would've been so much easier. everything else makes me happy tho :)

SALT LAKE CITY — Though the record number of LDS missionaries serving around the world will peak in the fall and then recede somewhat, convert baptisms are increasing and more missionaries soon will be using digital devices to help with their work.

A pilot program has shown that use of iPad Minis by missionaries improved their work and study, and the devices will be used in all missions in North America, Japan and western Europe beginning this fall, the executive director of the LDS Missionary Department said Wednesday in a wide-ranging, videotaped interview released by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Elder David F. Evans, also a member of the faith's First Quorum of the Seventy, said the devices will be used by about 32,000 Mormon missionaries in 162 of the church's 405 missions.

The church will ask missionaries in those areas to pay for their iPads, which will be their property during and after their missions, at a cost of $400 apiece.

Evans said the church, as of Wednesday, had 85,593 missionaries serving, up from the previously publicized record of 85,039 in April.

He said the missionary department anticipates the number to rise to 88,000 this fall before starting to decrease.

LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson precipitated the dramatic two-year surge in missionary numbers when in October 2012 he lowered the age requirement from 19 to 18 years old for male missionaries and from 21 to 19 for women

Elder Evans, who called the surge "one of the greatest faith-inspiring things I've ever seen," said the church expects the number of missionaries will eventually settle somewhere in the high 70,000s, well above the 58,000 serving at the time of President Monson's announcement.

"We don't believe we're ever going back to the 50,000s," Elder Evans said.

About 64 percent of the church's full-time missionaries are young adult men, 28 percent are women and 8 percent are senior missionaries.

"We believe the young people of this church will continue to say yes to missionary service, and they'll continue to choose to become young disciples of Christ," Elder Evans said. "For them it's an absolute free-will offering to the Lord and to their fellow man."

He also spoke about convert baptisms and missionary safety.

"Every month, if you compare month over month, the baptisms are up," Elder Evans said. "Right now for this year, there's about an overall 15 percent increase in the number of convert baptisms this year compared to a comparable period last year."

Elder Evans said missionaries now are being asked to have a "safety moment" at the beginning of each day, an effort to increase their sensitivity to safety issues after several injuries and deaths among missionaries made news, particularly last year.

Those incidents remain few compared to the general U.S. population of 18- to 21-year-olds.

"It is by far the safest place for any young single adult to be that I'm aware of," Elder Evans said. "I've read statistics that suggest being on a mission may be as many as 20 times safer than being generally out in the population."

A pilot program put iPad Minis in the hands of about 6,500 missionaries in 30 missions in the United States and Japan, as well as with sister missionaries in most LDS visitors centers. Elder Evans described four lessons learned by church leaders.

First, missionaries were very comfortable and capable using the devices. Second, the devices increased the reading and studying done by the missionaries. Third, they were effective planning tools. Fourth, they helped missionaries communicate better with local church leaders, mission leaders and investigators. 

June 29, 2014

     Track is over at Brigham Young University - Idaho. Again it is disappointing. The disappointment came by rain and thunderstorms, for the championship meet was canceled. Another disappointment that had to do the BYUI competitive long distance running program was that I was not offered the position to coordinate cross country in the Fall semester of 2014. I explained to the interviewer many of my ideas to make the program thrive, hoping to create a culture of fitness throughout the school.

A couple career exploration assignments have been making my life stressful the past couple weeks. I don't believe that career exploration assignments should be curriculum in a class because people are always doing that. When I realized this, the assignment was simple. I did not have to research careers because it is a natural activity. I have researched many careers in my life already, so I just wrote about the careers that I have explored in my life. Many people may not have the time to explore careers because there are many obligations that distract people from pondering the career paths possible. These two assignments were stressful because they were side projects, and they were both forgotten and procrastinated. The assignment was for my Business 101 class.

     A classmate in my Business 101 class has come to really enjoy my sense of humor. People; who observe me such as peers, instructors, and family; has noticed that I have a unique sense of humor. My favorite high school physics teacher pointed out to my special education teacher that I had a good sense of humor. I laugh at many of the teacher’s jokes and things that are not even jokes but humorous things. My classmate even recommended that I be a professional laugher this past week. Occasionally people ask me why are you laughing, and I don't know how to explain it.

     A minuscule way that I do missionary work is I run a Mormon YSA Blog Spot, sharing the blog articles of many single adult bloggers on several social media sites. I got to meet one of the bloggers that I found this week. I would say that it is a date. The way that I found her was interesting. It was inspired a BYU Idaho devotional. The speaker is on the leading edge of education. His name is Chris Wilson, and he invited us to create a community in his speech by discovering or making a way out of the world by using the hashtag BYUIExodus on Twitter. For those in the future or present that don't know what hashtags are on internet social networks, you can join a global audience, when you click or post a hashtag, seeing all the posts with that hashtag. Brother Chris Wilson invited us to write two chapter titles of our personal Book of Exodus out of the world and traditions of man. My chapter titles were ‘Growing toward Fatherly Leadership’ and ‘Family Life.’ I would also say that another good chapter title is ‘Claiming my Agency.’ The girl that I went out with favorited my chapter titles tweet, and I saw that she was a blogger. I asked her, if I could share her articles on my blog spot, and she gave me permission. I asked her if she knows other YSA bloggers, and she did. Since she was local, I decided that I might as well ask her out. She had not published an article in about half a year, so I asked if she will publish an article soon. She published one as we conversed on Twitter, saying that she has been working on a couple recently. We casually went out for frozen yogurt. She seems amazing, but our personalities expression was limited because I believe that we were not comfortable. The conversation was very slow. I plan to ask her out again.

     Yesterday was an unnecessarily busy day. I have an important deadline tomorrow for my Building Information Modeling class. I signed up for a 10K, and my friends went to go shooting in the evening. The 10K was interesting because it was organized by a very small group of students. The participation was small, and only a few runners came. The majority of the participants were the organizers. It was a fourth of July theme. We all had flags, and we ran with them around town. Some people may have felt awkward because they were walking or running alone with the flag, but I felt that if I lead the run with person that invited me to join the event. It would be a signal to people that is not just one weird person, running around with flags. The leader has a broad agenda in this act. I don't really understand if he had a specific reason for his activism. He said that the politics in America are a mess, and we need to become a more united society. He encouraged an national movement of service in the community with a hashtag and twitter of OldGlory. Running with the United States flag for about 6 miles, I felt that I was participating in a uniting cause. The leader was not impressed by the turnout or the reaction of the community, but I feel that people saw the broad message that he hoped. I saw a construction worker pause to watch us, and people ponder and react.

In the evening I went shooting with Jesse and a few of his married friend couples. This is the first time that I had shot shotguns and pistols, so my actions were a little rookie. The sister's husband of Jesse's friend's wife was good to be patient, instructing on proper etiquette; although, my actions were dangerous. His urgency was good. I shot a clay pidgin in my first round of five, and I shot two in a row on my second round. Shooting with a shotgun is easy compared to pistols and the other guns that they had. Afterward we had a bonfire, and the wives made a couple peach cobblers in a Dutch oven. I basically had two 4th of Julys.

     Today is now the 6th of July. This past week was somewhat stressful with due dates and tests. I didn't do very well on them because I had many assignments to do, and I was not able to put enough time into them. If I had one superpower, I would wish that it was controlling time. I would mainly slow down time. I only ran twice this week because my load is so demanding. I am putting my time in preparing some resubmittals, practicing my building plan document skills. One of my final assignments for my Building Information Technology class is to prepare a cover sheet. This requires a rendered image of my modeled building. Rendering takes a long time. A rendering is the program producing an image from virtual light. I have not completely done a real one. I prematurely tried to load one, and it takes a hours. That is what I heard. I want to post my first rendering on this journal entry. I designed my first coffered ceiling. It is not an average coffered ceiling. Coffered ceilings are usually just recessed panel in a ceiling in a square pattern. My ceiling has a curved edge on it, so I had some interesting angles and curves in my coffers. The image is thirteen percent done with twelve minutes. My perspective of rendering is that it takes a lot of skill. As you can see my first two renderings are very lousy. The van and truck look so bad. I found seamless tiles images for the brick, but it still looks fake. I look forward to making my buildings look real. My teacher always rags on us because we are not amazed by the graphics, but this is like Nintendo 64 graphics. Our video games are way better. Some renderings look impressive, and some look like old video game graphics.

A couple other things that happened that I don't feel like writing about is Jesse's birthday and a 4th of July. We just went exploring in the hills of Rexburg for Jesse's birthday, enjoying the Hickory restaurant, and we went to Idaho Falls for the 4th of July. 

     During sacrament meeting today I had a sacred experience that I wanted to relate to you. Praying to feel the spirit can be a witness that God loves us, and the plan of salvation is true. The knowledge of the Plan of Salvation comes from many different witnesses of the spirit in each aspect. A meditation on it can bring a witness of it too. The Plan of Salvation are 'things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.' In this testimony meeting, my testimony that I felt like communicating would make sense, but I felt that the simplicity of the precept that it needs explanation. The explanation is personal. Before I get into the explanation, I will review the topic. It is to pray to feel the spirit.

     Before my mission I don't recall feeling the spirit as taught in the word of God, a burning in the bosom. I never stressed it too much because the spirit can be felt in other ways. I knew that the fullness of the Gospel is only in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When my second mission president took reins, he came with a powerful belief that God gives revelation according to the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 9:8. "But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right." I was out on my mission about eighteen months, and my mission president expected us to confirm every plan with God by these instructions. My mission president was named President Graff. Since I never felt burning in my bosom, I needed to call my mission president, since he was enforcing the new policy. He had me pray to feel the Holy Ghost by this burning sensation in my bosom, and I prayed for more than an hour with no result. President Graff also had a powerful testimony of gifts of the spirit by the laying on of hands. President Graff served a mission just previously since becoming a mission president. On his mission, he worked on learning Spanish for many months, but he couldn't. His mission president was counseling him on learning the language, and he decided to give him the gift of tongues by the laying on of hands. Ever since that blessing President Graff was able to speak Spanish. He blessed me similarly, but he had my companion bless me to feel the spirit as a burning in my bosom. Ever since that blessing, I have been able to feel the Holy Ghost as a burning in my bosom.

     The sensation comes rarely as I am use to. I felt it powerfully during sacrament meeting today, and it came because I was prompted to pray to feel the spirit in my morning prayer. I encourage you to pray to feel the spirit of God. The request for this broad revelation is complex though. One can pray to feel the comforter, but it will rarely visit you without a purpose. It mainly visits people to testify of Jesus Christ as the Savior of all men, and it may also abide within us to let us be a witness of Christ. Praying to feel the spirit without a purpose can be tricky because the purpose of his presence is uncertain. I felt that the spirit testified of the Plan of Salvation, the Atonement, and the Godhead today, but how can the Holy Ghost strengthen our testimony of our knowledge without having a knowledge of the fullness of the Gospel. It can testify of each aspect of the Plan of Salvation, the Atonement, and the Godhead as the individual knows it; although, it may not be whole yet. Many people testified of the relationship of the Holy Spirit with man in today's fast and testimony sacrament meeting. Prayer without a specific meaning rarely works. Praying to know the truth is so broad that one's relationship with God and his guidance would have to be very deep to have sequential revelations. A knowledge of the fullness of the Gospel is hard to come by without reading the word of God. The Book of Mormon is essential to obtaining the knowledge of the fullness of the Gospel, since it contains the fullness of the Gospel and the Plan of Salvation. This book is unique for its ability to be a witness of the truth. The truth has many names such as the fullness of the Gospel and the Plan of Salvation. The Plan of Salvation are 'things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come' as I said before. The Book of Mormon is unique because the words therein were directed to be written by God by prophets. It was abridged by Mormon and translated by Joseph Smith by the direct guidance of God. Praying to know whether this book is true without a complete know of the content therein is realistic because these unique characteristics that it has. Knowledge of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is designed by God to also be a witness that the all the prophets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are true because Joseph Smith is the founding prophet of this church, and he translated the book only by the gift and power of God.

     Writing my testimony in this journal entry is not an excuse for not telling my testimony in fast and testimony meeting, and I had a trust issue in the guidance of the spirit that these complex relationships can be related well with my words, teaching my simple concept that a singular prayer can testify of all truth. The sensation of the burning in my bosom enlivened my intelligence, reminding me of the truthfulness of the Gospel. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is the uniting means of learning, communicating to everyone's souls. I should have gone up to teach my revelation in fast and testimony session because I can be the conduit of the God, speaking the words prompted to say to relate the concept that I was led to feel and teach because the Holy Ghost is the universal means of learning and revelation.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Post

"You can't win Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

-Ben Kenobi (Who is actually Obi-Wan Kenobi, but you're not supposed to know that)

Big Ben.

"That title is rather misleading." Or is it? "Yeah, this isn't your 4th Star Wars post. I mean, technically, the first one you did hardly had a central message so I'm hard pressed to even count it." Oh... Well, let me tell you about a little story about our Savior and big brother, Jesus Christ and his disciples. 

So what do Ben Kenobi and Jesus Christ have in common? "Ooo... I don't want to go there... I feel like we might be bordering on the blasphemous or at the very least, sacrilegious." Just hear me out. Now both were teachers. Christ prepared for His mortal ministry way before He started it, we know this for a fact. Everything He did from before He was born to as he was growing up was done to prepare Him for the lifesaving work He was sent here to do. 

I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of the world.

-Mosiah 4:7

So in Episode 4, we find Ben Kenobi who, if you haven't seen the prequels, shame on you is Obi-Wan from said movies. Now he went through this whole series of trials and stuffs like the birth of the empire, which was kind of a bummer for the Jedi Order. The extermination of the Jedi Order, which was more of a bummer for the Jedi Order, and the transformation of his not blood brother from a warrior of light, to a dark villain... (Curse you Satan...) All this, prepared him for what he had to do next, which was train Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader's son (Spoiler Alert Da-duh-duh!) to become the Jedi, not that the world deserved, but the one it needed. (That one was a Batman reference.) Things went rather rough for Luke at first, he just couldn't get the whole Force and Jedi thing down, but he endured, and with the help of his mentor, Ben, nothing could possibly stop them from saving the galaxy right?!

Ohh...

So yeah, there we find Ben being decimated by a lightsaber and all hope is lost right? WRONG! Cause the title of the movie is 'a NEW Hope', not 'a well, that sucks... There goes the universe... Hope.' So with the death of his mentor, Luke Skywalker is all alone with no one to teach him how to Jedi. Using the skills he was taught by Ben, even though at that point they made little sense, Luke continued on with the memory of his beloved friend. 

Alright, let's switch stories for a sec.

So before they became Apostles for the Lord Jesus Christ, most of them had nothing to do with religion. Some were fishermen, one was a publican (or a tax collector, and yes, they hated them at that time too.) and the others came from all facets of life. None of them fully knowing the marvelous work that was about to come forth among the children of men. They all left every worldly thing to follow Christ, and even though they had the GREATEST of all teachers, they found themselves not quite understanding the simple complexities of Christ's church. They were even given The Force- Er... Priesthood power as it says right here.

Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases

-Luke 9:1

Now although these apostles of Christ were with Him the entire time, they had little understanding of what was REALLY going on. They still had little faith and couldn't understand who Christ really was. There are many instances where Christ had to tell the apostles that they had little faith and that with Him, all things were possible, but they were still new at it so there's that. Even with all the miracles that Jesus did with the apostles, still they doubted. But they were in the presence of the Son of God so nothing really bad could happen right? I mean, as long as they had Christ, they were fine right?

Double Oh...

Both Luke and the apostles of Jesus Christ found themselves alone when their mentors passed this mortal coil. Alone, they had to find for themselves how to take on the world from the evil that was infesting it. But luckily for them, they each had gifts from their mentors to better face the cold and treacherous world. For Luke, it was a basic understanding of the Force, which if you're a Jedi, is pretty important to have. Well, so I've heard... It was through the force that Luke was able to communicate with his old mentor and how he was able to make his way to the rank of Jedi Master. 

For the apostles, they received the gift of the Holy Ghost which allowed them to always have the company of Christ to work miracles. They received the comforting spirit which meant that no matter what, they were never alone. Luckily, for them, before Christ made His atoning sacrifice, He gave them the same authority to act in His name so that they too could not only preach the gospel, but to bestow upon these people those same mighty miracles like healing the sick and making the lame walk. 

Lightsabers make A LOT of things epic.

Both of these stories have a common link. When they were in the presence of the master, they lacked faith and struggled in belief, but it was only when that mentor was taken that they could tap into their full potential and bring to pass salvation. In Star Wars, it was Luke being able to face his father and bringing him back to the light. (Spoiler alert)

But then again, Christ could flick a lightaber and it would
probably poke you in the eye. 

With the apostles of Christ, it was them being able to fully realize the joyful burden of discipleship and accepting death rather than bringing their head down and shame and denying Christ. They spread the gospel throughout all the known world, building the kingdom of Heaven with all their heart, might, mind and strength because they knew that Christ died for them, just like how He died for you and for me which is why we have to 'get up off of our thangs' and go do as the Lord commands! "Were you trying to make that rhyme?" Did it work? "No, but it was a decent try. 

first week of the new Transfer

hello everyone. well we've had a pretty good week we have two new investigators. the first is Pola she is from Mexico, she lives with a member and she took her to church one day and she liked the classes more than sacrament meeting, well because that day was fast and testimony meeting and she didn't enjoy it because she affirms the same conviction for her church being true. It didn't make much sense to her in that manner. Anyway she only goes to church when she is in Mexico, she is of some branch of Christianity. We think since we are Christian too she should come to our church because it is closer. However, she likes to go visit her family on the weekends since she works all day 5 times a week as a maid for the member., even though it means that she is slowly distancing herself from God. We taught her the restoration and it was great except she went off on a lot of tangents, but we didn't want to interrupt her, and tried the best we could to relate it to what we wanted her to understand like Joseph smith being a Prophet and how much God loves us that he will give us a guide in these days as in the days of old and asked her to meditate on that that knowledge can mean to her in her life. Since we know that reading and gaining a testimony of the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon to be the word of God is essential in knowing if everything else about the church is also true, we tried to have her know what it is and how it can help her in her life. She doesn't want to read anything else but the bible, and believes we "praise" Joseph Smith even after we explained that he was only an instrument in the lords hands to bring His  complete church back on earth. We decided that our next lesson would be to show her how the Bible and The Book of Mormon work together, and also answer her list of questions so we can research them together. It'll be fun we are excited :D They are both really sweet ladies they even gave us fresh eggs from their chickens and offered to show us how to cook tamales and homemade flour tortillas!!! yum

we also did service for the Muniz family wow they are splendid!! her here are some pictures

we taught a women named Beatriz she is a sweet sweet lady about late fifties. we went over to visit her and she told  us to come in so we came in and she told us to wait, so we were in the living room waiting awkwardly while she was being shown a presentation from a Cutco Rep in her kitchen. I took a peek to see who she was talking to. at first I didn't know it was for kitchen knives I thought she was buying a  weapon and planning a savage murder attack, so I thought this lady is probable a psycho and what have we gotten ourselves into?! but then after waiting and waiting some more I asked my companion if we should leave, she told me perhaps so I asked sister how long will you take, would you like us to come back a different day? she said yes I will probably be done in about 45minutes,so yes come back a different day please. weird right? if I didn't ask her she would've just had us waiting, haha people are so funny. so we went back a different day and did a get to know you /how to begin teaching. She loves Mormons because one time she was invited to go to a baptism and everybody went out of their way to introduce themselves to her and we so friendly, she said that that is the way we all need to love one another. She lost a 24 year old son and so we told her how this message will fill her with hope. she seems happier when we left, she said she will get baptized only if she gets a confirmation that it is true. Hurrah for Israel!! 

then we got feed a feast for break fast conchas( Mexican sweet bread) and pizza and tortas aka big Mexican grilled sandwhiches,,, so yum!

Happy 4th of July Week!!!

Heya Love! 

How was your week? How's your family? How are YOU!?

This week I have been doing a lot of reflecting. One night we went to try and visit some investigators and when we got there we sang for them and in return their Son Eli started playing the guitar and singing for us. Oh Man he sang Bob Marley's "Is this Love?" song and it was so good!!!! Oh I was so amazed at his talent but at the same time I caught myself not being as worried about the fact that we weren't suppose to be listening to worldly music like that. Oh it was sooo hard. I was really surprised at how hard that was for me. Even after we got home I kept thinking about it and how easy it was for me to get carried away with that song and completely lose focus on why I'm here.That was such a scary experience for me. Even though I was praying so hard to not think about that song it seemed like nothing was helping and it was hard because part of me wanted to entertain that song in my mind. I shared this with my companion and she kind of helped. During this whole experience I realized one thing. I realized my need for a continual spiritual nourishment to help me have the strength to continue on and not give in. I thought about a less active family we are trying to help get to the Temple. Their Dad Brother Tuiaana really wants his family to be there and so he's been trying to quit smoking and prepare to enter the Temple. He's been doing so good cutting down; but he mentioned how weak he feels when he's not smoking because his body still wants it.This experience helped me to realize how hard it was for him to not give in. I fasted to be able to overcome this weakness and something I've learnt is really to pray always. I realized that I couldn't do it on my own and I needed my Savior. I know that he lives and his love is real. I have come to rely on him so much. I've come to learn that  I really just gotta give my all to him and trust him and follow him. I definitely want to share this with Brother Tuiaana and his family.

Besides all of that news this week has been great. We found a couple of new investigators this week. Some of them live in a half way house (a house where the state helps to pay for people recovering from addictions to live in) we are teaching a lady named Debra who lives there and on Saturday we went by to teach her and found out that she had gone to the ER the night before and no ones' heard from her. We spoke with one of the room mates who helps run the place his name is Robert. While talking with Robert we learnt that he too was a recovering addict and is trying to change his life and find peace. We shared about the Atonement with him and he was willing to learn more and have us come back to teach him!!! (that was Miracle #1) We invited him to church and organized a member ride for him. The next day we went by to see if he was still up for church  but we came by and he wasn't home. His Roomies told us he had gone down the alley. We decided to go see and while walking back we met him with a friend walking back home ( Miracle #2) Robert said something else came up so he couldn't come so we decided to ask his friend if he wanted to come? His Friend Sammy said he was looking for some peace in his life so he said yes he'd come!!!! ( Miracle#3) Our member came to pick Sammy up and when we got to church we learnt that Sammy had brought another Roommate with him- Nicky!!! (Miracle#4) They stayed for all of church and loved it!!! This week has been filled with so many great miracles. I know that Heavenly Father truly has hastened his work!

Lots of Love!!!

Nadi

The Parable of the Feast!

*This parable was not of my own thinking, perhaps one day you will hear one of my parables, but today is not that day.

I'm trying to teach as Christ did.

Hey Reader, so not a lot of time today and I felt guilty for being late twice so I wanted to leave you with a quick parable that a member once told me that I thought was funny, clever, and well... Just read it. 

A certain man traveled far and fasted for many days and many nights in a far away land to better serve the Lord. At the end of his mighty fast, he found himself famished, and he, being in the wilderness, headed back to his home.

Along the way and being close to home, he met with a certain woman and he being hungered, asked the woman of her bread and water. She gave him of her own and the man, being filled, went along his way. As he arrived to his home, the man discovered the town had prepared a great feast for him in his honor, but he, being filled of bread and water, could not partake.

"You're gonna make me do this biblically aren't you...?" Please...? "Sigh... What meaneth these things which you speak...?"

Well, my beloved reader, it means to never settle with what first comes our way, especially if it's not as good as we would like it. In life, we will have to wait for many a day and night and we will be eager to partake of the first thing that comes our way. But, we being faithful, have much better things waiting for us than a simple meal of bread and water. If we do what is right, and wait the full amount of time, we will find that our feast will be waiting for us where we are supposed to be. 

Beware of Pricing: The Decoy Strategy

The Decoy Price Strategy is presenting in an advertisement three options, and two are the same price; however, one of the two similarly priced products is inferior. The product that is inferior and has an equal price is the decoy. Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist, did a study on an advertisement by the economist newspaper. They offered selling subscriptions for its online website for fifty-nine dollars; however, the other two options were 125 dollars for both online article access and the printed newspaper, or the printed newspaper alone. Dan found in his sample survey that sixteen percent would choose the online subscription, and the rest would choose the online and printed subscription. The decoy can be seen as the printed newspaper, since no one chose that option. Dan did the survey a second time without the decoy, finding that the online subscription would be prefered sixty-eight percent of the time. The decoy pricing strategy is clearly more profitable because the majority chose the more costly subscription price. The third option lets people ponder a more informed decision; however, the effect can be skewed to the hope of the corporation. I am pondering, showing the Apple website and their prices of the iPhone in our in class presentation. They showed three products, and I am surprised that they do not display the iPhone 5 with the iPhone 5s and 5c. Apple chose to show the iPhone 4s instead of the iPhone. There were many options for the comparison of the three products, but the pricing tells us what offer is the decoy, and what product that they are trying to sell. The two products that were the same price hinted me at that. The simplest option for the 5s had only 16 gigabytes of memory and a price of 199 dollars. I could tell that the 32G iPhone 5c is the decoy because it cost the same, and it looked a lot worse than the 5s. Appearance is important to the decoy pricing strategy. I was also surprised that they had a buy now button that did not indicate any specific one of the three, which can reveal the product that they plan to sell the most, and my suspicion was right. The 16G iPhone 5s was displayed first on the buy now link. This is one of many pricing strategies.

Postamorphosis

"I'm a beautiful butterfly!!!"

-Heimlich, you know, from 'A Bug's Life'

Take a good long look dear reader... That... was me about a year and a half ago... "Gross... Mustaches aren't really your thing huh?" Well, once upon a time I thought so...

Enjoy this gem while it lasts...

I guess in retrospect or hindsight or whatever you wish to call it, it was a bad idea, but hey, I thought I looked good. At least the mustache. I looked fantastic with beautiful long black locks but that's a story for another day. "Do I even want to know...?" Yeah, probably not. Well, there's a lot you can tell from the pictur- focus, keep reading... Okay, NOW look at it. There's a lot you can tell from the picture like- "That you can't grow facial hair to save your life?" Okay... I get it... It was bad... "Was it Halloween cause it looks like you're wearing those skeleton sleeve things." No, I'm actually that skinny, but that's neither here nor there.  

"So I don't get it. A while back, you told me you were a missionary or whatnot, but that's not what I imagined a missionary would look like. In fact, if someone who looked like that knocked on my door, I would probably laugh at his pathetic facial hair and then close the door." That was uncalled for...  But that's exactly right, I mean, if I saw someone who looked like that, and I did look like that so I know how it looks, I would be kind of freaked too, but that's where the whole change thing comes in play.

Everything I described in one neat picture!

So in the story of A Bug's Life, we have Heimlich whose quote is right up there, and who's likeness I share in no way, shape or form. It's mostly the fact that he's a caterpillar and I'm not. Kind of like in Lion King when Raffiki's all like, "It mean's you're a baboon, and I'm not." "Neither here nor there?" No it's sort of here, but not quite there... So Heimlich as previously stated, is a caterpillar who just can't wait to become a "beautiful butterfly." He's also German for some reason, oh and he eats a lot but if there's one thing I learned from the book, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar,' It's that they eat a lot. "So where does the whole change thing come into play?" Oh right, so much like every other caterpillar, Heimlich can't wait to become a butterfly cause, well, It beats being a caterpillar and then, at the very end, after being in his cocoon for an indiscernible amount of time, he emerges. Of course it's a kid's movie so he looks pretty much the same but with tiny wings but he's happy so that's important right? "Ehh..." Well, much like in the movie, in real life, becoming a butterfly is important to a caterpillar's life. It's the end goal, but it's not easy, it requires for it to completely change everything about it and there's no going back but it's for the best and therefore, it undergoes a metamorphosis. 

So where does that mind-numbing picture of me come in? "That's a great question, but let me guess, it's neither here nor there?" Actually it's up there. C'mon reader, keep up! "Sigh..." So, rewind a year and half ago and we meet Elder Lopez, pre-Elder, but because I haven't heard my first name in awhile and it sounds weird to me now, we'll refer to me as, Elder Lopez. So year and a half ago I worked at Subway doing tons of Awesome! things with Awesome! people which included, dressing up as a giant sub and dancing in a street corner to attract customers, and no, that's not an expression. Maybe one day you'll see the spectacle that was, Subman, but not today. So there I was being Awesome! looking gnarly and working with not very much desire to go on a mission. As you could tell, I already didn't look the part and I was on my way to Assistant Manager which was a pretty big deal for me cause not only did I have a job, but I was good at it and was climbing up the ladder. But, one day, I received an answer that I should go on a mission which kinda shook my world, so I had to take the necessary steps in order to make that monumental leap.

Now Pause.

So here I am, doing my own thing with the freedom I wanted, and I had to give it all up. Sure i didn't have A LOT, but what I DID have, I valued. "So why'd you give it all up?" Well, dear reader, short answer is that I love God more than I loved anything I had. Yeah, it was a major sacrifice, and yeah I miss some of it but there is never a day that passes that I regret making that decision cause I know that not only was my decision the right one, but it was the decision that God needed me to make. So much like in the scene from 'V for Vendetta', I shaved my head, (and yes, much like Natalie Portman in that movie I wept for the loss of my long beautiful hair) brought a razor to that awful sliver of hair I called my mustache, figured I'd shower for once (that one's a joke, I always shower...) and donned a suit and before you know it, this was how I ended up. Look how happy I look!

What can I say? I clean up well.
Okay... You can stop looking...

In the end, much like Heimlich, well I guess unlike Heimlich, I changed everything to fulfill such a sacred call and like a beautiful butterfly, it ended for the best, but my story isn't an unusual one, it's an Awesome! one, but not an unusual one. For a similar story, click here!
You're still looking at the first picture aren't you...? "I just can't keep my eyes off it... Can I put it in my wallet?" No... 

Transfer News and Some Fun in the Sun!

 You will never guess what President called me to do! I just got training a missionary for three months, now Sister Baros is off to train herself and becoming a sister training leader, oh I'm so proud of my baby! that same day she also had a heat flash and was so thirsty but she only had to go to the bathroom tons of times and still l couldn't quench her thirst, then I had her lay down and put some peppermint on her and another sister put her wrists in ice cold water, then we asked her if she was ok but she started crying, haha I remember that feeling you just sort of get a bit delusional and have emotional waves, but don't worry this happened a bit before she got her new assignments. then president told me that I would be training a new missionary as well, crazy. Im excited tho, although I wanted to be with an experienced missionary but I also see the benefits from training, especially to continue to put into extra practice all the awesome stuff ive learned with my last with a fresh new moldable companion. Plus I know this is a sacred trust from the Lord, he knew that I would do my best and that I will help her become a powerful missionary, which then will be beneficial to the whole mission because we all influence on each other and learn from one another, I know that as I do my best just as I did with Hermana baros they will become great leaders and be great examples of humility and love for others. The lord has so much in mind for me, I cant wait to see the trails that await us these next few transfers, because although they are hard and at times not pleasing they are learned from and we are more converted as we rely on the saviors teachings.

hello my friends these are some pictures of the last sisterhood night with all my house mates, the really gorgeous one is sister Garrett, I also trained her.

Hello Beautiful!

Can you believe it's the almost the last week of June already?!?! AH! Time is flying so fast!!!! How are you holding up? 

This week was a good week it was long but I am slowly but surely improving (I think) on being more open with my companion. It's definitely getting better. I am learning so much about working together and relying on each other. I've come to realize that I love being independent and not having to rely on other people. I was fasting this week so that Heavenly Father would help me to know how I can help our companionship grow closer together and become more successful. I learnt alot during and after my fast. As I was reading through our Missionary handbook I desired to become a more Christlike companion I guess I never really looked at being a senior companion as a leader but as I reread the handbook and pondered upon it. I learnt this: 
"Successful missionary work and appropriate missionary conduct begin in the companionship under the leadership of the senior companion.The assignment to serve as a leader is a sacred trust from the Lord through the mission president, and both the president and the Lord will receive an accounting ofthis responsibility"
I realized that I had a responsibility to be a good example and influence on my companion. The Lord and President Weidman trust me to be her companion. I guess I never really considered being a senior companion being much of a leader. I'm glad I was led and guided to learn this. I then was reading an ensign article and came across an Article titled "Christlike Leadership" WOW! I was in awe at how well Heavenly Father knows me and is eager to help me. I love all that I am learning. One thing I loved was how the Savior allowed his disciples the opportunity to grow as they were learning. He never just did the work for them but he allowed them to learn for themselves. He was totally selfless. I want to be like that.

Last week we also fasted with our Investigator Thomas. He and his wife (who he's not married to yet) are having some problems and so we offered to fast with them. We really didn't know how else we could've helped them but I am so glad to know that this is the Lord's work and we don't have to figure it all out on our own. Thomas has such great desires to come closer to God and change and it just makes him so sad that Victoria (he's wife to be) is not quite on the same page yet. For Father's day their kids were drinking and he was so sad and angry too that his wife allowed them to do that! Oh please pray for them. After we fasted we were so amazed at how Thomas was dedicated to reading his Book of Mormon. We shared scriptures with and it just blew my mind to see how the spirit was able to help him apply the scriptures to his life. I love the Book of Mormon!!!! What a great Miracle. On Sunday we texted them and didn't really get a response. Then while we were sitting in church Thomas, and Victoria and their grand baby walked in.They came to church!!!! That was such a great Blessing!!! We didn't even need to ask them. I love the Spirit:)

We recently just had a training and President Weidman promised that if we applied all that we had just learnt we would be able to find more people to teach and reach our 20 conversations goal. We have been doing our best to apply that and last Saturday we went out of our apartment and in my heart I remembered Elder Ballard's talk that we as missionaries should go out with the Faith in our hearts that we will find people to teach and help them on their way back to their Heavenly Father. I loved that promise. That Day we worked really hard and I could so tell that the both of us were doing all we can to make sure we worthy of the Spirit's companionship. We found 4 new investigators that day. That was a Miracle and a blessing!!! We were both so grateful. 

Have a great one, Friends! 

I love you!!!
Sister Koroitamana