Oh my gosh!!! Everything is happening!! Haha so the picture is from a
member in an English ward who's house we did service at. Her husband
is German, you should be friends with them.
So this week:
Tuesday Elder Schlee our district leader asked me to give a 20 minute
training on the Faith to Become, and I said I'd do it, because it
seemed exciting and who says No, not me. But wow, was I freaking for
those two days in between. But it went really well. Thursday came
around and by the time we got to the church I felt like it was just in
God's hands haha I did all I could, and it went really well and
everyone talked and it just flowed!! Yeah spirit!! It was cool.
We had another awesome Talk with Jasmine and she really is so strong
and wonderful, and she teaches us. I have a much better perspective on
missionaries and converts.
Sorry this is so short, ran out of time haha. I love you all. Doctrine
and Covenants is where it's at. I love you all, sorry this is lame.
Hey here are my notes from the training :) they might be cool:
The Faith to Become- respond to His expectation that we become as He is.
How, then, could we be content with anything short of exaltation if we
know that exaltation is possible?
Having the desire to do what is right is not enough if we do not make
sure to understand what our Father expects from us and wants us to do.
In the story of Alice in Wonderland, Alice does not know which way to
go, so she asks the Cheshire Cat, "Would you tell me, please, which
way I ought to go from here?"
The cat replies, "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."
Alice says, "I don't much care where."
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," says the cat.
Elder Jorge F Zeballos 70
Alma's call for us to desire to believe and to "give place" in our
hearts for the Savior's words reminds us that belief and faith require
our personal choice and action. We must "awake and arouse [our]
faculties." We ask before it is given unto us; we seek before we find;
we knock before it is opened unto us. We are then given this promise:
"For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth;
and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened."
Alma 32:27
27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an
experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even
if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you,
even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion
of my words.
James 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Belief and testimony and faith are not passive principles. They do not
just happen to us. Belief is something we choose--we hope for it, we
work for it, and we sacrifice for it.
From Elder Clayton, Choose to Believe 70
Mosiah 5:1-4, 7
1 And now, it came to pass that when king Benjamin had thus spoken to
his people, he sent among them, desiring to know of his people if they
believed the words which he had spoken unto them.
2 And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the
words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their
surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which
has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no
more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.
3 And we, ourselves, also, through the infinite goodness of God, and
the manifestations of his Spirit, have great views of that which is to
come; and were it expedient, we could prophesy of all things.
(We must have a vision of what is possible, this comes through
personal study of the scriptures and recognizing what we need, faith &
humility,"Thus, the sources that allow us to learn our duty are the
words of Christ that we receive through ancient and modern prophets
and the personal revelation that we receive through the Holy Ghost.")
4 And it is the faith which we have had on the things which our king
has spoken unto us that has brought us to this great knowledge,
whereby we do rejoice with such exceedingly great joy.
7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be
called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for
behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that
your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are
born of him and have become his sons and his daughters
A powerful expression of that love is what the scriptures often call
the grace of God--the divine assistance and endowment of strength by
which we grow from the flawed and limited beings we are now into
exalted beings of "truth and light, until [we are] glorified in truth
and [know] all things."
From Elder Uchtdorf 12
Ether 12:27
27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I
give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is
sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they
humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make
weak things become strong unto them.
Humility is a sign of Spiritual Strength.
Let us press forward by learning our duty, making correct decisions,
acting according to those decisions, and accepting the will of our
Father.
How grateful and happy I am for the decision that my father let me
make 47 years ago. Over time, I have come to understand that the
condition he gave me--to be responsible for that decision--meant being
responsible to my Heavenly Father and seeking my own salvation and
that of my fellowmen, thereby becoming more as my Father expects and
wants me to become. On this very special day, I testify that God our
Father and His Beloved Son live. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
If You Will Be Responsible. Jorge F Zeballos 70
Hebrews 11 Chapter Heading
D&C 88:63-64
63 Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently
and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall
be opened unto you.
64 Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you,
that is expedient for you
D&C 103:31
31 Behold this is my will; ask and ye shall receive; but men do not
always do my will.
36 All victory and glory is brought to pass unto you through your
diligence, faithfulness, and prayers of faith.
Hebrews 11:22-23
22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies
washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for
he is faithful that promised;)
Hebrews 11:35-39
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great
recompence of reward.
36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of
God, ye might receive the promise.
37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him.
39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them
that believe to the saving of the soul.
Bible Dictionary on Faith: The Lord has revealed Himself and His
perfect character, possessing in their fulness all the attributes of
love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every
other needful thing, so as to enable the mind of man to place
confidence in Him without reservation.
We cannot doubt, we cannot fear or hold back. Faith is the saving of
the soul whereas fear is the losing of the soul. Believe in the
Atonement and progression of all things, or be afraid, doubt the
atonement, question doctrine, and digress into perdition.
Mosiah 3:19
19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall
of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the
enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and
becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and
becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love,
willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict
upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
Mosiah 4:11-12
11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have
come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his
goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of
your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls,
even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in
remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his
goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and
humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name
of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which
is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.
12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always
rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a
remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the
glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is
just and true.
