Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! I enjoyed mine thoroughly.

So, as I've mentioned, I'm training a new missionary again (his name is Elder Jensen). That means that, every Friday, we have an hour-long conference call to listen to. And what does that mean?

It means I've got more time to make sticky notes.

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Brightly beams our Father's mercy

From his lighthouse evermore,

But to us, He gives the keeping

Of the lights along the shore

Dark the night of sin has settled

Loud the angry billows roar

Eager eyes are watching, longing,

For the lights along the shore

Trim your feeble lamp, my brother;

Some poor sailor, tempest-tossed,

Trying now to make the harbor

In the darkness may be lost

Let the lower lights be burning; 

Send a gleam across the wave,

Some poor fainting, struggling seaman

You may rescue, you may save

(Hymns, No. 335)

Like we discussed last time, we believe that God has given us the fulness of His gospel in these latter days. We feel this gospel bless our lives and the lives of those around us. The natural result is that we seek to share it with others. We all start out in the midst of the storm-tossed sea, struggling to stay afloat. Eventually, we catch a glimpse of the light of our Father's mercy. If we stay the course and follow this light, we arrive safely in the harbor. It then becomes our duty to help in the rescue effort, reflecting His light and guiding others to Him. 

It's a work of love. It's God's work.

It is missionary work. 

I know that God lives and loves us. I know that He restored His church to the earth in order to bless us. I know that I've been incredibly blessed by this church, and I continue to see blessings as I seek to share it with others. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Until next time,

-Elder Richmond

Notes:

-President Monson has spoken a lot about "The Rescue." His most recent words on the subject are found here.

-Yes, I am aware that I misspelled "sailor" in the third note. 

-Speaking of light, the last note looks different because we swapped out lamps in the room where I make these.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Why I'm Here (Part 1)

So, maybe you've been able to tell from past entries, but missionary work is hard. It's really hard, in a myriad of ways. I'm not going to go into details, because that could turn depressing, but let it be declared: being a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is not exactly a walk in the park.

What's that got to do with anything? Well, because missions are hard, there's a question that comes up a lot. Sometimes it comes from other people who find out about what we do. Many times, it's something we ask ourselves. The question is this:

"Why are you here?"

I've asked it of myself a lot. The first time I asked it was around a year ago, when I found myself sitting on a Cuban man's back patio, sweating like a pig in my suit and struggling to understand his conversation with my companion about the Bible. Throughout my mission, I've kept asking that question, and I've found two answers. One talks about the purpose of missionary work; the other talks about why I'm engaged in it.

So, why am I here?

I'm here because over two thousand years ago, a baby was born in a stable in Bethlehem. That baby grew up and learned of His identity. He was Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and He came to this earth to fulfill a very specific and special mission. He lived a perfect life. He taught the people His Gospel, or the things that they should do in order to accomplish what God wanted them to do. He performed miracles; he organized His church by calling Twelve Apostles. And, at the end of His life, He carried out the most important event of all time: The Atonement. He suffered for our sins and our pains; he was crucified, and died on the cross. And, after, three days, he resurrected, completing the Atonement, and giving all of us the chance to live the Gospel and become worthy of living in God's presence after this life.

After His resurrection, Christ continued to direct His church through revelation to the Apostles. He commanded them to preach His Gospel over all the face of the earth:

 "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the endof the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:18-20)

 But, it was prophesied that this wouldn't last.

As the prophet Amos said:

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:
 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." (Amos 8:11-12)

 Even the Apostles in the time of Christ knew that the church would fall before Christ was to return. Paul wrote:

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;" (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3) 

So, not too long after Christ ascended into heaven, His church had been taken from the earth, and the people were in spiritual darkness. In this time, God didn't give up on His children; He inspired men and women to speak out against practices that were against the original teachings of Jesus Christ. These people made changes, and because of these changes, the world was eventually prepared to receive the Church of Jesus Christ again.

So, in 1820, in the state of New York, there was a 14-year-old boy. He was honest and pure in heart; he just wanted to do what God wanted him to do. But, he felt inadequate. The many different pastors and ministers of religion in the area each claimed to be the true church on the earth. But, as he put it:

"...So great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong."

So, the boy turned to the only religious source he felt he could trust: the Bible itself. He read its pages day after day, and pondered its words in his heart. Eventually, he came to the Epistle of James, and read the following verse:

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5)

The verse struck him deeply. And, we'll use his words to tell what happened next:

 "Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.

At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.

 So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.

 After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.

 But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

 It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" (Joseph Smith--History 1:12-17)

The boy, Joseph Smith, had received an answer to his prayer. He was, without a doubt, amazed by what was happening, but he still went on with his question: he asked the two heavenly beings before him which church they would have him join. They responded that none of the churches then established on the earth contained all of what had been revealed previously, so he shouldn't join any of them. They then also told him that he had a work to do, and that he would be called to be a prophet on the earth again, in order to restore their church again on the earth.

I testify that this happened, and that, through Joseph Smith, God and Jesus Christ restored their church to the earth, as well as the complete and perfect Gospel that had been preached anciently. With this great blessing came a great responsibility: the task of sharing this Gospel with the whole world.

"Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor." (D&C 88:81)

And so, nearly 200 years ago, without airplanes, cars, or even trains, missionaries began to go to all nations, teaching the Gospel of faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.

So, this is all very nice, but what does it mean for us?

Well, as I talked about last time (you know, the one where I talked a bunch about oatmeal?), the Gospel allows us to become better people, little by little, until we can eventually meet the standards set by our Heavenly Father to return to live with him. And, the only way we can know of the Gospel is through missionary work. Sure, I'm a multi-generational member of the church: my parents are members, as are their parents, and so on and so forth. But, that all started with a missionary preaching to my ancestors, way, way back.

The fact is, we live the Gospel, and we know how it blesses our lives. It's our duty, then, to share that with the world.

And that is why I'm here...

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I know that God lives and loves us. I know that He has always loved His children, and I know that He has given us the Gospel in order to bless us in this life. I know that the sweetest peace that can be felt on this earth comes from living the Gospel and serving others. I know that I've been called to help other people feel as good as I do. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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...But that's not the whole answer to the question. Stay tuned!

-Elder Richmond

Oatmeal and the Natural Man

Welcome back! Today, we're going to start off with a little glimpse into my missionary life...


So, in my apartment's kitchen right now, there are two microwaves, stacked one on top of the other. Why do we have two? Well, that's a long story. Maybe another time we'll talk about it another time. For now, we'll just say that we have two microwaves. The bottom one is newer and bigger, the top is older and smaller.

For a while, the top microwave just sat on the bottom one, unused and unappreciated. Recently, though, I've found a use for it. Throughout my mission, I've enjoyed a nice bowl of oatmeal to start off the day. However, when I came to this apartment, I ran into a problem. The big microwave worked a little too well; my oatmeal would boil over if I left it in too long. I tried taking the oatmeal out before it boiled over, but then found that it was undercooked. There wasn't any way to adjust the power level on the microwave, so I had to give up the oatmeal for a while (you can make it on the stove, but I generally don't have enough time in the morning to do that and get all my other things done on time).

One day last week, though, I noticed that the top microwave had an adjustable power dial on the front. I changed the settings, put in some oatmeal, and Viola! I had the perfect bowl of oatmeal!

So, what does all of this have to do with the Gospel? Nothing.

Yet.

See, the other day, I was getting my oatmeal ready, but I had something I wanted to do while waiting for it to cook. I put my oatmeal in the microwave, turned the timer dial, and then went about doing whatever else. When I finished, I went back to the kitchen, opened the door to the top microwave...and found that my oatmeal was gone.

I was more than a little bit confused: I'd heard the microwave "ding!" when the timer ran out. I knew that I'd cooked my oatmeal; so where was it?

It dawned on me that perhaps Elder Pope was trying to pull some kind of joke on me. I was about to call him out, but then figured I'd look around the kitchen first to see where he'd hidden it. I opened the door to the other microwave, and smiled as I found my bowl. I was about to make some sort of comment on Elder Pope's silly little joke, when I noticed something: my oatmeal wasn't cooked. The bowl wasn't warm at all.

I stood there for a few seconds, puzzling over what was going on. Then, it finally dawned on me. Elder Pope hadn't moved my oatmeal bowl at all: I had placed it in the lower microwave out of habit, then started the timer on the higher microwave.

I had a good laugh at myself, told Elder Pope what had happened, then actually cooked my oatmeal. If that had been all, it would have just been a funny little experience, something to write home about so that the family could laugh at my absent-mindedness. Definitely not something worth a blog post.

But, the thing is, not too long after, I did it again! I put my oatmeal in the lower microwave, then started the timer on the higher one. Except, this time, I caught myself before I left the kitchen. I laughed again, then cooked my breakfast. I thought to myself, "Well, next time I'll just try a little harder to do a little better," paraphrasing a quote from former church president Gordon B. Hinckley.

And that's what I'd like to talk about today.

In the church, you'll often hear people talk about how we need to repent every day. That can seem a bit strange, especially if you think like I did before the mission. Before, I thought repentance was only for those that were seriously violating God's commandments: killing, stealing, commiting adultery, etc. I'd hear all of these stories about people being weighed down by the burden of their sins and feeling incredibly relieved when they felt the power of the Atonement in their lives and repented.

So, this is what confused me: I was going about, living my life, and I wasn't breaking any of those commandments. That meant I didn't need to repent, right? But then, everyone always said that we all need to repent daily so that we can always feel the Savior's influence in our lives. But...how could I do that if I wasn't sinning?

Since becoming a missionary and helping other people repent, I've come to learn a lot about what sin and repentance really are. See, it's not just deliberately breaking the commandments that keeps us out of God's presence. Because of the Fall of Adam, all of us are born into this world as imperfect mortals, or Natural Men. Mosiah 3:19 teaches us that the Natural Man is an enemy to God; in other words, all of us, no matter how hard we try, will fall short in this life, and that keeps us out of God's presence. However, that same scripture also gives us hope: through the Atonement of Christ, we can stop being Natural Men and become saints, worthy to be in God's presence.

Every time we do something wrong, every time we act imperfectly, we sin, and fall short of the glory of God. However, this is why we have repentance. When we repent, we recognize that we've done something wrong, plead forgiveness from those we've wronged (including God), stop doing whatever we've done, seek to restore any damages we've incurred, and then keep moving forward in our lives, not sinning again. Every time we go through this process, we become better, less likely to sin. As we keep doing this throughout our lives, we become more and more saintlike, more and more like our Heavenly Father.

So, that's what me learning from my oatmeal mistakes has to do with all of this. It doesn't matter how many times I fall short of making the perfect breakfast, so long as I recognize what I've done and seek to improve. And, eventually, I know I'll make it to a point where I won't ever boil over a bowl of oatmeal again.

I know that God lives and loves us. I know that He wants us to become more like Him in every way. I know that He has given us the Gospel so that we can achieve that goal. I know that, as we trust in Him and in His Son, Jesus Christ, we'll feel the saving and enabling power of the Atonement in our lives. We'll become better people, and we'll feel free of all our past mistakes. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

-Elder Richmond

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Note: Since the original writing of this post, some exciting changes have taken place. Firstly, Elder Clark found a good home for the smaller microwave. Second, because of the loss of said microwave, I finally found out how to adjust the power level in the remaining microwave. Things are going much smoother, though occasionally I still overcook a bowl.

Late to the Party

I'm thankful for large bodies of water, like rivers, lakes, and oceans.

I'm thankful for really good Italian food.

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[Wait, is this his Thanksgiving post?]

[When did he upload this?]

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I'm thankful for warm breezes on cool days and cool breezes on warm days.

I'm thankful for clouds and the opportunity I have to stare at them

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[No, he didn't post this around Thanksgiving...it's been at least a week...]

[Did he forget or something?]

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I'm thankful for bike rides, be they in the mountains or just around town.

I'm thankful for the smell of flower shops, especially if it's been a while since I went in one.

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[Well, this is embarrassing. Was he thinking no one would notice?]

[It's Christmas season already. Is he even going to have time to post about that now?]

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I'm thankful for really good books.

I'm thankful for tall glasses of icy lemonade after a long summer's day.

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So, what's going on here? It should be fairly obvious:

A) I'm listing things I'm grateful for and
B) I'm pretending to write the words of some random reader of the blog.

Why? Well, for the latter, it's something I do a lot. I like to imagine that people read my blog and actually think about what they're reading.

So why am I listing what I'm grateful for, especially since we've already passed Thanksgiving? Shouldn't my posting be a bit more timely?

Well, in my opinion, it is. When Christmas, we get a bit preoccupied with pine trees, candy canes, snowmen, reindeer, holly wreaths, and all sorts of other symbols of the season. And that's not necessarily bad. However, since I've come out to Florida, I've found that Christmas still happens, even if none of the previous things are in sight [I'm thankful for the few houses around here that actually put up Christmas lights].

So, what is Christmas? It's celebrating the birth of Christ, of course. But, in my mind, it also has to do a lot with giving thanks. Why did the wise men come with gifts? Why did the shepherds offer newborn lambs? Why do all of us sing "Joy to the World?" Because Christmas marked the beginning of perhaps the most important time of all history; the life and ministry of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Because He came to this earth and atoned for us, we have the chance to return and live with our Father in Heaven again. We know that, because of him, we'll live again after this life. We'll see our families again, including loved ones long since passed.

The very act of celebrating Christmas is the act of giving thanks. It is showing Heavenly Father that we appreciate so very, very much the sacrifice that His Son made for all of us. Besides giving thanks directly in prayer, we know that we can show thanks to Heavenly Father through obedience to the commandments and through service to others. Since we're so thankful for Jesus Christ, we essentially take an entire month to show this gratitude to God and others.

All that aside, there's something else I've learned about gratitude. As I've tried to find something every day that I'm grateful for, or at least something that makes me smile, I've found more peace in my life. I'm more content with what I have, and I seek more to share it with others. Small moments of gratitude have become a sustaining force in my life. They help me Keep Moving Forward.

I know that God lives and loves us. I know that He gives us countless blessings, and we'll be happier if we seek to recognize them. I know that the ultimate sign of His love is His Son, Jesus Christ. I know that Christ came to this earth to help us on our journey back to Heavenly Father, and I know that, because He lives, we can all live again as well. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

-Elder Richmond